Sam Thinks He Can . . . Take Decent Snapshots

I photographed this $500,000+ Mercedes at the 2006 Little Everglades Ranch Steeplechase. It was my first year as the event photographer and I was shooting like crazy to capture the ambience of the event.




Bob and Sharon Blanchard make their gorgeous property outside Dade City, Florida available for a charity event that is reminiscent of the Kentucky Derby. Horses, hats and high society abound. The infield is filled with spectators and events like Jack Russell Terrier races, dog agility demonstrations and creative hat competitions.

Earlier this week I received a call from Kevin Campbell, friend and client who has been promoting the event for the Blanchards for the past several years. Kevin told me that a national magazine is doing a story on the LER Steeplechase and he wanted to use the photo above in the story. Mercedes is a very generous sponsor of the event and Kevin, ALWAYS the promoter, wanted to make sure that they received appropriate publicity.

The funny thing is, while I like the shot, capturing both the enormous metal sculpture of a horse that is the centerpiece of the entrance to the grounds and the Mercedes dream car, it was pretty much a snapshot. I was walking back to the administration trailer to back up a compact flash card and looked up to see the juxtaposition of the two objects. Of course, I took several versions of the "snapshot" from different angles and with slightly different backgrounds. But the bottom line is that it was just a fortuitous moment of recognition that something might be there.

Now, hopefully, this is the snap that gets me published nationally. I'll identify the magazine once it's published. I've posted a couple more shots from the same event below. If you're going to be near Tampa on March 9, 2008, come to the event. It's for a good cause and it is a lot of fun. Visit their website at http://littleevergladessteeplechase.org.

Here's a few more photographs from the 2006 event. Click on them to see a larger version.