On July 12th I met up with the photographers in the San Diego Digital SLR group for a group shoot. The meeting place was an event called Wags for Wishes. You an find out more about the event here:
Wags for wishes

Check out my gallery if you have the time. Chances are you'll find something fun there:
LaRee | Wags for Wishes

Here are a few shots I took that I like.
The Splash Dogs were very entertaining!

Flying dog before the splash. lol

A freshly groomed beauty.

The frizbie playing dogs were fun too.

This next course, the dogs would relay. They'd fly over these jumps as fast as they could, come to a piece of plywood with a hole in it and a ball stuck in the hole. They would hit the plywood with their front paws hard enough to pop the ball out, they'd catch it on the pop out and turn around and run, flying over these jumps. Then the next dog would go.
They had it down!


Sorry about the missing exif on these. I resized them for upload without the box checked for saving exif. I hate that! Anyway, I hope you enjoy even a small bit as much as I enjoyed the show.

[roentarre]

spetacular shots.

The first one is realyl my favorite where the action and the thrower all captured in one. Amazing shot to keep for your port folio.

[Jimbo]

Nice shots LaRee... Spot on.. JIMBO

[Marc Langille]

As a dog owner, I've seen too many OOF image from so-called pro event photogs... yikes...

Fantastic images LaRee - great action in the first couple of images. Take a bow!!!!

Regards,
Marc

[gawan]

Stunning action shots! You must have used some fast lens, interested to know which one?

[LaRee]

spetacular shots.

The first one is realyl my favorite where the action and the thrower all captured in one. Amazing shot to keep for your port folio.

Thank you James. The Splash Dogs were a great show. There is one shot in my gallery of a golden retriever sailing through the air over 25 ft with the crowd on the other side of the pool watching that I think it pretty cool too, even though the dog could be sharper. I'll pretend artistic intent to show motion. I entered a Splash Dog shot in the PentaxChallenge at dpreview last month that I thought would do better than it did. At least it didn't go skunked. lol

Nice shots LaRee... Spot on.. JIMBO

Thank you kindly for looking and posting Jimbo.

As a dog owner, I've seen too many OOF image from so-called pro event photogs... yikes...

Fantastic images LaRee - great action in the first couple of images. Take a bow!!!!

Regards,
Marc

Thanks for making me smile Marc. It was a good experience shooting this event with the SDDSLR group. There is only one other Pentax shooter in the group, the rest Nikon and Canon. A lot of the cameras are VERY expensive high end models. And you know what? EVERYONE has the same struggles and issues. It leaves me feeling pretty comfy and good about my Pentax gear.

Stunning action shots! You must have used some fast lens, interested to know which one?

The lens doesn't have to be fast...it's the shutter speed that has to be fast. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I was using the Bigma for most of the action shots. f 6.7 isn't that fast at 500mm. It's best to hope for lots of light. Shutter speeds when shooting the dogs is best kept well above 1/1000. I tried to stay around 1/1250. The portrait I posted along with others in the gallery were shot with the tamron 18-250. Which surprises me actually. I just looked up the shot with the exif in Lightroom. I haven't had a lot of opportunity to use the tamron 18-250 I bought from a forum member here much yet, but I've been pleased so far. Another winning tamron lens. Something about those tammys...I really like them.

[nupentaxian]

great photos, very nice reaction time on #1-i wouldn't want to be that rubber ducky though.

[Jimbo]

but I've been pleased so far. Another winning tamron lens. Something about those tammys...I really like them.

I know what you mean. I have the 18-250. the 28-75 and the 90 mm Macro.. Thought about the 70-200 2.8 just coming out but ordered the Sigma 70-200 2.8 instead.. Needed the give another vendor my money!! cheers LaRee. JIMBO

[xs400]

Great captures, everyone. Well done.

[LaRee]

great photos, very nice reaction time on #1-i wouldn't want to be that rubber ducky though.

That dog's teeth do look sharp don't they? Funny that even with all the high speed shooters out there, it still comes down to timing and LUCK I say. lol I was pretty lucky that day. I have a number of images that worked out on this outing. I didn't have the feeling that things were working that well at the time. The sky was really gray and I can't see the LCD too well in bright daylight for review. I do have the blinkies on though, in case I'm totally blowing it. (pun intended) Maybe because I'd never shot anything like this before, I was unsure.

I know what you mean. I have the 18-250. the 28-75 and the 90 mm Macro.. Thought about the 70-200 2.8 just coming out but ordered the Sigma 70-200 2.8 instead.. Needed the give another vendor my money!! cheers LaRee. JIMBO

Ahhh, another tammy lover. I also have the 18-250, 70-300, 28-75, and the 90mm macro. The 24-135, I gave to my son to use. It is a bit heavy for the range imho. I never really gave that lens a good run for the money. I bought it used from keh and it seems there is a slight stickiness in one part of the zoom range. Maybe it's just tight from readjustment or something. Like I said, I haven't really gave it a good run. But each one of my tammys are very special to me. I actually view them as MY limited/special lenses. Weird since I own the 43 ltd, 77 ltd and the DA 35.

Great captures, everyone. Well done.

Thanks Frank. If you like them I encourage you to visit the gallery. Some funny stuff there.

[gpaual]

great captures LaRee.....visited your sight the other day and really enjoyed the diversity of your work-especially liked your abstractions......these are really strong action and storytelling images hard to choose a favorite so-1,2,5 really catch the action.......

[sajmmiller]

Those are great shots LaRee. I enjoyed looking at your gallery too. Looks like you and the dogs had a great time at that event! Thanks for posting.

[LaRee]

great captures LaRee.....visited your sight the other day and really enjoyed the diversity of your work-especially liked your abstractions......these are really strong action and storytelling images hard to choose a favorite so-1,2,5 really catch the action.......

Thank you for taking a look around my site and the kind comments.

Those are great shots LaRee. I enjoyed looking at your gallery too. Looks like you and the dogs had a great time at that event! Thanks for posting.

I can't believe that I'd never been to a dog show before. And this was much more than *just* a dog show. Some shows are just showing off pretty dogs. These dogs were talented, with lots of personality. Thanks for looking and commenting Scott.

Great series of captures LaRee.
Gary

[KrisK10D]

They're fantastic LaRee. My dog neither likes water or can catch