When I first started studying photography, it seemed like everything I read and every class I took assumed that every photographer wants to do portraits (or so it seemed to me). They repeated over and over again the importance of focusing on the eyes. “The eyes are the windows to the soul”, they kept saying, but I always knew I didn’t want to photograph people. I wanted to photograph animals. Some animals, like dogs, have very expressive eyes just like people do, but many don’t have expressive eyes, so I wasn’t really sure that the advice applied to what I wanted to do. As I shot more and more photos, I began to realize that the advice was definitely applicable to animals as well as people. Focusing on the eyes, even unexpressive eyes, makes a better picture, and absolutely does help give you insight into the animal. But another reason I have come to realize how important the eyes are is that in the animal world there are so many kinds of eyes with so many colors and patterns! Now whenever I can, I try to get good shots of the eyes both for their insight into the animal, and also to let viewers see the tremendous variety.