This photo essay is posted at KLM Images.

Twist & turn

Zigzag

The eye of the viewer can be guided by actual lines in an image, or by implied ones.

These two riders are stacked up on a slanted hillside watching hunting in the lower field.  Your eye naturally follows them down starting at the rump of the near horse and then reversing at the lower one.  It’s possible the horses are standing still, but the placement of the legs and movement of the tails creates doubt, so you follow the potential movement left and then right, instead of just left along the hillside and out, as you might if the far rider were absent.

Arrested motion

Arrested motion creates implicit lines of force.  In the image of folks handing out a stirrup cup, most of the people face away from the viewer and admire the lovely view, but the woman on the right advancing purposefully off screen and just completing her twist away from her companion (from whom she got the used glasses) pulls our gaze away from the static background and carries it along with her out of the frame.

Hounds in motion

It’s always a pleasure to get a good view of hounds taking a fence.  At this meet we were treated to a long series of nice shots.  When there are several such shots and you like many of them, the trick is not to bore your viewers.  Here are some of the variations.

Horse and hound together

We start with the visiting huntsman taking the coop followed closely by one bold hound.

The next shot shows three different styles of springing from the jump to follow the huntsman.

The launch

Finally, we see the river starting over the cliff as a waterfall and flowing along the ground.

Cataract spilling over the top

Flowing river

Better vs best

Here are three pairs of shots which lend themselves to the question of which is the better in each pair.  Your mileage may vary – my husband disagrees with me about each pair.

All lined up

First we have these hounds running through a gate (and over a coop).  In the first shot, the horizontal and diagonal lines of the fence gate act like a “swoosh” to give a push to their forward momentum.  The second shot is amusing, but doesn’t have that concentrated energy.

A moment later

Concentrated

In the next pair, we have the visiting huntsman with his pack against a lovely backdrop.  The bottom one is a lovely panorama and I’m glad I captured it, but I prefer the concentrated impact of the first one.  The eye rests on the dense center.

Panoramic

In the final pair, we revisit the old problem of the scale of mountains.

On this beautiful day the sky went from background to subject.  The cattle work well enough on the left to give some sense to the size of the mountain, but on the right we suddenly move from the immensity of a mountain to the much greater immensity of the sky.  It doesn’t diminish the mountain, in my view, but it reminds us to lift our gaze higher than the hills.

Cattle and trees for mid-ground scale

Clouds put the mountain in its place

Landscapes

Stacked ridges ending in the Blue Ridge (HDR)

I am far from satisfied with my skill at capturing landscapes and am constantly experimenting for better results.

In this essay, I post-processed some of the images for high-dynamic range (HDR) contrast, so let’s look at the results.

Ordinary cameras are more limited in their ability to respond to contrast than the human eye.  We see very well in both dim light and blazing sunshine, but for a camera we must choose those conditions in our settings or be disappointed.  Depending on the settings, the camera decides to set the exposure to maximize the overall utility of the resulting image, but this reduces the range of absolute darkness and absolute brightness compared to our own vision.  The theory behind HDR is to take multiple versions of the same image with different exposure settings, then blend those together so that the overall exposure is much broader than the camera can capture on its own, and closer to what we actually see.

The point of these shots is not the riders but the overall scale of the landscape they are in.  In these photos the mist between ridges allows you to see the details of the landfolds.  Even the far mountain has visible details instead of just dissolving into a blue wall.

Distant riders, rolling land (HDR)

Visible details on the blue wall (HDR)

What does it look like without this artificial enhancement?  Here are two versions of a similar view, one captured by my husband’s prosumer camera, which does a decent job of capturing colors and landscapes, and one post-processed for HDR from my camera.

They have different virtues.

Ascending ridges (HDR)

Blue walls (not HDR)

Still, let’s not forget that none of this enhancement is necessary for the right shots.

Military placements (not HDR)

Here we have one of those very tricky achievements — showing a panorama of the military nature of a foxhunt.  My husband successfully captured the deployment of the paired whippers-in (for joint meets, which this was, these positions are often filled by one from each hunt) on a distant ridge ahead of the pack to keep them from getting too close to the road while the pack itself is hunting below along the stream.  All of these players are very far away, which is a good thing since you couldn’t otherwise capture them in the same shot.

Notice that the landscape ridges are nicely articulated by the alternating fields and hedgerows.

Below we have a different sort of landscape, as background to a close-up view of the hunt.  The landscape is medium distance, not far, since the mountains are low and less interesting, and all the interest is in the nearby rolling fields and building, cut by the ribbon of road.  The three redcoats recede nicely in a line like an illustration of perspective.

Rolling farmland (not HDR)

Salvage

Every now and then you get a shot you love that has something wrong which can’t be overlooked.  Sometimes you can salvage those.

There were three lovely shots of whippers-in sailing over a log jump, but it happened suddenly and I was too close for good focus.  The photos were unacceptably blurred, but I didn’t want to give them up.

The various “artistic” treatments in products like Photoshop can sometimes help.  Here you can see the original and the published version after it has been “posterized” lightly in Photoshop.  Treating the image like a graphic instead of a photo simplifies the edges, and that removes most of the problem with the original light blur while keeping all the dramatic impact of the composition.

Since the published version is no longer just a cleaned-up photo, I always indicate that in the caption in the published essay.

Original

Enhanced

All stacked up

Dense concentration of opinionated hounds

Hounds work well as a concentrated essence since, despite being members of a pack with a common purpose, no two are alike.  Here we have two hounds scenting, two ready to roll, and one howling in frustration at standing about.  If you could take this in your hand and squeeze it like a sponge, pure “foxhound” would ooze out.

A tidy vertical stack

As this woman asks the huntsman what direction he’ll be going in, she is investigated boldly by one of the hounds,  The three vertical creatures stack up tidily with the patient horse as a crossbar.

Like a coiled spring

These horses are more like a coiled spring.  They’ve been pulled back and cocked, and the master’s horse in front looks like it’s about to release.  This is the moment before the command is given to begin hunting and purpose is given to the assembled throng.

Cavalry maneuvers

The huntsman and pack form the vanguard, with the whippers-in as flankers, and there may be up to three distinct fields of hunters following.  Maneuvering these groups with their particular rights-of-way in tight surroundings requires both experience and skill.

Civilians, stand aside

First we have the sweep of the cavalry starting off, separating the civilians from the folks in uniform.

Emerging onto the lane

Making way for the huntsman

Then we have a well-executed reversal of direction.

Neat reversal

The first field follows the huntsman down the lane, the huntsman changes course and barrels through in pursuit of his target with the various fields standing out of his way, and finally the first field neatly reverses to follow him.

Individuals

It’s the nature of this sort of event that there may be many photos of riders going by; these follow a sort of formula and individual expressiveness is a fairly distant consideration.

That makes it all the more a pleasure when one can focus on particular subjects with their personality on display.

I can’t wait for you forever

This hound is looking back to see if the rest of the pack is coming.

Having fun

The whipper-in on the right is having a grand time.

Under the Blue Ridge Mountain

The whipper-in on the left provides an excuse for a landscape with the Blue Ridge Mountain as the backdrop on this dark and gloomy day.

Stretching for a view

Finally, the whipper-in standing in her saddle to get a better view provides interest to the autumn landscape.

Cropping for action

All charm and tilted motion

I typically come down on the engineering side of the analysis vs artistic spectrum, and this manifests in my photography as wanting to see the whole scene: the entire horse and rider, the full pack of hounds, and so forth.  This is an artistic fault, I firmly believe.  I know this because, whenever happenstance intervenes and forces a moving target to be cropped in ways I would never have planned, I am often much pleased with the results.

When I stand too close to the action with a particular lens and try to get something useful anyway, the image is reduced to its essentials.  I don’t need to see the top of the rider’s head or the details of the horse’s legs to enjoy this shot. 

Classic closeup pose

The static shot of this same pair is pleasant, but the moving one is better.  With less clutter, the eye can focus on the parallel curves of the horse’s neck and the back of the rider’s coat, and the right-angle parallel curves of the horse’s body and lifted foreleg.  The tilt of that structural parallelogram keeps the action moving forward.

Well-prepared

It’s easy to get too fixated on big pictures of horses and riders and to miss the closeups that reveal personality.  We see nothing of this rider’s horse, but what does it matter?  Instead we see warm clothing defying the cold wind (earmuffs under the helmet), determination, and some well-packed liquid fortification.

Animal personalities

There are little scenes everywhere at a hunt.

Over here we have a horse seemingly wondering why the famous photographer doesn’t take his picture.

Over there we have a group of “American Gothic” hounds (actually Crossbreds & English), standing straight and upright.

Stiff & straight

Red, white, and blue

Below we can see a whole series of reactions to the threatened disciplinary action, as each small cluster of hounds moves to rejoin the pack waiting in line behind.  You can see that each of the guilty parties, if asked, would have an excuse to offer.

Regrouping in the rear

Variations on the classic shots

There’s nothing wrong with a fresh look at the conventional scenes of hunting.

Much-photographed pair

The huntsman posing for the famous photographer (Jim Meads’ 500th unique hunt) has planted himself firmly on sloping ground, and his horse stands straight and balanced.  All their concentration is on the photographer, but I prefer the profile shot.

Iconic

This foxhound sniffing along the terrace wall could hardly be better posed in front of our host’s farm sign.

It’s always nice to be able to include a “going home” shot.  Here the chilled riders are making their way down the endless lane anticipating a fine hunt breakfast.  The verticals of the bare winter trees are countered by the horizontal shadows on the ground, and the drift of the tails reminds us of the cold wind.

Going home

Closeup vs context

Profile for the camera

We were lucky enough to view three different foxes at this meet.  The third resulted in unusable photos but the first produced a long stream of (zoomed in) closeups and the second one, in almost the same spot, produced more distant shots.

Everyone likes a good closeup of a fox, of course.  With a big zoom lens you can often capture fox or rabbit shots like these, when you’re lucky and the stars align, and it’s a great day when that happens.  But that’s a hunting success (captured!) more than a photographic success; almost any shot of a fox or rabbit during a hunt would qualify as success, regardless of quality.

In the second shot, the fox was much further away and out of very effective reach of my lens.  This series of shots aren’t very good fox photos but they are much more interesting hunting photos.

Fox in context

Foxes are small, fast, and tricky.  Most importantly, they know their territory, and this setting highlights this.  The tree on the left is still living, vs the architectural stump on the right.  The fox cares about neither; it’s heading for the woods beyond the fence and the safety of the gullies.

The decisions of hounds

Every now and then you get to see hounds thinking.

The pack has come to the edge of a field with a gap to the next field.  A substantial group want to go up the near side of the hedgerow, but the rest disagree.  The pack divides hound by hound at the decision point.

Two choices

Take your pick

Individual decisions

Car followers

Sometimes you can capture amusing scenes of the stand-around-and-wait folks.

Following the action. Or not.

There’s not always a lot to see from the chosen hilltop, and what there is can be very far away.

Any meet is likely to throw together folks who know each other as well as strangers gathered for the day all trying to suss out the territory and stay as close to the action as possible.  There are introductions and chit chat.

Nothing much to do

Often there’s not a lot else to do.  Even the photographers can be stymied.  Bring a flask and make new friends instead of staring at the ground (lemonade for the small fry).

At least you can point out the highlights to your kids. Standing humans are tall and (relatively) thin linear objects.  The pointing arm and field edge are strong horizontals.

Vertical and horizontal

Overlapping lines

Standing on the paddock fences adds many more horizontal elements to the mix.  The staggered heights of the people helps tie it together in the same way that the staggered overlapping lines of twill weaving hold cloth together (over two and under two).

Carving up the space

Dominated by the curve of the pond

The curved edge of the pond in the first photo eats a nice semicircle out of the left of the scene.  That alone would make for a pleasing composition, but see also how the grasses curve with the pond, and so do the bodies and especially the tails of the hounds.  Everything reinforces that fundamental curve.

Gothic linear divisions

In the next photo, we have linear architectural elements made up unexpectedly of living creatures.

The accidental formal postures of the hound and the rider, aided by an almost straight horizon, create an inner rectangle and draw the eye into the open space in the back left.  Nothing is moving; all is potential.

Painting with light

Every now and then the gods cooperate and provide just the right lighting for a scene.

Running into the light

These hounds are running along the water into the morning sun.  The light paints both the foreground trees and the background field so the well-lit hounds are part of the scene, not separate.  Their movement is just a part of nature.

On stage

At a slightly different angle we see the huntsman in the center of the light while the backdrop behind him has darkened, setting him on stage.

The shadows on his horse help tie him a bit to the background, but he is somewhat apart from nature, set up as an actor upon it, appropriately for his role.

Radiant

In the third photo, we see how a (partially) white horse can suck up all the light.  Not even shadows connect the horse to the background setting.  This rider is not a primary actor upon nature, but a follower of the action.  It seems fitting that her horse is the most theatrical.

So, the hounds are part of nature, the huntsman acts upon nature, and the hunt member cheers them on.  The lighting becomes progressively more artificial, to match.

The eternal foxhunt

Everyone likes a good action shot, and photos of foxes are always welcome, but there’s nothing quite like those timeless scenes that foxhunting throws up.

Thus may it always be

When you look at the slope of autumnal woods with the oaks just beginning to turn and the worn down stone wall you can’t help making a wish that future generations will be in the same spot with the same view.

When you see the immaculately turned out whipper-in moving into position you want to capture the moment as part of a long continuum of similar actions by hunt staff for a couple of hundred years.

This particular shot caught the canter stride at its most calm point, and it’s that stability that makes it resonate backwards and forwards in time as a symbol.

In eternal motion

Arcs

Continuous horizontal curves

This is not the conventional head pose for this formal pack shot, but I was struck by the lines of horizontal arcs.  The eye travels from the rump’s inverted “U” curve to the “U” curve of the coat’s skirt and back to the inverted curve of the horse’s neck.  The echo of the coat’s curve with the belly provides stability.  The combination conveys balance and permanence.

Vertical curves in motion

The horse on the right, by contrast, has vertical arcs, particularly the tail closely echoing the rear.  Unlike the shallow stable arcs in the first picture, these are deeper.  We know the hind leg will straighten, so we see the deep curve as a spring that will uncoil, driving the horse forward.  We also know the matching curve of the tail is impermanent, and that increases the sense of a fleeting second caught and frozen, adding to the sense of motion.

A massive spring

The curves of the Belgian in the next photo are like clock springs tightening and loosening.  The mass of the horse is emphasized by the glimpse we get of her chest, and though she’s trotting she almost seems to be trotting in place and not moving forward.  The obvious coiled power encourages that illusion, and we see the curves, correctly, as engines of stored energy.

Rising like the phoenix

The estate at Long Branch has two pairs of gate pillars surmounted by old eagles.  The pose is triumphant rather than ascendant, but with the view from below and the maples like flame behind, the curves of the wings look ready to thrust it aloft like the phoenix reborn.

Crowd scenes

Opening meets are especially crowded.  Making interesting pictures out of chaotic groups of people requires luck.

Faces in the crowd

This group of mostly juniors obligingly clumped up in ascending height order, not so much their own height but that of their mounts.  That allowed me, despite the disadvantage of standing on the ground, to see several ranks in and capture the depth of the cluster.

Opening meets bring out all kinds of car-followers.  Here they sorted themselves into different tiers, and the loose woods behind them had enough interest that I could make the picture taller than this sort of lateral scene typically suits.

Wide variety of car-followers

Depth and distance

It can be a challenge to capture the scale of landscape in foxhunting scenes.  Here, where the Blue Ridge is constantly in the background, how do you show the size and weight of a mountain in a little square of a photo, especially at a significant telephoto distance where flattening is the main effect?

Looking down from a height

In this case the land fell away from a local hilltop leaving the subjects in focus, but creating an obviously much more distant backdrop behind them.  Letting the Blue Ridge fill almost the whole vertical wall behind that made it part of the scene.  The light illuminating the subjects helped with the theatrics of the setting.

Separated from the background

A sudden difference in focus between subjects and backdrops, possible when there is a large gap, increases the 3-dimensionality of the image on the left.  The white barn is quite some distance behind the well-lit pack.

You can use successive shots with cropping changes for a completely different way to convey distance.

For example, in these 4 shots of the oncoming pack, not only are they getting closer, but I am also cropping them tighter with each shot; this has the effect of accelerating their approach.

Pack photos

Multi-headed pack

This was the opening meet for the season, so everyone was well dressed for the occasion and the sporting parson was on hand for the blessing of the hounds.  This year is also the 50th anniversary of the Ashland Bassets, so it was a day of special celebrations.

You can get hunting action anytime but these dress-up occasions are ideal for pack photos, and on this day the weather and circumstances combined to throw up dozens of pack photo opportunities.

Formal pack shots with staff are useful all year round (for newsletters, calendars, etc.), but the informal ones are not to be scorned.  See how the basset with one blue eye peers through the circle set by two other hounds’ tails.  Not easy to tell where one hound begins and the next one ends.

Basset hounds, tall on the horizon

How often do you see a basset hound silhouetted against the sky?  Only some nice steep slopes allowing me to get below them made that possible.  Standard guidance says to get down to the level of the animal to get the best shot but, even if my knees allowed it these days, that is just not on the cards for basset hounds.

Bassets on high

It was appealing to take advantage of the grassy hills and unusual perspective to get shots that are not normally available.  For the example on the right, the long expanse of grass encouraged me to put the “basset horizon” unusually high and crop the scene as a vertical instead of the more typical horizontal orientation.

By the way, this photo from my husband’s point-and-shoot demonstrates that you don’t need fancy gear to get the job done.  While I prefer my shutter-speed priority settings to prevent blur with moving animals, his general purpose settings kept the grass in focus all the way, something I rarely achieve.

Whip silhouette

On the left the whip is made more dramatic by the unusual sky background.  Normally there is something else making the view less clear.

Finally we get (most of) the pack for a more conventional photo with one of the masters.  It benefits by my much lower than usual position, not only for the hounds but also for the master who is not tall.  Looking up at them this way gives them more mass and momentum, like a ship sailing by with the master as the mast.

In full sail

Rabbit trails

Autumn is the time of tall grasses, and neither basset hounds nor rabbits are tall.  The rabbits make trails that the grasses bend down and partially cover, and the basset hounds illuminate those trails by following the scent.  It’s as if some god-like hand took a black marker and drew dotted lines down the trails using bassets.

Along the rabbit trail

Lots of rabbit trails

Partnered with a hound

Two minds with but a single thought

Putty in her hands

On the right we have master and hound clearly united in a common purpose.

On the left, we have the always comical dance that goes on when trying to put the hounds back in the trailer.  Without collars, there are only so many ways of grabbing them, and it’s easier sometimes just to pick them up, even if you’re a bit height challenged yourself.

Notice that the basset hound is very cooperative about all this, submitting with her tail tucked well between her legs to whatever might happen next.

Some hounds can raise passive resistance to a fine art.

This first attempt has the human crane in position to hoist the fur-covered sack of potatoes.  The result resembles a stack of turtles and is just about as mobile.

Once the crane has hooked the object, it’s the sideways motion that’s a challenge.  Do I stagger the few feet to the trailer bent over with my back screaming, or do I bench-press this hound up to chest height so I can stand upright?  And just how many hounds can I lift this way in my lifetime?

Turtles

A very heavy limp dishrag

Nature vs architecture

Fox in the midst of architecture

The front gates of the Blue Ridge Hunt kennels have two lovely metal fox silhouettes mounted on top.  The kennel building is nothing but straight lines, of course: bricks, bars, shingles, and all the other architectural elements, but we get just that bit of nature which gives it personality.  Whenever we look at the kennels there are hounds behind the bars (this is their home), but the foxes run free along the top of the gates.

Architecture surrounded by Nature

In a more natural context, these two does disturbed by the hunting activity retreat past the barn.  The barn is aligned with and echoes the nearby Blue Ridge mountain that ascends behind it, but is dwarfed by it as well.

Though the lighting is attractive on the gable end of the barn, our eyes are drawn to the moving deer.

In both cases, it is the animals that are telling the story.

Photographer as part of the story

This is not stealth nature photography.  I’m standing around with a big old camera lens and drawing the attention of the subjects whether I want to or not.

A sideways glance

This isn’t always a bad thing.  The quiet look from this horse keeps us from just being observers.

Too bad I'm not invisible

In these two pack pictures, the second is much more interesting than the first.  The acknowledged presence of the photographer does nothing useful for the first picture.

In the second picture the huntsman is looking at the lead hound on the far right who is bounding ahead eagerly and about to earn a reprimand to stay closer to the rest of the pack.

Much better

On the other hand, sometimes drawing attention can give you a group portrait as the various subjects interact with the photographer.

Personalities

For example, both of the next shots have interest, but of a different kind.  In the second one, we get a parade of some of the hounds.  It emphasizes their unity as a pack, a tool for hunting.

In the first one, where the hounds look at the photographer, we see them as individuals, each with an opinion.

A pack

Difficult light

Lighting in difficult circumstances

Much of the hunting action had the car followers far from the invisible pursuits along the banks of the Shenandoah River.

When they returned, first staff and hounds and then field, they approached at length over wide fields with the bright sun at their backs, and this made for very trying photography.  We were treated to a view of a fox and some lovely hound action, but getting attractive pictures was next to impossible.

In such circumstances, it helps to just keep trying.  You can see from the picture that this whipper-in is riding into the sun, but happily I was able to get a somewhat lateral view of him, and enough of the slant of the body and horse’s head were illuminated to keep it from being a hazy blown-out silhouette.  As an added bonus, he was well framed between the gap in the trees.

There were many shots of this sequence that were unusable, but random chance can be your friend if you keep snapping away.

Hounds at work

The most thrilling shots are those showing the hounds at work, and ideally their prey, too.  As the cubbing season draws to a close, that can mean tall autumn grasses and hidden action.  But it also means the subtle autumn colors and the last of the flowers.

Death from above, she hopes

Basset hounds sometimes seem to understand that they have short legs and seek high ground for advantage.

This particular hound is a photographic favorite of mine.  Before I knew her name (Jesse) I was calling her Autofocus because my camera found it so easy to focus on her.  Usually a hound is small and lost in a large background scene like this, but her coloring is so vivid as she stands on the Great Meadow course jump that the scene works.

Cottontail on the move

Rabbits can be a real challenge.  On this day they were plentiful, but they kept popping up out of unexpected locations.  By the time I could spin around and catch a glimpse, they were either beyond my ability to capture them via camera, or captured badly.  Finally one rabbit obliged me by dashing, well lit, within my range.

The weather was too dry for good scenting, but the pack gave it its best.  It’s hard to make dark hounds stand out on a cloudy day from muted autumn vegetation, especially when the chestnut (tan) of their muzzles and legs match the tall grasses.  Best to work for an overall atmospheric mood.

Gascon blues on the line, with one skeptic

Hounds at rest

Sometimes you can get better shots by concentrating on the mini-dramas that always accompany a pack of hounds, especially when they’re off duty.  Basset hounds are particularly good for this — who doesn’t smile when they see one?

New bagpipe?

The keelbone lift

First there’s the problem of how to pick one up.  These hounds hunt uncollared, so simply finding a way to hold onto them is tricky, and picking them up to put them into the trailer when you’re not that tall yourself doesn’t always work.  After all, if it takes two hands to lift that hound, how will you open the trailer door?  Good thing the hound is patient.

Then there’s the general incongruity of carrying a basset hound around like a kitten, even when the human’s a bit larger.  It only seems plausible because the legs are too short to dangle much.

A good massage

Checking out the small human

There are many hounds and lots of staff, so look for those quiet private moments of human-hound interaction.

Sometime no one notices the hounds who use their own initiative to explore the crowd.

Just because the people are talking to other people and ignoring the hounds doesn’t mean the hounds have lost focus on the important things, such as post-hunt treats.

They sit patiently (or not), waiting for their opportunity.

Waiting

Finally!