Sometimes life just gets a little bit too stressful, and the best way to deal with it is a few hours in the country re-connecting with nature and the beautiful land that we live in. Yesterday was one of those days, and what a joy to just take a few hours and enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of our South West. I rarely go anywhere interesting without my camera in hand, so I do have a few of my favourite shots to share with you all:)
I’m very happy with these for several reasons, firstly every single shot was taken in full manual, and while I have always been pleased with the 50D’s output in the other creative settings that I normally use with changing light/movement situations, I can honestly say that nothing beats pure manual for getting the best images! Secondly, and this is a biggie for me, I was shooting with the beast (70-200mm 2.8L), but every shot was hand held – the monopod didn’t go on the camera once! This is truly amazing (to me anyway) as after my first attempt at shooting handheld with the beast when I first got the 50D was a disaster, it was so heavy it made my wrists hurt and every photo had severe camera shake and I never thought I would be able to use it handheld.
I have to say that I was really pleased with the last two – the little lamb was shot through a ringlock fence and I wasn’t sure if my settings where correct for the lens to blur out the wire strands, but obviously they were (yay for me). I had to jump out of the car, over a muddy ditch and up a hill to say hi to three very friendly horses that came over to the fence when I called them. It was the golden hour and the light from the sinking sun behind them was just magnificent while this big bay gelding happily posed for me to practice my silhouette shots:) In the full size, his chin whiskers look like threads of pure gold.
Ok, I think thats more than a few photos (I know, I just can’t help myself)…although I do have heaps more that I will add at some stage when I get time to process them. I’d love to know which of the photos is your favourite and why, so please feel free to leave me a comment:)
The Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of WA held the annual Winter Gala at the Perth Horse and Pony Club grounds in Herdsman. I am totally biased towards the breed (having two of my own) and I strongly believe that they are *the* most under-rated breed in the horse world. Thankfully more people like those that turned out for this show are seeing the incredible possibilities with this versatile breed as pleasure and preformance horses.
And I have to say that the presentation of these Standardbreds is absolutely impeccable and puts alot of other ‘fancy’ breeds to shame!
Well after getting a taste of Cutting action at the last bit of the Ian Francis Cutting Clinic that I saw after the Paint Horse Champs back in February, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to watch two days of cutting on the 16th and 17th May.
I received a very distressed phone call today from a client, her daughters much loved elderly Rhodesian Ridgeback had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumour, and unfortunately the only thing that could be done was to humanely put her to sleep. Like so many people, Lady’s owner didn’t have many good photos of her, and my client asked me if I could go down to the vet’s surgery and take some photos before Lady was laid to rest before the end of the day.
I know what its like to loose a treasured companion, and I also know how important good images are to help heal the pain of their passing, so I was more than happy to help. Luckily there was a small garden outside the vet surgery so I was able to get some beautiful shots of this grand old girl that I hope will keep her memory alive for her family forever.
Wow what a long day! Even with back up batteries and 6 x 4GB cards I ran out of memory beofre the end of the day…and I don’t know about the competitors who finished afer 7pm, but I certainly was exhausted by the time I left (lets just blame the heat shall we:)
As well as photographs from the day, I am pleased to also provide a video of the Show Jumping phase of the One Day Event.
The full length video is 55 minutes long and is available in both DVD and web format. Each individual rider video is between 1 minute 30 seconds to 3 minutes long and are also available on DVD or web format. All videos are recorded at 1080p HD, however they are only sold at 720p resolution for quality playback on most modern standard DVD players.
The full length video and individual rider videos maintain the ambient sound that was at the event, but background music only can also be provided.
This embedded youtube video is a compilation of the video taken showing some of the highlights.
After the Paint Horse Championship Show I popped over to have a looksie at the Cutting Clinic being held by Ian Francis. I’ve never seen Cutting Horses in action before, but it certainly looks like fun as well as a whole lot of skill is involved in selecting the right cow (beast) from the group and then keeping it separated for the required time as it tries to return to its mates. This is definitely something that I would love to have a go at someday!
It was an honour to the be Official Photographer for the 2009 WA Paint Horse Championship Show held at the Murray Horse and Pony Club grounds in Coolup. I must admit to feeling a bit sorry for the riders that compete in both the English and Western classes – the amount of gear that they need to drag along with them is incredible. LOL and I wouldn’t like all the tack cleaning afterwards either!
There were some really stunning horses, and it was a really well organised event (especially conisdering the heat!) The proofs from the show are available for viewing and purchase on South West Photography but here are a few of my favourites from the show.
The bright arena covering at the Peel Horse and Pony Club grounds and the dust that it created under the horses hooves was initially a bit of a challenge, but a little post processing cleared the dust away and I ended up with some shots that I am very pleased with.
The full set of proofs can be viewed at South West Photography but here are a few of my favourites from the day:
