Featured Image for July 2026
"Summer Evening"
There's something almost dreamlike about this image — a moment caught between worlds, where the ordinary act of horses standing in a field becomes something luminous and ancient. The golden haze that envelops everything feels less like light and more like memory, the kind that softens edges and makes the past feel close enough to touch.
The horses don't seem entirely of this world. Backlit and glowing, they emerge from the sunset haze like figures from a myth, unhurried and unbothered by time. They exude a calm wisdom; the quiet confidence of a being that has always known exactly who it is.
There's a tenderness to the way they're grouped together, bodies close; it speaks to something primal about belonging — the safety of the herd, the warmth of proximity.
The mood is golden-hour nostalgia at its most elemental: peaceful, transient, and a little aching. Like watching something beautiful that you know won't last and being grateful anyway.
This image is from the last night of my most recent Photo Safari with Return to Freedom. We visited the Alpine Herd at Babcock Winery in Lompoc. This was taken at 7:43 p.m. on June 5, 2026.
Read all about this herd and the wonderful partnership between Return to Freedom and Babcock Winery.
"Packing it Home"
This is Clair Ludwig riding Misty, with Leroy carrying the antlers
I spent a week in Wyoming, photographing the real people who live there, work their ranch, and ride. We got snow at the beginning and the end of the week. What you see in this sunset is the storm that brought snow the next morning.
Leroy and Misty are brother and sister, sharing the same father. They live in Shell, Wyoming, just over an hour east of Cody, at the base of the Bighorn Mountains.
This image was taken on February 13th, 2026 at 5:26 p.m. Mountain Time.
Find all my favorite images in the Fine Art Gallery.
"July Sunset"
I love watching the horses move together and I love a sunset, so here you go! This image has been added to the on line Fine Art Gallery!
This image was taken in San Luis Obispo on a Return to Freedom photo safari on July 17, 2021.
Copyright ©2026 Essence Captured and Lori Sortino. All rights reserved.