Excuse the long story, but please read through to the end, it’s worth it.

On the 13th March 2016, on a sunny Spring day, I was out walking our dogs Meg and Gemma across the fields at the back of our house when coming towards us was this little bundle of fun.  I had my camera with me and took just a couple of very quick shots as he ran towards me over the brow of the hill.  We continued walking and passed the owner, saying a brief hello but didn’t stop.  It was fast and impulsive and I didn’t think anything about it.  

When I got home and developed the shots from the day, I found I had captured a beautiful image of a dog, just out having the time of his life in the sun.  It has since gone on to become a favourite of mine and is often commented on by people who enjoy seeing it.  

My only regret, especially after seeing the image, was  not knowing what the dog was called or who the owner was and that I couldn’t share it with them. 

This is the image: ”The Unknown Dog”

Today, Louise and myself were out walking in exactly the place when we saw a similar dog with it’s owner coming towards us and Louise says “Thats the lady who had that dog that you took the photo of” and so off she goes to say hello to the dog and the owner as she normally does anyway.  I followed up behind and unbelievably, it was!  It was the same lady. How Louise recognised her I’ll never know.  

We got talking, her name is Joanna, I showed her the photo on my phone and she seemed a little shocked that a stranger walking in the fields had a photo of her dog on his phone.  Anyway I introduced myself, told her how the photo came about and what I did etc.  Turns out the dog passed away earlier this year, and so understandably bumping into me with an image of her dog was a shock, but I got to learn that the dogs name was ‘Jack’ and he was her companion for 14 years.

After exchanging emails, I got home and sent her a copy of the photo, finally completing the mystery and fulfilling something I had wanted to do for over a year.

This is part of her email back to me:

“Hi Andrew

Thank you so much!

This is the most fabulous photo of ‘Jack’ my companion and shadow for just 14 years.

It was a bit of a shock and rather emotional seeing him again and I shall treasure this photo.

Thank you for recognising us and for stopping to share this photo – it’s made my day.”

This is why I enjoy photography so much, especially of animals and pets.  

It can bring such joy to people.  

Thank you to Louise for spotting Joanna in the first place today.

This is definitely one of the best things to have happened to me this year.