Gixer, Tigger and Doll Baby are all such stunning animals. I was honored to photograph them in their owner's back yard while gawking over the gorgeous light and sweet interactions. Sometimes you make magical images and have no idea how the stars could have aligned for you, and sometimes you align the stars. The image of Doll Baby, the TW horse on the left, is definitely an example of the former. Before I went to photography school, I took my camera everywhere that I went and shot everything that was moving. That image is one that I captured many months before being accepted into photography school and I used it as part of my entrance portfolio. 

The shot on the right, Gixer and Tigger, was taken while I was in photography school, but required quite of bit of star aligning. Once I learned basic camera exposures, I purchased a fixed fifty lens, and I could only use the manual focus setting with my particular camera body. Having shot 35mm film for the previous six months and using only manual lenses, I didn't see this as any problem, just a fun challenge.

Basically everything I know now about how to get the shot quickly I learned from working with that lens. So the shot on the right was taken while I was backing up while laying down, because I was shooting with a 50mm on a cropped sensor camera. Basically put, I was too close to the subject and nothing could focus, so I almost tumbled backwards as I shot vigorously to get the shot. It worked out pretty well! This is the only shot I've ever gotten focused of this interaction, and I shot it manually. 

After having obtained a myriad of shots similar in quality to the one on the right using my fixed fifty manual, I decided to get a fixed 35mm and a new camera body. Needless to say, I believe that learning how to shoot manual or with a lousy camera body will optimize your experience and results with a nicer camera body and non manual only focus. I'm so grateful that I have gems like these from my early learning experiences!