Hair-Raising Stunt

Lock Around The Clock

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This week's theme was always going to be a tough one. Then a few hours ago, I noticed that one of my colleagues had a huge, ornamental feather on her desk. So I told her what I was going to do, and I specified that I did not want her to pose for the shot.

Was I going to put her on my blog? Yes.

Was she going to be famous? Alas, no. Her smiling face was not going to be in the frame, just the top of her head and the feather. I explained how I was going to frame the shot and she gave me the thumbs-up. Thank goodness I work with colleagues who are good sports.

Then I got a brainwave and decided to break one of my golden rules. You know how I never "set up'' a shot? Well I just had to break that rule ....

You know how I just shoot what I see, exactly where I see it? Well, I asked another of my colleagues, a bloke called DB, if he would walk out with me at lunchtime so I could use the top of his head to compose a special shot at nearby Federation Square.

No, DB hasn't gone for the Untidy Mohawk Option - I just shot this to use the giant artistic red ``sticks'' as a creative interpretation of the theme.

I have to say it was a tough one to shoot, because it was very cloudy. While my initial instinct was to shoot from a favourable angle, I was thwarted by the quality of light, so DB and I had to move to a completely different angle to make the shot work.

This last photograph was taken in September 2005, during a two-day trip to Montreal. I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw this huge, striking figure on the facade of a shop in the city's gay district.