Hunt Club Farm and Horse Bites

Posted on July 18, 2007

I’ve got this cool weekly gig at Hunt Club Farm in Virginia Beach shooting group pictures of each group such as the one below. Hunt Club Farm is probably most recognized for their Haunted Hayride, Field of Screams, and Village of the Dead attractions that they run every year during October. (it’s alot of fun!)

So, this week on Tuesday, I was out there shooting group pictures like the one above, and capturing candids of the summer campers like the one below. Just an enjoyable couple of hours really, it’s alot of fun for me to take these images, pet the
animals, be outside, and basically get paid to have fun.

Occasionally, I even get to witness Junior Counselors getting attacked by chickens which is EXTREMELY funny, because depending on who’s getting flapped to smithereens, it can be absolutely HYSTERICAL like the image below.

On Tuesday, it seems that the farm Gods had taken aim on ME for a change, and I was completely unaware of the fun they had in store for me. I was out in the horse corral, taking pictures of the campers riding the horses and an even bigger attraction
to the campers. Stage diving off piles of hay. We had some great stage divers this week. I just have to mention the movie
“School Of Rock” and they get the idea.

Now, you can see by the perspective of the pictures above that I am crouching so it looks like the kids are jumping 6 feet
up and getting massive air time when in actuality their air time could be measured in less than a second. But, they have a
blast doing it, and it’s fun to watch them having fun and being the “eyes of the parents”. The Moms and Dads can see the
images after the fact and get a feel for what the campers do during their days at the farm.

Around 7 weeks ago, their was a new addition to the animal population of Hunt Club Farm. A new horse of the mare persuasion
was born and is now running around out there in the horse corral where I was happily crouched down.

I had been playing with this horse for a while before the campers started haystack stage diving and I thought that we’d made
friends. Well, the colt was following me around everywhere I went, and took a keen interest in me as I was shooting the
pictures of the kids doing their haystack stage diving.

There I was, happily shooting pictures when ALL OF A SUDDEN I feel a tickle under my right arm, the one where the elbow is jutted out at a right angle from my body when I have a camera up to my eye. With my arm in this position, apparently it’s a perfect opportunity for a young colt to let her new found friend know that I should be paying more attention to HER rather
than the silly kids jumping off the haystack.

So, SHE BIT ME ! RIGHT UNDER THE ARM! THAT DID NOT, and I repeat DID NOT TICKLE!.

Here she is below, looking so sweet and innocent…….

The folks at Hunt Club Farm had given this horse a cute farm name. But, I have named this horse GLUE FACTORY ! Honestly, it’s not THAT bad, but it definitely hurt more than a bee sting, but less than getting that cold air blown into a freshly drilled out cavity at the dentist. (not fun!)

So, after my encounter with GLUE FACTORY I set about the farm with my goofy face lens to see what I could see, and it was business as usual for the rest of the day.

If you’re interested in more information about farm camp, go to Hunt Club Farm’s Website

You can also visit my Team In Training Page and help me raise money for the research to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more adventures!

Kevin and Addie - Engagement Session

Posted on July 15, 2007

This engagement session was shot on Friday the 13th! Should we have been worried? Kevin was fresh off the golf course and reported not doing too awfully well at chasing the little white ball around vast acres of green grass, so hopefully, me chasing this couple around the beach and dunes would go better.

Addie set the tone, and proved to be the daredevil of the pair.

She spied a jellyfish in the surf, then promptly ran over and picked it up like it was a long lost friend.

She held it up proudly to Kevin for his inspection. Kevin, dutifully concerned for her safety demanded she put it down lest she be stung mercilessly by the hapless sea beast.

After gentle yet persistant urging, Addie reluctantly makes like she is going to release the jellyfish back into the surf. She quickly changed her mind and simply chucked it at Kevin so he could more closely inspect the sea creature.

Kevin didn’t want to take a closer look, and neither did I, so this didn’t go over too well. hahahaha.

After a short fit of nervous laughter, the shoot continued.

Then we went for a classic big dip picture! They went too far out with the tide coming in! So, we got a double dip. Him dipping her, and the ocean dipping the BOTH of them.

They liked the water temperature, so it wasn’t a big deal. During a beach engagement session, getting wet and messy is almost always going to happen unless you tell me otherwise. (like you can’t swim!)

There were MANY poses not shown here up in the dunes, along the water, and closely cropped head shots like the one below.

It was a great shoot. We saw dolphins, jellyfish, no sunset because of cloud cover, but the surf was great, and the sky got real pretty toward the end. This couple is very easy and natural, so their wedding pictures will reflect that. These sessions let me get to know my clients before showing up at their wedding to shoot the big day, which is why I include it in my packages. It just makes the wedding day images come out better, because I’ve already worked with the couple and know their on camera personalities.

I’ve got ALOT of shoots to post, playing catch up. So, check back soon!

Team In Training This Week

Posted on July 12, 2007

It’s been incredibly hot the past few weeks, yet I’ve been doing my runs and logging all my miles religiously anyway. (I guess that would make me a religious zealot in the running realm) Past experience with running marathons has taught me that not adequately training = feeling like 26.2 miles of BAD ROAD after the race for a few days at the very least. (not a pretty sight)

This past Saturday I did 10 miles at an 8:30 pace. (last 2 miles at a 7:50 pace). Then I shot an outdoor wedding in 100 degree heat. That’s another story
Sunday, no running.
Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - 5.5 miles
Wednesday - 4.5 miles speed work. ( 8:05 pace )
Today - 5.5 miles pace run ( 8:30 - 8:15 pace )

Tomorrow will be a rest day, then Saturday at 6:30 am, 10 miler time. (then another outdoor wedding!)

The nice thing about dealing with all this heat is sometimes you just have to get up before the heater turns on. So, in doing that, I get the chance to see my friends flying around the beach.

Things like that make the miles melt away before I do. hahahahaha (SOMETIMES!)

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