Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Random shots from a retirement day

The latest batch of retired racing greyhounds to arrive from Caliente numbered 21. Eighteen was the original number, but leaving just a few in the pet kennel seemed pointless so all of them were taken. What was a bit surprising with this bunch was that there wasn't a broken-legged greyhound among them. So much the better.

I'll share some random shots that I took during the day.

Huck is a large, white male who lives with the McRorie's. When he was let out of the innermost of two fences that enclosed the property he wandered around and had to see what was going on while Joyce was giving instructions to volunteers new to retirement day processing. When he was still long enough I grabbed a few snaps. This one was a mistake, but look at the bokeh:

Huck

While this one of Huck was a little closer to what I was trying to get:

Huck

Then he walked up the ramp that leads into a house where kennels are set up to temporarily house some of the greyhounds. He went inside, then turned around and stood on the platform at the top of the ramp, so I got another shot of him:

Huck

This is probably a little too dark and kind of flat, but also lots of bokeh to see.

What do you do with a picture that sucks in color because you badly overexposed it? You turn it into black-and-white to see if it looks better:

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Didn't work this time, I think.

I took a picture of a flower growing under the trees:

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I tried for a different perspective of a greyhound being bathed:

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There was a nice moment between a girl who hugged a greyhound she had helped foster before the dog left to be taken home:

Perfect gets a hug and a kiss

Small dog-testing photos can be interesting:

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All the dogs shown here were fine during testing, in case you were wondering.

The same applied to Kinko, the cat used for testing:

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For some reason, Kinko swatted at quite a few of the greyhounds in this batch.

Then I had to leave. I'm hoping that I'll have some different ideas of how to shoot the next retirement day. Stay tuned.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm and the 18-200mm zoom; suffice it to say I used program, aperture-, and shutter-priority; auto, flash, sunlight, and cloudy white balance; normal JPG.)

17 comments:

  1. Steve, you take the BEST pictures!!! Of course, I think the ones with the funny looking bald dog are the best. <3

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    1. mr. jesse is awesome, as everyone knows and has seen during the small dog-testing. he puts up with a lot, and stands his ground if he thinks he needs to.

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  2. Kinko is earning MANY, MANY extra karma points for her next life.

    Been watching your photos for a little bit now. Love that you keep your photo tweaking explanations straightforward and simple, even as great as your pictures are. Someday, I hope to be in line to foster and/or adopt a greyhound... your pics can whet my appetite until then.

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    1. m.c., when the day comes where you do foster or adopt a greyhound, you must post pictures.

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  3. I don't know whose expression is the funniest, the Chinese Crested or the Greyhound in the second to last photo. As for Kinko, his is priceless. No guesses needed as to what he's thinking.

    Huck has a very handsome nose;) Can you plan for bokeh or is it a happy accident?

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    1. bokeh is a term used to describe the circular characteristic of how out-of-focus objects look. you'd like the bokeh to be round and even, not annular (i.e., not to look like a ring). when you set your lens aperture wide open you'll see bokeh.

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  4. Kinko cracked me up!

    I love those photos of Huck! Oh, if only there were room at the inn! I have a weakness for those big boys.

    I think the pictures are fine, too (spoken from someone who knows much less about it than you do) but I understand the feeling of thinking you're in a rut.

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    1. i get in these moods where i don't want to be repetitious in my picture-taking. but trying to come up with a fresh take on subject matter is sometimes hard. i don't want to go all artsy-fartsy and then forget that people want to see the greyhounds.

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    2. I think I resemble that comment... I think sometimes artsy is okay! You can go overboard with it, but a dash of something different isn't always a bad thing. The worst that can happen is someone says "that's not my favorite."

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  5. Replies
    1. thank you, but it's a struggle for me to see something in an interesting way. i guess it's part of trying to develop a "style" that says "me".

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  6. Love when you share photos of the hounds coming it. It's so interesting to see the whole process and all the love that goes into transitioning these hounds.

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    1. it is an interesting process to watch. you see the whole spectrum of reactions from the dogs as they're removed from the dog hauler, waiting for ticks to be removed, bathed, nails clipped, ears checked, getting blood pulled, and being small dog- and cat-tested. people who haven't seen this before invariably comment at how well the dogs take to be handled by strangers.

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  7. Good pix.

    Poor Kinko looks extremely stressed out. I really feel sorry for him/her. New environment, big dogs...laid back flat ears, back claws out... Do they always test Greys with cats outside this way?

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    1. the adoption groups must know whether any greyhound they get just off the track is small dog- or cat-safe. it helps them to be sure that they place a greyhound that's the best fit with a prospective adopter since many households (such as mine, for example) already have cats. nearly every greyhound that i have seen at these retirement days back away from kinko.

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  8. I love it when new dogs arrive, it puts a smile on my face every time! I always get a little emotional when they first step out to meet their new families too - and have to push back a tear or two so I don't look crazy! :)

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    1. we tried to foster once...and failed. (that's how sadie came to live with us.) i admire those who have fostered -- i would find it very tough to repeatedly send a foster on to a new family, though that is the ultimate goal.

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