I chose to do some photo shoots at Sachs Covered Bridge again this year at Gettysburg. This is where I met nine-year-old Minty and six-year-old Hoover, their owner Linda, and Linda's daughter Jen.
I met Minty and Hoover at the Country Inn and then led Linda and Jen to the bridge. It took perhaps 15-20 minutes to get there from their hotel. I drove them past the Wheatfield, the Orchard, Devil's Den, the Irish Brigade monument, and then parked near the northern end of the bridge. As had happened last year, there was a relay race being run that day from Gettysburg to Washington, DC (a distance of 212 mi/341km). Sachs Covered Bridge happened to be a transition checkpoint where the many relay teams changed runners. It did not prove to be a distraction (more than a few people involved with the race wanted to meet Minty and Hoover). But I did want to try and not have any people visible in any pictures.
Minty was easy to work with. Linda said she'd do pretty much anything that was asked of her. I had her stand in the grass that lined Waterworks Road and took a picture:
While we were standing there trying to get different angles on her, there was a loud, sustained cracking sound as a large branch broke off a tree and fell to the ground near us. Minty was not fazed:
We decided to do something different and try crossing the bridge and go photograph on the opposite bank, downstream from the bridge. Jen took Minty and Hoover into the creek, and after Jen led Hoover back onto the bank, Minty decided to stay where she was and just survey the scene:
At no time did she attempt to run off exploring on her own; Linda was near me, and wherever Linda was, that's where Minty was, too.
We retraced our steps back to the bridge, and when there weren't any runners around I tried taking a few pictures, using the light that passed through the "windows" in the bridge:
And then it was time to go. Minty jumped back into Linda's SUV and fell asleep:
I had a great and fun time photographing her. I hope Linda is pleased with how her pictures came out.
(Shot with Nikon D300 using the 50mm and the 70-200mm VR zoom lenses; all pictures used aperture-priority with aperture set to f/2.8 or f/3.2; ISO varies from 200 to 800; shade or cloudy white balance; shot in RAW.)
