Focusing on the photography part these are the 2011 statistics for Optical Harmonics:

• 25 events covered.
• 17,705 images taken.
• 5,159 images added to the gallery.
• 46 above average images.
• 6 images that are very good.
• 2 images will make it into my portfolio.
• 5 different magazines and one calendar published our photos.

Starting 2012 with:

• 1 set of farm images that still need to be processed.
• 1 set of dog images that need editing.
• 1 video project underway.
• 19 emails that should have already been answered.
• 17 scheduled events.

Why would anyone in their right mind spend every other weekend at trail riding events? Perhaps it’s a love of photography, horses, the great outdoors and my wife who loves to ride. All of those are true but there is something more. I think perhaps it’s the horsemen and women with their can-do attitude. Every day they ride the horse that came out of the trailer, not the one they loaded. Sometimes the horse of the day is well trained and gentle. Other days it’s a wild-eyed bronc that apparently was replaced by space aliens overnight. With thrown shoes, broken bits, snorty horses; riding through both drought and deluge they persevered. Sometimes they showed the wisdom to know when to quit. Other times the tenacity to get back on the horse that just threw them. I continue to be amazed by these special people.

Thanks to all of you who made this year so enjoyable. And, to the ones I owe an email, image or phone call, hang in there. I’m riding the horse I was given’ and doing my best to catch up.

Best wish for a great 2012

I’m normally nervous before an event and having to drive through snow was not much help.  By the time Cheryl and I arrived the precipitation had stopped and so had most of my butterflies.  After making camp and checking in with Liz and Alanna, a ride management team that truly know how to put on an event, I assessed my shoot plan.  As the trails were muddy, creeks were full, judging locations had to change and the roads I wanted to use would eat my two-wheel drive pickup, my plan went into the mythical land of ‘if only it had worked.’  Those butterflies were back.

Check-in photos are rarely compelling but it is a great time to get a feel for the riders, horses and judges.  This ride screamed for photos ‘in the bank’ and I needed time to think.  So I drag out the gear and settle into photography mode as the sky cleared.

It cleared off Friday night and got down into the 20s.  Instant fogging if the gear goes from the warm trailer into the outside air so it had to spend the night in the pickup.  Saturday morning was clear and, by that time, so was my mind.  Liz Scott had done what good managers do, made up a work-around and found me a seat in the pickup with the horsemanship judge.  Remember the gear in the pickup?  Dummy left the batteries in the pickup also and it’s amazing how cold temperature will reduce the life of a battery.  Time to dig out the extra battery and the battery grip.

The first stop was in the sun and any camera body with good dynamic range should handle the location.  (I would have done better if I actually checked the histogram more often.)  The riders went down a small hill, up a hard packed rise (click, click) stop at the top (click) and then proceed down the  rise (click, just incase.)  Easy, except for the bright sky in the background and the dang tree casting shadows on the participants right at the sweet spot for photos. No time to add a ND grad filter, the riders were already arriving.  The Grays were going to be okay, the Bays were going to need some quality time with Vivesa in post.  The old 70-200mm lens would have light falloff in the corners, the new one looked great.

Location two was down a frame twisting, bumper bending power line road to the intersection of three trails and a creek.  Nice shooting in the open and at the break-out of the trails. But there was this ice cold creek down a muddy trail… easy choice, the creek. Luckily there was a pile of dead wood that had fallen and washed up on one side.  I could climb out over the water and lean on a cedar branch for stability.  As I was breaking some (mostly) dead branches out of the shot line I was reminded I left my work gloves in the pickup at camp.  Oh well, the bleeding stopped after a while and it cleaned off the lens and camera body.  The mud from the trail ended up on everything except the glass, good thing, the microfiber cloth was over on the bank.  VR on the new lens worked well and my wobbly position was of no concern.  The new lens design also fixed my tendency to bump it into manual focus.  The day finished up with some fill shots at the trail crossings, around camp and in the meeting room.

Sunday was a different weather day.  Not so cold but gray skies and a drizzle that seemed to percolate into everything.  (Why did I leave my Gore-tex boots at home?)  A really nasty photo day but as luck would have it I had help.  Kim Winterrowd managed to trade or evade her event secretary duties and wanted to help shoot for a while.  It’s always good to have help and Kim has a good eye, so I put the camera gear in Op/Tech bags and we climbed into the pickup and headed for an open field that intersected two trails and yes, a couple of creeks.  Kim took the P&Rs and I headed for the first judging, naturally at a creek crossing.  Unlike the sunny day before this day was grey and wet.  Shadows would not be much of a problem but there was another issue.  Depth of field was down to about 3 feet so a head-on shot was going to be difficult.  After crossing the creek (and Becky going back across the creek in her waterproof boots to get some more of my gear) I found a couple of rocks I could stand on and be out in the water.  I was shooting at ISO 1600, f/2.8, 320/second at about 150mm on wobbly rocks in a creek, in a light rain.  Perhaps sanity eluded me momentarily but with a little luck the participants would be so focused on the log in the creek and the muddy bank ahead that I would be hiding in plain sight.

Next stop was in some trees at the end of the field.  I was betting that after a P&R and a judged obstacle the riders would want to regain some momentum and hurry down the trail.  I needed a bit more than 200mm so a TC14 1.4 teleconverter was added to the lens.  300mm at f/4 was not bad and in the open I could bump up to around f/8.  I only had one autofocus issue in the entire set and that was near the end so it was probably my fault not the lens.

Kim worked the P&Rs with a D200 body and a 18-200mm zoom.  Once the clouds thinned a bit she was shooting at ISO 800, f/7.1 at 200/second.  Well within the working range of that equipment.

So, how did the gear hold up?  There are lots of sites that can show you the details on equipment, I can only tell you if it worked for me.  I’m not ready to crown the new 70-200 king of the zoom but Nikon fixed the issues that most annoyed me.  Still it seems to lack a bit of mojo the old lens had. However it is a great lens that worked well in poor conditions.  The D700 body did what it always does, work from ISO 200 to 6400 and never bother me with AF or noise problems.  The trusty D200 is an Energizer Bunny and worked well for Kim.

On the other hand I forgot my Gore-Tex, left the batteries outside in the cold and sure could have used another layer of clothing Sunday.  My shoot plan failed in oh, 30 minutes.  And by the end of a day shooting I was mentally tired and a bit cold resulting in dang near zero desire to search for a better event shot.  None of those problems can be blamed on the equipment.

My wife Cheryl and her horse Ojala finished the ride in time and in sound condition.  I guess I can say I did the same.  In my case, nothing spectacular but a workman like shoot.  After some events I pump my fist in the air and scream YES!  This one I shuffle off knowing I could have done better.  That may be what learning is all about but still it stinks.

I’m done with event shooting for a few weeks and there is a young filly that needs some TLC to make up for all the weekends I have been behind a camera and computer.  See y’all on the trail next year.

Images are assigned a zero star rating on import.  They may be assigned a rating from one to five or given the ‘big X’ and hidden for future discard.  For my purposes a one star rating goes into the online photo gallery for the participants and a five star rating would be something “as good as it gets.”  So here are the numbers after two years:

• 5 star    0
• 4 star    1
• 3 star    12
• 2 star    139
• 1 star    6,246
• 0 star    20,833
• Discarded    1,263

The first surprise for me is the low number of discarded photos.  These are typically out of focus shots that can not be fixed in the digital darkroom.  The quantity of these has gone down dramatically after upgrading my primary camera body to a Nikon D700.  The new camera has much better low light and auto focus technology and is a better fit with the photographically difficult places I like to work.

Out of 28,494 images, 6,398 were something better than a ho-hum snap shot.  Portrait sessions and cantering images tend to result in the most number of wasted shots.  Early morning motion blur images have a very poor success rate but are also lots of fun.  On average it took 4.5 shots to make one image for the gallery.

However over time my standards of what makes a good shot has also improved.  As the result must be better than before I still seem to take a lot of zero star shots.  Perhaps it is an endless chain of increasing expectations requiring more images that result in an increased expectation.

What does it all mean?  Heck I don’t know I’m new at this.  I know horses are difficult yet strangely satisfying to photograph.  I know competitive trail rides and horse events are what I want to do for now.  And, I know I need a lot more practice.  I’m thankful to have that opportunity afforded to me by the riders and ride managers who have so patiently helped me improve over the last two years.  With the support of my wife and the grace of God I will continue this journey.  Perhaps after another 25,000 images I will, at last, become proficient at this … but really, I’m beginning to think it’s a circle.

For photographers, if we have worked well on Saturday, Sunday is play day.  Time to let the creative juices flow.  Explore and create.  Intercept the riders in new spots and look for the special moment or background.  We started the day with a beautiful sunrise in camp.  Later Deborah Keene-Starr was taking photos from a tree to get a lake background and I was playing with a low angle shot after the horse come up a small hill.  All in all, great fun.

The final ride also brought news that one of our Region IV riders will win the NATRC Presidents Cup.  Congratulations to Jonni Jewell and Hank.  You can read about the run for the cup on her blog here.  Jonni is a darn good photographer who has help me out on many occasions.  Thankfully she prefers to photograph concerts and participates in rides.  If it was the other way around I would have far less shoots.  Her photo gallery is here.

It has been a great NATRC season.  Thanks to all the riders and staff who put up with me trying new things and accepting my failures with a good heart.  Truly this is the great group of instructors of trail photography.   Great riders and, a lot of fun to be with on the trail.

It had rained the week before but it cleared up by ride time leaving us with beautiful weather and just enough fog Sunday morning to make the photos interesting.  The park is beautiful and I am definitely going back to hike and explore further.  The riders and event staff were in great spirits.  All combined it made for a great weekend of photography but it felt much like a big family reunion.

The ride benefited the HUGS project whose mission is to send packages of ‘goodies’ to our service men and women overseas.  A way to say Thank You with some things they can’t get in the boondocks where they are stationed.  The riders and staff filled 45 boxes that will soon be in the hands of those who are on the front lines.

Great location, good weather, friendly people and a good cause.  Boy I love this job!

Stop and smell the flowers

I am often reminded about how much I don’t know about horses.  I’m around them daily and even a quick glance at the photo gallery would confirm they are my favorite photo subject.  I have an amazing filly named Fortuna to train and raise.  But beyond the technical skills I’m learning, the depth and dynamics of the human-horse relationship is wonderful to explore.

I am honored to be able to photograph the Natural Horsemanship of Texas (NHAT) shows, the last one being east of Celina Texas at the Starfire Equestrian Center.  About 25 teams participated, from novice to expert, youth to senior.  Events included round pen (on-line and at liberty) and trail (on-line and mounted.)  Trail courses make for good photography and there are many in the gallery.  However just watching the relationship is illuminating.  Sometimes it is a 900 pound horse intently watching a youngster for the next cue. Perhaps an adult in the down-time between events just hanging out with their teammate.  Or the photo above of a very relaxed horse smelling the flowers during the trail course.  It is all fascinating to watch.

Someday I’ll capture the photograph that properly expresses the relationship.  Until then I will continue to be amazed.

Last Wednesday an iCal alarm went off reminding me it had been two years since I started equine photography.  A quick check of Aperture, my digital asset management software, shows that while I have been averaging over 800 images a month my work is getting stale.  In the future I want to make more photographs and take fewer pictures.  That means more time per image.  I had a choice, continue to manage a server running Coppermine Photo Gallery or let someone else manage the server and order fulfillment and get back to photography and training that young filly.

Thursday I started the move to Zenfolio.  Why them?  Simple, the printer they partner with is MPix and they do great work.  Regular ‘E’ paper images look good while the metallic paper is awesome.  Not to mention the black and white paper they use is exceptional.  All this means is that someone else will now print and ship the photos to you.

The old gallery will be around for a while but by next week all the images worth transferring will be on the new server.  Please use the ‘Gallery’ link at the top of these pages to enter the new site.  Once there it should feel very familiar.  In events that have visible rider numbers, most of the images are tagged with that number and are searchable.  Very handy.

There will probably be some rough edges during the transition and I apologize for those upfront.  I’m still going to be personally checking each order so if I can find a better shot or adjust the color and cropping it will be done.  If you have problems be sure to let me know and we’ll work on them together.  Use the contact me link on our home page to email me.  If it takes a day or so to get back to you please understand I’m probably out shooting or playing with my horse. Oh, did I mention her name is Fortuna and she is the best horse in the world! <g>

First, it was too dark for my D200 to operate at a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action.  Second it was way too crowded.  But as I was stuck in the rut of getting ‘full body shots‘ (because someone had complained about not seeing the horses hoofs.)  Not only did I waste an opportunity, I also did not have the good sense to press the delete button in post.  Some of these made it to the web site where all the riders could see my crappy work.

The NATRC region 4 bunch are the nicest teachers I could hope for and not one said they looked bad, they just ignored them and found others that looked okay.  (Thanks folks but next time feel free to kick me in the behind!) Lesson learned.

I was in the right spot, the spot the ride manager, Don Rubley, pointed at the day before. Hummm.  I had the right gear.  Well except the lens really I should have been using was up the trail in the pickup. Must be my good eye for the shot.  Let’s not talk about the other thee images in the set.

In the end the photo was published because I was fortunate enough to get a decent image of the NATRC President’s Cup winner.  I may have captured the moment but the ride staff worked like crazy to put on the event and Gary rode well all year and won.  I must not forget that in event photography it’s less about the photographer skill and aptitude and more about the subject, event location and staff.