“Animals Are Outside Today,” the photography exhibit at Dina Mitrani Gallery, has been extended through Aug. 20. Keeping shows up, especially in the slower summer season, for several months is a good idea and one that a number of galleries are grasping. The one-month cycle — with so much out there to see — can be limiting.

So, first off, this extension is good news. Second, isn’t that a great title?

The photographs in the show are actually in a new release book of the same name, “Animals Are Outside Today,” from Chicago artist and teacher Colleen Plumb. The solo shows at Mitrani, which exhibits photography exclusively, have generally been her best, and this is no exception. The works themselves are splendid, just lovely to look at. But they are also quirky, personal and incorporating animals in subtle and interesting ways. Ah yes, the animals. Several are elephants, the giant creature that has interacted with humans for time immemorial. In fact, some carvings of mastodons (the elephant’s kind of grandparent) dating back 13,000 years have recently been discovered in Vero Beach, Fla. — no less, the oldest carvings ever found in North America.

But, we have come some way since then, in dimension, in focus, in framing. For instance, in the snapshot of a sleeping circus elephant, cropped to its head and upper torso: there are observers roped off and blurred in the background, making it feel like a strange, still, moment — not at all like a circus. Another ancient-but-now-extinct animal, a dinosaur, is illuminated by the light from two windows. It’s a small, rose-colored model, placed on a can next to a young, pigtailed blond girl. Another lovely moment is a photo of the backs of a little child and an adult, both sitting, the latter wearing a sweatshirt with a deer image sewn on it.

Animals are with us and around us in many and varied ways, as these images remind us, some with horns, with tails, with scales, some alive, some recreated for our pleasure. Fortunately, there is almost two more months to enjoy this love affair with animals, and with the camera.

“Animals Are Outside Today” runs through Aug. 20 at the Dina Mitrani Gallery, 2620 N.W Second Ave.; www.dinamitranigallery.com.