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Hoosier woman horse-watches with pen and camera

By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

MILTON, Ind. — A camera is far less expensive than a tractor or combine, but no less a tool of agriculture for one central Indiana native.

Growing up in Dublin, Shelley Davis – then Abrams – was the only girl among the children in her neighborhood, so she learned to play the boys’ rough-and-tumble games. Saturday mornings were filled with My Friend Flicka, The Roy Rogers Show and other action-packed television programs populated by horses and heroes, and farmers around her owned all manner of equines, which the girl admired from a distance.

She still does, for the most part – she and her husband, Roger Davis, live in rural Milton now, but she suspects how much effort it takes to own horses, so she prefers to stay behind the camera and the pencil, photographing and drawing her beloved animals instead.

Besides, the 57-year-old has plenty of other work to keep her busy, what with taking children and family portraits, designing nature postcards, greeting cards, tote bags and clocks, painting and even writing children’s farm books. Her home-based business keeps growing, namely because she’s not afraid to take chances.
“I didn’t really know, until I started doing this, all the things I could do,” Davis explained.

When she had her son, Patrick, at age 23, she started with baby and family photos.

“I was like the family photographer,” she said. “Every time we got together, I took all the pictures.”

She was also a shutterbug on vacations, along with Roger, who liked nature scenes.

For an income, she sold Tupperware. For 18 years, she drove and traveled and sold and, at one point, even managed 25 other salespeople in her region. Finally, she said she “got tired of packing and sacking and delivering” and gave it up.

In 2002, she worked for her cousin’s home improvement store, once again selling – this time, cabinets and fixtures. Before the Tupperware, Davis described herself as rather shy. “Now, I can talk to anybody,” she said. “I enjoy it.”

Eventually she turned to her and Roger’s vacation photos. “What do you do with them? You put them in a drawer,” she pointed out. So, she decided to sort through and frame the best ones – which gave her a new hobby.

In 2003, she displayed her framing skills in a booth at Canal Days in nearby Cambridge City, where she also sold some prints. She didn’t realize how popular she was until friends came by later and asked, “Are you the one everybody is talking about?”

This gave her confidence to set up at a similar festival in Kentucky the following weekend, where a friend helped her secure a booth. Roger even supplied a tent and table for her – and she sold 30 prints in three days. Davis said Roger likes to tell people that “I was the one who took all the pictures, and then she took over!”
From that point, her focus turned to photography itself. Anyone who’s ever enjoyed their camera knows the feeling of trying to find a brilliant picture in the most mundane scene; Davis was even more determined.

“I took every creek picture I could find,” she pointed out.
Going back to her Tupperware training, Davis came up with “picture shows,” in which she would get someone to let her host a mini-show in their home in exchange for the hostess getting a free 5x7 and discounts on other photos.

Attendees could buy prints or provide their own for Davis to frame, for a price, and she even gave advice on the latter.

Last year, she added another title to her eclectic résumé: Children’s author. Driving past neighbors’ fields, she always enjoyed a couple in particular because of the animals gamboling or grazing, especially the baby goats. Occasionally she would stop to take photos, with the owners’ permission – and then one day she noticed one field had a new occupant.

“They adopted Will,” she explained. “That was the next cute thing I saw in the field.”

Will is a miniature donkey found abandoned as a newborn by one of the neighbors, who took him home and bottle-fed the little guy through infancy. This touched Davis and gave her the idea for a story, using photos of the donkey and the other farm animals, including the goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and cats – one that would illustrate for children the principle of being able to get along and be friends with others, despite differences.

Writing the short book, which is done in rhyme, was cathartic for the grandmother of four. Part of the reason she’d gotten into photography as a way to make some money was to have the freedom necessary to care for her aging parents and ill father while working.

“I couldn’t have done any of this while taking care of my dad,” she explained of the extent of her business now.

After he died, writing the book helped her cope with the loss; Will’s New Family contains a dedication to him, among others who helped and influenced her life. Three more books followed, all about farm animals, a mix of her photography and simple drawing style: The Mule on a Stool, The Sheep That Couldn’t Sleep and Marshmallow and the New Kids, a sequel to Will’s New Family.

Each book has a simple message; Mule (which she wrote for her grandchildren) promotes imagination, Sheep stresses developing good habits and Marshmallow follows the further adventures of a baby goat born on Will’s farm. Davis also added simple discussion questions at the end of each book, and in some, a few coloring pages.

In a flash of cross-marketing, Davis includes references in each book to characters in her previous books. The Sheep That Couldn’t Sleep, for example, tries reading Will’s New Family in bed after drinking warm milk, to fall asleep.

“People started buying them, and bragging on me, and making me feel good again,” she said.

Davis is self-published, her books designed largely by a friend, for sale through both Barnes & Noble and Borders online for $12-$14 each. Will is also available through www.amazon.com

One of her granddaughters has started writing and drawing her own stories, which delights Davis. As a girl, she too enjoyed drawing, but it was a talent she abandoned for a long time while she worked and took care of a family. She’s glad she has found her niche, but has perhaps one regret: “At my age, I wish I could’ve started this like 20 years ago.”

To find out more about Davis’ books or photography, shop online for the former or contact her at 765-478-5873. You may also write her at: Nature’s Beauty Photos, P.O. Box 492, Milton, IN 47357.

12/9/2009