Josh Walker: An Inside Peek at His Photography

When I started writing this blog I spent a lot of time trolling eventing photography and I fell in love with several images. Then, about two months ago, I realized they all belonged to one photographer. Who, you might be wanting to know? Well, that would be Josh Walker. And you know what's even cooler? He works for the USEA so chances are he's snapped your photo as you've barreled across a trakehner or galloped across a field. So I figured he'd be a perfect interview: A brilliant photographer with the heart of an eventer and the eye of an artist. Plus (true story) he's engaged to Emily Daily who also works at the USEA. So sweet! Read on for more on the love of his life, one very focused Jack Russel and how he fell in love with photographing horses.

Above: This image comes from Josh's minimalism series. Somehow the stark background conveys even more of the emotion and power of cross-country. Copyright Josh Walker.

Q. Where do you live?

A. Well, I just recently moved to Kearneysville, West Virginia on the border of West Virginia and Northern Virginia. It’s nice; it’s about ten minutes away from where Sharon White lives and we have four acres and four ponies on those four acres. It’s a little farmette and the previous owners had it ready made for us. It was turn key, we’re just doing one thing at a time to make improvements: footing in the ring, extend the pastures. I’ve moved around a lot in the past few years and I’ve finally found a place I want to be for an extended amount of time.

Q. Are you in a relationship?

A. Emily Daily is my fiancé. I met her at the Chronicle of the Horse, I worked there about two years. In the Fall of 2006 she was the intern there. We worked together, she was on my editorial staff, we hung out outside of work as well and started to get to know each and we just kind of clicked. Horses are always something I’ve wanted to do and it’s something she’s always done her whole life. What she knows is such an attraction to me. She’s also very creative and is a great writer with a great sense of humor. It all came together and one thing led to another and we decided, hey, let’s do this for the long haul. There’s very few people that I can spend 24/7 with and not get sick of. We live together, work together, ride together. And I have yet to want to strangle her or anything.

Above: Remember how I said I fell in love with several images? This was one of them. It makes me want to gallop across a wide-open field and hear nothing but wind and my horse's breath. Copyright Josh Walker.

Q. Who are your pets?

A. We have two dogs. A Jack Russel and a Corgi. The jack is called Samson and the Corgi is Bailey. They’re interesting. Samson is a very focused dog, let’s just put it that way. If you have a ball or stick, nothing else matters. You can hold it in your hand and he’ll stare at it until you throw it. He’s a ball of energy. Bailey, you could say the same thing about him but with food. True story: he has eaten an entire leather belt. His main goal in life is to eat more. He spends most of his day lounging around until it’s time to eat again. But they’re good boys. They have been my photo subject a number of times. We have a cat, an ancient cat. Emily had her years ago before I even knew her. Her name is Wookie and she’s is a Himalayan without teeth or claws and she’s senile. But we love her anyway.

Above: Samson and his unyielding focus. Copyright Josh Walker.

Q. When did you start taking photographs?

A. To be honest I didn’t really pick up a camera until late in high school. I’ve always been into visuals and arts. I’d flip through a magazine to look at the advertisements. I always wanted to communicate visually. I grew up in Carlsbad, San Diego and at the end of high school I grabbed my parent’s camera. My friends were like let’s go surf so I took the camera and after surfing I started taking pictures and thought how cool it was to freeze that moment in time forever. It hit me then.

Above: A classic surfing shot. Copyright Josh Walker

After high school I knew I wanted to do something with visuals and photography. In college I found a neat program for photography and graphic design at California State University, San Marcos. So while I was there I met a lot of people who rode. Hunter Jumpers and eventers and I started becoming a part of that crowd. I hadn’t ridden up until this point. Every time I’d go out to ride I’d bring my camera and take pictures and go to shows and take pictures. When I did that I got the same feeling I got when I took pictures surfing—freezing time. I spent a year in Australia studying abroad. That’s where I studied photojournalism and how the whole industry works. I came back to California after that and had one more semester and graduated and found an internship at the Chronicle which is a funny story in itself since I had only been riding two or three years. Getting in there-some of the editors are A pony clubbers and had been on horses their whole lives-I don’t know how I made it through the interview process. I promised I would learn as fast as I could. I sent them pictures and a writing sample and they said we’ll give you a shot.

Q. Where all do you travel for work? What is your schedule like?

A. Last year I went to 15 or 16 different events which is a fair amount. That’s about two events a month and that ranges from local things in Area II all the way out to California and Galway Downs. It’s busy. It’s crazy. But it’s fun. I definitely enjoy it. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. I do cherish my home time and my solitude but when I go out there I remember why I do it. It’s such a unique sport and capturing the unique feel, the power, the beauty is something I’ve always loved to do and now having an outlet to share that makes it all worthwhile.

Above: Of my initial favorites this was the very first. Love at first Connemara. I think it almost looks like an oil painting. Copyright Josh Walker.

Q. What’s your schedule like when you’re at a competition?

A. I’ll give you an example. The AEC [American Eventing Championships] is probably one of the busiest events that we do. A typical morning will start by getting out of bed at 5:30 or 6:00am and get enough coffee in us. I’ll hit the ring or the field at the first horse and pretty much be out there until the last horse goes. That’s half the day. Then I’ll go back to the hotel or stick around for the competitor’s party and take more pictures there. Talk to people, get quotes, take everything back to the hotel and plug in the computer and order room service or pizza. Then I’m up until 2:00am editing video and putting it on the website and doing interviews. You finally get to bed at 3:00am and get up at 5:30am to do it all over again. It’s an intense weekend. One thing that keeps me doing it is being out there and doing those interviews and capturing these pictures of people who are so happy to be there and loving their horses. It makes it all worth it to me. Not all events are like that. At some smaller events you get out there at 8am and last horse at 3pm you go back to the hotel get the pictures processed and done with work at 6:00 or 7:00pm and you get a regular bedtime. I appreciate those too!

Copyright Josh Walker

I invite you to browse Josh Walker's photography and get lost like I did. Or check back here for part II of Josh Walker and some more of his unique work.

Jo Takes Her Life in Her Hands, Kevin Gets Bitten by the Bug

We're back at Three Days Three Ways for Part II of the interview with Jo Whitehouse and Kevin Baumgardner, CEO and President of the USEA (United States Eventing Association). We left off with Kevin talking about how he got involved with the USEA in the first place (volunteer, volunteer, volunteer!). Today Jo starts us off with the flurry that is her typical day and the destiny of the long format. Kevin takes it from there with some of the intriguing, creative, and out-of-the-box ideas eventing organizers are coming up with.

Q. What is your daily life like at the USEA headquarters?

A. Jo Whitehouse: Well, that’s the fun part of it. You come in the morning and you have your schedule and will do this, this, this and the phone starts ringing and the emails start coming and it never turns out that way. It’s one of those jobs that you wake up and say that you will never have to work again. You’ve got to face some ups and face some downs but you meet some wonderful people, and I have to say eventers are the salt of the earth. The board meets three times a year and one is by teleconference, then we have the may meeting and we have a face-to-face meeting here in Leesburg in August and two meetings at the annual meeting (one of old outgoing board and one of the new). The board is on a rotational basis: two, three-year terms. So one third of the board will rotate every three years so you never have an entire board going off and a new one coming on so there’s continuity. As president you can serve thee, one-year terms. There are quite a lot of committees; each staff member is a liaison to one committee or more.

I’ve got to promote the sport and represent the association. We have the legal side of it, making sure legal documents are in place and legal requirements are met on regular basis, tax papers filed and other documents that have to be in place as a natural part of running an organization.

Fundraising is a part of my job. Right now we’re funding for the cardiovascular study and the frangible fence technology study. David O’Connor has been heading that up through University of Kentucky with the USEF (United States Equestrian Federation). The USEA has committed $30,000 this year and next year. We’re raising funds for that. We’re working on developing sponsorships and at the American Eventing Championships (AEC) where we’ll be presenting $50,000 prize money and $100,000 in in-kind prizes. We do a lot of sponsorship development for that.

As far as classic program, according to our members, they want to do it. It’s going to, probably, be an adult-amateur competition in the end. What we hope to do with the classic is to combine the Training level three-day as an educational activity and combine the two levels under the name of the classic series. Jim Wofford hopes it will go all the way up the levels. It will be a bit of a different sport since it won’t be where mainstream international competitors are going. But our 14,000 members, are in support. It will depend on the number of entries these events get. If the entries come, and members want it, we will do everything in our power to make sure it’s there for them to do.

And as far as funding it, as a national organization we can do fundraising along the lines of what we do with the Gold Cup. We have organizers who have agreed to participate in the Gold Cup, our sponsors love the Gold Cup as it gives them multiple chances for exposure. SmartPak is the title sponsor for the Training level and we’re looking for a Preliminary level sponsor. Stackhouse Saddles will put one saddle up and all the winners of the Training three-day will put their name in their hat and draw the winner. We have a website that gets hundreds of thousands of hits, e-newsletters, we can give the organizers the national outlet for their sponsors. And we’re always open to ideas for how we can do more. These are the things that make up my day!

Q. What is one of the most memorable emails you’ve received from a USEA member?

A. Kevin Baumgardner

One thing that does stand out, and relates to what we’re talking about, is people really want to see the sport continue as something that is unified and for people at all levels and not just a stratified pursuit where you have a few people at the show and everyone else is treated as clients. Everyone wants to be part of the action. Let me give you an example that got people really excited:

This Spring at Woodside Horse Trials at the beautiful Horse Park at Woodside on a hill looking over San Francisco Bay, Robert Kellerhouse and Christina Grey put on a competition so out of the box. Their event went through Advanced but what they decided to do was feature Preliminary. They called it the Preliminary Challenge, and put prize money on it. What they did that was so neat. Saturday night they had a big catered dinner in the main arena and invited everyone from the event and community. So you have all these people several tables deep and then watching the finals of the preliminary showjumping. The tension: it was like watching Rolex. It was so exciting. People were going wild. It really revved people up. I got tons of email about that. We’re focusing on the fun at every level. I think that’s want they want-fun and challenge at every level. It’s a sport that’s leveling and you won’t always come out on top.

Kevin Baumgardner and wife, Gretchen

photo courtesy of Kevin Baumgardger

One thing that distinguished our sport is we ride all the time against top riders like Amy Tryon or Karen O’Connor. I think it would be interesting if you showed up at Hunter-Jumper competition and said, “I’d like to ride against Beezie Madden.” That egalitarian quality is something people love. I think it draws us together.

Q. What is your history with horses?

A. Jo Whitehouse

Oh, well, you don’t want to tell anyone this: The gypsies would tether their horses on the open land. I disappeared and my parents found me sitting under this big Gypsy Vanner stroking its long feathers.

That's all I ever wanted. I would stand at the gate all day and one day they said to come in. I was like a barn rat. Allen Taylor was the owner of this riding stable in edge of the Yorkshiredales. I did Pony Club and Prince Phillip Pony Club Games and took my Pony Club B and all of those good fun things. I was involved with horses pretty much all my life. Then of course finished school, got married started a family and my daughter got involved with ponies and pony club and I became the D.C. of a Pony Club in New England and that’s when I started with the USEA. Then my daughter's eventing career took hold; she’s also a graduate A. Having to sit and listen to all the questions and those things that parents do. And then I was her groom. I can screw in studs and I’m very good at trot sets!

Q. Describe your first meeting with a horse. How old were you?

A. Kevin Baumgardner

Other than I may have ridden a pony in a circle at a fair, the first time I rode a horse I was 30. That was 1989. I’m 50 now. I was into mountain climbing, as was my wife. She (Gretchen) suggested we take a riding lesson, so we did. That was 20 years ago. I think a lot of people recognize this story. Slowly we got more and more into riding and then we discovered eventing. Remember in 1992 there was the thing called the triple cast, you could watch everything with the red, blue and white channel. It was ahead of its time. We watched all 8 hours of the eventing cross-country and I said I’d like to do that. So we did. We got involved and were lucky to meet some really good people and trainers and just like anyone else: you get bitten by the bug.

We have three horses right now; one is retired. He’s 20 now. He was a wonderful horse for me. He’s a member of the family. Then we’ve got two horses I’ve been eventing with, one had a suspensory last year. The other one, last weekend, we went Intermediate at John Camlin’s Caber Farm.

Rebecca Farm is nine hours away, in Montana, it’s an unbelievable place. We have Jonathan Elliot at Aspen Farm in Yelm, WA. Inavale Farm in Oregon near Corvallis, that’s a wonderful event. Whidbey Island, which has been run for over 30 years now, that’s an event that all of us have done many times and then North West Equestrian Center has traditionally had a Spring and Fall Event. The thing that we’ve got too is more and more interaction with the Californians. They have several wonderful events like Twin Rivers, Galway, Ram Tap in its 51^st or 52^nd year. Bill Burton: he’s a legend out here. There’s a lot of back and forth. Derek De Grazia is out here as is Malcom Hook. It’s a really good community out here on the West Coast.

Check Back to Three Days Three Ways for the wrap up to the interview with Jo Whitehouse and Kevin Baumgardern of the USEA and to find out what happened to the long format, and what you can do about it.

Jo and Kevin: The Man (and Woman!) Behind the USEA Curtain

The United States Eventing Association's (USEA) Annual Convention takes place this weekend (now, actually!) in Reston, Virginia. That makes for perfect timing to get a word or two from the USEA CEO, Jo Whitehouse, and her partner in crime, USEA President Kevin Baumgardner. So if you can’t make the trek to horse country just now have a look see here and find out what they have to say about sitting under Gypsy Banners as a child, getting bitten by the bug, and thoughts on the loss of the long format. Jo is charming, incredibly clever, and has a killer Bristish accent. Kevin is warm, knowledgeable, and passionate; they're both wholly dedicated to eventing and totally have our backs. The interview itself is a combination of two so is a bit of an experiment. It's broken into several parts so make sure to check back in for Part II. Here goes!

Q. What is your role at the USEA?

A. Jo Whitehouse: Well I’m CEO at the USEA. I was put into that position about two years ago. I should back up saying I joined the USEA in November 1987 as a volunteer. My daughter went to a private school in Beverly, MA and it was a long drive. How could I spend a few hours a day? The USEA was right around the corner.

I started as a volunteer which developed into something part time and was full time within a matter of weeks. I worked in every department for the USEA through the years. Specifically I was editor and communications manager and then also, in December 1988, I was made the Executive Director until, I think, about the end 2006 when I was appointed CEO.

We’ve seen quite a few changes over the years of staff gradually taking on more and more of what was done by volunteers. Volunteering seems to have changed in last 5-7 years. Baby boomers are all raised to volunteer so it will be a concern for the future. This sport is so reliant on volunteers; I’m not sure the culture will still be there. That’s tough for eventing. I do have a lot of hope and belief in people who love this sport. It’s such a passion, it brings that side out in people. If people want this sport it’s going to be volunteering. It’s such an expensive sport, it requires such a lot of positions, it would be too expensive to hire the people for jobs that volunteers do.

Q. What is your role as USEA president?

A. Kevin Baumgardner: There are a few things. It’s first to be chair of the executive committee and chairman of board of governors. That’s the ultimate governing body of our organization. When policy issues come to board or executive committee they come through me and I work with Jo Whitehouse, the USEA CEO. As a practical matter what that means is that Jo and I are almost in constant contact; we talk nine out of ten days on the phone. I have a lot of interplay with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and Malcolm Hook conveniently chairs the eventing committee at the USEF and is a member board of the board of governors and executive committee. The USEA has an eight-member sub group board that governs the week-to-week policy of the organization. So that’s one role.

Kevin and his lovely wife, Gretchen, at the Place de Vosges, France

photo courtesy of Kevin Baumgardner

The second role of the president is to make use of the platform that the position gives you to air issues of importance and views of the association. I’ve tried to take advantage of that. One thing that’s been very important for me is what we’ve been talking about: the community and culture of the sport. Once in a while I hear “We’re your customers and you need to treat us like we’re customers.” And I push back on that. The USEA is second to none in customer service. But I don’t think our culture is a culture of leadership up here and customers down here. I think our culture is one of a community where we owe something back to the sport. I’m a volunteer and have put 100’s of hours into the sport, and I’m lucky to do it. I know hundreds who have done the same thing.

We’re standing on the shoulders of those who built the sport. I don’t think you can be a customer, I think you have to be part of a living, breathing sport that’s moving forward. The economics are such that it’s a challenge and we need to pull together to make sure that we keep it doable and affordable for everyone. Most people are receptive. They’re self-starters who want to make a difference. I’ve been trying to communicate how much the sport is just a miracle. I think out of that epiphany is that we all have a responsibility to shepherd the sport forward.

Q. How did you first get involved with the USEA?

A. Kevin Baumgardner

I started showing up at area and annual meetings. I started doing that when we began eventing in the early ‘90s and I ended up, around 1996, on the area council. It’s just an example of people who want to get involved and show up at enough meetings get put on something. We’re victims of our own attendance. So in 1999 I was the Area 7 Chair. I was in that position for three years. After a one-year hiatus I went on the board in 2002 or 2003. It’s been a really good experience. It’s been a lot of fun to meet and expand my horizons and to meet folks from around the country who event. To realize that when you deal with national issues and that there are 14,000 of us and that we’re a small organization of extremely committed people who are scattered over various areas of a huge country. It’s given me a sense of how important it is to maintain a sense of culture and community. This came from people who gave back and were part of the solution not the problem. Every time I got to an event I think, “this sport is a miracle.” Think how much goes on on the ground and how much work has gone in to creating what we see. How much of that work has been compensated at market value? A lot of them are doing it as a labor of love. They’re contributing to the culture of the sport. It’s volunteers who jump judge, build the courses, act as officials, and it’s the riders who give back. It’s something I like in the eventing world that you go to an event and you see someone is having problem and a trainer who knows them casually will go over and help out. That’s unique and we’ve got to maintain that.

I hope we maintain that atmosphere of community as opposed to being cutthroat. Our sport is more about the journey than the destination.

Check back soon for Part II where Jo dishes on the ins and outs of her job and Kevin gives up some exciting developments on the competition front!