Sunday, April 19, 2009

Happy Birthday to Meee!



Herbie was nine on Thursday. If I'd known he'd reach this age, there'd have been fewer tears along the way - when he was seven, I thought it was his last year ever. Here he is, peeing on a branch brought down by the snow in January. I didn't saw it off then, and now I don't have the heart, it's his very most-favourite pee spot.


The trouble is, I only have a cheap digital camera and there's a long delay (1.6 seconds according to the manual) between my clicking the shutter, and the camera actually registering the picture. Greyhounds move fast when they want to, so however carefully I set up that perfect image of the hounds, most of my photos end up looking like this:


That's why I don't post pictures all that often. I have so many pictures either of their rear ends, or sleeping, that I'm bored. I don't have the patience to wait for days for that one perfect shot. I don't have Angela's talent for photography, that's for sure.






11 comments:

LSF said...

I got a fancy new camera for Xmas and I will gladly send you my old one. It is a Sony 6 megapixel. It's about 2 years old. It's not as fast as my new one, but the shutter speed is definitely faster than what you have.

Shipping is a small price for me to pay for you to have photos of Herbie. I miss Watson, still, and look at the oodles of photos I have of him all the time. How can I get your mailing address?

LSF said...

Whoops, just realized I left a comment on your blog using my other user ID. It's Linda, your blog friend from Watson's Canine Lymphoma Blog... not some total, total stranger offering to send you packages!

Emily and the Labradors said...

Wow! Happy birthday big guy!

And I hear you on the camera thing... my old camera was fine except for the shutter delay drove me batty! I guess I complained one too many times to my family about it, so they bought me a new one for Christmas... and then my mom gently asked if she could have my old one. She loves it and I love my new camera. I feel guilty for whining, but I guess we all won in the end?

Aoj and The Hounds said...

Happy Birthday Herbie!!

And I'm not really that talented.....I just get lucky now and again!

Ari_1965 said...

In moments of decency, I attribute AOJ's excellent dog photos to her talent. In moments of envy, I attribute them to her fancy, schmancy, incredibly expensive cameras. During pissy moments, I just say that her dogs are either exceptionally slow-moving or she sedates them!

Ari_1965 said...

Many happy returns of the day. To both of you.

Aoj and The Hounds said...

Lol at Ari!! Have you noticed that I rarely post photos of my dogs running? That's because despite having an expensive camera I still don't have the ability to get a decent moving shot!!

ANyway, it's not the camera you use - some of the best shots I have seen have been take with cheap point and shoots - or even phone cameras. It's the person behind the lens - and I'm still waiting to find that person behind my lens!

HandH said...

Linda, that's incredibly kind of you, but I couldn't possibly put you to the trouble. As AOJ says, it's the person behind the camera, so what I really need is a cure for laziness and impatience! My Fuji will do me a while longer, and now the weather's warmer, the dogs may slow down. Thank you for the kind thought though, much appreciated.

Lesley Rigby said...

A belated Very Happy Birthday to Herbie!I hope he had one of his better days. I would have posted sooner but my computer has been disconnected for a week.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Herbie! I'm late as ever, but so pleased to see the little chaps, erm, tail.

I have the same issues with my camera. As my rare postings show, my photography skills are non-existent.....

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to Yooouuuuu, Herbie!!