Kevin Bernard invited Photographic Society of Rhode Island members to shoot a polo match at the New Port International Polo Series. Newport Polo was the first polo club in the United States, established in 1876.  It has been welcoming teams from other US cities, and from around the world, for the past twenty-five years. Newport hosts exhibition matches every Saturday from June through September, creating many opportunities for a photographer to practice their craft. For this photographer it was a chance to practice a new type of photography. I had never seen a polo match before, much less shot one, and knew nothing about it. 

Kevin told us to get there about one, even though the match didn’t start until four. The first thing we did was get the best area to shoot from. Next we went to the far corner of the property, to get pictures of the grooms getting the horses ready. No one seemed to mind that we were there taking pictures. I guess it was the norm for them. The atmosphere among the people and horses was one of fun and excitement for the upcoming match.

Another reason to get there early was the before-match activities. Similar to football, half the fun is the tailgate party with the food, drinks, and fun on the field. 

PSRI has meet-ups many times throughout the year. Each one being in a different place, and a different type of photography.  Before the match started, Kevin made sure we all had the correct settings for chasing horses around the field. My Canon camera was set to Shutter Priority mode with a shutter speed of 1000. The drive mode set to high burst, AI servo, ISO to auto. Under menu – AF – Case 2 = tracking sensitivity between 0 and +, acceleration/ deceleration. tracking to 1, AF pt auto switching to 1. Some of these settings I had never used before. I was used to setting a focus point for a stationary object or one that didn’t move very fast. Keeping a galloping horse in the frame required letting the camera do the focusing, but still I had some blurry pictures. (I have no examples of blurry pictures. They are immediately deleted so no one can see that I take a blurry picture.)

At times the action happen so fast I couldn’t zoom out fast enough or far enough. All of a sudden the horse was too close for my 70 to 200mm. Then they would race to the far and of the field and I wish I had a 500mm lens.

At halftime it was the responsibility of the spectators to go out on the field and stamp down the divots. This was also a good time to get photos of  people living up the spectator’s life. This included anything from frisbee throwing to the latest suit to impress the women. People and dogs alike got to have fun on the field while the riders and horses rested and prepared for the second half. Late in the second half the sun went behind the clouds and it was getting late in the evening. We were loosing light and it was tough getting a shot that wasn’t blurry. Here a fast lens would have been helpful. After the match all the spectators lined up along the edge of the field. The riders galloped by, and slapped hands with the spectators. After the last horse went by I was sad it was over, but left knowing I could come back next year and do it again.     

The show is displayed at the Mill Gallery of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, 560 Mineral Spring Avenue, Pawtucket, RI on the first floor, adjacent to Mixed Magic Theatre. The show includes works in all media by eighty-five artists. At the reception there will be live music by Paul Williams and Michelle Hill and refreshments. All are welcome.

Gallery Hours, starting March 22nd:  Thursdays,  5:30 – 7:30 pm. Sat/Sunday, 1- 5 pm.

PSRI members that are included in an exhibit, from a single image to a one-person show, and would like to share that information with other PSRI members, please let the web administrator know.

Ever wonder what the story was behind the photos you see in the newspaper or how they were captured.  Come listen, interact and be inspired as Steve Szydlowski and Sandor Bodo, longtime award-winning photographers for the Providence Journal, explain the stories of some great images.  Many of the images they will present you may have seen, others you will not but you certainly will not have seen them in full format detail.  Join us as Steve and Sandor take us through a day in the life of a PJ Photographer.  Many of the images will stun you and they all tell stories, mundane, inspiring and tragic, of our region and our world through the eyes of a PJ Photographer.

Steve Szydlowski is an award-winning photojournalist for The Providence Journal, latest award, 2016 Rhode Island Press Association Photographer of the Year.  Steve has photographed local and regional stories for 29 years as staff photographer. Previously Steve worked as a freelance photographer for the Associated Press and The New London Day (New London, CT). Steve has also organized and curated the Providence Journal traveling photographic exhibit “Living Vision” an exhibition of photography that has been shown in Providence and Westerly, Rhode Island. Former co-founder Providence Center for Photographic

Sandor Bodo was born in Budapest, Hungary of artist parents, the young Sandor was carried under wraps and on shoulders as the Bodo’s fled Hungary during the Uprising of 1956, eventually to resettle in Nashville, Tennessee. Even as a lad, Bodo was always involved in the making of images and objects of art. Undergraduate work at Brown University brought Bodo up to Providence in 1971. After securing a BA concentration in Fine Art at Brown, he extended his education in England at Sheffield Polytechnic School of Art and Design and with an MFA in Photography from the Royal College of Art in London in 1978. He returned to Providence to live and work and since 1996 has been a staff photographer at the Providence Journal.

  On October 23, 2016 Mark Spremulli worked with Dave Lewalski to organize the meet-up for the Photographic Society of Rhode Island at the Essex Train Station. Mark is a train enthusiast and knew this was a good day to get some images of the steam train that is only run a few times a year. We were able to spend plenty of time taking images at the station as workers readied the train for the trip. We could get images up close and personal and be awed by its size. 

[See image gallery at www.psri.us] Then Mark told us it was time to move to the next location where we could get images of a run-by. The location gave us a couple of vantage points that gave us a selection of views, and we had time to scout the different places. This was a popular meet-up and there was about twenty of us, but there was plenty of room for each of us to set up.  There was a more distant viewt that included the pond in the foreground or a closer view that was just the train and the fall foliage in the background. You had to pick your spot for today and decide to get a different view next year.   

Then we moved on to the Deep River Steam Train and Riverboat station to shoot more images of this train and a second train that was also unloading at the station.  It was a good opportunity to get two trains in the same image, but you had to work fast they didn’t stay next to each other for long.   

At Christmas time Essex does the Polar Express, another chance to take images of the train with Christmas lights. 

Refreshments will be served, and entertainment provided by the talented singer/songwriter, Allison Rose.  Call or text Carol Mossa at 401-741-1974 for more information/directions. Directions can also be found on The Well website.