Buddy is a big Alaskan Malamute who I first photographed in Canberra soon after I had moved there in 2006. I had started a photographic arts course at the Australian National University (ANU) and had decided to photograph dogs for my first body of work (surprise, surprise). I put the word out around work that I was after volunteers who could offer up their dog for me to photograph. The first person to respond was Adriyana. She and her husband Mark are now two of my closest friends.

I happened to be going through my archives last week and came across this photo of Buddy with Adriyana’s niece. At the time, I pretty well scrapped this photo because we couldn’t see much of Buddy’s face. Now when I look at it I see a little girl enjoying cuddles with her dog and I can’t believe I ever passed it over.

Adriyana was a really good friend to me when I moved to Canberra. We became friends quickly and we planned a trip to India together within months of knowing each other. Adriyana is the dog wrangler behind many of my India Dog photos, especially Taj Dog. I just wanted to thank Adriyana for being my friend, because sometimes I get crazy busy and don’t keep in touch enough.