So let’s look at Adrienne Then first.

More recently, Adrienne called me for another shoot. She had gotten a mustang and was competing in the Extreme Mustang Makeover and needed a poster! Read about that shoot Adrienne Now.

But I am finally doing it.  This is one of my favorite shows to shoot for a lot of reasons.  First, I get to see a lot of great horses.  Secondly, and possibly most importantly, I was founder of the CPRHA and involved in the  formation of this show.  And it has grown to one of the biggest reining shows in the county.

I will post a few photos of this show.  All images are shot with a Canon 1DMkII, Canon 70-200 F/4 and the lighting system described.  But I will primarily use this as a discussion of my lighting system for indoor shows.  Go here to read the rest.

After we got home my wife and I were having coffee and I was griping about how disappointing the show was financially. She said “But we got to spend the week together and we met some really nice people.” She always has a better outlook on such things than I do! It was a fun week. Tiring, but fun. But now to the topic at hand.

Which is shooting indoor horse shows in low light.  I have promised many of you this post on some of the forums.  I apologize for how long it has taken me to do this.  But now, finally, here it is.  Click here to go to the article.

Here is the original photo.  I didn’t look at the metadata in Lightroom so I am going from memory.  But I am sure I shot this with a Canon 5D and a Canon 70-200 mm F/4 Non IS (my workhorse outdoors lens).  Outdoors I would have been at 1/1000 ish shutter speed, ISO of 100-200 and probably f stop in the neighbor hood of 5.6.

This is James Wilkens on his mare Manzana’s Tweak.  This was taken at the Cutting Horse Association of Nebraska show at Jim’s farm in June of 2009.  I, of course, have had other images published but it is fun having one used by the University.  I’m sure they have a ton of photographers there!

I was also contacted by their editor about writing an article about photographing horses which I agreed to do.  (As if I have the time!)  I will keep you posted on that.

Here is Barb and my brand new grandbabies, Trigg and Torunn.  They are a little over a week old here.  Our son, Brett, and his wife, Janet, presented these to us on May 11!

Since I posted last I shot the two day Elkhorn Equestrian show and I will get some images and comments up soon.  I am off tomorrow to judge the two day National Reining Horse Association show in Mt. Vernon, MO.   So cut me a little slack.

And, as it turns out, I was totally unprepared for the curves thrown at me by the first show of the season.  Go read more here.

My Lenses

You are going to hear this until you are sick of it: Lenses are the most important decision you will make in choosing your equipment for shooting horse shows.  This isn’t a truism just for horse shows.  Any pro photog in any discipline is going to tell you this. It doesn’t matter if you are shooting portraits, landscapes or macros, glass is more important than camera. This is not intended to minimize the importance of good equipment.  You must have top gear for photographing horse shows.  But if one is in the situation of deciding between upgrading a body and a better lens, go with the lens.  Every time.   

Go to the complete article.

I spent Sunday in my hotel room again reviewing more video tapes.  Then on Monday, yesterday, went to the NRHA office to test.  Well I got the news from NRHA Judges Program Supervisor, Michelle Wrigley this morning that I passed again.  With a score of 88.  Just had to share that I am approved to judge for another two years!

Now back to photography shortly!  I promise the blog on picking lenses in the next day or so.