Friday, November 5, 2010

Little Dog, Little Dog


This one's for you, Carol.  = )

While up North last time, I had the great pleasure of the company of two dogs (three for two days). So, guess what I took a LOT of photos of? XD  I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on photos from the North yet, though every time I get restless working with priority photos, I get them out. This has become one of my favorite shots. Whether it's her eyes or her cropped doggie grin or the colors, I just adore it. Between Bailey and a dog at the stable, I officially love Heelers. (I still adore Huskies, too, though!)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Autumn Run


I've managed to catch a cold. And whenever I have a cold, my motivation plummets to negative twenty no matter what. But today I'm going to soldier on and work on riding clinic photos.

I worked with this image a bit more than usual in Lightroom. I tweaked the exposure to be more of a silhouette (the export lost some black, but as I've mentioned, I have negative motivation to do anything about it right now). Then I peeled things back and worked with the colors. I wish the export color space wasn't being particularly party-pooper-ing because the colors looked amazing in Lightroom and I just don't love them here. But, if you click on it and view it larger, the effect is still there.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Stoic


The lighting and sky was perfect when I was out taking photos of the filly, so of course I photographed Toler when I went to get him from the paddock. He was rather unenthusiastic at the prospect of going in--he and his buddies were in the far corner flirting with the mares.

I did very little with this image in Lightroom--I desaturated it and burned in the corners a little, and punched up the contrast just a hair. Sadly, photos like this lose quite a bit of vibrancy once I export them. I'm sure it's because Lightroom's in-program color space is a custom model of a color space that is not offered in the export options, which gets annoying. Besides all that, though, this image is really starting to grow on me. I was also surprised that despite the huge amount of dust out there (it's really awful, actually), you can't really tell in the photos, which is nothing short of awesome.

Andromeda Skies


A snapshot of the filly I took and wound up really liking. I think it's the combination of her mother falling asleep behind her and the small lens flair by her eye, but there's just something about it.

This is what Andromeda wanted to do while I was trying to photograph her. She was much too friendly and sweet, so I had to half-heartedly scare her a little, after which she started galloping. And then she realized that she wanted to gallop and really got moving.

There was a moment that I almost smashed my camera on purpose, though. So in the paddock they're in, there's a "mountain range" of fill that just never got smoothed out before the grass came in, I guess. Anyway, I was standing next to it looking towards the trees in the background, and Andromeda came running up from behind me and jumped the fill. It was the PERFECT shot. The perfect angle, the perfect baby jump, the perfect background and lighting. I was following her with everything in focus, I had the shot lined up, and the second I released the shutter, my camera chose that second to inform me that the battery was low (not out) and thus DID NOT TAKE THE PHOTO. I was absolutely infuriated. There I am, standing in the middle of the horse paddock with the filly galloping around, swearing at my camera at the top of my lungs. Haha, oh, man.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Cloud Atlas


Taken yesterday at the stable. I went out to take some photos of the youngest filly because it occurred to me that I haven't taken any photos of her. Obviously needed to be remedied. Anyway, the sky was so gorgeous I couldn't help but do a skyscape. (Cloudscape?) I pushed the blue saturation levels on this so you could see the levels of feathered cloud better.

Back to working on riding clinic photos!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Big Falls


It has been a while since my last post. I went up North for a fabulous week and forgot to post before I left. That's becoming a trend, I think. Oh well!

I took about 1200 photos up North! (Though a generous amount of those are fun doggie pics.) We also went to Big Falls, so I took quite a few photos there, too. That place is beyond gorgeous. I have to work on some photos from a riding clinic before I can get to my vacation photos, so I thought I'd better post a teaser!

Taken at Big Falls, this image kind of begged to be HDR. I think I could process it in Lightroom for an equally catching non-HDR shot, but I didn't have time to fire up Lightroom this morning (only because I knew I would start fiddling with a bunch of photos that really need to wait their turn).

In conclusion, I am very much alive and well! More soon!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Corpse Plant


Mushrooms found right by our cabin, not edible of course. Still kind of a cute, spooky little bunch. There are always a ton of different mushrooms hanging around our neck of the North Woods, so I like to photograph them when I come across them. XD Kinda reminds me of that one episode of BBC's Midsummer Murders, if anyone watches that show.

Thankfully I have friends who aren't as lazy as I am when it comes to looking things up!

Meet Monotropa uniflora, also known as "Indian Pipe," "Ghost Plant," and/or "Corpse Plant." Spooky, right? Really, I should have recognized it because I described Indian Pipes in one of my novels, and I usually retain that sort of information well. The corpse plant (now one of my favorite plants), is a parasitic plant that feeds on other plants, usually fungi mycorrhizal with trees. Thus, it contains no chlorophyll and can grow in the darkness. Usually completely white in appearance, it can have black flecks (like the ones I found), have a pink coloration, or even a deeper red coloration (which would look awesome, in my opinion). Apparently they're even part of the blueberry family. See? Awesome plant.

I've been majorly behind on my blogs. Partially just because I've been busy in general. The horse was injured for a little bit (nothing too major, but it did require some spoiling by way of daily massages from his two-legger), I've been working on a fairly hefty project, and then my laptop died. Yep, died. I spent half a week first trying to repair it, then trying to confirm what I thought the problem was. The hard drive has too many bad sectors to function, so essentially, it suffered hard drive failure. Luckily I've been going between my laptop and family desktop so much that everything essential was already backed up. But, still, it's been a journey.

It's finally feeling like fall here (it was, and then we had a few days of disgusting 80* heat and humidity), so I do plan on getting the camera out to the stable at some point. It also occurred to me that I've hardly taken any photos of Andromeda, this year's filly. So that needs to be remedied.

All in all, I'm hanging in there. I hope everyone has been well (better than me, at least), and to my blogger friends: I'm way behind on my reading. But I'll catch up this weekend, I think.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Over the Banks


The creek I mentioned in my other post. These were taken on the other side of the bridge I talked about. When I was younger the creek here used to be bigger--you can kind of see the space it used to occupy closer to the trees. It's been so low and trickling for so long the grass invaded the banks.


I lowered the saturation levels of the green and green-blues a bit for both of these images. I liked the vibrancy of the browns and pale yellow-greens. It probably makes it seem more like fall than mid summer, but that's fine with me.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Shared Dreams


I was going through some old photos and found this in my archives. Taken at the 2003 Kentucky Rolex, it features Jan Thompson and Shared Dreams. I can't remember how they fared at that Rolex, but I remember liking Shared Dreams a bit. Anyway, so there you go, a photo taken during my sophomore year in High School. Haha, if I thought that out right. XD

I do theoretically have a photo CD of all my Rolex photos, but I'm not sure where they are. I went to the Rolex several times in High School with my stable friends. We always had such a blast, granted I was a major shutterbug the whole time, but I do remember everything well. Definitely need to go again sometime! Anyway, my point was that this image was scanned, and while I went through and killed the dust, I wasn't terribly patient with it. So, forgive the slacking quality. ;)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Free Flowing, Again, or...Finally


As I mentioned, I used my fisheye attachment quite a bit with my Lensbaby up North. Here's one of my favorites of the creek. When I was young, I used to wade and swim in the creek that went past the cabin. There was a deeper pool next to a bridge we used to fish at, too. But in the past ten or so years, there has been a drought and the creek was at a standstill for a long time. Just exposed rocks and tadpoles and mosquito dens. There is no greater sense of time than looking at the changes of nature. A favorite spot from twenty years ago you remember better than yesterday's breakfast, so unfamiliar now it has become a ghost. Land becomes a part of us, part of our identity and personal mythology, the magnetic pole for our compass. No matter how far we stray, in the end we're looking for a reincarnation of that spot and the way it made us feel alive.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Down from the door where it began


Haha. A photo of a Hobbit house someone up North built down by their mailbox. It's just so cute with the little rocking chair. The whole thing is maybe two feet tall (to the top of the hill). I kept swearing I was going to stop and take a picture of it, and we finally did one morning. Title from Tolkein's poem "The Road Goes Ever On" (referred to as "the walking song" by Frodo and Bilbo in LOTR, I believe).

The Road Goes Ever On
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Definitely one of my favorite poems, so I had to quote it just in case not *everybody* had heard it before. XD

Monday, August 23, 2010

Brûlée


Doesn't the center of the top of this mushroom look like a perfect Crème Brûlée? Granted, the mushroom itself is poisonous. But still. Gorgeous caramel colors. I should have burned in the light spot on the left edge of the photo, though. Hmm.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Tender Twist

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Personal Jungle


Broad-leafed plants always make me think about what life would be like as a small creature. Like a chipmunk. (Especially a chipmunk. They're so cute. Maybe it's because I watched a lot of Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers as a child. Anyone remember that show? Haha.) I would definitely make a little hideout under plants like these. It'd be like a personal little jungle.

Anyway. This is the first photo I have ever processed with Lightroom's "Direct Positive" preset and actually liked. Usually it's just far too much for me and I'd rather make subtle changes with color saturation myself. But for this image, and one other that is very similar (same type of shot, but with a different plant), it wasn't overwhelming. Just radically vibrant and "popping." It's always nice to finally appreciate a style of processing.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Dusk Rolls In


Taken up north while I was out for a walk with my grandmother. Of course, the mosquitoes were starting to come out, so we didn't stay out long. Just long enough to walk to the end of our gravel road and see the moon starting to peek through. The sky was a gorgeous lilac, almost an opal. The color even bled into the fog.

Of course, all this was a bit hard to capture on my camera, considering I had no tripod with me. But I managed it. In the end, I desaturated the grass a bit and brought out the pinks in the sky. Quick tweaks with a lot of subtle punch.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Little Creek

Friday, August 13, 2010

Mister (Your Pantaloons)

I don't post photos of either of my cats often. No particular reason. But I took these several weeks ago and liked them because they turned out more like studio portraits than I would have previously thought. Window light, however, is the best kind of light.

This is my cat Mister. Named because when we adopted him, we'd been told that he was female. So, he obviously needed a name to make up for his bruised masculinity. These days I call him just about anything. Mister Fuzzy. Fuzzers. Pantaloons. Mister Fuzzy-Wuzzy (I have a song that goes with that one). The list could go on, but I'll stop.

He does have quite the kingly personality. He'll sit on a chair at the dinner table while we're bringing our food to the table, looking over the plate in front of him as though he expects to eat like us, too. Since he was a stray he does have a taste for people-food, and because he's thin no matter how much he eats, he does get to sample our meats and gravies.

He yowls. Yoddels. Echoes in stairways and bathrooms. Knocks cups into sinks for water. Insists that my bed is merely borrowed ("Don't you see the litter? That's clearly my bed."), carries beanie babies around the house (a ducky, an orangutan, and a black bear), sprawls across my desk just as I'm starting to write, thinks brushing is a torture devised just for him, and steals my pillow from under my head whenever possible.

But it's okay. He's my fuzzy. And that spot just behind his ear? The softest fur ever.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Simple in Red

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Feather-Dusted Sky


While up North this last time, I made quite the effort to take lots of photos with my fisheye optic. I think I should have toyed with this one more pre-shutter-release; I think it would have been fun to have a smaller "eye" and make it more globe-like. But I do really like how the sky turned out with this one.

Swan Dive


Unfurl'd
Our legs like swallowtails
Are we like those--
Fear the sun and dive
For shadow
Does not burn in the deep


Monday, August 9, 2010

Haiku


I just finished with a small batch of photos. =)

I have a confession to make with this one. I was really excited about it after taking it because I knew I just loved the basic composition of it. The little mushroom habitating a little cliff formed from a root in the steep slope of a creek's bank. I loved the debris and reflection and texture of the creek in the upper-left corner. I loved the root defining the edge between bank and water.

And then I had a full-out spazz attack when I got home and realized that I must have moved the focus ring while taking the photo. It was blurry, but in an almost distorted way. And I hadn't taken a second picture. Usually all I need is one, but I have to admit that always using a digital camera has made me into a shutter bug--these days I usually take two or three shots of even a simple photo. Simply because I can. I have the card space, and it's not hard to delete an image after I upload it to the computer.

So, here I was with a shot I'd loved the idea of, and it was practically unusable. At least at first. Then I thought about it for a while. And GIMP popped into my head. Specifically my Lomo effect plugin.

Lomo to save the day. I mean, it's not perfect. I would have prefered the picture to have turned out without digitally manipulating it. But at least this way I can still be happy with it. =)

Monday, August 2, 2010

Aquaglow


Taken last week while I was away for a family reunion. This is the "centerpiece" of some gorgeous woodworking inside a church. I won't go into much more back-story here, though.

I take a picture of the woodworking every time I go there, and this time I decided I wanted to put a new edge on it. I wanted something more striking, more complimentary to the design. Usually the lighting is very difficult to work with (as is the case in 99% of churches), so even if you calibrate it right, you generally end up with some glaringly ugly contrast issues or the "eggshell white" effect where every bit of white is a slightly different shade of white.

I must admit I got lucky on the lighting. It was just the right minute of the day where the natural lighting was best for that little church. I even forgot to switch to RAW mode. (I switched to JPEG only because I was worried about card space. Contrary to popular belief, I am a digital photographer who only has a 4GB card and a 2GB card. Most photographers carry at least one 16GB card, and usually several 8GB cards. Next time I have ~80 bucks on me to drop, I hope to reconcile that a little.)

Anyway. Post-processing was fun. I loved the slight tinge of aqua on the bottom-center of the image, so I dropped all color values other than aqua and green, and moved up their saturation values a bit. All that was left was getting the contrast and highlighting on the woodworking just right. Of course, in Lightroom, I was in love with a version of this photo that had considerably less contrast. It was a bit brighter because of that. I don't know, but everything always looks better in Lightroom. As soon as I export it to Photoshop so I can add my watermark, I think, "Oh. That's...flat." And I wind up boosting contrast levels. Oh well.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Puppydogger


Photos of my close friend's Australian Shepard, Zoe taken during my week away last month (wow, that long ago already?). I stayed with C., as did our friend V. We all went to college together, so needless to say there was a bit of hilarity and craziness. Especially since we hadn't been all together like that since graduating. Zoe is such a great dog. V. and I became her adopted Worshipers and Entertainment while we were there. Not to mention trusty alarm clock (though really, compared with the way my cats wake me up, I would much rather be woken up by a happy, face-licking puppydogger). I took quite a few pics of Zoe, and embarrassingly, not much else while with C. and V.--we were having too much fun. These are my favorite of the shots I took, and really, she's too cute not to share!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tasseled Green Waves


I've been a bit slow going through Toler's photos. Well, any photos for that matter, but particularly Toler's. I like going slowly with them, though, it's a bit like savoring them. Or hoarding them, I suppose. The other reason is that I've been concentrating on other artistic endeavors, namely a new pastel piece. I'm going to describe it here, simply because I think my descriptions of it make it sound lame. That, however, is barely crawling along so far. It doesn't help that I keep laying down an underdrawing, waiting a day or two, then deciding I don't like it and erase it so I can start with a new underdrawing. I hadn't originally wanted to go ahead with the idea for this piece, mostly because it felt too advanced for my current level of experience with pastels, but haunted me and then I just had to start on it, at the very least. I have a feeling, though, that once I get past the sketching phase, it'll be easier than I thought. Hopefully.

Anyway. The first photo here was an experimental shot. I really liked the idea of using a natural filter. Really liked it. The notion behind it is that you simply take the photo while holding an object in front of the lens, like a flower or, you guessed it, grass. If you've ever tried to take a picture of something outside through a screened window, you'll understand what I'm talking about--the object (in this example, the screen on the window) is so close to the camera and the subject is so far beyond it, that the object lies outside of the image's depth of field, rendering it so blurry as to be undetectable. I've seen fabulous images using this simple technique before and thought it would be an excellent way to add a bit more unique flair to my equine photography, as I have yet to see any equine photographer use natural filters like that.

So I tried with Toler. The above picture was "the best" of the bunch I'd taken, and it doesn't really give me the effect it was supposed to. It was windy that day, so the seeded grass I was holding up in front of the lens was probably getting blown forward a bit. I do plan on trying it again, and again--essentially until I master it.

As for the photo below, I have only one thing to say about it: Look at Toler's topline! Lo! I see muscle! =)

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Dragon Fruit

Well, my lovely readers. I completed my first piece with pastels. It was just a "learn as I go" piece, so nothing terribly special or fancy, but I'm still pleased with the results--except for the background, which I hate. A week ago (well, half a week ago maybe) I decided I wanted to get into pastels. Mainly because I really miss painting. Alas, as of yet I still don't have a suitable space to set up my easel and painting supplies. Particularly a place that would not quickly become a certain fuzzy cat's new favorite local. I'm thinking cat hair isn't the proper way to build up a surface. ;) Painting "plein air" (outside, on location) would be ideal, but so far the weather hasn't been terribly ideal. Either it's raining or it's so freaking humid *I* would melt, no mention to the painting process.

I have always enjoyed and appreciated pastel pieces, granted some more than others. Though, I do reject the trend of calling pastel pieces "paintings" but that's probably just because I'm a snob about such things. So, I went out and got a very cheap set of soft pastels--24 basic tones and 12 earth tones. I soon discovered I should have bought the 12 gray tones as well, but now I'll wait on that. If I get into this hard core, I'm going to want nicer pastels to work with anyway. (At which point I'll also want to get a set of pastel pencils.)

As soon as I had the basic supplies, I dove in. A few mark experiments on a test page, a little fooling around with blending and layering, and I started the piece now posted above. It was fun. I kept a little photo-and-note record of the progress, from the sketch stage to each leaf. I do think I should have gotten pastel paper, or at least something with more tooth, but that'll be the next stage. I have four sheets of watercolor paper, which has a lot of texture to it. Learn the materials, find a basic method, then start to work with the paper. I'm excited though! And I even have a series brewing in my mind.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tri-Purple


Another from my week away. You probably can't tell, but I actually toned down the green quite a bit for this one, so the purple of the flowers would pop more. The grass was *so* green.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sway


Maybe you remember the old barn from our cottage? Well, I took a ton of photos of it when I was up there a few weeks ago. From just about every angle I could think of. There was a wonderfully atmospheric dark, brewing sky (it rained pretty much every day we were there), so I took a lot of shots with the intention of turning them black and white. Oh, I so miss the Hasselblad and its rich black and white radiant capture capabilities. But these turned out pretty well, I thought. I would have liked more contrast, like I got out of We Who Enter Here. But, the gloomy darkness of the above shot really works for me.


This one was wonderfully vibrant in color, but that didn't translate very well into b/w. I pushed the color levels on it, though, especially the yellow and orange, and now I'm fairly happy with it. There aren't any real highlights in it, though, which is why it feels much flatter. And you know, when I was taking it, I thought I wouldn't like the tire tracks leading into the field. But it works out all right; gives it a little extra depth and curve into the frame.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Deep as an ocean


I was out of town last week. I was going to post a "I'll be gone" post, but blogger was down every time I went to do so. Oh well. I do have a ton of images to go through now! (No, really, I have hundreds of photos to catch up on, like the ones of Toler I did two weeks ago as well as a few older shoots, plus now the ones I took last week. It'll be all sorts of fun and new. XD

Friday, June 4, 2010

Son of Icarus


I did a photoshoot with Toler the other day. =) Got him all cleaned up and took him to one of the resting paddocks to turn loose. He was so excited about the long grass (all to himself), he wasn't sure if he wanted to prance around or eat. So, he chose a combination of both. (See the chunk of grass in his mouth? Haha.)

I didn't do a terribly good job picking the time of day and weather, though. The sky was all over the place, lighting between really dark and rainy-like and too much direct sunlight. And, because I was out there on my own (meaning I had to both direct the horse via lunge-whip and man my camera), I knew I wasn't going to be able to cater to the lighting for every shot. Welcome Sensitivity Priority Mode.

So, I have a ton of shots. Of course, because they are all of Toler, I like every single one of them. Even if they're ridiculous or photographically awful. This one, however, is currently one of my favorites. It's the only one I've had time to work on yet, and I gave it a bit of extra attention for an added punch. I wanted a near-HDR look with it, with lots of radiance, contrast, lights, darks, and most importantly, I wanted to keep the sky. I ended up giving it a warmer temp treatment and then splicing two versions of it together in GIMP (a photoshop-like program). I used a brighter version for Toler and the grass, and added in the sky from a darker version, and smoothed it together. All of that work makes me really miss the dark room and custom-made dodging and burning tools. Sooooo much simpler. XD

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Art of Braiding


Lately I've been braiding Toler before I ride, mostly for practice as I haven't done it in years, but also because I thought it would be a good way to strengthen my hands. That, and braiding is tooted as massage-like for horses, which I would tend to believe, depending on the braiding being done.

I finally found a method that's easiest (to do and on my hands), and even stays in better while riding. So, I took my camera yesterday and took some pictures. This one was taken after our ride, and you can see it's a little looser, but still hanging in well. I had to do some photoshop here, adding a duplicate layer in watercolor effect than blending it in with the original photo to add a little richness to the details, and a bit of extra weight to the blacks. I just thought the wrap-around composition was cute for showing off a braid.

I'm doing a little blog-meshing today, so if you want to see more braided-horse photos, check out Not Quite Hercules. I'm on my way to post them right...now.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Genre Frontiers

For the past few months I've had a character and plot brewing in my mind for a science-fiction novel, a genre I've never written in (a genre I don't read a whole lot in, either, at least not yet). It's definitely going to be a rather dark novel with a villain type as the main character. I'm actually rather excited about the character, and I do have quite a bit formulated in my mind.

I'm just having a much harder time than usual bringing anything out to the page. So far I've only been able to write sketch-scenes (more like exercises and such). Usually I don't have that sort of problem. The first sentence is the hardest, but as soon as that's down the rest just comes as it wants. That's usually my way of things--my stories and characters really write themselves. I very rarely have any inclination to outline or do exercises or take notes--with the exception of the saga I've been working on for several years, but that's only to keep things straight, especially as the characters and basics have been through some rather extreme changes.

So now I'm trying to figure out if I'm having trouble starting with this because it's a different type of story than usual, or if that's just the character's style. He is rather nefarious, so, I wouldn't put it past him, but still. It probably doesn't help that I generally prefer to write one thing at a time, and I'm still working on the re-haul of the first part of the saga. So, there's my ramble for the month. XD

Spirit


I love this sellenium toned version because of the foggy effect of the background near her ears. I couldn't get it to turn out that way with any other processing, though. One more for you, same mare:

Friday, April 23, 2010

Back in action

I'm officially back from my unannounced hiatus. I just felt like I needed to take a step back from the blogsphere for a while. Nothing big; I just needed to take a break. I did miss all my blogger friends, and I probably have a lot yet to catch up on. Progress, progress.

At least I come bearing news and fresh photos!

A few weeks ago (the end of March, actually, I think) I went with a barn friend to watch our young riders at a jumping schooling show. I used to take Toler to those shows all the time, but hadn't been there in five years or so; it was nice to see how the place had (or had not) changed. Our girls did *great!* They placed well in nearly all their classes and we even had some division awards. =)


Here's a photo of one of the girls on Talisman, probably the cutest pony I've ever met. They make a really cute pair out in the show ring. Talisman's got an unmistakably flashy spunk to him. I was able to take a lot of cute pictures of them.

And now for my bigger news...I started a new blog! It's an equestrian-specific blog chronicling the (re)training journey of Toler and myself. It will probably be a bit equine-terminology-heavy, but I welcome everyone to follow it if you're interested--even if you're not a horse person. I'll be doing day-by-day (or event-by-event) training posts, sharing exercise diagrams, general horse talk, tack and bitting talk, equine nutrition and health, and general equestrian theory and book discussion.

I present Not Quite Hercules!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Moose and I

Off post-topic, but...You know what makes me happy? Finally finding the tea I loved after looking for it for *two* years. Not only that, but 4 oz. of the loose leaf blend came in the mail today. A grin to anyone who can tell me what I'm drinking right now. =)

This photo was taken at Toler's first show. ( Fall of '03? I can't quite remember.) It was a dressage show, and we won High Point for our division (earning a big neck ribbon that only just barely fit around Toler's neck). Somewhere we have a video of his first test--though I can't bear to watch myself ride. It was a pretty perfect day. We don't have many photos of it, sadly, and the photo CD we ordered from the roll of film seems to have started to (horribly) degrade, as all the images have huge amounts of noise and speckles on them. So, I did some PS doctoring on this shot to make it at least presentable for my Awesome Photoblog. (=

But this post isn't really going to be about that photo, or even that first show, really. See, ever since that first show season we've done nothing but recover and return to the basics. Injury, retraining, injury, retraining. It feels like a never-ending cycle, which my being away for college didn't help.

Most of the time I wonder where we would be if none of those setbacks had happened. If I had gone to college here, in town. I'm not really sure. Maybe we'd be jumping 3'6" without a fault. Maybe we'd be finessing tempi changes, the passage, reworking canter pirouettes. Maybe we'd be old pros at the training-level three-day events, which, honestly, had always been my riding goal. Cross country over big, wide, solid fences. Over drops and water jumps. The sport of trust, endurance, athleticism, and a dollop of insanity.

After our latest setback--our jumping accident two summers ago--I'm not really even sure I will ever complete a cross-country course. I typically feel fine about the prospect of being an eventer. Enthusiastic, even. But then, in the saddle, counting strides to the base of a simple 2'3" oxer, I get caught by nerves and doubt, a tiny corner of my head pondering the worst. I find, after over ten years of riding, that suddenly *I'm* the one needing a boost of confidence, the one feeling wobbly and insecure. Like the roles have changed overnight. Somehow I've become the cautious rider. No longer the ambitious "crazy" of the barn, the one nicknamed (until I got Toler, at least,) "Velcro-Butt." I tell myself we're healing.

Toler does his best these days to instill my confidence in him. And, really, he has matured so much in the past few years. So much, in fact, that my mother can ride him quite comfortably. He has to hold his own jumping, now, no longer relying on me to hold him over every fence or correct his striding and balance. Not when I'm focusing so much on confidence. Sometimes I think he has decided that he let me down that summer. I hold his nose close to my body, kiss the soft hair between his ear and forelock.

I think the worst part of retraining isn't the repetition, the boredom of the old and already-(once)-conquered. The worst part is learning, again, to trust. Completely. Without question.

Trust.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Overlook


It has been one of those low photo-inspiration weeks. I get really excited for art and photography this time of year, then everything gets muddy and ick and while I feel excited to go out and take photos or something, I can't get over the "yuck" factor. Now it's starting to warm up a bit more, the sun is shinning, the mud is a little less suck-your-boot-off-your-foot...It's even 50 degrees outside, which to me means t-shirt time. (Unless it's windy, then I'll stick with what I've been wearing for the past month, which is a t-shirt with a long sleeved shirt underneath.) Haha, you may think I'm crazy, but that's okay. Viking blood in my veins--warmer than rum, almost. *big grin*

All right. I told myself I would write this morning. (This technically counts, yes?)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Into Light


We've entered into the "tween" phase of spring. There's still enough snow left on the ground, but everyday it recedes more and more from the edges of the lawn, from the street and curb. At the stable, that means only one thing: Mud. Deep, wet mud that squelches under your feet and attempts to eat your boots with every step. The horses, for the most part, don't mind it. For one, they can get dirty. A favorite passtime, not unlike how dogs love to roll in whatever smells foulest for their two-leggers.

It's around this time of the year, when the air is warming but still chilly, when the snow fades but never melts completely, when the whole world feels like a giant puddle of mud, that it seems nothing green could ever grow from it. It's a silly feeling considering there are already hints of life stirring from under the snow crystals over the flowerbeds.

So, here's to that forth-coming first shoot, the first glimmer of green in an otherwise monotone world, the first bud journeying into light.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Somehow we stay


This is evidently Toler's current girlfriend. I can't think of her name at the moment, but maybe one of my barn chicas will think of it and let me know. ;) Anyway, as soon as the geldings quieted down (:cough: Porthos :cough:), the mares came over and socialized with them over the fence. This mare wouldn't leave Toler alone, haha. She was perfect for getting some nice eye shots, though. This shot was color treated (amped up the blues and purples to get a richer non-dingy black) in Lightroom.

And here, have some noses:

Friday, February 26, 2010

Antics and Blanket-Wedgies


Oh, Porthos. The not-so-elusive but very photogenic troublemaker. Much to Toler's dissatisfaction, Porthos wouldn't leave me alone while I was taking pictures. He seemed to think that I had grain in my camera bag. Magical grain that appears out of thin air. It just needs to be "activated" by diving one's nose into the falsely empty bag an undetermined number of times.

When that plan failed, it was his job to hold onto Toler's lead rope, something that Toler, his alpha, did NOT approve of. After this plan failed, there was only one thing left to do--interrupt every photo he possibly could. Hence how I discovered that the hair of Porthos' star is longer than the rest of his hair. It probably just has yet to shed, but I thought it was amusing.

But, Porthos' main antics in the paddock involves riling up all the other horses so that they can all thunder around the paddock, particularly when The Ladies are nearby/watching. Now, this is a job that circulates among two or three of the horses, and each have a different way of going about it. Most of them, however, just try to irritate the other horses by getting too close, instigating petty biting rows, etc--a plan easily thwarted by Toler, who hates being pestered and needs only turn his back on them. The prospect of getting kicked by Mister Giant isn't all that thrilling, somehow.

Porthos, however, has developed a better tactic, geared specifically towards the colder weather:


Yes. Blanket-wedgies. In the beginning of my "shoot," I watched him employ this tactic three times. He'd quietly and oh-so-innocently sneak up behind a horse, then grab their blanket at the top of the rump and jerk. Typically hard/high enough that the hind leg straps (which criss-cross between the hind legs to help keep the blanket in place) draw tight and create the desired, highly motivating wedgie effect.

Sometimes I think I need to buy a digital camcorder and create a web-documentary. Really, you just can't make this stuff up.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

No Pink Polish


And this is why Toler is such a good boy: I'm out in the paddock taking photos, and suddenly it dawns on me (in that photographer's idea sort of way where no thought actually occurs) that it would just be "so totally awesome" to get a macro shot of his hoof line. So, I give Toler (standing very statue-like in the middle of the hay) a pat on the shoulder and crouch down on the hay with my face (and expensive camera) not three inches from his hoof where I proceed to fuss with the exposure settings and focus. Any other horse probably wouldn't have noticed that I was down there and smacked me. Toler? Nope. He acted as though it were the most usual thing to do. (Though, at the end, he did decide that I had treat on my back. Tricksty two-leggers and their complex blanket-skins, but there *had* to be a treat somewhere on my back. Maybe hiding behind my ponytail and bandanna. No? All right then.)

Anyway. I'm not sure I like how the shot turned out, but, at least it was fun to take. XD

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Can't help falling


And look at that; a new photo to go with the new blog-look. =) I took this yesterday with my lensbaby. I took a ton of photos--the horses were being quite the group of characters. More on the way. Like, tomorrow, probably.

Quasi-New Layout (Logo!)

And here it is, folks--the new face of Soulstrings. I changed up the header, added my new logo to the top of the sidebar, added some matching links (including a new Bio page) and tweaked a few other things. Hope you like it!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

(Sometimes) they grow too fast


Well, my lovely readers, I haven't been posting much recently. Instead of working on photos, I've been designing a logo, new header, and link buttons to minorly overhaul my blog. I finished the logo last week, which I'll unveil along with the rest of it hopefully by the end of this next week. I want to make this blog a little more website-like. It seemed to be the perfect solution to my needing a website, particularly because I was having a hard time designing one I liked when confined to those website builders.

Before I continue, I want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! <3 I am posting today in celebration of an odd breakthrough. Today, for the first time EVER, Toler peed *while* I was in the saddle!!! In celebration, I give you baby Toler pictures!!! (Captions and details of each photo at the bottom of this post.) NOTE: None of these photos were taken by me!


I know, this probably seems like an odd thing to get excited about. See, ever since we got Toler, he had a strange aversion to peeing anywhere other than his ultra-private stall. He wouldn't pee in the paddock, even if he really had to go, and he certainly wouldn't pee in the arena or even in semi-private areas. (If another horse was present, forget about it.) Yes, he was very shy. We thought this very unusual, because up until the few weeks before he came to us from Canada, he lived outdoors day in night.

Staying in one place, this unusual behavior probably would have been fine. So long as he was brought inside for the evening on a fairly regular schedule, he was just like a dog waiting for Mommy to come home so he could "go out." It became a problem, however, because Toler is a show horse. We would load him up into the trailer and take him to shows, using temporary stalls that typically weren't fully boarded in the sides, if he had a stall at all (in which case he'd be tied to the side of the trailer). Obviously, there's no privacy to those accommodations. Toler just simply wouldn't pee, then, and if I were unfortunate enough to have a class after his bladder was full, he would (understandably) be extremely grouchy.


Something had to be done about it. Toler couldn't go on peeing only in his stall. He had to overcome his "shyness" and grow up. The solution: train him like a racehorse. Many racehorses, because they have to undergo urine tests throughout the racing process, are taught to pee on command. Usually by whistling or clapping. Thus began our training.

We started by whistling a specific tune every-time he stretched out to pee in his stall and rewarding him with pats when he was done. Then we took him outside his comfort level--into the arena. We would stand in a corner of the arena (then the corner occupied by a sawdust pile, which greatly helped the stall-to-arena transition) and whistle. We'd stand for hours if necessary. If he had to pee, we stood in that corner of the arena and whistled until he gave up the ghost and went, usually with a very ashamed and pouty look.


It has only been in the past half-year that Toler would pee as a result of our whistling, and even then, only if he had to go. A few months ago he started to pee in the paddock all by himself. Within the past month, he will try to pee if I whistle, finally conditioned enough that the whistled tune makes him want to pee.

And now, today, for the first time ever, Toler peed while I was in the saddle. All of his own accord. (I was so stunned, I couldn't even manage to whistle.) The behavior most horses wouldn't even blink at, has taken Toler two years.

Photo 1) Toler at 3 months old. All legs! (And those cute little ears and tail!) I believe that's his mother, Little Mary, being grumpy on the right side.

Photo 2) Toler standing next to his mom. Again, he's only 3 months old here--and just look at the height difference between Toler and his mom! (His mom is 16.3 hands tall.)

Photo 3) Toler, 3 months, with his mom and a paddock buddy. We met the other guy when we visited Toler in Canada (the day we bought him), who was in the private run next to Toler, and very curious about the whole meeting--moreso than Toler was, to be honest.

Photo 4) Toler at 1 year old, just starting his incredibly gawky growth phase. See, most breeders offer photos of warmbloods (esp. Hanoverians) to prospective buyers of the horse as a 3 month-old (unless the horse in question is already fully matured) because adult warmbloods look most like they did as 3 month-olds. Between 3 months and ~4 years (4-6 for some Hanoverians) they do a lot of filling out and "catch-up" growing. Hence why, when we expressed interest in Toler, we were sent not only a relatively current video of him running around, but also photos of him as a 3-month-old. Sadly we never got newborn photos of him. :(


And who is this? Photo 5) Toler's full sister Ilea at two months old! (I'm not sure if that's Little Mary next to her; I can't see the only marking I know her by.) We got this photo maybe a year after we'd bought Toler, and were told that she'd already been sold. (Elaine, who bred Toler, said Ilea was just as affectionate and sensible as Toler.) I wish I was still in contact with Elaine to hear how Ilea's turned out--it would be interesting to hear how tall she is. Maybe I'll have luck finding Elaine's address again.