Amelia

At Dewey Beach, as dawn broke on Saturday while I stood on the beach I saw a couple approach, pulling a garden wagon along, close to the water's edge. In this wagon rode a brindle hound. I stood and watched for a few moments, then decided to photograph them. After taking four photos, I thought I might stop them and get their and their hound's name, but then I thought better of it: it just seemed better to not disturb their walk together and to let them be. The following picture is the last of the four:

The couple turned around and headed back from whence they came. I got a little closer to them this time, and photographed them and their greyhound again after they had passed me by. The hound looked and sniffed, taking everything in:

After I returned from Dewey I shared that first picture, and made the comment that the hound was probably the most-photographed greyhound there. It wasn't too long before I was informed of the greyhound's name ("Amelia") and a bit about she came to use a wagon. She was found as a stray with a bad leg that she couldn't use. Two surgeries were done to repair the leg, but it was ultimately amputated. She can get around well enough as a tripod, but the couple load her into the wagon so she doesn't get tired.

The wife wrote me a few days ago to ask about buying a print. I'm honored that she asked.

(Shot with the Nikon D600 using the 70-200mm VR zoom; aperture-priority with aperture set at f/2.8; camera chose shutter speed of 1/4000 second at 70mm at ISO 100 (top), and 1/800 second at 200mm at ISO 400; center-weighted metered; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Dewey Beach Friday sunrise

Just add greyhounds...

(Shot with the Nikon D600 using the 18-35mm zoom lens at 18mm; program mode; camera chose 1/20 second at f/3.5 at ISO 2500; auto white balance; matrix-metered; normal JPG.)

Two weeks 'til Dewey

I hope to get more sunrise pictures like this one:

 

Two more weeks.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 18-200mm zoom at 105mm; program mode; camera chose 1/400 second at f/10; ISO 200; matrix-metered; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Why go to Dewey Beach?

This is why...



...if for nothing else than to have the opportunity to photograph people and their greyhounds walking on the beach, especially at, or just after, sunrise.

The weather last Columbus Day weekend (when the people and their greyhounds gather) was perfect. But the sunrises on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were devoid of clouds, and I wanted some. When clouds appeared from the west Sunday evening, I was hopeful that they would still be around the following morning before I left for home. The weather cooperated.

This is the only shot I took of this woman walking her two greyhounds. I was waiting for a perfect greyhound silhouette but the hound in the lead wouldn't look forward, so I ended up almost losing the shot altogether.

I put the sun in the middle of the frame and metered on it, knowing that the woman and the greyhounds would turn into silhouettes. The ISO was set at 200 but I knew I was still going to get a high shutter speed (1/640 sec) and a small aperture (f/13) anyway, and having the 18-200mm zoom set at 18mm meant everything would be in focus. An added plus for me was the clouds throwing shadows towards the zenith.

(Shot with the Nikon D300; 18-200mm zoom at 18mm; 1/640 sec @ f/13; program auto; matrix-metered; auto white balance.)