Something Seems Different…

Hai!  You may or may not have noticed on the homepage of my website aaall the way at the bottom, I mention that I’m working on updating my sites (all of them).  Part of that process is reorganizing my Photography and Editorial pages on lesliethrelkeld.com.  I had almost totally redesigned the Photography page and then thought…this is stupid.  People seem to have a hard time finding the link to my Smugmug Galleries from the Photography page (it was hiding in plain sight, you see), and there was nothing particularly exciting and useful on the Photography page anyway, so I figured I’d just reduce a step and send visitors straight to the Galleries when they click on “Photography” in the menu bar.

If you’ve got the old Photography URL saved or linked somewhere, no worries, both lesliethrelkeld.com/photography and lesliethrelkeld.com/photography.html redirects to the Smugmug galleries.  If you head over to see the galleries, you’ll also notice that a new category has been added called “Published Images.”  You’ll see a few things there, but I’m working on populating it as I collect portfolio pieces.  Thanks for visiting!

And thanks to my good pal, Mark Lehner of Hoofclix, for the photo above.  He snuck a few candids of me at the AEC this year.  The great thing about being an equine photographer is catching up with friends between passing horses!

This is Mel

This is Mel in my lap.

GobbleGobble

Although I am far from my Georgia home, I had a lovely holiday weekend in a place beginning to feel a little more like home. I had Thanksgiving dinner Thursday with a delightful group of new friends.

Friday night I went to a hunt ball, where, if you can believe it, I wore a dress. A vintage dress with heels. Smashing.

Best of all, I enjoyed wonderful countryside rides and lots and lots of Skyrim.

Kate’s Pond

Two Cover Photos

Hopefully by now everyone who ought to has received their
October issue of Eventing USA.

Which means you’ve seen this!

Hooray for Lauren Weil!  Check out more on her here.

And if you buy the Winter/Spring omnibus
(which you should, it’s only 8 bucks), you’ll see this!

That’s Bit of Britain‘s John Nunn riding Smilelikeyoumeanit at the 2011 AEC.

Two very cool and exciting cover photos to add to my portfolio!  Hoorah!

WIHS Puissance

Back in October I was invited to attend the Washington International Horse Show with my good friend Courtney.

After getting hopelessly lost (twice) making my way east, we dashed to the metro and rode into the city.  I, of course, was underdressed for the cold, wet weather of NOVA in October, but I faired much better than the gals in skimpy Halloween costumes waiting in line outside the clubzz.

We made it to the Verizon Center just in time to watch the terrier races, four-in-hand driving demo, the Australian’s comedy routine, and the puissance.  The following day we returned to see the Grand Prix.  We were super bummed about missing the pony classes and vowed to watch them all next year.

I’ve never shot in an indoor before.  My relationship with sunshine is usually an amiable one, and my lens appreciates an abundance of natural light.  I tried to embrace the challenge of adjusting for indoor lighting without the luxury of a super wide aperture, and such I was led to shoot monochrome, which I quite like.

The winner of the Puissance jumped seven feet!  Nick Skelton kept impeccable form over every fence, proving that good position and basic training makes the difference no matter the fence’s height.  We were also rooting for one young fellow who made it fairly far in the competition.  It was clear he and his horse were totally in sync and confident in each other.  The rider didn’t gig his horse with the spurs to jack him up on the approach and successfully cleared the massive wall in a counter-canter, which effectively lifted his horse’s outside shoulder to straighten and balance him.

It was very cool, but I’d like to see them do it bareback.

I’ll get to the Driving and Grand Prix pics soon.

The slideshow function is making me cranky, so click here to see the photos!

The Willow Show

Willow is an Appaloosa pony mare I rode for a while.  She already had impeccable ground manners and years of round pen work before I backed her.  She was so well behaved and easy.  She loved jumping, too!  I had so much fun with this pony mare, I even tried to buy her (the owner was smart not to let her go!).

In the following video, Willow goes to her first horse show at Poplar Place just a few weeks after beginning jumping.  She screamed her way (literally) through her dressage test, and on a difficult jumping course, she dominated!

Enjoy this dose of cute!

Mr. Medicott in the News – and in your Face!

When I think of Mr. Medicott, I think of this photo, which is one of my absolute favorite images that I captured at WEG 2010.  I wasn’t leaning over the rope or anything, Frank was just galloping that close to it.  What a rush!

Terrier-ize

My good friend Courtney, who writes the blog Three Days Three Ways, invited me to accompany her to the Washington International Horse Show several weeks ago.  I’ve been anxious to post some photos from the various events, it’s just a matter of finding the time!  Go check out Courtney’s blog, she’s way more productive than I in getting photos posted, and she has all kinds of fashionable content.

Meanwhile, here’s a shot from the Terrier Races.

Follow Up

Itty Bitty In A Bowl