Welcome To The Dog Show

“It was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had shooting.”Brooklyn-based photographer, Cait Oppermann works for magazines such as The FADER, Bloomberg Businessweek, and WIRED. When she was commissioned to document the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, she loved the idea immediately. “It was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had shooting,” says Oppermann. In a series of flashy snapshots, the photographer manages to capture the nervous preparation and suspense hanging heavy in the air while contestants wait for the competition’s results.

Oppermann recalls: “What struck me most about the dog show was the both the relationships between the dogs and their owners as well as how incredibly human the dogs were. Walking by, you could watch their eyes following you like a human holding your gaze. Sometimes I found that a bit unsettling. There was such an intense bond between dog and groomer, dog and handler, etc. ‘The Dog Show’ is a unique set of unnatural circumstances and I found that so interesting to look at photographically.”