Went to Chapoquoit today to take pictures of the surfers but there wasn't much wind. Luckily there were plenty of dogs and I was able to get some photographs of this dog chasing tennis balls.
Monte
wissett
Out at Chapoquoit again this Sunday on a fabulous afternoon. My neighbor, David, showed up with his dog, Sippewissett (Wissett for short).
I went out specifically to photograph dogs chasing tennis balls and thinking there would be a lot of them, but David and Wissett were the only ones that had a tennis ball. It worked out in the end because Wissett was happy to oblige me.
Monte
the chase
Most of my time since midsummer has been spent overseeing a renovation project in our house. I've missed a lot of great photography opportunities, especially in September and October. Yesterday and today I made it out to Chapoquoit beach hoping to get some action shots.
I have a new teleconverter for Nikon lenses, the Nikon TC-14e III, which is a 1.4 x teleconverter (it effectively extends the focal length of a given lens 1.4 times). For this photograph I was using the teleconverter on a Nikon 300 mm F4 PF prime lens. Yesterday I was disappointed with the performance of the teleconverter - the images seemed a bit soft. But today I went back and did a few things differently. Mainly I used a faster shutter speed and went out earlier in the day so that there was really bright sunlight, and I was happier with the results.
I was hoping for surfers, but there weren't any. There were, however, a lot of people and their dogs.What I like most about this picture is the close-up of the dog's eyes.Nikon 300 mm lenas with 1.4x teleconverter, F5.6 at 1/1600 of a second shot with burst rate of 10 fps.
Monte
blue
This is "Blue," a dog at the beach. I think he's a Weimaraner? I took several shots of him chasing a tennis ball. I like this picture because of the floppy ears.
dog chases ball
This is a dog-chases-ball story in four pictures and a few words. I was at Chapoquoit beach yesterday to photograph the surfers when these two nice women showed up with their cute little dog, Wolfie.
I got interested when they started throwing a tennis ball for Wolfie to chase, mostly because the tennis ball was almost as big as Wolfie's head. I asked them if they would throw the tennis ball toward me so I could photograph Wolfie running for it and they happily agreed. We did several "takes." Here is a short series that I liked:
Picture # 1 The ball is tossed.
Picture # 2 Wolfie in a confident and determined pursuit.
Picture# 3 Wolfie dives for the ball and appears to trip on his sweater vest.
Not to worry. Wolfie was unharmed and no less enthusiastic about chasing the ball. We did a few more shots and he seemed delighted to be getting the attention.
In fairness, it looks like Wolfie has a problem with his right eye and that disability might account for his apparent clumsiness.
I like the photographs of the surfers wiping out as much, or more, than their spectacular jumps. After my experience with Wolfie I'll be on the lookout for more dog face-plants on the beach.
And this series of photographs highlights a lesson from the beach: We cannot soar without first surviving and learning from our failures. Wiping out makes us better.
Monte