Erwitt, a Magnum photographer,  was known for his photographs of dogs and when I researched his work I noticed that most of his “dog” photographs were taken at the eye level of the dog and not necessarily at the eye level of any people in the photographs.

In this photograph I think he set out to make the small dog the main subject, with the feet of the person and other much larger dog secondary.  He may have included the whole of the person and larger dog originally, but by cropping them out in this way, it makes for an amusing image.

Looking at the coat and boots I assume the person is female, affluent and a dog lover and it appears she is walking her dogs in a park.  Erwitt was influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson and the “Decisive Moment”, but this photograph does appear staged.  The woman and both dogs are stationary at the moment the photograph was taken.  Perhaps he approached her and asked if he could take a photograph, and she was happy to oblige, stopping for a few seconds in front of the camera as he knelt down to the level of the smaller dog.

Erwitt focussed on the feet of the subjects as the background behind the subjects is out of focus and over exposed, which I think would have been intentional to ensure the viewer looked at the subjects rather than the background.