A Day in the Life of an Arabian Horse Breeder Photo Shoot - Part 4

Part 1

Let me start off with I have Johnny Johnston's permission to post my proofs here on my blog. So don't anyone worry I am in violation of his copyright.

Ok, before we get off in sixteen zillion other directions about photos and my Arabian horses, I like to share some of the other aspects of taking pictures with professional photographers............and particularly those with big name reputations like Johnny Johnston.

First off for me Johnny Johnston is such a legend in the industry having him photograph my horses at least once in my lifetime is a big deal. I've had a chance to meet the legend himself and understand more some of the things I've heard. I won't be wondering the rest of my life what it would be like if.............I now have a frame of reference and there's nothing wrong with that.




Also there is the fact that having his name appear on my horse's pictures actually gives my horses some credibility in this difficult to navigate industry. Not to mention that having the likes of Johnny Johnston tell others that I have some incredible horses sure can't hurt my aspirations to build by reputation as a breeder of outstanding horses. Rubbing elbows with Johnny Johnston gives me credibility and there can be other perks.

After photographing Storm, Johnny Johnston quizzed me about why I would ever want to sell such a beautiful horse. When I told him it was because I own 28 Arabian horses and they are all this same quality, he understood. Then he asked me about who I had helping me sell my horses. When he found out I didn't have help, he got on the phone and called a friend of his who just happens to be an agent who sells horses to Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and South America.




I have spoken with this agent and he's going to see if he can't help me to get some horses marketed. Currently he's waiting on pictures from the photo shoot. Nothing may come of this, but I won't know unless I try and making this contact sure can't hurt.

Johnny says the man is expensive but worth it. What I know is horses sold in those markets go for good prices. Getting what my horses are worth instead of having to practically give them away would definitely be a plus.

Then there were the times in between taking pictures where Johnny Johnston shared some of the stories of his life. He's known some horses personally that I have only heard about or seen in pictures. Getting to hear personal stories of some of these great horses is worth its weight in gold to me.





One horse in particular is the great Khemosabi. Johnny Johnston has photographed this great horse many many times. Johnny Johnston is one of those people with his own personal take on Khemosabi and his personality. I am really looking forward to hearing his comparison of my horse, Scandalous Reflection, and the great horse he personifies.

Johnny Johnston has already seen a glimpse of Reflection and is totally smitten by him. However, once the horse is turned loose for the camera, I expect the "real magic" will happen. If the photographer can't get the horse out of his mind now just because of his incredible eye, I can only imagine the huge fan Johnny Johnston will be by the time we are done.

If Reflection should strike Johnny Johnston the same way that he has affected other people who have known the great Khemosabi, this could give me a boost to building a reputation for Reflection. I can't imagine that someone who likes to talk as much as Johnny Johnston would not spread the word about this horse if the horse "speaks" to him of the great legend.



Then there were the lessons on the POS cameras of the others at the shoot. Johnny Johnston looked at each person's camera and showed them what setting to use to shoot their horses and all kinds of great things. I only regret that my camera is currently broken. It looks like I broke the LCD screen. But I can assure you after spending only one day with the man I have a much better understanding of my camera than I did before. Not that I have anything that will help me yet, but I have a starting point, which I sure didn't have before. It was point and shoot just as the name says. If it didn't work that way it didn't work. Now I have an idea of what features to look for in my manual and what I should expect. Now if I can just get a camera that works.

So all in all, this time spent with Johnny Johnston has been very interesting. It has had its up and its downs. The man may be eccentric but I'm pretty sure there are those who would say the same about me. I can deal with the bumps because none of us is perfect........and this trip has been worth it to me. I have found the man more enjoyable and helpful than frustrating and I guess for me it evens out. Not to mention that we have one thing in common and that would be our great passion about Arabian horses. It's not often I get to met anyone quite as outgoingly passionate on the subject as I am.

If I could go back I would do it all over again...........well, I guess I am going to go back although we've been cancelled for tomorrow and moved to Sunday hoping for clear skies. This time I will take my really cheap back up camera to see what Johnny can teach me. I'll hope that he can capture the picture I really want of me riding Legs and that Reflection steals his heart.

Also, I think I forgot to mention that Johnny Johnston is thinking he might come to my open house in Sept. I'm really hoping that he does because it would be interesting to see what kind of pictures he could take under those circumstances AND because he'd get to see ALL of my Arabian horses. I'm pretty sure if he's impressed with the three he has seen so far, that seeing all 28 of them would really blow him away. So stay tuned............it's bound to be an adventure!

Here I more of the proofs from Storm's shoot. I think I got 40 pictures in all. I still need to print them out so I can look at them side by side to decide which I like best. The color of the horse in these pictures is probably pretty darn close to Storm's real color in case anyone is wondering.

Also I've gotten the some pictures of Chuck Kraft's work with Killer/Khriminal and I will post those tomorrow.

The Second Weekend


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