Lyra's Project ~ Week 3 ~ Our Town

 This year I've joined up with some of my colleagues from the Beautiful Beasties Network (an international group of professional pet photographers) for the 52 Weeks Project, to collectively challenge ourselves and our creativity with a weekly assignment. Every week a different photographer chooses a theme, which everybody interprets in their own way. The photograph must be taken during that week, and on Friday evening (8pm Aussie time) everyone's blog posts go live. Click the link below to see the next photographer's image and continue around the blog circle until you end up back here - enjoy!

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This week's theme was Our Town, so the team from Ragamuffin Pet Photography headed straight to heart of Melbourne. I wanted to combine the graffiti that Melbourne is known for with our thriving cafe culture, so where should we go but Degraves Street? One of Melbourne's most famous Laneways, Degraves Street is a bustling hub of cafes, restaurants and nearby stores, all bursting onto Flinders Street right across from the iconic Flinders Street Station. When we first moved to Melbourne, Johnny was in love with the all day breakfasts (which apparently is more of an Aussie thing??? How very typically laidback of us!) We still bring any tourists visiting us to Degraves Street for breakfast, because the atmosphere is just so alive!

To capture the colourful, busy vibe of downtown Melbourne, I used a combination of long exposures (between 2 seconds and 1/2 second). Obviously I needed to use the tripod here (which really doesn't get low enough for a pet photographer!) My favourite location on the street didn't emphasise much of the nearby graffiti, so I tried to replicate the feel of the artwork by pulling in bright colours like orange, green and magenta.

I love how pleased with herself Lyra looks - she was getting a LOT of loving from people walking by. I'm surprised her massive head could even fit back in the car by the end of it! This is very quickly turning into my Lyra Project, so I think I may very well just embrace that! I enjoy having an excuse to create proper professional pet photography for my dog, rather than just owning a trillion phone snapshots! It's ridiculous how often I forget to turn the camera on my girls.

Now, to see the next photographer's creative take on Our Town, head over to Sue Collura Studio, Pets and People Photographer from Massachusetts in the States. Be sure to keep on clicking through the blog ring until you come back to Ragamuffin Pet Photography!