If you don’t have a free DRF account, why not?? It’s worth it to sign up, both for the photo and for the content on the website. Photographer: Barbara Livingston, whose Top Ten Albums of All Time were celebrated here at SKA-RNR-Blog a few months ago. The photo is sublime. It’s the ideal embodiment of the “hangover” (Chip Woolley’s words) after the hectic Triple Crown season. It’s peaceful. It’s an athlete in repose; a quiet moment after a colossal effort. Ears at half mast, powerful haunches at ease, tail soft and static.
And it’s executed as only a master can. Texture, shape, composition, color. Just when the rest of us racing photographers think we’re getting clever, Barbara takes us to school. I love it.
And then we have Best Belmont Photo Number Two. Rick Dutrow One Year Later, taken by Jason Moran. This photo takes your mind back 365 days, to Big Brown Mania, the loose shoe, the quarter cracks, the jockey, the owners, and of course, the trainer.
Why do I like these photos so much? By the title of the blog post, I bet you expected an action shot of the race, but they were taken nowhere near the finish line :^) It’s even better- the entire race replays in your head as you view these images. The viewer is engaged. A story is told. Editorial imagery at its finest.
As far as photos of the winners actually on track, I think Bud’s is my favorite so far:
Summer Bird Belmont Stakes Celebration, by Bud Morton
And the best chain of events of photography would have to be this: moments before I shot this…
I’ve been back in New Jersey for a few days now, but my head is still spinning from the amazing experiences I had in Kentucky. Rolex, the Derby, the Oaks, the farms, the Horse Park… it was an unforgettable adventure.
When I first arrived at Churchill Downs, I must admit I was underwhelmed. It was raining, I was lugging a lot of equipment, and my amazing experiences at Rolex were fresh in my mind (more on that soon!). I expected to gasp at the sight of the Twin Spires and marvel at the experience, but it was not until Oaks Day when I was shooting the races when it really hit me. The history, the tradition, the horseflesh. Rachel Alexandra in her epic run. Mine That Bird battling the field and winning by 8. And I had the best seat in the house. I’ll break the weeks down into bite-sized pieces and share them with the RNR Blog community.
In Spanish, “Ritual De Lo Habitual” means the ritual of the habitual. Taking our daily lives and making them sacred, or taking our addictions and making ritual of them. It’s a high-minded mission, and it is for that reason worth celebrating. Most albums are content to share a good time (or a sad one) between the artists and the listeners, but some work to make the ordinary and the sordid to appear to us as truth and transcendence. –Justin Hall’s 1999 Nude As The News wrapup of the iconic 1990 Jane’s Addiction release, Ritual de lo Habitual
I’ve got a thing for discipline. I don’t like hearing about how Paul McCartney does not know how to write or read music. My head spins when I hear about people who learned to ride in a back yard on a green horse. My teeth grit when I read about painters who rocket to notoriety with artwork that has no foundation in the history of art. Without a foundation, art is cheap and one-dimensional. You cannot have subversive creativity without knowing what you’re subverting. One only gains artistic breadth and scope with an eye on every other artist who has tried before to express the very same concept, emotion, or theory.
Charles Pravata is our country’s best horse racing photographer under the age of 35. Imagine my horror when I found out that he’d only been shooting a year or so before his work started gracing Daily Racing Form covers and showing up in all of the most prestigious racing publications in the country. How did a person with no formal training and half a decade of practice become a highly-esteemed editorial photographer in the racing community and a big inspiration to my own development as a photographer?
A little more than three years ago, I remember wondering, “who IS this punk?” as I browsed through Pravata’s killer photos of Brother Derek on Flickr. I’ve been a racing fan since I was a little girl and I never saw his name before on photos credits in editions of Blood-Horse or Thoroughbred Times. At the time, I was looking to take a step into photography and was in the market for my very first SLR camera. I had sent out several emails to people who shot equine sports asking for help selecting a camera and a lens. Of the dozens of emails I sent, only a handful wrote back: Charles was one of them (Bud Morton was another). He was not the typical condescending, mystical, tight-lipped shooter- he was happy to share details about lenses and cameras and answer any questions I had.
I met Charles the following year and we got to spend some quality time in my home state, standing on ladders in torrential downpours on the inside rail at Monmouth Park for the 2007 Breeders’ Cup. Photographers all around us complained about the weather and groused about water in their cameras, but Charles enjoyed the mud and the grit- you can almost taste the sloppy track in his photo of Curlin winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It was a far cry from the arid air and synthetic racing surfaces of his home state of California, where the Breeders’ Cup was held the following year.
When I went out to Santa Anita for the 2008 Breeders’ Cup, I learned first-hand just how challenging the light can be, with the harsh sunlight and the off-kilter grandstand angle. But when you look at Charles’ work, the shadows and angles are incorporated handily into excellent images. He is a master of harnessing light and using it to his advantage:
Santa Teresita, by Charles Pravata
Colonel John, by Charles Pravata
But mastery of light is not the only ingredient in his images. Through his lifelong love of racing, he manages to capture the essence of the track and distill it into his photos:
Storm at Santa Anita, by Charles PravataSanta Anita, by Charles Pravata
Del Mar Start
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and now residing in California, Charles knows the best and worst of both coasts of racing. Talk to Charles and you’ll learn a lot about the sport- look at his photos and you’ll learn even more. From a deeper place still come the most creative and evocative photos of his collection, from his artistic statements about the sport to his creative treatment of the warrior Curlin and American girl, Zenyatta. I so dig the surreal and illustrative treatment of his favorite horses.
Zenyatta, by Pravata
And sometimes Rock and Racehorses gets way out-rocked!
Andy Summers, by Charles PravataPerry Farrell, by Charles Pravata
Discipline is needed to shape an artist. But perhaps my definition of discipline is a little short-sighted. Perhaps art school is not the only place to learn the laws of composition and exposure and to study the greats who have come before us. Maybe the hot California sun is the spotlight on the studio of Santa Anita. And maybe the work of the Old Masters surrounds us at the racetrack, hangs on the walls in the racing museums, and lives on the pages of our epistles, the racing trade publications. No matter how I attempt to define it, Pravata has made a holy ritual of our habitual. Truth and transcendence.
What does Charles Pravata rock out to on his way to the track? Here’s his list of the Top Ten Albums of All Time:
One of the funniest things about Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction’s much-ballyhooed 1988 release, was how it skewed the conventions of L.A. Sunset Strip metal, managing to be distinctively perverse in a world already saturated with bad taste and bacchanalia. At times the music was glorious, playful psychedelic metal, as Perry Farrell’s avant-gypsy garb, weird eye makeup and prepubescent voice plugged you into the visionary amorality of children. With its trippy nature imagery and porno bent, Nothing’s Shocking struck the gong.
Ritual de lo Habitual finds Jane’s Addiction thin and wandering, blowing ploys that worked before – overdubs and echoes, loose jamming, Farrell’s playground melodies. Split into a hard-rockin’ side and a prog-rock side, the album doesn’t cohere – whatever the band members have been doing for the last two years, they haven’t been practicing much. –Erik Davis’ 1990 Rolling Stone review of the iconic 1990 Jane’s Addiction release, Ritual de lo Habitual
Life imitating art: Charles Pravata (center) costumed as Perry Farrell
2. The Police- Regatta De Blanc – Every album they recorded was great, as evidenced by the present day Karma of the great filly Zenyatta.
3. The Clash – Story of The Clash Volume 1 – One of the most dynamic bands of all time, and this compilation is evidence of that.
4. The Ramones- Ramones Mania – Another compilation; call me a cheater. The guitar player steals the lead singer’s girlfriend, marries her, and the band stays together. That’s true punk…. and Joey Ramone is the epitome of style.
5. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin – Even though they robbed most of the songs on this album and took credit for writing them (I can replace this album with any other Zeppelin album).
6. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon – Many adventures to the Hayden Planetarium for this album’s laser show between the ages of 11 and 21. Was fortunate enough to see Roger Waters perform the entire album live a few years ago. Epic.
7. The Smiths – The Best of the Smiths 1& 2 – Listened to these albums, and The Queen is Dead on my drives down to Del Mar last summer; hurled me into a depression that I just recently started to come out of. It’s all about impact, good or bad.
8. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced – Inspired a lot of people to take acid (so did #6 on my list).
New York racing fans are a tough bunch. They don’t take kindly to just anybody. They’ve seen it all, from Man o’War to Secretariat. They are stingy with their applause and only reserve it for a select few. After the 2009 Wood Memorial, the New York applause thundered through the small but tough crowd. Joe Talamo and I Want Revenge were officially welcomed to the fold.
Watched it? OK, good. What did you think of Joe Talamo’s ride? I loved it. Balanced riding out of the gate when the colt awkwardly broke, infinite patience waiting to make his move, and a quiet ride to the wire, encouraging his colt but not pushing him any more than needed. Gotta save some of that run for the first Saturday in May.
I’m a racing fanatic, but I’m also a fanatic of excellent riding of any discipline. Check out Talamo’s position at the start of the Wood: eyes up, elastic and giving hands, patient posture.
How does a 19-year-old jockey develop these skills? Where did he come from? Who taught him? Was he born a rider? Being a Louisiana native, he cut his teeth on the very same tracks as many of the greatest riders in the sport. Check out the little HRTV clips: Joe Talamo’s Meteoric Rise: Part 1 and Joe Talamo’s Meteoric Rise: Part 2.
I met Joe very briefly at a work function when I was in California shooting the 2008 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. I only spoke with him for a few moments, but I could tell that he was keen to make a good impression with anyone who spoke with him. I can imagine the same keenness when he is hustling mounts at the barns at dawn every morning. Coupled with excellent riding skills, it takes a certain amount of charisma, discipline, and boldness to get a good reputation.
Gamblers and horse racing fans alike have known about Smokin’ Joe Talamo since he took California by storm in 2007, winning Grade 1 races at the tender age of 17, becoming the youngest jockey to ride in a Breeders’ Cup race (Monmouth Park 2007 aboard Nashoba’s Key), and winning the Eclipse Award for Best Apprentice Jockey. A larger population got to know Talamo through Animal Planet’s hit series, Jockeys. Talamo’s drive and determination are a large part of the show’s success and the show is currently filming its second season as we count down the days til the Kentucky Derby.
What does the jockey of the 2009 Kentucky Derby favorite deem the top ten movies of all time? Check out his list:
Rock and Racehorses: Sarah K. Andrew 