Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Splash Dogs - Wags for Wishes 2009


Wags for Wishes began in 2003 and is a festival and doggie extravaganza. This year it was held at the Otay Ranch Town Center Mall in Chula Vista, CA from July 10-12, 2009. I know that most of my readers are dog owners, but I have to admit that I'm not a big dog lover. But I couldn't pass up a great photo opportunity that was free to the public, close to my home and besides flying dogs always make compelling photographs.

Wags for Wishes includes dog competitions, dog events for everyone to try, vendors, pet adoptions, and entertainment. I photographed this one particular event called Splash Dogs where the dogs compete to see who jumps the longest (thankfully not the dog owners).


Be sure you have a UV filter on your camera lens and a micro fiber cloth because you and your camera will get wet upon landing! They are called splash dogs for a reason.



I captured all photos of the Splash Dog competition with my Canon Powershot SX1 IS. I meant to bring my Canon 50D with my Canon 100-400 IS lens but I got tired from carrying it the day before at the Over the Line Tournament (that's another blog entry).

The Canon Powershot SX1 IS is a camera I have been looking for in quite some time. It has most of the features of a DSLR camera but in a compact body. The two features why I went with this camera were HD movie shooting and a CMOS sensor (Canon's first in a non DSLR camera) that allows you to shoot 4 frames a second. I was amazed of the action photos I was able to capture and more importantly the accurate focusing. Obviously, not as sharp if I shot with my Canon 50D and Canon "L" lens but the weight was much easier on my shoulders!


The problem with compact cameras has always been the shutter lag, but with the Canon Powershot SX1 IS I was able to capture that "decisive moment," such as the photograph above.


I guess that was my fill of dog photography for the year. Feel free to leave a comment and for you dog owners let me know what kind of dog you have and why you are such an avid dog lover. You can even leave a comment on why I should own a dog!

Stay tuned for my next blog on a true San Diego original -- World Championship Over the Line Tournament!



5 comments:

  1. Great dog shots! What do you have against man's best friend?

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  2. wwoooooa super dog! Great capture!

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  3. These shots are great! And how can you not love dogs? They are better friends than a lot of people. We adopted a Lab/Chow mix from the pound a few years ago and now we don't know how we lived without her. Dogs add so much joy to your life and they give much more than they take. Once you own a happy dog with a wagging tail who loves you, then you will understand.

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  4. Marilyn - I think you got me at "wagging tail!"

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