Sue Packer's Pets

Just bought a second-hand copy of Pets by Sue Packer, an amusing collection of photographs featuring animals and their owners. The photobook was originally published in hardback in 2003. Fear not, this isn't one of those twee assemblages of soft-focus shots of kittens and puppies. Instead what you’ll find here is a wide-range of subjects including a young girl covered in snails; a tattooed lady and her pet lizard (see pic); and one man and his ferret, amongst many others. Packer, from Abergavenny, has carried out some interesting photographic experiments in the past including documenting the offspring of seven of her closest friends in The Babies. In Tintern Portraits she went around knocking on strangers' doors asking if she could photograph the occupants of the house. She'd just moved into the Gwent village and thought it would be an ideal way of getting to know her new neighbours. Her Pets images have been exhibited throughout the UK.

*The above photograph is copyright of Sue Packer.