Piper – Decaseconds

Pony Finals 2022 Day 1

2023-Mar-01 adohertyh1 Comment

After posts devoted to my photography on the days leading up to Pony Finals 2022, we’ve finally arrived at the main event.

Days start early and run long; this pair is already heading back from the ring in spite of the morning light behind them.

Nearby, this trainer waits to lunge a pony.

And this young rider hurries to groom.

This was my first summer working with Sony’s 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens; the narrow depth of field (with its buttery bokeh) in combination with the eye-detecting autofocus has taken all of the luck out of capturing shots like this one.

Speaking of luck, the passengers on this overloaded golf cart might be pushing theirs.

Some pictures seem like they’re emitting sound. This is one of those.

Warm-ups in the Rolex Ring were a high-traffic affair.

In spite of the traffic, moments emerge in which a single rider is isolated.

I love those moments in which horse and rider seem to share the same expression.

Though there are no events in which adults compete during Pony Finals, this wouldn’t be a Kentucky photoset without Piper and Reuben in the mix.

Emily Elek, one of Piper’s trainers, is always exceptionally busy during Pony Finals. This picture of Emily talking on the phone is rather special for folks who know her constant refrain: “Don’t call—text!”

Pony Finals 2022 Day 1 XIII: Emily Now for an amusing pair of shots: two head-on pictures of smiling riders—one with a somewhat larger mount than the other.

Lastly, a shot of Will during his last Pony Finals (he just aged out of the under-18 competition) riding alongside his father in the electric golf cart. (The cart is affectionately called “blueberry.”)

First Ride on Taco

2023-Feb-22 adohertyhLeave a comment

The look on Piper’s face shows her feelings and focus during her first ride on a young horse—particularly when that horse is hers. This is Taco.

Scenes from the Kentucky Horse Park in Spring

2021-Jul-162021-Jul-16 adohertyhLeave a comment

Though “one day, one photograph” is my typical style, the images from my springtime trip to the Kentucky Horse Park (mostly taken while hanging around at the warm-up ring) make a charming slice-of-life set.

Let’s start things off with The Plaid Horse‘s publisher, Dr. Piper Klemm, with Sundae.

Preparing Sundae While the warm-up ring is ostensibly a place to practice prior to showing, it also often the location of impromptu meetings and morning strolls.
Morning Walk and Conversation Piper Klemm on Sundae in the warm-up ring.

The warm-up is also a place for horses to shake out some energy and get any necessary attitude adjustment.

Dapples mean a healthy horse.

That preparation time made for positive results in the ring. Trainer Emily Elek congratulations Reuben.

It’s bath time for a sweaty horse done with showing.

Compress-air-powered airbag vests are increasingly common on younger riders.

Early in the morning, the golf carts waited in lines outside the barns—mimicking the positions of nearby horses in their stalls in the barns.

Cell phone videos of warm-up make an exceptionally valuable tool for improvement.

Reuben very occasionally sticks out his tongue and I find it funnier than I should.

A close overlap between conversation-walk and warm-up-canter in the warm-up ring.

Piper on Reuben.

The pattern of planting boxes reminded me of the pacing of strides riders seek to find approaching a jump.

Junior rider Lexi Miller relaxes between rounds.

Mogul 2021

2021-Apr-282021-Apr-27 adohertyhLeave a comment

The look of a mogul at the show—Publisher of The Plaid Horse, Dr. Piper Klemm—has changed a bit in 2021. The Bane-esque jacket for an unusually cold day at Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Eventing was combined with a Clarkson University mask (perfect for promoting her summer courses.)

Summer Feeling

2021-Feb-01 adohertyhLeave a comment

Days are getting longer and I know (in spite of temperatures below -10ºF) that summer will eventually return.

Lake Louise Cabin

2016-Jul-15 adohertyh1 Comment

Today’s guest post comes from Dr. Piper Klemm, publisher of The Plaid Horse. Piper is traveling the northern land of Alberta, Canada for the Calgary Stampede. She stopped by Lake Louise, near the border with British Columbia, and home to some incredible views (more to come). This particular moment, with sunlight peaking through the clouds to illuminate a lakeside cabin and the canoes on the right of the image, was too perfect to resist posting.

Double Exposures

2016-Jul-06 adohertyhLeave a comment

As with my photograph of the Seattle Public Library, I’m exposing my inner hipster with these images. Double exposures had an element of serendipity and excitement when they originated from film cameras. I guess I’d call these more studies or experiments in how to bring together the landscape images I’ve enjoyed creating with the portraits I find myself taking for practical purposes: LinkedIn, passports, school webpages, etc.

With these imagines, in particular, I’ve played with the idea of “stacking” the face and the main subject of the other image (be it lighthouse or galaxy NGC1275 overlay data from the Hubble Telescope).

Piper in Africa

2014-Apr-18 adohertyhLeave a comment

Portraits are less frequently my subject than landscapes, but I’d like to think that this image captures the best of both worlds. As we rolled across the savannah of Zulu Nyala in South Africa, I was able to capture both Piper’s windswept excitement and the broad expanse of green grasses and blue sky in her sunglasses. (And even a hint of our truck and our guide.)

On the Cover of the Rolling Stone

2012-Jun-11 adohertyhLeave a comment

From what is becoming a series, “Piper relaxing,” today’s work: Piper relaxing on the roof, reading Rolling Stone on the most fantastically red, fuzzy blanket ever manufactured. A ray of sunshine for Monday morning.