During these months of shutdown, I find myself doing a lot of walking through fields and ponds, visiting my equine friends, and going through photos. As I excavate through thousands of memories via reference photos, I'm always trying to decide what to work on... vacillating from horses to wildlife to birds to landscapes, never quite making up my mind, but doing a lot of gathering and remembering.

And then, I came across some of my Assateague Island files. The wild horses of Assateague Island have held a special place in my heart since I first discovered them as a young reader through Marguerite Henry's books; visiting the island through the past few years has only deepened that connection.

And so it was that I found a memory of a stallion known as Corky – a series of photos of him in April 2019 on a rainy day in Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland. The weather was cold and wet, but I remember spending the time observing and photographing this stallion watching over a couple of mares. His look said so much that I felt it was worthy of attempting to capture both his attitude and his spirit – reminding me of the wild freedom of nature. I find that comforting.