I’m a collector. Not of photos but with the help of photos.
I believe I have the largest collection in the world of photos of Dogsigns.
With Dogsigns I mean signs that have to do with dogs, one way or another.
Check out the different galleries with Dogsigns in this page ->
Why Dogsigns?
The first ones were outside a church in Stockholm. The signs were written as if it was the dog who wrote theme.
“I’m not aloud to run free without my leash“. “I must pick up the poo after me“.
I found it both funny and a bit strange that they chose the dog to be the speaker. Did it make a better impression on the dog owners?
Maybe it was a christian thing …?
A dog is said to be a man’s best friend. But not everywhere.
I took anyhow some photos of the signs with my analogue camera and forgot all about it.
Some years later, when Facebook began to be a thing, I found those photos and I felt they were suitable for this new media.
I started looking for more signs and I soon discovered that there were plenty of them, and that each part of Stockholm had different official signs for their parks. I was curious to see how many styles there could be portraying a dog. It was interesting to see that you could draw a dog in a clear graphical style, so it worked well as a sign, and stil make it in so many different ways.
When I had about 50-60 photos I thought I’ll try to make it to 100. Surely I’ll be then covering all the possible different ways to make a sign with a dog.
I could discern several groups of signs.
Warning signs for a dangerous dog in the yard.
Stop signs – Dog are not aloud in here.
Urging signs – Please pick up the poo after your dog.
Dog loving signs – Dogs are welcome – or – Here is a bowl of water for your dog.
Then there were those clever signs.
“A dog is for life not just for Christmas”.
“Can you make it to the gate in 3 seconds? Our dog makes it in 2 …”
And outside a church in Australia that was now a privet residence, they put a sign on a fence that looked like a dogsign and said: “Beware of the God!”.
I started looking for signs whenever I traveled, and I was traveling a lot for a few years to all kind of film festivals.
I had always something to do. My collection grew to 700 and 800 photos and almost non of them were a duplicate!
Only in Brooklyn and Manhattan I found 89 signs in three days.
Friends on Facebook have notices my hobby and started sending me signs they have found.
When the collection has passed a thousand photos I thought I needed to put an end to this and maybe make a book or an exhibition.
I made a test book with 150 photos and the test taught me that it’s a much larger project than anticipated.
I might do it one day.
I have now passed 2500 photos.
It has become a part of my life, to find and repport on dogsigns.
I developed a certain sense for finding the signs. A third eye.
You are welcome to send me new signs, if you can find one I don’t already have 🙂