Riverside Rancheros

Last Tuesday I had two shoots that couldn't be more different--the morning was for a Norco gal with four first rate mules. The evening engagement was for the Riverside Rancheros drill team, in their home arena, for a short performance presenting the national and state colors to the iconic "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood and then setup shots with the guest of honor sans horses. The dirt had been scraped from the arena, normally used for team penning, roping, gymkhana and drill team practice, and replaced by a podium, dinner table rounds and caterer's setup. It was a $1,500 plate fund-raising buffet dinner for the local Republican Party.

The performance itself was technically difficult to shoot, a cavernous covered arena, horses spread out at times over 40 yards, impractical for ordinary flash without ceiling mounted strobes for even lighting which weren't an option. I'd attended a practice session to get a feel for the place ahead of time, and was nervous all week about whether I could do a decent job. Fortunately, the natural light was better than it had been at the practice--we all have our specialties, and mine is natural light. I shot lots of candids of the riders preparing, rehearsing and waiting for the guest of honor to arrive, none other than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sorry I can't share the gallery, it's of course the customer's choice when it's a private shoot.

Photographs Don't Yearn To Be Free

Today's pro photographers find that keeping track of the "assets" in today's far-flung networld is a challenge.

Some image theft perpetrators rip (short for rip-off in last century's parlance) and represent the work as their original. Some alter it, and those are split between those who claim it as their own and those who do it in tribute. Some of the latter actually ask permission first. Some market it, without permission and some without attribution and those make me crazy especially if it's bad work.

For instance, there's Marlena D. Gee, who applied cheesy Photoshop filters and sold my stuff for years on eBay, Yahoo, Cafe Press and other art sites. But she's going to jail, we hope, for interstate fraud, which is what happens when you fraudulently open new accounts with other peoples' credit info so you can continue to hawk your stolen inventory.

Usually it's the Chinese factory artists we have to watch out for, many of those "pieces" are identifiable through their foreshortened muzzles and indistinct rider features. We have the Equine Arts Protection League to share information about art thieves, some of the artists have been burned by entering into agreement for Marlena to sell their works, only to have her violate the terms of their contract.

Another place for budding and accomplished artists is DeviantART, where my user name is stealersweep. Horses are a very popular subject; the unicorn is one of the better rips done there, and only found because the artist linked to it, in tribute, and my original received 715 hits in a month. The pencil drawing, on the other hand, took a gorgeous horse and made him ugly, but see, it has a copyright mark.

A new tool for photographers to trace their work is Tineye.com, still in beta, and by invitation, though I didn't have much of a delay between my request and acceptance. It uses algorithms to search based on image characteristics, and even has a toggle so I don't have to bother to overlay them in Photoshop to see if they match. Here's some examples, Tineye helped me find the black stallion and the rearing stallion shots.

Lost Padres of Santa Margarita

This was the first opportunity I've had to attend this ride at its current location, held for the last couple of years at the historic 14,000 acre Santa Margarita Ranch, in San Luis Obispo county. Hosted by the Nicholson family, it had started out in beautiful and historic Lockwood Valley, but the ride lost its base camp right before the 2005 event. The "Lost" from the original "Los" Padres apellation came when it temporarily moved to the location of the Eastern Mojave Scenic Ride, a January event. That particular LP was my horse's first 50 miler, a very warm affair where he endured a lot better than I did; we pulled ribbons for a section so we were at the back of the pack, heat got to me in the afternoon!

This year I didn't ride, just shot photos for the participants, in meadows, first where the backgrounds were park-like, and secondly in midday light. I have a "thing" for historic California ranchos, couldn't sign up fast enough to shoot last fall's Tejon Ranch series--the owner/operators of both of these have been such good stewards of the land, it's easy to imagine it's one hundred years ago, while waiting for riders to trot by. Old growth forests, rolling golden hills, ponds, lakes and amazing wildlife. I saw lots of deer, wild turkeys, every kind of bird--with glorious birdsong as musical score for the landscape. Thanks to John P and Patty for arranging our access to this private paradise.

Offered as a two day event, 50 miles per day or one could do "club miles" without being part of the official competition. This weekend was a scorcher throughout California, and riders carefully managed themselves and their horses to complete with their horse "fit to continue" as per the AERC ideal. Ride management made sure there was lots of water on trail. Photos are from the first day; I shot on the second morning, and somehow dropped the compact flash card while shooting head shots in ridecamp, with four dozen images of the 38 or so that had entered. Oh, well--that's never happened in 186,000 images as a pro. I imagine the cattle are prodding it with their noses, so much for "leave no trace"! I took head shots in camp, card was in my pocket, and I was squatting frequently to get the best angle. Thanks to Dave and Annie for putting on such a premier event and for feeding me too--multi-day rides are the best and with this fuel situation, definitely the most bang for the buck.

Showcase: CreativePAW

Attention all legitimate animal rescue organizations! Did you know that there is a network of creative professionals that will do pro-bono work to support your wonderful efforts on behalf of the animals? Well, that's the problem, there aren't enough of you who know. I'm a volunteer for them, along with scads of other creatives: web designers, public relations experts, writers, illustrators, editors, videographers and designers. We can help you publicize, market, fund-raise and educate the public. Please sign up at CreativePAW. (If you're a creative pro and want to volunteer, they'd love to have you.)

In my case, it's the photos of course. If you've visited Petfinders, you know there are zillions of pages of snapshots of adoptable animals. If your group had a promotional event, chances are your news item on your website features happy snaps too. More compelling imagery is what I offer, to "give back", within a reasonable travel distance of my humble abode.

The photos are all of rescued or adoptable animals, the coon hound I rescued and sadly wasn't able to keep though he's in a lifetime home now.

Norconian Historic Trail Ride

Last Sunday I photographed the 299 participants who signed up for the Lake Norconian historic trail ride, as part of the Norco, California Founders Day celebration. It was hosted by the Norco Horsemans Association, The US Navy and the Lake Norconian Club Foundation. I think there were 299, most of whom were mounted and the rest in 3 nice horse and/or mule-drawn surreys. Norco is "Horsetown USA", with somewhere around 30,000 residents and just as many horses, with somewhere around 90 miles of riding trails in and around town.
Animal-keeping is bedrock here. I boarded my horses here for 14 years, and put on five endurance rides from the Hidden Valley Wildlife Reserve next door.

All these years, the Lake Norconian Club has been hidden away from sight, the property had become first a navy hospital in 1941, a navy base and a rehab center which morphed into a prison. After successfully adding it to the National Historic Register, the Foundation's aim is to get funding to preserve and restore this Art Deco era jewel. The founder of Norco, Rex Clark, had the bad luck to open his 700 acre resort not long before the stock market crash. It was famous in its day for the dignitaries and celebrities it attracted, the functions that were held as well as the films that were made there. Read more about it here at the Foundation's website, lots of vintage photos too. There's a book about the resort, and it was featured on California's Gold with Huell Howser.

So none of us civilians and non-inmates had seen anything but photos and barbed wire, as the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the medium security prison blocked all views. Despite "May Gray" weather, riders converged on the Riverside Community College Norco campus, which stood on the original Norconian golf course, and rode down to the resort and through the grounds. Everyone I've heard from really enjoyed the chance to see the resort, its abundant wildlife and image how it was back in its heyday. Hopefully it will become a nexus again for the area, with commercial and recreational options. Some of my proceeds from the ride photos will go to the Foundation. [pictured] Junior riders with the lake's pavilion, marina and the hotel complex behind it. Canadian goslings, I found the Canadian geese fascinating, and they let me get really close, didn't covet a birder's long lens quite as much as usual.

See More Malibu

Don Huston kindly provided this track of the ride, click on hybrid to see the real trail! Don also said "Thank you for a very well organized ride with good food and lots of
water (thank you Larry Bowers). The GPS data shows a total distance
of 49 miles, total elevation up of 10400ft and of course 10400ft
down. I think this ride lived up to its reputation of being the
toughest in SoCal and I loved it. A real endurance test. That giant
climb we tailed after lunch was 2380ft in 4.8 miles (or 9.4%) with
only one little quarter mile level spot, the rest was a steady grind
all the way up to Buzzards Roost which made it even tougher than the
infamous Bulldog which was only 1600ft in 3.4 miles (or 8.9%)."

I had a good time shooting riders in the Paramount Ranch western set, home to TV shows like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and HBO's Carnavale--on Friday we played Wild Bunch and Ride Em Like You Stole Them. This year the 55s didn't go through the town on the actual ride, so everyone had a chance to get shots from there this way. The rest of the shots are here.

Grand Old Men Too

So sorry to open e-mail today and learn of the loss of *Shandor, Shagya Arabian stallion, owned and loved by Adele Furby and her husband Charlie. I was privileged to meet him last fall at his home in Montana, and was very impressed at his demeanor, correctness and offspring. He was 25 in this photo.

At the Malibu endurance ride this weekend the memorial plaque for Hugh Hewitt DVM was unveiled. It will be placed on private land adjoining the trail through the Santa Monica Mountains that has been used for endurance rides for 34 years. There was an open mike and many of us stepped up to share our memories of Hughie, a horse veterinarian with a heart of gold. The plaque was funded by private donations from Hughie's friends and admirers. I took the photo on the plaque in 2003.

Happy Birthday, Dear Twix

Twix is quite possibly the most photographed horse ever, thanks to digital film and rechargeable batteries. She was born here, nearly into my arms, thanks to her mother, Ember, alerting me of the baby's imminent birth by clanging on her gate with a hoof. Our eyes met as she was halfway out of her mother, she nickered at me and that was that. She'd imprinted ME, instead of the reverse. She might have been for sale, Ember's first baby, but after that, no way.

Ember (Rem-member Me) is by the world-famous Arabian stallion Remington Steele*++ out of a pretty "domestic blend" mare. Twix's daddy is the fabulous Lipizzan stallion Pluto Carrma III--it's his image that graces my website's banner. You can see a ridiculous amount of photo postcards and then there's her full brother Hawkeye's gallery. To subscribe to the photo postcards, which are very occasional now, drop me an e-mail.

Twix took after her Lipizzan side, behaviorally and in appearance. Her brother is more of a 50-50 blend.

[pictured] Twix gives us a birthday grin. And a Cristy Cumberworth shot of us last winter, just playing. And Twix on her birth day, those bullseyes of grey around her eyes indicated she was going to grey out fast.

Grand Old Men

Today we say goodbye at 33 to the grand Arabian stallion, WN Winter Park, of Cerridwyn Arabians, one of the last *Naborr sons standing. He was both the US and Canadian National Driving Champion and Ruth has been using him in her sporthorse program. I had the privilege of photographing him in 2006. I recently heard that BonnFyre Farm's fabulous *Naborr son AZH Naborr was lost last June at 33. Both of these guys were potent into their old age.

[pictured] AZH Naborr also near dusk, photographed in late 2003, with the ole point and shoot. Winter Park at dusk, where his cataract was rather obvious.

And true to the peripatetic nature of my thoughts, here's a great place to learn about death, my friend and fellow photographer, Candace Craw-Goldman's In Respose blog.