Painting Wild Horses in the Field with Karen McLain or "En Plein Air"

“All pictures painted inside in the studio will never be as good as the things done outside.”

-Paul Cezanne

I have a rule about not looking at all the photos from a summer trip until they have been backed up at least twice. Sure I scan through them but not really look too closely until all 30,000+ photos are safely backed up on my new 6TB hard drive and up in the Carbonite Cloud. So as I wait, not very patiently, for the over 400,000 files to transfer to the new hard drive... I sat back and remembered the trip...

Karen at McCullough Peaks 2014

Watching Karen McLain paint horses during the Mustang Walkabout 2015 was educational and interesting. I admit I know nothing about painting anything aside from a summer job painting houses on Long Island Sound... And perhaps a set or two from a play or musical, but that's the limit of my painting skill. I do, however, like to understand the process from a more scientific background since that's my training, thus I asked Karen numerous questions.

“When you're on the spot, you're seeing the best values, the cleanest color and real edges. You're also seeing objects in a wonderful light, and you're much more apt to paint a clear, un-muddied picture.”

-Wayne E. Wolfe

Karen paints en plein air, or in the field with live subjects and as a photographer of wild horses, I can tell you they don't stand still, not at all. Even when they don't move their feet, they are swishing at flies, or turning their heads. When they do move their feet, it is challenging to keep them in the lens field, let alone try to paint them accurately. But somehow Karen accomplishes just that. She keeps a camera handy to shoot reference photos just in case her subjects spook or decide the grass is indeed greener elsewhere. I asked her why doesn't she simply concentrate on getting a good reference shot and painting at her studio in a more relaxed and leisurely manner.

Here's what she said...

Karen paints at Sand Wash Basin

Painting from a photograph is useful and sometimes necessary if your subject is not local or endangered or simply not readily accessible. However danger comes with painting a photograph and not the actual subject represented in the photograph- and therefore inaccuracies may be introduced and perspective is lost. There is a critical difference in painting a three-dimensional object as opposed to a two-dimensional representation and it shows in the finished painting.  Karen explained that being there, at the moment the paint is first put to canvas, is critical in understanding the light, the shadows, ambient light, reflected light, and negative shapes (I'm still not sure what these 'negative shapes' are- they are elusive but they much sought after by painters). After some musing, I think painting from a photograph- without the memory of actually being there- is much like me photographing a photograph. It can be done, especially those with great skill, but something essential is missing from the finished piece...

“As difficult as it is painting outdoors, there is no where else I'd rather work - all the answers stand right before you. You may need to move some things around, but it is still all right there in front of you. A bit like taking an open book test.” 
-William F. Reese

All of these features combine and Karen paints 'in the moment'; very much in the Buddhist tradition of the here and now or the present moment. She finishes the vast majority of the painting in the field because she says the paintings looks very different when she brings them indoors and so the essence must be captured as swiftly as she can manage. One would think the painting would look hurried and inaccurate but Karen practices endlessly. She attends numerous workshops, studies techniques, she is well-versed in equine anatomy surpassing even my prodigious knowledge base on that topic, and she spends a great deal of time studying her subjects both in the field and with her horses in their paddocks at home. A strong understanding of equine ethology is critical in representing them faithfully in art. Endless exercises on a white board to hone her accuracy and speed, Karen draws, erases and redraws horses: standing, walking, grazing, interacting, fighting. And she wipes a lot of paintings off when they don't quite measure up... literally or figuratively.

Painting Picasso -Sand Wash Basin 2015

I watched her prepare her palette. To me it looked like orderly blobs of colour along the circumference of a glass rectangle with the centre area reserved for mixing these fascinating blobs. Each management area has a unique palette of colours. The Pryors need more green; the bright grass green and the darker pine green with the occasional purple lupine and white or yellow asters.  The McCullough Peaks have rich red rock and Sand Wash Basin is soft pastels of brown, cream, tan, sage and slate blue. Even the horses found at each location have customized palettes- the Pryors are abundant in primitive colours- duns, blacks, deep bays, smokey grullas, and the creamy palominos of the Cloud family. Spring Creek Basin is awash in greys, duns, buckskin and dark bays. The Salt River horses have few greys and no paints so the concentration is on chestnuts and bays as well as the river itself. McCullough Peaks and Sand Wash Basin are the most brilliant with paints, overos, tobianos, dilutions, sooty, splashed whites and every other conceivable coat colour combination. The time of day and the weather also influence the choice of colours Karen selects for each palette.

It is almost magical watching her paint swiftly and decisively that I think, only comes after years and years of practice. I marvel at her ability to turn squiggles and lines into a horse standing in front of me. It is pretty amazing. Please view Karen's beautiful paintings at her website and/or Facebook Page 

-Meredith
Equus ferus Wild Horse Photography
July 2015

Mustang Walkabout 2015

As I sit at 30,000 feet flying to my home in New York, I find myself reflecting over the past two weeks. Karen and I went to three Horse Management Areas: McCullough Peaks, Pryor Mountain and Sand Wash Basin.  We camped out in the horse ranges and we had the privilege of sharing the lives of these magnificent creatures and my photography will be all the better for such intimate contact. It wasn't easy, the temperatures never dropped below 90 F during the day, the dust was abundant and I had altitude sickness on Pryor Mountain… 

But we persevered and rose each day at dawn and photographed until the sun was directly overhead when we took lunch and a siesta. We resumed photographing the horses until dusk. We drove all over the management areas and often hiking mile after mile to find the mustangs. We drank water and Fresca by the gallon, made cream of wheat in the morning & yaku soba noodles in the evening and treated ourselves to s’mores. We listened to coyotes, thunder and the sound of horses running by our camp… And we photographed- all aspects of the mustangs living free.  Karen took time to paint while I photographed.  We met and spent time with some extraordinary people like Patty, Deb, Rachel, Connie, Robin, Julie, Michael, Heather by proxy...

Still, it is nice to return home, and see the family. I missed Abby, Ben and Bruce as well as my Thoroughbred Ashe and all our pugs plus Stormy and of course, Puppy. It will be wonderful to have a shower every day, indoor plumbing, electricity on demand  and to  luxuriate in air conditioning. But I miss the mustangs and the camaraderie of the other horse people,  especially my best friend Karen.  We are already planning our next Mustang Walkabout for 2016. But before then, I have over 30,000 photographs to catalog and to edit, a new website to update and go live, a book to write, a research paper on ‘Stallion Infanticide’ to finish, and this incredibly fun thing I call work… I miss my patients and my colleagues. I missed my 34-string Celtic floor harp more than I thought and can't wait to practice. But each evening, when the sun gets low, my thoughts will turn to the horses- is Picasso okay? How is Cloud doing? How are all the new foals thriving?

Thank you for joining Karen and I on this incredible journey of sharing the lives of the wild horses of North America with the world through art and photography… 

-Meredith & Karen

http://www.equusferus.com

http://karenmclain.com/

2015- a new year begins...

Corona's Band. Sand Wash Basin, Colorado '14

Happy New Year 2015

The past year was a wonderful one for Equus ferus- Wild Horse Photography. We were given the prestigious honor of participating in the Cloud Foundation Art and Music Festival in Colorado Springs over the summer and, to our delight, we sold prints. We had a successful Mustang Walkabout (our summer trip out west to photograph the mustangs) and continue to sell photographs, calendars and prints. We opened an e-store at Red Bubble and are slowly adding to the items fans may purchase.  If you see a photo you’d like as an iPhone cover or mouse pad- or even correctly proportioned for an iPhone or Android (those are free), please don’t hesitate to ask; we can make it happen. Remember all net proceeds from our sales go back to the mustangs!!!

Perhaps the most important event in 2014 was attaining a quarter of a million fans and later passing the 300,000 fan mark. Without our fans, we are just another ordinary Facebook horse-related page. So by way of thanks, we will continue to randomly give away items such as our 2015 Calendar "The Stallion Edition", and next year, we'll have The Foal Edition" so stay tuned.

Picasso of the Sand Wash Basin, Colorado '13

We are planning our summer 2015 Mustang Walkabout and we will visit the Sand Wash Basin, the McCullough Peaks, the Pryor Mountains, Little Book Cliffs and anything interesting along the way. However, before the summer, I will visit the Salt River in Arizona while attending a Mayo Clinic medical conference. I am probably the only person who finds medical conferences based solely on their proximity to wild mustangs. In the fall I will be in Salt Lake City for another conference and therefore will be obligated to visit the Onaqui HMA.

This summer also saw an end to my right anterior cruciate ligament, my medial collateral ligament and both meniscus were torn in my right knee. Since I performed this amazing orthopaedic trick two decades earlier, the ligament used to repair my torn ligament had to be borrowed from a cadaver. I will be spared during the Zombie Apocalypse since I already have a zombie part in my knee, or so my daughter Abigail cheerfully informed me. I had to take an unintended break from riding, Okinawan Kobudo, and even my 34 string Celtic Floor Harp- but I am back at the harp, will start up Kobudo in February and riding will wait until the spring. I was however, able to remain in school this semester, continued editing/posting photos during my convalescence and did not have to take much time off from my job.

I am hoping in 2015 to continue editing the photos collected throughout the year and to have an amazing time with the mustangs so we can bring them to you. I am always available to anyone who is interested in going out to see them; it is easier than you think- just email me. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of the horse management areas in the summer… I’ll guide you out there myself.

We will also be starting a series on 'Equine Coat Colour' where we'll explore the genetics behind the marvellously coloured mustangs... 

Best wishes for health, happiness and joy for 2015

-Meredith Hudes-Lowder

Cloud and I. Pryor Mountains, Montana '14

Sand Wash Basin

Well Sand Wash did not disappoint the first day- we took almost 5,000 photos between myself, Abby and Ben. We saw many herds, a lot of foals and the weather was wonderful- we even saw a rainbow at the end of the day. The second day (today) the weather began sunny but soon turned for the worse. The wind was blowing strongly and the thunder and lightning started all around us. Oddly, very little rain fell in the Basin. The  roads are mostly soft sandy clay and quickly turn to soup with any appreciable precipitation. We were lucky and stayed near the entrance when we saw the cloud begin to build. Still, we saw a fair number of horses and were able to photograph several herds. We return tomorrow for our final day and hopefully we will see John Wagner and other friends of the Sand Wash Basin mustangs...

We are about to hit one quarter of a million fans and we are soooo thrilled! Thanks so much for being a fan of Equus ferus- Wild Horse Photography!

Meredith, Abigail, Benjamin, Karen, Angie, Cindy, Marianne, Aly, Lauren and The Three Amigos of the Sand Wash Basin!

Spring Creek and Sand Wash Basin

We spent the morning at Spring Creek Basin where we saw Chrome's gorgeous band. 

One recent foal and a not-quite yearling (born in October 2013)... We spent the night in Grand Junction and we are off to Sand Wash Basin!! We tried to find mustangs in the Lower Canyon of Little Book Cliffs but there was no one there and the recent storms washed out several of the crossings. Below are some of the fantastical images from our drive from Spring Creek to Grand Junction along Route 141 in Colorado.

Abby & Ben at Little Book Cliffs, Colorado 

Summer 2014 -Mustangs and The Cloud Foundation Celebration

We had a wonderful time at the McCullough Peaks in Cody, Wyoming. We had three great days of photography and managed a side trip to the Pryors and saw the iconic stallion Cloud and many others. We were given the privilege of submitting photographs to the first annual Cloud Foundation Music & Art Celebration on August 2, 2014. 

Karen McLain, Tracy Miller and myself 'hung the show' which involves deciding where and how to display the works of art in the most aesthetically pleasing manner. Abigail, Bruce and Benjamin flew in just for the Celebration since Abby and Ben had their photograph in the show. The show was a smashing success, we had 200-300 guests and Karen sold a painting, as did I.  The entire show was Karen McLain's idea and we were treated to the dulcet tones of 'Opus Moon'. They sang many songs including several for the mustangs of Little Book Cliffs, one for Cloud of the Pryors and the river horses at the Salt River in Arizona.

Karen McLain Studio

The Cloud Foundation

Opus Moon Music

McCullough Peaks

Cloud and his band 

Hanging the show

The Show

The Show

Abby, Ben and Ginger Kathrens

Karen McLainKaren McLain, Karen McLain,

Mustang Summer 2014- McCullough. & Pryor

Mustangs everywhere!

McCullough

We are having the time of our lives out the horse ranges! Yesterday we spent the day at Mccollough Peaks in Cody, Wyoming and today we went p to the Pryor Mountains- we have seen many mustangs including Cloud the stallion!

McCullough 

Cloud and his herd 

Pryor

 Later this week we travel to Colorado Springs for the Cloud Foundation Art and Musoc Celebration!  

Summer 2014 -getting ready

Somehow I'll manage to pack all of this....

THE SUMMER 2014 ADVENTURE WITH THE MUSTANGS!

Let the Mustang 2014 Summer Adventure begin!!!!

I'll be sending photos and blog entries for our adventures this summer as we travel west to find the mustangs. Ahead for the Summer 2014 are the McCullough Peaks, Sand Wash Basin, Spring Creek Basin, possibly Little Book Cliffs and the Cloud Foundation Celebration of Wild Horses Art and Music. 

The three photographs below are our contribution to this milestone event. Last summer Ben took "The Chase" at the tender age of eight, Abby's met "Cloud's Encore" at age ten... they both carry Canon Rebel 3t's which are light and I used my Canon 7D to snap "The Emissary" below. Cloud is often referred to as the 'ambassador' of wild mustangs, hence the derivation of the title. This is the first time all three are being presented together...

The Chase by Benjamin Lowder

The Encore by Abigail Lowder

The Emissary by Meredith Lowder

* Please remember we don't get this close to the horses except the crazy stallions that decided running straight at three small humans would be an excellent idea... Abby and I both use a 100-300mm Canon lens. Abby got much closer to the Cloud's daughter Encore than any of us intended... except perhaps for Encore.

Back once again

I will be starting, or I should say 'restarting' the Equus ferus Blog - I had one of those password moments and kept forgetting to change the password and write it down somewhere I'd remember... So we are up and running . We just returned from Spring Creek Basin, Salt River and Little Book Cliffs. It was a wonderful trip- we met up with our friends Karen McLain and TJ Holmes- you'll see photos shortly. In the meantime, check back from time to time...

Meredith

Myself and my daughter Abby who is also an Equus ferus- Wild Horse 

photographer at Spring Creek Basin, Colorado 

February 2014

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How to be a mustang photographer...

What do you need to photograph mustangs?

1. A job- This may sound like an oxymoronic statement but unless you are wildly successful, you won't make a living solely upon your mustang photos. Most of the successful photogs in the mustang industry also do non-mustang horse photography. Horse shows, gymkhanas, private photo shoots, animals other than horses (pet portraiture) etc.

I have a wonderful job I adore outside of photography that allows me to pay for camera equipment, software, advertising, traveling to the horse management areas, printing... Plus my job also gives health benefits so when I cut my leg open on rusty barbed wire in pursuit of mustang photos, I can go to the Emergency Room for a tetanus shot.  

2. Mustangs- another no-brainer. Use this book to find the mustang sites and I can offer suggestions for good hotels nearby. There are a lot of Horse/Herd Management Areas (HMA) in many states- some closer than you think. Also Google BLM, mustang, wild horse, management areas and you'll find a lot of information, once you know the name of the HMA, try to Google that and you will be amazed at the sheer quantity of clubs and rescue groups affiliated with the mustangs!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-american-mustang-guidebook-lisa-dines/1004453038?ean=9781572234031

3. Car with high clearance- four wheel drive is not necessary if you are absolutely 100% positive it won't rain (being a weather psychic is useful too). High clearance is the most useful feature for your mustang-finding-vehicle but four wheel drive comes in handy and will offer you peace of mind. My husband loves to drive all over the place looking for mustangs... Four wheel drive is also good and I won't go out to some of the sites without it...

4. SLR Digital Camera-like a Photoshop below, you need a DSLR camera (digital single lens reflex)- Canon, Nikon, Olympus- whatever is most affordable, start with used if finances are an issue. Lots of megapixels are great but beyond 10- the photos are just taking up space on your hard drive-unless you specialize in posters which require large files for the clearest printing but for most people, 10-12 megapixels or less is fine. Should you include video? Some of the newer SLR cameras come with video. I am a bit of a purist and I bought a GoPro camera so I can shoot video and photographs separately. When I am in the groove taking photos, the last thing I want to do is stop and switch my camera to video and waste tremendous space on my memory card for video... Save it for photos and find a friend with a sense of humor to shoot video for you. Try B&H Camera and Video in New York City- I have been there many times, they have excellent on-line used cameras and lenses and you can search by price. They are very knowledgeable and if you decide to visit, let me know-I will treat you to lunch.

5. Adobe Photoshop- Don't accept substitutions. This is the industry standard in photography and if you want to be taken seriously, you need Photoshop. If money is tight, then you might consider buying it with a student license. There are restrictions with a limited student license but it is substantially cheaper. It is a rather complex program and it will take a while to learn Photoshop but there are plenty of books you can buy to learn this program as well as thousands of free lessons on line. Even video tutorials at Adobe's website or You Tube. They have a new way to buy Adobe products called Adobe Creative Cloud where you pay a nominal fee each month  and you have access to ALL Adobe products and they have a vast library of programs for web design, video, photography and graphic design.

6. A spirit of adventure and professionalism- being adventurous is critical to mustang photography. When it is the fourth herd, located well over a mile away and it is 90F and you are already hot and sweaty...having that "okay, let's hike through the sagebrush for the fourth time in the hot sun and photograph the mustangs" attitude is key... It is ALWAYS worth it. As for professionalism- be polite, respectful, avoid profanity both on your website, Facebook fan page and your personal page. People can see some of your personal page (regardless of friend status) and having questionable photos/content won't bring people to your photography site in droves.   Utilizing your computer's spellcheck and grammar are also pluses though I have been known to post some humorous comments when typing on my phone- granted the comments are spelled correctly, the just don't make any sense grammatically.

Other non-essential but useful 

A friend- driver, video , companionship

External hard drive-always, always, always back up to an external source before you even look at the photos!

Cintiq board/tablet- I bought mine at B&H and this handy graphics tablets comes pre-calibrated for print. I never have to worry about my prints looking different than what I see on my monitor because of my Cintiq. If you don't have a a graphics tablet, try calibrating your monitor so that the print will look similar to what you see in Photoshop. Also when doing fine work on a photograph, the pen is more comfortable to use than a mouse.

Telephoto lens- most cameras come with a 35-110 or 200 mm lens as a package deal. I love my 18-200mm. For mustangs, you will probably want to invest in a 100-400mm and IS is best. (Image Stabilized). I had a 500mm Canon lens- it was a moose, weighed a ton and was utterly useless in the field. Great for photographing hummingbirds at my feeder at home but that was about it. You want the most portable lenses you can carry- literally.

Digital watermark- this is a process that places an invisible 'digital watermark' on all your image (you choose which). It tracks these images throughout the Internet and will find if your image is being used somewhere else even if it has been altered. I use DigiMark.

Nik filters for Photoshop - amazing filters I can't live without!
Alien Skin Filters- also phenomenal 
 

Adobe Lightroom- an amazingly useful program to preview, catalog and do minor editing- also will upload to a website as a gallery- very cool!

Monopod- like a tripod, this handy item comes as a single cane-like support for your camera. It has only one leg but if you find your images are blurry, try using a monopod or tripod. I find them cumbersome and I have learned how to steady my camera but I carry a monopod in my uber-cool photography vest. Once in a while they are great for panning a running herd or if you find yourself parked next to a waterhole... 

Photography vest- a slightly dorky but rather useful article of clothing. It has about 15 pockets of varying sizes. Make sure, if you don't have a driver friend, put your car keys in a very safe place- zippered pockets are nice and secure. You don't want to search through sagebrush for your cars keys. The nice thing about the vest is it holds extra lenses, water, monopod, memory cards and lens cloths without a backpack. Useful for hot summer days especially when you have to hoof-it for a mile.... 

Memory cards- I use smaller cards, about 32 MB and switch frequently. If I manage to get an amazing series of photos, I will remove that card, stash it someplace safe and continue with a fresh card. This way you don't ever run the risk of losing precious photos. My cards are labeled 1,2,3,4,5... And A,B,C,D,E... This way I remember which are used and which are blank. All cards are reformatted after each day. The photos are uploaded to my laptop. Then they are backed up to my external hard drive which I carry on the plane with me. Only then do I allow myself the pleasure of looking through that day's adventures in mustang photography on my MacBook.

Cell phone with car charger- this is an obvious one

GPS- might be useful, I have never needed one myself - most phones come with some sort of location function. Try that before you buy a Garmin

Water- especially in the warmer weather

Have fun and be safe!!!!
-Meredith