PHOTO FOR THE DAY

One of the latest additions, Marvin. He immediately stole our hearts and horded them like he did the toys on the field.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED no 5

I think the past 4 entries cover the majority of the questions I’ve had posed to me lately – well the ones that aren’t too personal – and in regards to some of those - no, you may not stop by the living quarters and no, I don’t do house calls so you can meet me at a park for the photos of your pet, and no, I won’t tell you if I am married or not, and no, I won’t meet you at the bar, sorry you’ll just have to accept that, but thank you for asking. However a yes to the images are for sale and you can order any of the ones on this site, my photography blog or photography website.

So that’s about it, fairly straight forward for the most part. Thanks for hanging in and reading this far. Or if you just skipped to the end, you missed a fascinating history and the instructions on receiving an incredible free gift ;)

I will say the joy I get in capturing a greyhound in full flight, like this image from this weekend



Or this one, also from this weekend:

is by far one of the best feelings there is – next to when Breeze jumps in the bed and snuggles first thing in the morning, or Dru comes in to check on me while I am working or Willow does the don’t-stop-petting-me paw thing.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED no 4

Where do you find all the different dogs in your photos? I am blessed with an extended greyhound family that seems to be getting larger all the time. When I first got Willow (almost 3 years ago now) I was taking her to the dog park and ran into another greyhound owner.

Now anyone who has a grey, knows owning (or being owned) by a grey immediately enters you into a special club. My father likens it to having a Harley. There’s just something about it. So when you meet another greyhound owner you typically gravitate towards them. Then the chatting starts. Does yours roach? How did you get them to stop passing gas potent enough to blister paint? Does yours do the GSD and when? How did you teach yours to sit? What are you feeding them? And the list goes on.

She and I started unofficially meeting at the park in the mornings. Then one day another woman showed up with her greyhound and she started joining us as well. Then one more and one more. Now they’ve, both humans and dogs, become our family and we all meet each weekend. This weekend we had 2 new human additions to the group with their two dogs and 2 veterans who have recently adopted new dogs because they have recently lost theirs. That's right! 4 new dogs to take photos of! I was a bit preoccupied at playdate this weekend.

Zapper - a new addition to playdate (and a foster, he's available)

Martin - The newest family member for one of the regulars. They lost Cathy (of the purple cast) a few months ago.

Bailey - a new adoption for one of the regulars. The family lost Squeaky (of the ears) this past month.



Duncan - a new, and quite photogenic, addition to the group.

To be continued.... (almost done!)

QUESTIONS ANSWERED no 3

Please tell us more about the masthead photo. One of my all time favorites. It was taken after a playdate. I had loaded the girls into the car and was talking with one of my friends who yelled “look” and pointed past my shoulder so fast she almost knocked me out. I turned and saw the girls posing. I fumbled to get my ever-present camera out of my pocket and managed to fire off a couple of shots before they lost interest in whatever they were staring at. I was so focused on getting the shot I have no idea what caught their attention, though I am grateful for what ever it was.

The models from left to right: Willow, Breeze, Dru and Opal. Yes, they are all greyhounds and, yes, at the time, all mine. The car is a Toyota Matrix, which is surprisingly roomy and can fit 4 greyhounds. It is probably a good thing it can’t comfortably fit more…

How do you get such good photos of the dogs and/or the sprinting greys in focus? In all honesty, a good portion of the photos I take aren’t in focus, or it’s a picture of just grass, or just the tail is in frame or part of the head is missing, or the dogs are little specks in the distance, or someone is sniffing someone else's butt, or my shadow is prominent and distracting, or there is a person in the frame, or the photo is just boring, or, or, or...

Taking good photos of running greyhounds is hard. Period. They’re going at 20-30 miles an hour (If not faster. I know they have a much higher top speed, but it can’t really be achieved in our fenced area due to limitations on space).

It is like taking photos of race cars. The only thing is that with race cars (and racing greyhounds (be it on the track or coursing) and horses) they follow a set path. The photographer knows where the subject will be at some point and can set the focus, waiting for the subject to enter the frame. The area we run in is not a track and the hounds take full advantage to run in every which way. It makes it more challenging, and fun, to take photos.

So, I take a lot of photos and a small percentage come out well. Though over the years, with all the practice, the percentage has risen. I have learned how to time my swing of the camera with the speed of the dog, what settings I need, which direction I can take the photo in because of the sun and my shadow, how to work around the people in the area, etc. So the answer – lots and lots of practice and lots and lots of pictures.

Here's just a couple of the photos from this morning that didn't come out all too well.

Breeze, a bit out of focus. She looks quite prancy in this photo, that's 'cuz Dru is not attached to her head.

Cleo out of focus, this would have been a great shot, massive intent on attacking the toy.

Kebi and Ginger, little specks on the horizon and my shadow featuring predominantly.

RJs tail. The timing was a bit little off on this one.


Willow's tail. Again a small problem with timing.

Missing a bit of nose are we? Though I love the photo anyway.


and my favorite. No dog. What. So. Ever. It happens more than I care to admit.

To be continued...

QUESTIONS ANSWERED no 2

The next big question - “What type of camera do you use?” Most people getting the answer to this question turn out to be disappointed, so skip ahead if you are a camera snob. I started with a point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot SD1000. That’s right, a Canon PowerShot SD1000, go look it up online. It is a tiny pocket-sized camera about 4” x 2” x ¾”. I started with that, as it was what I used for years in my work. That’s what I had, so that’s what I used. I believe you get to know what the limitations are of the camera and you either work with or around them. There are simply some photos I can’t get with this camera and I know that. But, I will try them knowing they will most likely not come out, and they usually don’t, they’re crap. The photo below, not crap and award winning, was taken with the PS 1000.

I decided, once I started selling the fine art and greyhound prints, I would save up for a nicer camera with the money from the sales. I got a Canon G10. Yup, another point-and-shoot. In all fairness, it is about as close to a DSLR as you can get and it produces excellent quality images. I use the G10 for the fine art prints, portraits, and wedding photography. I still use the SD1000 for all the greyhound photos. (little under whelmed now?) I won’t use the G10 because of the dust, dirt, dog hair, slobber and the high probability of damage to the camera when in an area with that many sprinting, jumping, loving-up-on-you greys. I had to clean the lens after this slobber-filled investigation.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED no 1

I’ve had a number of questions regarding my greyhound and fine art photography that I thought it was time to finally answer. Questions like: How do I manage to get the good and in focus photos of running greyhounds? Who’s in the masthead photo and what are they staring at? What type of camera I use? Where do you find all those dogs? How long did you study photography? What programs do you use to enhance your prints? Just to name a few.

So I thought I would answer these questions and a few more in the next couple of posts, though there will be a bit of demystification going on, I hope you won’t be too disappointed. And because it surprisingly turned into a long post with much rambling, I am going to break it up a bit AND add photos!

Where/how long did you study photography? – (warning: this segment has more to do with general photography than greyhound photography, so please skip to the next post if you are looking for pet related topics.) I’ve never had formal photography training. I like shooting photos. It’s as simple as that. I’ve had people say the reason my images turn out well is because I am not confined to the rules typically associated with photography - because I never learned them. My sister told me it has to do with how I see things. I don’t know. I just like finding the patterns, the flow of a scene, in the view finder and capturing it. I see something I like and I take a picture, sometime it works out, sometimes it is just crap. More often than not it is just crap. Sometimes it comes out like this one; a stained glass window in one of the casinos in Vegas. Much pattern.

Another photography no no - I shoot photos in the middle of the day – Gasp! Heresy. Yes some of my best images are at sunset and sunrise; the time I have been told you are supposed to shoot photos, but as often as not they are taken in the middle of the day. I love the contrast of the shadows and harsh lighting found in the desert. Because the following image was taken in the middle of the day, I was able to capture the lacework orange shadow of the wings on the railing.

I don’t Photoshop or stage the fine art prints – I believe it is more challenging to try to get it all right the first time; composition, lighting, subject, etc. I do Photoshop the greyhound photos; it’s damn near to impossible to get a sprinting greyhound dead center in the frame with correct lighting, etc. The photo below: all natural, as I found this proud beauty in my back yard, and since it is a night blooming cereus, it was withered away in 15 minutes of when I took this photo.

There is never somewhere where there isn’t a photo op (did ya follow that?) - I believe it is possible to find an interesting shot just about anywhere, maybe that comes from living in the visually dull and mostly brown hued desert and finding things to photograph. I do know it is not necessary to be in front of some impressive national wonder or stunning architectural building to get a good photo. I believe you can find beauty in the harshest or most boring of conditions. You just have to look for it. This is the top of a Saguaro cactus in my front yard. I never knew the new needle growth is red, turning to white after a few weeks.

To be continued...

THE DRU SAGA

And the Dru Collision saga continues…

We started the time at the park today with Dru not even wanting to go through the gate. A little encouragement and a little uncertain prancing (by Dru, not me) and she came in. It was a slight hesitation, but there nonetheless.

As usual, after the dog greetings, everyone took off at a run. Except Dru. I just decided to employ the let’s not make a big deal of it attitude and walked away to shoot photos. She didn’t want to enter the grass, so if I went into the dirt, she would come over and hang out, otherwise she stayed with the people in the dirt area when usually she plays with the other dogs, does the runs, harasses Breeze, and checks in with me.

We had about 16 dogs there today (WOOT!) and once a few went home, she was more comfortable and did a couple of runs. When a dog was on the other side of the fence she joined the mad rush to go say “hi”, then freaked out once she realized where she was and what she had done. We stayed until most everyone had left and she came onto the grass and did a little playing with me. So, better, but not normal.

Thank you everyone for your comments yesterday, I do appreciate them.