Happy Halloween! I shot these photos from the 2023 Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade more than a week ago, but I had to save them for Halloween. There is honestly nothing I love more than having an excuse to hang out with doggos. Sometimes I will be hanging out with people and they will just walk up to strangers dogs and pet them like that is a totally normal thing to do, but I am 6’2″ 200lbs and I look like a scumbag so I can’t just be petting strange dogs (honestly I am down to 190 right now, but the point remains). But you know where I can pet dogs? A Halloween dog parade.

Years ago I shot the Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade for the Village Voice and since then I have had the opportunity to shoot it a few times, even when it wasn’t at Tompkins. Two years ago I shot the McGhoulrick Dog Parade because my girlfriend was living in Greenpoint at the time and I had just hurt my back so I couldn’t go very far. Luckily squatting down to photograph dogs actually made my back feel so much better. It was the first time I realized I could just squat down and it would release so much pressure on my nerve. Anyway, that is not important at all. The important thing is that you now have several links to go see more photos of cute dogs in Halloween costumes. 

This year I kinda half assed it with photos for a number of reasons. The main one was that they shut down the park and it was such a clusterfuck of dog owners and a million people trying to take photos of dogs. I didn’t get a press pass so I was just out in the masses and I got sick of fighting for shots pretty early so I walked to the end and got people leaving. It was also raining and I had a photoshoot after so I had to leave early, but guess what? I still got a ton of photos of cute dogs in costume so I don’t know why you are complaining. That being said, it would be fun go get a press pass again, shoot the entire thing and actually prepare and bring toys and treats to get these dogs to pay attention to me.

Anyway, happy Halloween and go look at some photos now. 

Click here to see all my photos from the Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade!

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