Q.
Hi Jack,
Nice site...Great JPEGS. I shoot video during the week for the
state and portraiture(Bronica) on the weekends(after ten years
I quit weddings this summer...to much work). I grew up around
rodeos and cutting in Kern county, CA, and would love to take up
horse event photography. Do you only shoot medium format?
Your Questions of the month told people what 35mm to buy. I was
considering selling my medium format to buy a new EOS-1 system, but
you said pros use medium format for the flash sync at any speed. If
I want this to replace my weddings as a FUN weekend business, do I
stay with the Bronica? Do they do those great cutting action shots
and reined cowhorse slide stops with 35mm or medium, and are they in
the arena or in the first row of the stands? And are they getting
those great exposures with 400asa print film and a Norman 200b? I
was looking at the Lumadyne 800. When I see 'your' indoor event
photos, with flash, are you shooting medium format? I use a Vivitar
285/Quantum Turbo on a Stroboframe with Kodak PMC400 for my people
photography. Like a prom, do you sell the contestants packages
first? I haven't figured out the business end, but I need to do
some small ranch events first to build up a good portfolio. Thanks
again for the inspirasion. I LOVE being around livestock and the
western life style(makes me miss my teen years...68-72...and riding
all the time), so my first love(shooting) might be a way to combine
the two. Sorry Jack if I rambled. I'm just reminded, "Do What You
Love and You'll Never Work a Day In Your Life." Thanks for
listening,
Douglas Wood Images, Sac. CA
dwood76638@aol.com
A.
Dear Doug,
I use medium format at all times as do the other photographers that I
know. Many of our shows are indoors and we need flash to get a dense
enough negative for good print reproduction. Some use Rollie's
others use the other twin lens reflex cameras. I use a Hasselblad
ELM, but my son uses the standard Hasselblad. (He doesn't mind
winding after each exposure). The100MM lens is our "normal" lens. It
gives us the proper exposure distance for the Norman strobe at 100
watt seconds. We both use 6x4.5 format, which gives us 16 exposures
on a 120 roll. Other photographers use the "normal" 75MM lens to good
advantage.
Never having used a Bronica, I have no idea how it would hold up under
the terriffic wear and tear that horse photography imposes on cameras.
I also believe that you would need 2 or 3 cameras lenses and strobes
as spares when camera failures occur. In speaking to other
photographers, I find that all of us usually have a camera or two in a
repair shop at any given time.
I shoot in the arena with the contestant during cutting and reining,
and saddle horse classes, but out of the arena (in the stands) during
working cowhorse and hunter/jumper events.
I use Fuji 400 film (professional Low contrast) and a Norman 200C
strobe, but some of the other photographers swear by the Lumadyne
units.
We do not pre-sell photos, but do the shows on a "spec" basis. Each
of us is hired by the Show Manager or Committee to be the "official
photographer" of the horse show. This gives us the ability to be in
the ring, take and sell photos to the exhibitors (after showing /or/
mailing proofs) of their performance.
If I can help by answering any other questions, please let me know.
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