Photoessay: The Sport of Kings

Photoessay: The Sport of Kings

lakewood-ranch-polo

We experienced our first ever polo match yesterday, and I have to admit, I enjoyed it more than I expected. Not only that, but my vocabulary grew a bit as well. For example, I now know what a chukker is and when it is OK to divot stomp. And polo ponies, by the way, are not ponies at all, they are highly trained, very agile horses.

lakewood-ranch-polo

lakewood-ranch-polo

lakewood-ranch-polo

I also learned it is hard to photograph this fast-moving sport. The action must be shot with a very fast telephoto lens, and a high shutter speed and ISO setting. Even then, the success rate is very low.lakewood-ranch-polo

lakewood-ranch-polo
The Sport of Kings is great fun to watch and a challenge to photograph; I look forward to many more matches this season at Sarasota Polo at Lakewood Ranch. I say this, to be honest, because polo matches are all the excuse the spectators need to party up and down the sidelines. And it’s been this way since the 6th Century when some king in ancient Persia invented the game. It’s called the sport of Kings for a reason.

lakewood-ranch-pololakewood-ranch-polo

Ron Mayhew

Fine Art Photographer specializing in Still Life and Commercial Photography.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Yep. There’s horses in the post. Of course I’m going to love it ! 🙂

  2. It is indeed challenging to take photos for this event, but the shots are great. Nice post. 🙂

  3. Nice work! I can only imagine the challenge. Beautiful horses!

  4. Great pictures!! I have never seen a polo match but i might have to check one out. Thanks for the post.

    1. Thanks. This was a first for us. Very enjoyable to watch.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Ron Mayhew

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading