Scottsdale Arabian Show

I had always dreamed of Scottsdale while drooling over the gorgeous Arabs in Arabian Horse World, but even though a lot of my family is here in Arizona, I never had the chance to visit the show until I moved to the Valley.

You'd better believe it was everything I'd hoped and more. Now, at least once each year, I head up there to see all the models and working horses, and drool some more. I especially like how the big barns add lavish decor, sometimes even entire rooms or "cabins" on the front, filled with plush leather couches and walls full of trophies, ribbons, and amazing shots of their famous horses.

This year I had my new Mark II, which I used for the first time just two days ago at my Empty Acres shoot. So of course I couldn't resist heading up to Westworld to see how it test it on the Arabs.

I'm very happy with it so far - it handled the low light with much less noise than my D60, not to mentions focused faster and SO much easier. I tried to narrow it down ... had a hard time, but here are some of my favorites:

Empty Acres Farm Shoot

I was very excited to try out my new Mark II at a real shoot. This morning, I went out to Empty Acres in Buckeye to shoot Tammi Sully's two stallions, Hickorys Smart Chic and I CD Cue.

Tammi's daughter is quite a good little rider and it handled the two studs like they were aged geldings. Those guys are really well behaved though, especially for stallions.

Their place is ginormous as it is, but more barns and stalls are going up on a daily basis. Thank goodness they have some huge grass fields which made the shoot really easy. It's hard to find good green backgrounds here in the desert.

I just loved their little dog Peanut. He didn't know what to think of me at first, but by the end of the shoot, he was rolling over to let me scratch his belly. So darn cute!

Some shots from the day:

Immitation Doesn't Always Equal Flattery

Forged Art Sold Online...
It Happens More Than You Think

Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery. Such is the case when I find copies of my artwork - poorly done, no less - for sale on eBay and similar venues. It's been a constant battle for me and my colleagues for years.

Even more disheartening, the problem just seems to be getting worse. Especially when they see how fast this junk is moving...

It's truly shocking when I see a rip-off of my images...it really is. Imagine spending months writing an book, only to learn that someone had plagiarized it after the fact. Not only did they outright copy your work, but completely butchered it in the process, then slapped their name on it and sold the piece for a profit. Not a good feeling, huh?

What's just as shocking is the persistence of some forged goods sellers. We (the Equine Arts Protection League) have shut down one eBay/CafePress seller over 20 times, but she keeps coming back. Another seller is pumping out horrible "original" paintings, most likely from a factory in China. Some people don't mind making a profit off of the hard work of others.

I'm posting this partially to rant, but mostly to make you aware. Many people are already somewhat wary of eBay, but few know about the forged art being sold left and right. If you're considering a piece of art from an online dealer, always ask if the work comes with a certificate of authenticity.

My copied imagery - 3 recent examples: