WH
HW
Saturday, December 9 2017 12 - 3 pm
Connect with the Medicine Horses and photograph your experience.
Look at these magnificent animals through the viewfinder of your camera. Frame a composition that conveys a strong meaning. Capture a beautiful moment or a captivating story. Shoot from the hip or wait an hour for the perfect moment.
This is an opportunity to explore your photography skills, your relationship with horses, your meditation habits or your way to express your artistic sensibility.
Please pre-register via email bellow, or on the Facebook event page by February 4.
Admission is by donation; all proceeds go to the winter hay fund for the horses ♥ .
PRE-REGISTER HERE
This workshop is loosely based on a photobook I produced last year.
It was an outcome of months spent meditating with the Chiron Herd and documenting the experience (mine and theirs).
I will have several copies of the second edition for sale at this event. You can also pre-order via private message.
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what you'll need
You'll need at least some amount of photography experience and very good knowledge of your camera functions. This workshop is designed to hone your ability to work with your subject and shoot intuitively, and therefore requires you to be able to use your gear without putting too much thought into it.
Bring your own camera. Anything goes: digital, film, even video! (might be cool to create a gif of a meditating herd). A professional DSLR, a handy point-and-shoot, an iPhone camera or a home-assembled lens you've created in your garage. Whatever works for you.
Wear your rain gear – a raincoat, mud-proof boots, camera protection and a warm sweater (or two; I will be wearing at least six layers). We will be outside, and we will be there for a few hours. We will shoot in any weather because as you might have seen in some of the photos in this handout, unforgiving weather sometimes rewards us with unforgettable sights.
Don't forget light snacks and water – you'll need energy and hydration. Interacting with Medicine Horses tends to be pleasant but intense and sometimes even cathartic, so you might need to replenish your energy levels continuously.
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Photo: Midnight Diamond makes acquaintance upon her arrival at Chiron in January 2017.
what we'll do
First of all, we will meet and connect with the Medicine Horses. This connection can have a physical basis (through our five physical senses), or can occur on an emotional, mental, spiritual or other energetic level. A lot of you will have various amounts of experience in interacting with these horses, while some of you will meet them for the first time.
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-- I will hold space for all of you, do my best to answer your questions, and assist you with your process. --
To get a sense of these animals are and what they can do for you, you might want to look at a few photo stories, such as the one about my blindfolded labyrinth walk, or how lens flare can uncover the subtle energy the horses work with. Another story, “Combining Art and Healing,” documents a private version of this workshop I held last month, and includes examples of the photos taken by my client.
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We will explore the meditative aspect of photography – ideally, the camera becomes an extension of your body, something that you will be able to use intuitively and without putting much thought into it. The more important part of the act of photographing is what you aim your camera at.
We'll practice seeing horses as the ultimate masters of visuality. Aside from being ridiculously photogenic in every possible way, horses are visual creatures by design.
They base their communication and survival on their ability to convey and perceive images. But through images they also share joy.
In this photo, Taz is standing under a cottonwood tree across the pond and reflects in the water. He waited for me to get the camera ready, and gave me a look like “would you, at last?!” He stayed in that pose exactly until I took this picture and then walked away. He could not physically see his reflection in the water, but I am pretty convinced he knew what I was seeing and photographing.
about meditative photography
Rather than a genre or a particular style, meditative photography is a way of approaching both the medium and the subject mindfully, with the intention to experience the present moment and to engage in the act of photographing with your heart and mind aligned.
This kind of photography isn't really about the picturesque and the perfect. So forget what you thought equine photography should look like. Forget about the rule of thirds, forget about the shiny, high-spirited Arab stallions, forget about capturing an image that will get you a lot of likes on Facebook. Forget about the camera, forget about the horse, even! Let go of what you think you should see, and just press the shutter when it feels right.
That's how I got this shot of Taz napping under a tree. Nobody would put this print on their mantelpiece, I know. But there's something in there, the mood, the stillness, or the soft texture of the blurred twigs and branches, that frames and uncovers the surprising fragility of this twigs and branches, that frames and uncovers the surprising fragility of this strong and experienced old-timer in a very moving way.
To me, I mean. It moved me. It doesn't have to work the same for everyone. It was my meditation, and this is my result, and my experience.
You go on and take your photos.
some of the things you can do
Spend some quiet time observing.
Horses don't have to prance around with raised tails to be an inspiring subject to a photographer that is willing to tune into their way of being.
(Midnight naps with her mother Tasha.)
Practice soft focus - both visual and mental. It's tempting to photograph the heck out of the horses, but if for some reason you can't quite get a good one, loosen your agenda and look around the landscape, too.
(The Beaver Pond, one of the visual anchors on the property.)
Shoot a series of photos.
Whether an action sequence, a portrait of a horse's personality, or variations on a theme, a series of photos is a good exercise of intention and perception
Blend in with the herd and study equine behavior
(It takes time and a lot of trust for Sorento to stay napping on the ground when humans approach. Again, being mindful of your own energy bubble is essential in building trust and connection.)
Engage with the many faces of beauty.
There are so many other ways you can photograph the Medicine Horses and their environment.
Tune in and explore!
(Belle Amie meditates in an afternoon drizzle.)
