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Turns out dogs are not actually allowed off leash in Brooklyn Bridge Park. We

managed to go undetected and we got some fun action shots. My second lesson:

Break the rules a little, especially if it means you get your shot.

Later I learned that dogs are allowed off leash in almost every city park from the

time the park opens until 9 a.m., and again from 9 p.m. to park closing. Hooray!

Prospect Park was first on the list. For those of you who aren’t Brooklynites, it’s

our largest city park and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert

Vaux after they finished Central Park. I went with my human friends Kate (owner

of Maisie, a rescue mutt with a huge smile and a habit of running past the ball

she is trying to catch), Hazel (owner of not a single dog because her mother likes

cats), and Emily (cat person who is willing to hold my bag while I’m shooting). Third

lesson: You need an Emily. To get good dog pictures, you gotta have two people.

One to capture the image, and the other to hold your stuff, dole out treats, and

chat up the humans.

What an amazing morning! During off-leash hours, dogs are everywhere. I started

with Maisie and then shot about twenty dogs in the next few hours. I was rolling

around on the ground with dogs coming at me from all directions. I had a squeaky

toy. I had tennis balls. I had dog treats. What I didn’t have were knee pads or

elbow pads—and here is when I learned my fourth lesson: To capture a dog’s life,

you will need to lie on the ground. A lot. And it will hurt. Especially concrete. Also,

it turns out that when you lie on the ground, dogs think you want to play with them.

And they give you slobbery kisses. Fifth lesson: Bring wipes.

I discovered that New York is a city of working dogs. Marti is an actor who has

performed on Broadway and appeared in movies. She has numerous handlers and

gets paid more than a lot of the human actors in the shows she’s in. Marti posed

for me on the Great White Way—ironically, right in front of the theater where

Cats

was playing. Her owner, animal behaviorist and dog trainer extraordinaire

William Berloni, gave me some great advice on getting canine subjects to focus so

you can capture a dog’s expressiveness. Among his best tips—my sixth lesson for

photographing dogs—was to make unusual noises: The sound of a bag of chips

opening or a crinkling candy wrapper can often prompt dogs to make eye contact.

Labrador Retriever Deke is a service dog who belongs to the owner of Books of

Wonder, a delightful children’s bookshop in Chelsea. Before becoming a service

dog, Deke was a blue-ribbon champion in Rally, an obedience-based sport, as

well as a top-notch hunting dog. Max is a Border Collie who works on Governors

Island. Every morning he chases the geese off the grounds. He is the only dog