photography. Her secret weapon: She loves a Saratoga summer as much as anybody. A middle school French teacher by day—or should we say winter, spring and fall— Decker has the summers off. “I love walking up and down Broadway and capturing the cars driving by with the historic buildings in the background, and then heading to Congress Park,” she says. “The state park is like its own universe with so many areas to explore, and the track gives me a chance to work on my action photography. But my favorite place to shoot is actually the Oklahoma Training Track. I go there in the morning to photograph the horses and exercise riders, and it’s so quiet and peaceful, save for the sound of hooves on the track.” Decker also shoots horses away from the track, too, at Old Friends at Cabin Creek in Greenfield Center and Nipper Knolls Equine Center in Granville. When she sells a print of a horse from either nonprofit, she donates 100 percent of her profits to the organization. That’s another thing about summer in Saratoga: The city has so much to offer, but its residents? They’re always ready to give right back.
day at the spa (clockwise, from top left) One of Saratoga’s mounted police officers on Broadway; the carousel in Congress Park; Saratoga Race Course, as seen from a helicopter; Saratoga Lake, from Waterfront Park; exercise riders at the Oklahoma Training Track; seats in the SPAC amphitheater; the Spit and Spat fountain in Congress Park; Decker working on her action photography at Saratoga Race Course; the SPAC amphitheater; an old car on Broadway.
⁄
38 saratoga living
⁄ SUMMER 2021
⁄
saratogaliving.com 39
