Many jokes circulate the online photography community about pet photographs. Quite a few people think that all new camera purchases should come with a cat. While there may be half a billion pet photos or so out there, this sort of photography still remains a great way to practice technique. My wife, Denise, had a dog show this weekend. I shot some 500 or so frames while at the show on Sunday. Why you may ask did I shoot so much at a dog show? After all, how many unique photo opportunities could there be? Well, my intention was to master one particular function of my camera. As you Canon SLR users may be familiar with, I just started using CF4.2. What better place to practice than a dog show. So I walked in the building in the morning having never tried the new auto focus/metering technique and I left in the afternoon being very familiar with the versatility of CF4.2. The lesson here is that sometimes photography isn't about the availability of subjects. Never use the excuse that there is nothing to photograph. Simply photograph what is around you. If that happens to be your pet, so be it. Use the opportunity to practice, practice, practice. By the way, this image is of Sealy, an Australian Shepherd and new AKC Champion. To see more images of Australian Shepherds, take a look at my wife's web site: Dreamstreet Australian Shepherds. As Eliot Porter once said, "You learn to see by practice. It's just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it."
