Announcing my Horse photography workshop!

It’s one day of on location shooting in a perfectly western setting, then another day of critique and equine specific photo editing!

Everyone knows how to be an encouraging and uplifting photographer to bolster the confidence of their model, but what if your model is a horse? Horses can often be afraid of the photographer and all the equipment brought with them which can result in an unenthusiastic horse and lackluster photos.

Through a number of various orchestrated photo opportunities I will show you how to put the horse and rider at ease to create the best horse photos in the west. We will create a studio in an arena with lighting to create a beautiful “on black” portrait look, action shots with a galloping rider, epic stills of a horse in the field and more.

This is a photography workshop that will teach you how to capture the wide range of personality and excitement that comes with western horse photography. Taking place in an idyllic western setting. The O'Reilly ranch and arena has big Alberta skies, roaming horses and everything you would expect in this true life working ranch.

More info here: http://www.thecamerastore.com/10619-Western-Equine-Photography-Workshop-with-Kyle-Marquardt.aspx

Rachel and Cassiar

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

We had a fantastic photo shoot this morning with Rachel of R.G Equine Therapy. Incredible morning light and sky east of Calgary. Cassiar the horse was so eager to please it made everything such a breeze! ...And I'm a poet and didn't know it!

As a side note, I've noticed sometimes on facebook there is a bit more interesting discussion. People seem to be  a bit more inquisitive there, so I thought I'd forward you a link where we talk about the lighting in this photo here: http://klou.tt/1m2ycetyybi81

#equinephotography   #horses   #photography   #strobist  

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Hank's Bath

Tuchodi Lake, Muskwa-Kechika, B.C., Canada, On horseback expedition with +Wayne Sawchuk  check out http://www.kylefoto.com/horseback-expeditions/ for more

Hank is almost too comfortable with me. Nearly squishing me when he dived into the hot sand for a "bath" and spastically rolled towards me with his hooves flailing in the air. But it was a pretty gorgeous place to roll, I'll give him that. Despite almost being in the Arctic, it was so hot I had to dive into the water dozens of times here just to keep cool. A surprisingly refreshing way to end a trip!

Canon 5D Mark III, 16-35mm f2.8  lens,Iso 100, f16, 1/200sec 

#travelphotography  

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The joy of golden light

Muskwa-Kechika, B.C. Canada

This gorgeous morning, +Rachel Gedaliya and I woke up at 5:00 AM to hike up the final 5% of a mountain we were camping on. It was like getting a 95% head start on an epic mountain hike. We literally woke up, grabbed our day bag full of breakfast and reached the mountain top 20 minutes after waking up in time for a sunrise mountain peak breakfast, talk about convenient! The ridge was littered with Elk and Mountain Goats. To have a golden morning sunshine look at these creatures was such a treat, kind of like a visual appetizer.

Photographic Details
Thank goodness the hot summer air was absent, replaced by cool morning refreshingness; this is one of the hidden benefits to waking up early for the golden hour, no sweltering heat.  I was taking tonnes of scenery shots, but I needed something to express how easy this place is to hike, and how wonderful it is to be here. So after catching my breath I asked +Rachel Gedaliya to stand in the exact spot I wanted to and to show the camera how wonderful it is to be here, she certainly delivered. Scenery shots are great, but having a person or animal in it really expresses how livable it is. If this was a landscape with no plants and no people it could almost be a photo from mars! So simply adding a person or animal really does bring accessibility to an image. I also shot this with my telephoto lens, this increases the size of the subject in the background, these lenses are not to be forgotten for landscape photos!

This was taken on expedition with +Wayne Sawchuk, if you want to go to places like these, check out www.go2mk.ca

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon L 70-200 f2.8 lens, f8, 1/100/sec, ISO 100

#travelphotography  

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Into the landscape

Waldron Conservation Area, Alberta, Canada

I was lucky enough to be part of the +Nature Conservancy of Canada effort to protect a sensitive area known as the Waldron in southern Alberta. I was hired to show off the wonder and beauty of the land, and had the absolute privilege of wandering around here for days looking for photographic ways to inspire others to help protect this area. I still have close ties with the NCC and sometimes donate my time to their promotional events. If you happen to be a part of the "Leaders in Conservation" program you are invited to participate in an exclusive workshop from me this weekend! To find out more about becoming a leader in conservation, check out: http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/alberta/get-involved/leaders-in-conservation/lic.html

Photographic Details
Some of the original stakeholders rode to the media event on their horses, it was the perfect opportunity to start posing these riders. I had them walk away into the scenery in classic western style. I laid close to the ground and got a very geometrically simple and gorgeous shots of these riders. The extreme symmetry of this scene allowed me to centre the subject (which is usually a no-no) and mainly focus on the riders. Having them walk away creates a feeling of mystery, engendering the viewer to wonder who these riders are, only going on their attire and cowboy hats for clues.

See Also:
Check out this summers horseback expeditions: http://www.kylefoto.com/horseback-expeditions/
and the LIC tours: http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/alberta/get-involved/leaders-in-conservation/2014.html#.U6GcmY1dVPQ

For #waywednesday  curated by +Peter Carroll 
#horsebackriding   #horselovers   #equinephotography #waldron   #ncc   #conservation  

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Giddy up!

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

This is my point of view riding the first horse I had ever gotten to know. She was almost exactly my age, and lived up until we were both 27. We were riding down this uneventful trail on somewhat of a bland day. But we were riding back, and she knew we were going home which means she would love to gallop home in order to get there faster. I noticed her beautiful mane flowing in the wind and thought it would be great to see what kind of photos I could get while riding.

Photographic Details
I wanted to create a sense of motion, so just like I often do, I think about using a ridiculously low shutterspeed. In this case, it's 1/20th of a second that does the trick for me. Don't get me wrong though, it's not easy and a lot of this is luck, I took nearly a hundred photos before I found one that captured the right feeling: the tossing of the mane, while maintaining enough blur in the right spots. This all helps create a much more dynamic feeling excitement while still being recognizable. It was also a thrill to try and stay on a galloping horse using one hand on the reins and another on my camera, yeehaw!

1/20th, f6.3, ISO 50 Canon 5D, Canon 16-35mm f2.8 Lens.

For #equinetuesday  curated by +Jillian Chilson.
#equinephotography   #horsebackriding   #travelphotography   #plusphotoextract  

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