I was fortunate to have a photoshoot with a young girl whose mother wanted some headshots but also wanted to play around outside and just do some fun portraits. The horses were out behind my house in a field and this girl owns a horse, so we decided to do some portraits of her with the horses. This was completely candid and part of me just shooting her interacting with the horses. She had an interesting way of just standing by them and ignoring them until they became more comfortable with her and approached her. Then she would turn and look at them for a bit and if they still seemed interested in her she would then reach out a hand and start to pet them. It was really great to observe. It was cloudy out so it made some nice diffused light. I added a little blurring to give it a more ethereal feel, but most of the processing was just duotoning and dodging and burning.
Post challenge: I am really impressed with how this did and the responses this photo received. It is a little out of the box for me so I am glad I entered it.
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I don't think I have ever seen a more moving visual representation of the connection between man (or girl, in this case) and beast. I can almost feel the horse contemplating someone he or she feels worthy of contemplation.
Great shot, this one of three tens I gave out during the challenge, I really like the interaction between the girl and the horse and with her facing away the way the hair is flowing made the shot. Good Job.
The wind whisked her hair as she stood there, looking out over the world, so many miles from home. A single tear built in the corner of her eye, and her mind ran through so many things. They whys, the why nots, the hows, the how nots, the what could bes, the what shouldn't bes. Her companion slowly walked over and nudged her shoulder, perhaps because of some emphathy they shared. She smiled sadly and scratched his nose, and lay her head against him.
It was a hard world sometimes, and she just had to get away, to come out here where her father and her had come so many times before. To this place where they would talk and laugh and he would teach her so very much about the land and the trees and birds and the way things worked. Now, she was here alone, and he would never come with her again.
The tears flowed more freely now, and the wind continued to blow, and upon it it seemed to whisper to her in his voice, to let her know that eventually it would be all right. Eventually.
With one last tear-filled gaze at their special place, she got back on the horse that had been her father's favorite, now passed to her, and hugged him tight, and together they began the journey home.
The way you caught and presented this, the horse seems to have great intelligence ... almost like it is ready to offer life advice to the girl. I like that.
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