Last week I spent time in Bulgaria with my good friend Dave and his family. I was invited over, and took the opportunity to get blogging again after a rusty year off. I think he appreciates the company, and the change of scenery. The kids were pleased to see me as well, probably something to do with the 3kg of sweets I packed into the case. We spent several hours walking up Shipka on this day, Dave managed a few frames, I’ve yet to edit any of those, something to do with not being as quick (or as good) as DJ at Post processing (or so he says ;-)), only to be presented by a heavy cloud base, and not much of a view, having climbed 1066 steps up, that said it was alot to do with the company, and not so much about the photography non this occasion. But on the return journey we dropped into the lake a few km’s from Daves Bulgarian home, and we looked at reflections, landscape. The option of a portrait happening there and then seemed quite slim.

Sometimes you just need to stop and wait for an opportunity to arise in front of you. This pretty much describes this shot. The distant barking of a dog, the tinkling of bells, a random walk by a lake that we had visited 2 days prior in the rain, and then a few moments later, rustling in some distant bushes, and out popped a goat, then another, and another, then the dogs, then the goat herder. Taking them to pasture, and to grab a quick drink. I waved an acknowledgment to him, really just to say good afternoon, but he started to approach me, and then stood still as in the shot. I took my opportunity to grab a few frames, before he was off into the distance. A genuine moment that happens very rarely. It was as if he knew he needed to be photographed. I hope I did him justice…… thanks for stopping by.
capture date
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped? 18/10/2010
Canon 5D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens (courtesy of @chromasia)
70mm
f/10
1/125th
Aperture
0
Pattern
100
no
RAW
LIGHTROOM + CS3
No

comment by csj @id7 at October 26, 2010 7:35 AM

Martin: yes I think that’s a fair comment, I just wasn’t quick enough with the 24-70 to recompose. Never mind eh!

comment by Martin at October 25, 2010 2:45 PM

This is a reasonable shot, what would have improved it significantly for me at least would be to have shown all the guy to the right instead of cropping his feet off.

comment by djn1 at October 25, 2010 7:46 AM

Yep, you got a great shot here. By the way, I think the sweets will probably have run out by mid-November, so you’ll have to head back out again soon 🙂

• taken|20 october, 2010
• camera|Canon EOS 5D
• focal length|70mm
• aperture|f/10
• shutter speed|1/125s
• iso|200
• flash fired|no
• exposure bias|-0.67 ev
• location|Bulgaria