The Two Riders

I have a whole mental list of "pictures I missed" in my head, and I saw another today. It's a stormy day, brooding and dark, wet but not actually raining. I was outdoors. The waterfall was roaring from yesterday's dawn-to-dusk rain. I heard a sound that must have been deeply familiar to most people around the world as recently as a hundred and fifty years ago, although it might have been more muffled in the days before asphalt roads: the clatter of horses' hooves approaching.

Two young Mennonite girls on horseback appeared riding side-by-side at a fast canter, one riding a big bay and the other a big chestnut, heads covered with the traditional white caps or bonnets, dressed in dark winter coats, their long dresses flowing out behind them, their expressions intent and their cheeks rosy from the cold. One was an uncommonly beautiful young blonde girl I know of; I know her father. She looked wild and free. The other I didn't recognize. Running behind them was a dog that might have been a Springer spaniel, striving to keep up. Almost as soon as they appeared they were gone.

It was like a scene from Washington Irving*, or an apparition from out of the past. Lovely.

Mike

*If you've never read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, you should. It's terrific. Here's the opening:

Here's a nice edition. If you look on used book sites, search for "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." The Heritage Press edition is serviceable; but the best illustrations are, no surprise, Arthur Rackham's.

Original contents copyright 2018 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Rich Beaubien: "'It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by every one who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative, to dream dreams, and see apparitions.' —The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

Comments

[Lukasz Kruk]

http://www.unphotographable.com/ is a whole site of these missed - or just imagined - photos. A kind of anti-photoblog.

[Kodachromeguy]

Washington Irving was also our minister to Spain and wrote Tales of the Alhambra, which is very interesting. How cool is it to live in one of the world's great works of architecture and art?

[Mark Sampson]

Such moments of grace that fall your way do not need to be photographed. The important thing is the recognition of that grace. But if you do get to make the photograph, that's good too.

[Rob Campbell]

Mike, some shots are best not shot, but left as beautiful memories.

Get them down on whichever medium, and the flaws come to life the minute you clap eyes of the things; others may not pick 'em up, but you will.

I base this on a personal record of never feeling happy enough with anything I've shot. It makes me think HC-B might have been putting on the greatest scam in photographic history: the concept of the decisive moment.

[Rob Campbell]

Further to Rich: The never-never land... Peter Pan.

The things I remember - but those I forget are often more important.

:-(

[Mark Jennings]

I’m don’t think my reaction is unique.

My experiences like that one with the riders sometimes inspire ideas in me that I sooner or later come to again or deliberately go after. The interval can be years or decades, but the good stuff sticks in the mind.

The subsequent opportunities can be better than the first. And it seems that a lot of my involvement in photography has been tracking down or laying in wait for stuff I should have gotten right off but didn’t.

[David Brown]

Wonderful post. No photo required.

[Scott McDonough]

Washington Irving's stomping grounds are where I take my weekend hikes in Rockefeller State Park.

[Dave]

Mike,

I have to agree with David Brown's comment. The descriptions of the waterfall, the horses' hooves, the girls, the dog striving to keep up, are far better than what I would have discerned from a still photo.

[Jason Melancon]

Oh man, do I resonate with this. I have an interior slideshow of lovely epiphanic (is that a word?) moments that for whatever reason I couldn't record with a camera. It's like a great gallery with the one drawback that I can't share it with anyone. I think most photographers must have something like this.

Although I should say, your written description of this moment was art in another medium.