A Portrait of the Photographer as a Dog

[John Kasaian]

I don't know if this belongs here or in the Lounge, so I'll leave it up to our moderators to make that call.

I've been working up to reading Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain by reading some of Mann's short stories as a way to flex my mental muscles, and one story in particular has grabbed my attention like no other---A Man and His Dog ---I haven't had too much free time lately but I have been setting aside a short time each evening to read parts of this story. It is kind of like good Port in that a little goes a long way----I find that I need time to savor each paragraph.

Mann's vivid description of the dog Bashan is like no other dog's tale(sic) and late one night it struck me that much of the qualities Mann ascribes to Bashan the dog can be equally (and quite profoundly) applicable to large format photographers, especially landscape 'togs. Bashan's conceptualization of going for walks is so much like the way I feel about going on a shoot it is not a little disconcerting (actually its quite funny)

Is anyone here familiar with Mann's short story? Any thoughts or comments?

Cheers!

[Ralph Barker]

Shouldn't a dog in a short story be named "Bob" or "Stumpy"? ;)

Sorry, John, it has been too many years since reading Mann for me to comment on the LF tog parallel.

[John Kasaian]

Ralph,

Do I get the "Esoteric Post of The Afternoon" award?

[Ralph Barker]

A silver halide star seems appropriate. But, it can only be shown in the dark. ;)