Charley and Destiny Equine-imity ARTIST VALERIE SHAFF is lying on her back while we talk. "I just came back from the barn and from yoga;' she laughs. "And I'm just getting over a bOllt with Lyme disease.</p><p> It's been very challenging." Photographer Valerie Shaff captures the dignity and personality of the horse.</p><p> Based in upstate New York's Germantown, Shaff has worked in every possible way as a photographer: she's done everything from wedding photography to advertising, celebrity portraits for national magazines, and private commissions.</p><p> By Michael Giltz /~, S HOW C IRe U IT (154: ''---_/ FAlL 2006 Suzanna the Horse Whisperer Shaff is probably best known for her witty, respectful focus on animals, which led to a series of best-selling books with hu morist Roy Blunt Jr. that include If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You: True Portraits of Dogs to Am I Pig Enough for You Yet: Voices of the Barnyard.</p><p> Currently, amidst all her professional obligations, Shaff do nates time to Puppies Behind Bars, an organization that brings prisoners and puppies together so that the puppies can be so cialized and trained and, ultimately, work as service dogs and seeing-eye dogs for the blind.</p><p> That volunteer work led Shaff to a current project where she does portraits of prisoners who have successfully transition ed back into society.</p><p> Still, from that first Kodak camera Shaff received when she was 8 years old to today, one constant has been her fascination with and love of horses. "I wasn't the horsiest of little girls;' recalls Shaff, who is 50. "There was always a group of girls who were referred to as 'the horses' and they galloped around at recess and had long pony tails.</p><p> I was not a 'horse,' per se, but I always certainly loved hors es.</p><p> I grew up in Hastings-on-Hudso n, which is suburban, though pretty, so there weren't a lot of horses there.</p><p> So whenev er we went on vacation and any horse we crossed paths with, I had to shoot them." Perhaps one reason Shaff finds horses so fascinating to pho-tograph is the difficulty it presents. "Horses are so challenging;' states Shaff. "What I'm interest ed in when I photograph animals-besides wanting to make something that's formally beautiful-I like to monument alize the specific animal and really capture its personality.</p><p> You can manipulate dogs in many ways, for example; they're very re sponsive to people.</p><p> Whereas horses are by and large not nearly as interested in people as dogs are.</p><p> To get them to do something you want them to do-when you're not on their back-is very difficult:' Off course, getting horses to do what you want even when you're on their back isn't always so simple either! "I ride at a wonderful, wonderful equestrian center called Southlands Foundation ;' Shaff describes. "It was established by a woman named Deborah Dows.</p><p> When the family estate was being divided up, she asked for the south lands and created this equestrian center.</p><p> The people who teach there were her original students.</p><p> It's a beautiful land concern as well as being an eques trian center. ''I'm not such an equestrian that no matter where I live I would make a point of riding, but I ride here because South lands exists.</p><p> It's such a beautiful place, and the horses are so well-treated.</p><p> We probably have some of the best school horses that any barn has ever had." SHOW CIRCUIT @ FAll 2006
