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Like many others who photograph horses, our judges began their careers with a dream. And image after image, made that dream into a professional reality.
As respected members of the Equine Photographers' Network, we are proud to introduce our judges for Equine Ideal: Winter 2011 Online Photography Contest.
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Carien Schippers
Carien Schippers of ImagEquine.com started photographing horses as a teenager in the 1970's and has spent her adult life observing, studying and documenting the horse with the help of a camera. For many years as an event photographer in the Northeast she covered many of the top Arabian, Morgan, Carriage Driving, Competitive Trail Rides and Dressage shows in the region. While she still officiates at a limited number of shows and events every year she has changed the focus of her work to concentrate on stock, editorial, fine art, private commission and commercial work. She spends a portion of her time traveling to shoot the wild horses and ponies of the UK, Virginia and the American West. Her award winning work has been widely published in books, magazines, calendars and for catalog covers.
Carien Schippers
www.imagequine.com
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Darlene Wohlart
Darlene Wohlart graduated from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. In her 32 year career as a photographer, she did the usual things photographers do when starting out—weddings, models, Public Relations and sculpture photography for artists. Then her love of horses and her desire to work with them led her to focus on equine photography as a full time profession. Horse shows and stallion shoots were her foundation. Now she concentrates on stock images, portraits, farm shoots and photo art. Her work has been used in numerous books about horses in the US, Europe and Colombia. It has also been shown in galleries and won several judged competitions.
Ms. Wohlart and her two horses live in Ocala, FL, the horse capital of the world.
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Betty Cooper
Betty Cooper's competitive experience includes Draft Breeds, Hackneys, Driving Disciplines, Saddle Seat, Hunters, Jumpers, Dressage and Eventing. Working professionally as a photographer she has prepared images for competition, personal decor, portraits, publications and stock.
Thirty years in education help Betty to analyze and make recommendations on what is going to best represent the individual to their potential market. An active professional member of EPNet, Professional Photographers of Ontario and Canada, and WPPI helps to keep her current in trends, technique and cutting edge styles.
www.betty-cooper.com
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Laura Cotterman
Laura Cotterman is a commercial photographer specializing in horse, farm and agriculture images located in Virginia's hunt country. She has been in and around the horse business for
30 years breeding and training race and sport horses. She lives in Delaplane with her husband Mark who is a farrier serving the hunter/jumper clientele in the Middleburg area. Her
photos appear in numerous publications throughout the US and Canada. She brings a lifetime of horsemanship to her judging duties in addition to her passion and enthusiasm for horses and
photography.
Laura Cotterman
www.lauracotterman.com
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Tony Stromberg
For two decades, Tony Stromberg made his mark as a very successful advertising photographer, shooting everything from fashion to food to cars to corporate CEO’s. However, a quiet but gnawing voice eventually drew Tony out of his commercial roots and deep into the soul of the West. What Tony had gained in reputation, he felt he was losing in his quality of life.
Just before the turn of the millennium, he started his pilgrimage away from the frenetic world of advertising and into a world possessing a different respect for nature and the land... a world expansive enough to hold a deep-rooted meaning and purpose for both himself and his newly discovered partner, the horse. Introduced only fifteen years ago to horses, he has spent much of his time since then getting to learn the nuances and habits of his most beloved equine companions in their natural environment.
"The spirit of the horse", quotes Tony, "is a magnificent teacher to humanity." In both their physical, as well as their archetypal form, horses help to bring us back to something wild and unrestrained, reminding us of a sense of freedom that many of us have for-gotten. They teach us about honesty and authenticity, because they know no other way of being. They teach us about collaboration over dominance. And they teach us to respect and honor the unknown, rather than fear it and try to destroy it.
Tony's work is a homage to the equine spirit, and a celebration of their remarkable presence in our lives.
Oftentimes referred to as "visual poetry", his images truly embrace and reveal the incredible beauty and grace of the horse. He lives with his wife in New Mexico and his website is www.tonystromberg.com.
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