Unleashed Education Challenge "4 on the floor"
I have been watching a particular group for a few years now, called Unleashed Education (https://www.unleashed.education). They are a few of the most premier and best dog photographers in the world, and offer classes (among other things) to other dog photographers. Craig Turner-Bullock and Charlotte Reeves are seriously, some of the best of the best. I've been wanting to join a particular "class" they do, called Embark for a while. It includes 12 challenges, where they then give feedback and judge depending on the brief. This year, they did a free challenge called 4 on the floor before Embark started. I decided to join to see how I did compared to others, and if I did okay, then maybe I'd do Embark this year. I did it, and I actually placed in the top 20!
So, here is the challenge, as well as what I tried, and what I ended up submitting!
Irish Wolfhounds and a Stone Wall
There was not a ton of requirements for the photo in the challenge, mostly just that all 4 feet have to be solidly on the ground, and no movement of the dog. I had a session with Kibeth here over winter and knew that her and her brother TenSoon would be perfect for my first competition since they were so very smart, eager to please, and just so pretty! I wanted to tie in their "heritage" to the image, so my first idea was to go to the stone walls around here, as that makes me think of castles, sheep, farming and the Scottish (or Irish) landscapes. I worked for a few minutes on incorporating that wall in different orientations
After a while, I decided it wasn't working quite how I wanted it to, even with how cute Kibby and TenSoon were. I wasn't getting that WOW that I look for, and especially needed for the challenge.
Ellen (their mom) was awesome and spent time training both of them for a specific pose that I really wanted to try. It is the S pose, where they face one way with their body, and then turn their head back the other direction. I wanted to try and make use of that skill, so decided to work on capturing that pose with the dogs and not worry so much about the wall. Everything behind the dogs was feeling so busy and like it was too much, even with the pretty pose.
This pose with both dogs was working much better, but I didn't have a spot I liked quite yet. loved the second photo above, but the trees were too busy, even with me getting down lower so that the lines didn't intersect the dog.
You can see the sun was getting nice and pretty by that time, so I decided to turn around and face the sun to backlight the dogs, which is something I focus on and most of my dog photography includes. THERE IT WAS! I found it! I found what I feel is my photography style and that looked great. Now, just to remember my photography instincts and technical skills (that I'm always trying to learn more about and push with). So, down I went lower, to bring TenSoon higher in the frame. In dog photography, lower is almost always better. You'll see me 99% of the time on my knees, contorting myself in some weird way to get low, or just laying down flat. Now, with Irish Wolfhounds, laying down doesn't work super well with them being so tall. I had to find the right balance, and it was in a very uncomfortable bent over location. But, I got it!
Winning Image
Ellen got TenSoon to do his pose, I bent down and took it! I loved how the sun was glowing behind him, but it wasn't too hazy that it took out detail from his fur. I was able to move around a bit and get the trees to frame him perfectly too. It was a "swing from the hip" moment, and I'm so glad it turned out. I really do love this photo.
Now, feedback I got for the photo, and why it didn't make top 10. They wanted me to go a bit lower down, so that the dogs head filled that space under the tree a little bit more, and the roots of the tree on his right was lower down and would "hug" his leg. The darks around the edges and the trees were a bit too dark that it lost details, especially on the top left in the tree.
All in all, I was super thrilled and very proud of being top 20. I did not expect to "place" at all, I was just looking for feedback from some incredible photographers. So, with doing well, I signed right up for Embark, and now will have 12 more challenges to do!
Finally, part of the "benefit" of my model calls is that I give my clients the extra photos I take, as well as any I end up editing. So, Ellen got a couple of not technically great photos or ones I'd submit for challenges, but super cute ones either way. I loved Kibby and TenSoon playing with this mirror, there were so curious! Kibby's long hairs on her ears are the cutest!
