Animals That Saw Me

“From chicken to sheep, frogs to dogs, each of the creatures seems to ask: “You looking at me? Who are you?” –American Photo

Animals That Saw Me, Volume Two presents a new collection of photographs from the observational wanderings of Ed Panar, author of Animals That Saw Me, Volume One (2011, now out of print). This body of work, encompassing recent pictures and newly discovered gems from Panar’s vast back catalogue, records a series of brief, often strangely amusing moments in which nonhuman species (mammal, reptile, bird or insect) seem to behold the human photographer. Edited for the viewer’s maximum delight, the photos convey a whimsical concept with surprisingly complex ramifications under the surface. Why do we distinguish between “us” and “them,” and what exists in the space between these distinctions? What does it mean to make “eye contact” with another species? What does the presence of a camera add to this phenomenon? Channeling the same thoughtful humor, wonder and peculiar engagement with the world that made the first volume of Animals That Saw Me an instant hit, this second installment also includes an original essay by acclaimed speculative realist philosopher Timothy Morton.

From chicken to sheep, frogs to dogs, each of the creatures seems to ask: “You looking at me? Who are you?" (Jack Crager American Photo)

Why we have decided that animals are only capable of looking and not truly seeing is hard to say. The photographs in Ed Panar’s Animals That Saw Me seem to suggest otherwise. (Erica McGrath Musee Magazine)

Ed Panar's photographs of animals he's seen while out exploring mostly urban and suburban areas with his camera are funny and delightful and weird. The more time we spend with his new book... the more the images have to say - about Panar and his photographic practice, and about how animals and people interact in the human-centered world we think we live in. (Conor Risch Photo District News)