When You've Got IT ... Flaunt IT!

    I tagged along with Babette, Ashley, and Emily a couple of days ago to watch them have a jump lesson with Boyd Martin.  We drove way out into No-Man's Land to the beautiful farm owned by one of our Area 1 eventing ladies, Jennifer Berryman.
      It was a beautiful sunny bright day, but rather cold with a brisk wind as evidenced by the riding outfits worn by the ladies.  Babette, Emily and Ashley shared the lesson while Polly rode Matty all around the farm in her ongoing attempt to desensitize him.
    Click here to see them "flaunt their stuff".

The "EYE" has it...

      I actually enjoy not being the Official Photographer (OP) at events. The pressure is off, the stress is non-existent ("you didn't get a picture of ME?!"  "Sorry, but I desperately had to get to the port-o-potty that was a mile away"); and if it's rainy or otherwise not a nice day.... I don't have to go.
      This past weekend at Paradise Farm H.T. was a perfect example. Yes, I wanted to, and did, get pictures of my BEventing buddies and a few other friends (see previous post), but in between their rides I could walk about casually, let my mind relax and turn on (fanfare please) my PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE.  Pardon the brag, but I have a very good PE when the conditions are right (see above i.e.,  the no pressure, no stress part).
      Many years ago, in another place, another time, another Galaxy (see BIO), I had a real (= salary w/ benefits) job as a marine scientist. I also ran a side business selling my black & white, fine-art photography. For those of you old enough to remember Ansel Adams, he was my mentor (through his books) and I did my printing in a darkroom with actual chemicals and stuff.  The subject matter was not horses, but nature and scenics and still-life, things I could shoot at 1 second exposures, not 1/1000 of a second. I credit these years for the development of my PE.
       Fueled by gorgeous weather that ranged from early morning frost to bright sun and brilliant blue sky, the wide open XC course complete with rolling hills and pond, my PE had very little trouble engaging. The early morning rides provided backlit images of moisture-laden breath from horse and rider.  The sun, sky and glassy pond drew me in to reflections. The transition from reality to the reflection in some of the images is almost non-existent.  Can you tell which ones are upside-down?

Click HERE to view gallery

    

BEventing Contingent at Paradise Farm H.T.

       For the first time in the past several years coming to the Paradise Farm Horse Trials the weather was superb. The mornings were a tad frosty (literally) but once the sun went to work, we were peeling off our down vests and exposing snow bird white arms to the warmth. Lellie Ward and her phenomenal group of volunteers crammed just over 300 competitors into one full day of dressage and two more of XC and show jumping. I hope everyone competing or spectating appreciates the incredible amount of work and TIME this takes, and I hope many took a moment to thank all involved.
       As for results, visit the Paradise Farm website. My intentions in this post are to entertain with pics of our BEventing squad comprised of:   Babette Lenna riding Lucy Cheney's Bouncer in his first Prelim; Ashley Ireland riding Babette's former upper level amazing chestnut TB Tom Cat (Joey) at Training level. This was Ashley's maiden voyage on Joey... and what a trip they had!  Emily Merrill with Diggin' on Doug (Dougles) competed with her Mum Polly riding Matinicus (Matty) in the same novice division.

Click HERE to view gallery.  Enjoy!

USEF Training Session

The United States Equestrian Federation is holding training sessions in the Aiken area again this winter at Three Runs Plantation (yet another incredibly exquisite "Equestrian Community"). These sessions are open to the public so many showed up this morning, despite the 29 degrees + windchill, to watch renowned show jumping rider Katie Monahan Prudent work with Phillip Dutton,

 Jan Byyny, Will Coleman and others vying for a spot on the US Eventing Team.

       

     The BEventing group came to watch a few of the lessons early this morning as well. (The only one identifiable in the pictures is Ashley Ireland (hint: pink & texting)

      Several of the exercises got our attention! 

   

     One of Jan Byyny's horses was especially entertaining. 

       

It's Tedious Work...

     ... setting up a Stock Image library. I've been wanting to do this forever but the priority during each competition season (May-November) is posting proofs as quickly as possible and fulfilling orders. Processing anywhere from 1000 to 4000 images from any one event leaves little time to devote to building a Stock Image Library. 

        Selling images to equine products catalogues, magazines, newspapers, websites etc. is not new to me. My first sale was to Purina, back in my film days, an image of Sue Bourassa jumping out of the water at Senator Bell H.T. on the bag of Purina's Omalene 200. 
    
    Anybody own a VISA card from Dover Saddlery? The photo on the sample card for eventing is one I took of my good friend and awesome photographer Brant Gamma jumping out of the water at Groton House Farm H.T.
     Two years ago I sold 4 images of horse's hooves/legs to Dover Saddlery for use by Farrier's Forumula in their ads. Then there are the innumerable images sold to Yankee Pedlar, Practical Horseman, Chronicle of the Horse and other publications to illustrate articles.  

       It's one thing to be contacted by a buyer looking for a specific image, which is the way all of mine have been purchased thus far. This way is terribly time-consuming because I spend hours searching the hard drives for images to fit their needs (I know I have something here somewhere!)  If the buyer likes what I have, then begins the dreaded "negotiation" for a license and fee that is fair to both of us.


Thus my desire to build a website filled with hundreds upon hundreds of images to which buyers can come and find what they want quickly, on their own time, by way of a sophisticated search engine. It will also have a convenient price calculator. Punch in the various options of use. Out pops an estimate of what I would charge. 
Sounds great doesn't it?!  

    I think so too, until I sit down at my computer connected to eight external hard drives holding the thousands of images taken since starting Hoof Pix® and begin the overwhelming task of examining each and every image, selecting, categorizing, processing, adding keywords (ugh). Not to mention designing the Stock Image website which is still on the planning table.

Tedious indeed, but I have a window of time while here in Aiken to grind away at it.

       

The Morning After

       We did get ~ 5-6" and the snow was wet, then froze, sticking to everything and making many of the trees droop.  My street - Orangeburg ....

 

       I took a stroll back to South Boundary and found I was not alone. Photographers (or folks with cameras) were everywhere. All trying to get pics of the avenue without cars. As soon as the road cleared, they would all run out to the middle and of course, take their pics of the lovely snow covered oaks... with other photogs in the scene.

       The best was this young photographer snapping pics from the sun-roof of his Dad's car as they whizzed down the avenue! 

       I managed to get a few photos without cars or many people.

       On the walk back, I was passed by one South Carolinian in denial, top down (removed) apparently knowing that the sun will take care of all this white stuff before the day is over.

        As I finish writing this, the sun is making its appearance and the snow is starting to fall off the trees.  It was fun while it lasted!

They Call This "Yankee Weather"

     We Northerners call it a "dusting".

     This is the well known (and photographed) South Boundary Ave. in Aiken. The branches of huge beautiful oak trees on both sides form an archway along the length.  Enhanced today by the rather unusual snow fall.

       This is a very nice neighborhood for walks, but not today as the surface was quickly getting  slick while I walked about with my camera. 

       Below is the street (Orangeburg) on which I reside.  These photos were taken a little over an hour ago and the roads are now snow covered.  They are predicting 4-5" by the morning... a "dustin' ", but not by Aiken standards.

       Pine Top Horse Trials is happening this weekend just west of here in Thomson GA.  They are also getting this weather and have already pushed ride times 2 hours later for tomorrow.  Babette is competing Bouncer (owned by Lucy Cheney of Rest & Be Thankful Farm). Fortunately her dressage and show jumping are in the afternoon when we hope the warmth of the sun will have melted the snow.

        I will be going along so stay tuned for a full report.

How Cold Was It?

         Need I say more?  

     This was the dressage steward at Full Gallop today.  The sun was bright, and the temps weren't too terrible (mid 30's) IF you got out of the wind.

       Despite the frost-bitten fingers and ears, it was nice to bump into so many faces from Area 1, though hard to recognize underneath all of the layers. 

       Emily and Doug were the brave souls representing BEventing today and they made us proud. Doug showed his maturity with a steady dressage test (we all agree the judge was blind).  While others were spooking and freaking in the wind, Doug was Mr. Steady Eddy for Em.  They had a nice stadium round and lovely XC too. Go here to see some pics.

      

I'm a PHOTOGRAPHER ... so why can't I stay FOCUSED?!

     I normally consider these winter months to be my "off season", the short span between the last shoot of the old year and the first shoot of the new year. Orders crawl to a trickle, "lots of time" I tell myself to catch up on the digital/photo/computer/horse worlds.  This is when I can spruce up the website, make improvements to the way I run the business, keep informed of new stuff in the industry, work on my stock library, and teach myself HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, WordPress ... maybe even curl up with a good book before bed!
   
     In reality? My brain is running in circles like a crazed weasel, overwhelmed with everything I want /need to do before April 9 (when I head back to Maine and prepare for the new season). I jump from one task to another, but never stay long enough to finish any of them.  In other words, I CAN'T STAY FOCUSED!  sheesh, not a good thing for a professional photographer to admit.

     Example:  I've found all kinds of on-line tutorials to teach me html, css, etc, but am bogged down with where to start, what to learn first. As soon as I settle in front of the monitor with a cup of coffee to listen to instructional videos, I get an email that needs attention, FuzzButt starts scratching on something she shouldn't, never failing to get MY attention "PLAY with ME, NOW!" or my brain suddenly thinks of something else I need to learn about that is a tad more interesting than the current choice... the sun is shining, the temps are above freezing and Irish needs to be ridden...
   
     Then there is the world of networking, social and professional with which I have a love/hate relationship. I dragged my feet about joining Facebook, until I learned that it is a great way to market Hoof Pix® (I have a Page for those of you reading this and might want to become "fans"). I even discovered that I can put up a Storefront on my page to sell the cards, posters, etc. (check it out!). But as most of you know, the time spent with Facebook can be overwhelming.
    
     Yesterday I discovered Google Reader that supposedly simplifies checking on all the RSS feeds of the websites/blogs of which I subscribe to keep informed. Sure, everything is all in one place, nicely organized to let me know what's new, old, read, not read.  That's the "love" part. The "hate" part is that it still takes TIME to review stuff, and of course every new post on all of my favorites has even more links to even more very interesting "must know" stuff.  The end result?  day gone... *poof*!
     
     Yeah, I am learning tons, and getting my business name out there "networking" but have I done anything with respect to updating the website, re-structuring the business, creating new card/poster designs, bringing in any INCOME!  posting more regularly here?!! 
      
     Well, it just took an hour to write this post and now I have to get ready to head over to Full Gallop Farm H.T. and try to hold my heavy camera in sub-freezing, 25 mph winds.


     ... focus Pam, FOCUS!


   

Pants on the Ground

     A lot going on ... in a nutshell, I made it to Aiken last weekend with the companionship of Koré Guenzel.  Irish arrived on Monday and Wednesday was the horrid "CLIPPING DAY!"

     Check out my FaceBook page for more photos (sorry its easier that way, for now).

     More later when time permits....