I can only laugh at the shortcomings, once again, involving the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. I cannot comment on all the other breed competition videos, but an elementary age child must have been tasked with the responsibility for videoing this year's Westminster Kennel Club's Irish Wolfhound judging. Incredibly frustrating as this is a highly respected dog show and one would not expect to encounter such poor quality video cataloging but also consider the importance of the lost archival aspect. In short, shamefully, there is no salvageable video of this breed competition, on that day, in that special time and place but only a tongue-in-cheek parody.
The video begins with poor clarity as it is dark, over-saturated, with bad resolution. It most certainly was not my personal equipment as I tried to view the video on three devices. A Macbook Pro, an iPhone 6 Plus, and finally on the newest iPad Pro with Retina display -- all of which showed the same dismal results. It was not just the poor quality of lighting or contrast or resolution or whatever you want to call it -- there simply is no video of the hounds being judged!
The video goes to hell in a hand basket around the first minute and a half after we see the first dog entry judged though it was too dark to distinguish much of the dog. Next, the videographer must have decided to leave as the camera is squarely centered on the judge in the middle of the ring, and not on the class bitch entry who was set-up and had been gaited. The videographer seems not to know he is supposed to film the dogs as they stand for examination and while they move around the ring. On an amusing note, I assume the judge will be flattered once he learns that he, not the hounds, was the star attraction. I am left to assume that no one emphasized to the videographer that this was a "dog show" and not a "people show."
This is what we were shown during the judging!!
Then, 2:35 minutes in, the camera screen goes blank! Hmm, the videographer must have gone to the restroom and seconds later the screen begins cycling through Judging schedules and Ring Assignments. Finally, at the 3:15 minute mark we are back in the ring, all the while judging had continued and with a jerky zoom we are back in action. Oh wait, it is the judge handing over a ribbon. Well, all right we say, maybe we can catch some of the champion breed competition. Enter the Best of Breed (BOB) entries where they set up just to the left of the camera, yet, the resolution is so poor that we only see dark figures against a sea of fluorescent green. Of course, we recognize the first contour is that of a man with a wolfhound as we can identify their dark shapes and a wolfhound head and body but no details!
This the quality of the video on the rare occasion we even saw a hound
Oh dear, at 4:53, unbelievably, the screen resolution goes even darker, and now, all the BOB entries are only black blobs. Zoom zoom, once again, the camera is focused back on the Judge. Meanwhile, the entries are gaited but the viewer can only see dark shapes of the hounds trotting around the ring and one cannot even identify their color or sex!
Hey, the videographer must be saying to himself -- those three hounds look attractive. So, we are zoomed in on the one corner of the ring, furthest away from the judging where the last three entries are awaiting their turn (it is still too dark for the viewer to see anything, though), and there we remain. Meanwhile, several BOB individual entries are examined and gaited, but that is not what the videographer wants us to see. By golly, we are going to stare at this corner at the dark blobs and the adjacent ring of Australian Shepherds, whether we want to or not. Almost two minutes later -- hold on, I can make out a penis on one of the hounds -- our overachiever decides to zoom out to the line-up. Not until 10:48 into the breed judging are we privy to see an individual wolfhound gaiting, but keep in mind the resolution has not changed whatsoever, so all we can see is a head floating above a black blob.
Damn, I spoke too soon. I should have known better than to press my luck. The cameraman decides it is not necessary to see the next wolfhound BOB entry and promptly focuses back on their popular subject - the Judge! Next up, the last BOB entry -- Ahh, we are back in business as the cameraman allows us to watch the last BOB entry, of course, only in midnight lighting. Now, we are 13:30 minutes into this masterpiece and the viewer still cannot decipher anything -- perhaps if we wore night vision goggles -- when we are shown a fleeting second of a darkened wolfhound gaiting. When, wham, the cameraman feels we saw too much and back to the center of the ring and to the judge we go. Meanwhile, the BOB entries are gaited, out of sight, on the edge of the ring. Finally, at 16:57 the adjudication is over, whew, and we are privy to the awarding of ribbons and honors to hounds we never could see.
I think Westminster Kennel Club needs to get their money back.
Awarding of ribbons in a competition we never saw