Josh Walker's Method Behind the Magic

Thanks for coming back for the second part of photographer Josh Walker's interview here on Three Days Three Ways. I know I'm not his only fan so I'm happy to have the opportunity to showcase his moving work and give you a chance to revel in it!

Q. What’s it really like behind the scenes at an event?

A. It varies from event to event but, I’ll take Rolex as an example. This will be my fourth or fifth year. Every year it gets better and better because you start to know everyone. You see Buck Davidson and Karen O’Connor and they say hi and know who you are. Not to sound star struck but it’s nice to go as a part of the sport that they are the top of. You’re helping progress the sport that they are reining over-so to speak. That’s one of the exciting parts of being behind the scenes at an event.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Then you interview people like Buck who’s been winning nonstop. You start to build a repore. It’s nice to have a conversation that turns into an interview and you get to share that with people. I was in Ocala filming for the Young Event Horse stuff and Karen O’Connor was there; she’s a legend, but she’s so nice. I was watching the dressage and she just walked up and sat down next to me and started talking. It’s cool. There are so few sports in the world where that would happen. It’s a very unique community. As far as the atmosphere for Rolex: exciting. For AEC [American Eventing Championships] I would say: so busy. You’re going in twenty different directions at one time. So many horses and riders and things that need to be done. Being a part of the staff you’re a part of everything. You’re not just taking pictures. If you need to unpack or organize merchandize you do it. Everyone is a master of many trades and you do what needs to be done and have your specialty that you’re really good at.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Q. What are you thinking about when you take pictures?

A. Gosh, it all kind of comes second nature now. I guess mood. It’s really one of the biggest things I try to focus on: to capture the mood. Taking into consideration the lighting, what’s the background, the angle it will capture. There are good angles but there are angles that are unflattering to a horse and rider. I like it when they’re looking in my direction. When they’re looking away I feel like viewers will lose the connection. It has a whole different dimension when you can see their eyes and the emotion and the horse really doing it’s job. When you find your angle you have to look at the sky and make sure you’re not shooting directly into a low sun. Sometimes it works but mostly you get a muddy backlit photograph. Usually it’s not as appealing as side light. I really like sidelight because it reveals texture-you can see all the muscles and veins in the horse. If it’s behind my back it’s flatly lit; I like to give it a little more dimension.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Once I’ve got my angle and light I have to look at the background and make sure it’s mostly neutral and not distracting. Second, that it’s far enough away to get that separation and keep horse and rider nice and sharp but the background blurred out to give it that nice soft quality that is unique to a photograph. After that it’s having the horse come through and getting the timing right. That just comes with practice. Another thing is how many jumps can you get, you know? It’s really hard to get more than one jump with trees. Or if it’s winding you can get only one or two fences. Where at Rolex you can get six or seven efforts in one short distance and you have a variety of pictures. One of the main differences between the way I shoot and a photographer that’s selling to the riders is that I try to get as many different angles and as many different jumps on the course since I’m trying to give an overall feel of the whole venue. It’s second nature after a while and the main thing is finding a rhythm. When I’m out there the first few horses I’m still trying to find a rhythm and where I’m supposed to be and capture this horse coming through. Once I’m in a good spot—it’s kind of like listening to a good album. When the horses come through you’re listening to the song. The horse goes by and it’s the break before the next song. Okay now here it comes again. That rhythm goes through wherever I am. You have to find that complex’s rhythm and stick with it.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Q. What photographers do you look up to?

A. Richard Avedon was my biggest influence. He did a lot of portraits of regular people on a stark white background. I did a project to mimic that. I had people hold their dogs up in front of a white background. There’s nothing to focus on so you really start looking at the subject. In the horse world I worked with Shannon Brinkman all last year in 2008. As far as capturing the mood and the beauty and the power and everything that makes eventing what it is-she was the person that revealed how to do that. She’s been doing that for 25 years and is one of the best in my opinion. Amy Dragoo, also. I love her work. She’s up in the Pennsylvania area. Also Amy McCool—on the West Coast and very artistic the way she captures it. Charlie Mann does different horse sports and sports in general.

from 'Dogs and Their People' series. That's love.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Q. Where do you want this to go?

A. This is where I want to be. I watch football on tv and other mainstream sports and I always admire the guys on the sideline but at the same time, I feel like there aren’t any other sports that are as unique or have that special mood and feel that eventing and horse sports do. There’s no other sport like it. I feel like it’s a pretty special niche to be in. I like where I am now. The only other sport I would go back to would be surfing. But it’s so hard to get into that. I’m lucky to get into this industry the way I did. I’ll stick around for a while.

I love the Brady Bunch look!

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

Q. What about when you’re not behind a camera?

I sit around and putter with my guitar and piano and record stuff on my computer. As far as type of music I like-lots. I tend to listen to things that you don’t often hear on the radio. I like to scan internet radio to hear independent artists, alternative rock, and movie soundtracks—scores. Those inspire me, I like that they’re so powerful. If you think about it if you watch a movie without the music it’s not as powerful without the music. If you took the music out it wouldn’t work. When you put the music behind it, it works. Long story short, I like the emotion in the music. I’ll seek out some of my favorite Hollywood composers—Hans Zimmer, James Horner, John Newton Howard.

Q. Anything else?

A. Literally and figuratively I wouldn’t be here without Emily. I got into the horse world with hard work. But she has been the number one inspiration to me in advancing so quickly as I feel I have.

photo courtesy of Josh Walker

That concludes the Josh Walker interview. I hope you enjoyed it. If you've fallen in love with Josh Walker's photography the way I did you can see more of it on his website: www.theredhorse.net. See you next time!

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.