Peter DeMott Photography » Equine Photographers Network

AERC Endurance ride photography as Christmas Presents for riders

Peter — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:02:38 +0000

I’ve been noticing a lot of activity on my web site and my photo galleries with the purchase of trail event images in 5×7 and 8×10 sizes. My guess is that because this is occurring in early December it is because people are buying prints of friends and riding buddies as gifts for Christmas.

My galleries allow for purchase of any sized prints including various types of surfaces. Lustre is the most popular because it does not show finger prints much. Realize that a prints up to 8×10 are strictly for a desk or bookcase display. A small wall print could be an 11×14 or 16×20, but getting these framed brings up the cost quite a bit. If you want to give something really special to someone consider getting a CANVAS on board. These look like paintings and have a very rich feel to them.

If you are willing to spend more for a wall portrait or photograph, take some paper and tape it to the wall and keep adding paper (making it larger) until it looks about the right size for that spot on the wall. You will find that, for example, an 8×10 looks exceedingly tiny when taped up to wall. Then measure the paper. You will likely find that the paper is 16×20 or 24×30 or some larger number that you would never have thought to consider.

Small prints can be lots of fun too. How many people want to tell their co-workers about the sport they participate in. Getting a good trail image that shows some speed or a water crossing can be fun to have at work to share.

To find the trail events that I have photographed go to the menu item at the top of the page that says GALLERIES/PROOFING.

Mini Horse Farm photography session at IONA Farm and VersatilityMinis.com

Peter — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:29:19 +0000

Spectacular Mini Horses

The photography session was very fun with the farm bringing out various little tiny horses to photograph. Bonnie Harris and Ashley Harris really know their horses and they know how to show them off too. They were so small that I had to lay on my stomach to get low enough for the right angles.

IONA Miniature Horse Farm, Clayton, Ohio Bonnie Harris

Versatility Farm & Training Center, Brookville, Ohio Ashley Harris

I still have about 25 images to prepare, but I just had to share a couple of the photographs with you. Here are a couple of images from the session.

When I finish up I should have a couple more I can share with you.

If you have mini horses, consider a mini horse farm call session for some beautiful photographs. Not a Mini Session, but a mini horse session. With mini horses portraits are usually without people in them so that they can appear to be regular sized horses in the images. However these horses are about belt high and are the tiniest little things around.

Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Morgan’s senior portraits and mom’s friesian horse portraits combined into one session

Peter — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:05:36 +0000

I had a lovely portrait session with Morgan last week. Her mom had been discussing having portraits taken of her Friesian horse and was hoping to convince Morgan to do senior portraits too. As it turned out we had time to do both. It was great fun and I think Morgan was pleasantly surprised that she had so much fun.

Morgan goes to Beavercreek High School and enjoys horseback riding, softball and volleyball. Her plans take her to Wright State University next fall.

Capturing natural expressions is very rewarding to me because it means that my subject has become comfortable with me taking their pictures. Morgan had several changes of clothing so after taking several portraits we would send her off to change into one of her other outfits. We were able to do some pictures before bring the horse out, some with the horse and some after we finished with the horse as well.

After we finished with the horse, we found this area back behind the barn. There was a red shed with ivy growing up it. It gave a rustic feel and the light was very soft and pleasing.

With the weather starting to cool off, evening sessions are very comfortable. The frustrating part is that it starts getting dark sooner now. I have session times available at 6pm most evenings including Saturdays and Sundays. Please call me to schedule your session in a location of your choosing. If you don’t know where you want to have your portrait session I can help you make a selection that is right for you.

Peter DeMott • 937-478-6222 • Peter DeMott Photography in the greater Dayton area • peter@photosbypdemott.com

When to have equine portraits made in Ohio and Northern Kentucky

Peter — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:00:54 +0000

My location is in SW Ohio near Dayton. For equine portraits or senior portraits with horses, I can travel to Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, all of SW Ohio and Eastern Indiana, but the big question that people have sometimes is when would be the best time to schedule something. Unless you show year round and cover and heat your horse during the winter, he will have a thick winter coat on until the weather warms up. Sunny days in the 60s and 70s will bring on the shedding of this thick winter coat and soon your horse will be slick and beautiful and ready for portraits. Not to say that there is anything wrong with having some portraits done in the fall with a thick coat. You can certainly create some memories with a fall portrait session as well, but in the spring here in SW Ohio there is MUD and the leaves and foliage has not come out yet and your horse’s hair will be patchy as some spots start shedding and others take a little longer. So, my answer to the question, “When is the best time for equine portraits?” is mid to late spring depending on your horse.

When you can use the curry comb and there are no longer piles of shedding fur on the ground when you are finished grooming your horse then the horse is ready. When the leaves are on the trees and bushes and the grass is green then you have have a lovely background for your portraits. Don’t wait till June, July and August if you can help it. In this area of the country many times we hit a dry spell that browns the grass and limits some of the background choices. Not that I cannot find something that will work, it’s just that there are so many more choices when the grass is still green and the flowers are still blooming.

If you would like portraits of your horse at your farm or boarding stable, give me a call in the coming weeks to discuss your session and where you are located. We can discuss available dates to consider and other things that will enhance your pictures. Senior portrait sessions can also be planned around your horse, your farm or boarding stable along with other special animals in your life. Hope to hear from you soon.

Peter DeMott • SW Ohio • Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Peter DeMott Photography top rated photographer in Dayton

Peter — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:24:47 +0000

It was a pleasant surprise to find Peter DeMott Photography on a web site called Thumbtack. The heading was Top Rated Photographers in Dayton and as of today it puts my listing as #5. This is just one place that brings together references for various types of businesses.

There are so many places that people can comment on your quality of work and service that it is easy for people to find out more about any business. But, as important as hearing good things is seeing good things. What I mean by that is when you are looking for a photographer it is very important that you connect with the style of work the photographer does.

http://www.thumbtack.com/oh/dayton/photographer/

Enjoying the style and work of a photographer is far more important than price or their rating on one web site or another. I don’t figure that my prices would be considered high for professional quality work, but you sometimes see people making choices purely based on price which I see as a grand mistake. Consider how long you will be enjoying or not enjoying a portrait on the wall of your home, or an coffee table book of portraits from your session.

How much difference does $100 or $200 difference in price make over 10-20 years. Let’s consider that. If you make a choice about a photographer based on a $200 difference in price divided by 20 years at 12 months per year that means you may have chosen a better photographer for about 80¢ per month or you may have chosen a photographer whose work you did not like and will be regretting your choice for 20 years for a difference of 80¢ per month.

Right here on the site you can also click on the menu item “Testimonials” for some ideas about how people feel about my work.

Testimonials can be found here

If you like my work and style, I encourage you to share my web site and also my facebook page with your friends. I frequently post images from sessions on my facebook business page Peter DeMott Photography and it is easy to LIKE the page and share what’s going on with your friends. Horse portraits and horse and rider portraits are also frequent on my site because of my specialty in that area.

If you do a search for Ohio Equine Photographer you will likely see my web site listed number one or two on the page. A friend, Sally Shaffer, and I toggle back and forth between the top two listings (that is something that can change from day to day). She does lovely work as do many other equine photographers listed on page one of the search results. Of course locality can also be important with Sally being in Columbus and with me being here in South West Ohio (near Dayton). It is easier for me to get to farms and stables around Dayton and Cincinnati for example. Also, some of the photographers listed specialize in stock photography, show photography and other areas whereas I enjoy my horse and rider portrait work the most.

Thanks Dayton for rating me as one of Dayton’s top photographers. I appreciate any comments and connections that come my way.

Peter DeMott Photography • Senior portrait photography • Equine photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Lebanon Christmas Carriage Parade 2010

Peter — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:36:10 +0000

We have lived here in the Dayton area for over 20 years and we had never gone to the lebanon Christmas Carriage Parade. This year a couple friends invited us to meet up with them and check it out. They go every year.

Of course I took pictures, but the snow was problematic. It was like a curtain hiding the people and horses from my camera. Still the pictures are fun (see link below) and you are welcome to use the LIKE button under the pictures, the Tweet button, or you can download any picture you want (if you download a photo, please make a comment on the image first as a favor to me). In addition I am allowing prints on this gallery for anyone.

The Annual Lebanon Ohio Christmas Carriage Parade of 2010

Each carriage had one or two people walking along beside the horses to ready if there were any problems. With the pavement wet, some of the horses were slipping as they rounded the corner where we were located. It was fun to see and I hope to go again with Patty next year. Hopefully it will not be snowing during the parade next year so I can get some better pictures. We did not stay for the evening parade when they decorate the carriages with Christmas lights.

Would you be interested in an equine photographers podcast?

Peter — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:40:13 +0000

I’ve been listening to a new podcast called New Media Photographer by Rosh Sillars. He also has a blog also called New Media Photographer, Digital Marketing Blog by Rosh Sillars. I have enjoyed everything that I’ve listened to so far and look forward to addtional learning each time I listen. I would highly recommend signing up for his podcast on iTunes. If you are in the business of photography you can tune in to some things that are changing almost daily because of new media.

One thing he was talking about was producing a podcast. This is something that I have thought about doing for some time, but my focus would be interviews with the photographers that I have met through the Equine Photographers Network. Like another podcast that I enjoyed immensely, F-Stop Beyond by Ron Dawson, this podcast would be about photographers. The twist is that it would also be about the business of equine photography, but not really about photography. That is, it would not be about how to take a good picture, but more about the photographer being interviewed. How did they get started in photography and how did they focus on horses?

Many of the equine photographers that I know were first in love with horses, then they discovered photography. For me I’ve been avid photographer since I was twelve. Only since I met my wife Patty did I start taking pictures of people and horses. That was more than 25 years ago. Then when we moved to Dayton and purchased some horses, I started learning about equine photography as a business from the Equine Photographers Network. Through this network I have interacted with photographers all over the country and the world. Although I am still a people photographer, I enjoy learning more about photography and equine photography and the business of photography. I am hoping that these interests will come together nicely in a podcast.

There are quite a few podcasts about photography and photographers, so when Rosh Sillars focused his podcast on new media AND Photographers he caught my eye. Hearing about how Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn are changing photography and marketing was extremely interesting to me. I had picked up a couple podcasts about New Media (but not photography), but they did not hold my attention. The tie in with photography and photographers and New Media is great.

I’ve run some online courses at the Equine Photographers Network about marketing and advertising an equine photography business. Through those courses I have met fine art equine photographers, specific breed equine photographers, sport specific photographers, photographers in California, New Mexico, West Virginia, Belgium, England, and many other places. Just interviewing some of the people who took my courses would be interesting, but I am sure that once I got started there would be others that I would want to interview.

I love people photography. I love equine and people photography (because people LOVE their horses) and I also love to know more about marketing and the business of photography. So I am thinking of producing a podcast about equine photographers, how they came to be equine photographers and how they continue to grow their businesses in this constantly changing market of photography might be interesting to others as well.

What do you think? Should I go for it and give it a try?

The leave a comment or comments link is near the title of this post. I would be delighted to here your thoughts.

Lydia’s Song; the loss of a horse and a story of love, accomplishments and companionship

Peter — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:43:26 +0000

It started with a troubling post on facebook

Some time ago Jennifer posted a troubling note on her facebook profile. Her prized and loved competitive partner for many years was very ill and as a result had foundered. She was working with specialists to try to save the horse, but she expressed great concern that she might have to put Lydia down. Severe foundering causes the bones in the feet to push through the bottom of the hoof (that is my understanding), but Jennifer did not know how severe the situation was yet. She expressed great fear and many responded with concern and words of encouragement on her profile page.

I knew Jennifer from shooting several horse shows at her farm called Dancing Horse Farm in Lebanon, Ohio. I called her the next day and suggested that I would come to her farm and do a portrait session at no charge. We would bring the horse into the soft grass and take portraits of Jennifer with her cherished competitive partner. She agreed, and we set a time. When I arrived Jennifer almost canceled the session. It was just too difficult for her, but with encouragement from me and Lenny, her husband, we pressed forward to do the session. The situation was very touching and tears ran down my face from time to time. On our way home from the session, Patty and I talked about taking some more portraits of her with her horses.

The first half of this book are the portraits from that session. Within two weeks Jennifer had to have the horse put down. As a way of coping, Jennifer chronicled Lydia’s life from when they first met through all the dressage competitions she participated in and then through the very last day when she took Lydia to their grave site where she had to leave her with the vet after some final moments together. The second half of this book tells that entire story and shares many things that were posted by other onto Jennifer’s wall to offer condolences and encouragement.

As a photographer, many times people express that they wish they had photographs of those they were close to (whether animal or human). This is frequently something that is expressed to photographers after nothing can be done about it any more. In this case, because Jennifer was willing to share her situation on facebook, I was able to respond and with encouragement together we created beautiful images that she will cherish for the rest of her life.

Lydia’s Song | Make Your Own Book

Please leave a comment to this post. There is a “leave comment” link near the title of the post.

Bev Pettit Photography, fine art equine photography from Skull Valley Arizona

Peter — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:42:26 +0000

Bev Pettit is a very talented fine art equine photographer located in Skull Valley Arizona. I met her online as she is one of my students taking a course in advertising and marketing for equine photographers sponsored by the Equine Photographers Network.

Once she switches over to a stand alone WordPress web site, I think that she will begin to get noticed. Right now her web site is a flash web site and for the most part she is invisible to google search engines. This is a common problem with photographers because web site developers promote beautiful looking flash web sites to photographers, but even with all the “bells and whistles” for SEO (search engine optimization) most of these site do very little for the photographers except make a good impression for the very few that ever see their site. While a wordpress website (not a wordpress.com blog) will generate organic search results for the owner, the only way to get people to these flash web sites is to promote them in other media.

But, Bev is pretty savy and she will soon work this out and become better know for her fine images.

Here is her web site address : http://www.bevpettit.com/

One of the pictures you might see there is this:

But, I would be interested to see if we can build her connections a bit by driving some FANS to her business Facebook page which she recently opened. She is sharing images on a regular basis there and you will enjoy what you see so why not “LIKE” her page on facebook and get to know Bev

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bev-Pettit-Photography/113312035372281?ref=ts

See you at Bev’s Page and tell me what you think.

The Rolex Three Day Event at Kentucky Horse Park

Peter — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:03:27 +0000

Almost every year Patty and I make a trek down the the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the cross country jumping part of the Rolex. The weather forcasts for the day (Saturday 4/24/2010) were not good. However, we decided to go anyway and hope for the best. As it turned out, we drove through rain, but by the time we got there the pavement was dry and it was already starting to warm up.

I use the event to hone my skills and become a better photographer. We typically watch each jump for one or two riders then move on to the next jump taking in almost the entire course.

Another fun thing is touching base with photographer friends that I see there. I ran into Jennay, Kelly, and Danita this year. There are hundreds of photographers honing their skills all over the grounds and another thing that I do is introduce myself here and there and mention the Equine Photographer’s Network. “Have you heard of the Equine Photographer’s Network?” I say. Then I say something about what it is if they have not heard of it. Usually the response is, “That sounds great.” I give them my card and ask them to send me an email so I can send them a link the EPnet so that they can check it out for themselves. http://www.equinephotographers.org/

We saw one refusal, but we didn’t see any wrecks this year. However there were a couple of wrecks. One both horse and rider were walking. The other happened just before the end of the event and the rider was careflighted to the hospital by helicopter. I did not hear how it happened or about the horse. http://www.kentucky.com/624 http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/25/1239175/bashed-and-bruised-townend-out.html

This year, many of the jumps were modified and there were several that had “sythetic break-a-way logs” made of styrophome. In prior years there had been some jumps that presented serious problems for horses and riders involving solid heavy logs spread out several feet. A minor miscalculation by the horse or rider could have serious consequences whenever horses are jumping, but these past jumps proved particularly difficult and dangerous in the past. I was pleased to see less complexity in this respect. At the same time, the biggest wreck last year was on a simple jump at the beginning or the course. However, this is an intense sport anyway as are all horse sports, even recreational riding, so injuries do occur no matter how well planned the jumps can be. Just last weekend, my daughter Sarah was dismounting at an endurance ride and her horse started bucking and reacting to something. She fell and was kicked in the head cracking her helmet. No long lasting injuries because of wearing correct protective gear (head ache and stiff neck for a day). And yet there are still those who insist on riding horses without head protection (of course everyone at the Rolex is required to wear protective gear).

Here are some of the images from the day. This first photograph is where the one major accident happened on Saturday.