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Archive for August, 2006

EquinePhotoArt.com’s newest horse show photographer

Monday, August 21st, 2006

My sweetie Kirk is a fantastic photographer. He also likes horses. Lucky me! :-)

He rode horses as a kid, but after an accident his parents sold the horses. He rode again (rental horses etc.) a few times in his 20s, but hasn’t ridden for about 25 years. The only previous time he has ever even been at a horse show was when he came out to a show I was shooting at, on our second date. He saw me work, shooting eventing stadium jumping. He took some photojournalism type photos while I was shooting so he didn’t get to see much of what being the actual “horse show photographer” was about.

On Saturday we went out to a few barns in Portola Valley to take some practice photos so he could learn how to operate my camera’s various functions and learn to recognize the moments people want to see on their horse photos, i.e. the correct moments to capture for lope/ canter/ gallop photos, so he could time his shots for those moments and chimp (delete) the shots taken at the wrong moments. He also initially had problems shooting so far “ahead” of the horse that the camera focused on the background instead of the horse (oops) or he ended up with shots that cut off the tails or hoofs (oops). As we worked together he got it all sorted out and his last hour’s worth of shots were getting pretty good.

Yesterday he worked with me as a second photographer for EquinePhotoArt.com as we shot the San Mateo County Horseman’s Association horse show at the Horsepark in Woodside.

They were running 3 rings, one was quite distant from the other 2 which is why I needed a second photographer. I took the arena where the group classes (hunters, jumpers, english, western) were held, he took the arena where the reining events were held which was on the far side of the Horsepark. As time allowed, we each tried to also get some shots in the trail arena.

I knew he was a fantastic photographer, but I was still blown away by his photos! So far I’ve only had time to sort thru the first 2 hours of his shooting. I just uploaded some of them to his flickr account.

Not only did he do a great job on the photos, but we worked really well together all day, from prep to setup to shooting to breakdown.

It’s going to take me the better part of a week to get all the photos culled and sorted and uploaded to my website, but I just couldn’t wait to brag on him here today. :-)

I also want to brag on my helper Michele. She staffed our table, and went out among the parents to let them know about our services and get people to sign up. In addition to staffing the table at the show she also helped with updating my marketing materials during the week. We couldn’t have done this without her help.

I’m SO lucky to have such a great team helping me!

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In the beginning…

Saturday, August 12th, 2006

In the begining there was the Word
and the word was Whoa

And the Word was solid and unflexible
and steady and non flinching and calm.
And the Word was good.

And the time of the Fathers passed
and the word became corrupted,
the word became slow and wiggle
and dance and wander
and pause and fret.

And the ages passed and the Word was forgotten.

And the new times were upon us
and the word became feeling and
touching and understanding
and the readings of the inner mind and
only the Money Changers
could translate the Word.

But now the time comes again
and the Word will return again…
and the word is solid and unflexible
and steady and non flinching and calm.

And the word is Whoa.

Tamara in TN

Posted in Horses, Poems | No Comments »

Woodside Horsepark Virtual Course Walk

Friday, August 11th, 2006

I went out to the Horsepark in Woodside yesterday afternoon to take new photos for my Horse Trials Virtual Course Walk

There are some course changes from the May Event:

Advanced – Advanced course has been added! It looks great.

Intermediate -

The final fence (20) has been moved “around the turn” so you turn, then finish.

Prelim -

There are a number of changes on Prelim:

3A / 3B is not quite as offset as last time out.

Instead of 8 A/B in-n-out to the first water, fence 8 is earlier. Then 9A into the water, 9B in the water (the Canoe which was jump 16 in the other water in May). There’s a corner fence marked 9 after the water, I suspect it’s 9C, but I could be wrong.

There’s another corner, marked 10, between the water and the drop.

The drop (now fence 11) has a narrow fence set after it, instead of before.

The second water now has narrow canoe to drop in, then the corner on the exit.

The final fence (19) has been moved “around the turn” so you turn, then finish.

Training – no changes noted.

Novice -

Fence 1 is shared with Beginning Novice

Beginner Novice -

Fence 1 is shared with Novice

If you are riding, Good Luck!

You can still see the May course here:

I’m not working this event as a photographer. I’m going to be shooting for fun and for my portfolio.

I’ll be shooting “motordrive” photos to make panorama images of entries going thru the coffin for Prelim, Intermediate, and Advanced. If you are riding Training and you are riding early (e.g. shortly after 1 pm) email me and let me know and I’ll see if I can stick around to get your ride thru the Training coffin. (Unfortunately I can’t stay for all 4 hours that Training runs on Saturday.) If you are going out to the Horsepark to watch XC, look for me with my big camera and tripod on the south side of the coffin complex. If you see me, stop and say Hi!

If you want to get some good shots on XC, there are a couple of great spots to set up for dramatic single-fence photos.

The big drop on Advanced (19) should be good, and I expect the huge picnic table oxer (13) before the second water to have both beautiful light and great jumping.

Advanced fence 13 - Picnic Table

Intermediate has a great table (9) before the first water, both of the water complexes should be great. If you want to watch the whole course from under the big oak, with a good telephoto you should also be able to get good shots of the last fence.

Intermediate fence 9 - Chevron Table