A little lucky... Jerry Mercier

 

Last November I was in western North Dakota at Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a few days. The weather was beautiful with temperatures in the 60's and 70's. 

Every morning and evening I spent looking for bands of horses to photograph, always hoping to be able to silhouette them against dramatic skies at sunrise or sunset. 

I've spent a lot of days with horses in the park and haven't had much luck getting those particular shots. There are so many variables at play; topography, finding horses in decent locations, good light, having interesting clouds and skies, and then getting a colorful sunrise or set. 

It seems it's a lot to ask.

Well, on this particular day I found a band of horses grazing on a hillside in the badlands with clouds to the west late in the afternoon. So far so good. 

I parked, gathered my gear and slowly worked my way in their direction. The horses seemed unbothered by me, so I kept moving until I got near the bottom of the hill they were on, where I sat down and had a drink of water.

After a short while a bit of color showed in the sky and it was time to get to work. This young stallion paused to poop.

A foal approached to see what I was up to while its mom watched intently from a distance.

As the light changed and the horses continued to graze nearby I slowly moved around to try and silhouette them against the sky through gaps in the clouds.

Although it was late November, the temperature was still 60 degrees and I was sweating while making these images. I took my coat off and left it by a tall sage brush to pick up later.

After a little while I realized I was saying "unbelievable" out loud over and over again. The horses didn't seem to mind and just kept on feeding and working along the ridge as I smiled and kept on shooting.

As the colors faded and turned to blue I took the time to appreciate where I was,  sitting on the ground on a hill in the badlands of North Dakota with no cars or people anywhere nearby amid a band of wild horses at sunset. It was a good day.

There was no other place I'd rather have been. 

And I was in no hurry to leave. 

When the light was too low to make any more images I put my camera in its bag, lay the tripod down beside me, took a drink of water and quietly sat on the hill as it got truly dark. 

As the first stars became visible I laid on my back looking up while listening to the sounds of the horses chewing grass nearby. Hearing an occasional snicker or whinny as well.

After awhile I told the horses 'thanks' and that I was leaving. I slowly got up, gathered my jacket and worked my way down the hill and back towards my car.

As I walked away they remained as I found them, grazing on a hillside in the beautiful badlands of North Dakota.