I can’t help myself, I take photographs of everything around me, both for reference material for my artwork and because my camera is just another medium to create art.
These photos were all taken within a short distance of my home, in the beautiful south west of WA. Enjoy!
Tawny Frogmouth Photo 
Stormy Sky over farmland 
South West Harvest 
Evening Shadows over Farmland 
Silouhette
The 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop also put on a riding and Tent Pegging display at the Dardanup Heavy Horse Show at Heritage Park. Although Tent Pegging originated as a Military maneuver in which cavalry soldiers would gallop through enemy camps, using their lances and swords to remove tent pegs to collapse tents and cause confusion in order to gain the upper hand in a surprise attack.
Over time, tent pegging was used as a cavalry drill for weapons practice and as part of Military tournaments and competitions. The Australian State Mounted Police also used Tent Pegging for demonstrations of their riding skills, but it was not until 1964 that the first Australian civilian tent pegging team was formed. This equestrian sport was recognized Internationally in 1982, and International competitions are now conducted by the Federation Equestre International.
If you would like more information about the equestrian sport of Tent Pegging, please visit the Australian Tent Pegging Association web site for more information.
Following on from my last post with photos of the Clydesdales from the Dardanup Heritage Park Heavy Horse Show, I thought I would share some of the photos of the Team Australia Liberty Horse display performed by brother and sister team, Sam and Sasha Watson from Horses and Horsemen.
The performance shows the willingness, agility, intelligence and responsiveness of these magnificent animals and the incredible relationship that can be created between man and horse. The display involved a number of different and often very difficult maneuvers, with the liberty horses following instruction and direction from voice and subtle body language cues. What I found most amazing and awe inspiring was the willingness and enjoyment all the horses displayed, they were clearly enjoying the performance as much as the audience was, even the six month old weanlings were eager and willing to perform even with the noise and distraction of the large crowd and bright orange safety fences!
I was specifically taking photos for reference material for future paintings (and have already flagged a number of shots that are going to make a wonderful new series of paintings) but here are a few shots of the performance which I can "highly" recommend as a must see for anyone who loves horses.
Photos from the Dardanup Heavy Horse Show at Heritage Park on the 6th June 2010 are now available to view and order.
The Mayanup Campdraft is an annual event that I was so pleased to be able to go and watch this year. Despite the dust which made shooting very difficult at times, and the odd cow that decided to try and jump the arena fencing right where I was standing, I managed to get some pretty good shots of the action.
Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend
