Sandy makes landfall

Equus ferus -Wild Horse Photography would like to wish all of our Eastern US and Atlantic seaboard fans a safe journey through the storm.

A special shout-out to all the emergency workers, our government, police, fire and EMS, all NYSEG and Con-Ed peeps & state electrical authorities, and all the hospital personnel who will work through this storm- many of whom will have to sleep in the hospital and be separated from their families!
Stay safe friends!

Hurricane Sandy and the ponies

We are hoping that the hurricane is slow enough so that we can get some photos in tomorrow morning. A little light rain is okay but anything heavier would be bad for the cameras- sometimes the ponies are close enough so that we can shoot from the car but we'll see.

We got some lovely shots in today in two sessions- one in the morning from 6:30am to 11:30am and then 3:00 to 6:00pm. My backup battery failed so I thought returning to the hotel for lunch and a swim would allow me time to upload the photos and recharging my battery- it worked well. And I ordered its' replacement already!

The Park Rangers were perhaps the only unpleasant thing we encountered and I'd like to think they were simply "doing their job". It would have been nice to be informed before you get reprimanded for something you didn't actually do... But if that is the worst thing we dealt with- it was a successful trip. Many thanks to the kind hunters who not only dug our SUV out, towed us through the deep sand, escorted us to the main road and made sure our tires were properly re-inflated to 32 PSI- they were so wonderful, kind and sweet- it made up for the grumpy rangers.

Keeping ten feet from the ponies is challenging! They are extremely desensitized to humans and walk right past you (often bumping into you) without a care in the world. Rather different from the mustangs out west! You stand ten to twenty feet away and the ponies walk right up to you and nuzzle your pockets looking for treats. We know horses- Abby, Shauna, Lauren and I are experienced accomplished equestrians and spend much of our time in their company. We know when a horse is likely to bite, kick or strike out and we know is when a horse is nervous or uncomfortable and we respond quickly and kindly by moving to an appropriate distance. We do our best to be respectful and safe.

So off to bed- up early though not as early as this morning... I hope the expected heavy rain stays away and we get some shooting in before we head north- I will be conservative and cautious because the idea if driving through a hurricane for five hours isn't on my top ten list of 'fun things to do'. There are rumors that Mayor Bloomberg is closing Manhattan down Tuesday with regards to transportation -no subways or MTA buses- only emergency vehicles etc... My patients wouldn't be able to get to the office and thus I'd get an extra day off since I have a vacation day Monday! More time to edit the pony pictures!!!

G'Night everyone!
Merry

Fawn

Awwww

Good morning! Hello Ponies!!!

Up early about to go for breakfast! I found out my back-up battery is dead so we might stop at a camera store but we will see how much battery I have at lunch. I am excite to see how Abby does with the new Canon Rebel T3i...

All the cameras are packed and have full batteries and empty memory cards! Breakfast was yummy! We are about 20 minutes from Assateague Island and the sun rises as 7:10am so we'll leave at 6:30 or thereabouts.

Next stop Assateague!
Merry

Rest Stop!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm Nathan's.

Stuck in traffic

We currently are on the New Jersey turnpike stuck in traffic. A little over 2 hours away! We just found out there is an emergency evacuation for in Cape May, NJ. We may end up getting evacuated Sunday morning.

B and H- a total hoot

I love this store. They have everything you could possibly want for your camera. I was originally going to buy Abby the Canon 40lD used but then the salesman Said it would be smarter to buy her a brand-new camera rather than used camera. It did seem to make some sense and now she has a camera that also takes video as well. I'm now waiting for Shawna to pick out a knapsack from the Yellow Rat Bastard store in SoHo.

Assateague Island National Park

We're getting ready for our trip to Assateague Island NP and watching Hurricane Sandy rather closely. The plan is to drive down Friday - up early Saturday morning and photograph until lunch then back for more photos until we loose light. Repeat Sunday except we leave at lunchtime. If the weather turns ugly, we will leave earlier.

We are staying about 20 minutes from the park- the hotel has a pool so that will keep Abby, Shauna and Lauren amused while I spend our evenings uploading and backing up the photos.

Abby and I are mostly packed- we have all the requisite items for 'Over-Sand' vehicles and tomorrow Shauna and I are going into Manhattan to visit B&H to get supplies.

Hurricane Sandy is an impressive storm and we will hopefully be well ahead of her path. With any luck, we will get some interesting photographs of the surf and skies and wild ponies-Meredith

Assateague Island
7:20 sunrise
6:10 sunset