A few posts ago, I published a carte-de-visite of three little girls and a dog who was not enthusiastic about visiting the photographer’s studio and could be seen lurking under the studio chair. This is clearly not the case here! This is a cabinet card photo from around 1900, taken by H. A. Seymour of Jackson, Michigan. I surmise that the dog was supposed to sit beside the push carriage and decided to walk toward the camera. (This is something that my cats and dogs do all the time when I am trying to photograph them.) Or perhaps the dog was the photographer’s and simply popped into the frame just as the shutter was released. Note that he is looking directly into the camera.
The fact that this image was printed and survived at all is amazing to me. We can’t know whether the parent of this baby thought that this picture was funny, but someone clearly did!
The Pet Historian 
I love this image. Unlike so many studio photographs, this one comes from the experiences that happen in real life. It is funny, and touching, and reminds us of how smart and curious dogs can be. I am so glad we have it.
Lynn Robertson, yes! Love how dogs are so smart and curious. This one “photo-bombed” the studio portrait-taking session! And about real life photos, please see this “genuine and glorious” shot (http://preview.tinyurl.com/ov47wx8) taken by Laura Rabe, who said “Just finished a session for a close friend of mine and it was positively amazing. She didn’t have the energy to dress up and drag the family out for photographs, but instead wanted to document them at this age and the moments that accompanied. It was genuine and glorious.”