Ever since I was a boy, I've always longed to know what a certain local property - featuring a horse stable and farming field, complete with sheep and wonderous old barns, looked like from within. This week, after nearly 20 years of curiosity, I found out when meeting Brittany and her warmblood gelding Bayley, as well as Tom, the manager of the stables, and Brittany's family. They were all fantastic and enthusiastic, as well as cordial and polite (Brittany, tell your mom and dad that never have I met such a respectful and intelligent lot as you and your sisters - you were all great!).

We spent about three hours photographing just about everyone, but mostly the lenses focused on Brittany and Bayley - the latter being among the friendliest and most charming horses I've ever met.

We made shots in the barn, outside the barn, around the barn...in the fields, in the ring. The sunlight was perfect and golden, late in the afternoon, affording us the side lighting we wanted to flatter all involved.

I think Brittany spooked her mom a little with her and Bayley's jumping (nice ankle position, Brittany!), but we kept those tries to a minimum as we enjoyed the warm afternoon. We even let Bayley loose a while, and managed a few shots of him before he trotted off to the gate to look for carrots and equine company.

We also made it out to Stony Brook to visit with members (and dogs!) of the Long Island Bulldog Rescue, hunkering down for a three-hour magazine shoot that yielded more "keepers" than I could ever imagine.

We first spent about an hour making formal portraits such as the one at left, with a wonderful group of both gown dogs and puppies.

Afterwards, we moved outside for group shots, play shots, and a mix of editorial needs for a Popular Dogs magazine submission. As usual, eye-level works best when you're shooting pups, so I was up and down and all around trying to make the angles work as well as I could.

Special note to Lindsay, my ever-diligent and tolerant assistant: THANKS! Couldn't have done it without you!

Also, special thanks to Bulldog Rescue President Laurette for hosting, and to everyone who came over for an afternoon of fun. If you haven't looked into their site's link above, take a browse - their mission is as follows: ...to provide education, prevention, intervention, and adoption services to ensure that all English Bulldogs enjoy long, healthy lives in loving, safe, appropriate homes where they are provided the life-long care they require. We commit to each English Bulldog and adopter(s) we serve for the life of the dog.

They also provide guidance, breed-specific education, and fund raising efforts to assist English bulldogs.

Hat's off to you, folks - from what I saw, you're doing a very, very good thing.