Out in Left Field

I have been a fan of bird dogs for many years.  English Setters are the primary breed in our household right now.  We have been owners of Golden Retrievers, Chocolate Labs, Australian Shepherds, and many mixed breeds.  All of our dogs have been rescued from either a shelter or a breed rescue.

I enjoy taking our Setters for walks in the fields behind our house.  Most of the time they are on a long line.  I can only trust a few of them off lead, as only a few of them respond to recall. The hardest task is having to walk a leashed Setter and then try to take photographs.  It's much easier when they can be off line, running and hunting--nose to the ground.  It wasn't until this past weekend that I had the chance to photograph bird dogs doing what bird dogs are meant to do (besides taking up the entire couch).   I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on that experience and the many factors that influenced the type of photo obtainable during the event.

I photographed the Chukar Challenge at the DeCoverly Kennels reunion picnic on September 19th.  Chukars are a type of partridge. This is a hunting event for both human and canine companion.  The dogs are trained to hunt up, point, and retrieve fallen birds.  There is a judge who accompanies the participants out onto the hunting ground and uses a point system to grade the tasks at hand.

My main objective was to stay within a few feet of this judge at all times, and to mimic his actions.  If he knelt down, I knelt down.  If he flattened himself to the ground, I flattened myself to the ground.  This was to ensure my safety during the shooting aspect of the challenge, and to also not get in the way of the participants as they sought to gain points achieving each aspect of the event.

This was also constraint number one on shooting photographs.  There were many times when I found myself seeing a lovely shot, but not in any position to capture it.  At this point, as a photographer, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you need to achieve the best shots you can, based on this large constraint, and go with the flow.

Factoring in the time of day (between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) and a run of good weather we had been having, for the first few entrants, the sun was like a ball of light shining in the desert.  Photography in bright sun is not one of my favorite things, but you have to learn to work with the sun, instead of against it.  I also had to resign myself to the fact that the color scheme for the day was gold, golden, yellow, bright green, and blaze orange, with black and white or orange and white Setters in between.

I am a manual shooter.  I rarely use the other modes on my camera.  However, I switched to Aperture Mode after the first dog, as I had to keep changing my aperture relevant to my placement with regard to the sun.  That got old fast.  Things went much quicker in aperture mode.

Another issue with this type of photography is the tall switch grass and other brush the dogs are traveling through.  Cameras will decide to focus on the blades of grass in front of the dog, instead of on the dog itself.  I use back button focusing more than relying on shutter focus, and I found this to be ideal for this situation.

You also need to get a feel for the dog and their habits in terms of working the field.  Some dogs will only hold a soft point (not your classic point, and they may not hold it long).  Most of the time, however, dogs are constantly moving, so you have to set your speed to be able to capture that movement.  With the sun as bright as it was for most of the day, I was able to keep my speed settings between 1000 and 1600.

My aim was primarily to capture what was truly happening as it happened.  These are not posed, studio shots.  These are dogs in action, doing what they are bred to do.  I walked each of the runs of the day over hill and dale, through extremely tall brush that was sometimes unforgiving.  I would caution anyone to wear good hiking boots and jeans as protection if you want to photograph dogs in the field.  I am glad I had just spent a week walking at my shore vacation, because I was in shape to keep up with the judge.  If you want good photos, this isn't a sideline event.  You have to be there in the midst of what is transpiring in the high grass, and be sure to wear blaze orange.

Sometimes I got really lucky and a dog would stay out of the tall grass for a bit.  When they did, I would hope to be in a good spot to catch them running a path.

Also, because it was a very warm day, every once in a while a dog would sit or lie down for a break, and that presented an opportunity for a photo.

All-in-all, it was a great experience.  I learned so much about the sport itself, and even more about my abilities in the field.  I now have a long list of things to practice.  You only learn by doing.

This final shot is a retrieve.  Let me be the first to say, I am a bit squeamish about dead things, but as a photographer, my job is to document what is happening.  If photographers turned away from things that made them cringe, there would be many award winning photos that we might have never seen. 

I shot the entire day with a 70-300mm Nikon lens.  I then came home and took a long nap.