Sunday, July 19, 2009

Dusting off the camera again


"Frisbee-Catching Dog"
Digital Photo

It's not the clearest photo I've ever taken, but capturing action shots like this helped alleviate some of the boredom I've encountered lately with picture-taking. Flowers are a captive audience and don't move too much, unless the wind is blowing. I love their natural beauty, don't get me wrong, but when I want to push myself, I have to seek different opportunities.

The gentleman who brought his 7 dogs to my town of Frankfort is of world-championship caliber. It was quite remarkable to watch the agile movements of australian sheep-dogs and border collies. On top of this, 5 out of 7 of the dogs are rescue dogs, which opened my heart even more to this kind-hearted, and talented man. I was in the photo zone most of the day, taking about 300 pictures. These ranged from a bag of frisbees lying nearby to different poses by the dogs catching the multi-colored round discs. I even got a couple of shots of the trainer twirling his dogs round and round while they held the frisbee in their mouths. Strong teeth!

The hardest part for me was determining where the dog would catch the frisbee. I had to move the camera and pick a spot, hoping for the right results. I had the camera on the correct shutter speed (about 125 on up) but I suppose moving the camera to catch the dog added some blurriness to many images. And they always say "Use a tripod" which I left behind. Ah well, in the excitement of going some things you just don't think about.

The kids who gathered to watch, and the dogs themselves, were hysterical and I laughed alot. I also felt pushed and motivated by the scene in front of me. Maybe I won't lay my camera down to collect dust quite yet. Being the explorer that I am, I know there's a whole lotta world out there calling my name!

2 comments:

Elena said...

Actually, I like the photo. I can never capture action shots. I usually just get a leg or arm as they're off screen. Nice.

Doris said...

What a great Artist date! I would very much enjoy the performance.