RedBall

I'm in a contest where we have to shoot something related to any of

Stanley Kubrick's movies. I obviously picked "The Shining".

Considered putting a knife in his mouth instead of the x-large crayon

I used to screw up my door, but decided to keep it safe. I'm not

totally sure everyone will correlate Winston's bad spelling in the

mirror reflection as Labrador.....

Whew....pretty heavy stuff, 'the shining' even for Winston...that has always been one of the spookiest movies for me.  I don't know...Scott....I hope Winston comes through this with all his 'ta-noodles intact' !! (ust yoking)....excellent comp, original and so brilliant. (who won the contest when Winston was in the Trench Coat????? Abbey is still walking around with stars in her eyes****Nice work, most sincerely,Gail

Hi, Gail.  We came in 3rd and imo, the winner should have come close to last....you just never know.  Sounds like your little girl is quite smitten.:)  Thanks a lot for commenting. 

I was lucky how everything came together here.  No special lighting on Winston and didn't have to add anything to the final image in Photoshop and didn't have to clone any part of myself out.....did have to clone out the treat I threw up on the counter by the ball:)  I was also lucky he held motionless for the 1/4 second exposure.  Looking back, I should have shot at a higher iso, but I guess it worked out. 

I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the photo, or that you managed to get Winston to sit quietly with a crayon hanging out of his mouth : - )

Brilliant!

Of course I'd never have connected the image with "The Shining" without reading your narrative, and in all honesty Winston doesn't look in the least menacing, however it still deserved to be up there, if not in top place, for the well thought out concept and perfect execution.

Very well done!

Best Regards

Alf

Thanks, Alf.  It was a crayon that looks like a magic marker and you screw the bottom to raise it up as you wear it down, so it did have a plastic case around it.  Regardless, I've never had such a hard time making him hold something.  At first he immediately kept spitting it out like it tasted bad, so I smeared a hot dog all over it and that seemed to help.

I caught what was going on here the minute I looked at this, before I even read your explanation.  Kubrick and King were the first things that popped into my head.  And my dogs have a red ball exactly like the one in your photo.

This is one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" photos for me.  Innovative and creative.  I love it.

Thanks, Jim.  I was kind of lucky how the spelling turned out, even if it was stretching it.  Pretty impossible to come up with something with Rottweiler backwards, unless you use Rott and ttor and tear up the door so it looks like your dog tore it up.  Since Rottweilers are a very well liked badass breed, I think using the traditional "redrum" would be perfect.  Put a spiked collar on Beau and have him holding a large knife....highly recommend shopping for a realistic plastic toy knife.  I put a real one's handle in Winston's mouth with the sheath still on it and I felt super uncomfortable and I immediately knew I was going shopping for a toy if I was to go that route.  It would also look better in black and white, so that would suit your style.  I'm sure it would make a lot of people really uncomfortable viewing it and make them wonder what the hell you're all about, but hey, that can be a good thing.:)  Of course, I'm certainly not expecting you to ever do it....the wheels just started turning and I couldn't make them stop.