Everyone wants to know the story behind the amazing photo of Gunny that appears on the book cover. With good reason. It is an extraordinary photo!
Here is the story:
A couple of weeks before Gunny was scheduled to have a very dangerous surgery at almost 14 years old, we realized that we needed to have some family photos taken, “just in case.” At the recommendation of a friend, we contacted Robin Burkett at Paw Prints Photography and asked her if she could come soon to take pictures, given the circumstances.
We discussed where we would take the photos and what we were looking for, and she came a few days later with an assistant, ready to shoot. I outrageously said to her on the day of the photo shoot, with regard to Gunny, “Robin, I need you to capture the essence of his being.” She politely suggested that I might want to lower my expectations, but promised that she would do her best.
It was a very long, but beautiful, afternoon and she must have taken over 500 photos. We took pictures of Bacchus jumping high in the air to retrieve his toy, the boys together, family photos and pictures of each dog alone. At the end of the day, as twilight was upon us, we shot a series of pictures on the steps in front of our house. The last photos of the day were of Ganimedes, alone, on the steps, as the sun was setting.
For those few minutes, Gunny offered a peek into his soul, and Robin caught it. Brilliantly.
At that time, I had no thought of writing a book, much less was I thinking about a book cover. Once I decided to write the book, however, I knew that Gunny’s portrait photo would be the cover. I hope that when you look at the cover, you see how beautiful his soul is. Who he is. Who he was. He made a conscious decision to reveal himself in that moment. And then he made a decision to reveal himself through his writings in the book. I am eternally grateful to him for being so generous and so brave.