Bob McCarty Writes

Three months ago, I met Trine Bøhnsdalen on a bumpy twin-prop commuter flight from Grand Junction, Colo., to Denver. During the 55-minute flight, we became quick friends as I learned the 24-year-old student from Oslo, Norway, was working toward a professional photography degree at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Trina Bøhnsdalen sits in our kitchen, reviewing one of hundreds of photos she took of the Budweiser Clydesdales during a photo shoot Monday in St. Louis.

With my background in journalism and public affairs, we shared interesting conversation about the old and new media and, along the way, I learned that Trina was already a professional photographer, working to pay her way through school.  In fact, she was en route to Las Vegas where she was going to photograph the Rolex FEI World Cup horse show for a Norwegian online magazine, HEST (“Horse” in Norwegian).

Before the flight was over, we exchanged contact information, and I said, “If you’re ever in St. Louis, drop me a line.”

On Sunday afternoon, I checked my e-mail to find that this globetrotting Norwegian was passing through St. Louis and hoping to photograph the Budweiser Clydesdales while in town — and, oh yeah, she needed a place to stay.

My wife and I decided that, instead of referring her to a hostel in St. Louis, we would just offer her a bed in our home and give our three boys the opportunity to meet their first Norwegian.

I called her, offered the lodging, gave instructions to our home and, a few hours later, she arrived in her beat-up 1984 Subaru wagon with more than 200,000 miles and a bit of rust on it (see photos at right).

During some getting-to-know-you conversation, we learned she had spent a year living on a cattle ranch in the Australian Outback at age 19, had traveled some 3,000 miles so far this summer, had many miles to go before returning to Colorado for the fall semester — and she owns two cats and a dog.  Conversations came to an end around midnight.

Upon waking up this morning, my mission was to help Trine make connections for a short-notice photography session with the Clydesdales, perhaps the world’s most-photographed and popular horses.  A few well-placed phone calls — including one to a church acquaintance who works at Anheuser-Busch InBev — produced the results we were after. She was in!

Almost 10 hours later, Trina returned from her photo shoot with stories to tell and photos that captured her encounters with the 2,300-lb. giants, most of which stand over 20 hands high.

One more overnight stay at the McCarty household and Trina was back on the road, this time headed for Yankton, S.D., to what she called a “colt-starting” operation.  After that, her plans include stops in Wyoming and Montana as long as the Subaru cooperates.

Good luck, Trine!

UPDATE 5/12/10 at 10:38 p.m. Central: I found out that Trine has a new web site.  To check it out, click on this link (TriboPhotography.com) or click on the “HORSE PHOTOGRAPHY” widget in the left sidebar.