A Day in the Life of an Arabian Horse Breeder Johnny Johnston Photo Shoot - Dandy and Rachel
Part 1
Poor Johnny Johnston, I think he knew as soon as he saw the Arabian horse come strolling out of the barn with his kid at the end of the lead that he had his work cut out for him. He looked at the horse and his laid back demeanor and asked how old this horse was. When Rachel responded 18, Johnny Johnston chuckled a soft knowing chuckle and a smile crossed his lips. 
The photographer clearly understood the value of this horse and his role with my granddaughter. I'm pretty sure he also knew that getting any kind of expression from this horse who had been there and done that ALL before was going to be tough but he still started off with the same bag of tricks he'd used with all the other horses.
Most of us laughed a lot during the taking of Dandy and Rachel's pictures. Getting the horses ears happened totally by happenstance. We'd have to guess at what he was looking at because it sure wasn't anything we were trying to do.
He did look a little bit at Johnny Johnston's big reflective circle. But by the time the "holder" figured out she had to approach the horse with the circle held sideways so the horse didn't have a change to "look" at it as she approached, the horse had already seen enough of that thing to not give it a second thought. 
They talked about bringing a horse up close for Dandy to attract his attention but I told them not to waste their time. Dandy's reaction would be to pin his ears to warn the other horse off. He wasn't going to be happy to see any strange horse getting anywhere near his kid.............
I racked my brain trying to think of something that might get this horse to look. I went into the arena and retrieved Kelsey's blue tarp thinking by opening it up right near the horse might work................but he didn't even flick an ear. When I later took the horse back to the barn I drug that tarp right along next to him. The horse didn't even flinch.
The only thing they could come up with that the horse thought was worth any kind of look turned out to be food................and that wasn't easy. The horse wasn't buying teasing him with any kind of treat. If he didn't get it, he wasn't going to waste his time looking at it. The last shots are Dandy eating oats out of Rachel's hands.
Johnny Johnston was totally tolerant of this horse who had done it all. I heard him chuckle numbers of times as the horse thumbed his nose at our attempts to get him excited. We got his ears a few times but not once did we get the slightest nostril flare. Dandy was pretty aloof throughout this whole process. Rachel was his only concern........... proving that he is worth his weight in gold.............truly a horse safe for any child.
After the camera was put away Rachel began kissing Dandy on the nose and Johnny Johnston shook his head. I could tell by the look on his face there were the shots he really wanted ...........candid ones showing her feelings for this horse .............. and he had no camera.
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For those of you wondering about the Summer Show, I will be begin posting on that tomorrow............
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Poor Johnny - no camera when all the good kissing was happening! Personally I like the third from the bottom and the one with Dandy eating out of Rachel's hand. What a sweet, kind horse he is.
ReplyDeleteI like 74, then 77. They are all very good. Rachel is just as photogenic as Dandy...very cute together.
ReplyDeleteI like the second from the top and the fifth from the top.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet boy Dandy is! The ones I like are for different reasons. #3 for their connection, #4 for both expressions (but they don’t seem to be connecting), #5 for their connection, and #7 for Rachel’s expression.
ReplyDeleteI think I like the third to last shot the best from this choice. I hate when that happens and you dont have your camera ready and you get presented with wonderful candid shots!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think I had better start adopting his technique of leaving lots of room around the subject, I tend to crop too tightly when I shoot which limits what I can do with the photo a lot afterwards with regard to cropping it in several different ways.
So glad that you got to have such a great report with JJ at the end of it all, just goes to show you CAN show an old dog new tricks LOL. Rachel looks beautiful, I hope we will be able to see the final product that you choose in a slightly larger size once they have been properly prepared without the watermark.
On the kissing thing, I dont know if MiKael remembers but we were chatting one day and I did a misstype and said I loved muzzling nuzzles which had her in hysterics and then to add to the whole story NuzzlingMuzzles started visiting her site the same day if I remember correctly!!! What a co-incidence. She used to joke with me about how many Nuzzles had I Muzzled that day LOL.
Hoping things will start slowing down so we can have our chats again, I miss them. (((Hugs))))
Lori
I love these shoots of Rachel and Dandy. You can see the love they have for each other!
ReplyDeleteBut why did he put away his camera? The best ones are always the non posed ones!
Oh my, those are some really wonderful photos. Please tell Rachel & Dandy how beautiful they are together. The link between them jumps out at me, Johnny captured that very very well. I think my favorite is the fifth one down from the top.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the photos say alot about what the horse thinks about the girl, and what the girl thinks about the horse.
The cameras are always put away when the good stuff happens!
ReplyDeleteI like the 5th from the top in this series, they both just seem a little more relaxed and connected than the others, but they're all pretty good!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's ALWAYS the way that the perfect shot comes when you don't have your camera, ALWAYS!
Love the third pic from the top!
ReplyDelete