Issue 819

Arts News

Pets and Their Owners

The weird and wonderful world of people and their pets is explored by local photographer Paul de Wolf in his new exhibition, Pets and their Owners, now on show at Caddies.

Paul has dedicated the exhibition to Caddies' proprietor Vicki Sheaffe, because 'she has given many an artist, including myself, the opportunity to exhibit their work.'

So when Paul discovered Vicki liked animals, he set about creating Pets and their Owners.

¨he exhibition includes a variety of local characters with their pets, featuring everything from a naked man with his pet goldfish to a woman with her robotic pet dog.

'I wanted to find colourful people with colourful pets,' Paul said. 'I wanted to make the exhibition interesting - not just like a set of family portraits. If I couldn't find an unusual animal, then I found an unusual owner.'

Paul only uses manual cameras for all his photography, as he feels the result is more authentic. Most of his manual cameras are between 30 and 50 years old.

'Photography with the classic manual camera puts human ability in the foreground - it allows complete freedom of expression and perception,' Paul said. 'With a manual picture quality depends on the creative potential of the photographer, in other words on his ability to coordinate light, shape and colour.

'People take pictures. The cameras function is merely to render the photographer's thoughts visibly, reliably and accurately.'

Pets and their Owners is on until June 1.