Exhibition- Courses for Horses by Richard Shaw

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Good friend of On Track On Trend, photographer Richard Shaw is currently holding an exhibition 'Courses for Horses' at Yering Station Gallery in the Yarra Valley. Richard has spent over 10 years traveling to various racing carnivals across the globe from Mongolia to Royal Ascot and countless others in between. Not far from Melbourne, it's a must see for anyone in town during the Spring Racing Carnival. Richard's photographs beautifully portray the charm of the racetrack - from fine fashion & exquisite horseflesh to the buzz of the bookmakers ring.1387873_10151951410270011_1716679744_nIt was during the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne a few years ago that Lisa and I first met Richard snapping away behind his camera at the fashions on the field stage. Later on he interviewed us for a magazine article and over the years we have kept in touch and still run into each other at the track. Lisa and I are thrilled that we both sneak in amongst the 70 odd photographs that form the exhibition, so if you pop along look out for us on the walls! Richard will be at the gallery some weekends during the exhibition and if you see him there be sure to have a chat as he always has a fascinating story to tell from his extensive travels.
If you can't make it to the exhibition the October Qantas inflight magazine also has a great article inside which you can see hereThe exhibition runs until the 24th of November 2013By Angela MenzAll photos from Richard Shaw

The Sketch House, Westfield Doncaster

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Recently I entered a competition run by Westfield Doncaster in conjunction with illustrator Megan Hess. Westfield Doncaster was hosting a book signing and a pop-up sketch house. If you're not familiar with the name Megan Hess, no doubt you would have seen her work. She is the artist behind the Sex and the City book covers and has worked with many high end fashion brands including Tiffany & Co, Dior, Chanel and Montblanc to name a few. She also recently released a book called Fashion House, which through her illustrations mixes interiors, style icons and of course fashion. I ran out and bought the book when it was released as I really enjoy her work. Back to the competition, to enter I had to submit a photo online of myself dressed in an outfit I would like to be sketched in. From the entries received forty five finalists were invited into Westfield Doncaster to be sketched live by fashion students. Then from the forty five finalists one lucky winner would be chosen to be sketched by Megan Hess and take home a Westfield voucher. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the forty five finalists to be sketched. The outfit I chose to wear was one of my racing outfits I made that I wore to Warrnambool in May this year. My artist was Alexis who told me she was studying at RMIT. I was shocked when as we were chatting she said she was only in her first year! I studied fashion for three years, but drawing was never my strength so I'm always very impressed when I meet people that can draw and paint. I had to stand in the Sketch House in my outfit as customers walked past for about an hour as Alexis worked on my illustration.Alexis at work 
After a weeks wait I found out I didn't win the sketch with Megan Hess, but I was thrilled to be a part of the competition and felt like a winner anyway with my sketch from Alexis. I have never seen a competition like this as it was quite innovative and I hope that Westfield Doncaster continues to come up with such great promotions.For more information on Megan Hess and Westfield DoncasterBy Angela Menz