The Book - Dennis Glennon Photography

The Story Behind the Image

My most popular image, Buddy’s Magic Window, came about after many years of photographing wildlife, landscapes, and nature exclusively.

Delightful children’s book with fantastic photography. It’s so beautiful I gave it as a gift to an adult ,a Golden Retriever lover. The story is sweet and the photos are a beautiful benefit.

Great photography. I bought it for my 3 year old grandson, but the 6 year old had taken it and loves to read it herself. Thanks, Dennis!!

The photos in this book are so beautiful and the story is so heartwarming. I love how the author captures the expressions on Buddy’s face to match the emotions he is going through on his journey. Well done and I will share and treasure this beautiful book. Thank you for sharing your talents and dreams Dennis Glennon.

Beautiful illustrations and such a sweet story! What is not to love!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing your gifts and talents.

Dennis, great book . My friends son totally captivated by the photography. Can’t wait for my grandson to read his copy

Beautiful photographs and a delightful story make it a wonderful read!

I’d appeared in art shows all over the country then, and on many occasions, people asked me to photograph their dogs. I was open to it, but I didn’t commit. My schedule was hectic, and I’d never considered photographing dogs … which was strange because I’d had retrievers my entire life.

Then my friend Traci, a golden retriever breeder, told me she had a litter of Golden Retriever puppies and asked if I would photograph them. Not giving it much thought, I agreed, but without a formal commitment..

I didn’t expect to hear from her. She called back about a month later to book the photo shoot, telling me that her puppies were going to their forever homes in just a few weeks. Uh oh!

I Was In A Panic!

I hadn’t photographed many puppies at that point, and none of my puppy images were “professional”; they’d all been taken for myself and just for fun. I never want to embarrass myself, so I went off on a quest to find the perfect puppy photo session location.

I went searching every morning and each evening when the natural light was just right in an effort to find a great location to use when photographing the pups. It had to be great. I never settle for average. I drove all over the place and finally found a beautiful location – right around the corner.

From the road, I could see an old barn and its window. I drove by the property each day to examine how the light hit the barn and window, and to find out what else it revealed. As the sun moved west, it lit up a log pile and a rock pile, also on the property. I knew that I could time the photo shoot so I could use each area and put a puppy in great light for about 90 minutes. One problem. I didn’t have access to the property or know who owned it.

I called Traci and told her about my find. Serendipity? She not only knew the owners of the property, but they were one of the families getting a puppy from her current litter. By 8:00AM that Saturday morning, everything was set. Traci arrived at the location with her husband, her son, and of course, her puppies. Donna, the property owner, was on site with her daughters eager to help. We had a blast. And more serendipitous connections were made, such as with Donna’s’ mother being in the same church choir as my own mom. It seemed each of us had just one degree of separation.

I’m always amazed at how often, and how deeply, dogs bring people together.

The photo shoot went effortlessly, though I had been concerned about a potential problem…

How in the world would I be able to utilize the barn window to fit a puppy in it? Turns out, the glass window pane had broken and been removed, something I did not, and could not, see from the road. All I had to do was ask someone to kneel down behind the window frame and prop up a puppy. Though several puppies were involved in the session, my main character was the now-famous Buddy; the very puppy Donna ended up taking home. I had no way of knowing any of this beforehand – and I don’t believe in coincidences. It was meant to be and it was awesome.

Yet, I had no expectations or even ideas about photographing dogs. I simply figured I’d help a friend and do my best to get a few decent shots for her. I was using slide-film then and when I got the images back from my lab, I casually looked them over, thought they were quite cute, and placed a printed photo of Buddy in the window in my portfolio; a book of developed prints that I carried around with me back then. My favor done, I turned my attention back to my wildlife and scenic photography work. Soon after this, something amazing began to happen…

When showing my portfolio, the reactions that the “puppy in the window” image got were not only unexpected, but extreme. People totally freaked out. They would smile, point, laugh, sometimes even cry, because the cute little pup reminded them of a puppy they once had.

Buddy brought back strong memories. These emotional responses were hard to ignore, so I printed up some enlargements of the image, framed a few, and brought them to my art shows. And that’s when my eyes were open…

Two Women Nearly Came To Blows!

The response was overwhelming. At one show, just as I was running out of that particular print, two women almost came to blows. One woman was staring at the framed print in awe and the other, seeing her gazing at it, almost knocked her over to pull it off the wall while saying: “It’s mine!” I was astonished. Fortunately, I had some backups behind my booth. Disaster averted!

Years later, Buddy is now featured in my first children’s book Buddy’s Magic Window; a story about a curious puppy who gets lost, has a wonderful adventure, and finds a magic window!