OklahomaHorses Magazine January 2022

January/February 2022 • OklahomaHorses 11 STILLWATER 502 E. 6th Ave Stillwater, OK 74074 405-372-2766 DAVIS 205 South A St Davis, OK 73030 580-369-2354 CLAREMORE 721 W. 6th St. Claremore, OK 74017 918-341-0933 PERRY 205 Gene Taylor Perry, OK 73077 580-336-2168 For all of your winter animal needs! said. “It’s ironic because Erin and Kelby are some of the people I shoot for the most still today. I feel like I grew up with them a little bit in this endeavor of mine.” To the Races Simancik has harbored an affinity for horse racing for as long as she can remember. That was further cultivated while she worked for Carter, who is also fond of Thoroughbreds. Alex Evers had photographed one particular racehorse, Zenyatta. Obsessed with the photo Evers had taken of the Breeders’ Cup champion, Simancik made it a goal to shoot at a racetrack one day. “I had been following Alex for awhile, and I was waiting to see if he would ever do a photo workshop,” Simancik said. “As soon as he announced he was doing a workshop with Scott Serio, I knew I had to go. Everything was working against me because it was in March, the middle of breeding season. But I had to go.” Shooting from the side of a racetrack is significantly different from the pastures and arenas Simancik had cut her teeth on. The first day of the workshop was a strug- gle, but some one-on-one guidance from Evers was just what Simancik needed. “The next few days were really awe- some, and I ended up being the most improved student in the class,” Simancik said. “Because of that, I got to choose what race I wanted to shoot. I chose the Breeders’ Cup. That workshop really taught me how to think outside of the box.” Photojournalism is a very differ- ent beast from the photography style Simancik was first introduced to. Where she normally had the option to cut out intrusive objects, now she had to work on positioning and angles on the unforgiving racetrack. “Learning how to look for different views helped me a lot for shooting in the cow-horse arena and even reining arena,” Simancik said. “Everyone is kind of shooting the same picture for those events, but that workshop really taught me how to make my shots different from the rest.” In December 2020, Simancik took a leap of faith by quitting her job with Carter so she could take her photography to the next level. “It was a really hard decision to make because I didn’t want to leave the horses or people I was working with at Dr. Carter’s,” Simancik said. “It was definitely the right decision for me, though. This is the first time that I’ve really done something of my own with my talent and not for anybody else.” Stepping into photography full time has ironically kept Simancik on the road even more than working her previous job along- side it did. All clients are important and special to Simancik simply because they are trusting her to capture a moment in time that they will look back on for many years. Simancik is looking forward to another year of serving her clients and continuing to improve her skills for them. “I’ve gotten so many incredible oppor- tunities that I can’t even begin to list them all,” Simancik said. “I’ve gotten to shoot so many great horses and their riders, and it’s just been an amazing ride so far.”