The Wild Ones
by George Terrizzi
March 6, 2010
Photography is a funny thing, you never quite know what your going to end up with, but you never come away empty handed. Most of the time what you have in your mind rarely is captured in a photograph; you have to adapt to the situation and make the best of what you get. Even if you don’t get that one stellar photograph you always gain experience, both photographically and for yourself.
This past weekend some of my fellow photo buddies and myself had the intentions to find and photograph an elk herd that is hidden deep in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. After driving a couple hours we grabbed our gear and set out to get those prefect photos; you know the one with the bull elk with his head held high, breath crystallizing in the cold air, beautiful light shining down making him look absolutely regal! Instead what we found was only evidence of elk and a hand full of these.
Me shooting in the wildlife area. Photo: Walt Howington
Wild horses. So I adapted to the situation. I asked myself what’s the next best thing than elk, my mind raced with other wildlife that would be much better to take photos of and then one of the horses looked up at me, and I froze for a second, our eyes locked. A little breeze blew her ratty mane, some water had frozen to her back, and the overcast day created a beautiful soft light, it was simply beautiful. I regained myself and a “click click click” of the shutter captured the moment and emotion. I knew that at this one particular time, nothing could be more perfect!
After watching and photographing the horses, the stallion of the herd took interest in what we were doing and approached to take a closer look at us. The horse was curious about the lens! Photo: Walt Howington
Apparently these horses were abandoned some time ago and have been through several generations in this area. They roam where they want with no fences in sight, the stallion that came to check us out had several scars on his body, and all of their hair was matted and tangled.
We took our last photos of them and left them to continue grazing and doing whatever it is wild horses do.
So in the end we came back without even a sighting of an elk but adapted to the situation and came out with some great shots, and some great memories. It is important to remember that no matter what you do in life to make the best of what you have, and if you keep the attitude and put forth the effort you will never be disappointed! I will leave you with what I think is a very funny photo of the stallion who decided to come check us out standing next to me almost trying to see what it was I was looking at.
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