Archive for the ‘Images Captured’ Category
Recent Scenes
Thanks to Cyndie for capturing these views of the last few days. Enjoy these visual examples of the world as it was revealed to her.
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Long Approach
Cyndie was walking Delilah on the perimeter trail and paused to take a picture of the latest version of fall colors developing along our landscape. Then the horses noticed her. Cyndie kept taking pictures of the next few moments.
“Hello there!”
Of course, it was Mix and Swings who approached to see what Cyndie was up to. Light and Mia just kept grazing where they were.
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Swings Photographed
I didn’t set out to capture portraits of all the horses the other day. Moments after capturing the image of Mix that I posted yesterday, I turned to find Swings uphill from where I was standing. I had to change my position a couple of times to remove my shadow from the frame. The result provided a shadow of Swings that, for me, makes up for the other aspects of the shot I don’t like so much.
The background robs some of the definition her outlines deserve but I’m not discarding the image just because of that.
I like the way her shadow stands up against the wall behind her.
I like how the shadow appears to have its own personality.
I like how the outline of the head of the shadow is better defined than her actual head.
I like how Swings’ physical features and coloring come through looking totally defiant of her actual age.
Swings’ full Thoroughbred racing name is “Gate Swinger.” She was born in Kentucky and started racing as a two-year-old. Over her four years of running she earned $116,812. Swings is currently 26-years-old. That is approximately 75-and-a-half in human years. She is the oldest of the four now living with us.
When the horses arrived at Wintervale last April, one of the things we noticed about Swings was anxiety that led her to pace back and forth along a short distance of the paddock fence, from the barn overhang to the gate through which they arrived. At one point, I tried walking with her from outside the fence. She gave me a look like I was weird, but kept pacing.
I changed my tactic and switched to walking opposite her direction, back and forth so we passed each other in the middle. It caused her to give up for a while, but then she soon returned to pacing. I saw the other horses occasionally interrupt her pacing, as if to break the spell she was under.
After a few days her anxiety and that habit of pacing seemed to dissipate. Now she seems like the calmest of the four of them. As the eldest mare, she could easily take the role of herd leader because she presents herself as the most regal, but she doesn’t show a need to hold that complete dominance over all the others.
In fact, the order of hierarchy among the herd is a little complex. Swings will take over Mix’s feed pan in a gesture of dominance and Mix holds command over both Light and Mia, but Light is able to move Swings off her pan without any fuss.
The average life expectancy of Thoroughbreds is 25-28. Swings looks so good and has settled into such a zen-like calmness now that we will be very surprised if she doesn’t thrive well beyond the average range.
I will have plenty of opportunities to capture a picture of her that properly reveals how gorgeous all her features really are.
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Inverted Perspective
Looking down to look up toward the sky by way of reflections on water.
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I like the similarities and the difference between the two images. They were, in fact, reflecting the same overhead view, just from different distances.
That break in the clouds never materialized yesterday. It wasn’t non-stop rain all day, but it was gray, damp, and cloudy enough to squelch motivation for outdoor adventures. Having Delilah up here this trip forced some walks outside which led us to the bridge where I captured these images.
Here are the un-cropped versions that reveal how I achieved the two different depths of focus:
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This morning appears to be picking up where yesterday left off, in terms of cloudy sky and potential for rain. I am very curious to find out how much of the precipitation of the last two days has also fallen on our Wintervale property. Reviewing the radar images leaves some questions because of the spotty coverage of rain.
Here’s hoping our parched land received a respectable dose of the moisture because it was sorely needed.
We are heading home today, so we will soon find out. Happy to have gloomy weather for our departure. It is always a lot harder to leave the lake place when the weather is gorgeous on a Sunday.
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Alive
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morning
at the lake
quiet
filtered sunlight
leaves
green
trees
woods
calm
energy
peace
tranquility
love
family
awaken
heartbeat
spark
breakfast
stories
eventually
opportunity
arrives
life
comes
alive
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Other Waves
I have no idea how individual feather coloring can appear so random yet collectively they create a wonderfully distinct pattern.
Case in point: our Barred Rock breed…
How does she do it?
Those black bars look like waves rolling down her body.
Speaking of waves, I believe this toad was climbing the fence in order to wave at someone or something.
I was just hoping he wouldn’t catch the attention of the chicks. He was a heck of a lot bigger than an insect, but not so big as to guarantee the insatiable curiosity of the chicks wouldn’t lead to potential carnage.
That would cause me a wave of nausea, I’m afraid.
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