Centrefold: A shot in the park: Animal antics caught on film. But what's the big idea?

Jack Daniels was surprised to be asked how he managed to get this spaniel to leap through the air. 'I knew he could do it,' he said, 'because he'd been through the casting process and he'd proved himself. He was bouncy and full of energy - perfect for the part.' In the last six years Daniels has built a reputation for a winning way with pets - using vivid colour and ridiculously wide angles to produce the kind of eye-catching and often hilarious images advertisers kill for (the flying spaniel is being used to advertise Spillers dog food). A selection of his portraits are now included in Animal House, a group exhibition at the Association Gallery.

Alongside Daniels' daft penguin, ostrich, caterpillar and cat are more serious approaches: Jean-Luc Benard's zoo project, Lu Jeffrey's close-crops of farm animals, which reveal just a fleeting limb or hoof, and Tim Flach's dramatic black-and-white studies of more ferocious breeds (lions and panthers). Even Jack Daniels sometimes earns his danger money: 'I was setting up a shot of an eagle owl in Scotland and was peering to get a good look into its yellow eyes when it suddenly went for my face. It missed, but I learnt to keep my camera in front of my face.'