Photographs of Glitzy Canine Competition Backdrops Without the Star Attractions

Melbourne-based photographer Louis Porter is a thorough, particular, and often mysterious photographer—an avid and precise collector of themes, concepts, and situations. His collection of images from All that Glitters leaves us with the sense that something—a sentiment, a person, an object—is missing.

In this series, Porter has flipped everything on its head. In place of a tangible foreground object, we see a glittery backdrop. Instead of a thing framed, we are left with negative space. And instead of the show we were expecting, we are left with dead air. “Photographs envelop reality in a lush topography of illusion,” Porter writes in the introduction of the series. “In these photographs, the previous occupants have left their boudoirs.” So just who were these previous occupants? Some fiercely competitive canines, that’s who. Porter tells us, “small fragments, a few loose hairs, flecks of skin, or a patch of drool are all that remains of the dogs who are being judged in the arena of the competition hall.”

This post was contributed by photographer Sahara Borja.

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