144 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
A Starving Artist
Horses became the focal point of Barry’s work when he and his
wife, Laura, moved into their current home, a seven-acre farm in
Aiken, South Carolina. They needed a revenue source to support
Laura’s passion for rescue animals.
“We call my wife, Laura, rescue ranger,” he said. “If there is
a dog [or horse] in trouble or in danger of being put down, we
take it in. She regularly volunteers at and supports Danny & Ron’s
Rescue and the Equine Rescue of Aiken.”
With 11 rescue dogs and a barn full of horses, “the feed bill was
getting ridiculous.” To offset the expense of rescuing the animals,
they started a small business out of the house.
Barry began drawing and painting horses and scenes depicting
the equestrian life and selling the artwork on eBay. “I take pictures
or images of foxhunting I like, I do a painting and put them on
eBay,” he said. “I’ve sold thousands of dollars of work on eBay to
people all over the world.”
The duo also capitalized on the growing popularity of digital
photography. Expecting that virtually everyone would become a
self-proclaimed photographer and would be searching for ways to
create high quality reproductions of their images to display in their
homes, Barry and Laura opened a photo canvas business.
“There are more iPhone cameras than all other cameras
combined, or some crazy statistic like that,” he said. “If we offered
the service to print people’s pictures, I thought it would be a great
business for the future.”
What neither of them expected was that clients would rather
hire Barry to take the photo and produce it on canvas rather than
use a photo they had taken themselves. “The canvas is a great
supplement, but it actually gained me more photography work,”
he said.
The canvas business catapulted Barry’s career of shooting
equine events from hunters and jumpers, foxhunts to three-day
events, carriage driving competitions and private photo shoots.
His talents as an artist are well appreciated in Aiken, a
community known for its equestrians and dog lovers.
Word of Barry’s talents spread quickly through the region and
he has been hired for private commission paintings from several
clients. His work is displayed at local shops and is available at
Equine Divine and Aiken Dry Goods.
Laura is also getting involved with the photography business.
As a former jumper, who trained with Harry de Leyer and Pablo
Gamboa, she has a natural instinct for timing each shot perfectly.
“She has great timing and knows how a horse is
supposed to look and she is learning the technical
side of the camera,” he said.
Every artist has a critic
But while Barry may have a massive fan base,
he is not without doubters. Oddly enough, one of
Barry’s critics is his own son.
One day Barry and his son were having
a conversation about his artwork. “We were
discussing how good or not so good of an artist I
am,” he laughed. “I told him, I bet I can do a picture
of a horse’s ass and sell it.”
Excited by the challenge, he went out and shot a
photo of an Appaloosa’s rump. Then, he went home
and did a painting from the photo. He offered it for
sale on eBay. “It sold instantly!” he said.
The rapid sale settled the debate. “I see beauty
in everything,” he said. “Being able to capture it and
impact someone is so satisfying.”
For more information or to see additional
samples of Barry’s work, visit his website www.
barrykosterphotography.com or call his studio at (803) 955-7170.
Acrylic on stretched canvas – Barry’s wonderful Dalmatians
kissing.
Photo montage - Two Aiken Icons, Oak Ally South Boundary Street and Jack
Wetzel’s four-in-hand.
Acrylic on stretched canvas - Canadian hounds hunting with the
Whiskey Road Foxhounds.
