A Horse Named Jack

This is Jack. 

He begged me to take his picture last weekend. 

It wasn't our first meeting, but Jack was in an especially friendly mood this time. 

He would not be ignored.

He followed my camera around like and over-sized puppy. 

So, I figured the least I could do was snap his portrait. 

He is a beauty, after all.

This shot almost makes his silky black coat look brown, but I could not resist that morning sun streaming in behind him.

It's too bad horses don't read blogs because I'm sure he'd be pleased by the results.

Thanks, Jack!

PW's "Edit This!"

Are you familiar with the "Edit This" challenges on PioneerWoman.com ? I just cannot resist when Ree puts up a photo and invites us to edit it. It's so fun to push my own creativity and it's fun to see what everyone else comes up with.

Here is the photo she invited us to edit this time:

I didn't particularly like the photo. It just didn't "speak" to me.

So, I decided I needed to have some fun with the edits...to let them "speak", as it were.

So here's my first entry:

I {big, fat puffy heart} vintage photo textures. And I love the (faux) TTV look (I know...it's not square...whatever. I claim creative license.) So, I incorporated those elements with a dash of rainbow flare and some faded goodness. I'm loving it!

In edit number two, I wanted to play around with desaturating the picture. Yet, I was not satisfied with a straight-up black and white. I wanted to make this one unpredictable, maybe even implausible, and yet, still beautiful. So I turned to some of my favorite textures, my bokehs.

This crop clearly focuses on the sky as the subject of the photo. I imagine the sun is just beginning to peek through after a storm and the lens is a bit misty. Or perhaps the film was damaged slightly.

Either way, I love how this edit turned out.

My third edit was purely for fun. I took another photo from PW (her cows) and put them into this picture, then simply cropped and edited so that it looks like a painting on the wall. I thought it was good for a laugh, at least. 

If I do another edit, I guess I should attempt something more serious, but for now, these were a great bit of weekend entertainment for me. 

You can go here if you want to play along.

Or here to see some of the other entries.

There is Hope

Here in the Midwest, we have been in a drought. 

You may have heard.

It has been a long summer in terms of the heat and lack of rain, 

especially for the farmers, who have lost so many crops. 

Keep in mind, this is August, not October. The corn should not look like this.

But, as they say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". This is especially true for someone like me, who gets a little thrill from shooting a beautiful sky. This last couple weeks, have have had beautiful clouds and even some rain. Hooray!

And you know I had to race out there with my camera at the first sign.

I could not possibly post all the shots I have taken of the beautiful skies around here, but here is a little taste.

 You know there will be more, because I just can't get enough.

I love how the grass "wakes up" at the slightest bit of moisture. It is beautiful.

And at the end of the beautiful skies and the big, fat drops, we are left with a little bit of hope.

Have a beautiful day!