Horse and rider portrait gallery
Some of these are senior portrait sessions with students that own a horse. Others are portraits of horses with their owners at local boarding stables. It’s always interesting to try to find the best place to set up the portraits. Each stable has its own flavor and areas that will work well.
One of these girls is looking toward a career in horse management. She is also trying out modeling as well. Several pictures from her session became the building blocks for addition modeling work.
Schedule or Discuss your Horse and Rider Portrait Session
If you would like to discuss scheduling a portrait session with your horse, please send me a note or give me a call. For senior portrait sessions we can do some with your horse and some without so that you have a nice variety of meaningful portraits. For Megan, she wanted some portraits in her prom dress and I thought it would be really fun to have some of those with her horse. I think they turned out lovely and she selected one to make into a framed canvas print for her home. She picked others from the session for wallets and gift prints and of course I included some Facebook images with her purchase which her friends on Facebook went nuts over.
At liberty and Under Saddle
Although I am not showing any here, I do photography of horses at liberty and under saddle as well. Go up to the menu of this website and explore some of the other areas to get a good idea of what your horse and rider session can be. And since I have horses and I know horse photography, not only will you look good, but your horse will too. There are senior portrait photographers that will come out to your boarding stable for part of your sessions, but sometime they look at your horse more like a prop, similar to a basketball, a football, or a musical instrument. They don’t understand that if a horse is photographed with the wrong angle or the wrong lens it just won’t be pleasing to the horse owner’s eye. If you horse’s ears are back like he is angry or he looks bored and uninterested (ears every which way and eyes half-shut), it doesn’t matter how good you look, the portrait becomes average and a disappointment to you, the horse owner. I guess I look at your horse as your companion or your friend rather than as a prop and I think that makes a difference in the end result.
Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222 • Located in Germantown, OHIO • Serving SW Ohio, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Eastern Indiana and NW Kentucky.
Megan’s senior portraits created a dilemma for her and her mom Lori
After having several conversations with Megan’s mom, Lori, Megan and Lori were finally able to placed their order for her senior portraits taken this fall. Their order is arriving within the next couple of days and they are very excited to see everything and get their canvas image framed and hung.
Megan chose several different images for wallets to give friends.
Here is the image they chose to make into a canvas print. It was fun to have a Megan in her prom dress with her beautiful horse.
It was fun talking with Megan’s mom about the portraits because she and Megan were having such a difficult time narrowing down their order. I said, of course, that they can order everything if the wanted. But, they didn’t take my advice and order lots of prints of every portrait. That was their dilemma, how to narrow their order.
Here is a link to her gallery. Megan’s Senior Portrait Gallery
Seems like spring will be here soon. If you have a horse and it is time for your senior portraits, remember that many photographers don’t know much about photographing horses. Since I do senior portraits and I am an equine photographer here in the Dayton, Ohio area, I can give you the best of both worlds.
Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • Located in Germantown, Ohio near Dayton • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com
AERC Endurance ride photography as Christmas Presents for riders
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.
Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade on 12/3/11, Photos of every carriage in the parade
I had a great time taking pictures at this year’s Lebanon Christmas Festival and Horse Drawn Carriage Parade during the day 12/3/11. I was able to capture several images of every single carriage that came by.
For those who participated, I have a gallery where you can purchase images if you would like. Anything from wallets to 30×40 canvas prints are available. You can also purchase shirts, mouse pads, and other merchandise. For the next two weeks until 12/17/11 you can use the coupon code: “parade” to get 20% anything you order.
This is the link to all the photographs of all the carriages in the daytime parade.
Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade and Christmas Festival 12/3/11 Picture Gallery
Here are a few images to give you an idea of what you will see.
Here is a link to my Facebook gallery: Facebook Gallery Preview
If you missed the link above, the rest of the photos are here:
Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade and Christmas Festival 12/3/11 Picture Gallery
Let’s do the red prom dress with your horse! Wow Megan, that looks fantastic!
Sunday afternoon senior portrait session near Columbus, Ohio
I had Megan bring a couple of dresses, a casual outfit and a riding outfit to the senior portrait session. As we started the session, she said, let’s do the dresses first so that the horse does not get me messy for the portraits in the dress. But, I suggested that we do the horse with the red prom dress. I’m sure Megan was not thinking that she would be in a dress with her horse, but her eyes lit up and she said, “really?”. I said, “yes, are you okay with that?” and off she went to get dressed and get the horse. You tell me what you think. Did it work out?
Megan is both an equestrian athlete and a soccer player and is very active with both. Megan is a student at Upper Arlington High School in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington. It is where I graduated from in 1975. If you like my portrait style and want a portrait session in the Columbus area, please feel free to contact me using the contact/share menu item above or the email or phone number at the bottom line of this post. I would love to have comments at the end of this post by friends of Megan DeMott (all comments are reviewed before they post). Just click on the comment button and leave you input and comments for all to see.
You can also “LIKE” Peter DeMott Photography on Facebook. I will be posting a link via email to Megan with the rest of the images from this session. With her permission, I will then post that on the Facebook images that I have already posted onto Facebook. By the way, if you are a friend of Megan, you are welcome to download her sneak peek images to your Facebook page (but please do not print them out #1, they are copyrighted #2 they will not look very good because they are screen resolution only. I appreciate your cooperation on this).
Her mom was there and helped me some with holding a reflector. Her grandmother was also along for the ride. They were both excited about the little sneak peaks that I gave them while I was shooting. Megan is lovely and she has a great smile.
Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com
Equine retail supply company buys photos with unique feel and style from Peter DeMott Photography
Capturing the emotion of the moment
When I do portrait sessions or take pictures of people with their horses I do my best to capture the emotion of the moment. If I can capture JOY or LOVE or COMPANIONSHIP in that photograph I consider that a win for everyone involved.
This week I sold images from a senior portrait session (with permission of the young lady who wants to become a model) to a large retail equine supply company to be used in consumer promotions in late 2011 and early 2012. Another image that was purchased was from a session that I did with Patty and her horses (Patty is my wife and we have 3 beautiful arabs). But, in both cases it was not just the image, but the emotion expressed in the image that caught the eye of the business.
I’m looking forward to sharing the images and where they will be published once I have samples from the promotion. That will be fun to show you.
In the mean time, fall portrait time is now. For seniors and for seniors with horses, this is a great time for those cozy outdoor portraits in sweaters, scarfs, jeans, etc. For the horses, there are fewer flies and everything has greened back up in pastures and farms again with all this rain in mid September in our area.
For seniors wanting to consider modeling, having a good mix of styles of images for your portfolio is important. As you can see from my news above, my style and photography capture attention and show personality a little differently than the glamour and glitz that some photographers are known for. I hope you will consider me in the coming days and months as you consider where you will have your horse and rider portraits made or your senior portraits. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about your portrait session.
Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • Seniors, families, equine, and children • Greater Dayton area and the region • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222
Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011
What a beautiful weekend for an endurance ride in Ohio. Cool evenings and cool days make for a great ride.
Pictures from the ride are available here: Cracked Oats Crunch endurance ride at Scioto state park in Ohio
Cracked Oats Crunch is an AERC sanctioned endurance ride. At this particular ride, FEI vets came to take random blood samples for drug testing. Although I would find it hard to believe that anyone would drug their horses for any reason at this level of endurance riding, you could see it happen that the national and international events where the competition is intense. At this level, the old slogan for endurance riding makes endurance riding as a sport a joy to the participants, “ To finish is to win”.
As you can see, Endurance riding is a sport that everyone can participate in. Amy Whalen is a ride manager for several rides each year. Shannon Loomis goes all over the region participating in rides with her daughter. These are two folks that I can almost always depend on seeing at every ride we participate in. Bringing along your kids into the sport helps the sport to expand and flourish for future generations. Not only that, but meeting a challenge together and with horses is very rewarding and brings lots of good personal character traits.
Pictures from the ride are available here: Cracked Oats Crunch endurance ride at Scioto state park in Ohio
Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222
Peter DeMott is also available for farm calls in the region. To find out more about having a farm call visit to your farm or to your boarding stable for portraits of you and your equine companion check out this link: Farm call photography in Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and SE Indiana
Royal K Horse Show Pictures September 11, 2011
Royal K Horse Show pictures are available for review here: Royal K Horse Show . There are over 1000 images and the gallery displays the pictures in order of go. Please order pictures within 30 days. Share this post and link using the buttons at the bottom of this page.
The Royal K Open Horse Show is a fun and well run one day show
This open show had classes for all ages and levels of experience. Each year The Tacky Horse is the major sponsor and puts together a charity horse show. The show had 45 classes and occurred on Sunday September 11, 2011. The address of the barn and The Tacky Horse is 185 N. Alpha Bellbrook Rd. in Beavercreek, Ohio.
The show lasted from about 10am to about 6pm and the last three classes had some rain to deal with.
After the show, I did some Mini Portrait Sessions with a couple of the participants and boarders at the barn.
Royal K Horse Show pictures are available for review here: Royal K Horse Show . There are over 1000 images and the gallery displays the pictures in order of go. Please order pictures within 30 days. Share this post and link using the buttons at the bottom of this page.
I also do farm or barn calls to capture portraits of you with your horse, senior portraits with horse, or horses alone. If you are interested in a farm call session please call to schedule.
Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com
Mini Horse Farm photography session at IONA Farm and VersatilityMinis.com
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
Canter Over the Mountain Endurance Ride in WV / Photography from the ride / 2011
Even Great Ride Management Cannot Control the Weather
Outstanding ride management can help with a lot of things at an endurance ride, but with a heat index well over 100 degrees (temps in mid 90s with very high humidity) and combined with what is a challenging ride, this ride was difficult for many.
On day one, I took pictures of riders in the morning in heavy fog, then again at a water crossing until my wife Patty came through and indicated I needed to help her in the pit area. (Sorry for those I missed at the water crossing on day one) She was concerned about being able to cool down her horse and also being able to manage our second horse (they are buddies) in the pulse and vet areas. Earlier that morning I had gone and picked up 6 bags of ice and filled our coolers. When Patty arrived with Merlot, the first bag of ice I put into the warm water disappeared almost as soon as I put it in. Bag two cooled the water and lasted long enough to start cooling down the horse in the pit area. Three bags of ice later, and almost out of time, we were finally ready to go to the pulse area and go through the vet check. As we looked around, we could see that everyone was having the same struggle. The vets checked core temperatures. By the end or the ride many had been pulled and several horses needed treatment by the vets for fluids.
Team effort / Extreme Heat at Endurance Ride
With so many having difficulty because of the heat and humidity, it seemed to me that there was a real team effort to help people out. Shannon Loomis who was the treatment vet on day one, brought out a very large fan and opened up her canopy (her daughter was riding) for anyone who was having trouble cooling their horse. People were sharing ice and making trips to the nearby convenience store for more. I told the store owner that we would probably buy out their entire supply, but she told me that she had another shipment arriving in the afternoon just for our ride. By the end of the weekend I had purchased 30 bags of ice for our horses and others.
On Trail / Volunteers / Well marketed trails / Water
There was lots of water on trail and Patty told me at one point that there was resting area with various grains, and a hose with cool water to spray off your horse and cool them down. Almost everyone took the time to get off to hose and cool their horses. Riders slowed things down and sponged their horses in the creeks and water crossings. Here is one rider’s description of the day. She rode the first day and was pit crewing for some friends on day two.
Day two was 6 degrees cooler in the morning with less humidity
On day two, the temp had gone down at least 6 degrees. The high humidity was much lower and there was clouds hiding the sun for most of the morning. My wife had downgraded to the 25 mile event rather than do another 50. She was glad she did. Although the morning was much cooler and less humid, by afternoon the sun was beating down again and things heated up again.
Now, for the photography from the event. Click on this link:
Photography of Canter Over the Mountain 2011
Some water crossing photos
The water crossing provided good opportunity to cool the horses while on trail. Teaching your horse to allow you to sponge can be an important strategy at endurance rides. Patty (the middle rider in this first picture) tried out sponging and almost ended up dumped in the water, but the riders ahead and behind her were both sponging. Teaching her horses to allow sponging is one of her training goals.
Some of the horses found the photographer who was sitting in a fold up lawn chair along the shore of the creek to be quite interesting. I’ve learned to start talking and not be too still for too long to help the horse identify me as a human. It helps with ears up for sure though.
News about the heat of the weekend on the radio / Flooding the day after the event
This ride was on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Patty and I left on Sunday late afternoon. “The hottest Labor Day weekend since 1913″ was one thing we heard on the radio has we drove home. On Sunday and Monday there were heavy rains in the area and much cooler temperatures, but Samantha (the ride manager) took pictures of this area and the water was close to the ribbons in the trees and was probably impassable. Here are a couple of photos from her Facebook page.
Here are a couple more video clips from the day. You can see the heat in their faces. Even with all the heat, people enjoyed the ride and the challenge:
Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com
Check out some on the trail videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9RdBjwrD1I