Stags, Hens, and Bunnies, By Dougie Wallace, book review

stags, hens and bunnies

Blackpool has an unenviable reputation for its stag and hen parties. Every weekend, marauding packs of prospective brides and grooms fill its streets on a mission to consume dangerous levels of alcohol. Here, Dougie Wallace captures a town heaving with everything from bunnygirls to banana men.

Girls dressed in togas, all matching gold handbags and neatly-done hair, devil girls, pink ladies, Brownies, guys in drag, wearing salacious T-shirts – each group with the same singular objective, to get as drunk as possible. London-based photographer Wallace grew up in Glasgow.

He is recognised for his expressive social documentary and a distinct and direct style of street photography. As he says: “People, their interactions and emotions, fascinate me … translating this, through my lens, into social wit, criticism and humorous vignettes is what stimulates me.”

Largely self-taught, he took up photography seriously after Army service. He believes his Glasgow upbringing helped shape his style, which has been described as hard edged and visually exaggerated, conveying a personalised point of view that is both believable and absurd.