Jim,
David's experience is immensely valuable for you given what you've been shooting recently. I don't shoot many Agility events but when I do, I look at David's images before I go just to remind myself what I should be looking for.

In my first Agility Event, a USDA event, I took -- and sold -- a lot of platform shots. Most photographers were going for jumps and weaves action shots (which I also took) but were ignoring the platform stays where you could get a great head study or resting shot. I also sold interaction shots going into the ring and coming out. I sold them because they were different and because they showed the relationship between dog and owner/handler.

What convinced me they were the right answer was listening to the exhibitors discuss the images after that first day. As David says, the handlers will tell you what they are looking for. If they've been doing this for a while, they have tons of photos. So you need to give them some stuff they don't have. Linda would be doing the selling during the second day while I was doing the shooting and she'd come over and tell me what to look for with particular teams based on their feedback. We do the same thing now with ring candids -- Linda talks to the owners and finds out what they've never gotten (it's almost always a great moving shot) and we try to fill that void.

You are a very talented photographer and a very bright guy. Less shooting and more listening and you can be very successful in this particular field which I consider one of the most difficult in dog sports.

Jim