tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58736764581513045372011-09-03T07:24:52.271-06:00Pictures and the stories behind them.Ristyznoreply@blogger.comBlogger681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-69551936078195442912010-07-17T14:52:00.008-06:002010-07-17T15:00:44.063-06:00

Today Ivan decided that he'd start a new art project. First he helped himself to some supplies. Unfortunately for Ivan, the Fun Police reminded him that he needed a special permit before being allowed to create such a large installation piece but not before a few documentary images were taken.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-12689513416000977472010-07-16T17:48:00.007-06:002010-07-16T18:11:36.389-06:00

A few images and a time lapse video from the 2010 Bromont CDE in Bromont, Canada. It was a blast to shoot such a large array of competitors from the Training level to the FEI level Four-in-hands. (Chester Weber, in the bottom image, won) And the beast part... I went for fun! I didn't HAVE to shoot all the competitors, I didn't HAVE to stick to the most photogenic spot, I didn't HAVE to make

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-19530411460005822332010-05-19T14:07:00.008-06:002010-05-19T14:30:43.155-06:00

Some images from the Feria in Sevilla, Spain. It was definitley a full sensory experience. I wish I had sound recordings to go with this time lapse video. (Image #2)

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-36749503391867603322010-05-05T14:24:00.002-06:002010-05-05T14:27:16.487-06:00

I know, I haven't posted in forever it seems. I did start a new page on Facebook just for my photography, you can see some of my latest images from the seminar I attended in Spain.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-84125868118438856512010-02-03T01:15:00.013-07:002010-02-03T02:35:44.931-07:00

I've known for a while what my next blog post had to be about but I wasn't yet ready to write it. I miss Susan, yet at the same time she is always here, forever inspiring.The first time I met Susan Sexton, I'd hired her to help me learn some things. We spent a little time going through some slides and talking about them and afterwards we went to a friends place so I could learn how to set up a

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-15076590890472658312009-12-05T18:01:00.002-07:002009-12-05T18:09:37.839-07:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-38273183210335347032009-11-23T03:19:00.001-07:002009-11-23T03:22:11.217-07:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-67014541410833025562009-10-24T21:35:00.003-06:002009-10-24T21:40:03.548-06:00

A few of my faves from the event. You can see all the proofs from the event here!

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-57893930025586158492009-10-23T01:51:00.000-06:002009-10-23T01:53:17.378-06:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-14862549200793958102009-10-07T00:12:00.004-06:002009-10-10T01:02:14.920-06:00

A few teaser images from the 2009 Colorado Horse Park Fall Horse Trials. I have lots more work ahead of me to get all of them ready to post! More images.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-11258207850688827732009-09-28T15:21:00.002-06:002009-09-28T15:22:37.099-06:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-56451647754990164832009-09-25T23:17:00.003-06:002009-09-25T23:19:45.352-06:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-59629839341522116382009-09-17T02:39:00.005-06:002009-09-17T02:47:31.774-06:00

I have been in whirlwind mode for most of the summer. I haven't had time to play with the images I have taken for the fun of it. I now have a little downtime and decided to revisit some images from past travels. Here's a few from a shoot at the Imperial Sands Dunes in southern California last November.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-74796974913677181072009-09-04T02:04:00.013-06:002009-09-04T02:17:13.879-06:00

The 2009 NMHJA Beach Party show had some new views this year due both the addition of some wide angle images and some of the hunter and pony classes being moved into one of the outdoor arenas normally reserved for warm-ups. I will have to say, from a photo perspective, I enjoyed the new views and cleaner backgrounds very much. I do hope that they continue to utilize that arena for future NMHJA

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-43022154319016444852009-08-13T01:33:00.013-06:002009-08-13T02:30:19.986-06:00

When taking photos of horses, one of the huge rules of thumb is to use a zoom lens. 100mm or more was a guideline I was once given and the longer the better. Wider angles distort the horse, often horribly. Huge noses and tiny legs... You see them everywhere in family pet snapshots and once you learn to see it, you find it often crops up in many artist's paintings and drawings because they

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-14173775260523387292009-08-09T12:25:00.011-06:002009-08-09T13:04:50.591-06:00

While in New England I had the chance to be a second camera at the University of New Hampshire dressage show. I jumped on the chance since I had never officially shot at a dressage show before. Oh, I've shot plenty of dressage tests, but it's all been the dressage phase of horse trials or 3-day eventing and mostly only lower levels of it. I have also been to dressage shows and shot a few pix,

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-41183057910352065152009-07-31T15:45:00.002-06:002009-07-31T15:49:40.639-06:00

Oh, my! It's been a very long time since I posted anything here! Here's a few images from my travels to tide time over a bit. Mares and foals at Casa Lusitana in Massachusetts.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-24261474401097067312009-07-02T13:06:00.002-06:002009-07-02T13:14:05.314-06:00

I stumbled across a great video produced by a company called Schofield Editorial, Inc. They sure hit the nail on the head for many of us independent vendors and service providers. The Vendor Client Relationship.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-38565271170933202542009-06-22T17:37:00.009-06:002009-06-22T18:05:19.861-06:00

On the way back from the Colorado Horse Park 3-Day event, Amy and I stopped at Great Sand Dunes National Park in the San Luis Valley. When we arrived, it was dark and murky after a rather large thunderstorm had passed through but we went out and made the best of the flat light anyway. In a way it was a treat because the stream was running full tilt with rain water including small surges in the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-73390480766142476352009-06-16T02:55:00.008-06:002009-06-16T03:21:04.984-06:00

The Horse Trials and 3-Day Event at the Colorado Horse Park always makes my assistants and me work really hard for three days. The hours are long, the weather isn't always co-operative and the sleep is scarce after getting all the images downloaded, backed up and the batteries recharged every night. This year was no exception, however the skies were glorious. Every day brought a new

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-5119482613574651492009-06-12T01:35:00.003-06:002009-06-12T01:58:48.227-06:00

I photographed two large horse trials back to back on consecutive weekends. I don't know what I was thinking!The first one was my event, Colorado Horse Park's 3-Day event and Horse Trials with over 200 competitors. I had 2 assistant photographers and together the three of us shot over 9,100 images! Lucky me, I get to sort and process all of them. Afterwards I spent one whole day at home and

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-5519930336087438572009-05-27T23:07:00.002-06:002009-05-27T23:08:06.876-06:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-69456225617920216722009-05-26T23:24:00.002-06:002009-05-26T23:26:23.315-06:00

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-1094207563865710242009-05-26T12:55:00.003-06:002009-05-26T13:05:25.218-06:00

A few images from the OKC Federal Building Bombing Memorial. It's a sobering, beautiful and peaceful place now, very unlike the violence that preceded it's existence.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-13953765425632462262009-05-24T10:24:00.003-06:002009-05-24T10:35:44.640-06:00

Cadillacs just don't grow on trees... Apparently, they grow in fields in Texas carefully cultivated by many different human travelers.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-3450382869998717582009-04-23T01:37:00.007-06:002009-04-23T02:30:09.641-06:00

When I woke up Monday morning I had nothing specific to do for the day except get my pearly-whites polished at the dentist. By the time I got dressed, my day was full. First, I was asked by my farrier to help him find some images I had taken over the last few years to illustrate a piece he was submitting to the American Farrier's Journal. After my dentist appointment and he came over and we

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-65316629372257378262009-04-18T19:49:00.013-06:002009-04-18T23:54:50.136-06:00

The other day I went to the local book store to find a book for my dad's upcoming birthday. I was having trouble finding it so I went to the desk to find out if they had it and if I could order it for him. While I was standing there waiting for the the employee to end a customer phone call, I saw a book on the counter that caught my eye. The book store was announcing an upcoming book signing

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-8364048893249893642009-04-08T13:26:00.009-06:002009-04-08T15:35:39.907-06:00

It started on a windy, dusty Friday. Well the ride did, the day itself started quite pretty. On the western horizon, however, was an ominous pink cloud. What was it? Arizona. You see, we could see the wind long before it actually hit our area and it looked as if it had picked up half of Arizona on it's way through.Check-in for the ride competitors started about 2pm and by then the wind was

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-89553234365135767272009-04-01T00:45:00.008-06:002009-04-01T01:51:52.460-06:00

I found the best horse toy ever! Well, actually they sort of found me. After receiving an email from a small company that was looking for images to use in a new iPhone App, I rounded up a couple of peers, Amy E. Riley and Lynne Glazer and we three are now the featured photographers with the majority of the images for the App. The company, called Nose-It, is sponsoring the equine photo-a-day

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-22337865683905819182009-03-23T22:48:00.004-06:002009-03-23T23:10:04.331-06:00

Wind. Wind. Wind. Did I already mention the wind by any chance? Yesterday it was very windy here all day and into the night. The one high spot about the wind is the automatic-cat-entertainment-device. I'm not the best yard worker (but far from the worst in the neighborhood) and I left a pile of dead leaves all winter in a sheltered, gravel-covered area next to the porch steps. I do this

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-88896634890025093752009-03-18T14:49:00.007-06:002009-03-18T15:35:06.821-06:00

Not my usual kind of post, however it is on a subject that is near and dear to me having held the hooves of several horses through theraputic shoeing. I think this is an excellent, easy to to understand article. No bias toward to shoe or not to shoe, just good solid base info. Below is a teaser, then you can click on the link to read quite a bit more.From TheHorse.com One Step at a Time: Hoof

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-26691355282400320042009-02-27T13:17:00.023-07:002009-02-27T15:37:23.540-07:00

Petfinder.com is a dangerous place. If you spend even a short amount of time there you are sure to find something you always wanted. I've found two cats there, first was 2 years ago: Cecil. I had been surfing there looking for a special face only a few weeks after my Ollie had to be euthanized due to a rare heart condition called Dialated Cardiomyopathy. Cecil turned out to be an awesome cat

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-65970090387116319272009-02-25T22:39:00.004-07:002009-02-25T23:19:18.346-07:00

The night of Rocky's death, Robin learned of another foal that had lost his dam. The foal was a Paint who had lost it's mother to severe founder a week before. He had been hanging on with some bottle feeding and force feeding via a nose tube but it wasn't looking good. The foal's owner was at wits end because the baby had rejected nursing from a bottle after a day or two, was not interested in

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-53157435723414976752009-02-10T02:37:00.014-07:002009-02-27T12:38:29.319-07:00

I made almost daily trips up to Robin's place to photograph Ozzie. My goal was to photograph before, during and after of her giving birth to her foal. The trip took about 2o minutes each way and I visited 2-3 times before she popped out Rocky. Ozzie is an Irish Thoroughbred and was in foal to a Irish Draught Stallion. Ozzie was a dream to photograph. She was good looking and gave textbook

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-72837162201838262302009-01-03T22:44:00.005-07:002009-01-04T13:02:23.444-07:00

It's snowing here tonight, not too seriously, just kinda flakey. I am, however, already tired of being cold and we have a couple more months to go! It is a good time to go back and continue my adventure with Amy around her neck of the woods. I left off with her mom's dirt bathing chicken in September. One of our free non-show weekends, we decided to head to New York. We wanted to visit

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-43249059383484434682008-12-23T14:51:00.002-07:002008-12-23T14:54:19.562-07:00

I spent so much time this last 2 weeks making everyone else's holiday desires come to fruition that I never did get around to those snailmail holiday cards. So, Heres to you and yours, best holiday wishes to you all!

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-80869860597080420322008-12-11T01:01:00.045-07:002008-12-11T03:41:02.296-07:00

I borrowed a friend's studio light set (thanks Marie, You're the best!) to take for a test drive. I wanted to see if I understood lighting even a little and I thought I might like to take a few images of my pets and my brothers family. I've taken plenty of very nice available light images of them so I thought it couldn't be too hard.So, first, I set up the lights and the back drop and got the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-28465319079112191542008-12-06T01:54:00.019-07:002008-12-10T00:11:37.171-07:00

Twice this year I have had the opportunity to mix horses and studio lighting. This first was in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts where we met Jorge Gabriel at his Casa Lusitana. Jorge is one of the kindest people I have met in my travels and he was gracious enough to host Lynne Glazer, Amy E. Riley, April Visel and I for a day. He let us hang around and photograph his regular work day and later in the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-86659330083889808532008-11-30T00:45:00.006-07:002008-12-11T04:15:17.405-07:00

Recently I have been taking a lot of images for DPChallenge.com. In fact, I'm on a forced march of twelve weeks in a row due to playing on a team with a select group of people for a select amount of time - 12 weeks! I've got a great team and we seem to be holding on to an overall average score that is keeping us in third place.A few weeks ago, the two topics we had to choose from were Red and

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-36948607077133523032008-11-27T11:30:00.003-07:002008-11-27T12:11:30.221-07:00

Last week I travelled to California to meet up with other members of the Vision 18 Collective, a band of fellow horse photographers. We were hosted by the ever gracious Terri Miller, Axel Steiner and Tinto. The gathering included several shoots, one at Fox Hill Farm, a dressage barn near San Marcos, CA. The following day we took a drive out to the Imperial Sand Dunes near Glamis, CA to

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-10981954198704203762008-11-11T13:16:00.005-07:002008-11-11T13:43:51.577-07:00

Whether you agree we (the U.S.) should currently be at war or not is irrelevant on this day of remembrance. Thank a veteran for their service today if you find one. They aren't always super apparent in public but they are there and maybe just under your nose.... or maybe under your horse! In my horse world, I have at least two that I communicate with on almost a weekly basis.Over the years I

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-63511913651803265432008-10-29T00:01:00.004-06:002008-10-29T00:12:39.509-06:00

The last gasp of event shooting before the winter downtime is almost over. Fortunately, it's been a strong fall show season for me and I'm ready to stop driving so much for a while but you can bet I'll be ready to resume in a few months! Unfortunately, for blog entries, there hasn't been much spare time. I decided to at least sneak in a teaser before I dive back into preparing the next batch

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-80872647658902044872008-10-08T23:54:00.010-06:002008-10-10T00:14:55.232-06:00

Of course, it was granted.I first heard of Fanny almost four years ago, in December of 2004. My friend had been helping out a new local start-up horse rescue and told me about the plight of eight horses that were starving on the owners property. Four Corners Equine Rescue found out about them and tried to get the owner to surrender them to no avail. FCER contacted the Livestock Inspector to

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-4865154460322603452008-09-12T00:42:00.031-06:002008-09-13T03:42:35.860-06:00

A few days ago, the "World Famous" Lipizzaner Stallions show came to town. Over the years I have accumulated many memories of the Lipizzan shows. I have had the pleasure of seeing them several times. At one, I talked my parents into purchasing one of my very first Breyer models a very long time ago, it was the Lipizzan in the levade pose. I still have it (and have collected many, many more

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-76244941934061058472008-09-06T02:47:00.005-06:002008-09-06T02:54:42.988-06:00

I'm well aware that chickens like to take dirt baths, but this hen kept bathing and bathing and bathing!

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-75757563062336340452008-09-06T00:13:00.018-06:002008-09-06T02:10:28.388-06:00

Lou is big. He's a Belgian/National Show Horse cross and he can be either one when under saddle, so Amy, his owner, says. Auryn is smaller. A section D Welsh Cop colt, but he is oh so much more of a brat! At least to Lou, who mostly puts up with Auryn's juvenile self. Amy took me to the place she keeps them, together, at a local boarding facility.For some reason, every time I go with Amy to

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-70164992720650164412008-08-26T17:29:00.012-06:002008-08-27T00:13:35.324-06:00

One of the places Amy took me to was the Barnstable County Fair. We strategically planned our trip to coincide with the evening Draft Horse Pulling competition. We knew we would have limited light since the pulls started in the evening.Once we got there we moseyed our way to the main arena via the petting zoo. I'm not a big fan of petting zoos and haven't really seen all that many over the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-22628579035329950012008-08-13T23:26:00.017-06:002008-08-13T23:50:50.546-06:00

A super cute, 11 day old, Section D Welsh Cob foal was the main reason for the trip to Maine. He was a bit shy at first but eventually he approached the black unwavering gaze of the camera lens with the cover of a helpful tree. Soon he was too close to photograph and was rewarded with good scratches all over.With some encouragement, via trotting out mom, he showed off his future dressage trot.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-81251577157843171832008-08-12T11:15:00.009-06:002008-08-12T15:15:34.191-06:00

We stopped for lunch and behind the building several trees with bright red fuzzy flowers caught my attention. Amy had pointed them out to me from the road once and told me they were poisonous. I still had to go over for a closer look with camera in tow. I took some pics and when Amy's mom came out I asked her what they were. "Sumac," she said. "You didn't touch it did ya?" I told her that

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-50424769229777790842008-08-11T21:13:00.008-06:002008-08-12T15:12:40.761-06:00

While in New England shooting some hunter/jumper shows with Amy Cody, I had almost a week of down time between show number one and show number two to do some looking around. I went with Amy's mom to Maine briefly. She had to stop by a breeding barn and then go over to a client/friend to see a 2 week old Welsh Cob baby.The breeding barn was one of the largest red wooden barns I have ever seen.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-47770783927804243272008-08-03T21:25:00.008-06:002008-12-11T23:25:42.602-07:00

Just a few images of a drop dead gorgeous Section D Welsh Cob Stallion, Quillane Apollo, at liberty.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-83870119669434609572008-08-02T20:59:00.004-06:002008-12-11T23:25:42.978-07:00

Amy Cody and I teamed up for 3 hunter jumper shows on the east coast. The first of which was in New Hampshire, the NHHJA Summer Festival Show. We arrived at the show grounds about 7pm Friday evening right as the skies opened up and dumped an awful lot of rain with wind speeds of a velocity worthy of tipping the porta potties. It's true, 3 of them! Well, at least it won't be dusty!Once we got

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-90182275685313833922008-07-24T16:26:00.003-06:002008-12-11T23:25:43.750-07:00

A whole herd of wild turkeys came to lounge and preen in Amy's front yard today. Amy is near Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts and it has been storming off an on for the last two days. Today the sun came out for a while and so did the turkeys. I'm guessing they decided their feathers could use a little clothesline time and Amy's secluded and sunny front yard seemed to be the perfect place.I was

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-68372329094773617512008-07-23T10:05:00.006-06:002008-12-11T23:25:45.252-07:00

The weather was perfect for the Colorado Horse Park 3 Day Event. No blazing heat, no hail, no rain, no dark and moody overcast skies. After a 1.5 year long hiatus from shooting eventing in Colorado I returned to shoot the 3 day event and horse Trials in May of 2008 as the official photographer. The show was managed by Jeffray Rying of Galisteo, New Mexico's, Goose Downs Farm with Deeda Randal

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-33222611140233814912008-07-15T02:04:00.008-06:002008-12-11T23:25:46.024-07:00

I took my camera with me to the barn the other evening to snap off a few pot shots of my guys. The arab was much more interested in the greener weeds on the other side of the fence than in posing so I got some "bits 'n' pieces" images.It was pretty windy so his mane was fun.He often gets called a camel because he drinks like one (or not) on the trail. I am beginning to wonder if he also has an

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-43679372677242577212008-07-03T23:07:00.004-06:002008-12-11T23:25:46.762-07:00

Who would have ever thought there would be a rated horse trials in tiny St. Johns, AZ. With a population of 3,800, it is a rather small blip on the map, but it is the Southern Apache county seat. It has a nice airport and a super fairgrounds, which, of course, is one of the reasons there is an Area X rated horse trials there.I love the smaller events like this one. Many of the competitors

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-51136520714806028682008-06-25T02:15:00.006-06:002008-12-11T23:25:47.095-07:00

On my way back from Competitive Trail Ride in Arizona, I stopped to take some images of this clay hill formation near Tuba City. The light was very dramatic. I processed the image in color and just for the heck of it I tried it in black and white as well. To me, both are equally satisfying.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-84844031412563330262008-06-22T13:00:00.013-06:002008-12-11T23:25:48.146-07:00

My sis-in-law called, "You know where that little orchard is? The one over the hill from here along Pinon Hills? Well, there's a pretty big fire over there. You can see the flames in the trees along the creek jumping into the air!" So, I drove over there to rubberneck. Camera in tow, of course.I'm attached to that little area of land. I grew up in that valley and used to ride up the wash

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-3310663545458431002008-06-17T13:08:00.009-06:002008-12-11T23:25:49.055-07:00

I really should be working on my horse show images, however, I got called out at the last minute to do a shoot that I knew would be an experience. So I agreed to get up at early o'clock and go shoot some arial images.I live smack dab in the middle of one of the largest natural gas reservoirs around. Currently, they are drilling like mad and have been for several years. It's really scarring the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-67544087249062763752008-06-08T04:27:00.012-06:002008-12-11T23:25:49.312-07:00

I recently sent my camera in for a tune-up and cleaning. It needed the sensor cleaned of dust and it just wasn't speaking to my lenses very accurately 100% of the time. Close just isn't good enough. I also sent in my workhorse lens, a Canon F2.8 L 70-200. It has done the majority of my work for about 7 years and through 3 cameras. The zoom dial was getting stiff. I got the camera and lens

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-71707507063350165792008-05-27T15:37:00.039-06:002008-12-11T23:25:50.950-07:00

Over the Memorial Day Weekend, I went back out to visit the semi-local wild horses again. When I first arrived the only wildlife to be seen was cows. The ranchers are starting to haul cows out to the summer grazing leases so they are all over the roads and I had to be on high alert for the bitty ones that dart to and fro'. Other changes since the last trip three weeks ago is how lush it has

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-33429008222173742052008-05-25T17:48:00.010-06:002008-12-11T23:25:51.967-07:00

OK, I confess, it took several days, actually!I'm not a wedding photographer, and I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn last night! I will, on a rare occasion, photograph a wedding. Five years ago I photographed the wedding of one of my best friends. After the wedding, his wife immediately went into medical school and got super busy with it. For that and various other reasons she didn't order

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-32236670432262648582008-05-20T13:03:00.010-06:002008-12-11T23:25:52.884-07:00

The beginning: When I was young, my parents lived in Albuquerque, NM. In 1972, my mom went to her second competitive trail ride and managed to drag my dad along. Well, little did either of them know, that was the beginning of a long life that included Competitive Trail Riding. Simply put, my dad said, "We can host one of these!" Two years later after moving to Farmington, NM, they did.The

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-12950366633269860542008-05-13T16:26:00.018-06:002008-12-11T23:25:54.866-07:00

Bosque del Apache is a wildlife preserve in the middle of New Mexico. It lies in once was farmland along the Rio Grande river just south of Socorro, NM. It plays host to many migratory birds in the winter months, including Bald Eagles, Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes and on occasion, even the super-endangered Whooping Cranes. It also happens to lie along my path home from an event, a small horse

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-69869116268012506442008-05-05T15:40:00.015-06:002008-12-11T23:25:56.331-07:00

Seems like wild horse images are everywhere these days. It has become kind of a fad to pay money to a guide in Colorado or Wyoming for a chance to see and/or photograph wild horses being wild horses. I'm no exception.... well except for the paying money part of it. I'm lucky enough to have plenty of wild horses not too far away. The truth is, if you live anywhere in the western part of the

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-21368493882757090942008-04-29T13:05:00.014-06:002008-12-11T23:25:57.188-07:00

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to watch a foal being born. The first time I got to witness it was when I was ten years old. My mom bred her mare and during the last few months of gestation, I read an illustrated Equus article over and over trying to memorize all the important things you should do or make note of. I was also the lucky one, laying on the couch we had moved to the sliding

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-25892584023491327502008-04-27T13:21:00.001-06:002008-12-11T23:25:58.545-07:00

Yesterday I decided, on a whim, to go to the local race track to see what I could shoot. I wanted to get an image or two worthy of a DPChallenge.com entry. I blindly stumbled across racing history it seems. A 5 year old mare named Peppers Pride was going to try for her 16th consecutive win. A feat accomplished by only 4 other thoroughbreds in history including Citation, Cigar, Mister Frisky

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873676458151304537.post-19860787109535135882008-04-27T12:23:00.000-06:002008-12-11T23:25:58.711-07:00

So, I have been sitting on this Blog address for about a year trying to figure out what on earth to write about. I decided to call it Horse Stories, nice and generic, so I can be pretty general. Now, to figure out how it all works so I can add stuff.

Ristyznoreply@blogger.com2