Assateague island

Assateague Island: Wild Horses /  by Masumi Taguchi

Last month I headed out to the east coast for a zouk congress. Since I was heading out all the way to the other side of the continent, I decided to make a trip to go just a bit further east: to Assateague Island, the land of wild horses. Wild. Beach. Horses.

One week prior to heading out to the island, the weather forecasted that the days I would stay there would be thunder storming. I had no idea how I would get photographs of these horses with film, especially in dark, gloomy, rainy weather. I wondered whether I would be spending my time and finance to get zero pictures of the horses. 

The days approaching my visit to the island came near, and on the night driving out to Virginia near Chincoteague Island, I indeed drove amongst many beautiful streaks of lightning. It was definitely thunder storming. Super dark. 

I was doomed.

The next day arrived, the day that I would spend seeking out the horses. Somehow, the thunderstorm was gone. The sky showed a beautiful blue with sunshine. In fact, too much sunshine. It was so hot haha. So hot that I was worried it would affect my film. Yes it was hot, sticky weather but at the very least, my chances of getting photos taken significantly increased. In regards to the weather I told myself, "I'll take it."

I first visited Chincoteague Island, hearing that the horses are there as well. No horses, but beautiful scenery. After inquiring I found out that the horses come out during the sunrise and sunset (can you tell I don't plan trips very well?), so I headed up north to Assateague Island to catch them for sunset.

For a while I didn't see many horses. Definitely none on the beach like I saw pictures of on Google. I decided to lounge around, hang out for a bit and practice being patient. "Don't take too many pictures." "Wait until sunset." Switching to medium format, I really had to be careful with how many photos I took. A few hours after hanging out and getting sweatier, sunset finally arrived. The wait was worth it. I headed out to the beach, and bam. Horses on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed. It was so serene. The horses sitting on the beach was such a majestic thing to see, so graceful, so powerful, so beautiful. At that moment life made sense. Moments like these are what I live for, what I travel for.

Except this one. Negative grace points for this one haha.

More photos soon, my traveling friends.

Masumi