Sarah Reeve Photojournalist

A B O U T: The Guide Dog Project

 

As a Photojournalist, I am very aware of the world around me and how people view it. Therefore, social issues and different social groups is something I like to communicate behind my images.

 

Photography is a visual medium, I have been documenting those who do not have the privilege of sight, but instead have a four-legged companion to guide them through everyday life.

 

“The relationship between the blind person and his/her guide dog is a bond of reciprocal trust.” (Gazzano et al, 2008). 

 

My work explores the animal-human relationship of guide dogs and their owners, a partnership where a human relies on another species. The partially sighted must have absolute faith and trust in their canine, and vice versa. This is amplified more so by the fact that the two live day-in-day out, with one another.

 

In order to document this crucial relationship I have captured everyday aspects of people living without sight, representing the importance of their dogs and how the visually impaired adapt to life.

 

This work shows the ‘real world’ of the blind. The images are moments in time capturing the instant. Documentary is a sense of reality and I believe my images represent this reality, and an insight into a fundamental relationship, which is strong and intimate between human and dog.