Kentucky Summer 2023 Day 1: Warm Up

Thumbs up! Let’s get into another mega post! We’re exploring shots from the first day of the Kentucky Summer horse show, which took place at the Kentucky Horse Park back in the end of July.

Day 1 Warm-Up I: Thumbs Up

Piper Klemm talks to her trainer, Emily Elek.

Day 1 Warm-Up II

Then she heads into action in the warm-up ring.

Day 1 Warm-Up III

Emily’s son, Will, was also warming up his horse, Papaya. Across these three shots, you can see him working on finding the correct distance to this jump.

Day 1 Warm-Up IV: Will and Papaya

Day 1 Warm-Up V: Will and Papaya

Day 1 Warm-Up VI: Will and Papaya

Piper seems to always be smiling when she’s on her horse; understandable, really.

Day 1 Warm-Up VII

Beyond the team which whom I arrived, there were a lot of other folks in the warm-up ring, too.

Day 1 Warm-Up VIII: Cross-Rails

Sometimes, my camera locks on a rider because they have such an identifiable style. Here’s yet another case of mirrorshades in Kentucky.

Day 1 Warm-Up IX: Shades

We’ll finish off with the serious face of Jimmy Torano.

Day 1 Warm-Up X: Jimmy Torano

Rain Before Kentucky Summer

The day before July’s Kentucky Summer horse show was a rainy one—but there was still work to be done.

Naturally, though, we’ll start with a picture of Will taking a break from that work.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer I

Piper hangs out with her horse, Reuben, while he has a snack.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer II: Piper and Reuben

Slick the Corgi is just excited to be here.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer III: Slick the Corgi

Piper gears up for a ride in the rain.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer IV: Putting on Boots

Look at that grin! Even in the rain, Piper’s having fun.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer V: Smiling and Riding in the Rain

The deep greens make for some dramatic shots.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer VI

Emily Elek, Piper’s trainer, observes her warm-up from under a tree. The pony with her is working on his social skills.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer VII: Coaching from Beneath a Tree

The rain paused and the wet raincoat could come off; the smile remained.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer VIII: Chin Up

There seems to be an understanding.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer IX: Reaching an Understanding

The trip back to the barn makes some great long perspective shots.

Rain Before Kentucky Summer X

Saratoga Horse Show 2022

The quiet moments of winter are the times when I look back on my photographic year and finally finish uploading my favorites. The rhythms of 2022 meant a particularly huge backlog, so here I find myself with far too deep a set of uploads to handle at a pace of one-per-day. As a result, I’ll be spacing some horse show mega-posts among my normal posts.

First in the set is Saratoga Horse Show, back in June 2022.

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 I

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 II

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 III

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 IV

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 V

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 VI

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 VII

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 VIII

Saratoga Horse Show 2022 IX

Mohonk, Year 152

This visit to Mohonk Mountain House, in its 152th year of operation, comes six years after my last stay. In the time since, I’ve upgraded my kit (and my skills) and put both to use to get this stacked-exposure (i.e. “fake long exposure”) view of the hotel’s face on Labor Day weekend.

Mohonk Year 152

Miyazaki’s Kentucky

Hayao Miyazaki’s films are notable for these beautiful landscape/establishing shots of windswept grassy hillsides beneath huge cumulus clouds. The gentle, rolling limestone hills of northern Kentucky, with some cows grazing quietly in the distance, made me feel like I was in a Miyazakiesque setting.

Miyazaki's Kentucky

Moments Before Sunset Over Glencrest

This incredible summer sunset view over Glencrest Farm in Kentucky came at the perfect time to test out my new lens: a 70-200 f/2.8 (the “classic” sports photography lens) for my Sony a7R IV. Though I had such a lens for my Nikons years ago, updating all of my glass for the new camera has, of course, been a process.

Moments Before Sunset Over Glencrest

July Fourth on the Water

We were in Traverse City, Michigan, during last year’s Fourth of July celebrations. Fireworks over the Grand Traverse Bay have some added drama, but the area is so far north (and west in its time zone) that the sky still hadn’t fully darkened.

Bicycles, Boats, and Explosions

After the main show has finished, private citizens produce their own displays up and down the beach.

Stochastic Trajectories

Horses Among the Preparations

The background of this image—fleets of golf carts, tons of bedding, parking lots of trucks and horse trailers, plus busy grooms and working students—is a good reminder of the effort that goes into the equestrian experience happening in the foreground.

Horses Among the Preparations