video: rodeo party

Looking forward to a charity event at our barn and realizing I’ve never even shared this video of our big rodeo party some weeks ago.

By the way, I get asked sometimes why I keep my videos so blurry and in case you were wondering:
a. I like how out of focus photos and videos can sometimes capture the feel of a situation much more intensely than in-focus shots. And my videos are essentially designed to capture athmosphere and feeling rather than every detail of a situation. For me big events and masses of people in reality often seem to go by in a blur, unsharp with little details sticking out unnaturally clear (must be the HSP in me I guess…my way of dealing with information overload) and my videos try to accentuate that.
b. I plain don’t feel comfortable filming people in detail and putting this stuff online without getting written consent from them first (something I do with all my photos incidentally).

Wishing you all a great weekend!

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rodeo season is coming to an end

The last speed rodeo for the year, at least at our barn.

Gorgeous weather, a nearly dry outdoor arena (though it’s kind of funny when it has rained and riders end up in the mud face first…), sweet horses and fast races. The rodeo in fall is always my favourite to shoot because of the glowy, warm light.


(Neither the horses nor the girls are related by the way).
As always, some funny pony antics and cute dogs.

Already looking forward to next year’s season!

holga color love

The first color shots out of my Holga are finally done and scanned and I am in love (again). Unfortunately medium format color film is pretty pricey but I will have to splurge on it once in a while I think.
These were all taken at the last rodeo at the barn:


Aching feet after a day’s riding:

Yummy candy for sale:

The oppressive heat we’ve been having has been hard on the horseys as well, with little shade and lots of flies on their pastures:

And, to save the best for last (something I always find very hard to do…anyone seen the movie ‘Remember Me’? I have my dessert first too):

easter bonfire

Happy Easter to all of you! I hope you are all having a good time with your families! My boyfriend and I are all alone this year, our parents are off holidaying.
We went to the Easter bonfire at the barn yesterday evening. Last year I missed it because I was in Canada and the year before it was rainy and cold so I didn’t go but this year it was nice and the fire burned really well.


It was so hot and windy that you couldn’t actually get very near, pretty toasty.
Doesn’t this look magical?


After the fire came the party…at the barn there’s always a party attached, cowboys take any reason to party 😉 Even after the rodeos when they’ve been riding all day and must be dead on their feet (I know I would be) they’ll still party until 6 in the morning. Unforgotten remains the rodeo party two years ago, when we had a counter the length of the arena and at one point (after quite a few whiskeys) everyone started dancing and stripping on the counters and splashing themselves with whiskey and water…oh I have those pics but I won’t share them here, sorry 😉
Wasn’t quite as wild yesterday though there was lots of dancing…one reason I love the barn parties is the great music. I’m not into most music played at clubs right now but I’ll dance to this any time!

playing with texture (freebie!)

I love adding texture to photos, but I try not to overdo it and often I have a lot of fun playing around with textures but still end up liking the picture best without it. I think the key is to choose the right one(s) and keep it subtle. I thought I’d share with you my pictures from yesterday with a very distinctive, very un-subtle texture to it.
I am still thoroughly enjoying Project 365. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and I took my camera with me to the barn. I wandered around a bit aimlessly and found these. Every creature was bathing in the sun on the first warm day of the year, horses on the paddocks with their eyes closed, cats on roofs and even these flowers were stretching and turning their heads towards the sun.

I use my own images for texture, mostly painted walls, cracked stone flooring, rusty surfaces…I am always on the lookout and constantly add to my texture folder. I found this on top of some barrels standing around (waiting for rodeo season):

Love this texture and want to use it? Leave a comment to let me know (make sure I’ve got your email address) and I’ll send it to you full size by email!
One more textured picture. To take this I pulled over on the way home, lots of space waiting for the horses to claim it for the summer: