Behind the Lens
Documentary photographer Sage Sohier discusses Peaceable Kingdom
How do you come up with the ideas for your projects?
Although I usually photograph people I haven’t met before, my impetus for shooting a body of work usually comes from personal experience and interests. Having grown up with four dogs in my childhood home, I’ve always been drawn to animals.
How do you approach shooting people with animals?
These pictures are primarily about the extraordinary bond between people and animals, so I usually try to photograph a person with an animal that they are especially close to. I try to reveal that intimacy in the photographs.
Do you prefer to work in colour or black and white?
I was a black-and-white photographer for 25 years. Then I started to notice that I was more interested in the work of my students that was in colour, and decided I should try to shoot colour. The first few years of that attempt were abysmal failures, and I kept returning to blackand-white. Around 2000 and 2001, I started to photograph my ageing mother for my project, WitnesstoBeauty, and people with miniatures, collections and other obsessions for my series,
Perfectible Worlds. The colour really worked and enhanced both these projects. But who knows? I may go back to photographing in black and white at some point. It is invigorating to reinvent oneself from time to time.
When did you first have the idea and inspiration for the Peaceable
Kingdom project, and how long has the project taken?
I had photographed many people with their companion animals in the 1980s and 1990s. A book of that work, Animals, was published in 2019. Beginning in 2008, I decided to expand my previous approach.
Working in colour, with a digital camera, I started to include not just people with their pets, but also other kinds of caring relationships that people have with animals. On and off for more than 10 years, I photographed at refuges for exotic animals, wildlife rescue centres, farm animal sanctuaries and family farms. All the while, I remained focused on showing the bond between people and animals.
Was there a fun aspect to shooting the images for this book?
Photographing animals is always enjoyable. They are fast-moving and unpredictable, so it’s always an adventure, and you never know if you’re going to get anything. It also meant a lot to me to get to know some of the amazing people who dedicate their lives to saving animals.
What cameras and lenses do you normally use?
For many years I shot with medium format film cameras – 6 x 9cm and 6 x 7cm. For PeaceableKingdom, I used a digital camera for the first time – a Nikon D850, and before that a D800, with a 24-70mm zoom lens. I usually use wide-angle prime lenses, but for this project it helped to have the flexibility of a zoom.
What is your post-production process like?
I still need to see my photographs printed out. I spend a lot of time looking at my files on the computer, but eventually I make some prints, spend time with them and choose the ones that work best.
Sage Sohier’s book Peaceable Kingdom is published by Kehrer Verlag (ISBN978-3-96900-028-1),€39.90. Find out more at: www.kehrerverlag.com