Visit her web site at www.thistledewproductions.com.

Prime Time - photo by Kim Vogee.

One Nation - photo by Kim Vogee.

Kim Vogee: The View From the Saddle
- by Sarah H. Crampton

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With her camera, Kim Vogee goes places only accessible by horseback. In the hills of Marin County surrounding the Vogee's ranch in Novato, California, there are places only the horse can take you. There are 3,000 acres in the area restricted just for horses. A portion of one trail goes for three miles in the creek bed. You are surrounded by huge ferns at the bottom of a canyon.

Blending her horsemanship experience with her photography skills is an opportunity to share images & glimpses into nature and beauty that few would ever see. From the back of a horse Kim Vogee is sharing her vision of the world.

Kim explains, "Sometimes people don't take the time to really look around them. While I'm working with my camera, there are just moments when I really see the horses. They are listening, breathing, paying attention to what's around them. During these moments something can fill you with a strength. These glimpses that I give others, these moments they might otherwise miss."

Vogee continues, "The photo of Indian Valley is the reason I started marketing my work through my company Thistledew Productions. It's a very special shot, a gift really. It's a place you can go only on horseback. I was on my favorite horse, Robyn, and the relationship with the horse was one where I was able to easily look around myself and be in that place. My horse was standing still and although I was riding, he did not require my total attention. A moment like Indian Valley can be very transient. If it had been necessary for me to get down off the horse, the moment would have been gone."

She continues, "I lost that gelding, but I have his two half-sisters, and they are quadropods in training."

Kim often zooms in for a close-cropped view, such as in Oro and Prime Time. What fascinates her is that each horse has a completely different face, just like people. The up-closeness lets you know who the horse really is. These close shots are also all about the play of the light. It creates the drama, the shadows, the focus.

Vogee's photography is published in the Dorrance and Desmond book, True Horsemanship Through Feel, under her previous name of Kim Murphy. Her work can also be seen enhancing the cover of the California State Horseman's Association newsletter. Her photograph My Girl is featured in both the brochure and web site for Practical Horsemanship.

Her photos are also sold as greeting cards and Kim personally signs each and every one. She states, "I just love the written word, its almost a dying art. There is something magical about opening the mail box and receiving a card." It surprises Kim that often people buy her cards and end up framing and not mailing them.

Kim Vogee treasures getting up early in the morning, saddling up and catching that first light. She adds, "Animals touch our hearts in ways impossible to describe and a picture holds that feeling for a lifetime."

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