2019 MANE EVENT IN RED DEER, ALBERTA.

I got the head's up last night that the Exhibitor list for this year's Mane Event Expo in Red Deer, AB has been officially released.

To my surprise, there will be no Greenhawk once again this year and to an even bigger surprise, there will be no Equine Photographer there this year. Lots of artists (which I love seeing their work) but no Equestrian photography and definitely no Equestrian videography.

Otherwise it looks like a decent list of exhibitors this year and I am really looking forward to seeing many familiar faces and brands, as well as the new vendors with unique products. There are many innovative and creative small business'es in the horse world and I always love learning more about them.

Last year I ran out of time to visit all the vendors that I was wanting to hit, this year I plan on making up for it as I will be there for all 3 days. :)

NEW SERVICE IN THE WORKS

One of my favorite things to do is educating others and coaching them with advice on any areas of uncertainty that they may have when it comes to photography and/or videography.

As my business continues to grow, one of my biggest works that I have in my plan is to dive more into the teaching and mentoring side - and by that I don't mean just one-on-one mentoring, but rather on the global side of delivery in the form of multimedia. But I am not there yet, as I first have to become a much better speaker before pursuing this and unfortunately this barrier is a pretty big one that I need to overcome so it's going to take time.

So I came across a question on Facebook earlier from an individual who was inquiring about which lens to buy for photographing animals in an animal shelter, and one of the lenses that she was considering is a 50mm f1.4 lens and she has X amount to spend.

Here is the reply I provided her with. I know that as a reader that my reply may be too technical for some, however, I feel that there are many valuable pointers to pull from it, that would be helpful to others who are either new to photography and are learning, or they mainly take pictures of animals (*cough cough* their horses) or even both.

Click the image below to read my response.

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FEATURED ARTICLE ON STANDARDBRED CANADA

Congratulations to Clive Cohen of North York Ontario for winning the "Media of Excellence" Award at this past weekend's O'Brien Awards hosted by Standardbred Canada. The "Media of Excellence" Award is made up of photo submissions that have previously been published in the media or publications. My submitted photo to this contest from December was a good try and you can bet that I will enter again for next year's awards.

It is now February and here is my featured article on Standardbred Canada. Thank you Hailey Saunders of Standardbred Canada for getting it up in short order.

Click HERE to read the featured article.

UPCOMING FEATURE IN AN EQUESTRIAN MAGAZINE (FRANCE)

I am going to be featured in an Equestrian magazine from France, alongside many of my images spread over several pages. You will see a diverse collaboration of my work to date - everything from Wild Horses to Equine Portraiture to Equine Shows & Events (both English and Western) to general horse photos including foals.

This publication only puts out 4 editions per year (one per season) and there is an extremely high great chance that I will be in the Spring edition for this April. More details as we get closer.

As far as this specific image goes, I've been wanting to do more with this image simply because it's one of my favorites of all time and you can bet that it will be in the publication.

"SERIES" TO BE A BIG COMPONENT OF MY EQUINE WALL ART SERVICE

"Series" will be one of my most focused and coveted components of my upcoming "Equine Wall Art" service. Look for me to put a lot more attention on this technique in future pictures of mine.

VENDOR APPLICATION TO THE CALGARY STAMPEDE

As a newcomer to the Equestrian world, I am not quite sure what my chances are on my submitted application but today marks the official deadline for vendor applications to the 2019 Calgary Stampede.

So the big question is going to be, will I be there?

THE TOP 5 ASSIGNMENTS OF 2018 THAT "ALMOST" HAPPENED!

Here are the 𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝟱 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟴 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 "𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧" 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗗. Just about all of them would have easily made my Top 5 Highlights of 2018 if they occurred.

𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 #𝟮: 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁. 
This would have been unique alright but unfortunately we couldn't make our schedule's work before the baby's expected due date.

𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 #𝟭: 𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽. 
I was set to be flown out to Big Creek Lodge in Hanceville, BC to host my first workshop but it ended up being postponed due to other more important commitments from both sides.

𝟱. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄
Video work showcasing the high-profile stallion's at a Stallion show in Northern Alberta. Unfortunately we couldn't make it work due to budget and the timing was too tight.

𝟰. 𝗔 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗼𝗲𝗹𝗻𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲, 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲, 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆
To attend the 2018 Photokina expo. Photokina is the world's largest camera expo that runs once a year. I received in invite from a business professional in the photographic industry but unfortunately I was unable to attend the expo due to other business commitments. Next year's expo unfortunately has been cancelled but attending the 2020 is a definite possibility for me, it will be held in Germany again.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟴 𝗥𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗼, 𝗢𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼. 
Again, I received an invite but unfortunately this was during the week before I was off to Kentucky for the Breeders' Cup so I was unable to make it happen.

𝟮. 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆.
This assignment got cancelled due to the horse who was going to star in it, being sold.

𝟭. 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗷𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗧𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.
This was set for just after the Spruce Meadows, the 'National' tournament to take place right at Spruce Meadows. We were very close to making this one happen but Tiffany and I had conflicting schedule's so we were unable to set a date in a very tight time frame.