Sheep etc.

[Ed Sutton]

Over 1000 breeding sheep (hill-going ewes and shearlings) for sale today in lots of eight or more in a sale ring with new lighting. The change to what looked like LED lights made a huge difference for photography. Gone are the mixed colour temperatures and the cycling of the fluorescent tubes. It seemed brighter too judging by the ISOs I was using at the higher shutter speeds I was able to use with the strip lights gone. This has given me an excuse to return for future sales to maybe revisit some shots.

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Before the sale there was judging of pens of ten sheep. This is a low key thing and picture opportunities are few. There are rosettes and some of the lucky sheep get to wear them in the ring.

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When the sheep are on sale the best vantage point is at ringside, but I always feel I'd be taking up a space better occupied by someone who is there on business - although I'm sure there are always a few who are there just for a look. As the sale progresses the crowd often thins out and a gap opens up.

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It's a bit of a gimmick to use a slow shutter speed, one which relies heavily on chance. It also runs the risk of missing pictures which should be sharp(er). It's fun trying though.

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I've still a bit to do before I call time on this project and before it gets too boring for folk.

 

[Ed Sutton]

It wasn't an ideal situation at the sheep dog trial today and the sheep weren't behaving (nor were some of the dogs) meaning not much close in activity to photograph. The weather had been awful early on and I turned up late, which might have been why there weren't many people there. I came away after just a couple of hours feeling completely flat about things so this part of the project may well have run its course.

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[Ed Sutton]

It was the annual show and sale of registered Lonks today, mostly tups, sheep that are certified 'correct' to the breed standard. These are the sheep which can command high prices as it's hoped they'll improve the flocks they go to, so buyers do a lot of looking before hand to weigh up which sheep they'll be bidding on.

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Then comes the show.

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Not many classes, but plenty of shearling tups.

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Which is followed by the sale. Top price was 5,000 guineas with tups averaging almost £900.

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That's about it, folks. I'll probably carry on taking sheep related pictures, but unless anything radically different crops up I'll not be adding to this thread any longer. It's been a fun ride (I sometimes think photography is just an excuse for me to go to these events) with a few ups and downs, and as I've said before all comments have been much appreciated.

 

[sirch]

It's a great documentary of a way of life which I have enjoyed following, thanks for sharing it.

 

[superpippo]

Yes, i have got to agree with @sirch , an excellent and thorough documentary of sheep and country life outside the urban area.
It has been an interesting read, particularly as it is about a part of the world near my backyard.
Well done.
Just have to look forward to more shots of lost balls?!

 

[Ed Sutton]

Thanks @sirch and @superpippo

It's not just been about taking phootographs and meeting peoplefor me. While I've learned a lot from talking to people I've also done some 'research'. As well as picking up Farmers Guardian most Fridays (living rurally the local Spar stocks it alongside Farmers Weekly, various vintage tractor publications and a couple of racing pigeon papers!) I've taken a few books out of the library and bought one or two. Some of the books have been photobooks, most not. The British Wool book of sheep breeds has been indispensable for learning to recognise the various breeds!



I'm not sure what's next. I really should use the winter nights to edit a few long term projects I've had on the go. One is coming up for its tenth birthday.

 

[Ed Sutton]

One gap I wanted to fill in this project was the scanning of microchips at teh sheep dog auction. Despite it meaning an early start and the forecast for rain all day I made the effort. I didn't get anything startling, but I did get some pictures of the scanning stick lit up - which takes a fair bit of luck as it only flashes green for a second. Not all the dogs like having a big stick pointed at them.

That really is the sheep dog sales well and truly done with.

 

[Ed Sutton]

This is the bit I hate. Editing. Particularly when it reveals that the pics I've got aren't all that good!

It seemed like a plan to make a 'zine' of pics from the four sheep dog auctions this year. It took me a few runs through to whittle it down to 62 frames to make the final selection from. The problem is that there's a lot of repetition and quite a few decent pictures which don't 'fit'. One thing I have learned is that I didn't take enough photographs of things that tell the story.

Usually I manage to edit using the computer screen, but I think this time I might have to make some small prints and fiddle around with them. Although the last time I tried that approach it didn't work.

What I think I'm going to have to do is get the chronological order out of my head. But right now looking at this lot (and the rest) makes my brain freeze!

 

[Harlequin565]

I find contact sheets quite handy. I print them out and leave them on the desk or close to hand. Over time, I find myself being drawn to particular images which are then the ones I work on further. I tend to do 5x5 or 6x6 on an A4 sheet which is a nice number for size (and a roll of film). I also circle the ones I like which helps me see a pattern too. Esp with street photography when I've got several rolls of film, and many many shots that are rubbish.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I find contact sheets quite handy. I print them out and leave them on the desk or close to hand. Over time, I find myself being drawn to particular images which are then the ones I work on further. I tend to do 5x5 or 6x6 on an A4 sheet which is a nice number for size (and a roll of film). I also circle the ones I like which helps me see a pattern too. Esp with street photography when I've got several rolls of film, and many many shots that are rubbish.

I'm thinking of printing a few A4 'contact' sheets for this. Maybe even cutting up the sheets to help with sequencing - which is the main stumbling block with this.

 

[RedRobin]

I think that a good way forward would be to forget any chronological order and focus on either story telling or which single image works well when following another. So you are working it in threes which then build.

If you are on a Mac, load one by one into Keynote and think 'slideshow' in your decisions. It's really easy to keep previewing at every stage that you have done as if it is a slideshow and revising the order accordingly.

Once you have established a flow or theme it should all gradually fall into place. Don't overthink it, just make a start and see where it takes you.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I think that a good way forward would be to forget any chronological order and focus on either story telling or which single image works well when following another. So you are working it in threes which then build.

If you are on a Mac, load one by one into Keynote and think 'slideshow' in your decisions. It's really easy to keep previewing at every stage that you have done as if it is a slideshow and revising the order accordingly.

Once you have established a flow or theme it should all gradually fall into place. Don't overthink it, just make a start and see where it takes you.

No Macs here!

You're right about the chronology. I've dumped that idea. The three 'contact sheets' I've printed are already making it easier and three pics have been ditched. Not sure why this set is causing me problems, usually I edit intuitively quite quickly then fine tune the sequencing. I'm pretty sure it's because the pictures I haven't taken are the ones staring me in the face - as it were! But I'm sure I'll make something out of this pig's ear.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Ditching the chronological order certainly helped. It wasn't the best set of pictures I've turned into a zine/booklet but it's OKish. I lead with a cute pup on the cover.



Still being stuck for a fresh project or a different direction for an existing one I've carried on with sheep when the weather's been fit. So here are a couple of samples from yesterday. Snow made a change from the endless rain of late.

 

[Ed Sutton]

A slight change of tack today with a visit to The Shepherds Church (noted for it's stained glass sheep) which I discovered accidentally through the interwebs the other week. I wasnt actually expecting the church to be open. The overcast probably helped with the window pictures, but hindered the outdoor shots.

I might take a return trip in the hope of different light - and some sheep in the surrounding fields.



The windows were a challenge for a non-technical photographer like me. It took me a while to remember the pop-up flash might help. It provided just enough fill to bring out the stone when dialled back a notch. Keystoning was corrected in post. These are just two two shots of the windows.

 

[Ed Sutton]

The sheep mania continues and while it's getting more difficult to make fresh pictures some do crop up now and again. Visiting the exhibition I mentioned in the Talk Photography section gave me a bit of a kick up the bum and I had planned to get on with a more focussed project. I made a start then the corvid (sic) thing struck and events like dog trials, agricultural shows and auctions over the coming months could be cancelled. So that's on the back burner in the hope I'm still taking photos when things return to some semblance of normality.

I'm still obsessed with Lonks, which were originally known as The Improved Haslingden. Naturally I've wanted a picture of a Lonk with Haslingden as a backdrop. I got one yesterday. Not idea, but it'll do for starters.



The ideal would be to have a smoking mill chimney in the frame. As I managed at the trial. Jim is 92 and still running dogs and going to the marts.



This trial was held on a new field, not just for me but for everyone, and it's topography and layout gave me some useful angles. Not that I always made the best of them.







Early on I got one frame which had made the trip worthwhile almost before I got started. Not the perfect shedding picture, but by far my best to date. It was even worth leaving my pork pies at home and ripping some bits of plastic off the underneath of my car trying to get in the field (I failed but didn't get stuck)!

The street lamps and other roadside furniture was a bit of a problem from some positions - such as this one. While they may spoil a romanticised view of sheep dog trialing they are there, just like the plastic bottles which had been used to mark out the shedding ring instead of the traditional piles of sawdust.

 

[sphexx]

These illustrate the work well I think, Dave.

 

[Ed Sutton]

These illustrate the work well I think, Dave.

Thanks, Richard.

I was able to get a bit closer as well as get 'better' angles, which I think also helped.

PS And the sun was off my back for a change.

 

[Ed Sutton]

...events like dog trials, agricultural shows and auctions over the coming months could be cancelled.

I read that Great Harwood Show scheduled for May 25th was cancelled shortly after my post above. Todmorden Show was already off for financial reasons after the weather last year which saw a number of shows rained off at the last minute. Lunesdale hasn't been held since 2016 for various reasons. A lot of gricultural shows have been on precarious financial footings for some time. Many might not survive much longer.

 

[sphexx]

I read that Great Harwood Show scheduled for May 25th was cancelled shortly after my post above. Todmorden Show was already off for financial reasons after the weather last year which saw a number of shows rained off at the last minute. Lunesdale hasn't been held since 2016 for various reasons. A lot of gricultural shows have been on precarious financial footings for some time. Many might not survive much longer.

Sheep trials might be OK provided people don’t flock together . However a lot of events like agricultural shows etc teeter on the brink of financial disaster and a big loss can wipe them out .

 

[Ed Sutton]

Sheep trials might be OK provided people don’t flock together .

However a lot of events like agricultural shows etc teeter on the brink of financial disaster and a big loss can wipe them out .

They do indeed. One bad year can finish them. Probably safer for them to cancel early.

 

[Ed Sutton]

When cabin fever kicks in I'll be visiting the BFI site regularly. https://player.bfi.org.uk/search/free?q=sheep

I've already watched these two a couple of times in the past:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-hill-some-sheep-and-a-living-1966-online

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-dale-that-died-1975-online

 

[Ed Sutton]

Crikey, almost twelve sheep-free months!

Still unable to go to the marts or what sheepdog trials have been held and not many sheep locally. But I did get close to some recently 'hatched' lambs this afternoon. Not that I got any decent photos, but hey, the light was good and the lambs cute. Mum was giving me the evil eye and doing a bit of foot stamping. Difficul;t shooting through a fence, and the live view focusing on my camera is crap so a bit of a struggle at lamb's eye-level.

 

[superpippo]

Crikey, almost twelve sheep-free months!

Still unable to go to the marts or what sheepdog trials have been held and not many sheep locally. But I did get close to some recently 'hatched' lambs this afternoon. Not that I got any decent photos, but hey, the light was good and the lambs cute. Mum was giving me the evil eye and doing a bit of foot stamping. Difficul;t shooting through a fence, and the live view focusing on my camera is crap so a bit of a struggle at lamb's eye-level.

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Good to see them back on your radar

 

[Ed Sutton]

Sheep are always on my radar, but there haven't been many opportunities to photograph them of late. Happy to get a few snaps today.

 

[Boots]

Sheep are always on my radar

Ah, but not the stealth sheep!

 

[Ed Sutton]

Ah, but not the stealth sheep!

Do you mean sheep like Baarack?

 

[Boots]

Do you mean sheep like Baarack?

No, more like Brian, here


(apologies for posting a photo in your thread - if you would like, I can get rid of it)

 

[Ed Sutton]

My first sheep dog trial since March last year and I was rusty! TBH if I hadn't agreed to go in advance I don't think I'd have bothered as I was losing motivation a year ago for trials, so that might have had something to do with it. Plus it wasn't as busy as in pre-Covid times and it's a hard trial with longer runs (around half a mile for the dogs to get to the sheep) and therefore longer periods of out of range action meaning a lot of hanging about watching skylarks. Only three more days of the trial to go...





Top left of the hill is where the sheep are let out.



I filled my time looking for oddball stuff.



Once the fog that saw me miss the gate and delayed the start by an hour burned off it got hot for the dogs running.









I can only face four to six hours at a time but will probably do most of the final day. Unless I get something special I doubt I'll post any more pics from the next three days as I expect it'll be the old 'variations on a theme' scenario as seen above.

Now, what could I look at for my next project?

 

[Ed Sutton]

I gave the trial a miss yesterday because when I got home on Thursday there was an email telling me a parcel that was due on Tuesday was arriving yesterday. By the time it turned up it wasn't worth setting off. Today I didn't make an early start as my heart wasn't really in it. However I found myself getting into it and I got one photo which is a bit different and something I've tried to capture in a slightly different way before. Carol live-streaming a trial on her iPhone. In the past, and early on today, I went for the close up of the screen. It's a bit hackneyed now and it didn't really say anything. When I went wider I saw that I could get three points of interest in the frame - the iPhone, the trial action, and the location. What I needed was a bit of luck. I think I go it with carol 'pinching' the screen while the dog is a small but recognisable shape, the handler is in an active pose and all four sheep are visible. The arrangement of chairs and stool helps fill the bottom of the frame. Not a perfect photo, but one I'm pretty happy with. Which doesn't happen often!




I'm also fairly happy with this one of the dogs intently watching the action while the human looks at her phone. I have heard another photographer bemoaning the lack of Land Rovers at a trial as it's all Japanese pickups these days. I don't get that kind of nostalgia thing. It's 2021 not 1951, show it how it is now.



Other than that it was much the same as usual. Dogs, sticks, sheep and mud.

 

[dweeble]

I think there's a very very good book waiting to be published there.

And you have an exceptional eye for people - the "documentary" approach generally makes me snort in fury, you get it spot-on.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I think there's a very very good book waiting to be published there.

And you have an exceptional eye for people - the "documentary" approach generally makes me snort in fury, you get it spot-on.

That's very kind of you to say so.

It takes a hell of a lot of rubbish photos to get the ones I post on here. If Carol had turned round during the day she'd have thought I was stalking her!

I'm not sure about the book though. I don't think I've really got what I'd want for that.

Yet.

 

[superpippo]

good stuff. Nice to see the dogs and sheep again.
good one of the lady on the phone but the dogs alert to the action.

 

[Ed Sutton]

First agricultural show since September 2019 today and I was a) rusty and b) using a different lens combination. It was rustiness that caused the lack of decent photos, and no access inside the show ring.

It was good to be back and meet people I've got to know, all who have been missing the social side of shows and livestock markets since the pandemic put a stop to them. The lack of shows, many cancelled again this year, might have accounted for the increased entry in the sheep section, both in numbers and breeds.

It was a real struggle to find new things to photograph though, so I tried a change of approach which didn't work out. I know why, so can try to rectify things in future. Maybe even next weekend at a more relaxed show.

I still managed one or two pictures I think work OK. Nothing really fresh though.

A big turnout of coloured Ryelands. AKA Teddy Bear sheep!





Chunky lamb legs.





A flying Lonk. The small sheep in the background are Shetlands - a primitive breed similar to some of the first sheep to reach this country.





The judge deliberates.



Red for first.



The junior handler section wasn't particularly conducive to photo taking, but was run differently than I've seen before with teh handlers walking their sheep round then walking someone else's sheep round - as the judge said, it's a handling class. The sheep on teh left was particularly recalcitrant for both handlers!

 

[Ed Sutton]

Another show this weekend at a wet Garstang and I really do think I have gone about as far as I can.

I could start a collection of sheep related number plates. I wonder if this belongs to a Texel breeder?



Otherwise more of the same old stuff.











The young handlers always provide entertainment. Particularly the under 8 section. This young lass was so chuffed to have won that she dropped the rope and ran off to show her dad the rosette, leaving mum to catch the abandoned sheep!

 

[Ed Sutton]

I really wasn't in the mood for it today but went anyway. Even when I got to the show I couldn't be bothered and gave up on the sheep long before the judging was done. But somehow I got a few shots that are worth adding to the collection. Maybe it's like the weird thing that happens in fishing - if you think too much about catching a big fish it doesn't happen, but if you let your mind wander the big one comes along. I wasn't thinking about making the usual kind of 'good sheep photographs' and was basically buggering about a lot of the time. Unlike the serious sheep photographers - AKA The Sheeperazzi!



So from thinking I'd had enough of sheep shows while I was there having looked at what I came away with I'm reconsidering the situation.



As ever the junior handlers provide entertainment.



Everyone gets a rosette and a bag of sweets, then lines up for the cameras. If you think herding cats is hard work try small children and unruly sheep!





Parresque?





It rained. If I'd realised at the time the sheep would reflect in a rain drip I might have zoomed in a bit.



Rough Fell close up.



After the show there's a sit-down lunch for those who book one in advance.



On the way home I had to stop because the road was full of sheep and got another decent (as in amusing/interesting) pic.

 

[superpippo]

I still find this an amusing and interesting thread.
I have just finished English Pastoral by James Rebanks and i do enjoy seeing your photos of an element of rural life.
I cannot see that you have posted the head shot of the sheep with the pink twine and the lady's hand with the pink nail varnish which is on the photoblog nobody reads.
It is a well caught shot and made me smile.

 

[Ed Sutton]

This one?

 

[superpippo]

Yep, that is it.

 

[Ed Sutton]

This year's Todmorden Show, scheduled for June, was cancelled for a combination of reasons. However, twenty days ago it was announced there'd be a sheep and vintage tractor show at a different venue.



There was no entry fee for the public, in fact speaking to one of the committee they were deliberately keeping things low profile.



Venue problems had been one reason for the cancellation. Even with the short notice there was a good turnout of sheep. Derbyshire Gritstones in particular - I counted 13 entries for one class of Grits.



Even for this small scale show the expenses were high. Their first quote for public liability insurance was £2,000. It's no wonder some agricultural shows are struggling to keep going. One bad year can be enough to finish them off. The costs involved might also explain why some shows are including more divers attractions - both to increase revenue from stalls/displays and to attract a larger paying crowd. Enough. On to some sheep!

A handsome Dorset Horn tup.



"Let them go." The judge wants to see the sheep move. I was on my knees in a corner to get a nice low angle.



"Catch 'em up." The handlers collect their sheep by driving them all into a corner. Did I mention I was in a corner?





I ended up crushed by sheep!

The overall, interbreed, champion and reserve were judged by committee. All the individual class judges looking at the breed champions to decide which they think is teh best of the lot. Here are two listing their choices.



Rosettes, sashes, cash and cups for the winners.



Not my best day, photographically, but the sausage butties were rather good - if expensive!

 

[Ed Sutton]

The show season, such as it's been this year, is almost over but they're coming thick and fast at the moment - last one for the year next week. Another struggle at Kilnsey today. Many of the same faces (and sheep) as Sunday.





The inevitable Lonks...







I tried to break out of my breed rut, but most of the others don't interest me much despite some of them being photogenic. Teeswaters have lovely locks.



Coloured sheep, like this Dutch Spotted, are a bit visually different.



This is a record shot of a Dorper, originally from South Africa, a sheep which arrived in Britain via New Zealand according to their breed society website.

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Lastly a random 'abstract'.