horses running in snow
Draft horses playing in the snow
Draft horses playing in the snow
Read less
Read less
Feb, 2016Views
1291
Likes
Awards
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Legendary Award
Member Selection Award
Spring Selection Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Genius
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Blue Star Equiculture, a draft horse sanctuary in Massachusetts. I have been photographing these gentle giants for four years now getting to know each horse and their personalities. On this day, they were brought out into the upper paddock and encouraged to run in the snow covered field.Time
I visit the sanctuary on weekends throughout the year. This photo was taken on one of the nicer New England winter afternoons. It was cool and sunny and the horses had just the right amount of spunk that day to give us about twenty minutes of horse play.Lighting
The photo was taken about mid afternoon and the sun's light was a bit harsh reflecting off of the snow. I like to dabble with digital transformations so in the case I chose to go towards the black and white spectrum. I used an image of clouds to replace the trees in the field to give the image a more moody appearance and let the power of these horses show through.Equipment
I shoot with a Canon 70D and most times have my 18-135 mm lens.Inspiration
I have been told that I am able to capture the spirit and personalities of these horses at the sanctuary. So many times people think of horses in rescue or sanctuaries as broken spirited or sickly and not worth spending the hours or money taking care of them. I like to go there and capture the fact that they are still full of life, that they are beautiful and that they are worthy of our love and time with them.Editing
I do use post-processing at times. I like to "play" with images to see if I can transform them into something more appealing or to bring out and highlight things that I feel should stand out. In this image, the glare of the snow and the distraction of the trees in the background took away from seeing the power of these horses.In my camera bag
I do not normally carry much in my camera bag other than my Canon 70D and my 18-135 mm lens. I am usually photographing horses and in most cases I am pretty much up close and personal with them. I have a deep love and respect for horses and they seem to pick up on that so in many cases I can get closer to them than a photographer who may not have that kind of relationship with the horses.Feedback
Everyone has their favorite thing to photograph - mine happens to be horses. In order to take good photos of them one needs to learn about their behaviors and learn the proper way to capture them in a photo. I have been around horses since I was young and I have not had formal training in photography. I have been told on more than one occasion that I have an "eye" for capturing horses. I do not necessarily have to take the time to set up a photo of horses like many others do. A day at the sanctuary for me is an easy photography day since I know the horses well, I know their personalities and I can generally predict how they will react in a situation so my shots come more naturally. I have learned over the years how they move and have been able to time myself to capture the shot in a pleasing way, legs and head in good position. I sometimes photograph at horse shows and to prepare myself for those situations I attended shows asking both the people running the show and the official show photographer if i could practice. This practice helped me to time my shots and get into the rhythm of the horse's movement and know when to click to capture the right gait or capture the correct moment of the horse as they went over a jump. As with anything, be educated in the field you are photographing and learn as much as you can. I am not a horse owner myself but I have surrounded myself with people who do own horses and I take the opportunity to attend equine clinics and I practice my photography and I take on-line photography classes as well.
