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

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!

Complicated events

Waiting for another hunt to finish

This is a just-published essay from an event of a few months ago.  There is a 4-day pack trial of basset hounds where several hunts come and compete in various pack formations (3-couple, 5-couple, 7-couple) actively hunting rabbits and being judged for hunting effectiveness.  This particular essay is the second day, with the 3-couple (6 hounds) competition.  Day 1 is published here; days 3 & 4 will be available here & here.

At any time during the course of the day, there may be one pack just finishing hunting and exiting the hunting area, one pack beginning to hunt, another pack waiting its turn, and yet another pack out taking some exercise.  The participants largely know each other and have done this for many seasons, so they are not confused by the activities, but a photo essay sampling all the activities in order can’t help but be bewildering to less knowledgeable viewers compared to, say, a foxhunt.

One pack returns from its hunt trial

Without referring to the event schedule, the folks who were there want to know which hunt they’re looking at.  I provide 2 levels of guidance: metadata identifying each hunt, which helps with searches, and a reference to the hunt in the title of the first photo for their mini-section of the essay, so that viewers can tell when the scene changes.

Portraits

Quite a feather in his cap

Though there is hunting activity to film and even the occasional rabbit chase, I find that these pack trials are largely extended portrait sessions.

There are many sorts of portrait opportunities.  At the most obvious level, there are portraits of hound packs, with their huntsmen and staff.

Unlike following a hunt to which I belong, where I would have many opportunities all season to get formal pack shots, these events are one-offs.  They may be the only occasion that I see some of these distant hunts, so if I miss the shot, there’s no recourse.

These events are reunions for the regulars, and they enjoy seeing striking pictures of each other as souvenirs until next time.

Shaking ears in excitement

Nothing like scratching your back

And then there are the animals, without which none of this would be possible.

The hounds are the stars, naturally, and their personalities are much on display.  Getting a group of different individuals to act as a pack with a single purpose under the guidance of a huntsman is one of the constant miracles of this sport.

Hounds dodging the huntsman before the trial