Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
September 2nd, 2018.
Super Derby Day at Louisiana Downs.
The first five races were soaked in sun. Not a hint of rain, and none was expected. In fact, the sixth race – the $60,000 Elge Rasberry Stakes – would be run on the turf course. A track never runs a race on grass when there is a good chance of clouds crying.
“When I went outside, it wasn’t raining. (The weather) looked perfectly fine.”
As post time neared, the track’s photographer placed her remote camera on one side of the finish line. She then took her position on the other side, with her hand-held camera, ready to click and capture the winning horse’s nostril figuratively touching the finish line.
Just as the race was about to start, she glanced to her right and saw her son, who was in his spot to take a head-on picture of horses barreling down the stretch.
“He’s jumping all around. Waving. Doing all this stuff like you see in the cartoons. He’s pointing at the barns. I looked over at the barns, and you could see a wall of rain coming. This gray wall moving towards the track.”
Remember, rain wasn’t even in the forecast.
“I had nothing to protect me and the cameras. Absolutely nothing. No raincoat. Absolutely nothing. I quickly ran over and grabbed the remote camera and put it under some bushes. That’s all I had.”
But she did have her other camera.
“I was in shorts and a shirt. I think I tried to hide it under my shirt as long as I could. I took it out to take photos, then I put it back under my shirt.”
Yes Gorgeous beat nine competitors. Afterwards, Ann, in the dryness of her office, sat down to look at the winning shot – not expecting much.
“I was really happy with how it turned out . . . . It’s one of my top five photos.” (See the picture at the end of this story).
Ann Switalski, Louisiana Downs’ 53-year-old track photographer, told me that story, and her story, during lunch at a place she chose – Another Broken Egg Café’ in Shreveport. Ann enjoyed Bourbon Street pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and decaffeinated coffee (caffeine gives her migraine headaches). I had a cup of seafood gumbo and a half order of the blackened shrimp salad. I have never had as much as a sip of coffee, so I drank water with lemon.
“It’s my job,” Ann said of getting soaked for the sake of the shot. “I have to do it, come hell or high water. And the high water came. It was just pouring.”
While photographing horses is Ann’s job, it is also – and perhaps more so – her passion. Growing up in Michigan an only child, Ann wanted a horse but never had one.
“(My best friend) and I were surrounded by horse farms. We would walk around these country roads and walk up to the fences and pet the horses. I had a neighbor who had four retired horses. We spent a lot of time at his farm reaching over the fence and petting horses.”
Eventually, Ann would get her horse, though she didn’t have it long.
“It was a match made in hell. I had just learned how to ride, and the horse was three years old and very green. It had very few miles on it.”
Ann quickly – as in one day – sold the horse.
“This will be a big test,” Ann remembers thinking. “When I see an empty stall, how do I feel? Do I feel relieved, or do I feel, ‘Ok, I want another horse.’”
The answer?
“I want another horse.”
Ann now has two horses which – along with three goats and six cats – live the good life on a Keithville farm they share with Ann and her husband of 30 years, Tony. (Good name). The Switalski’s also have a farm in Michigan.
“When you talk to people who have committed their life to having horses in their life, we’re different. There’s just something different about a horse person. There’s this animal that is going to take up (she spaces her hands far apart) this much of your time, this much of your money, and is going to cause you major heartbreak at some point. You can’t imagine life without them.”
Ann didn’t plan on being a horse photographer – or any kind of photographer, for that matter. But she was fascinated by horses which jump hurdles during competition. Ann had tried taking their pictures but couldn’t quite get the timing right. So, while working for a veterinarian at the track, Ann began taking photos of morning workouts, hoping to improve her skills.
That led to voluntarily helping out the man who was then the Downs’ track photographer. He told Ann that if she practiced, she could help him shoot the Super Derby. She did, then raced off to attend a wedding. It was there where she got confirmation of a job well done.
“(He) sent me a message that said, ‘I sent in your photo and your turn shot. It was released to the press, so you’re now a published photographer.’ That photo did go on to be the cover shot on Louisiana Horse Magazine. I have that one printed out and hung on the wall. My first magazine cover. It was exciting.”
Ann was hired to take pictures of the next quarter horse meet. She received two weeks of training. Two weeks too little.
“I cried a lot. The lighting is terrible with quarter horses. You have shadows to deal with. The horses are running on the track in the sun, and now they’re in the shadow.”
There’s another problem Ann had – and still has – to overcome when photographing quarter horse races, as opposed to thoroughbred races.
“Thuroughbreds have the time and distance to try to get close to the inside rail. Quarter horses, a lot of times, they run (in a straight line) from the gate. So, they can be really close to me . . . . In seven seconds, you have to decide who is going to win the race. Is it the horse closest to you, or is it the horse farthest away from you? Then, you have to adjust your camera appropriately. I will admit there are times I think for sure it’s going to be the one farthest away from me and I zoom in tight. Then, all of a sudden, Boom! It’s the horse in front of me. Luckily, that’s only happened a few times. It’s not a pretty photo.”
When you and I watch a race, whether it be in person or on television, we see the big picture. But, Ann, looking through a tiny viewfinder but with help from a powerful lens, sees so much more.
“When I’m watching the jockeys, I am watching how they’re riding. How they’re positioned in the stirrups. They only have their toe in the stirrups. And they’re riding on a saddle that’s so small, it’s like a placemat. It’s just so tiny. So, I appreciate their skill.”
“Having the extensive physic classes I’ve had with an engineering degree, when I see the different strides of a horse, the stride that just amazes me is when a horse is on one foot. Every single other foot is off the ground. Just that one foot is supporting the whole animal . . . . I look at that one leg, and my brain starts calculating all the force on that one leg. It just amazes me what a horse can do.”
Ann herself does a couple of things which are pretty amazing. While most track photographers sell their pictures of morning workouts, Ann gives hers away.
“We have a lot of exercise riders who are not local to the area . . . . They love to have pictures to send to their family. I can really empathize with them. This is their job. They are working so hard with these horses which are not easy to ride because they’re young. They can’t afford photos. So, I throw them on Facebook and say, ‘They’re here. Take them. Copy them. Send them. Do whatever you want with them.”
Also, one weekend a year, Ann takes the money she makes from taking race photos and donates it to a pet rescue. In fact, every Monday morning, you can find Ann at Shreveport-Bossier Animal Rescue, cleaning and feeding.
“It’s an important part of the community. I really want to try and help out, and encourage others to volunteer and be part of the solution.”
Resisting the urge to show Ann a selfie of me holding a $2.40 winning ticket and inquiring as to if it was a good picture, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about her life that she would like to impart upon others?
“If you’re really, really interested in doing something, try it. There’s a saying, ‘Don’t be afraid to suck at something new.’ You can’t expect to be perfect right off the bat. Get involved with something, and learn and grow. If you want to be better, get better. Don’t let someone talk you out of it.”
And always be prepared, no matter the weather forecast.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.
