Merry Christmas!

I know...2 posts in one week...it must be the miracle of Christmas!


I am trying to leave my computer and go to bed, my hands are throbbing from scrubbing my cupboards all day. My contacts are dried to my eyeballs, and my trick back is causing me grief.


Hopefully my house will be ready for the big family dinner tomorrow night, and there might even be food on the table. Mother nature is going to get a swift kick to the backside if tomorrow's storm cancels my party though.

The girls will be in high spirits as school will be forgotten till January. Brandy the dog will be out of sorts that her peaceful existence has been disturbed. Kenzie the cat will act as usual, like the crowd should part as he makes his way through the party. He will be prepared to snatch food off an unguarded plate. Cleo will disappear like magic for the first hour, possibly the whole night, but may be tempted to come out of hiding so she can stretch out before the fireplace, one of her favourite things to do.

Speaking of Cleo, I decided she was as pretty as a Christmas card in this photo, and thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, that is what it became.

Merry Christmas all!
Peace, Joy, Good Health, & Prosperity in the New Year!

2009 Horse Calendar!

The year is drawing to a close and 2009 is around the corner. What better way to keep track of your life than to look at at a different beautiful horse every month on the pages of my 2009 "Horse of Ontario" calendar. To order your copy check out my calendar page. I have only printed a very limited quantity so don't wait too long or they will be gone.

My cover this year features the beautiful foal, Wicket, from Back of Beyond Equine Centre .

Many other breeds are featured such as Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Friesian, Paint, Paso Fino and more.

Thank you for all your support in 2008 and I look forward to photographing your horses in 2009!

Happy Holidays!

"30 Days Hath September..."

Yes I still have to say that rhyme in my head to know whether this is the last day of the month or not. Where, oh where did summer go?! I don't know for sure but as always it was quickly swallowed up by September, which, btw, is my favourite month.

The bugs mostly go away, the cool nights make it heavenly to sleep with the bedroom window open. The kids go back to school and sports, and a routine is set up once more. This is all well and good but the icing on the September cake for me is the changing colour of the leaves. The brilliant reds, oranges and yellows against a vibrant blue September sky never cease to leave me wonderstruck!! Seriously....picture me, standing in my driveway, staring up towards the top of one the big maple trees in my yard, on a clear bright day, with a huge smile glued to my face....yup, that's how September is for me.

Gosh...I didn't even mention horses did I!? Ok I'll say this, I am starting to book shoots for the upcoming weeks. The official "I have to get my horse photographed with a backdrop of the beautiful fall colours" rush is on folks! Don't wait! Or the colour will be gone in the blink of an eye!

Happy Fall!

2008 Foals

The highlight of spring and early summer as a horse photographer is photographing a new crop of foals at some of the farms I visit. Capturing their fuzzy manes and tails, gangly legs, big liquid eyes, and their simple joy and spirit at being alive is just about the most fun I get to have as a photographer. Here are a few shots from the past month or so.
Two of the beautiful new foals at Fina Vista Paso Finos, both equally stunning. Viggo (he's their Golden Boy after all...just what they ordered) is a beautiful palomino colt out of the red chestnut mare, Pia (sire is a Cremello stallion which guaranteed a palomino). Paloma an equally gorgeous filly, whose colour is something I've never seen, silvery with a darker blanket along her back. Perhaps she'll be a buckskin?

My sister and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with the owners and horses of Back of Beyond Farm in Huntsville, Ontario. Their hunter pony foal, Wicket , absolutely stole my heart. As I was eyeing the trunk of my Ford Station wagon, wondering if they'd notice him gone when I left, I decided his ever watchful mommy would miss him very much, as well as his human mom, Cathy Foyston...so alas, I left empty handed... ;o)

Happy Father's Day

To all the Fathers out there, enjoy this day and I hope you get to spend some special moments with your children, even if it's just on the phone.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

RCMP Musical Ride

It was with great delight that my family (minus one non-horsey daughter, plus one horsey friend of my other daughter's, plus my sister, who like me, is always up for a day spent near horses!) attended the RCMP Musical Ride at the Oro World Fairgrounds. Sorry I have to snicker at the name....if you've ever been to the fairgrounds, you'll know that whoever chose that name ("World") was very ambitious indeed ;o) Just jesting...it's a lovely place...really!

Their was other entertainment before the RCMP came on; the OPP were there with their police dogs doing some awesome demos. The Horse Haven Drill Team (I am one of their sponsors) also put on a wonderful performance, as well as some gamers and their horses did some demonstrations.

Some of my favourite photo ops came before the RCMP came on, when they were warming up in a back field with a beautiful backdrop of green, the sun shining, and my new Canon 40D working it's magic! If you'd like to see more images from this day, visit my flickr site.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers out there, especially mine, this blog post is dedicated to you. Mom, if I could send all these flowers to your doorstep in PEI I would, but you will have to settle for my typical Mother's day wishes, accompanied by these cyberspace versions ;o) (You could do worse...right?). I miss you, and I love you!
My Mother's Day will, as usual, be spent in the horse show ring with my camera, and I thank my own kids and husband for always being so understanding...thanks!! Dinner would be welcomed though ;o)

These photos were taken in Sunnidale Park, Barrie, Ontario.

Catching Up

Spring is racing onwards and as I haven't posted in awhile I will catch you up on my photography wanderings over the past few weeks.

When the snow was still on the ground I was back at Fina Vista Paso Finos, though it was a more social visit, a pot luck with new and old friends. I must admit that the delicious food was just an appetizer, the main course for me being a walk about the farm to meet and greet with the horses and other animals. It was not a pleasant day weather wise, with mud and poop squishing up around my not quite waterproof boots...ugh! But snapping a few pictures of some of my favourite Pasos; Mercy, Finola, Mango, Pia, Querica, Zahara and Rosanna to name a few, made it all worth while.

Chomar Hill Open House

It's been a bit too long since I posted. I have been enjoying this beautiful weather so much I have been spending less time at the computer.

Although yesterday was a such a lovely day, I gave it up to be in a nice cool arena down at Chomar Hill Stable (Shanty Bay) where I had a booth set up as part of their Open House. My "a-sister-tant" and I did what we love best, spending the day around horses, and the horsey crowd, talking about horses, photography and web design. We met some very nice people, and even made a few new friends. The seminars throughout the day were interesting, even for me as a non horse owner. Equine chiropractic, saddle fitting, iridology, and a farrier demo were on the agenda.

Our booth, Leslie Town Equestrian Photography and Janet Grant Equestrian Web Design, featured side by side slide shows on 2 laptops, free bookmarks and magnets, discount coupons, free apples and mints for horse or human ;o), and more horse photos to view framed and in a portfolio.

Thanks to Anita Cholack and Rob Marling for the invite to their Open House!

The Spring Equinox

Spring is here...really...I'm not kidding...!!
Ok I know it doesn't exactly look like spring out there, well not in Ontario anyway, but according to the calendar it arrived on March 21st.

So what is the spring equinox? According to Wikipedia: "The event that the Sun is positioned directly over the Earth's equator..." and "There is either an equinox (autumn and spring) or a solstice (summer and winter) on approximately the 21st day of the last month of every quarter of the calendar year. On a day which has an equinox, the centre of the Sun will spend a nearly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth and night and day will be of nearly the same length."

So what did I do to celebrate spring? I found some horses to photograph of course. I was shooting this month's assignment for EPNet, which was to photograph horses and their environment or with their people or other horses, during the spring equinox. The photos had to be converted to B&W or sepia and only one photo could be entered in the competition. EPNet is a wonderful forum that is always pushing us to become better horse photographers.

Here are some of the photos I took at Spruce Lane Farm. Some boarders were riding in the indoor arena and then letting their horses burn off some steam afterwards. Thanks to Lauren, Meghan, Val, and the Stantons for humouring me!

CanAm 2008 ~ Part 2

I just wanted to share a few more photos from CanAm. Some from the breed demo:
Friesian in harness...gotta love those manes...



















Friesian under saddle:















A beautiful Gypsy Vanner in harness (note to any GV owners out there looking for photography services...call me, let's make a deal ;o) )



















A nice black Percheron in harness. That breed has such lovely movement:



















...and from the extravaganza:
"Bash" is a 19+ hh Belgian that holds the record for the tallest trick horse in the world. His rider/trainer sounded like an introverted Dolly Parton. Love that accent ;o)


































The Canadian Cowgirls are always a big hit. Some day our own North River Riders Demo Team will give them a run for their money... right girls ;o) !?

CanAm 2008

My sister and I made the annual journey to the CanAm show in London, Ontario this past Friday. We are always amazed at the number of friends and clients we run into every year, which seems to grow exponentially. I fear I would be a danger if I were a horse owner at this event with it's feast of all things horsey that can be bought. Happily, my only purchase was an Ariat one shouldered back pack, entirely practical and chartreuse in colour. Yes, not being a horse owner was definitely an asset. I was able to pass by the vendors with an apologetic smile and a shrug of the shoulders..."Sorry, don't have a horse..." as they pushed bridles, how-to books, horse trailers, and worming medicine at me.

We decided to buy tickets to the always entertaining Extravaganza in the evening. It was a bit rough around the edges compared to other years. The sound system went out for a bit, the lighting wasn't done well, a little girl fell off her pony when it bolted during the Haflinger breed demo, and one of the trick horses wasn't very cooperative. Nonetheless a few acts made up for it. My favourite again is the beautiful Andalusian stallion Acierto and his flamboyant owner, Laura Amandis. I think they were at their best this year. A new act this year was led by an Andalusian as well. This stunning white horse named Blanco is an equine actor, and was in 2 of the Lord of the Rings movies as Gangalf's mount, Shadowfax. He will also be in the upcoming Hercules movie. I think the crowd gasped in delight when he came out with wings on and galloped around the arena with his trainer dressed as a fairy in white. Magical!