Shooting anything in daytime is quite different from lighting and shooting at night. Yes, there are obvious attractions you travel for, but it's a mood difference. You're an observer, a recorder of memories during the day. You see a tumbled-down ruin of a building, backed by dry desert mountains in harsh, bright sunlight, and that's what you capture.

But at night…

First we saw a small semicircular munch out of the top of the sun. More and more got eaten up until all you saw was an orange ring…

I spent a month mostly on my back in bed. With intense pain shooting down my left leg to the foot whenever I stood or walked, I didn't want to get up.

On the other hand, I have a compulsion to photograph. That pushed me to walk around my house a little, then around my block, and finally to hike in the Sandia foothills again. And that was the start of a new photo project - what dogs do at home.

Osteoarthritis makes it very necessary for me to lighten up. The RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 looks like a great way to do it.

Schutzhund literally means guard dog. It began in Germany in 1901 as a working qualification for breeding German Shepherds. Now it's a recognized sport worldwide, with precision obedience, scent tracking and protection events all involved in earning titles.