Category / geology

by Equus ferus Wild Horse Photography

2015- a new year begins…


Corona’s Band. Sand Wash Basin, Colorado ’14
Happy New Year 2015

The past year was a wonderful one for Equus ferus- Wild Horse Photography. We were given the prestigious honor of participating in the Cloud Foundation Art and Music Festival in Colorado Springs over the summer and, to our delight, we sold prints. We had a successful Mustang Walkabout (our summer trip out west to photograph the mustangs) and continue to sell photographs, calendars and prints. We opened an e-store at Red Bubble and are slowly adding to the items fans may purchase.  If you see a photo you’d like as an iPhone cover or mouse pad- or even correctly proportioned for an iPhone or Android (those are free), please don’t hesitate to ask; we can make it happen. Remember all net proceeds from our sales go back to the mustangs!!!

Perhaps the most important event in 2014 was attaining a quarter of a million fans and later passing the 300,000 fan mark. Without our fans, we are just another ordinary Facebook horse-related page. So by way of thanks, we will continue to randomly give away items such as our 2015 Calendar “The Stallion Edition”, and next year, we’ll have The Foal Edition” so stay tuned.
Picasso of the Sand Wash Basin, Colorado ’13
We are planning our summer 2015 Mustang Walkabout and we will visit the Sand Wash Basin, the McCullough Peaks, the Pryor Mountains, Little Book Cliffs and anything interesting along the way. However, before the summer, I will visit the Salt River in Arizona while attending a Mayo Clinic medical conference. I am probably the only person who finds medical conferences based solely on their proximity to wild mustangs. In the fall I will be in Salt Lake City for another conference and therefore will be obligated to visit the Onaqui HMA.
This summer also saw an end to my right anterior cruciate ligament, my medial collateral ligament and both meniscus were torn in my right knee. Since I performed this amazing orthopaedic trick two decades earlier, the ligament used to repair my torn ligament had to be borrowed from a cadaver. I will be spared during the Zombie Apocalypse since I already have a zombie part in my knee, or so my daughter Abigail cheerfully informed me. I had to take an unintended break from riding, Okinawan Kobudo, and even my 34 string Celtic Floor Harp- but I am back at the harp, will start up Kobudo in February and riding will wait until the spring. I was however, able to remain in school this semester, continued editing/posting photos during my convalescence and did not have to take much time off from my job.
I am hoping in 2015 to continue editing the photos collected throughout the year and to have an amazing time with the mustangs so we can bring them to you. I am always available to anyone who is interested in going out to see them; it is easier than you think- just email me. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of the horse management areas in the summer… I’ll guide you out there myself.

We will also be starting a series on ‘Equine Coat Colour’ where we’ll explore the genetics behind the marvellously coloured mustangs… 
Best wishes for health, happiness and joy for 2015
Cloud and I. Pryor Mountains, Montana ’14

by Equus ferus Wild Horse Photography

Out West Day Two

We woke early and had breakfast-an we were in the road by 6:30. Grand Junction is about twenty minutes to the horse management area but it is another hour of back country driving to get to horses…

It was warm and sunny and we found our first herd at about 8:30am. This herd had about ten individuals in two family groups and a few bachelors (studs). They were fairly used to humans and wandered rather close to Abby and myself…

I generally stand 100-200 feet away from the herds and utilize my 300mm telephoto but occasionally the herds move towards me as was the case of this herd. Abby snapped a shot of the horses standing close to me though they didn’t start there. This was in the North Soda area.

We moved on and found a small herd of eight horses- this group was quite skittish and took off pretty quickly- luckily they went around a ridge and appeared 50 feet from the car so we get some good shots. We left the North Soda area and back tracked to the Indian Park area. Little Book Cliffs is divided into these areas and each has its’ own appeal.

At Indian Park we found two small herds one family and one bachelor herd. There seemed to be a lot of dubs in these herds and on non-fading black. I took 1,100 photos and Abby took 500. It was a good day!

We Reuters to the hotel after fossil hunting and cleaned the camera lenses recharge all the batteries- one for each camera and one backup and uploaded all the photographs! I backed them up to an external hard drive as well as keeping copies on the laptop. I imported them into Lightroom and went to bed.

by Equus ferus Wild Horse Photography

Out West- Day One

We were scheduled to leave New York at 0730 Saturday morning. We received a call that our flight was delayed until 10:00 which meant we had to rearrange our hotels and rental car. Originally we were flying into Salt Lake City but now we decided to stop in Denver. We arrived in the afternoon and got settled into our hotel room. The kids went down to the pool with my husband Bruce and I got the photography equipment together.

This means taking out each camera- cleaning the lenses, checking the sensors, hatching both batteries, reformatting all the CF cards & labeling them and cleaning all back up lenses.

Then we packed the bags for the next day- it is a two hour ride to horses at Little Book Cliffs so we have amusing things for the kids to do such as Nintendo DS, iPods and iPads, Nook’s and other interesting things. And we need water!!!! Lots of water an Gatorade and Pepsi Max (thanks Howard, I am hooked). Water is critical as are snacks… Apples, dried fruit, Chex mix, bagels and assorted cereal boxes. Cell phones stay fully charged too!

I also bring books on horse geneticsi and my nook so I can continued to read “The Lost Art of Listening” & my favorite “The Art of Happiness”… We go to sleep early since we will be up at 5:30am for the photos shoot…