Again, this year, I put together a slideshow to run during Rainbow Ridge Farm’s show series banquet. Rainbow Ridge Farm in Pipersville, PA has been running their H/J schooling show for a couple of years now. Mostly, it’s the RRF students who attend, both to get a feel for how a show runs and to gain a little experience before showing off the farm…but almost every event had at least a few entries from other nearby barns.

Considering that it’s such a small show, I still usually end up with a lot of really fun photos over the course of the year. I usually get a chance to play with new ideas, as well, so it’s always a challenge to whittle them down to a manageable set for the slideshow. This year wasn’t any different – but I think I ended up with something that gives a good feel for the season.

Photos from this year’s show series are available in the Horse Show Proofs section of my website or directly at http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/rrf2011shows.

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Krista and Simon

One of the young ladies at my wife’s barn went and got herself hitched a few weeks ago.  It’s a strange experience, since over the past ~10 years of marriage to Virginia, I’ve gotten to know a number of her young students.  Many of them are starting to get to that age where they are looking at college, moving out from their parents, and starting homes and families of their own. Makes me feel old…Krista is one of those. She and her mother moved their horses to the old incarnation of Rainbow Ridge a while ago. I have got photos of their horse, Simon, from at least as far back as 2005. He, and Krista, were among my very first subjects along my road to being a professional equestrian/equine photographer, and I still remember her heading off to U. Conn about that same time.

Like I said: I feel old.

Now I should be clear here: I don’t do weddings.  There are photographers who live for them – and while I love looking at the photos afterwards, I’m singularly unsuited to be a wedding photographer. A bridal portrait with horses, though… That’s another matter entirely!

We started off at Rainbow Ridge at dawn for a few impromptu shots as they lead out the horses from the fields and a few posed shots in the soybean fields at the farm. I’ll admit that I liked it better as a backdrop when it was corn, but crop prices dictate these things, not my photography. We then trailered off to the Bucks County Horse Park for the rest of the photo shoot.

One of the nicest things about BCHP is that there are a lot of places there that work wonderfully as sets and backdrops.  Especially during the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons.  There’s also a small pond, that works wonderfully as a reflecting pool on a still day. The leaves were just starting to turn on a few trees, so I concentrated on the spots that gave me some color for the background (whether in- or out-of-focus).

There’s also a nice tall corn field that is still standing near the cross-country course that works well as a background (remember how much I like corn fields – the movies, Children of the Corn and Field of Dreams, notwithstanding.) Given a sunny day, beautiful blue skies, a gorgeous place to be – it was hard to create bad photos.

The only wrinkle for the day was the fact that the local 4H club had rented out the park for their annual Spook-a-Rama judged, costumed, trail-ride. Lots of young ladies and mother/daughter teams in fantastic costumes roaming all over the park while we were shooting. I know there were a lot of folks complimenting the bride and groom on their awesome costumes. Our bunch even ended up in the Spook-a-Rama’s photo album.

A beautiful bride and her handsome beau, a beautiful dress and happy horses – a beautiful day all-in-all.  I even captured a few out-takes.

And taken altogether, these are the moments that make for lasting memories!

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On October 9th, I assisted Laslo Varadi of Digital Expressions Photography for the Bucks County Horse Park’s Starter Horse Trials and Combined Test as a second shooter, photographing the Dressage and Stadium phases.  I love these shows for the diversity of competitors and riding levels, as well as the multiple phases.

I’m always torn as to whether I prefer Eventing at the recognized levels or at these Starter Horse Trials. The big events are, well…”big“. Big-name riders, big hazards, big horses…big in so many ways – but the Starters have an energy…a passion held by those just getting into eventing that maybe gets lost in some of the competitiveness of those big, rated shows. Perhaps the bigger hearts live in the lower levels, waiting for their chance to show just how big they are…

Photos from the event can be found on Digital Expressions’ site at http://www.digitalexpressionsphotography.com/Equestrian/BCHP-Horse-Trials-10-09-2011

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I put together this little slideshow to run during the Bucks County Horse Park’s End of Year Awards Banquet:

Photos from the banquet itself can be found at http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/p514865520

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Last year, I ended up with box tickets from a friend of Virginia’s to see the Grand Prix Freestyle competition at Dressage at Devon.  As many of you know, I’ve gotten to be a fan of dressage – to the point of specializing in it for my equine photography endeavors. There’s a lot to love about dressage, especially if you’re into the formality that goes along with it as I am (I love Christmas and Easter Masses for the same reason).

Freestyle is a special draw as it marries my love for music with these beautiful animals, and I was delighted to be able to go – and of course brought my camera. 

Last year, I paid my fee and photographed for the single day. I managed to chat with a number of top riders, a few well-known equestrian photographers, and took a few beautiful performance and candid images (if I do say so myself). …and it was LOADS of fun!

This year I decided to use up some of my vacation time at my “day job” and photograph the entire show – especially since I’d been shooting local Dressage Sporthorse breed shows this year and enjoying them as much as the performance classes. The fillies and colts are always gorgeous and they (often) aren’t quite so well behaved – and every photographer has a soft-spot for rambunctiousness. It often makes for great photos (if a bit hard on the handlers and stressful to the breeders).

Dressage at Devon is an odd beast as large horse shows go, as it no longer hires an official photographer – or more precisely, doesn’t hire a photographer to provide photos to competitors. DaD opens this service up to any photographer willing to pay a fee for the rights to photograph and sell performance images (although not the “win” photos) .  Not a big issue for me as (1) I’m local to this particular show, and (2) this is a HUGE, nationally ranked show and the fee is pretty reasonable.

The one thing I didn’t count on was just how exhausting a six day show could be. Especially one that runs basically from dawn to dusk each day, and starts and ends with an hour commute. The show was still fun, though and I think I managed to capture some really nice images of the horses, although I wish I’d taken more “color” photos as well to give the feeling of the event.

As I do for my local shows, I decided to work on a “sign-up” basis, where the competitors needed to contact me before their rides so that I knew to capture them. I had a a number contact me prior to the show and significant number that contacted me during the show…and in my (few) down times, I photographed prior clients…just in case.  I think it worked pretty well. I’ll plan on roughly the same for next year, but with a slightly expanded mailing list beforehand (since many competitors weren’t aware of me until they arrived in Pennsylvania).

Photos for the 2011 Dressage at Devon can be found in the Horse Show Proofs section of the website (link at the top) or by clicking the following link:
2011 Dressage at Devon Photos

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OK, I fouled things up a bit.  I just noticed that the posts I had written hadn’t actually published… (sigh).  I had intended to have the new posts auto-publish every other day starting back on Sunday – but I messed up the dates.

So…they’ll start this evening and I’ll hopefully have this worked out now.

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So, as usual, I’m running behind on the blog as I keep busy shooting and processing orders (as well as adding in a few family functions as well). Instead of doing a single post about the various events I’ve covered since my last post, I’ll be spooling them up to post individually over the next week or so, beginning this Sunday.

Upcoming posts will cover:

• Dressage at Devon
• USEF-recognized Horse Trials at BCHP
• A “post-wedding photo shoot” with the bride, groom and the bride’s horses
• BCHP Dressage Championship (and USDF Region 1 Adult Team competition)
• The Essex Fox Hounds Opening Meet
• The RRF end-of-year banquet (with my annual slide show video)
• A couple of art images that I’ll be offering for sale
• Holiday dates and deadlines (and maybe a couple of specials)
• …and the upcoming BCHP end-of-year awards banquet (if I don’t run out of steam by then).

Photos from the public events are available in the Galleries section of my website, and I’ll provide direct links in the various posts.

Stay Tuned!

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This past Sunday, the Bucks County Horse Park in Revere, Pennsylvania held its fall driving show.  Although, for various reason, the number of driving events at the horse park has gone down, they have staunchly held at least one every year.

This year, it was a “fun” event – which went over extremely well (big kudos to Judy Hohmann and the rest of the BCHP staff and volunteers who put in so much work to pull off a really wonderful event).  Fourteen entries came out for a cross-country poker-ride, an obstacle course, and a timed cone event - dubbed the “carriage race” - with a variety of equines (horses, ponies, and mini’s) and vehicles. The weather was a bit iffy when we arrived (fog and a threat of rain), but turned absolutely beautiful by mid-morning.

Photos from the event can be viewed and purchase in the Horse Show Proofs gallery (link at top) or but direct link at: http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/bchp20110925drv.

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Yep, I’ll admit it. I’m *really* bad about updating the website.

A lot has been going on here at Stephen Crowers Photography. First off Dressage at Devon, our area’s premier dressage event is fast approaching.  Heck, Dressage at Devon (affectionately known as DaD)  is one of the world’s premier dressage events! As a CDI-W (World Cup qualifier), it attracts some of the the best dressage riders and horses in the western hemisphere.

This year I’ll again be attending as a “participating photographer” at DaD 2011 (photographing professionally and allowed to sell to competitors). Unlike last year, however, where I was only photographing the last few dates of the performance division, I’ll be photographing all three days of the breed show as well as all three days of the performance portion.

As with my local shows, there is currently no fee to sign-up or view images, and no obligation to purchase photos (although I obviously hope that you will). Images will remain available for purchase through the end of the year, at minimum.

I will also have a few product packages and discounts available to riders/owners who have signed-up ahead of time as a “thank you” for their interest.

I will be accepting sign-ups from riders to reserve slots in my shoot schedule beginning on Wednesday, September 15th.  As I will not have times from Dressage at Devon until a few days before the show, sign-ups will be serviced on a first-come, first-served basis (with earlier sign-ups bumping later ones where a conflict arises…although I always try to capture as many presentations/tests as possible).

If you are competing at Dressage at Devon this year and are interested in photographs from the show, please contact me via email or by phone (steve@stephencrowersphotography.com or 267-718-5281 cell) with class names/numbers and  the horses’ names prior to 7pm on September 26th. After that, I cannot guarantee that I’ll be aware of your requests – however you can always grab me at the show (or call my cell) and I’ll do my best to fit you in, if possible.

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Over the last month I’ve been shooting at Bucks County Horse Park for various events (Dressage, H/J,Eventing, and a Starter Horse Trial for the Huntington Valley Hunt Pony Club) as well as a pair of small shows at Rainbow Ridge Camp and Riding Center. I also managed to squeeze in a few non-horsey shoots (think models and commercial work).

Images from the shows can be found in the following galleries:

BCHP: http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/bchp

RRF: http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/rrf

…and just for reference regarding the upcoming DaD show – images from last year’s Dressage at Devon Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle (as well as a few other performance divisions) can be viewed at http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/2010dad

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This past weekend (August 7th), I again rented out my services to Laslo Varadi of Digital Expressions Photography for the Schooling Horse Trials at BCHP.  The day was pretty brutal, weather-wise, as the humidity was way up there and the temps were in the mid- to high-80′s.  Think sweating bodies with a layer of dust coating them. Not the most attractive look (or feeling), right?  The HT competitors, volunteers, and staff all took this in stride for a great competition, however.

Eventing is still one of my favorite disciplines (although, I’ll confess that it can be a little like choosing among your children, as there are very few equestrian competitions or shows of which I’m not a fan).  I love Dressage (really), but the ability to be able to photograph the Stadium and Cross-Country phase as well, has a lot of attraction for me.  There are always a lot of “hold-my-breath” moments (especially during XC) – and there are times that I’m thankful my wife ratcheted down her own eventing to concentrate on teaching more – but there’s still a sense of awe watching these amazing athletes ride across the wide open fields towards logs, ditches, banks and the various other jumps on course.

The higher levels are amazing, of course, but the excitement of the Beginner Novice, Starter, and Elementary levels is as much a draw.  The look on a riders face (both children and adults) as they make that “scary” coop; or ride a great test after weeks of practice; or the complete the stadium course clean, tight turns and all – especially when I can capture that joy in a photo – well..it makes all the heat, dust, long days, and sore feet worth every second, now doesn’t it?

Images from the event are available for purchase on the Digital Expression Photography website  at http://www.digitalexpressionsphotography.com/Equestrian/BCHP-Horse-Trials-8-07-2011 (general images) and http://www.digitalexpressionsphotography.com/Equestrian/BCHP-HT-8-7-2011-Private (sign-ups)

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OK, I don’t really have the names yet…

Today was a fun, if hot and muggy, day at the Bucks County Horse Park.  It’s Thursday – which means it was the BCHP Thursday Morning Horse Show, and I was apparently just getting warmed up.  I think I’ve set a personal record for having images up after a show today – with 899 shots taken, edited, sorted and 468 “keepers” posted up to the website a mere five hours later (including a desparately needed shower, dinner, and other assorted sundries).

The reason for this temporal marvel? I will be photographing again at the Bucks County Horse Park this weekend (as in the day after tomorrow) for the Dressage Breed Show on Saturday and the USDF/USEF Recognized Dressage at the Bucks County Horse Park performance show on Sunday – so I needed to clear the deck, so to speak. My understanding is that the park already has approximately thirty horses entered for Saturday and over a hundred for the performance divisions on Sunday (meaning somewhere in the neighborhood of two-hundred tests).

Sounds like it’s going to be a busy weekend….and I can’t wait!

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Whew, it’s been a busy month!

Since my last post back at the beginning of June, I’ve photographed two shows at our local barn Rainbow Ridge Farm Camps and Riding Center, a Hunter-Jumper show at Bucks County Horse Park, a pair of schooling and USDF-recognized dressage shows at BCHP, and played second-shooter for Digital Expressions Photography for the June 23rd USEA-recognized Horse Trials. That’s in addition to a US holiday with the family and various other non-equestrian photography projects. As I said…a busy month.

With not much to say and lots going on, I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit. So just to catch up, here are some teaser photos from the various shows over the past month. The full sets of images can be found in the Gallery section of the website: http://gallery.stephencrowersphotography.com/equestrian_proofs.

I’ll be at the Bucks County Horse Park on July 28, 30, and 31 for TMHS and the dressage breed and performance shows, so expect more to come.

Music is Oklahoma California by Anna Stafford

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