P52 Week 10 - For the Dogs

Dog-Tired, that's what I am. Soo glad I didn't set myself up for P365 like I did a couple of years ago. The Project 52 is quite enough.

My Dog, Bella. Also tired.

I started off the week by shooting at the World Championship Dog Sled races in Laconia last Sunday. It was a snowy day but not too cold. I walked quite a way and found a decent spot away from the crowds, and made myself a comfortable spot on the ground near the track. I laid down in the snow in order to get down at the dog's level and get some decent shots.

Home stretch

I was close all right. It was a 2 way track, and at one point, two teams nearly collided. One of them almost left the track and headed towards me. Close call, and it got my heart pounding. As well as the mushers I'm sure. I could practically feel the lead dogs breath. Whew!

The Lead Dog

It was a neat event. I hadn't been for about 10 years. And at the time, I wasn't shooting. This time, I got into it and felt like a part of the action. I won't claim to understand the sport at all. As a matter of fact, I felt really bad for the dogs working so hard, and running so hard in the cold. But I'm sure they are well taken care of. Hope so. From what I saw and heard, the mushers loved their pets, so I was glad to see that.
Here's a smattering of other shots.

Go Team!

Booties

Lemme help

Rounding the bend

This one is a collection of 10 shots, 

stitched together into a Gif file at Picasion.

Check them out!

Anyway, I was rewarded for my morning of shooting and laying in the snow, by getting a cold and having a fever for a couple of days. That didn't help my energy level this week.
And it was a busy one:
I had an all-nighter of billing on Tuesday.
A meeting of NHPPA  (New Hampshire Professional Photographers Association) on Wednesday.
Late nights studying SSRS and SSAS for work (Sql Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services), and Tableau Reporting.
Sold some pictures on Friday!
And also lost another hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings.
So as I mentioned, I'm dog-tired...But not complaining! There will be plenty of time to sleep when I'm old.

Bella, in a contemplative moment

 So that's it for another week. Now to get back and hit the books.

Who has next week's assignment for me?

Have an awesome week gang!
Em

By the way, I was originally going to name this post "Going To the Dogs". Thought it was clever since I was going to the Sled dog races. But then I googled it and found this for a meaning:
"if a country or an organization is going to the dogs, it is becoming less successful than it was in the past (usually in continuous tenses)"
And that is definitely not the case, so I renamed it "For the Dogs"