Mervin McDougall
She was poised, alert and was unmistakably a cowgirl. While she ready herself for a competition in the warm-up pen outside of the NY State Fair Coliseum, I caught this portrait of a cowgirl looking off into the distance. Well it was more like looking onward at her approaching competition.
Besides her proud stance in the saddle, I think the other thing that caught my eye was her bright orange outfit with matching saddle cover. She definitely paid a lot of attention to detail and it showed. From her rhinestone orange and white blouse to her leather-like orange pants, she was dressed to impress. It is not certain whether her dress was enough to impress the judges. Unfortunately, I was not around long enough through her competition to know whether her preparation paid off.
I had the opportunity to take other shots of her while she was waiting for the orange saddle cover to be placed on her horse. Although they were good, they were not as impressive as the one caught here. There was another time when I caught her in a shot and that was when she was in the coliseum putting her horse through its paces. If you were to view the previous photo “Patient Little Cowgirl” you can observe her as a blur swiftly whizzing by the little cowgirl. However, she was not the focus of my attention then. Here on the other hand, I giver her an opportunity to stand out on her own without the distractions of other riders in the shot.
I really enjoyed taking the shot but the one thing I wish I had gotten from that afternoon. If only I had an instant printer where I could print on demand, I would have tried to get her to autograph the portrait.
Great Portrait Mervin! I like the comments. Creates a nice context to study the photos. I’d like to shoot this venue again.
Thanks Joe! I would also like to shoot the venue again. However, I have been monitoring the events that are expected to take place for the rest of the month over at the Coliseum and it doesn’t appear that there are going to be any independent horse show events as the one we visited earlier. It appears the next set of events will take place during the NY State Fair’s regular operating season. I certainly plan on returning none-the-less. I just have to see what day will allow me to maximize the most of the experience as I want to have a look at the Native American Village there as well. But, I will keep you posted.
Hi Mervin! Hope your work biweekly is going well. Joe and I are working long hous this week. 7 at night,, he didn’t get weds off and we both work sat…hopefully for me just half the day.
Ouch, I guess if there is any shooting to be done soon it will have to be kept close and something that is not too tiring. I may have to consider returning to the zoo for some shots. Hopefully, that should not be too tiring and you both will be able to join in. But, we can certainly discuss it further when we get a chance.
I like your picture. It tells the story you witnessed.
Thanks Lynne. I still have more photos I am sifting through that I plan to post, I just need to take the time for me to get that done. Certainly not all of them will be posted as I am trying to look for the strongest set of images. Consequently, I am doing a lot of compare and contrast to find out what I think are the best of the lot,or whether there are other images available through a different cropping of the same scene. But, as soon as the shots become available, I will be simultaneously posting on google plus, facebook and twitter.
Great article that goes along with the pictures. You are a very talented writer too. I hope to get a notification when you post another one!
I will be sure to keep you in the loop Kathy.I normally post simultaneously to Facebook, Twitter and Google+. So, if you are part of any of those networks, you will get notification. There are other ways in which you can follow me from the site, but those are by far the fastest.