Wild Horses Couldn't Keep Me from the Chincoteague Retreat!

After the success of EPNet's first ever Members Retreat in Carefree Arizona this past winter, there was little chance I'd miss the next opportunity to meet more great EPNet members and share in the unique dynamic learning experience a Retreat offers. An intimate supportive and educational atmosphere along with the opportunity to shoot equines in nature were the hallmarks of this wonderful event. EPNet’s second Members Retreat was a great success for those attending and most are ready to return for another event at this lovely location. In the spirit of peer support and education that underscores EPNet’s focus, all attending shared freely of ideas and knowledge enriching each other throughout the activities.

Although the weather did not completely cooperate for our activities planned at the island, the small group of participants made the best of it and shot many wonderful images on the island. Our adventure began on Sunday morning, when we had benefit of local guides who work with the National Park Service to lead us on a journey into the restricted areas of the island where viewing of ponies and other wildlife is richer than the tourist wildlife viewing areas set aside for the average visitor. Our guides rode with us in small groups, driving along the one lane roads through these normally closed areas, explaining the history of the island and the ponies as well as many details on the other wildlife of the island, particularly the birds. It rained, from fairly hard rains to a drizzle, throughout our tour but we were able to stop at several locations and shoot from the dry comfort of our vehicles. In a few cases, we got out to brave the weather and seek out those unique angles and perspectives of ponies including several nearly newborn foals.

Views of ponies grazing the salt marshes and mares dozing with their young foals were ours for the taking. After viewing one particular small band of mares with foals, we were surprised by a beautiful but fairly aggravated pinto pony stallion who rushed up out of a thicket 100 yards ahead of where we had stopped to disembark and shoot. Nearly all of us were focused intently on the mothers with their young but a couple of us closer to the protective stallion alerted all to his headlong rush towards us. Onward he ran, straight at our vehicles where we stood, shaking his head wildly and considering a true offense to keep us from "his" mares and foals.

But as he got close he decided either that we weren’t that much of a threat or that we perhaps were a bit more scary than he initially thought and so he veered off next to us giving wonderful running shot opportunities before settling down to stand and pose for us. Eventually he went off to posture and graze a bit next to the road and we had much more time to capture his wild beauty. Our guide was a bit shocked when none of us retreated to the cars as he barreled our way --instead we were all rushing for the best shot -- but his display was certainly one the most spectacular we’d see on our adventure. He was truly the highlight of the day’s outing augmented with many viewings of egrets, Canadian geese - many with adorable goslings, ducks, redwing blackbirds, cormorant, bluebirds, deer and sika deer, an introduced species from Japan which is related to the elk but is in fact a miniature deer perhaps weighing just 100 pounds.

For lunch we returned to our meeting space at the lovely Refuge Inn where we reviewed the digital images some of use shot and talked of the tour. Following lunch, Armand Englebrecht of Photographics Supply Inc, McKeesport, PA reviewed many pieces of gear in detail for us, from digital tools of the latest release to all those accessories needed for our work regardless of whether a film or digital shooter. His overview was excellent and very informative for many of us and we were able to have hands on demonstrations of much wonderful gear. Armand was an excellent presenter giving great examples of how each of the different pieces of gear could be used in various situations and all the specs anyone could need on the huge assortment he set up for our review. He was also very helpful in addressing specific questions and most of us left with at least one new piece of gear we had been needing or wanting all along. Seemingly all of us sat in wonder during Armand’s presentation and we are very pleased he was a part of our event. Many thanks to member Laurie Comfort, Sunflower Photography, for involving Armand, who also happens to be her fiancé, in our Retreat.

Completely intent upon enriching our group experience, EPNet member Laurie Comfort gave an incredible Photoshop7 demonstration with many time saving tips and reviews of the depth of several of the tools in this program. She used some of the images she’d shot on the Island tour that morning and presented it in a very understandable format for all while also addressing specific questions expertly. Laura Cotterman, EPNet member from Virginia and also an expert web designer, gave our group insight on web design and concepts, adding further to the richness of our afternoon by answering key questions in this important area. When all was said and done, we packed a lot of great discussion into our afternoon and went well beyond our initially planned time frame with the bounty of good information shared.

Our plan had included a late afternoon boat ride along the edges of the island to view and shoot some more ponies but as the weather was still quite cold and rainy, we opted to attempt to do this on Monday morning for anyone who was staying over. A few of us did stay and the weather broke sunny and bright for Monday, making our guided boat tour a great bonus. Our guide was an island native and he took us quite a long way down the island shore where we had two more chances for photos and we had the bonus of viewing briefly a bald eagle on the trip back.

We received more verbal history on the Island and were given a look at the place where the pony swim takes place each July. This annual event has been going on for decades as the ponies are owned by the Island Fire Department who thins the herd each year by culling the foals and auctioning them on the mainland after swimming them across from the Island. For those not familiar with the Island or this history, probably the best place to learn a bit more is the classic Marguerite Henry book for children, "Misty", and the many sequels written. Apparently Ms. Henry was a regular visitor to the island who bought ponies at the auction and kept them at her Pennsylvania home while making them famous through her stories.

All in all, the Chincoteague was a great event, fun and informative, located in a charming place of great history and natural beauty. For those that came, surely this will linger as a wonderful memory. For those that couldn’t make it this time, we wish you could have joined us. Plans are now in the making for potentially making this an annual Retreat event for Members so we’d love hearing from you as we move ahead in planning.

Kathleen Wattle
www.captivespirit.com