This morning, Ben Maher won gold riding Explosion W in the individual jumpers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I captured the pair in action at the Longines Global Champions League on Governors Island in 2019.
Category: New York
Cascade at Sunset
A drone shot of the Cascade Diner (and its subterranean partner, the Buccaneer Lounge) reveals the reason for the institution’s name.
Bridge to Heritage Park
As a child, I was deeply interested in the idea of islands—these isolated, well-defined chunks of land that were separated from everyone else. My favorite LEGO sets were those modeling pirates marooned on desert islands. I wonder what my childhood self would have thought of living in a town with an uninhabited island at its center?
Island Reflection
We’re hitting maximum summer and (in the east) a bonkers explosion of photosynthesizing surfaces; the small, new leaves of spring seem sort of tasteful, by comparison.
Parking for the Park
Even semi-mysterious forested islands in the middle of quaint small towns need mundane features like parking lots.
To the Wild Blue Yonder
The Adirondack hamlet of Long Lake and its cadre of seaplanes have been a favorite subject of mine over the past years since I came to New York, but I was particularly lucky on this evening to arrive at sunset on this nearly longest day of the year. Huge banks of clouds in the distance mark exactly where I imagine the aircraft exploring.
Camping in Town
“Camping” usually means being far from civilization, to me, but flying over Heritage Park in Canton revealed this tent pitched in the middle of town.
Horses Walking, Left to Right
Horse shows are these magical intergenerational spaces where equestrians of all ages come to compete. In the three images below, I found a trio of similar images in which riders at different points in their careers traverse the frame from left to right.
SUNY Canton Bridge at Sunset
In this sunset drone image, you can clearly see the bridges that connect SUNY Canton to the rest of its namesake village.
Off the Track
The world of English riding has a history of recruiting Thoroughbred horses rejected from the race track to be hunters and jumpers. Though the preference for warmbloods has made this practice a bit less common than it used to be, Thoroughbreds continue to make it into the hunter world. This particular horse was just a few weeks away from time on the track.
Islands in the Grasse River
From a less literal island in my last post to much more literal set on the other side of the country: this scattering of islands in the center of Canton, New York are equally their own little tree-clusters.
Land Rover Defender
Being both a “horse person” and a “car person,” I was naturally chuffed to find a brand-new Land Rover Defender at the Saratoga Horse Show this spring.
Trail Stairs
Perhaps it’s a childhood spent on the trails around Mohonk Mountain House, but whatever the reason, I’m a huge fan of stairs along trails. This drone’s-eye view of Heritage Park’s trail in Canton shares some similar trail architecture.
Old Mill and River Reflection
This uninhabited island sits at the center of Canton, New York. While it’s currently a park, the ruins on the island indicate its past as the site of water-powered mills that processed the products of the surrounding farmland. I’m still discovering more of its history, but I’m fascinated by the process that could lead an entire section of a town to be abandoned.
Turnout in Spring
White Hollow Farms have become, over the past few years, the site of the Saratoga Horse Shows. At the edge of the property, turnouts are a little array of springtime growth.
Decaseconds 