Random Photographer (and Butters)

Two of the categories of pictures I've always liked, perhaps understandably, are portraits of famous photographers, and pictures of people taking pictures. Related, but not quite the same thing.

I can't make a "Random Excellence" out of this, but check out this shot by "TrevTheBrit." Made me smile—I even like the pigeon! There's a lot going on in that shot. It has character. Everything seems a bit off balance.

To add a little color to all the "gray matter" recently (text, I mean), and to keep his fans happy, here's the latest snap of the charismatic canine:

Butters seems to love it when the ball plummets down into the snow and disappears. He starts sniffing the ground frantically while his oversized tail waves broadly back and forth as if to say, "I got this, I got this."

His latest quirk—and believe me, this dog has plenty of quirks—is that he doesn't see any reason why we can't go outside and play fetch even though it's night. Pitch dark outside, and he's raring to go play and bugging the heck out of me until I finally relent. I toss the ball for him trying to keep it near enough to the barn light so he stands a chance of following it. He does well—dogs see well in low light—but eventually he loses it anyway, and then we both go searching. He can't smell it and I can't see it in the dark, so we both wander ineptly around in the backyard in erratic circles, around and around, until one of us eventually stumbles on the darn ball.

Such is my life.

I notice that when I work on pictures lately I make a color version for everybody else and a black-and-white version for me. I don't really need to show anybody the B&W versions. But they make me happy. This one, I admit, works better in color.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Will work for dog food.
 Buy yourself a present

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

No featured comments yet—please check back soon!

Comments

[Scott]

As you may know, there are glow-in-the-dark balls for dogs, balls with blinking lights, and there are beeping balls for blind dogs. Some of these may be perfect for you.

[Tom Passin]

Dogs can see at least as well as cats in the dark, so I have read. When I take my own dog out at night, it never seems to make any difference to him if I turn on a flashlight or not.

[Daniel]

With where you live you can be glad he doesn't want to go out in 22 below with wind chills of 40 below.(farenheit)
Mine do and we have fun with it but it is still darned cold!

[Jim Bullard]

Butters needs a ball like those shoes they make for little kids, the ones with blinking LEDs inside the soles. :-) <https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-GlowStreak-Lights-Disc-O/dp/B01CHO5UHY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481904792&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+toy+with+leds>

[George Andros]

Mike, I'm impressed. How in the world did you find the shot by TrevtheBrit? Butters is a handsome fellow.

[jim]

try soaking the ball in bacon grease! then you both should be able to smell it

[Mike Chisholm]

Maybe rub some oil from a sardine tin on the ball for night retrieval? Apparently, this is Pennti Sammallahti's secret dog-attracting formula, though I'm not convinced that's the whole story. Is it really worth selling your soul to the Devil for the sake of some heart-breakingly good photographs? (Don't answer that).

Mike

[Ed Hawco]

Regarding photographs of people taking photographs, here's a "shot from the hip" shot of a guy shooting me from the hip. I didn't stop, so I don't know who he is, but I wonder if somewhere there's a photo of me shooting him:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blork/28040012644/in/dateposted-public/

[Speed]

The first thing I notice in a Butters color picture is his red nose. It's almost like a hand-tinted daguerreotype.

I'm told that there are scent dogs and sight dogs.

Our retriever-dogs all had great noses and were happy sniffing out tennis balls tossed into pachysandra or snow or rolled under the couch. While they could locate by scent balls days after they had been thrown they often didn't see one sitting in the middle of the lawn.

Great entertainment.

[Dennis Dunkerson]

There are many benefits to using the ChuckIt system for playing fetch. The main one is that the launcher allows you to pick up and throw that drool covered ball without touching it. Another is that they make a glow in the dark ball that facilitates night play. I also appreciate their nearly indestructible balls since my doberman is so fond of peeling the fuzz off of tennis balls. For truly indestructible dog toys, you have to go to West Paw Design. Their toys do not glow in the dark but we have a tug toy that has survived five years of nearly daily use.

[DavidB]

"... Panasonic supplies a competitor to the Sony RX100V; a bridge camera (you know, with the tiny sensors and mega-range zooms)..."

It is true that some bridge cameras have mega-range zooms but the Sony RX100 mk5 range is a respectable 24-70mm.

[Patrick Dodds]

Maybe one of these would be useful:

http://www.findmeagift.co.uk/go-dog-go-automatic-tennis-ball-launcher.html?gclid=CjwKEAiAvs7CBRC24rao6bGCoiASJABaCt5DC9tgsnQhbx-pS-bCE6tUXzxUaheGl9Hd66H9u2FHBhoCngLw_wcB

(Feel free to change the link to a site that pays you for referrals of course!)

[Lynn]

Good to see you supporting the time honoured tradition of shooting the shooter Mike. Here's my humble contribution. I nearly fell over laughing:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1466/25412731736_a5c4777cc8_n.jpg”>

[Geoffsmithphoto]

Here, perhaps, is my favorite photo of a photographer taking a picture:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/06/magazine/06thinking/06thinking-popup.jpg

Robert Frank photographing Tom Waits (most likely with Type 55 Polaroid film in a Land camera) for what would become the back cover of Waits' 1985 record Rain Dogs (see, a dog reference even!). Photo by Ted Barron.

And the photo that that photo is a photo of:

http://67.media.tumblr.com/e454b5c9017c3d530146a45cada7c053/tumblr_mivwjsrR1S1qgwmzso5_1280.jpg

Complete with unreconstructed mid-80s Tompkins Square Park geezers (goobers?) and everything!