EC March/April, 2010

Horses are usually photographed in a physical environment, whether a show pen, racetrack, wide-open range, or rolling pasture. But what happens to a horse’s visage when it’s overlaid on a solid background, much like a luminous jewel on a square of velvet? According to photographer Bob Tabor, you just might capture a horse’s inner soul.

In Black And White

Bob Tabor images are distinctive in that there’s no surrounding landscape, just a solid black or white background. They’re also typically large in scale, ranging in size from three feet up to 12 feet across. While the horse becomes a graphic element on Tabor’s ‘canvas,’ there’s also an intimacy to his images, a reality captured in a magical moment that gathers you in to connect with each animal’s true spirit.

“With my photography, I feel I’m crafting a portrait instead of taking a snapshot. I use extreme close-ups, and then I put the image within a frame of either black or white space, so there’s nothing distracting you from the horse, or the story of that horse,” says Tabor.

Tabor regards his work as being about the relationship between horse and human, each one sensing the other, and sharing with the other the rhythm of their lives. “So much is shared, and said, without saying the words,” he says. “Each horse is saying what they feel, through their eyes and their posture, their body language. Each subject reveals its own inner meaning, its own personality, communicating to each of us what words can’t.”

What he strives to achieve in a final image is a strong graphic element created by the horse’s shape. “The negative space, the black or white space, plays just as much of a role as the horse,” he says, pointing out the backgrounds are there solely to help the viewer see the horse. His choice of scale, often resulting in a four foot by six foot framed piece, helps to reinforce the impact of the message. They’re not images that can be easily ignored, yet while dramatic and large in scale, they create a relaxing, intimate vibe, equally at home whether in traditional or more modern surroundings.

A Bit About Bob

As a creative director at a New York City advertising agency, Tabor credits his profession and his environment with shaping his unique approach to equine art. “I’ve always had a good eye, and during my career I’ve worked with some of the best artists and photographers,” he says. “Plus, being brought up in New York, it made me aware of so many things coming together, all the graphic elements and the relationships between them.”

Although Tabor took art school courses in photography and darkroom techniques while attending NYC’s School of Visual Arts, he’s a late-blooming photographer. “Three years ago, as a birthday gift, my wife bought me a digital camera and took me to Napa Valley; I fell in love with the light,” he says.

What ensued were not photos of equines, but landscapes, incandescent landscapes of Long Island wild spaces, where Tabor has retreated nearly every weekend for the past 20 years. “I think with all the things going on in the City, and the energy level there, that’s why I bought a house in East Hampton, at the tip of Long Island,” he says. It was during one of his landscape shoots at a local vineyard that his first horse encounter happened.

“There was a stable near one of the vineyards where I was shooting. The light was too ‘hot’ for the landscapes, so I was looking around to see what else I might shoot,” says Tabor. “I came across a horse, and I saw this beautiful animal standing there, absorbing the light.”

While a bright, mid-day light is often the photographer’s enemy, Tabor says he embraces it, and uses no artificial lights when he’s with the horses. “The light is absorbed by every inch of the horse, revealing his exterior beauty, but also highlighting that horse’s inner soul,” he says.

Picturing Things Differently

Many photographers strive to capture performance horses at the height of athletic exertion, with explosions of dirt from their hooves, and manes and tails flying. It’s something you don’t see in a Bob Tabor photograph.

“My horses aren’t really photographed running or looking very energetic, but it’s capturing their moment in time as they’re relaxing. There’s a simplicity and a quietness that I try to achieve,” says Tabor. “I’m looking at myself, at how I’m feeling, and saying ‘this is a nice moment.’ And that’s what I capture. I don’t even like using that word, ‘capture.” I try to show their soul, their feeling, in the moment that I’m there.”

It’s this ability to showcase a horse in unguarded moments that’s resulted in a slew of equine portrait commissions from horse owners. “A lot of people have hired me for images of their own horses, not just buying work that I’ve created. They feel that I capture a sensitivity that their horse has. It’s not just taking a photograph, but it’s getting to know the animal itself,” he says, pointing out that he takes his time in first building trust with each horse, and helping them feel comfortable.

“I’m not in a rush to take photographs. I move slowly, and if they’re nice enough to let me in, I can be very close to them,” says Tabor. “After time, when some trust is built, I take the camera and press the shutter, so they become comfortable with the sound.”

It’s only after the horse is at ease that Tabor shoots, and he says that’s when he gets his best images. “Horses are such big, powerful animals, but you can see when they’re not comfortable. Their eyes say so much, and of course the body, but their eyes are the expression of the soul.”

He feels it’s within the stillness of the moment and the unguarded connection with each horse that the curtain comes down. “It’s not that I try to catch them performing, or running with the pack because they’re frightened of something. I’m meeting them on their own ground, in their own comfort level,” he says.

One particular horse that stands out for him is a rather mistrustful stallion that took him weeks to photograph. “He was beautiful, so strong and angular, and quite tall. His eyes showed such caution and anger toward me at first, that I was very uncomfortable, and in fact the first time I took photographs of him, I couldn’t get close enough,” says Tabor.

But he went back, both days that first weekend, then a week later, each time getting closer to the horse’s paddock and building confidence. “I think a trust was built, that he knew I wasn’t going to harm him, and so he let me approach him,” says Tabor.

High Touch, High Tech

There’s also a technical side to the work, involving computer manipulation of the images and the latest technology. But that’s only after Tabor feels he’s got the quality of images he wants to work with.

Through an elaborate process that results in a deceptively simple image, Tabor uses the horse’s image as a graphic element, carving away all existing background imagery using Photoshop, then choosing either a purely black or white background only after all the other computer work is completed. But he hardly touches the horse.

“I rarely do any retouching on the animal. I use only natural light, and however the light captures them is what it is,” he says. “I use Photoshop for putting them on the background, and making the opaque background look natural by putting in shadows.”

Tabor says while he doesn’t choose the background until he has the final image of the horse, he frequently places dark horses on black backgrounds, and white equines on white backgrounds. “I feel the white on white ones are almost heavenly,” he says.

As for his choice of camera, he reports he’s using Canon. “I’ll use a 40-120mm lens or a 70-200mm lens, and most recently I’ve been using the new digital Canon SLR, the 5D Mark II. It’s a beautiful camera,” he says.

In The Limelight

Perhaps fitting for someone in the advertising world, his work has come to the attention of the consumer marketplace and collectors as well as equine aficionados.

Early on Tabor was noticed by Ralph Lauren; his work is now on four continents, displayed in their retail stores. Tabor images have been exhibited publicly across the U.S., and are in a growing number of private collections and homes. Tabor’s work has also been selected for the interior design world by Mac Hoak, president and buyer for Mecox Gardens, a high-end retailer of eclectic home furnishings and unique accessories with stores in major cities across the country.

“At Mecox Gardens, we carry a lot of statement furniture, pieces like oversize consoles, tables, and chairs. To balance that visually, you need bold artwork,” says Brad Leslie, assistant manager in the Chicago store.

Leslie points out that’s exactly what they like about Tabor’s work. “It’s not an 8×10. His work is very bold and large in scale, and it works with traditional and country looks as well as slick contemporary settings. Plus, the horse is a recurring Mecox icon, that’s why we carry things like barnboard tables and equine statues as well as Bob’s gorgeous framed images.”

Mecox Garden’s flagship store is in Southampton, and their design aesthetic can be described as the ‘gentile, grand country house with stables’ fantasy, a sensibility that horses are very much a part of. “We want to give our customers a variety of unique pieces, and we feel Bob’s images are a perfect complement to what we offer in our stores,” says Leslie.

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

Later this year, Tabor’s work will become even more accessible, with a coffee table book of his images. Published by The ACC Publishing Group, the book’s working title is Horse Whisperings, and Tabor feels it sums up his approach.

“What I try to do is let the horse whisper to me; I think that’s why I’m able to get the images that most photographers don’t. The horses are able to speak to me,” he says. But, this book isn’t an ego piece; it’s a collaboration, with essays by doctors, therapists, and equine professionals about how horses communicate. In addition, Tabor’s proceeds from the book are slated to support organizations with a connection to the equine world via children of autism, a cause he supports wholeheartedly.

“A lot of children with autism are able to work with horses even when they have challenges with human relationships. The horses help them feel comfortable. And there’s something going on with the kids, with their communication with the horse,” says Tabor.

He appreciates the book’s concept of listening to the whisper of the horse, and says it fits with his desire to support those with autism who, like the horse, are often not understood clearly. “So many people with autism were put in institutions because society didn’t recognize their gifts. But what happens if someone else can recognize and allow you to have those gifts?” he asks.

It’s a question that Tabor also seeks to answer for the horses in his images. “It takes time to listen and a sensitivity, to look at horses and not only admire them visually, but to watch them and try to hear what they’re saying.”

A Moment In Time

Tabor guides the viewer to concentrate their attention on the horse, and only the horse. The simplicity of the image, without distracting details, allows the focus to be on the outward projection and communication of the horse’s inner spirit, combined with the beauty of each horse’s form and contours. Through his photography, he’s able to transfer the peace and tranquility of the moment the shutter opens into a final image that inspires that same peace and tranquility in the viewer.

“If we can be quiet long enough, mentally in our own heads, to listen to what the horse is saying for us, we’ll get a stronger appreciation for the image,” says Tabor. We’ll also get a moment of respite from otherwise hectic lives, spent in thanks and appreciation for the horse.

http://bobtaborimages.com/

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