Meet Jose

Meet Jose

So...I'd like y'all to meet Jose, one of my two best buddies on the planet (my other one is Jose's nemesis and is hot on his heels above!). Jose (and Poncho) are Portuguese Water Dogs that accompany me everywhere in my day-to-day life - while hiking, snowshoeing, camping, working and more. They're amazing at detecting wildlife on my daily wilderness peregrinations - they have great eyes and even a better nose. We've trained them to not chase any wildlife for any reason - they'll walk by deer, elk, bears, and other predators and express no urge to pursue. A few months back Poncho alerted me to a cougar that was crouched in long grass (with tail twitching) less than 10 feet away - he sniffed, then barked at it, but held his ground perfectly (it was so well camouflaged I completely missed it). Fortunately, as soon as Poncho barked the big cat decided discretion was the better part of valour and ran off with no harm to any of the 4 parties!

Besides being great companions, Jose and Poncho are incredible photography partners for me - they make amazing subjects when I'm testing out new techniques, camera settigns, or gear. The shot above was the result of one of those testing sessions when Nikon sent me a lens for autofocus testing purposes. I often get asked how one can practice shooting action sequences of wildlife - my response is invariably "Find an energetic dog!" (apologies to the cat lovers out there, but they rarely offer the same action opportunities on demand!). Of course, my testing sessions that "employ" my dogs involve a LOT of treats and cuddles, so the phrase "Time for Camera Game?" gets their tails a-wagging as much as "Car Ride!".

I'm very happy Jim decided to add this new Man & Fauna Gallery to NPN (at Cay-Uwe's request!). While I'm an admitted "wildlife junkie", I've also been long fascinated by the relationship between humans and "their" animals - be they pets, domestics (including the love affair many have with horses), and even how some people have favourite friends and important relationships with the occupants of their local zoo. I hope many of you choose to celebrate this relationship by posting images of your non-human "buds" in this gallery.

Thanks Jim. Thanks Cay-Uwe (my co-moderator in this new gallery!)

Subject: Jose the Portie absolutely dusting his slower buddy!
Location: My property in SE BC
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikkor 500mm f4 VR - hand-held with VR on (in "Normal" mode).
Exposure: 1/3200s @ f4; ISO 720. No compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Minimal - this is about 95% of full frame...

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad