Colorado Link and ASK exhibit

Just a quick note to let you know that the photos from this year's Sombrero Great American Horse Drive and Photo Workshop may be seen at this link.

Join me this Friday evening at the ASK Gallery in Kingston, New York for the opening of my Horse Drive Collection Exhibit.

Catching Up

When I got home from my Colorado trip earlier this month I promptly came down with a great case of flu and that really knocked me off schedule. I was hoping to keep everyone updated on the drive and other happenings but besides being sick things just got too busy and that didn't happen. I am grateful that I got home before I got sick and was able to just suffer through it and get better here instead of on the road! I still have a bit of a cough but am better now and have been diligently going through all the photos from the workshop and drive. I hope to have the galleries up in the next few days, and will share some favorite photos here as well. In the meantime I thought you would all enjoy seeing some photos of my photographer friends so you can see what a fun time it is to be able to photograph this event!

Even though the trip to Colorado is always such a great adventure and such an awesome part of the world I don't think there is any place as beautiful this time of year as my very own corner of the world, the lovely western Catskills. Everything is green and blooming, the grass is growing and the horses are getting fat and shiney on all the lush pasture. We have been preparing gardens and planting vegetables and flowers and enjoying the view from our deck. The baby goats and new baby calf are all growing and lots of the local farmers are well into their first cutting of hay. I head down to my first horse show of the year this weekend, the NCE Pennsylvania Arabian Horse Show in Hughesville, Pennsylvania. This is a show I have been shooting for over 20 years now and I always enjoy attending this one.

On Monday, June 1, I start my online course, the Basics of Equine Photography. If you want to improve your equine photography then join me! You can work at your convenience and you are sure to improve your photography skills!

Sombrero Ranch Workshops

We had two good days of shooting at the Sombrero Ranch in Craig, Colorado. Ed Pinkard was our head wrangler and Scott Trees and I worked with hin to set up shoots for our photographers. We shot water crossings, herd drives, roping, cowboys at the campfire and so much more. The cowboys are so accomodating and really enjoy showing off for our photographers. Luckily the weather cooperated although we did have to deal with some heavy cloud cover and raindrops at times. Today is a day off and tomorrow we will be meeting for discussions and photo reviews with our cowboy friends, then the fun of the horse drive begins!

Bull Riding in Golden, Colorado

I landed in Denver after a long day of travel yesterday, checked into the motel and despite being tempted to lay down and probably sleep till morning I went to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden to witness some live bull riding. This was the first time I saw this live and I was not disappointed. It sure takes a certain brand of cowboy willing to try this sport, and it was clear to me after seeing the night's rides that the bulls come out on top the majority of rides!

I am sharing a few photos, not the best quality due to the low light but I hope that they convey some of the excitement to you!
Today I head to Craig and hope for better weather, it is grey and cloudy and cool, and I was not able to see the mountains when I landed, somethibng I always look forward to when flying into Denver!

News from the farm!

Well you know spring has arrived for sure when baby animals start to make an appearance!

On Friday our first goat presented us with a set of triplets and yesterday a second goat had a pair of baby does. The triplets got off to a rough start after a difficult delivery with the third kid coming as a complete surprise but they are gaining every day. Both does are first time mothers so need to be watched closely but happily their maternal instinct is strong and they are taking good care of the kids. We have 6 more does due to kid with a few of them as big as houses so over the next few weeks we should have a whole bunch of baby goats running around the place. It always seems as soon as the first doe kids the rest of them get the idea and Ron and I spend all our time running back and forth to the barn!
I don't think there is anything as cute or precocious as a baby goat and I spent some time this morning trying to capture some of that newborn cuteness.

Florida Workshop Links

Galleries from the recent Florida Workshop may be seen here:
Beauty's Rescue
Fox View Arabians
INSPO
Live Oaks Four-in-Hands
Magnifico
OBS Track
Shangri-La Lusitanos
Winding Oaks Welsh Ponies
Vinery Stable

Spring in the Bluegrass

I spent yesterday with Shirley McQuillan touring some farms for this fall's EPNet workshop. Shirley is an equine chiropractor and works on some of the area's most well known thoroughbred farms on a daily basis. Seeing some of these state of the art facilities was a real privelege. I wish we could have had better weather but unfortunately it rained most of the day and I did not do much shooting. I am excited about the upcoming workshop and the promise of some incredible photo opportunities!

New Orleans

I had several fun and relaxing days in New Orleans visiting my daughter Shelby. She is an excellent tour guide! On Sunday we went to see the parade of Indians, a festival of feathers, drums and people. We also took a trip on the ferry over to Algiers and on Monday I spent some time at the Audubon zoo. You can see more of my zoo pix on my facebook page. Needless to say we also spent some time enjoying the cuisine of New Orleans!

Yesterday I travelled north on the Natchez Trace and spent the night in Northwest Alabama. This morning I will head to Lexington, Kentucky. Today it is cooler and raining but I have to admit it is a welcome change from the heat and humidity!

More Workshop Photos

The second group was treated to some great locations and more warm, sunny weather. Hard to imagine cold weather in other parts of the country when you are here!
Our first stop was Shangri La Lusitanos in Citra. We were treated to being able to photograph some horses that love to play and dance and show off for the cameras and some incredibly accomodating farm owners, thanks to Robert and Carolyn Crum and their trainer Whitney and friend Holly for their gracious hospitality.

Later that day we went to the INSPO training facility to photograph dressage horses as well as a Friesian at liberty. We spent some time photographing our riders, Amber and Alex from new perspectives, angles and focal lengths to expand our creativity.

Early the next morning we visited Vinery Stables, a thoroughbred training facility. This state of the art stable is a sensory overload of photo opportunities, friendly exercise riders and young thoroughbreds ready to run. Being able to photograph here is a real privelege! This faciltiy also has the first underwater treadmill and our group was able to photograph some horses being exercised here.

As if our group had not already been treated to enough horse eye candy we finished the workshop with an afternoon visit to the Live Oak CDI. We were able to see many of the world's top four in hand carriage teams competing in dressage with the Chester Weber team finishing out the day.

Workshop Photos

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.