From the Studio; Basic Horse Sence

As a photographer I often found myself driving around looking for pictures to take. It was my job and my hobby. I enjoyed taking pictures. The difference in the two types of photography; one did not have the pressures of deadlines, clients, or even subjects to photograph. This made my hobby photography entirely different from my job as a paid photographer.

It was the month of May when I found myself driving in horse country around the rolling hills of Ocala Florida. Unfortunately, the day had turned hot and cloudy leaving me with nothing to photograph that had any real punch. I couldn’t even find any horses. They all seemed to be hiding in their stables or under some shade tree and not visible from the road. So I headed back into town for a late lunch where I could sit in the air conditioning and cool off.  

It was then that I spotted five or six horses on top of a hill. Two young stallions were playing. They were rearing up on their hind legs, seemingly boxing with their front legs. Then one would chase the other. The one being chased was kicking out his back legs as he ran. I couldn’t get the car pulled over fast enough!

Grabbing my camera I walked slowly to the place where I could get the best view of these two young playful stallions. However, by that time they had stopped their antics and gone back to grazing. I was heart broken. It was then I saw another eight or so horses that I couldn’t have seen from my car. One big gray stallion raised his head and looked straight at me. I wasn’t sure what I should do so I stopped dead in my tracks. These were more than likely very expensive race horses and I didn’t want to cause them any distress; or anything else that might cause me to be sued. Then that big gray started walking towards me.

I did what any good photographer would do. I raised the camera and started shooting. For some reason this got him running right at me. Still I clicked away. After all I was outside the fence and safe. I glanced at the settings in my viewfinder more out of habit than anything else, but I couldn’t see them. Seems I was in such a hurry when I grabbed my camera that I forgot to grab my glasses. That’s okay, I was able to see what I was shooting and I was confident that my $2000 dollar camera would not fail me at a moment like this.

The big gray stallion half raised up and half turned back up the hill toward the rest of the heard, whinnying the whole time. This got all the horses running along the top of the ridge. A couple even kicked out their hind legs as they ran. It was a beautiful thing to see and I just kept clicking away getting one great shot after another. Once the big gray got to the top of the hill he and several of his close and personal friends turned and faced me. I remember thinking that they looked more like sticks stuck in the ground than horses. But it did not stop me from shooting away even if it wasn’t the best angle to photograph them. As the rest of the heard disappeared behind the hill the gray and his friends held their ground. I knew beyond a doubt that I was getting some of the best shots I had ever taken.

After a few minutes of them staring at me and me taking their pictures they all turned and followed the rest of the heard over the hill. Never again would I be able to get shots like these. I headed back to the car and my glasses to see what I had photographed. Ah, the beauty of digital photography at work.

With glasses in place I pushed the button that would turn on the viewer in my fancy camera. Then all that joy and elation I was feeling vanished. The screen was blank. None of the shots I had taken had come out. Each and every frame was nothing but a white screen. Was my camera broken? Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. This was a Nikon for crying out loud and one of the better models. How could this have happened?

It seems that the night before I had been shooting in low level light with little or no flash. My camera was set to work in dark places. I on the other hand had just been using it in bright sunlight. Meaning everything I shot was blown out. All the camera could see was white light. Therefore all I got was nothing but this story to remember the day I was horsing around and lost the opportunity for some of the best shots in forty years of photography.