Happy Staffys

Halloween is not a huge event in Australia although it’s popularity is growing and if there are children in your neighbourhood you tend to notice it more. We don’t have children, so poor little Bundy bears the brunt of the Halloween costumes on offer at Kmart. This year it was a toss-up between a pumpkin and a glittering red devil costume, however, as a result of my indecision neither made it into the shopping trolley. Fortunately a camera-toting, dog loving friend had underestimated the size of her wolfhound cross when buying a spider costume, and apparently, an XL costume is more suitable for a staffy such as Bundy.

The first photoshoot was conducted in bushland, I thought a natural environment would suit a big, black spider. The messy nature of the background and the floppy legs made it a little harder to see the detail of the costume, and converting images to black and white didn’t seem to help. I then tried photographing Bundy in our backyard with a less cluttered background. At this stage Bundy was pretty much over the costume and I really had to bribe him to do more than stand there and look sullen, as you can see, he still looks sullen but he did cooperate.

More recently I bought a hooded skeleton costume which supposedly glows in the dark. The glow factor of the costume hasn’t been tested, a photoshoot in the dark isn’t something I am prepared for so I am happy to wait until Halloween to see if the costume actually glows. With props in hand and treats in my camera bag, Bundy and I headed off to our bushland setting. Bundy was happy to explore while I stuck fake spider webs on the trees and lit a few candles, thankfully the day was overcast and the rain had dampened the setting minimising any risk of a fire breaking out.

The results aren’t bad although there are a few things I would have done differently:

Sprayed for mosquitoes (huge and vicious things)
Take the time to set the scene up before adding Bundy
Used more candles
Dressed Bundy in a costume that you could easily see from any angle

What do you think? What could I have done differently?

Happy Halloween!

Bondi Beach is one of Australia’s most popular and well known beaches, located in eastern Sydney, Bondi is accessible by bus and train and during the summer the beach is jam-packed with locals, tourists and back packers all eager to develop their tans and do a spot of people watching. When I lived in Sydney I rarely went to Bondi, our local beach was at Cronulla and ratio of sand to people was alot higher so there was always plenty of room to move.

Bondi is currently a landing point for people wanting to experience Sculpture by the Sea, but once you’ve finished checking out the amazing 3D art forms there is still plenty of art to see along Bondi’s esplanade. Not wanting to swim or fuss around with membership requirements, My Dad and I bypassed Bondi Icebergs Swimming Club and headed to the strip of cafes and shops opposite the beach, we enjoyed a tasty lunch served with a smile at the Lamrock Cafe, around the corner from one amazing piece of street art done by Mr G. Mr G is known for his paintings and illustrations of dogs and I had been following his ‘dogathon‘ of paintings for quite sometime prompting me to ask the waitress about the location of a particular mural he painted titled Happy Staffys.

When asked why he painted dogs, Mr G replied:

Because dogs are bloody awesome, that’s why.

I couldn’t agree more so I left Dad sitting in the shade of a tree while I went in search of the Happy Staffys and discovered some other amazing street art.

Enjoy!