A date at Holywell Bay with Millie the whippet...and her mum and dad!

A few weeks ago I received a message from Matt regarding a photo shoot for his new dog.  I'd previously done a photoshoot for him of Simka and Saffra his previous dogs some 5 years ago so I thought it would be great to meet his new dog.....until I heard that she was a whippet!  Do I have an aversion to whippets? Nope.  But whippets move.... quickly... and much as I love my Fuji XT-1, it's not the fastest at autofocus.  So, on the proviso that 'action' shots might be a bit lacking, we finally met up yesterday at Holywell Bay.

The weather was great if breezy but it was mild, sunny and best of all, there weren't too many people about!  I wasn't over happy at the £4 car parking fee in the National Trust car park and I don't suppose the car park attendant was too happy at getting it all in small change!

I must say that we had a brilliant afternoon on the beach, in the sand dunes and finally in the stream (yes, in the stream because I couldn't get the images I wanted from the bridge...and the water was exceedingly cold!).   Anyway, Millie was a star and was only too happy to cross the stream from one side to the other whilst I struggled to get a (sharp) image.  In fact, some frames were devoid of whippet whilst a great many others just had her rear end!  

Eventually she realised that she could actually give an enormous leap and cross the stream without touching the water.  But, after some practice and a different approach, I got the images I wanted and I'm really pleased.  And this is without the firmware update due out on Tuesday which, by all accounts, makes the autofocus lightning fast and super accurate.

Anyway, here's a selection from the day....