Dances with horses

I attended the Festival of the Horse & Drum at the Kane County Fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. After walking around for awhile, I spotted a Friesian being warmed up for a performance in the main arena and I was on a mission. The poor rider probably wondered why he was being stalked throughout the fairgrounds but I was determined to get a photo before they entered the arena. Fairgrounds can be a difficult place to shoot—a lot of bright white gravel, buildings in the way and clutter! I decided to focus on the horse's legs, trying to capture the feathers on the legs and avoid the clutter that surrounded us, as they piaffed and passaged their way around the warm-up arena. I intentionally over-exposed because I liked the contrast of the black horse and the white terrain. Once in Photoshop, I upped the contrast to bring out the black vs. white. The result was this dreamy image!