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Read this if: You like animals more than people  Credit: aperture Chatting with photographer Robin Schwartz about her new book, Amelia & the Animals No photographer working today takes the notion that humans are animals as literally as Robin Schwartz. A photographer based in New Jersey, Schwartz aims to connect with animals both spiritually and emotionally. She explores "interspecies relationships" and the bonds between humans and animals. This can mean the bond between companion dog and owner, or between zoo animal and care taker.
Schwartz is now working on a photo book with her daughter and collaborator, Amelia, who has been a subject of Schwartz's photographs since she was a toddler. The book Amelia & the Animals shows portraits of Amelia with elephants, llamas, ponies, tigers, kangaroos, primates, and other creatures. The mother-daughter duo are also working on a children's book about Amelia and animals.
To say you are an animal lover seems like an understatement. How did you fall in love with animals? And how did you fall in love with photographing them?
I think I was born feeling an intense nonverbal attachment and longing to be with or watch animals. I'm an only child, and so growing up I was alone a lot. I watched stray cats in my neighborhood, and then eventually I had outside cats, but they continually got run over or disappeared. Then, when I was 10 years old, my father allowed me to have an inside cat when my mother went to work.
When I was home alone, I set him up and photographed him. He always accompanied me when I showered (that movie Psycho still has an effect). He comforted me. It was an intense household, and he hid with me in the house. That cat became my brother, my protector. When my father raged at me, my cat screamed at my father. I got married at the cat's grave in my husband's family's backyard.
After my father died when I was 19, I was able to switch my major from biology to art. My graduate teacher at Pratt, Arthur Freed, told me to photograph what I cared about. I photographed stray animals in Brooklyn and New Jersey because I felt like a stray at that time. Some of these photos are in my second book, Dog Watching.
It's not just that you're fascinated by animals; it's their relationship with people. How do you capture that in a photograph?
I see animals as equals, with a consciousness, their own desires, and relationships — so that is how I photograph them. I also scope out people who interact with their animals in what is sometimes judged as an eccentric way but what I view as similar to my way — the equal aspect. I feel that no matter how different they are from me, we are part of the same tribe in our hearts. This connection has allowed access to primate owners, to horses in Baltimore. Last weekend, I approached a guy on a bike on the Lower East Side in Manhattan with a Bedlington terrier in a backpack. After I approached him, he shared his Instagram. I sent him photographs of Amelia as an infant and her whippet sister. I will be photographing his beloved dog, whom he treats as a daughter, later this month.
(From "These Photos Explore The Amazing Relationships Between Humans And Animals" by Pia Petersen. Keep reading.)  ⭐️ = a BuzzFeed Books favorite Tuesday, June 1
Ashley C. Ford discusses Somebody's Daughter ⭐️ with Jason Reynolds — hosted by Books Are Magic, 7 p.m. ET. More info.
Alice Waters discusses We Are What We Eat with Michael Pollan — hosted by Book Passage, 6 p.m. PT. More info.
Wednesday, June 2
Casey McQuiston discusses One Last Stop ⭐️ with Emily Henry — hosted by Books Are Magic, 7 p.m. ET. More info.
Sarah Sentilles discusses Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn't Ours with Anthony Doerr — hosted by Book Passage, 5:30 p.m. PT. More info.
Thursday, June 3
Ocean Vuong discusses On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous ⭐️ with Hua Hsu — hosted by Community Bookstore, 7:30 p.m. ET. More info.
Zakiya Dalila Harris discusses The Other Black Girl with Riley Sager — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 8 p.m. ET. More info.
Friday, June 4
Sara Sligar discusses Take Me Apart ⭐️ with Lauren Wilkinson — hosted by Books & Books, 12 p.m. ET. More info.
Saturday, June 5
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