Westminster Dog Show 2009

15 years ago - #dogs#NYC

A couple of weekends ago, Evan & Renee (Gogo & Oz's breeders) came to New York City for a visit. They had two of their dogs competing in the Westminster Dog Show. I was able to tag along for the Canaan Dog competition.

For those of you that have only been exposed to dog shows via the movie "Best in Show", in some ways I think the movie's caricatures pale in comparison to real life. There were some real characters backstage with their dogs. And the movie did not accurately depict the look of sheer boredom that the dogs had on their face as they were being prepared for the ring. I felt most sorry for the poodles, who all had a look on their face of "Not this again".

I took some photos backstage, then when the Canaan Dogs were ready to compete, I tried taking shots of the action in the ring. I learned a couple of things about dog shows. First of all, the dogs are only looked at for a minute or two, so if the dog doesn't feel like showing themselves off for a judge at that exact minute, you're done. Secondly, to see why the judges are picking certain dogs, you have to be right up close to them. There's no way you can tell from a TV camera. Yes, some of the winners that I saw definitely had "star quality" - but I don't think it's the sort of thing I would have noticed from TV. (Although, the one photo in my set that I thought was really beautiful was of the dog that ended up winning the Canaan Dog competition)

A few notes:

It was really dark in the auditorium for photography. I was nowhere near close enough for the flash to make any difference. I opted for a long shutter speed and waiting for the subjects to be still. That wasn't such a smart idea. No one wanted to sit still for me. Someday I'll be able to afford a lens with a nice big aperture so I can get away with more low-light shots, but not this year.

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I missed the 4th week of photography class, so I'll jump right into week 5. This week in class, we started using soft boxes - which are big boxes of fabric you put over a light to direct all the light in one direction. There's a flat white part where the light emits, which diffuses the light.
I never knew that dogs could snore so loudly. I'm in the kitchen watching TV. At one point, the sound got a little soft. Not silent, just soft. I heard the gentle sound of snoring. It was Gogo who was in the other room, underneath the piano, curled up asleep. I thought snoring was just for dogs with shortened snouts - like pugs or bulldogs. I'll have to go wake her up and tell he how cute she is.