'Lick' Series Gets Even Cuter with 'Lick Puppies'

We've covered photographer Ty Foster's "Lick" series before, but his latest creation, "Lick Puppies," takes this a step further by using only puppies and their particularly tiny tongues. Every puppy in this series is busy licking its nose, just coming up from licking some organic peanut butter — the choice lick-inducing food of the viral animal photographer.

Foster said the decision to use organic peanut butter came about because apparently other types have ingredients that can be harmful to dogs. No doubt, one must be especially careful with puppies. But what a treat to see a puppy's first taste of peanut butter!

It was a real treat both for myself and for the puppies to get to see their expressions with their first taste of peanut butter. The thing about puppies is that they're super excited, but super small (obviously), and when they start to get pumped about the peanut butter and squirm around, all you have to do is slide them back into the studio  — they're really malleable.  Plus, giving a few puppies peanut butter all at once is the cutest utter chaos you could ever experience.

Surprisingly, Foster also mentioned that working with puppies was actually easier than working with adult dogs, as he has in the past and continues to regularly for his job.

Most puppies are still trying to acclimate themselves to the world and, unlike dogs, there are a lot of new things for them to experience — peanut butter included. Once we set up the studio, we plopped the puppy down, took a few test shots, made sure he/she was comfortable with the flashes, and we were off to the races. For someone who only photographs animals, it was as close as I was going to get to those who photograph paint or liquids — every frame was so different, and the expressions we were able to capture were priceless.

As with the previous series, a Lick Puppies hardcover book is available on Amazon for about $17.

Anyone interested in dog or general animal photography should check out Foster's other work, which together is quite impressive in its breadth of coverage and clean, simple execution. Each time, the stunning end result allows viewers to really examine every facet of the animal photographed.

All images used with permission.