Jason Turnbull is the photographer behind the lens for the July image in Standardbred Canada’s Heart of Harness Racing Calendar. Pictured is Jason's son, Justin, watching over the horses at his Great Uncle Fraser's farm in Dominion, Nova Scotia.
Jason lives down the road from his Uncle’s farm, and the horse paddock runs behind all of the properties on the street. On this particular day, two horses had stopped in behind Jason’s yard and he decided to grab the camera and snap some photos!
“I always wanted to get a shot of Justin with the horses in the background. My whole thought process on this photo was to have him standing there with the horses behind him like he was looking out at his future dream.”
Justin is pictured rocking the same set of custom racing colours that he was sporting last year in the winner’s circle at the Little Brown Jug. Jason took 12-year-old Justin on a road trip from the Maritimes to spend the week at Ohio’s Delaware County Fair. There is where Justin was lucky enough to be invited into the Little Brown Jug winner’s circle by trainer Bill MacKenzie, who had met the Turnbulls at the Jug barn earlier in the week. And to top it all off, Mackenzie gifted Justin with the winning trophy.
This story was featured on the SC website in September 2019 and Justin is just as happy to be highlighted in the calendar.
“You have no idea how excited Justin was to be in the calendar, he keeps reminding everybody that his picture is going to be coming up soon and to watch out for it on the Standardbred Canada website!”
Aside from Jason’s passion for harness racing, he has been a professional photographer for over 25 years, and currently works in shipping and receiving for an electronics retailer.
“I picked up photography at a young age, I learned as I went and had a chance to go away and do a lot of travelling at some nice locations and travel the world and learn from some good guys,” Jason (right) explained. “I do have a side business shooting weddings. I did sports photography for 12 years and have pretty much had a hand in a little bit of everything.”
Although he and Justin don’t own any horses, he does dream of one day getting a broodmare for the two of them to show Justin his family roots.
“I really love that new video that The Reklaws did, ‘you wouldn't know unless you've been through it’, and that explains everything. You watch that video and you get chills because it’s so true. I remember the track I went to when I was young was Tartan Downs in Sydney, N.S., and I remember after the races running around the track with the other kids and then I got to the point where I was old enough to help walk the horse, wash the horse and gear the horse, so things went right from the beginning to where they are now for me.”