For the Love of Dogs

While most of my photography centers around wildlife and nature I also love to photograph dogs.  I love dogs.  They are one of the passions in my life.  I have five wonderful furry companions that my wife and I share our lives with.  They are amazing creatures.  They each have their own personality.  They each have their own quirks.  There is no normal with my dogs.  They each have some oddity about them.  I greatly enjoy photographing them and I have been able to create some amazing images of them.  They each respond differently to my attempts to photograph them.  I simply watch them as they roam our yard and wait until I see something that I find interesting or that I think will make a nice image.  I try to get the dogs to ignore me.  I just move around the yard to get the light right and the right composition. 

Sometimes trying to get lost in the background and be invisible to my dogs does not always work.  Some times while I am photographing one dog another dog takes an interest in what I am doing and come over to start jumping on me or leaning on me and trying to get my attention. As you can probably imagine this can make creating a nice photograph a little more challenging.  So I usually have to take a break from the photographing and show some affection to the dog now seeking my attention or I may never get peace to create another image.  Sometimes it looks as if crouching down to get closer to eye level with the dog will create a nicer image.  However, I usually try to avoid this with my dogs since I do not try to pose or otherwise control them and for a very specific reason.  When one of my dogs particularly the one I am photographing sees me crouch down they instantly take more interest in me.  They usually will come running to me even if they are laid out and completely relaxed.  While this may ruin the image I was trying to create it may, if I am lucky enough, allow me to capture a nice motion/action shot of the dog coming at me.