Pony Express - Day 1 - Horses Help

Aiden

Hello again. Today is the first day in which I will be recapping the Pony Express ride that was put on by the Phoenix JC Comancheros this past weekend. With all of the photos and so much to tell, I figured that it'd be best to just start from the beginning.

The journey for the Pony Express begins at the Horses Help stables. Horses Help is the group that the JC Comancheros donate the earnings from the ride to. The group in itself is amazing. They work with the special needs population by providing an extremely friendly and helpful atmosphere in which they provide "weekly sessions to learn riding/driving skills, receive therapy, and enjoy the freedom of activities with THEIR horse."

The really cool part of this is that the JC's give two kids the chance to carry the mail from the stables across the street to the Cave Creek post office. The two kids, Aiden (above) and Willow (below), are sworn in just like the JC's. The volunteers were amazing working with the kids and Aiden and Willow themselves were super excited to be part of the ride.

Willow

Larry Snipes with Aiden and Swearing in both riders

Once Aiden and Willow were sworn in and the mail bags were secured on Bree, Aiden's horse, the kids were off. Horses Help had its own small procession to cross the street, aided by local police cruisers and motorcycles.

Horses Help Procession

In just a short few minutes, we were positioned in front of the post office where Griffin Hurley was waiting on horseback for the hand off. In one of many such acts of kindness that the JC's extend, Griffin hopped off his horse and greeted Willow and Aiden, both thanking and congratulating them. After a quick moment to get photos with each of the riders, Griffin took the mail bags and was set for his leg. With only seconds to go, we raced to the back of our pick up truck and were off.

Griffin Hurley with Willow and Aiden

Phoenix JC Comancheros - Pony Express 2011

I've finally returned from Prescott after two days on the road, back roads to be exact. I can't even begin to explain how amazing this experience has been. Being that I am still exhausted from the trip I have only been able to glance at a select few of the thousands of photos that I took over the two days. There is no way that one post could capture the scope of the journey. So, over the next few weeks I will be chronicling the journey through a series of posts. Until then, enjoy this shot taken from day two, between Mayor and Prescott.

Phoenix Comancheros Banquet

Hello world! It has been far to long since my last post. I have to start off by saying that I am unfortunately dropping 365. It has become too much of a burden for me to keep up with these past few months. As well, it was too forceful of a way for me to work on my photography and I felt I was losing my creative edge due to that. Now, this is not to say that I won't still be posting new photos for everyone to view. It just means that I will enjoy the process more and thus produce better work.

Now onto this weeks exciting story and start to a new project. My wife's brother-in-law, Jason Keele and I are working towards getting a story published in AZ Highways. We are going to be documenting the 2011 Pony Express put on by the Phoenix JC Comancheros. The Comancheros are a charity group that supports the needs of less fortunate children. For more on them, check out their site http://www.officialponyexpress.org/.

The Pony Express ride will take two days, leaving from Cave Creek and ultimately ending up at the Prescott Rodeo. We will be riding along to document the journey in both writing and of course, photography. This past weekend we attended the banquet that is held before each ride and sets the stage for the journey to come. You couldn't have more personality in one room than that night. It was a great chance for us to meet many of the riders and get to know them better. At this point, we are super excited for the trip which takes place next week. Until then, please enjoy these photos.

Project 365 - Week 29 "Day of the Spanish Horse"

Hello again to everyone. I'm back again with some new photos for you. This weeks selection comes from the Day of the Spanish Horse festival held at Estrella Mountain Park here in Goodyear, AZ. It was a great event and a beautiful day for one such as it. It's no wonder that this is the time of year that people from all across the states come to Arizona.

The festival is a way to celebrate Spanish culture and display Andalusians as well as several other breeds of horses. The morning was filled with dance, food (traditional paella) & wine, and of course, a variety of horse routines. Some of the trainers that worked with the horses were amazing, particularly Miguel Undabarrena who showed amazing skill in his riding and handling of the different horses.

Photographically, this was a very tough experience but I took the opportunity to learn a lot. I have never photographed an event such as this one and there was the added level of difficulty that I have very little experience around horses. My wife laughed at me due to the fact that early on, I was running from one side of the arena to the other as transitions between dancers and horse routines were occurring at a fairly rapid pace. After running around and failing at getting any good panning shots of horses trotting across the field, I decided to move to the horse staging area where I was able to get up close to several of the horses. I found myself laughing when the horses recognized me as a person of interest and would pose for me as I took photos of them.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm happy that I was able to try my hand at photographing a whole new world to me. I've been extremely happy with several of the recent events that we have attended at Estrella Mountain Park lately and hope that they are able to continue with great programs and festivals such as this.

Day 197 - Field Worker

Day 198 - Recognition

Day 199 - Spanish Flare

Day 200 - Needing Some Attention

Day 201 - Equestrian Elegance

Day 202 - Dreams of Dancing Horses

Day 203 - Training the Wild

Project 365 - Week 28 "70 Years of Thunder"

Hello again everyone. Its that time again and I am super excited about this weeks post. The theme was this past weekends Luke Days airshow here at Luke AFB. Having grown up in the Airforce, I love anything that flies and was thus out of my mind excited for this years outing (they have the show every 2 years). As always, the USAF put on one heck of a show. Having missed the last airshow, I was happy to finally see the F-22 flight. I've gotta say, that thing can do stuff that planes shouldn't be able to do. That and the Raptor just looks awesome too. The only sad point was that I was unable to hear the amazing sound of a P-51 Mustang flying by (this is a small nit pick, it just sounds so freaking cool). Again, it was a stellar show and my thanks to all of the service men and women who made it happen and serve every day for us.

Now... on to the photos. As a photographer, the weather was just nasty for an airshow. Gray, gray, gray. There was very little blue sky visible the whole day and when it popped up, it was very minimal. It made taking photos a bit tricky, as with the thousands of people roaming around too. I was really happy with the shots that I got. Though I didn't want people in the photos, I did want them for the C-17 shot as it provides a sense of scale and just how big some of the planes get (its too bad they didn't have a C-5 Galaxy). Though my focus was primarily on the WWII planes, I found myself perusing around some of the newer ones such as the A-10, F-15, F-18 and such. And really, what airshow photo list would be complete without the true masters of the air, the Thunderbirds? Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy, now just two more years until the next show.

Day 190 - Sentimental Journey

Day 191 - Thunderbird

Day 192 - Avenger

Day 193 - Globemaster

Day 194 - Apache

Day 195 - Warthog

Day 196 - Corsair

Random Photos

Surprise. This is the first non 365 post in quite some time. I wanted to do this post because I've been sitting on some photos from this past week or two that I figured why not share them. I've been playing around a bit more with Photoshop as well, an activity that can be a literal black hole; so strong that time itself becomes warped and sucked in. Anyways, this first set of photos are some extras that I had taken during this past weekend at the Tres Rios Festival. The set that I used for the 365 post was purely birds, but there was one extra that I really liked and a couple of others that were animals of the non-avian type.

The next two photos are part of an ongoing collection that I am saving up for myself. I've mentioned before that I am assisting my sister-in-law and wine connoisseur with her site by providing photography services when possible. Below are two shots, one of a cork that we were all in love with and the other of one of her weekly wine selections. I always have fun with these kinds of photos, especially because I have to push myself to try new things. So, if you love wine, love food, both or are in need of assistance picking out that perfect bottle of wine for your dinner, swing on by her blog: http://renee-winerd.blogspot.com/

Project 365 - Week 27 "Tres Rios Festival: The Birds"

Its that time of week again. This weekend I attended the annual Tres Rios Festival held here in Goodyear, AZ at the Estrella Mountain Park. I myself had never been to the event before this year and I have to say, it was a blast. There were tons of booths that you could find yourself wandering in to: bird watchers, falconers, parks, wildlife, and more. Those who were running the booths were extremely friendly and were very capable of providing you with tons of information pertaining to their field. If you are an Arizona resident (or enjoy visiting the state) and enjoy the outdoors, this is the place for you.

With that said, on to the photography. I was ecstatic that I was able to get so close to so many different birds and be able to photograph them. The only downside to the whole layout was that many of them were under tents where there was no sunlight to provide any kind of shadows, but I was still excited for the opportunity to photograph such beautiful birds. For most of these shots I was shooting with my 70-300mm telephoto zoom, but their were a couple that I switched out for my 100mm macro (this was used for some other animals that I photographed). All in all, it was a great chance for me to add to my wildlife portfolio. Now I just need to go out with the falconers when they take their hawks on a hunt.

Day 183 - Great Horned Owl

Day 184 - Raven

Day 185 - American Kestrel Falcon

Day 186 - Screech Owl

Day 187 - Red Tail Hawk

Day 188 - Coopers Hawk

Day 189 - Barn Owl