Posted on December 4, 2011 in Animals, Pet Photography
Okay, so this Bulldog’s name is probably NOT Fang! At least I hope it isn’t! 🙂 I was ringside near the Bulldog judging at The National Dog Show and saw this sweetie-pie relaxing on a pretty striped blanket. An important thing to keep in mind when photographing ANYTHING [dogs, people, you-name-it!] is to carefully select the background for your subject. As soon as I saw this scene I knew that I wanted to shoot down to create an image of the dog surrounded by the out-of-focus striped blanket. It took a little wrangling by the owner to keep “Fang” from lying down, but we got the shot! And a cute shot it is, don’t you think? In every image, “Fang” is sticking out his/her tongue at me as if to say, “Phooey on this creativity nonsense, just let me nap!”
Posted on December 3, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
When I was photographing the Group and Best in Show competition at The National Dog Show, the dogs and handlers crossed right in front of me as they moved for the judges. Being so close to the action was exciting but also challenging from a photography point of view. I was using my 70-200mm lens which worked great but at times was either too short or too long! I could have used a longer lens when photographing the dogs across the show floor and on the judging table and I wouldn’t have minded a shorter one when the dog and handler ran right past me. I had a lot of opportunity to practice panning with my camera with the most difficulty being keeping both dog and handler in focus and composed pleasingly in the frame. I particularly like the striking cool colors of the white Borzoi, blue carpet and the handler’s bright pink suit in this image.
Posted on December 2, 2011 in Animals, Pet Photography
The minute I saw it I fell in love, love, LOVE with this Shiba Inu image. I love the pensive look on the pup’s face. I love that the image consists of only 3 colors. I love the frame-filling or should I say fur-filling composition. I love the depth of field where the profile is in focus but the surrounding portions of the dog are soft. Yep, I really love this one!
Posted on December 1, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
I photographed Welsh Springer Spaniel, J-Clarke [GCH Am/Can/UKC Ch Ivywild’s Lookin’ to Skeldale, RN], back in April at the Lebanon County/Harrisburg Kennel Club Dog Show and as a result came to meet his owner, Mary Johnson. When I mentioned to Mary that I was heading to The National Dog Show, she asked if I could take some photos of J-Clarke. To help me locate him, she sent a photo of his handler, Ryan, along with the location of their benching area, and off I went in search of this sweet dog. I was lucky to be able to photograph J-Clarke winning his breed on Saturday morning and then in the big arena for the group competition later in the day. J-Clarke and Ryan are a great team! I hope to see you both again soon!