the coon dog day 5K race - 2012

The fourth of July also brings with it the Annual Coon Dog Day Festival in Saluda, North Carolina.  Coon Dog Day is always the first Saturday after the Fourth.  My husband, Shawn, and his sister, Monica, grew up in Saluda, NC, and now Monica is the Administrative Assistant to the City Clerk of Saluda and works in Saluda City Hall.  One of her responsibilities is coordination of the town's annual festival.  The festival kicks off first thing in the morning with a certified 5K run, the Coon Dog Day 5K, and this is now the second year that the city itself executed the race.  Again this year I worked with Monica to design the official race tshirt and other promotional items.   See last year's post here.

New to me for this year is that I, myself, have started running and "competing" in 5K's.  Certainly changed my perspective on a few things!  Shawn has always been an avid runner with a huge collection of race tshirts that are immediately demoted to work clothes, because no one would want to wear the design!  Creating a cool Coon Dog Day 5K shirt that the runners would choose to wear proudly was my primary goal!  We've received nothing but fantastic feedback!  Man, that feels good!  My only bummer is that the tshirt printer cannot print gradients... so the resulting image on the tshirts doesn't include the gradual shift in color, and is also WAY more neon than I intended.  Still, everyone seemed to love it.

all design elements & images courtesy artists kirsty pargeter, jason2009,&nemlaza / shutterstock.com

Monica also asked if I would photograph the race for her again this year.  The course was actually reversed from last year to help with traffic control for the festival and for the safety of the runners.  That meant it was a completely new photographic experience for me.  I really enjoyed watching everyone begin and end.  I only wish I could somehow also be in the middle to capture the "in the midst" images!

INFORMATION ABOUT PURCHASING RACE DAY IMAGES:

You can see all of the images I shot that morning on the Coon Dog Day 5K official facebook page.  The images are available for purchase as digital files for $15 (includes a full resolution image with print release as well as a web sized image).  If you would like an image, please use the below 'add to cart' paypal button. Please designate in the paypal notes which facebook image number you wish to purchase.  A download link will be sent to you within 48 hours!

Richard Hefner, who bought an image from me last year,posted on my Images by Carey Pace facebook wall that "I race every week and the photos I bought from you are the best race pics I've ever had from a race."  I hope that bodes some confidence in purchasing an image through me!

Coon Dog Day 5K race photo