Essence Captured Blog

Featured Image for July 2021 "I can fly" I took a departure from my usual style this month. I found this image of a beautiful red roan mustang that I photographed from above in a barn in May of 2019 and I love how it shows off her mane, but there was nothing but the […]

Featured Image for June 2021 "Shades of Gray" I liked the flowing manes of these mustangs and how they were running side by side, so I cropped in on the heads.  I like the mystery of "who's behind the horse in front?!"  I like the white eyelashes, too!  Enjoy. This image was taken at Return to […]

Featured Image for May 2021 "Storm Surge" It was late afternoon, nearing sunset, and I was standing on a hill across from this one, watching the horses run up to the top of the hill and toward the sunset.  The clouds rolling by as a backdrop, when I enhanced the clouds and the sky, it […]

Featured Image for April 2021 "Noble Hermès" Hermès is a roan from a band that was rounded up in the Devil's Garden Territory in California and rescued by Return to Freedom.  The band was relocated to RTF's San Luis Obispo sanctuary last year.  Hermès stood there, locked gaze, his on mine, mine on his.  His mates looked […]

Wild Mustang Image of the month for March, 2021 This is Running Bear and his mares, running about in a field at the Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, California. This photo was taken on May 20th, 2019.

Featured Image for February 2021 "Dawn, Head Toss" Dawn has passed away, but this image reminds me of her spirit; her enthusiasm for life.  Isn't it nice to look at a photo of a loved one (horse, person, dog, cat, etc.) and be reminded of them and what they meant to us?  Dawn was an ambassador […]

Featured Image for January 2021 "Keep Moving Forward" As we step into a new year, I looked for an image that seemed appropriate and found this one.  May this coming year be better than the last in any number of ways.  Fix your eyes on the light, your feet on the ground, and keep moving forward. This […]

Featured Image for December 2020 Runner is striking. His presence took my breath away. As his name suggests, he's a runner! He'll run away, toward, with. He's built to be a sturdy athletic horse with endurance in his genetics. I first saw him in a corral and loved watching and photographing him move. This portrait […]

"Spirit 24" Mustang Image of the Month for November, 2020 Spirit, the Kiger Mustang stallion who served as the artists’ muse and model for the 2002 DreamWorks Animation film “Spirit:  Stallion of the Cimaroon,” resides at Return to Freedom’s Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, California In 2018, Spirit was inducted into the Horse Stars Hall of Fame […]

Featured Image for October 2020 "Horse Play" Watching the herd in their natural environment is unforgettable.  I see tender moments, quiet moments of grazing, I see how the bands move about and take their turns at the water hole, and I see playful moments like this.  I call it playful because there’s a push/pull and […]