Out Horsing Around . . . Le Prix de Diane . . .

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It's time to take a little break from abandoned factories and cemeteries or rolling rust heaps of old cars; today I was just out horsing around a bit. Chantilly is to France what Ascot is to England or Louisville is to the USA for hosting prestigious horse racing events. This afternoon the Prix de Diane was held at the Hippodrome of Chantilly ; people from all over the world were there to watch the horses run, and just to relax and have a little fun dressing up for a grand picnic on a fine Spring afternoon. The horses ran for all they were worth. (which is a pretty penny, no doubt) As your roving reporter in France of everything under the sun, I wanted to get these photos out to you while they were hot off the press. All told I clicked roughly 370 shots today. Which is not to say that all 370 are any good, but a good time was had by all, which is what matters. More photos will no doubt follow at a later date, but here is a small selection. It was nice to totally forget about work and taxes and the news for a bit, caught up in the excitement of thundering hooves.
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The Prix de Diane is filmed and broadcast live to a large audience, and there were photographers swarming the event as well. I liked this camera person's purple hair.
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Very fine looking picnics were spread out on blankets and tables everywhere; it looked like the champagne was flowing liberally. (which might appeal to some of you readers out there, you know who you are !)
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This lady even had a race happening right on her hat. Hats for the ladies are of course obligatory, and they take on a wondrous variety of forms and colors. It is obvious that huge amounts of time, effort, creativity, and certainly cost go into producing some of these amazing chapeaux. The ladies' hats sort of steal the show from the horse racing. It was clear to me that most of the photographers present were focusing more on the hat-scapes than on the horses.
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Some of the attire visible there gets into the domain of the theatrical.
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Her seahorse earrings were particularly enchanting. I could hear the mermaids singing.
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My goodness, there was even an Eiffel Tower hat, taking us to new heights of millinery creativity. I will let you peruse the following series of ladies in hats without further comments to distract you. I've never thought I'd ever do any fashion photography, but I have to admit to having had a rather good time out shooting today. If you happened to be a magazine editor, would you want any of these images to illustrate a story about the Prix de Diane ?
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Near the end of the afternoon I stumbled on a gentleman who was painting horse and jockey images on copies of the racing program. Which brings us to the end of the show for today. But stay tuned for more hats and horses to come.
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