Mike.

I’d love to see this big.

Patricia

I really rate Trent’s B&W work.

Mike.

A very nice moment for sure… This wild white horse creates some magic. This is a region of the world I do not know and wish to travel some day. Would love to have more shots with maybe some portraits of these men!

Eric

good question….i see no reason why we cannot explore both..i mean, why not?? surely travel is not an indictment for anyone…travel usually leads to understanding and learning , at least to some degree, about another culture….this could/should lead to reading the history of the area traveled or the best local novels or writers, listening to the local music..just hearing the tales of these horsemen or drinking a cup of coffee with them and getting at least some sense of life different from your own…this would certainly seem to be at least helpful in world full of cultural, political and religious divisions where lack of understanding “other worlds” seems to be one of mankinds main problems…

at the same time, exploring ones own inner vision of the world in your own “backyard” can be equally enlightening…why would the two be mutually exclusive or one better than the other??? one could say the traveler is someone from the “affluent west” and has no way of really identifying with the subjects he/she photographs, but one could also say the “personal vision” photographer is so self absorbed as to be unable to get outside of his/her own head….

surely, it depends on the person…how this person processes information..what this person does with the photographs…in what context the photographs are shown/published…it is pretty hard to generalize one way or the other….

frankly, i usually assume the best of intentions unless i see the worst…

and while i might see the photographs of Trent to be more personal (they were taken in his home), i am sure Trent would be pleased to be shooting horsemen in Mongolia without apology and i am sure also Mike will show you his family personal pictures and both men would be exploring first one way and then the other with equal aplomb.

but Ben, you bring up good points….and we should go into it further in other posts…sorry, i cannot go more right now because i must sleep and travel (home!) tomorrow…and i do not think i have been particularly articulate tonight (long long day) …i hope you may at least get my drift!!

cheers, david

i cannot remember when i last used the word “didactic” , but obviously you do…in any case, it probably was in connection with photographs which “explain” or “tell” or “teach” something as opposed to ones which may just give us a “feeling”…was that the context??? if so, then yes this would fall into the category of journalistic photograph that magazine editors would consider “explanatory” or “didactic” or “information driven”…we see geography (sense of place) and we see a cultural activity (sense of being) combined in one photograph….

cheers, david

hmmmmm, yours is a bit of a strange comment for a photograph depicting a “moment”…if the photographer had “waited a split second” as you suggest , what would have happened to the rider in back with the whip with his arm now raised perfectly and his separation just right from the other horses and what would have happened to the shadows in the front and how in the world do you know which way the horses would have gone and what about the amazing fact that it is the white horse only running right at the camera and not one of the others???

cheers, david

i will be traveling all day tomorrow….your patience is appreciated since i will not be able to change to a new photograph until tomorrow evening…

cheers, david