agility and Photograpy

Thursday I drove up to NC for an agility class.  Well, I rode up.  A friend of mine drove, so that was nice.  I went to the novice class and masters. Here was part of the course for the novice class.

I was up first.  Miley crashed the jump #5. It was horrible. She flipped several times and slid across the grass on her back. Ugh.  But she seems ok. She took the jump again and she crashed again but not like the first time. She landed on the bars.  So Meagan came over and bent down so she was seeing like the dog.  Well, the field was shaded except for this tiny sun spot which was hitting Miley right in the face so she couldnt see.  We moved the jump over, did the course again. No problem.  Such a tiny thing, a sun spot, could have taken my dog out for good.  Im soooo glad she is ok.
For the masters class there was a slight change of the course.

As you can see, your dog has to take the back side of that jump after coming out of the tunnel.   For the pass few weeks Ive been practicing getting my dog to come into me when coming out of a tunnel.  I would set this up;

I would change it up by sometimes having her take the jump that she sees coming out of the tunnel or running this backwards.  It has taken a lot of work to get her to come between the jump. Ive had lots of failures and successes. Then went I went to "T" 's house, I set it up again and it was like she hadnt seen it before. But eventually she got it.   So how would she do with Meagan's course when I needed her to come into me between the jump and the weaves and then take the backside of the jump.   Well, SUCCESS!!  She did it.  I was so excited.  She got a big jackpot after that.
 Yesterday I took the dogs for a long hike at the state park. Lots of hills.  I had certain shots I wanted to set up. 

She is to far away in this picture but otherwise I like it.

I wish the leash wasnt on Guiness in these pictures.  I was to scared to take his leash off in this area. He cant be trusted.  Its not like I take the leash off and he bolts. Its just that if something caught his fancy, like a bike, deer or squirrel, he would bolt.  And not listen.

What I dont understand about photography is why sometimes the dog looks so crisp and other times not. Now I realize the amount of light has something to do with it but the first pictures of miley on this post, she is just so crisp , but this picture she isnt.  It might be hard to tell on the blog. Its more noticeable on my computer. I looked at the camera setting but that didnt tell me much. Then I read about the "sweet spot" in your camera lens.  So Ive been trying to look at all my pictures and the apertures, that didnt help me figure it out either.

Then there was this big bone.  It doesnt look big , I should have put something next to it for reference.  Its some type of femur bone.  Hopefully animal.

We havent had any rain so the creeks to the river are dry.  I hiked a different way and usually water is here for the dogs. But not this time. So we needed to keep going to the river. I knew the dogs were hot and I felt we were closer to the river than the car. So I kept going.

 When we got to the river it felt wonderful.  The wind was blowing and we all needed that.  The water is so low that I could cross to the big rocks in the middle of the river. This bird was fishing so I got some nice shots.

These arent what I wanted either. I think the wind blowing and then none of the shots where both dogs looking at the camera.  It would have been great if they had both been looking. Plus the rock looks great and the picture loses something as you look up at the dogs to the sky.

Sometimes it was really windy!!

This  picture is very cute. Usually these rocks are covered with water.

Now crossing back to the land you need to pay attention. This picture isnt from us crossing but it gives you an idea of how big some of the rocks are.  When crossing back, Miley stays right behind me. But not Guiness. I guess he thinks he knows better. Any way, I was trying to get him to come my way,instead he tried to jump down and either couldnt support himself or slipped. He fell and jammed his neck on a rock. That was pretty horrible too.  But he got right up and seemed fine.  He almost hit his face. Thank god that didtn happen or his throat. I would have really had a problem then. Im not sure I will take him out on the rocks again.  If something had happened I was 2 miles from the road. ( they are on a flexi lead so he does have to come  with me but it gives them room in case I or they fall we dont pull each other down)
This morning it was beautiful outside. I stopped at this little park on the lake. Its not really a good park, just a small one that people can put their boats in the water.  It was 7am and the guy who collects the money wasnt there yet so it was free to park.

The color on the lake was beautiful but I didnt have enough light for the dogs.  So their color isnt good.  I tried to use the flash ( not noted on this picture) but I couldnt figure out how to tone the flash down. It was driving me crazy, how hard could that be.  If I used a flash, the dog had good color but it washed out the back ground. When I got home I looked it up. The camera automatically adjust the flash for the lighting but because of the contrast of light and dark it wasnt right. Now I know I have to click this one setting and then change it to manual and then adjust the flash.  LOL, my other camera I just clicked the button to adjust the flash.  This one has so many steps I hope I remember them.
Then a small sun spot came thur the trees. I set Miley up and I really like how it turned out.  This was to close to all the squirrels and stuff for me to set Guiness up and be trusted.

Again same lighting problem.  Soo disappointing.  I wish I could have figured out that flash. Ugh!!

My son went to college today. We are empty nesters.  Now we just need to get them off the payroll. LOL