Photographer Mick Tsikas, armed with his smartphone and a clever App, attended the start of the Mardi Gras Festival in February.

Fair Day at Victoria Park in the inner Sydney suburb of Chippendale is one of the first celebrations leading up to the Mardi Gras parade on March 3.

Along with the stalls, entertainment, rides and food is Doggywood, a competition for owners and their dogs.

Categories include Best Owner-Dog Look-Alike, Best “Pick-Up” Dog, Best Dressed Dog, the famous Doggywood obstacle course and of course there has to be a Best in Show.

The App Tsikas used for his portraits replicates traditional analogue film prints.

“I wanted to shoot pictures with something that didn’t produce the sometimes sterile results from the modern digital SLR cameras that I use every day in my professional work,” Tsikas says.

“The simple background of the tents which were used as stalls at the fair complemented the gutsy, near-monochrome tones and rough borders.”