L. A. Corn dogs

Canines in the Corn

I went to shoot corn and the Higher Power put this dog in front of me. After our initial contact in the road, he decided to put some distance between us.

Click on the dog to see more pictures and the first part of the story.

Sometimes I am not certain exactly what puts me square in front of a lot of what I shoot. For this trip, there was one known and as far as I was concerned, that was all that was necessary. The known was a client request for corn and corn field pictures. L. A. is a honey hole for cornfields and I decided that southern Jefferson and northern Lincoln counties had a high probability of providing the fodder to satisfy this request. I was correct.

There was plenty of corn and the light was right in the target areas. But I was in for a surprise. Before we explore that, I encourage you to go to the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com and see where this story started.

I became engrossed in shooting corn pictures before I realized that I had a four-legged audience. I looked up from the view finder and a skinny black and tan pooch, whose gene pool is wider than the Mississippi at flood stage, was eyeballing me. With no collar, he is most certainly homeless.

After I offered a bit of verbal encouragement in my version of dog talk our reticent friend eased up a bit to see more.

When I aimed the camera at him, he got skittish and moved around the truck. After a few more tries, he decided that being up close and personal with me was not in his best interests. He skedaddled to the perceived security of the cornfield and from there kept his eye on me. I believe he wanted to be friendly, but decided the risk was greater than any reward that might be forthcoming.

After listening to more cajoling in my best dog persuasion, he decided to take a closer look.

About the time we were beginning to connect, a car approached and he swung around to take a look.

Then he looked even closer.

As the car passed, he watched it. I had high hopes he would get back to me.

The intruding vehicle left the scene and the dog looked back. I thought perhaps we had connected. Perhaps not. And it was time to go.

There was a second dog, probably a litter mate to our friend above (see him in our Corndancer article). The second dog made a brief appearance and then made himself scarce. It is not a natural concurrence to find dogs who apparently reside in a corn field. Almost certainly some no-good booger-eater dropped these dogs in the vicinity and left them to their own devices, a despicable act of irresponsible cruelty.

In the not too far distant future, the dog’s hidey-hole home will be harvested. A combine will go through the field with corn stalks in front of it and corn stubble behind it. What happens to the dogs nobody knows, in the event they survive that long. It appears that this dog craves human attention. The problem is no human craves him.

On that somber note, I thank you for looking

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

PS:

After getting all wound up over the dogs, I forgot that I originally went out to shoot corn. So here is some corn.

This corn is getting close to mature. When that time arrives, the stalk dries up and harvesting with a combine begins.

Up close and personal with healthy corn.

Thanks again,

Joe