A Photographer Made These Rescue Dogs Look Like Famous Writers

The photo series has been created to raise awareness for adopting rescue dogs and helping shelters care for the animals.

Photographer Dan Bannino recently adopted a dog from a rescue shelter and it changed his life forever.

To celebrate, he decided he wanted to give his new pet, Rothko, and millions of other rescue dogs a voice by creating a new photo series entitled Poetic Dogs.

Bannino wrote on the project's IndieGoGo page: "#POETICDOGS is a photo-project where dogs are besides famous writers: Speaking through their expressions, sounds and movements, they're telling you everything saying nothing, just like an author would do with words in a fine poem."

1. Charles Bukowski

Dan Bannino

The campaign is hoping to raise $6,000 (£3,943) so more dogs can be helped and a book of the images featuring their stories can be created.

2. Charles Dickens

Dan Bannino

Bannino admitted it was tricky getting some of the dogs to pose in the same manner as their lookalike authors.

3. Charles Pierre Baudelaire

Dan Bannino

"The difficulty, in addition to attracting their attention in the room, was to reproduce the same expression of the chosen writer," he said. "That's why I invested all this time in this project, trying to communicate with them and always make them having fun."

4. Edgar Allan Poe

Dan Bannino

5. Emily Dickinson

Dan Bannino

All the dogs featured in the series are from the same kennel near Turin, in Italy, where Bannino's dog, Rothko, was adopted from.

6. Ernest Hemingway

Dan Bannino

7. James Joyce

Dan Bannino

The authors in the series are some of Bannino's favourite writers.

8. Jean-Paul Sartre

Dan Bannino

"After spending a little time around in the kennel I sort of started to associate the dogs with them: The moves, the eyes, the way they were and the way they interacted had a very important role in choosing who was who," the Italy-based photographer added.

9. Leo Tolstoy

Dan Bannino

10. Edith Sitwell

Dan Bannino

Bannino said he hopes the project will encourage people to visit their local kennels.

11. Mark Twain

Dan Bannino

"Making them see in a different context, I hope to spread the idea of adopting a dog instead of buying one [and] feeding puppy mills and pets exploitation," he said.

12. Oscar Wilde

Dan Bannino

You can see more of the pictures and learn about the dogs' stories on Bannino's Facebook and Instagram pages.

13. William Shakespeare

Dan Bannino