Our first workshop session finished up yesterday so I have a few minutes to write and share photos. We had a small group of photographers attend this session and it was intensive few days of shooting and discussions. It is always so enjoyable to meet people you have chatted with on oline and get to know them on a personal level.
We spent all day Saturday travelling to farms in the Ocala and Williston, Florida area. The weather cooperated and it was warm, sunny and breezy.
Our first stop was at Carole Fletcher's Singing Saddle Ranch. Carole presented her Peruvian Paso stallion, a most cooperative and photogenic horse. Magnifico stood patiently as our group took his portrait in front of the azaleas and seemed to enjoy all the attention! She also put him through his paces of bowing, Spanish walk, stepping up on a pedestal and laying down and then turned him loose so we could get some liberty photos. You can read more about Carole and Magnifico here.
After a lovely lunch at the Ivy House in Williston we travelled on to Beauty's Haven Equine Rescue and spent time getting to know the volunteers and equine residents at this special place. The work that is being done here to help horses is truly inspirational. We were able to watch and photograph as a holistic vet treated a pony mare with spinal injuries with acupuncture and a farrier working on horse's hooves.
Our final shoot of the day was at Leah McFarlin's Welsh pony farm. Her cremello stallion and group of four mares did not disappoint our group as they romped around a field and posed under the live oaks resplendent in Spanish Moss. These ponies are so full of fun and energy and their curious personalities soon got the best fo them and they were making friends with the photographers. The late afternoon light coming through the moss helped us capture the essence of this part of the world. To top off a wonderful day Leah dressed herself up and presented her stallion Ollie in harness. Here is a great small pony with loads of attitude and he really seemed to enjoy the attention from our group!
On Sunday we spent the morning at Fox View Farm, an Arabian show facility owned by Alex Longares. The light was perfect in the paddocks and we were treated to photo ops with several gorgeous Arabians running free. We also were lucky enough to photograph a mare and foal who seemed to know exactly where and how to pose for us! It was the perfect final shoot leaving our participants with many thousands of photos to browse through, new skills to work on and many great memories.
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