mljenkins' photostream  

My Website
My Blog

"Horses and life, it's all the same to me" ~ Buck Brannaman

First, let's set the record straight: I am not obsessed with horses. Obsession is not a strong enough word to describe my passion towards these magnificent animals, whom have become my best friends in this world of chaos.

I mostly shoot with a Canon Digital Rebel EOS 6 megapixel SLR. I do not have a lot to invest in my equipment, and it is probably better that way. My most difficult challenge is to not want to befriend my furry four-legged subjects before I manage to photograph them. Hence, my gear usually ends up with lots of dirt, hair, and other things that come off a horse's coat (and sometimes from their mouths). I do not do a lot of digital editing, mainly because I simply don't have the time. I will occasionally crop photos using Picassa as it makes for quick editing corrections and makes a wonderful thumbnail viewer.

I also carry around a Moto Q camera phone. I use this on trail rides or whenever I am around the horses without my SLR. My goal with the camera phone is to get more creative to produce better pictures with it. There are a few big challenges with the phone. One is that it overexposes the picture unless I manually set the brightness each time. Another is that it waits about half a second to a second in a half before it snaps the picture. In that amount of time, radar-like ears go from forward to backwards, tails swish, and entire body positions shift. If I can overcome the timing on the phone, I should, in theory, get pretty good with timing in general, which is critical especially when photographing motion. One thing I do find of particular interest with the phone and Flickr is that I can upload pictures right after taking them. Thus, in near real-time, I can share pictures from my experiences on the trail.

My main two subjects are my two best friends, registered American Paint Horses. I also photograph friends’ horses, events I go to, etc. I definitely do not consider myself a professional by any means. Regardless, I have managed to sell prints at events I have taken pictures at. I salute true equine photography professionals such as Barbara Livingston, Robert Vavra, and Tony Stromberg. I hope that someday I can be a fraction as good as these artists.

Flickr is a place for me to share my photos and get comments from others. Most of my photos are posted for fun. I appreciate any comments you give, both positive and negative. My goal here is to learn from comments the community leaves on my photographs, as well as to observe other photographers' works to get new ideas. Deep down, however, I just want to see more of these beautiful animals from all over the world.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and view. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to shoot me an e-mail.