Packhorse Rider

Description

Dad shot this peaceful scene at Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico. He and the model along with a photo assistant hiked in to this location early one frigid fall morning.

The photo was pretty simple; a rider would be leading a packhorse along the pond. However, Dad needed to add one element to make the rider snap out of the trees.

“Fog is a wonderful element that puts mystery into photos,” he said. “If you take a horse and guy out there it’s not the same as a horse and guy in the fog. It’s ambience.”

To create that ambience, Dad had his assistant run through the background carrying an Igeba fog machine. The assistant had a tough job. He was running at 11,000 feet elevation with the temperature hovering around 11 degrees. That elevation does weird stuff to your body. Add some running and bone chilling temperatures and the assistant was one tired puppy at the end of the shoot.

Dad got his mysterious fog photo just as the sun was rising over the pond that frigid fall morning. That day the sky was perfect, the trees colorful and the pond flawlessly reflected the scenery. Dad had a great shot.