As the owner of several horses, to include the Kentucky Mountain Horses below, I take as many pictures of them as a proud father would of his children.  In fact it was soon after the birth of one of my horses that led me to purchase a digital SLR several years ago.  Here, we have Huckleberry, who is looking into a beautiful, yet icy cold, sunset on our farm south of Spokane.  I took this picture around new years – I can’t know what he was thinking – more than likely it was about his dinner – but in this image I tried to capture the hope of a new year.

Huckleberry’s best friend, Rock Steady who is several years his senior, has won many awards for his breed when he lived back in Kentucky.  We can see here how thick his winter coat is.

Unrelated to my two horses above, are my two friends below, Bambi, the miniature horse, and Snowbear, a great Pyrenees.  I asked them to give me their best National Geographic pose, and this is what they came up with:

There are many rules in photography, and many rules within every category of photography.  In the sport of horse jumping, the standard shot is made by shooting at a 30-45 degree angle from front of the jump as in the above image. This makes a fine shot and souvenir for the rider.  The official show photographer makes this shot and then offers it for sale to the rider.  However, I find that some of my most interesting work comes from breaking the so-called rules.

Here above we have the opposite of the standard jumping photograph.  This image was taken close to the action with a wide angle lens.  I exposed for the horse and rider who were in the shade causing the background to be completely washed out.  Photographing a subject like this with a wide angle lens up close causes distortion that is normally undesirable, but in this case, adds to the impact and feel of the energy.

Another example of the same tactic as described above – get in close and wide.  In this image, the viewer really can feel the energy cascading past.

Normally in equine photography, we follow the “rules” and use a longer lens to capture the proper proportions of the horse so as not to distort.  My intent in the above two images, was to convey a sense of drama and dynamic energy that I could not otherwise pull off while obeying “the rules.”

Last year, one of Royal’s owners wanted a photo session in hopes that he could win the  “Most Beautiful Headshot” contest for Morgan Horse Magazine.  I took a few hundred pictures of  Royal at his southwest Spokane barn during the golden hour.  Royal was all tacked up and looking sharp for his equine photo shoot.  After the formal part was over, we untacked him and set him free to run around.  I actually shot the winning picture near the very end after he was finished running and was turning around in the corner as if to say, “I’m done – let me go back to my stall to eat.”  Much to my pleasant surprise, this photo won all three categories:  Breed Character, Emotional Impact, and People’s Choice.  The magazine contacted me several month’s later to inform me that they would like to use the image in their Morgan Horse marketing campaign at the Kentucky Horse Park.  If only Royal could understand…but who needs inflate a horse’s ego!

While prepping Royal, I captured this image of Christina straightening his forelock.  The image turned out to be a little out of focus, which inspired my use of Photoshop’s watercolor filter.  Normally such mistakes wind up in the trash, but I liked the colors here and I feel that it captures the connection between horse and rider in a slightly dreamy way.

Most of what I got during the formal shoot consisted of stuff like this.  Pretty decent.  I used my favorite lens – the Nikon 70-200 VR which makes a nice creamy bokeh – a Japanese word describing the quality of the out of focus region of the image.  Of course the newer version of that lens has come out, but it’s like 2300 bucks, and I have no complaints about this older lens.

Here’s the winning shot placed into the advertisement at the Kentucky Horse Park.  Royal is a star!