Photographer Will Meneke can’t speak, but he can see. Through sight and an ever-expanding perspective on life, he is creating a body of work that captures horses, their world and their people in surprising frames and telling moments and from unusual angles.



His portfolio includes straight-forward portraits and action shots, but the real Will emerges elsewhere: in a close-up of a booted foot pressing into a stirrup, a hoofprint in arena sand, or a saddle draped over a rail. “I like to find something extraordinary in the ordinary and where most do not expect to find interest,” says Will in an interview conducted via e-mail.
Northern California equestrians were the first to find interest in Will’s work. He considers himself blessed to have hooked up with eventing trainer and competitor Bea DiGrazia. She trains Will’s Friesian, Jake, and is one of three horse-world friends who have pushed Will to get his lens and his vantage point out into the local equestrian community.
Will’s photograph of the horse Waccara was featured on the cover of the Pebble Beach Dressage Classic this year, and he is currently working on an image that will most likely grace next year’s program and poster.
The intermittent loss of his voice began in 1999 and was attributed to allergies for the first few years. In 2002, Will had a bout so severe he could barely breathe. The subsequent diagnosis was cancer of the larynx and surgery to remove it followed in July of that year. His initial recovery entailed a month and a half in the hospital. During his stay, Will overheard doctors predict he’d never leave and the now 58-year-old lost 27 pounds from his already thin, six-foot frame.

Unseen Horse Pulls Will Through
Will hadn’t yet met Jake, but it was thoughts of his new horse that pulled him through. On the recommendation of artist, friend and mentor Lesley Harrison, Will purchased Jake shortly after his surgery. The desire to meet and work with the horse proved as powerful a medicine as the post-surgery radiation Will underwent.
Had Will known that balance problems would be one of his many new challenges, he might not have switched from his long beloved, smooth riding Peruvian Pasos to a big, bouncy trotting Friesian. That didn’t matter too much at first because Will initially worked with Jake by driving him. In 20-plus years of managing Roger and Dodie Williams’ eight-acre ranch in Carmel Valley, Will had taught himself and his previous horses, a Peruvian Paso and a Quarter Horse, to drive.
As his partnership with Jake evolved, Will saw Jake’s potential and sought help polishing it. Another influential friend, equine masseuse Thea Montella, recommended Bea DiGrazia. A well-known eventer who excels equally in dressage competition, Bea quickly brought out the best in Jake. During Pebble Beach dressage shows this past summer, the pair dominated Training Level classes. By early fall, they were doing the same at First Level. Perhaps most important are the ways in which Jake’s improving under-saddle dressage abilities have translated to his driven dressage work with Will. “It has brought me so much closer to Jake,” Will says.



Bea also managed to coax Will back into the saddle. Despite his physical challenges, Bea cuts Will no slack. “She works me on the lunge line, with no stirrups and no reins,” says Will. “I think Bea enjoys it!” The resulting balance in the saddle has translated to better balance on his feet, although that remains a recurring challenge.
A horseman and rider throughout all of his years on the ranch, Will knows he may never regain his former physical astride a steed. But his horses and the people they’ve led him to have provided the inspiration to take on, and see the bright side of, a lifestyle that is totally different from his pre-cancer existence.
Fixing fences, hauling hay and building barns were the norm of Will’s work at the Williams’ Rancho De Los Establos Verdes (Ranch of the Green Stables) since he started with the family in 1983. “I was a jack of all trades and good at all of them,” Will relays. Sitting at a computer for hours on end, futzing with Photoshop, and learning the finer points of dressage were not on Will’s radar screen throughout those years.
Today, Will’s youngest of two adult sons, Mica, does most of the physical labor involved in running the ranch. Since Roger Williams passed away two years ago, the stable is no longer a boarding facility. Will cares for the Williams’ remaining Peruvian stallion, Q, in exchange for Jake’s board.

Camera Is New Voice
If he could still speak, Will admits he’d have a choice word here and there for the radical lifestyle changes cancer foisted upon him. But mostly he’s too busy getting on with his new career and putting his altered perspective to the best possible use.
A year after the surgery, Will was strong enough to enroll in photography and computer classes. He views the computer expertise required as a necessary evil but loves the photography end of his new career.
He started shooting crows, skeletons and horses. The photos he took at a dressage clinic were so popular that riders invited Will to the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center to take more. That led to him submitting ideas for the 2006 dressage show program cover. The committee selected the portrait of Waccara, the image that also represented Will’s first sale, to the horse’s owner Lynn Roberts Johnson.
Equine and equestrian portraiture came fairly easily, “but my action shots were terrible at first,” Will admits. Here again, Bea DiGrazia was a huge influence. She helped him identify which instants of action horse people are most interested in.
Whether it’s an action shot or an abstract image, Will employs all of his new knowledge with enthusiasm. Some photographs are printed as they were shot, and some are altered with various degrees of digital effects, from mild tweaks to strong blurring.
The camera, a Canon EOS Rebel 8, is Will’s new voice. “Losing my voice has forced me to learn how to express myself on a more personal level. It has allowed me to learn from others and to meet new people.” With or without a voice, Will says words cannot express his gratitude to those who have made his new path possible. Bea DiGrazia, Lesley Harrison and Thea Montella top that list.
“Before cancer, I had my job and not much outside influence,” Will continues. “I would have missed all the opportunities that are open to me now.”
You can contact Will Meneke at jalapino@redshift.com.