You Picked It!
March 18, 2009
We’ve got a winner in the America’s Horse cover contest
When we asked America's Horse Daily readers to vote on their favorite cover, this one won hands down and will appear on the May issue. More than 1,100 of you voted!
Actually, we’ve got two winners. The first is the photo with the alert, happy horse and rider, with a crystal blue sky and the painted hills of Palo Duro Canyon in the background (See the other finalists). And the second winner is photographer Lynda Harris, a longtime AQHA member and avid trail rider from Canyon, Texas.
Lynda took the winning photo of Kris Graef and her horse, Mongo Lad – better known as “Bojangles” – during the 2008 canyon trails class taught by Kris’ husband, Brent. The class, which teaches ways to train your horse on the trails, will be featured in the May issue of America’s Horse, AQHA’s member publication.
“I think I looked up and saw that background and hurriedly got that picture snapped,” Lynda says. It was a completely candid moment, and because Lynda only got one frame of Kris and “Bo,” she surmises that they must have moved off shortly after the photo was taken.
“I like taking pictures when people don’t know I’m taking them,” she says. And she also enjoys sharing them. Lynda has participated in other classes with Brent, and she always has her camera with her. Often, after she goes home in the evening, she downloads her digital photos, charges her camera batteries and then uploads photos to either Brent’s Yahoo group or her own Rocking Heart Ranch blog. Frequently, she adjusts the lighting on the photos or crops them, as well, so she puts a lot of work into it.
“I just like to take pictures and I take a bunch of them,” she says. For trail rides, her favorite camera to take along is a small Sony Cybershot, usually set on the “automatic” settings.
Lynda Harris on Bourbon And Yn. Photo By Russ Harris.
When she is on her dependable trail horse, Bourbon And Yn, or “Jake,” she is able to move off the trail and take shots of other riders coming toward her. Like a good trail horse, Jake doesn’t mind leaving the group or going off the beaten path.
And Lynda has refined a system for taking photos on the trail.
“I have a neck strap that has got padded foam around the back. It attaches to the camera where the hand strap goes,” she says. “I wear men’s shirts, because in ladies’ shirts, the pockets aren’t big enough. I keep the camera in my pocket. You just reach, and it’s there.”
She has tried using pommel bags, fanny packs and other means of packing gear, but this method is her favorite, because the camera is within easy reach and it doesn’t bounce around. She adds that the foam strap would break in case it got caught on something, so it’s not a safety hazard.
If it sounds like Lynda has a pretty good system for managing photography in the great outdoors, consider that she comes by it naturally. Her father, Louis Hill of Salado, Texas, was an Army photographer in World War II.
He took photographs in the Aleutian Islands, Okinawa, Japan, and other locales in the Pacific theater. Sometimes, he found himself lying on the floor of a cub airplane, taking spy pictures as he flew over strategic locations. Other times, he was using his camera to tell the story of daily life as a WWII soldier.
One remarkable photo shows a soldier climbing a palm tree to hoist up a United States flag.
Like Lynda, her father had always taken a lot of family photos – documenting their own daily lives. And apparently, the trait goes even farther back than that. Lynda says she has family photos from “way back when” of past generations.
Louis’ war photos have been preserved in a leather photo album, custom made for him by Lynda’s husband, Russ. And now, one of Lynda’s photos will be spotlighted on the May cover of America’s Horse. It’s a pretty fitting tribute to a horsewoman who says, “I’ve always taken pictures.”
Comments
19 Comments on “You Picked It!”
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March 18th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Thanks everyone that voted for the photograph that I took. This has been exciting for me being a very much amateur photographer that only knows how to use the automatic setting on my cameras.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Congratulations Lynda!
March 18th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I can’t wait to get my copy of this magazine. Love the cover. Congratulations Lynda!
March 18th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I have been the lucky recipient of Lynda’s photography. I am an AQHA member and I’m anxiously awaiting my copy of the magazine to add to my Lynda-Collection! She’s a brilliant photographer and horsewoman.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
This picture says it all-happiness and contentment of horse and rider enjoying some of God’s country. What a great shot,Lynda!
Congratulations. Hopefully this is the first of many recognitions of your photographic ability to capture real life moments of people and their horse friends.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Great picture, Lynda and congratulations on your work being picked for the cover!!! Way to go, girl!!
March 19th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Congratulations. I always enjoy looking at your photos.
March 19th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Congratulations Lynda, Your photo was truly the best. It will be inspiring to you to have your photo on the cover for all the world to see. We’re HAPPY for you.
March 19th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Congratulation, Lynda! Very happy for you.
All the best!
March 19th, 2009 at 7:27 am
OH My Goodness!!!! That is Wonderful! It’s such a great picture.
Your are so good at that. I love all of your pictures. Good to see Jake again.
March 19th, 2009 at 8:30 am
WOW Lynda!!!!This is great.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Martha forwards many of your emails and pics to me (her sister), Lynda. I always admire your ability. My time did not permit me to get back and vote for your cover but I certainly had planned to. There appears to be blue reflections off the black horse (to me) and I thought it was a perfect picture. Congratulations.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Lynda is my first cousin and is just a few years older than me. She taught me to ride as a youngster and I have always admired her talents with horses and now in photograhy. That is a beautiful picture and I’ll be sending my copy to have you autograph so that I can frame it!!
March 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Congrats Lynda, Your picture is amazing, You earned that cover! Keep up the great work. Looking forward to seeing more of your shots.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:38 am
Congrats Lynda. Loved the picture. Hope to see more of your photos real soon. See ya on the trails
Texas Trail Ladies
March 25th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Lynda, Thanks for taking such a fabulous photo of my horse and me. I’ll need to have this one blown up and framed! I know you put a lot of time and effort into your photos. It shows.
Your friend,
Kris Graef
May 1st, 2009 at 6:37 am
Kris,
I was amazed when I saw the cover photo…. Our old man (the stallion that is) is a Poco Bueno bred horse….
would love to exchange photos with you…I have a 25 year old stallion, One Thrifty Market, that looks exactly like your horse.
Racheal
shaddeau1@embarqmail.com
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
i got pictures taken at my farm by some one of AQHA at hoffman family farm
March 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
[...] Just think, if you keep practicing, maybe you’ll end up on the cover of America’s Horse just like Lynda Harris! [...]