Wolf At The Front Door

Here is a recent photo I took while in Southern France (Arles). This wolf like dog was sitting at the front door of a large church in the center of Arles. The locals said it is a beggar's dog and that the dog will lay in this doorway until his owner comes to the spot to beg. I observed this dog for close to 20 minutes and it did not move from this spot. Later that morning (December 28, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. - a Sunday) the beggar was in that spot and I saw this dog going toward an alley near some older ruins. While on vacation I chose not to take my larger DSLR with me (to much equipment to haul and just too heavy to move). I shot this with a Sony Cybershot DSC-W150. The exposure was at 1/125 of a second at F4.5 (ISO speed was 125). Focal length was 18.7mm. This camera (a point and shoot) is an 8.1 mega pixel camera... fit in my shirt pocket and enabled me to shoot with ease and without having to lug around various lenses. I saw several other photographers who were using their DSLR cameras, and when we compared pictures, I'd say about 90% of the time, this little point and shoot held its own.

If you look closely, you will be able to see the doorway at the church in Arles. The arrow points to the location of the dog. There was a film being shot in the square that day and you can see the lighting equipment that was set up.