Exercise: Elliott Erwitt, New York, 1974

There are three subjects in the image, the main human subject is placed squarely in the centre with the others flanking her on the vertical third lines, however, the main protagonist in this image is the Chihuahuas in a hat. The image makes clear use of the rule of thirds, the vertical we have mentioned plus the shallow depth of field isolates the subjects from both the foreground and background.

Erwitt has placed the three subject at the base of the picture, creating a horizon which he has built the image. The chihuahua is the only character of whom we can see a face and it is staring at the camera, this reinforces its status of the main protagonist over its human companion.

The other subjects remain anonymous to the viewer. It is as if we are looking at the scene as the chihuahua would see it. Everything and everyone is huge and intimidating, the chihuahua has a forlorn look. In his use of this low viewpoint, Erwitt produces a punctum, that is it is not immediately obvious that the legs on the left belong to another (very large) dog, not a human. One of the key features of why this image is so striking.

One interpretation of the picture is that expresses power and dominance. The size difference of the subjects does not leave any doubt about the position of each in that game of power. The leash that holds the chihuahua contributes to the political message, as does the apparent lack of leash on the bigger dog, establishing a relation of dependence or slavery between the small dog and the powerful and anonymous legs. The chihuahua has been stripped of its dignity and forced to wear ridiculous clothes as if it did not have a will. Whereas to the little dog has no leash, it is out of sight, he appears free a collaborator. Together the connection to Nazism of the leather boots frames the power and dominance expressed by the images into a metaphor for the persecution of the Jewish people in World War II Europe.

A further interpretation is to personify the subjects in the picture as a family unit; although two of them are animals. The punctum created by the low angle crop makes difficult to perceive the difference between the human legs and the animal legs. We tend to assume that the booted legs belong to a woman, the confusion pushes the viewer to assign the role of the husband to the big dog. Leaving the small dog as the child. This can then be a metaphor for how pets and be stand-in for absences within a person’s life – husband, wife or child.