davidsmith520
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
"Not all those that wander
are lost."
J.R.R. Tolkien
My Story
How did I develop an interest in Equine Photography? It's a long and winding road . . . but it began like I did, in Tucson back in the 1950s.
My first equine experience was as a child even before starting elementary school. My family lived on, what was then, the far eastside of Tucson. Just down the road a piece and around the corner on Tanque Verde Road (a dirt road back then) was a feed store. On weekends, since that was really the only free time my dad had, we would go to the feed store for the Pony Rides. They had maybe 5 or 6 ponies tethered to a big wheel. They would just go round and round in a circle. Looking back, that was very cruel, but it was thrilling to a 5-year-old.
I had my first love story with The Old West watching black and white western TV shows with my dad. Then growing up in Tucson, February weekends at the rodeo, going on horseback ride dates and high school hayrides.
The years go by, we start our own families, chase careers and money. Then that day comes when we can do exactly what we wanted to do the whole time. For me it was photography. It was "take a trip, take a hike, take the camera". It's now been 8 years since I first got paid to hold a camera. working weddings, birthday parties, real estate listings, senior grads and family portraits. To now come "full circle" and devote my attention to Horses and their "Cowboys" is where that long road has taken me.
At last, the Beauty, Grace and Strength of The Horse are in my viewfinder.