I've been grinding out formals from the American Rottweiler Club's National Specialty Show in Lancaster PA a few weeks ago but I also had the opportunity to shoot candids for the lead-in show, the Colonial Rottweiler Club's Specialty. By the time we arrived in Lancaster, I had over a dozen folks who had contracted with me to photograph their dogs at CRC and several more asked me once we arrived. I'm not sure which show kept me busier but I do know I shot over 5,000 candids at CRC over 3 days.

Great movement shots are difficult to get and I've been luckier than most in being able to capture just the right moment. First of all, it takes a great moving dog. No matter how talented or lucky you are, you can't get great moving shots of dogs that don't move great. Then, you need to be able to get into the right position to shoot the dogs moving and you have to be lucky enough to get the right timing on your bursts to actually capture the dog(s) at full extension/full contraction. Here's my "best of" moving collage from CRC. Many of these dogs were showing in Best Of Breed but just as many were in the classes.



Hope you enjoy these.

Jim

Hey Jim,

This is so cool! It also sounds like it was really intense. The most I have ever had to process for one event was about 2300 images for a Khmer wedding I did several years ago. That was tough - grinding out 5,000 feels almost inconceivable.

Sincerely,
James

You forgot to mention great moving shots require great handlers too. There is one person in your series (shown twice) who appears to be a pro. He's watching the dog and controlling the gait.

Actually, of the handlers in this series, most are professional and, yes, they need to understand how to move the dogs so they are at optimum gait. The first dog (upper left) is GCH D'Oro Solido's Feliciano Uno (Lucky) is currently the #1 ranked Rottweiler in the country and he's handled by Michelle Scott who has won Westminster several times with other breeds. Lucky is an awesome dog who moves great at slow speeds -- as on the down & back -- or at full-tilt as you can see in the image here.

The Rottweiler ring is very competitive and virtually all of the top dogs are handled by professional handlers. That's why I became a photographer .

James,
grinding out 5,000 candids as well as 200 formals from the ARC National has turned me into a hermit. I think I've been outside twice since we returned home . The candids are easy to cull but hard to process since they were shot at 3200 ISO and all need to be Noise Ninja'd and color-balanced. The formals take a bit more time but since I went straight to prints instead of proofs, I was able to get them all out in less than a week. Now we're waiting for the $$$ to roll in. Uh, trickle in ? As everyone says, "the check is in the mail."

Since you went to prints instead of proofs? Tell us more!!!

Well, it cut down on the PP because I simply picked the best image or created it from several proofs (replaced closed eyes by the judge, etc.). That put me in a position to get out the final versions to ARC for their newsletter and Purina for their wall of fame exhibit in a week rather than in a month. Which puts me in a better position to get next year's contract. As for the prepay approach, we pre-sold more this year than last year and, so far, we're getting much higher total billing/client on re-orders. And, finally, there's that cashflow thingy: prepayment plus invoices with prints tends to create better cashflow than online proofing/ordering. Plus, since I've shot the last 3 consecutive Nationals (and 8 overall), folks expect me to shoot the next one and they want to make sure to pay me quickly.

The approach on candids tends to bet the ranch that I can get a good candid of every dog I shoot. That's not possible, of course, but I think I only missed on 2 of the dogs out of the several dozen I shot. In most cases, I got several good candids and folks want to use them in their advertising. So, getting them on a CD with a bill is working very well and we'll probably continue to do that even with local All Breed shows. The "gotcha" with candids is being able to position yourself to get the right angles for moving shots. You can't do that at every show because the rings aren't set up that way. At a Specialty, there's only one ring and you can move around it to find the best location(s) to shoot. My thinking is that when the shows move back outside in the Fall, I'll pay a vendor fee and shoot several for candids and environmental portraits. No booth. No lights. Just good old-fashioned "sports" photography and outdoor portraits. If you manage to get good ring shots, folks love them and will pay for them.

Hope that answers your question. If not, ask more specifically.

Jim

Well you certainly got the timing perfect for the correct gaiting shots, but no surprise there, Jim. They are very nice and your clients should be very pleased. Wished I could have made it this year, my boy received a Bronze Achievement Award from CRC. His breeder was there to accept it for us.

Wish you could have been there, Lesley, it would have been neat to actually meet you.

Jim