I was photographing this dog from across the street as he watched people pass under his ground floor window. He  would turn his head to follow each passerby and, every now and then, someone looked up, and their eyes would meet.

But it's this picture, taken just as he became aware of me, that I wanted to show you. The dog is like the occupant of the apartment, leaning on the windowsill, giving us an appraising look. He has the qualities of his surroundings: a roughness and solidity, like the worn brick and wood of the building; the straight line and curve of the graceful window curtains; and the dark and light tones to be found throughout the scene.

To look into an animal's eyes and to have it look back at you with awareness and attitude is to have a sense of wonder about the cause of it all--God or reality--and that's exactly what happened to me.