St Tammany Humane Society's Woofstock 2010, Covington LA

Easter Bunny & Poodles!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending Woofstock 2010, which is a major fundraiser for our St. Tammany Humane Society.  Although the weather was brutal – 40° and very windy – spirits were high and the entertainment was superb.  If you get a chance, seek out Four Unplugged and Ghost Town.  Both groups put on a super show under difficult conditions.  They donated their time and totally rocked out.  The hardy souls who got to hear them felt very lucky indeed.   Of course we were there and we brought our number one bunny friend!  We have the humane, environmentally friendly,  real live Easter Bunny!

I want to remind those who are tempted to partake in live rabbit sales or promotions, rabbits grow, become hormonal at 4-6 months, and will not remain the cute bunny you first met for very long.  They can bite and scratch and are not suitable pets for very young children.  If you truly wish to be friends with a rabbit, there are organizations which rescue the discarded rabbits who desperately need homes.

Backyard Tortoise (Click to enlarge)

First I want to draw your attention to this guy on the left.  Click the image and you can see her larger, the way I intended the photo to look.  Organic.  Dark.  Other-worldly.  Just as they have lived for thousands of years.  What if I picked her up from my backyard, put her in a box and decided to keep her?  Would it matter how I kept her?  In an aquarium?  How about in a protected sanctuary complete with room to roam?  How about enough room which would equal what she would need in the wild?

I pose these questions today because I’ve been thinking of their answers after reading a horrible story which happened in Orlando yesterday.  An Orca trainer at the Sea World park was dragged into the pool by the largest Killer Whale in captivity.  He jumped from the pool, grabbed her by the waist and thrashed her back and forth.  She was pronounced dead on the scene.

Dawn Brancheau, 40, was an experienced trainer at the tourist attraction.  I have no doubt that she had Tillikum’s best interest at heart.  He is a 12,000 pound mammal living in the park since 1992.  Ms. Brancheau had worked with Tillikum for 16 of the 18 years he spent in Sea World’s confinement.  He was born in 1981 and spent two years with his mother.  Most males spend their lifetimes with their mothers and the rest of the pod.  In 1983 he was abducted and sent to live at Sealand in Victoria, Canada where he performed and lived with two other females who picked on him constantly.  This arrangement lasted for 9 years before Tillikum’s first incident (sic).  Trainer Keltie Lee Byrne fell into a tank holding Tillikum and two other whales.  They pulled the trainer under water until she drowned.  Tillikum was then sold to Sea World.

You can find much information about the life and times of this creature.  Then multiply it by the thousands of captive whales sometimes kept in enclosures which to them are no larger than a bathtub.  Is it our right to capture and own exotic wild animals?  I dream of visiting different oceans and taking the tours to view these creatures with my camera.  I know I will experience the majesty which is in their nature.  I have seen video of breaching and playing behavior.  I see their dorsal fin as it’s meant to be – erect and magnificent, not flopped as are those in captivity.  Should that not tell us something?

Which brings us back to this lovely terrapin. Is it our right to pluck her/him from her/his environment?  We can, but is it our right?  We can even rationalize our capture with the idea that we are protecting it.  But have we interfered with the possible reproduction of more of them?  Are there any among us who have not kept lightning bugs in a jar…perhaps until their deaths?  I know I have partaken in such experiences myself…but I can’t help but notice that there don’t seem to be as many of them as there used to be.

If you think that I’m a little preachy today, reconsider.  I am owned by an exotic bird.  She was not wild-caught.  She was bred and hand-fed in Louisiana.  But is that right?  I just pose the questions as I try to figure it out for myself.  It is not possible to return her to the wild, as she has imprinted humans and she is now 16 years old.  But what of those animals ripped from their wild flocks, prides, herds, pods, colonies or troops (apes)?

I know the answer for me.  When we know better we do better.  Perhaps it is time for us to look at these experiences we deemed harmless  and teach our children to enjoy the wildlife as they live – wild.  The only capture necessary to learn of these glorious creatures is photographic.

Budweiser Dalmatian (Click to enlarge)

Budweiser Clydesdales (Click to enlarge)

Our New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.  To those of us in southern Louisiana it didn’t seem like winning a game.  It seemed like something more.  A symbol of hope or even a reminder that anything is possible.

The city of New Orleans put on the biggest parade anyone has ever seen here.  Some estimates had the crowds at 800,000.  I was one of those.  It was a sight to behold.  My experience can be viewed at Sisters Pet Pics Goes to the Saints Victory Parade.

One thing about having a good camera with a good telephoto lens is that you are privy to visual information that the casual observer may not notice.  Any photograph gives you one opportunity to capture more information than the naked eye; a telephoto lens gives you another.  Both give you needed time to process what you’ve seen.

After the beads have been thrown, after the stars have passed, I get to process again what I saw.  Yes, I saw talented athletes, brilliant coaches, and even kind and generous citizens.  Do you sense a ‘but’ coming?  There is.

If you view the slide show you will probably see the photos quickly.  It will give you the feeling of having the floats pass before you.  You will also see the images not cropped.  You will see happy people riding behind the animals celebrating as we do in New Orleans – by throwing trinkets to the masses.  But at my computer I saw something else that disturbed me.  The men in green are not smiling in any of the shots I saw of them that entire day by many other photographers.  The Dalmatian is doing her/his job but somehow s/he doesn’t seem too happy about it either.

Come on, you may say.  Get a grip.  Perhaps.  But Dalmatians are horse dogs.  They like to hang with them.  It has been written that they prefer the company of horses.  They feel the horses.  Then I looked at all the photos I had of the Clydesdales, and I cropped them close.  This is what I saw.  The bridles are too tight.  Even with loose reins the bits are digging into their mouths.  I also noticed that the harnesses are so tight across their backs that they appear to lift their tails even at rest.

At one point I saw one of the middle horses throwing his head with his mouth open and his tongue out.  The insiders – the men in green, the Dalmatian, the Clydesdales – are not happy for good reason.  This was not a celebration for them.  They are being unduly and unfairly burdened.

I had always wanted to see the famous Budweiser Clydesdales.  This was my first opportunity.  I will be watching for them again.  And I won’t let my emotion cloud my judgment.

Afghan Hound at Lure Coursing Event (Click to enlarge - click twice to enlarge again)

My best wish for all you aspiring photographers is that you get a chance to photograph an Afghan at a full run.  There is something about their coats that stops me dead in my tracks.  I was one of the spectators at a Lure Coursing event in southern Louisiana in November.  It is a joy to watch these running dogs because no one teaches them to do this…it’s just what they want to do.  All the humans have to do it sit back and watch them.  Either they do it or they don’t. This fella did.  Doesn’t his tail look like an integral part of the run?

The photographic technique is stop-action, not panning.  Though I moved the camera with the dog as he ran, my shutter speed was too fast to streak-blur the grass as would have happened if I shot at perhaps 1/60 or thereabouts.

I didn’t want much of a depth of field for this (f5.6) and I didn’t want a smidgen of blur on the dog, so I used a shutter speed of 1/1000.  We’ll talk more about panning soon.

If you’re interested in seeing more of these shots they can be viewed at Sisters Pet Pics Proof Section – Lure Coursing.

Megan The Flying Boxer (Click to enlarge)

Last weekend Sisters Pet Pics was invited to photograph a fundraising event for the Louisiana Boxer Rescue and the Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue groups.  It was the Boxer Bash/Dobe Dash 2009!  We had a wonderful time.  Read about how we were touched by these heroic and yet fun folks on the Boxer Bash Proofs page.

This shot of Megan isn’t perfect, but her intensity overcomes some of the problems for me.  For instance the tunnel peeking out on the left of the frame.  I wish I could have placed myself a little to my left to have avoided that.  But I thought you may like to see what other athletic dog breeds are doing for fun.  Why … they’re flying!

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (Click to enlarge)

For those anxious to view the snap shots we took at the Fest, they’re up!  Visit our Proofs page to view them.  You’ll see a link to Pet Fest 2009 to see the collections.

I mentioned the challenges I confronted in the post Over Stimulation Is Not Just For Children Any More.  You may think that bright light is easy…but it’s not.  I much prefer an overcast day for events when things are happening at break neck speed, as they were at Pet Fest 2009.  No sooner had I been speaking with Angela Hill of WWL-TV (she was just wonderful!) than a wagon-load of Chihuahuas and Papillons would stroll by.  Some subjects were in the blinding light, some in deep dark shadows, but all of them just needed to have their picture taken.

It was a journalistic photographer’s dream.  Stories all over the place.  For the studio portrait artist…a challenge.  I changed my settings so many times my fingers hurt.  I worried constantly about whether I was capturing the story in front of me…they were certainly bringing it.  Although I was supposed to be promoting our studio and our new location, I forgot about that most of the time, and just tried to record what was in front of me.  And it occurred to me; this was the best exercise for any aspiring photographer.  Whether you wanted to be a pet photographer or a journalist on the war front, this would have been a good start.

There was so much to photograph one didn’t have to walk about to find it.  I never found the time to check out the rest of the Fest as I had wanted to.  As far as I was concerned it was happening right in front of — or in — our tent.  This engaging little girl on the right was one of the souls I met that day.  I worried aloud about her to her dad.  My concern was about walking around with her unrestrained in such a madhouse.  I shared with him that I live with two cherished large parrots I would never expose to the dangers of all the people and animals at an event like this.  He assured me he does this all the time.  “What fun is it to have one of these guys if you can’t take them everywhere.”  I’m not passing judgment, I’m only voicing my concern for unconfined, unprotected animals.  It wouldn’t take but one strong breeze for even a clipped-winged bird to catch it and be off.

Nevertheless, I talked with and photographed this wonderful little creature.  I wish her and her dad long-lived safety, health and happiness as I do all the great new friends I met that day.  Enjoy the Proofs !

Happy Working Boxer - Tristan (Click to enlarge)

Okay, folks, most of you missed a really wonderful dog day today.  It was the Boxer Bash – Dober Dash 2009, an event put on by the Louisiana Boxer Rescue and Doberman Rescue Groups.  It seems my days have been filled with rescue groups, and I have been overwhelmed with stories of heroic and touching rescue.

But there is fun too, and these folks know how to have it.  A costume contest (of course), but there was also a musical sit game.  What a hoot.  The dogs and their human companions walked around cones until the music stopped, and then they had to sit…the last to sit was out.  It was fun for all, including the dogs!

There was an agility course set up and a couple of the Boxers were really, really good.  I was surprised because I usually see other breeds doing this, but I stand corrected.  Boxers are great athletes, as you can see in this shot of Tristan.  Every muscle seemed like it loved to do what he was doing.  It’s always a joy to watch dogs doing what they love and the people following their endeavors.

Today’s light was this photographer’s dream.  Overcast all day.  Even light everywhere.  I had many options for settings.  Busy background?  Slim depth of field, making the subject the only thing in focus.  Action?  High shutter speed.  I didn’t struggle much at all.  It was as much fun for me as it was for Tristan here.  1/1000 allowed a tack sharp action shot.  I loved this.

As soon as I catch my breath, I’ll be posting more photos from today, as well as all those photos from last week’s Pet Fest.

Pet Fest 2009 Poodle (Click to enlarge)

First of all, perhaps you regular readers have noticed that I haven’t posted to the blog every day as I was.  Yes, I fully expected this to happen.  The last 100 days of every year is when this photographer stays very busy.  Portraiture is in demand.  Many more events are held during the time the weather cools.  Some call it the party season and it doesn’t let up until after the New Year.  In southern Louisiana we notice another flurry of partying around Mardi Gras, then the summer doldrums. Well, that’s a photog’s life as I know it.  So I continue to post photos to hopefully inspire your best, but I won’t be posting every day again until March or April.

Having said that, I want to talk about what I call real world shooting.  It’s the kind of photography most – not all – of you are interested in.  You know, it’s the journalistic documentation of a day.  It could be indoors or out.  Much of the time it’s an outdoor event such as the one Sisters Pet Pics attended this past weekend.  Pet Fest 2009 in Metairie, LA.  What a hoot!  It was the largest event that I tried to photograph.  Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dogs were present.  It would be an understatement to say I was over-stimulated!

Although the day was marvelous weather-wise, it was a challenging lighting situation.  I was getting carpal tunnel syndrome from changing settings as I walked in and out of sharp shadows and blinding sun.  A lot of the time the dogs were walking by our tent half in and half out of shadows.  This is the most challenging.

If I followed my rule about getting on the animal’s level to shoot I would have been crawling in the dirt all day.  Alas, my knees wouldn’t have allowed such.  This is an example of “rules were meant to be broken”.  Some dogs were in arms and some were on the ground, but they all were moving and excited and to document their costumes and coats was difficult at best.

Here’s a plan of action.  Try to get yourself in a position where the sun is not directly behind you, but over a shoulder.  Watch your own shadow.  It is not always possible to run around a shot (you tennis players will recognize that reference ).  Try to make sure you are not blowing out the coats of light dogs.  If you have their faces in shadow and the tops of their heads in blinding sun, come as close as you can to the subjects, meter the shadowed area, shoot and hope for the best.

This is a good and worthy plan that should work if you are not trying to photograph hundreds and hundreds of dogs who are all around you as you are also trying to talk to their human companions.  I would love to see some of your photos from the day.  I know you took plenty and I’m not buying the premise that you’re intimidated.  I’ve seen some of your work offline and I’m impressed, so come on.  How did you do in that challenging lighting situation?  Talk about your experiences with shooting family get-togethers and events.  That is the reason most people own cameras and my reason for writing this blog.

Ahoy Fellow Borzoi! (Click to enlarge)

Last Wednesday, the 14th, we were invited to photograph the Yappy Hour Howl-o-ween Costume Contest to benefit the future Pelican Bark Park.  To  see more images from this event visit Sisters Pet Pics Goes to Yappy Hour.  We love the people involved in this fundraising effort and the cause is past due and much needed, as there is not a fenced dog park anywhere in southern Louisiana that we know of.  Please check out their blog to find ways to donate.  We’re close to ground breaking…but not quite.

This fella or gal was a spectator Wednesday night.  He or she has a comrade who was absent that evening and I’m sorry to say I don’t have a name to go with this handsome face. (Anyone know it?  Please comment here!)  Today’s topic will be about photographing in difficult situations, like crowded, low light conditions.

The usual position of a pet photographer is squatting, kneeling or sitting…on the level of your subject.  However, in this crowded club venue squatting wasn’t always an option, so I looked for opportunities to…well, distort a little.  I bent as low as I could without falling on the dog.  I usually want eye contact.  Well, this is eye contact…of sorts.  Not focused on me, but eye contact nevertheless.  If I had stood over the dog to get both eyes, I don’t think it would have improved interest, as I wouldn’t have accentuated the snout length as much as I wanted.

Though the Nikon D3 handles high ISOs very well, the light was so low as to make impossible the option of no-flash photography and still capture clear sharp well-lit images.  Solution?  For me, it’s an on camera speedlight.  Lately I’ve been at several events shooting in low light situations such as this, and the diffuser has garnered more attention than my groovy camera.  I use a Nikon SB800 with a 5th battery slot to improve recycling power.

The real key is the diffuser.  I use a Gary Fong diffuser.  He calls it a Lightsphere.  It’s really cheap and really good and it throws light all around my subject.  I don’t bounce the light because I don’t find it effective in these situations.  I use all sides of the diffuser.  This reduces red (or green) eye and still bathes the subject pretty well.

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t love to see this gorgeous guy or gal in my studio in a more controlled environment to make a dazzling portrait; I’m saying that when forced to shoot in these situations, I make adjustments and try to capture a moment.  Ahoy there, Captain!

Sam The Golden Retriever (Click to enlarge)

No, this isn’t a photo of our new studio.  It’s the counter at Good Dog Naturally, where Sisters Pet Pics was born.  Sam was rescued by the folks who own the store, and he lived there for a few weeks while he was getting fattened up and healthy before going to his forever home.  Sam is a character.  He used to greet people behind the counter as if he knew how to wait on them.

This was an overcast day, so it was kind of dark in the front of the store, requiring more than ambient light to shoot this.  I used a speed light and hand held it at f5.0, 1/100, ISO 200.  I could have tried to bump up the ISO to 400, which probably would have allowed me to get the shot without the speed light.  In August of 2007 I was using the Nikon D200, which I continued to use…until recently.  To go along with our new digs, Sisters Pet Pics invested in a dream camera – D3 – oh yeah!  I’ve been pushing its limits for a month and a half now, and if I had this shot to do over I could have bumped up the ISO to 1600 without noise.

The D3 is a full frame camera as well.  It’s a beauty and I’m anxious to place it on its tripod in its new home.  Yes, our new home.  Don’t forget the Where In The World Is Sisters Pet Pics Contest.  For the last few days I’ve posted hints.  If you guess right, you’ll get 10% off your next order.  I know it’s not fair to readers who are not local, but we’ll be running a contest for everyone right after the move.  Get ready, the prize will be fantastic.  You should start gathering your best pet shots for this contest…that’s all I’m saying for now .

Okay, today’s hint for the Where In The World Is Sisters Pet Pics Contest:  You don’t need golf clubs to use this exit.  Take a guess.