Play Clothes

When we were kids, we had two types of clothes: "going out" clothes and play clothes. After school, we'd switch straight into our play clothes to avoid messing up our uniforms. Whether we were exploring outdoors, playing in the mud, or hanging around animals, it was always in our play clothes—usually without shoes. My Dad even told my Mum not to worry about me wearing shoes to school because I'd just take them off and lose them!

Of course, sometimes we had to follow the rules, like wearing shoes at school. But the moment I got home, it was back to play clothes and bare feet. I did wear shoes around bigger animals like horses and cows, or when we were likely to encounter prickles.

Not much has changed for me now. I wear a comfortable, practical work uniform—tradie pants with plenty of “treat pockets” and reinforced knees since I’m always getting up and down during shoots. I stick to black clothes for shoots because they don’t reflect colours into the dogs’ eyes and hide dirt well (slobber, not so much, but that’s okay—what’s a little dog slobber between friends?).

When I was young, my Dad wore overalls, which were his work clothes but doubled as play clothes. They were like a practical, all-day onesie with plenty of pockets for tools. And if he was invited into someone’s home, he could just take them off at the door and his clothes underneath were clean. 

Some of the best memories I have are of wearing my play clothes.

I love these images of this beautiful boy and his horses, because he has his nice “play clothes” on, but when playing in the water, wasn’t afraid to just take off his pants and get in there. 

I love the fact that his Dad has his work clothes on for this shoot, because this Dad, like my Dad was, is extremely hard working and was working right up to the shoot and worked beyond the sun going down. 

I bet you have made some beautiful memories in Play Clothes and I hope you make many, many more.  When we forget to “play” the joy of life is gone, and we seem to be surviving the “treadmill” of life – and not savouring every moment.