One of the most interesting jobs I have got to do since moving to Baltimore was shooting portraits of people involved in the Maryland horse racing industry. In recent years the industry has struggled and then the owner of Pimlico, the crown jewel or Maryland racing filed for chapter 11.
I shot a breeder, trainer, assistant trainer, gambler, activist and a jockey. These are some photos of the jockey Mario Pino. Mario came in second in the Kentucky Derby in 2007 riding Hard Spun. Turns out he's pretty legendary in the area as a jokey. Amazingly too he turns 50 next year!
My knowledge of horse racing before this was nonexistent so it was so interesting to get such an intimate and wide ranging peak into the sport of kings. And you quickly see why it is the sport of kings and why it probably struggles now financially. I was told it can cost in the area of 40 grand a year to train a horse. So of course if you have 10 or more horses that adds up fast!
Mario turned out to be very nice. We took these shots a little before and after his races. The original idea was to have a horse in the shot but amazingly this turned out to be nearly impossible. Due to track edict and the fact that race horses apparently basically will not stand still for much time we ended up shooting these instead which I thought came out wonderfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment