Dallas Gerbrandt from Steinbach works as an Arabian Horse Photographer for Arabian Horse Times Magazine, and he was recently nominated for a pretty prestigious award.

Each December, The Arabian Horse Times has nominations for a large variety of categories under Reader’s Choice, and the one Gerbrandt was nominated for is Photographer of the Year. 

When he found out he was nominated, he was in disbelief. 

“Somebody made a post and I was like, ‘why is my name on there?’ It completely shocked me, so I messaged my friend, ‘did you do this?’ She just laughs at me, she's like, ‘no!’ And I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me because the people that are on there are phenomenal photographers. It's wild to me.” 

He is still in shock at receiving the nomination. 

“I just feel that all these people are the professionals, and I'm just doing it for fun and for a hobby and because I love it.” 

Gerbrandt takes atmosphere photos around the showgrounds at major horse shows. 

“I get the camaraderie between people and the horses, champions coming out of the ring when they're meeting up with their family members and they're celebrating. I'm there to capture those moments.” 

His favourite photos to take are of the halter classes, where the horses are getting amped up before they go into the ring. 

“There you have a very short window to capture these moments, and I've captured a couple that have been used quite widely for advertisements and cover photos and stuff like that, just from a couple of those shots that I've got.” 

He notes his interest in Arabian horses started out as a kid, as he grew up on a farm with them. 

“On the farm, I was always with my horses. I was outside quite often, and when the horses were out there, so was I, in their stalls, making sure they had water, jumping on their back, whatever.” 

His family bred Arabian horses, so he had the chance at a young age to go to some farms that were in Minnesota and see the national champions. 

“A couple of our horses were at one of these farms, so it was cool to see them up close and personal, and that's kind of probably where my obsession began.” 

Gerbrandt says his face was always in the Arabian Horse Times Magazine, and he would cut out the pictures of all of his favorite horses and put them up on his bedroom wall. 

He is happy to now be a photographer for the same magazine he used to cut horse photos out of. 

 

Below are a few photos that Dallas Gerbrandt has captured throughout his career.

 

With files from Corny Rempel