Wellington, Fla. – February 9, 2015 – Well, well, well. Since the last time we spoke a lot has happened, which is per the usual for any given week here at Phelps Media Group. Since I last checked in, I have covered another clinic, several shows, and possibly the most exciting of all, the $50,000 Wellington Eventing Showcase.
Now obviously I am having the time of my life as a dressage intern and I love covering the shows, meeting and talking to the riders, but I don’t come from a large dressage background. My experience with dressage is limited to the short amount of time that I have been eventing my horse, which is a little under a year. So while this lends itself to my complete amazement at what some of these upper-level horses and riders can do, it also lends itself to being a little lost looking at the shows’ rosters.
When the eventing showcase came to town, this was not the case. The names on the entry list were some of eventing’s royalty, and I was completely blown away that I was going to get the chance to cover an event they were competing in.
The first day of the competition I was sent out by myself to cover dressage. My first thoughts were “Oh, this is going to be pretty easy. I just take some photos of their tests and then talk to the top placing riders.” Wrong. Well, not completely, that was the way it happened, but it was a little bit more difficult than I anticipated. As with most things I do around here.
Dressage for eventing competitions and dressage for dressage shows are two quite different things to photograph. And if you’ll think back to my last blog post, you’ll remember that I am, by no means, God’s gift to photography.
The difference between shooting the two different types of dressage is that the dressage that I usually shoot is upper level stuff, mostly small tour and big tour classes. These sorts of classes have pretty intricate tests with lots of movements to photograph. The eventers obviously have a few other things to focus on, what with the show jumping and cross country phases, so their tests are at a lower level.
These lower level tests, while still hard and certainly miles beyond my skill level now or probably ever, just aren’t at the level I’m used to shooting at, making it harder to get good shots. So, that’s where the part comes in about taking probably around 1,500 pictures on dressage day alone.
Choosing and editing pictures for that article was fun, let me tell you. But, moving on: after shooting the dressage, I was to attend a press conference with the top three riders from the first day. Now, I had never gone to one of these, so M.A. had to suffer through such stupid questions as, “So I just go sit in the chair and listen to them?” Which the ever kind M.A. was nice enough to answer with no exasperation or eye-rolling.
Besides the fact that I was attending a pretty big press conference, I also got to sit across from Boyd Martin, who was in first after day one. Let me tell you, that was probably one of the most exciting things I’ve gotten to experience since I’ve been here. I am a huge eventing fan and his name pretty much is synonymous with the sport.
The next day featured show jumping and cross country, which were combined on one day unlike the usual format of events. Since I started eventing, the phase that drew me in the most was cross country, so I was really excited for this part. While I not only love watching for the excitement factor, I also have huge respect for anyone who will gallop a 1,000-pound animal at an unmovable obstacle and ask them to jump over it. Especially after I cantered my own horse at a cross country fence and he politely declined, sending me over his head to land directly on the top of the log. Ouch, is all I have to say after that experience.
Boyd Martin and Trading Aces held onto to their position to end the showcase in first place, which was exciting for me because it meant I got to attend another press conference with him. After watching him ham it up in front of the photographers and journalists there, I found the article headline I had read earlier in the weekend to be ringing true. The headline read, “Put away the wine and get out the beer! The eventers are here.”
Moving on from the eventing showcase, I am excited to announce that my photography skills are actually improving and my timing is getting better. Now instead of taking 200 photos and getting 150 unusable ones it’s becoming more like take 200 and get only 100 bad ones. So that’s at least progress.
I’ve also found that I quite enjoy taking pictures. I’ve always liked photography and pictures, but I’ve never actually done it. It’s very satisfying to look down at the camera after clicking away and find the perfect picture. The process of getting to that good picture has been fun to figure out.
Also, something a little more nerve-wracking: I’ve been signed up to compete in American Equestrians Got Talent. So as not to panic the public, it should be known that I am just a backup singer responsible for some singing, but mainly dancing. This is probably not much of a comfort, but after all the practice we plan on getting in between now and the night of our performance, hopefully it’s not quite as terrifying as it could be.
Either way, those of you reading this in the greater South Florida area should come out and support our group when we perform on Feb. 25! Every person counts, as it’s not the judges who decide who wins – it’s the audience.
Until next time, friends; and by friends I mean the people I have coerced into reading my blog. Shout out to you guys – you’re the best!