How and Why

I like the way that the various actions of the hounds show the way they move, something you've no hope of appreciating at their full speed (in a similar way to the great work of Eadweard Muybridge).

I really like the way the motion is conveyed through the motion blur in the image and the drama created by the actions of the owners cheering on their hounds from the starting line.

The composition pretty much dictated itself, but I rose up slightly from the perspective of the dogs eye level adopted with this image, this has allowed me to see over the top of the foreground hounds and look down the breadth of the line of hounds taking part in the race.

Background

Hound trailing in Cumbria where hounds follow a scent trail along the fells. The trail is laid by dragging a hessian sack along the route prior to the race, the sack is filled with a combination of paraffin and aniseed providing a distinctive scent for the hounds to follow.