Saanich woman takes joyful photos of eyes in unexpected places

SAANICH, B.C. -

Wendy Nesbitt’s daily walks with her adopted one-eyed dog inevitably include a pause to place two googly eyes on a rock.

“If you take a moment,” she says before focusing her camera on the rock that now seems to be looking back at her, “you can see beyond what’s actually there.”

To appreciate how this began, we need to go back to when Wendy cutting into a loaf of savoury bread.

“It was like the olives were making these two eyes,” she says before pointing out how the slice seemed to be smiling.

And then there was the pain au chocolat that looked like a sloth.

“I started seeing food looking at me!” Wendy laughs.

So when she happened upon a package of plastic peepers at a dollar store, Wendy made an unplanned purchase that inspired a new perspective.

“I walked through my garden,” Wendy smiles before showing pictures of the googly eyes she placed around the property. “And I’m like, that’s so cute.”

She made leaves look, plants peer, and artichokes alert.

That led to baking that observes. Wendy took photos of homemade loaves of bread with googly eyes.

“It’s important to find things in your life that you can find joy in,” Wendy says. “It’s hard sometimes.”

You see, when Wendy’s not working as a professional photographer, she’s volunteering her services with multiple groups that advocate for animals.

“I’m endeavouring to share [the animals'] personalities,” Wendy says. “I think that’s the key to help get adopted.”

Wendy has also documented the lives of 251 former sled dogs who’ve been adopted after overcoming adversity at work.

“There’s so many levels of awful that I’ve seen with animals,” Wendy says. “You need to have a way to decompress so you can go and continue to help.”

And Wendy’s found that putting googly eyes in unexpected places can do that.

“There’s no bones about it,” Wendy says showing pictures of cauliflower, shells, and miniature squash with googly eyes on them. “It’s ridiculous and goofy.”

But if you find that finding just the right googly eyes to glue on a rock rocks, or pausing the walk with your adopted dog to place peepers on a pylon feels positive, why not do it?

“It’s an easy thing that brings me joy,” Wendy laughs. “And if it brings someone else joy, it’s just icing on the googly-eyed cake!”