#148. Scooby Doo at Kew ?

Hi all,

in the middle of a change of professional life and lifestyle, I have been completely swamped by work for the past months, neglecting my beloved photo blog. Thankfully, co-author Philippe has remained faithful and produced many astounding articles on exotic lands such as the Lofoten or Terra del Fuego as well as others, closer to home on delicate and intimate subjects such as the life and death of flowers and friends. Thank you Philippe.

And thank you to the 3-400 visitors that still come by every day !

There’s life at the end of the tunnel and until I can once again find the time to produce long articles with many photos, why not got back to where Dear Susan S (the S is for Sontag, for those of you who don’t know) started : posts containing one picture and a commentary.

So here we go. Scooby doo on a visit at Kew Gardens (UK) 🙂

The White Greyhound of Richmond.

Let’s hope the Royals won’t have my head chopped for the unflattering name, but I’m pretty certain many other visitors to Kew have found a resemblance with the cartoon character 😉

The statue’s real name is The White Greyhound of Richmond. It is a stone copy of one of the 10 Queen’s Beasts, statues commissioned for queen Elisabeth II’s coronation, representing her genealogy (the greyhound was the badge of Henry VII) and now displayed in Canada.

The picture was made using a Nikon D800e (wonderful wonderful camera, review coming soon). and a Zeiss Distagon 25/2 (also a great lens if carrying it doesn’t spoil the fun for you). It was made at f/2 for a shallow depth of field and focused on the eye. As you can see on the enlarged version, even the shoulders are soft. So, you it is possible to isolate your subject with a wide-angle lens 🙂

Be seeing you.