The name Frances (Frankie) Lund is a popular one on Canada’s east coast, especially if you are talking about photography. If you live on the Island and you’re involved in the harness racing industry, you have most likely noticed Frankie at the track with her camera in hand and there’s a good chance you’ve been noticed — and possibly captured — by the award-winning photographer.

Frances Lund of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, captured this image of Cy Poirier giving young Jaxon Merner a lesson on holding the reins at Dusty Lane Farms in Cornwall, P.E.I. The photo is featured as the July image in the Heart of Harness Racing Calendar.

While working at a local grocery store throughout the pandemic, Lund stayed very busy, leaving little time for photography and the horses.

“I work for Loblaws doing computer ordering that controls the stock levels in the store and I never stopped during the pandemic. As an essential worker I put in a lot of extra time and things were a tad bit crazy, especially in the toilet paper aisle!”

Once things slowed down at her workplace and toilet paper became less “essential”, she took advantage of the spring weather and headed out to Dusty Lane Farms with her camera in tow.

“One spring afternoon I biked out to the farm, as horses always make things better and the track was on lockdown, so I headed to a spot where I knew things would be as normal as they could be during the pandemic.”

The afternoon trip to the farm provided Lund with the spur-of-the-moment photo op. Jaxon — who should have been at daycare that day — was at the farm with his dad, Adam Merner, as child care facilities were closed across the province due to the pandemic. Jaxon didn’t mind at all, as he got to spend his days hanging out with the horses at his newfound “daycare” – Dusty Lane Farms.

Last summer when the tracks reopened in P.E.I., Frankie was able to forget about stocking toilet paper and got back to helping with the horses. She spent some time working with the MacGregor family over the summer and then followed that by helping Woodmere Farms at the yearling sale last fall.

“I feel very lucky to be on P.E.I. where life has returned to normal pretty quickly, we got to race last year and we are racing now, although masks are required at the moment. I am looking forward to Old Home Week this year, and hopefully I will get to see some friends from outside the Atlantic bubble.”