Sheep etc.

[Boots]

More interesting material Dave. Personally I do prefer the closer shots. My favourites are: Hand holding horn; Two Men, One Woman & Two Sheep; and Ewe and Lamb.

 

[Ed Sutton]

More interesting material Dave. Personally I do prefer the closer shots. My favourites are: Hand holding horn; Two Men, One Woman & Two Sheep; and Ewe and Lamb.

Thanks Paul. I prefer to get in close with a moderately wide angle or slightly telephoto lens if I can, but there have been some situations where I've needed wider. It's still a niche requirement, but if I can't cover it I might miss shot or two.

No more sales until autumn and the shows don't start until May. As I've given up on the sheepdog trials this thread might go quiet for a while now.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I went back to the barn with my 'new' ultrawide the other day. And got some light!

 

[Boots]

Yeah for some light!

Really like the framed view shot.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Yeah for some light!

Really like the framed view shot.

Thanks. It was tricky finding places to stand without getting my shadow in the shots.

 

[Boots]

Thanks. It was tricky finding places to stand without getting my shadow in the shots.

Yes, I know the problem well. It's challenging at this time of year, then stir in a wide angle lens.

 

[superpippo]

I think that the last set at the sales are a lot better than you credit.
particularly like the two looking to escape between the arms of the handlers, the Torddhu and the Dorsets.
the single sheep within the straight barred pens is excellent. It is very eye catching.

Also, maybe it is just the light but I seem to be seeing more colour in the ultra wide lens shots and wonder whether it is the lens as well.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I think that the last set at the sales are a lot better than you credit.
particularly like the two looking to escape between the arms of the handlers, the Torddhu and the Dorsets.
the single sheep within the straight barred pens is excellent. It is very eye catching.

Also, maybe it is just the light but I seem to be seeing more colour in the ultra wide lens shots and wonder whether it is the lens as well.

Thanks Alan. Maybe I was just too close to the photos, or too tired, to judge them dispassionately,

I think the brighter colours on the wide angle shots is because most were shot in the sale ring which has much brighter and more consistent lighting than the rest of the mart since the lights were changed from fluorescent tubes to LEDs a few years back. The sheds vary from almost pitch dark to dimly lit with three different light sources.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I post sheep related photos on Twitter, not that I have thousands of followers, and don't get much response apart from a few people I know in the real world. For some reason this one has become my most viewed, liked, retweeted and commented photo - by a huge margin! It's of a 1946 book of Pure-Bred British Sheep.



A rather uninspired day at the sheep dog auction today. Knowing what to expect, and not really having a need for more of the same I almost stayed home, but I'd had enough of working this week, and as it didn't need an early start, I went anyway.Not seeing anything that stood out as worth adding to the archive I think I'll leave it until tomorrow before making a final selection to post.

I'm not sure the ultrawide is suited to portraiture!

 

[Ed Sutton]

I was right. A pretty woeful lot to choose from yesterday's outing.

The usual dogs in the back of trucks and trailers.



Or dogs watching sheep.



Auctioneer in action.



Boring general views. I don't need any more like this.



Photographing people for the sake of it. Do these two add anything new to what I already have on file?





And plenty of attempts at making complex pictures from unusual angles that almost worked.





Often choosing the wrong thing to focus on.



The sales aren't as busy as they were when I first started going. The online auctions have thinned entries - there are still four field sales a year but interspersed with additional on-line sales. I think Brexit has reduced the Irish entries with all the extra hassle it's caused for animal movements and exports.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I don't need any more like this.

It's building a body of work. Some of the pictures may well be boring as photographs even first time round, but have importance as records of who and what happened.

 

[Ed Sutton]

It's building a body of work. Some of the pictures may well be boring as photographs even first time round, but have importance as records of who and what happened.

I agree, but I get bored taking the 'same' pictures over and over! Besides, in this time of everyone having a camera in their pocket I feel I should be at least trying to make pictures that are more than records. Even more so if there is no information supplied as to who is who in a photo. But then if that's done it leans towards journalism.

"When the stuff is too journalistic and documentary then it is journalism, if it is too conceptual and arty then that is another thing, but where the two meet - that is interesting."
Tom Wood

 

[Ed Sutton]

I had stuff to do this morning so decided to give the sheep dog trial a miss. By mid morning the stuff had been attended to so I packed the camera bag and set off for a day looking for sheep. It proved less than fruitful. Good to be out in Bowland though. There were curlews about, odd ones here and there and a big flock near Abbeystead which was greta to see. Oyster catchers also in evidence in the Hodder Valley. Two waders with distinctive calls which visit the uplands to nest. I did find Lonks, but didn't get any pics worth saving opther than for record value. Here are a couple.





They're still about a month off lambing.

Even though I would be passing the trial I hadn't intended calling in until I saw their was a refreshment stall, and I was dying for a brew! Giving the trial a miss had been a good move. I've not been to that venue before and it would have been pretty much impossible to get any action shots. This pic shows how far away the trial field was from where the spectators could get. The closest was the livestock trail on the left.. The distant van is the judge's.



This was the culmination of the winter nursery trials for the Pennine Interclub trophy which has been competed for since 1959. Each club takes turns hosting the final.



My favourite photo of the day is this one of a roll of electric netting and a big hammer!



I'm not sure how much longer I'll carry photographing sheep. It's feeling as if it's something I do because I can't think of anything else to phtograph, and less like a foused project than a habit. No doubt I'll be snapping away at the auction next weekend. I wish I had more imagination!

 

[Boots]

I agree on your favourite photo!

I wish I could help on your dilemma on subject matter. You seem quite comfortable photographing people (something I struggle with), so perhaps the farming community? Or how about the graphic/geometric/still life of farming equipment (like the electric netting & hammer, or some of the harrowing images) trying to seek the artistic in the everyday?

Good luck!

 

[Ed Sutton]

I agree on your favourite photo!

I wish I could help on your dilemma on subject matter. You seem quite comfortable photographing people (something I struggle with), so perhaps the farming community? Or how about the graphic/geometric/still life of farming equipment (like the electric netting & hammer, or some of the harrowing images) trying to seek the artistic in the everyday?

Good luck!

The netting photo was one of those I walked passed and went back to. Nearly didn't bother but there wasn't much else catching my eye!

What I really want to photograph is people working with sheep. I've got open invitations to a couple of farms but never manage to get days arranged. My fault for not being pushy enough, but I don't like to nag people.

I'm saving the local farming/growing scene until I'm too knackered to chase after sheep. A time that is rapidly approaching!

 

[Ed Sutton]

It looks as if these sheep like their liquid feed so much they roll in it!



I bet they wish they could get the lids off these barrels.



Close ups.



Didn't notice my reflection.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Photobox have an offer* on mug printing.



*Ends today.

 

[Gav.]

Photobox have an offer* on mug printing.

View attachment 383425

*Ends today.

They look great

 

[Ed Sutton]

They look great

Hope they don't fade like some I had done a while back - from somewhere else. Although they lasted about five years before fading.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Still a bit of snow lying in the uplands today. Rivers full of snow melt though. Must have been pretty deep in places.







Some sheep-related snaps.





These baths may have appeared before.



I parked off-road to get some of these and got a wheel stuck in a rut.

Got out thanks to using 4WD in anger for the first time but dislodged something under the car.

Hope it's not too expensive to fix as I'm thinking about another lens!

 

[Gav.]

Hope it's not too expensive to fix as I'm thinking about another lens!

Fingers crossed for you

 

[Ed Sutton]

Fingers crossed for you

Car sorted. And I can still afford the lens. But I really must resist!

 

[Gav.]

Car sorted. And I can still afford the lens. But I really must resist!

You only live once

 

[Ed Sutton]

Unexpected sheep encounter on a local wander today.

You're not supposed to be there..



Another few weeks and it won't be able to crawl under the gate!



Landscape with weighing crate.

 

[Ed Sutton]

These sheep thought I was bringing supper!





Supper wasn't far away though.

Bad timing on my behalf as I had left the field gate before the quad arrived so had to snap the action from afar.



Still, it felt like spring out there today.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Out of the blue I saw a youtube channel menioned in another part of TP and....

I am The Sheep Man!!

View: https://youtu.be/16p-D_LNIgA?t=399

 

[superpippo]

Out of the blue I saw a youtube channel menioned in another part of TP and....

I am The Sheep Man!!

View: https://youtu.be/16p-D_LNIgA?t=399

Not really an in depth interview - you were short changed

 

[Ed Sutton]

Not really an in depth interview - you were short changed

You know what reporters are like for cutting interviews to suit their agenda! I didn't realise I was being Go-Proed. I might sue for invasion of privacy.

 

[superpippo]

You know what reporters are like for cutting interviews to suit their agenda! .

So very true.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Suffering from a lack of sheep photography I took myself off on a long drive this afternoon. It sort of paid off. I found plenty of lambs, and a good few Lonk lambs. The first ones I found were the Morris's, which heard me open the gate and came running. They were disappointed I had no feed for them! But it meant I got close, even if they wouldn't pose nicely.







Then out into Bowland proper.

I spent some time with this family but the lamb was spark out and wouldn't sit up... I got some tighter shots but I liked the barn being in the background of this one.



Another barn picture, this time with a poser of a Swaledale.



Deeper into the wilds.

Quite a crop for this one to work. Again the background was important.



Six picture limit reached. To be continued...

 

[Ed Sutton]

Just a Mule ewe and lambs.




Sunken bath.



Time was getting on so I decided to take the shorter way home by retracing my route. As I passed the Morris's land Steve was just letting some recently lambed ewes and their twins out. typical of my luck there was only one family left in the trailer - a six crop Lonk ewe with halfbred lambs. Worse still I got both cameras out and one had turned into a brick. The shots I got were crap to be frank.





The days of 'dog and stick' farming are long gone. Each ewe has an electronically readable ear tag that identifies her on a database on a hand-held scanner. All sorts of info can be logged such as medication received, which tup she'd been put to, number of lambs born, any traits that might be desirable or not in the lambs, and such like. This is information is all used to improve the flock over time.



On the bright side Steve gave me permission to wander off the footpath on his farm to photograph sheep, and when I got home I unbricked the camera. No idea what was up with it. I took the battery out, put a different one in, and all was good. I then put the original battery back and it still worked.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Having a free afternoon I took advantage of the sunshine to go and try to get to grips with my new-to-me telephoto zoom. I thought I'd test it out on Steve's sheep.

Here's some Lamb Spam - as it's called on social media.





Maybe more tomorrow...

 

[Ed Sutton]

My timing was bad again yesterday. No sooner had I gone beyond the first field to look at another flock than I saw Steve on his quad checking feeding the flock I'd just given up on photographing. By the time I got back he was done and dusted. Still, I wasn't on a serious photo mission so not to worry.



Looking for positives the feed had drawn most of the sheep and lambs into one area, and got them preoccupied with eating. That gave me some easier chances to get some more lamb spam.



When I did see potential for a 'useful' photo the bloody things wouldn't stand in the right spot, or if they did another one would wander in front of it. Sheep! After a while they dispersed and I went to look at a water trough I'd spied in the winter. It's built through a stone wall to serve two fields. I took quite a few shots from various angles. At first I was annoyed by the intruding branch in this one, but cloning it out to see what it might look like I actually preferred it left in. It might be worth a revisit in winter when the nettles have died back. And also a morning visit to get light on the other side of the wall.



Leaving there I headed up the Trough Road, as much to waste time so I wouldn't hit the rush hour traffic on my way home as to look for sheep. Sheep I found and a chance to get more test shots with the lens. It's a handy focal length for headshots.



More lambs...





I think that's enough lambs for now.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Plenty of sunshine to carry on getting to grips with the 'new' lens. Firdt off it's sharper than I first thought. How come? after a cataract op there's a settling on period when things go cloudy again and have to be zapped with a laser. The eye I had done last year is getting to that stage. I've been judging the photos from the new lens using both eyes. When I use only my right eye I don't need to add as much, if any, sharpening in Lightroom! When the pictures really aren't sharp it's pretty much always down to the usual cause - user error. A common occurrence in these parts.

Just a couple of pre-sheepdog trial Lonks.





That is not a dust bunny. It's a Hawthorn Fly - AKA St. Mark's Fly because they start to appear in late April (St. Mark's Day being the 25th of that month), and known to trout anglers as a Bibio. Lots of them about today.



A very poor shot of one having a rest from blundering round and getting in my ears and behind my specs.



No doubt more to follow. Thanks again for putting up with this minor obsession!

 

[Ed Sutton]

Early on the sun was pretty much in my face, later it was a bit more helpful but before it moved round to where it would have been best I'd left as I had to get to the shops before they closed. C'est la vie. Keeping the dogs in focus is more than I can manage. I wonder if any of these wondrous mirrorless jobies come with Collie Tracking?

I always keep an eye open for pictures that aren't 'trial pictures'.



The farmer whose land and sheep were being used for the trial said the sheep were 'very testing' today. That's not what some of the others were saying about them! But Lonks can be stubborn.



Other breeds can be troublesome too.



I didn't use the telephoto zoom for everything. I also had my budget 'walkabout' lens with me. That also does a good enough job for me. However, I'll be using 'better' lenses when I take the sheepdog portraits I've been asked to do. I'll have to research pet portrait photography techniques. (Don't tell anyone in TP's business section, but that is a lie. What I'll actually do is wing it. )

 

[Ed Sutton]

I think this will be the last visit I make to the Skipton sheep dog sales. It was definitely a case of the same old stuff today. Since Covid and the increase in on-line auctions entries and attendances have been lower than before. Which makes for less going on other than the dogs being run. I spent most of my time trying to photograph the dogs in action, which as a technical challenge was interesting/enjoyable/frustrating. Looking at the results on the big screen I clearly got better as the day went on. The main improvement was made by only pressing the shutter release when the dogs were close enough to almost fill the frame. At times they wouldn't fit in the frame! I'm pleased with the telephoto zoom now. Definitley any OOF shots are down to the idiot with the camera.

Not as rammed out as it has been.



"Get as hot of these three," said one of the auctioneers, "Can't work, won't work, and doesn't want to work!"



A 'nearly' shot. If the sheep had been clear of the right hand head....





Another almost worth keeping pic?





Some dog action to follow.

 

[Ed Sutton]

As the last dog was on the field it started to rain. Only a few dogs in the pen, and not many people left. By the time the last dog sold the rain had stopped.



It's that time of year when there are sheep dog trials in the region for nine consecutive days, two on some of the days! I might go to two or three for a few hours if I can motivate myself.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I was bored after doing what work I had to do today so I set off intending to go and waste some time at one of the trials. I got sidetracked on my way there. Not by sheep at first, but there were some around. I only shot a few frames but kept trying for a different look. I had a sliglty better framed version of this, with a nicer position of the sheep's head, but there's a large blob of flare on its nose that I can't get rid of! This frame had a smaller blob that was easily cloned out.



On to the trial field and when I got there I couldn't be bothered, so drove on for a look at an area I've never been to before. I wasn't planning on looking for sheep there, it was more a run out to maybe take some pretty landscapes for fun. But...

I spotted Lonks!

Not knowing the area I hadn't realised I was on the road past a farm belonging to a Lonk breeder I know. My results were pretty poor. Landscape type shots usually see me messing up something. Generally things either in or out of the edge of the frame. Like the chopped off trees top left.



Not enough at the top of the frame again. And the light could have been better.



In this next one the light wouldn't play ball to emphasise the shade. I don't have the patience needed to wait for light to change. It bores me to tears. I've tried with a camera on a tripod in the past and ended up wandering away with a second camera and missing the 'perfect' light while engrossed in something new!



And when I'd swapped my longer lens for a shorter one it would have come in handy to isolate the sheep peeking over a branch at me.



I love the gnarled hawthorns and oaks on the Bowland uplands, they'd make great subjects for someone with a patient way of working. I'd take a few snaps of one then go look for another and they'd all be crap!

This one worked out quite well after many attempts to balance the focus and blur.



Two more..

 

[Ed Sutton]

Another shot playing with focus which I quite like but which I don't think has much to say.



And finally...

An addition to my collection of 'hogg holes' pictures.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I had a fascinating couple of hours listening to sheep tales in a farmhouse kitchen today. If it wasn't for photography the opportunity would never have arisen.

On the way home I did some drive by shooting. Nothing spectacular.

This one was literally shot from the driver's seat (with the handbrake on!). Just a cute ewe and lamb pic. And why not?



Further on up the road two of Steve's Lonks were out and looking guilty.



As soon as I approached them they turned round and walked nonchalantly off. They always know where they got out.



They leave tell-tale woolly signs, which some say other sheep recognise as marking escape routes!