Reining
Daryl Weisser, Equine Photographer
By Priscilla Dance
Sep 10, 2008, 13:36

For equine photographer Daryl Weisser, it all started with a course. Weisser, who lives in Mission Viejo, California, with “my lovely wife Cheryl”, took a class at Santa Monica College ten years ago.

“I wanted to know how to do settings for the camera,” he said. “The group in class stuck together and had meetings, showing each other different shots. We sent shots out to magazines.”

He did his first equine photograph shoot as a favor to a friend.

“I always wanted to be a professional photographer but I never got serious until eight or nine years ago,” he said. “A friend did reining and asked me to shoot a show.”

Now he photographs the reining shows for the California Reining Horse association.

“I like to photograph more action things, where there is no set pose,” he said.

“I like to do nice stops, head on. I like to do different perspectives and not the same old side shot. It’s a challenge to get a good shot. I also do concerts for the same reason. It’s spontaneous. For now, I’ll stick with Western riders. I do rodeo. Sometimes I go and do ranch shoots. Trainers like what I do. I do a lot for Roberta McCarty. I took Guinness’ picture at his retirement.”

He finds night shots and pictures of youth riders the most challenging.

“A lot of night shots are difficult,” he said. “It’s hard to get the flash to cover the area. With younger riders, it’s hard to get a good action shot; most of their horses have their mouths open.”

Although he has a Nikon D200, a digital camera, he still sends prints to his customers for their approval.

“I send four by six proofs and an order sheet to everybody at the show,” he said. “It gives them a better idea of what the picture looks like. I crop them and everything before I send them out.”

Photography isn’t his “day job”; he works as a sales representative for Shasta Beverages.

“When I retire from my regular work world, I want to take this on the road,” he said. “I’d like to travel out of state. To me, photography is both challenging, and rewarding. The anticipation of the final result is extremely exciting. It can also be very relaxing - like spending the day at an orchid show, photographing nature's beauty. For relaxation, I like to do wild flower shots.”

Besides photographs in The Bridle & Bit, he’s been featured in The California Horsetrader, The Reiner Magazine, Quarter Horse News, Southland Blues Magazine (staff photographer), and The Blues Festival Guide, as well as a few other publications. Annually, he shoots a big show for the California Horse Trader. Recently he submitted some 'reining' shots of William Shatner to his publishers; they selected some for promotional use, and one to be used in his upcoming autobiography.

To contact Daryl or for more information about his photographs call him at (714) 310-0803 cell; his email address is DWImages@aol.com.



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