"I have a two day horse show to do this weekend and I am sweating bullets. I hope I can physically hold up to 12+ hours straight for 2 days. It will be a challenge at least. Losing 10lbs wouldn't hurt me "

Good luck, Julie. Do you also work the shows you are at?

James

I haven't shown my horse in years. She is sitting around getting fat. I am trying to lease her out for awhile, as I just have lost my drive to ride. Ironic as I finally have a fancy, competitive horse and I no longer want to ride.

So, it will just be photographing and I have two friends coming to help me with showing proofs on the laptop.

Stunning images! I particularly like the third image. The rider being just kissed with some light so that she fades, allows the viewer to connect this the horse. Lovely!
This one stopped me by your title since my geldings name is CC.

How did your shoot go Julie were the jumping pics you posted from that weekend?

Thanks peggysue LOL funny that your gelding is named CC. Does that stand for something? I'm guessing it's not for "cross country"

I love to hear that PC, I really want to try and find a "style" or at least a different approach to something other than the traditional poses, something you don't see all the time (I try to do that with my art too but of course with commissions and also with photos you are trying to sell you are pretty tied into the traditional stuff. I like more artsy styles). I would love to hear how much success you have with your plan on entering non-typical poses!! Let us know!

The jumping pictures I posted were from my weekend. It went really well. The end of the days were tough with rain and low light. I had alot of shots at 1600 ISO and of course, those are the ones that sold!

I am the first to say that I am not artistic by nature and am probably very conservative on how I shoot. I do crop a bit on the ones that are purchased to make them look as good as possible

Dee Dee, I think you have plenty of style already and I would bet that the artistic ones will sell. They might sell better though as portrait shots from a personal shoot. People might want some of the artsy shots as really large prints to hang on the wall

I'm glad you got the shoot done and even though it got darker by the end of the day, you certainly got some great ones! I think you are right about the artsy shots being done at a personal shoot more...I shot at an indoor dog show yesterday (I am most comfortable at indoor things at the moment, I always know what the lighting is going to be and there are no decisions on settings, it's alway 1.8 and ISO 1000 ) and I took a lot more closeup head and artsy type shots this time. It will be interesting to see what style sells more of. I only shoot groups and BIS since it's a LOT easier to track down the owners and I had several handlers come up and ask if I was "for hire" to take shots of their dogs in the ring. I even had the official show photographer come up and ask if he could look through my lens lol. Anyway I'm hoping artsy will be popular because I like that much better than the traditional poses you see all the time although I also understand why those sell.

For instance:

http://www.murryphotography.com/events/t...06_toy0024.html

http://www.murryphotography.com/events/t...06_toy0014.html

http://www.murryphotography.com/events/t...06_toy0011.html

http://www.murryphotography.com/events/t..._hound0005.html

I like all those quite a bit! I actually have done some really similar at an indoor show. I have to say I really like the shallow dof and the majority of it being out of focus. which, is really a personal preference thing. I think it is one of those things some love and some don't get(or just hate)

I really like the one of the woman in the pink suit. I like all of them that you posted though. Those are my favorite kinds of shots to do

What did the OP say when he talked to you? Did he mind you were selling candids?

I agree I think people either like it or don't. I am guessing the typical dog show person is going to be looking for nice movement, stacked or head shots they can advertise with but there will be some like me I hope, even though I show I would prefer some unusual shots of my dog over the advertising type of ones. I have also been taking pictures of the group winners being congratulated and of the BIS judge pointing toward the winner, and got some good ones of handlers hugging and kissing their dogs right after the win. We'll see how those sell too (or not )

The OP was really nice, he was saying he was thinking of getting a new lens, and I handed it over to him to check out. He has been doing photos since I started showing dogs in the early 80's! He shoots Nikon. I didn't mention I was selling candids..heh heh...I am not sure what the official guys will think of that I am hoping it won't be an issue.

You should probably be upfront about selling the candids. I am guessing the OP will not mind(in most cases) but, if they do, and you get caught by them, they can make things unpleasant

I know other photographers(sports) that will go as far as getting someone banned from the facility for shooting and selling. I don't think that dog/horse show photographers do that as much, but, they might really give you a bad name.

Like any business, it is small and political. I know this is a HUGE issue with equine show photographers. After shooting for 12 hours a day straight, you get pissed when someone comes in and takes a share of your pie away.

David Ramey and Jim Garvey can probably give you better pointers on this. I am ultra worried about pissing off other photographers. I want them to work with me, not against me!