Billy Bob does not tip over

February 23rd is Billy's birthday and I wanted to take some birthday photos of him. So I led Bean and him out to our backyard and tried my luck. To get his attention I have a video of barking and rooing greyhounds during a turn-out at a racing kennel, a greyhound roo-fest inside a friend's home, and a morning practice with a squeaking artificial lure at a racetrack. No doubt he wondered what I was doing as I walking back-and-forth on the patio while getting ready to play back the video, so he followed me. Hoping he would keep a bit of distance from since I was using my 70-200mm zoom (which has a 5ft/1.5m minimum focusing distance) I braced myself against a vine-covered wall and played the video a few times. I used my SB-800 flash to provide a bit of fill.

This was his reaction upon hearing the rooing greyhounds.

(Shot with the Nikon D600 with the 70-200mm VR and SB-800; shutter-priority with a shutter speed of 1/320 sec at f/3.2; ISO 400; matrix-metered; shot in RAW and imported into Lightroom.)

Secret Hound Business

Something's going on here...

(Shot with the iPhone 6, post-processed with Camera Awesome.)

Bonding

Boo and my Dad were in their own bubble, sharing a moment in time.

(Shot with the Nikon D600 and 70-200mm VR; aperture-priority with aperture at f/4; shutter speed 1/320 at ISO 1000; auto white balance; matrix-metered; normal JPG.)

Bean is ready to play

Bean loves squeaky toys. And if they bounce, so much the better. I caught her one October afternoon playing with a Sprong® dog toy when she saw me, then grabbed the toy in her mouth and paused at the steps leading to the living room, waiting for me to play with her. I had my big, heavy 70-200mm VR with me, hoping she'd stay still long enough for me to get a few shots. To get more light into the house I opened the front door before I started shooting.

This is a close crop of the best of several pictures that I took as she waited on me. In the original picture I had composed the picture with Bean in the upper right corner of the viewfinder. As she was standing beyond the end of a wooden cabinet I wanted the bottom edge of the cabinet side and the lines of the hardwood flooring to draw your eye to Bean. I had to burn in the background behind her to make it less distracting. I donated a print of this to a greyhound event for their auction.

I can't help but think of how Sadie and Bean might have gotten along had Sadie lived long enough to have met Bean. I bet it would've been good, even though Sadie was over 10 years older than Bean.

(Shot with the Nikon D600 and 70-200mm VR zoom; matrix-metered; aperture-priority with aperture set to f/4; shutter speed 1/30 second at ISO 900; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Nedra

It was five years ago last month that what was thought to be 14 greyhounds living in outdoor crates with no food or water in south Fort Worth, TX, turned out to be 28 dogs in need. The dogs came to be known as the FWACC (for "Fort Worth Animal Care and Control") 28. A friend of mine in Texas adopted one of these dogs; I met another of the 28 in San Antonio during the Remember The Greyhound gathering in 2013.

Nedra was a three-year-old at the time of her rescue. When her owner Kate introduced her to me, she explained that Nedra would be a little wary about me at first. Not a problem, I said. Eventually I was able to get a decent head shot of her as she grew accustomed to me:

But towards the end of her session she again showed a bit of wariness when I looked at her while we were on opposite sides of a tree. I sought to capture that here:

Thankfully, Nedra is in a home where she's loved. I can't imagine how she survived the conditions in which she was found back in 2010.