Kentucky | 2005

I was really looking forward to this trek. I mean, horses, racing, shakers, and booze. How could it be bad? Not only did it have all of these elements of excitement, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

Our Mentors, Adam Jones and Phil Mistry were great. They hit the floor teaching on the very first morning and continued to add to our knowledge over the course of the trip. The big focus (pun intended) was on depth of field. �F22� is now my mantra for shooting fences and other geometrically shaped items that line up in my lens from about 3 feet to infinity.

Travel with our mentors and try out all of the latest equipment from Nikon! Including world class digital SLRs, Nikkor lenses and the Coolpix line of Digital Cameras.

The Keeneland Race Track was amazing. The pageantry alone was worth the trip. But, the real story, the real excitement was against the 4th turn rail on the first day and the Starting Gates and 1st turn on the second day. My favorite part of the first day were the comments after the first race had passed us trekkers. “Wow, they were moving really fast.” And they were. But, we adapted, as all good trekkers do, and caught on as to how to shoot these blazing saddles. (There is a joke about Jockey Shorts in here somewhere, but just look at my photo on Turn 4).

After the track, we went to the Calumet Horse Farm. What a beautiful setting for taking depth of field shots. The architecture, the fences, the horses, all ready for our clicking cameras. I liked the attitude of the horses (see my photo with the three horses), considering how close they were to the horse cemetery. Our guide at Calumet was very nice. She kept saying “Don’t pet the horses. They might bite.” However, many of us just couldn’t resist and we petted them anyhow.

The next day, we headed for the Woodruff Preserve Distillery. Nothing like starting out the day with deep breathing exercises inside a building with racks and racks of bourbon barrels just waiting their turn to be devoured. Most of my pictures were slightly out of focus right after we left that building. I’m not why, I’m sure. Just kidding. Actually, I got some nice pictures of barrels, vats, boilers, and a cat in the doorway. (“Look behind you,” says Phil Mistry, “The story isn’t always right in front of you.”)

Well, now that we were all liquored up, we went back to the racetrack. Today was Starting Gate day and it was terrific. We walked all around the track and got to stand right by the Starting Gate. Except for a couple of times when the Starter Gentleman thought we might be infringing on the younger horses space, it was a great photo opportunity. It was a shame they didn’t run the races a little closer together so we could get a few more starts in our lenses.
Next up, Shaker Town, nice staircases, well-lit buildings, and a steer (see my picture) just enjoying being a steer are just a few of the highlights. The real highlight was the magnificent Chicken Dinner that was prepared specially for us trekkers. Good food, good pictures. Doesn’t get any better than that.
Finally, on Sunday, we headed out for the Kentucky Horse Park. At first, I thought that the park was a bit shy of having horses, but that proved wrong. The highlight, and I know this is so cute that Donny and Marie should have been there, was the foal and Mom. The foal was only two days old and frisky as blue on grass. It was a great photo op and probably the highlight of the trip. We were also fortunate enough to catch a bit of a horse show that the park put on. The Morgan was magnificent.

I missed the final review because we had to drive back to Illinois before I fell asleep. But, I was tired, aching (we walked most of Kentucky just around the Race Track), and extremely pleased with the trip. My thanks to our mentors, Adam and Phil. My thanks to Michelle. My thanks to all the horses who took time out of their busy schedules to pose for us.

Keep on Trekking.