Amidst the Wild Ones: Day Two

Morning

We split up again this morning into two groups. My group ended up watching a band in the small hills of the moor. One mare brought her foal close, which was an honor. That foal was the inspiration for “Brave New World” and “Here I Am.” He practically danced circles around his mom. I captured quite a few moments of him  as he pranced around just being himself. During this time I also captured the reference for “Morning Stretch.” 

Soon after, we saw another band of ponies walk into the wooded area beyond where we had been the first hour of that session. We followed them at a distance, and found them hanging out between the trees. They grazed and scratched themselves on the trees. They began to walk out into the open again. We stood where there were trees between us and them as they waled away. This is when I captured “Behind the Trees.”

This is when it began to rain. That wasn’t a problem though. We had come prepared and the ponies were not bothered in the slightest. The rain led to us capturing many moody and fun images of the ponies just chilling in the rain. This is when I captured “Dreary Peace.” 

Evening 

The last evening we had the most precious encounter. We had been seeing this days old foal from a distance the last couple days. This evening his mom brought him close to us and let him check us out from at least fifteen feet away. My old camera that I brought had begun to show its age this session and I was fighting with it to take pictures. Something was up with the SD card. This moment was when it really was detrimental. I saw a beautiful shot lined up in my view finder, but alas, my camera would not take the picture. So I put it down and recorded a short video with my phone. That’s when the foal came a little closer and putting away my phone I just stood as still as I could. Holding my breath we looked at each other. That moment was so precious and I was so honored to have experienced it. 

This session was when I captured “Over the Hill” and “Soft Assurance.”

We watched the ponies run off into the misty evening air. We all sent grateful thoughts, thanking the ponies for allowing us to be a witness to a small part of their lives. It was very emotional to see them go. Knowing the connection I felt with these ponies would last the rest of my life even if we never meet again.