I have finished processing all of the images I shot on the 24th of November. Every trip is different. The theme of this trip seemed to be photographing the herd at sunset. Doesn’t happen often, but when it does, one is amazed at the warm colors and beauty of the horses. Here is the final batch of images from that day.
Finally found the time to return and photograph this wonderful herd of Wild Horses in Utah’s West Desert. It has been over a month since I have had a chance to photograph them. What a treat seeing them again. The herd was quite far south, and must have used the watering hole earlier in the day. They seemed very calm and content, and they seemed to be lazily enjoying the spectacular November evening. Not a whole lot to photograph till sunset, but it was sure worth waiting for!!! What a special evening. The lighting was absolutely out-of-this-world! A rare treat to be right within the herd at just the right sunset. Another memory that will never be forgotten. I hope you enjoy this wonderful herd as much as I do..
Finally getting around to processing photographs taken on Sept 14 of the Onaqui herd of wild horses in Utah’s West Desert. Hard finding horses, poor setting etc. I found myself “seeing” in black and white most of the afternoon.
This post is a collection of the various thunderstorms I have photographed in Utah’s West Desert. I make it a point to get out and photograph the Onaqui Herd of wild horses whenever I can, especially if there is a chance of thunderstorms. It has been rare to get great lightning, but the sunsets are absolutely spectacular even if the lightning is a rarity. The photographs that are long (panoramic) were taken by stitching between 10 and 15 separate, overlapped images into one image. The file sizes are enormous, as I stitch RAW files from my Nikon D810. For example, the panoramic of the double rainbow is 21,700 X 7200 pixels! All files are significantly downsized (1800 X 1800 pixels, at 72 dpi) for posting. I have printed these panoramas 24″ X 72″ and you can’s spot any pixels at all.
We had another great trip photographing wild horses in Utah’s West Desert. The Onaqui herd is unique in that if you are mindful of their demeanor, you can walk right through the herd and get very close-up, intimate photographs of these magnificent creatures.
I haven’t had much time to process the approximately 2,000 photographs I shot, but here are a few of those that I have processed thus far. The photograph of the two red stallions on the run is a combination of the photograph I shot and a process that makes the photograph look like an oil painting. It has a more “contemporary” look but still has details that would appear in a photograph.
Another trip to the West Desert to photograph this magnificent herd of wild horses. The herd was hard to find, and it was much smaller than usual. I desperately hope the BLM hasn’t rounded up this herd.
Those horses that did come to the watering hole were few in number. Not a lot of fighting, but enough to keep you on your toes. The sunset was spectacular (as they always are in the West Desert). The small family band that is running to the watering hole is new to me. I don’t think I have photographed them before. I will have to go back and see if I have.
I have added a new tab on my homepage. It is labeled “Fine Art Photos”. Here are the Images that are on that page. Click on the tab for a full explanation of the photographs. To get back to my home page just click on the main title.
In reviewing the photographs I have taken of the Onaqui herd of wild horses in 2017 I noticed I have not posted photographs of my trip in March. As you can see, most of the horses have their winter fur and winter facial hair. It was a long and cold winter for this herd, but as you can also see by these photographs that there are plenty of new foals this year.
The clouds were amazing. When I see the contrast between white clouds and blue sky or storm I immediately see the photograph in Black and White. That happened several times on this trip and I really like some of the black and white renderings.
I am working on another set of selected photographs that I will put in a tab called “Fine Art”. Hope to have it done next week. Enjoy the hot summer!
Here are more color photography from our trip to the West Desert in late May. The herd looked great, a lot of new foals.
In this post of my wild horse photography you will see a series of photographs I shot a few weeks ago in Utah’s west desert. In this series a roan stallion spots a black stallion that is “courting” his mare. The chase is on. When the roan finally catches the black stallion he almost takes the black stallion to the ground. Then the black stallion gets his moment when he is able to pull off a solid kick to the throat of the roan. This herd of wild horses along the old Pony Express trail near Dugway, Utah is such a treasure. My biggest concern is how quickly they are growing in number. I don’t believe the BLM has had a roundup of this herd for several years. There must be near twenty new foals from this year! I hope they can find an alternative to rounding up many of the herd and carting them off to huge pens in the mid-west. I have seen the effects on those left behind and it is not a pretty thing. Stallions that lost their mares and family band are never the same. The BLM is certainly facing a difficult management task and I hope reasonable compromises can be found.