Action Photography - Take 1

With my growing interest in photography I have explored the art of still-life, portraiture and landscape/nature photography.   Each of these photography avenues has provided me with various joys and challenges regarding composition, lightning, perspective, set design, and such, however.   Most of my subjects have been objects, people, or things that are motionless or posing for the camera.  I have yet to dabble in action photography.  Well, until this past Sunday.

On Sunday I attended an Equine Expo with my friend Julie and her boyfriend, Matthew.  At this Expo, I had the opportunity to see and photography magnificent Clydesdales, Percheron, and Belgian horses.  These breeds are wonderfully gigantic animals, averaging 19 hands and easily weighing in at 1000 pounds each.  

We stood beside a Belgian horse and immediately felt like an ant looking up at a giant.  Even though these breeds are quite heavy, they are rather docile and elegant. 

I took some pictures of these magnificent animals being dressed for the show, trotting to the ring, and performing for their audiences.  To introduce myself to action photography I photographed these horses in teams or solo as they performed for their audiences and riders.  Right away I noticed the challenge associated with freezing the action and getting a crisp clear picture when the horses trotted, galloped or   jumped over a railing.  I would focus on the still objects and then when the horse came into my view I would click and hope to freeze the beautiful horse in action.  However, most of my action shots were slightly blurry.  After speaking to my friend Dave Taylor (an exceptional successful and talented nature photographer), I learned what I was doing wrong.  It turned out that I had my ISO too low, which restricted fast shutter speeds.  The faster the shutter speed the better the chances of freezing the action!

I am excited to learn how to perfect action photography.  I just have to teach myself the basics of action photography and continue to gain experience in this field.  I foresee myself having a lot fun yet challenging experiences as I dabble in action photography.

Here are a few photos that I really like.