Most dogs are known to enjoy the odd game of catch with their owners, but these stunning action photographs reveal the incredible heights they manage to reach as they soar through the air to catch a frisbee.
Italian photographer Claudio Piccoli specializes in dogs, especially dogs in action. That, he says, is when he, and perhaps the camera, can best see their souls.
More than a decade after he spent his childhood playing with his grandmother’s beloved pet, he grew an interest in photography at university.
His third dog made him ‘get even closer to the dog sports, especially to the disc’, he told the Daily Star.
Mr Piccoli, who boasts a 73.4k followers, would take pictures of his pets on holiday and dog photography grew from there.
Talking about air-bud! These amazing pics show dogs catching some serious air as they go after a frisbee.
Claudio Piccoli: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Photographer Claudio Piccoli makes otherwise ordinary pups look like superheroes.
His photos of dogs in mid-air highlight the incredible athleticism of canines.
He said: ‘I ask for small variations in the throws or in the positions of both to get what I think is the maximum athletic expressiveness of the dog in the air.’
The Nikon Ambassador said the first few times tend to be the best performances and nothing can be left to chance.
He added: ‘An incorrect position completely cancels the effectiveness of the action as well as an incorrect environmental contour.’
He has trekked across Italy, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Estonia, Israel, Canada, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Austria and Poland to create the breathtaking pictures of dogs playing catch.
Last September, the dog-owner-of-four photographed Zinga and Sara at sunrise in Toronto’s Scarborough Bluffs park, while he has also had a dog-owner kneel in the North Sea as their beloved pet leaped across them to reach a Frisbee mid-air for his photo-series.
“It usually requires a lot of preparation,” he told My Modern Met.
“It’s very important to explain to the owner what we want to do in the shoot and what we are expecting or how they should move in the action to be photographed correctly.”
It also takes a lot of patience.
“Dogs are not machines or models we can pay to do something, and every dog and breed is different” he said.
“It’s not (through) forcing a dog that we achieve a good result. It’s working with the dog with a flexible shooting that we can reach the soul of that dog, he explains on his website.
Piccoli lives with four border collies that he says “inspire me everyday.”
©Claudio Piccoli
©Claudio Piccoli
©Claudio Piccoli
©Claudio Piccoli
