Cindy and Kirby Pringle have a simple goal: To bring joy to people’s lives through their words and art.

The Pringles specialize in humorous, whimsical photographs with their “dog people” — dogs with humanlike bodies. Their work can be seen in the recently published book, “Happy Tails: Earl and Pearl on the Farm,” which features Earl and Pearl Barker as they go about their daily activities, from A (apples) to Z (zinnias), on their farm just a bone’s throw from Dogtown.

The book is available nationwide — just ask your favorite bookseller. It is also available online through Dogtown Artworks, Amazon.com, the Independent Publishers Group or the Illini Union Bookstore. Of note, all of the photographs for the book were taken in Central Illinois and all of the pet models, including Earl and Pearl, are rescue dogs. The Barkers share their farm with Cindy and Kirby.

The husband-and-wife team have worked together as photographers for 17 years and own Dogtown Artworks, located in rural Champaign County, Illinois. Cindy Pringle is an acclaimed photographer and past winner of the prestigious Ernst Haas Award as one of the nation’s top 100 photographers. Her husband, Kirby, is an award-winning journalist and photographer. Their work has been seen on everything from greeting cards to books to billboards — and will even be featured in an upcoming independent film.

“We’ve always taken photographs of our dogs and we decided five years ago to focus on ‘dog people,’” Cindy Pringle says. “We have a lot of fun coming up with the ideas and then watching them come to life.”

Cindy Pringle is a University of Illinois graduate and native of Paxton, Illinois. Kirby Pringle, who grew up in Robinson, Illinois, and Casey, Illinois, is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and is a longtime feature writer for The News-Gazette in Champaign-Urbana.

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