Beyond The Lens is a new monthly blog looking at some of our favorite photos and what motivated us to take them. Interested in scheduling a photoshoot with Pyrois Media? Email Melissa@PyroisMedia.comfor more information.

Wake ForestI often find the paddock before races to be a unique situation while shooting. It is a challenging area to get good shots because of how hectic it is and truthfully, you often can’t get a great angle for shots. But that challenge is also what makes it fun.

When I’m in the paddock before races, I often focus on trying to capture the horses with their game faces on. It is an extremely interesting study to me to see how different horses handle the pressure of racing. You can tell a lot about the animal by their pre-race behavior and it also gives you a good idea of how they’re going to run. If you know how the horse usually acts on race day, this period lets you know if they’re feeling like themselves or if they’re feeling a bit “off”.

While some horses are calm in the paddock, others are on their toes from the second they head over from the barn to the time they’re put back in their stall.

European shipper Wake Forest was a horse in the middle of those two types during the 2015 Arlington Million. While he did a good job to control his excitement, you could see that he was ready to run. Luckily for this photo, a monsoon hit the track in the hour before the Million and led to the perfect shot.

Wake Forest was wet enough that the combination of a bit of water and the horse on the muscle led to a painting-like look to the shot. I saw this photo on the viewfinder right after I took it and was hopeful that it wasn’t one of those that just looked good on the camera but horrible on the computer – thankfully, my camera didn’t dash my dreams when I moved it over to my computer!

Wake Forest finished sixth in the race (but went on to win a North American Grade 1 after he was purchased by U.S. connections) but I’ll always remember his appearance in the race more for this shot than his performance.

Completing the perfect shot, I only had to darken it a bit due to the lighting changing right before I took it. It went on to run in an America’s Best Racing story about the Million day races and is one I always point out as one of my all-time favorites.

Wake Forest was retired in November 2018 with over $950,000 in earnings and hangs out at Old Friends. You can learn more about his new home here.