Bearded Collie Club of America AKC Agility Trial
This past weekend the Bearded Collie Club of America held an AKC Agility Trial at American K9 Country in Amherst, NH. Both dogs and competitors were seen having fun even through the final runs on Sunday afternoon.
At this time, I’m still processing the images in preparation for posting them on the web. The first sets of proofs can be seen at the following link:
A bunch of updates have just been uploaded and I’m trying to get some more in tonight; compeltion of all proofs will be on Friday.
Upcoming Events
After playing catch-up and getting the EESSC AKC Agiltiy trial proofs from Granby, MA posted, it’s time to look forward to some busy times and fun events. This coming weekend, I will be back in Granby to capture the action at the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club AKC Agility trial. Weather forecasts look reasonable, so I expect some good photo opportunities.
The following weekend, I’ll photograph the Wachusett Kennel Club AKC trial in Devens, MA; this is the kennel club, to which my wife and I belong, so it’s always great fun.
This is followed by three days at the Golden Retriever Club of America Nationals to photograph the field trial at West Thompson Dam in Rhode Island. I’m hoping for some sunshine during those days, as the splashing of the dogs returning with the birds makes for spectacular images with some sun.
Then a weekend at Wrentham to capture the always exciting NADAC action!
Busy, but a lot of fun!
Image Portfolio
At long last a blog update (it’s been way too long…) to announce that I have started putting some of my favorite images of the past years on-line. You will have seen some of these images in my book; others are decorating the walls of my studio and our home (and a couple of others, as well).
At the insistence of a number of my loyal customers, I have started the undertaking of re-cataloging some of my non-event work to make it available in this manner. It’s a bit of work, as I have shot several hundred thousand images over the past few years. The first fruits of this labor are on-line at this point at Portfolio Gallery where the Reflections gallery has 10 images in it as of tonight. I will be putting up a couple of additional galleries over the next few days.
When I complete going over the non-event images, I will start collecting my favorites among the event photography; no promise on a completion date.
More will be forthcoming, so check back and I promise to not take so long between blog posts this time!
Conceptual Photography (pt. 2)
I thought I’d share another of my images from the ‘Conceptual Photography’ class that I’m taking. Part of last week’s assignment was to further enhance the emotion or idea used in the previous image; this was the solitude expressed by the fork bent over in its long journey.
While I worked on refining the original image, I want to share a reshoot of the same concept with a slightly different approach. I call the image above, ‘A Tree Grows’; the ‘tree’ is the only living thing in the sterile landscape that is presented in the background. I photographed the ‘tree’ in a hanging position with a pure white background and did the rest of the work after the capture; I created a layer from the cut-out of the white background and overlayed that layer with a woven pattern. Sizing this correctly and selecting a position that works finished the image.
I hope you enjoy the image and welcome any comments or questions you may have.
Fenway Park
Even during the off-season, one might be drawn to the ballpark!
Earlier this month, I attended a company kick-off meeting at historic Fenway park in Boston. The outing was wonderful, but something was missing: the fans! Even on a snowy day, the park looks for its fans to bring the warm atmosphere to life inside its hallowed walls. Let’s hope the snow is gone by opening day!
Conceptual Photography
In between events, I am taking an on-line class in ‘Conceptual Photography’. The thought behind conceptual photography is to express an idea or emotion in an image through the use of common objects that are not normally associated with the particular idea. This approach causes one to stretch the mental muscle a little bit more to relate an emotion through household objects, such as a fork in the case of the image, on which I am working.
The concept behind the solitary fork, bent by a force that could be old age, heavy burden or unending journey, is that the day becomes long, but the lonely travail is not over yet. I remember seeing a charcoal sketch by Piet Mondriaan in the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, which portrayed trees bent over by the wind and feeling a similar emotion of the lonely traveler in an unending landscape.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be experimenting with this idea and different methods of photographing this lonely fork. As I get results that I like, I will post updates.
