The Hound of The Baskervilles III

"Baskerville shuddered as he looked up the long, dark drive to where the house glimmered like a ghost at the farther end."

Moving on now, with these images, to a little darker scenario - considering the recent spate of Blog commentaries (on The Online Photographer and The Landscapist Blogs) re: whether or not "the gear describes the vision" or is it something else. I know first-hand that when I was first learning, "cutting my teeth" on the nuances of photographing the nocturne (with transparency film - remember that, kids?) - as I tell my students: "after awhile it seemed that the materials described the vision" (limited tonal range, the need to avoid blown-out highlights, etc.). Now, how is that any different in the digital age - with its multitude of choices - color or b/w, a selection of white balances (color balance in film terms), adjustable ISO (ASA) settings (with ever-improving quality at high ISO speeds)? The medium (film) is simply replaced by the gear, it would seem - hardly a shock there, in our frantic, technology-driven society.

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" (Dr Mortimer)

About the time I was pondering the above photographic conundrum (I mean, the G10 can't walk the dog!) I was listening to this fascinating story on NPR about our human lives with canines (some 10,000 - 15,000 years, now) - interviews with Stanley Coren, author, "The Modern Dog: A Joyful Exploration of How We Live with Dogs Today" and Cesar Milan ("The Dog Whisperer") - about how things have changed markedly in the last 15 years in the relationships we have (and the care we give) with dogs. Susan and I like to kid that Tegwen likes to think of us as her 'management team" - a well-meaning, but not particularly efficient one!


"A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog."

Enjoy these images (up to 1 second in length exposures) - for, much like Conan Doyle's serialization of the book - more, darker ones to follow . . . (in The [not so] Daily Nocturne)

("So, the dog's and human worlds are really intermingling . . . " - from TTBOOK story)