Portrait of a Thoroughbred

Week before last I escaped Tucson’s hot spell by driving over to California for a horse show. I spent the week catching up with daughter Michelle, watched the horses compete, socialized my new puppy Truffle, and got acquainted with a new camera and lens recently added to my gear bag.

Ever since I’ve been rummaging through the photos I took and applying some artistic license to my favorites. Back on the computer, it’s always fun to apply some artistic creativity to the original digital RAW files. Today’s PHOTO OF THE WEEK is actually PHOTOS plural, as I’ve posted several of my keepers newly added to my online portfolio!

This week’s headliner is an OTTB (off-the-track thoroughbred) mare named Ladybug, purchased as a four-year-old by Lauren Boswell of Tucson. Lauren has been training Bug herself over the years and successfully turned her into a competitive jumper. The duo had a great week while I was there – winning several classes against tough California competition. She’s a very pretty mare, and I was quite taken with her hand-crocheted fly bonnet, themed after her namesake! I took photos after photos of Ladybug with the camera set to burst mode, trying to catch just the right moment. Since she has the nervous habit of tossing her head up and down and gapping her mouth constantly most were throwaways best suited to illustrate horse dentistry. But this photo caught her with mouth closed and chin tucked into a very ladylike, demure pose that shows off her refined head and colorful bonnet.

In regards to that new camera, a Nikon D500, last night I attended a seminar for getting up to speed on its new features – and was told there are 1.2 million different setting combinations possible in that one camera body! Mind boggling.

Prints of Portrait of a Thoroughbred are available for purchase HERE.

Sony a7R II, 1/1000 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400, 200 mm (FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS). Handheld.

All photos are copyrighted and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Please respect.

SLIDESHOW – Click any image to start.