Photographer's Narrative

I was approached by the military working dog section about an interactive, joint-training scenario between several air force bases and local police working dog teams. I jumped at the chance, because it was a completely different training than what I’ve seen in the past and wanted to document everything I could from the two-day competition. For the first leg of the competition, participants were tasked with rucking seven miles through Hurlburt Field woods and trails, which meant as the photographer, I was tasked with rucking seven miles through woods and trails with my camera gear. At the end, I took a look around at the exhausted participants and saw a local police dog that continued to stand at the ready next to his partner—he was ready to work, and that’s what you see in this shot. Even though he had been through an exhausting day, it was clear his drive was something to respect.