Heather Abounader Photography Blog

Heather Moreton-Abounader Photography's photostream

2011-08-09T12:06:00.001-04:00

Heather Moreton-Abounader Photography's photostream on Flickr.

More Breyerfest Photos, Polo Photos and a miniature scale arabian show halter that I made

Heather Abounader Photography's photostream

2011-07-24T10:09:00.001-04:00

Heather Abounader Photography's photostream on Flickr.

If anyone is left watching this blog.. I've uploaded a ton of photos to Flickr..

More Photos

2009-09-23T11:32:00.006-04:00

I actually took these photos at the Kentucky Horse Park in June, while I was at the Egyptian event. I recently had a few moments to tweak photos so I landed on doing these...

Kentucky Raptor Rehab

2009-09-08T15:15:00.003-04:00

While at the Kentucky State fiar a Couple of weeks ago, I was privledged enough to be able to take a few photos at the Raptor Rehab Booth. They said tht they get 300 birds a year!! Here are just a few photos of the beautiful birds to be seen..

Moody and Impressionistic!

2009-09-02T18:33:00.005-04:00

LOTS and Lots more photos! I took about 800 photos but it was dark and raining by the end of the show so not a lot of them turned out well. I do have quite a few "Moody" and "impressionistic" photos to share though!

The Shelbyville (ky) Horse Show (saddlebreds)

2009-08-07T07:36:00.003-04:00

I had a marvelous time this past saturday at the Annual Shelbyville Horse show. I would've wished for better lighting conditions but beggars can't be choosers! Here are just a few of the photos that I took. I'll be adding more when I get time.. Enjoy these beautiful horses!

Photos from Breyerfest 2009!

2009-07-23T11:44:00.003-04:00

I have sooo much to catch up on a post but I'm exhausted and still recovering from my "whirlwind" trip to Upstate ny (Cooperstown!) and then to Lexington, KY for Breyerfest. Here are just a few photos of the horses at the horsepark...

The chestnut Fellow had a halter on him that said "Evergreen" on one side. I have no idea if that's really his name or just a Halter that the staff used.

Daylillies!

2009-06-24T13:07:00.004-04:00

Fall of last year I bought some new daylillies so that I would have more flowers to take pictures of this year. Above are my new daylilies!

I'll also have more Egyptian Event Photos soon..

More Egyptian Event PHotos..

2009-06-11T09:41:00.002-04:00

Images from saturday at the 2009 Egyptian Event

2009-06-07T19:43:00.004-04:00

I'm thrilled to say that I got one or two decent photos out of the batch that I took Saturday while at the Kentucky Horse park to watch the 2009 Egyptian Event Arabian Horse Show. It was a little sad to see that Imperial Arabians' tent was no longer in the parking lot and that Ansata didn't bring any horses, but thus is the way of time. I wish I had appreciated both farms more when they were there. Imperial is "no more" and Ansata lost it's Patriarch, Donald Forbis.

Still, there were beautiful horses to be seen, and photographed although I'm absolutely sure I did them no justice. I was woefully out of practice..

While I was there I also made sure to see the Scott Trees Exhibit. What an amazing and beautiful group of photographs. It reminded my why I admire Scott so much. I was feeling a little "flat" when I went in and when I left, I was so inspired! If you live close enough to the Kentucky Horse park to see it, I highly recommend it!

I'm back! Sorry for the Hiatus!

2009-06-02T17:49:00.006-04:00

My apologies for the long hiatus. I have been taking photos of my son mostly and I've backed off of the idea of being a professional photographer. I just have no idea how to get the business started and where to go from there.. so for now, I'll just take photos of what I like and hope that others like them too. Also, if you DO happen to want a copy, I have them uploaded on my sales site http://www.abounaderphoto.com

These photos are from the 2009 Egyptian Event Arabian Horse show held at the Kentucky Horse Park. These are from some of the classes on monday night.

Yikes!

2009-02-20T11:29:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! This winter has been very busy, with munchkin turning a year older and running around the house. I don't have a lot of time now to do photography unfortunately. I've also ramped up my miniatures production so that has taken up a lot of time too.

I do have one more photo to share from the Icestorm of Winter 2009 here in Louisville.

It is of one of the Hawks out back on a frozen tree branch against the bluest sky! I really need to get that 100mm - 400 mm Zoom though!!

Ice and Snow

2009-01-29T07:18:00.003-05:00

I really love snow. Thankfully, here in the Ohio Valley, we don't get enough snow to get sick of it. Usually our winters are fairly mild. This year we've gotten more snow than we have in the past couple of years. Unfortunately though, we got ice along with it this time and a lot of folks are without power around here.

Still the snow makes everything look more beautiful than it actually is, and it's that fantasy that I like a lot.

The last picture above has not been photoshopped in anyway other than to do levels. (contrast, brightness etc). There really was a bright cloud with the sun shining through it onto the tree in the sky. It was amazing and I was so lucky to have captured it!

Sorry!!

2009-01-22T11:54:00.004-05:00

I'm so sorry that I've been so remiss in posting to the blog! January has been busy and the whole family has had colds. The light in winter isn't the greatest for getting photos either. Lots of grey days where I am.

Above are some images that I pulled off the camera this week. They are of Sunsets that occurred recently here in Kentucky. I'm very pleased with them albeit they are a tad cliche.

Enjoy! If you would like prints of any of my photos, please feel free to let me know. Not all of them are up on the smugmug page yet.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:32:00.003-05:00

New years are always great aren't they? All about new beginnings, new hopes, etc.. Until of course about January 28th when you realize that the post holiday let down has begun and no one gets any holidays off until much later..hahahaha

I hope that this year I Get out of the house a LOT More, WITH the camera and that I become better at taking photos. I hope that you and your family have a wonderful new year and that all of your goals are accomplished :-)

December 19th, 2008 Series

2008-12-29T10:12:00.003-05:00

On December 19th, we were lucky enough to have a warm front come through Louisville, Ky. (I'm endlessly fascinated by the weather here in Louisville) It actually got up to 70 degrees that day. These are photos taken in my back yard from relatively the same angle at different times throughout the day.

Quick Update

2008-12-26T15:46:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I've been ill the past week so I haven't gotten anything tweaked to put up. I took a series of photos from the 19th when we had a warm front go through so there are some interesting pics from that that I'll have up maybe monday.

Thanks for reading the old bloggeroo.. I really am very grateful!

Subtle Beauty of Winter

2008-12-19T09:23:00.004-05:00

I keep hoping that the sun will creep out or that the blue herons, ducks and other critters will creep into my yard, giving me a good photo op. No suck luck unfortunately. It's all been rain with a dab of snow here and there.

I keep hoping that I'll get some sort of spectactular, uplifting picture but unfortuantely in this cloudly light it's just not happening.

So today, while it's warm, it's still raining and the wind is kicking up really hard. I decided to embrace it though instead of fighting it. Above are some of the pictures that I've taken over the last week or so.

Weather like this makes me moody. I considered that if it emtionally talks to me, even while that emotion isn't happy, it will probably move other people and maybe folks will see what I see. Subtle and maybe a tad sad beauty in the middle of winter.

Winter Sunset

2008-12-15T07:24:00.004-05:00

These were taken last Thursday, in my back yard. There was a weather front moving out creating the most beautiful colors..

Blue Heron

2008-12-08T06:30:00.004-05:00

All last week we had company staying with us so I had to forego posting on ye olde blogs. This week though things are back to "normal".

We survived munchkin's birthday party and he seemed to have a great time with all
of the people who came to celebrate his birthday. I was really surprised how
well he handled all of the noise. Very little phases this kid.. I was
definitely "blessed" when I had this little guy.

I have been SOOO antsy and sorta bummed that I hadn't had time to get out and get any pictures. I wanted to go to Churchill Downs two saturdays ago but we had a "family emergency" that day and I was unable to go.

Luckily, this beautiful guy appeared in my back yard yesterday morning right after sun up. He was very kind in that he posed in the sun for me so that I could get some decent pictures.

I hope everyone has a happy mundey!

Baby "Gray" Jay

2008-12-01T12:11:00.005-05:00

It's a very coold and "blustery" day today in Kentucky. We are getting some rare, early snow showers and it really looks "winter-y" outside. Everything is very gray, and the leaves are all off of the trees now. If the snow would accumulate a bit so that it blanketed everything, that would be ok but the snow isn't sticking. So it's just cold, and wet and icky..

Because of this, I went digging for pictures from the summer. I would much prefer to think about summer things than this cold day.

Above is a photo of a baby Gray Jay in the tree outside our home office window. I was sitting at the desk, pecking away at the keyboard when I noticed that the momma jay was making an awful ruckus in the tree. To this day I don't know why she was so upset but when I looked more closely to investigate, I saw that there was a young Gray Jay in the tree.

Of course I had to whip out the ole camera and get as many pictures as possible.. which is what I did. I didn't get very many good ones but the one above turned out pretty well.

I hope that the day in your neck of the woods is warmer and a bit sunnier than it is here..

As always, if you like any of the pictures you see and would like prints, you can find them at www.abounaderphoto.com or you can email me at heather@abounaderphoto.com and I'll find them for you.

Another Lame Post about my cats

2008-11-27T09:33:00.006-05:00

I swore I wasn't going to blog today. I thought, "Egads, I'm gonna be too busy cleaning and cooking to post on the blog.. besides, I'm running out of things to blog about.."

That was until I was eating breakfast this morning. I sit in the Living Room with munchkin and eat breakfast because he likes to eat whatever I eat. I usually share my whole wheat toast with him as we watch Playhouse Disney together.

At some point the cats will come greet me after taking their sweet time getting up from wherever they slept overnight in the house.

I don't "do" mornings well. I had a couple of jobs where I worked second shift (which I LOVED!) and this reset my body clock to "second shift" time. In the mornings it takes me a good HOUR or more to really wake up.

Sahara settled on the end table next to the upholstered chair where I usually sit. She doesn't normally do this. (Usually she sits on the back of the chair unless her sister has occupied it.)

I looked over at my perfectly posed kitty only to see that she had some "Red stuff" on her face. It took me a minute to realize, that she had decided to inspect the new flower arrangement with Star Lillies on our dining room table.

Our cats are allowed just about every place that we go, except counter tops and "eating" tables. Clearly this rule offends Sahara and she obviously gets up on the dining room table at night. She just HAD to show me that she defied me. I know that only Sahara does this because Lill isn't as athletic and she couldn't care less about getting on counters and tables.

My apologies for the bad photo but it was still dark out and I knew that If I didn't take the photo right then, she would somehow get the stuff all over our just cleaned house.

I just hope she doesn't realize that I've posted the photo to the internet. I'd hate to see what she'd do in retaliation..

(DISCLAIMER -I know that kitties aren't really malicious.. it's just funny to me that she chose to show off this morning instead of following the usual routine..)

More about the Poor Kitties..

2008-11-26T08:55:00.004-05:00

I know, it's more than just slightly lame that I'm just posting cat pictures. Especially pictures of my own cats.. But I want you to see the horribly way that they're treated. Truly less than royal by their standards I'm sure...

This is poor sahara having a quick nap...

As always, if you like any of the pictures you see and would like prints, you can find them at www.abounaderphoto.com or you can email me at heather@abounaderphoto.com and I'll find them for you.

The Poor, Harassed Kitties...

2008-11-25T11:29:00.008-05:00

Before my son came into our lives, we had Fur Children. Our Fur Children are two black cats that we "rescued" from the local humane society shelter. Their names are Sahara and Lill. They are litter mates but they clearly had different dads.

Sahara is a slinky, highly intelligent, highly sensitive, graceful, athletic feline. She has a Siamese like face, and talks like an oriental breed.

Lill is a big, burly, ungraceful, super lovey kitty. She is the exact polar opposite of Sahara.

I love them both very deeply.

Sahara is less afraid of my son than Lill. Lill has a paw that is constantly swollen due to an unknown allergy. If her paw was better she'd probably be more up to the task of dealing with my son. Still, she adores my husband and I and seeks out a lap whenever there is one to be found.

Unfortunately I haven't had as much time as I'd like for the kitties now that munchkin is here and I really feel bad about that. But luckily they are forgiving...

Above is a photo of Lill cleaning herself in the sun in the Laundry room, far away from my son. Black cats are difficult to get good pictures of because the camera views the black as low light. I usually have to go "all manual" to take good pictures of them.

As Always, if you see a photo that you think you'd like a print of, you can probably find it on my website: http://www.abounaderphoto.com If you don't see what you're looking for, drop me an email at heather@abounaderphoto.com and I'll find it for you.

A bird that isn't afraid of me..

2008-11-24T07:14:00.007-05:00

Last week I was fortunate enough to get a photo of one of the Red Shouldered Hawks that Live in the tiny patch of woods in my back yard. It was really refreshing to take a picture of a bird that wouldn't fly off at the slightest noise. In fact I swear this guy glared at me when I leaned up against the window too hard and made a loud THUNK sound.

Our house sits on land that was cow pasture for decades. I am finding all kinds of birds here that normally don't live in a suburban habitat. I have seen in the last year: Blue Herons, Red Winged Cow birds, Indigo Buntings, White Crested Night heron (Only from afar), Green Heron, Hummingbirds, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds and the various common birds that everyone sees like Starlings, Robins, Blue Jays, Blue Birds. etc..

Ever since my husband bought my first Digital SLR Camera last year I've been trying in vain to get a few of those amazing wildlife pictures that folks see in National Geographic. I've been reading and reading and reading and come to the unfortunate truth: In Digital SLR Photography, your camera doesn't matter as much as your lens. A really good lens costs $1600. Thats one of the ones that I'm using but it only zooms to 200mm which is why the hawk above still appears a bit fuzzy.

I really need the 100-400mm zoom which is another $1600. Hopefully next year, if I can find another job when munchkin goes into daycare I will be able to afford another very expensive lens.

On the "SITS" blog friday, they were doing "Open Letters" to whomever they chose. It was really fun reading them all. I contemplated doing an open letter to canon, explaining to them that I want really good pictures but I really don't want to pay the $1600 to buy another great lens. I was too tired friday and too busy this weekend, so that one sentence above will have to suffice..

This week is Thanksgiving and I'm going to be uber busy cleaning the house and then working myself up into a panic attack for Thursday. (my first time to make thanksgiving dinner) So I may not post every day this week. I apologize for that but I'll be back next week with more Blather..

I'm hoping against hope to go to Churchill Downs either Friday or Saturday because this coming sunday is the last day of their fall meet. Hopefully hubby will go along with my evil plan.. wonder if he reads this.............?

As Always, if you see a photo that you think you'd like a print of, you can probably find it on my website: http://www.abounaderphoto.com If you don't see what you're looking for, drop me an email at heather@abounaderphoto.com and I'll find it for you.

Last of the Retirees...

2008-11-21T06:58:00.003-05:00

What a fitting thing to post on a wintery friday. Critters hanging out, on a hot July Day relaxing.

More "retirees"....

2008-11-20T07:08:00.004-05:00

Stony Ridge Equine Retirement Center

2008-11-19T12:30:00.006-05:00

Daisy and Friend

Mocha

Daisy

I cruised back through my blog and I see that I never blogged about my trip to the Stony Ridge Equine Retirement Center run partially by April Dimico. April Helped me out tremendously during my equine photography class when she allowed me to wander the pastures of her farm. Even though I have a strong love for horses, I know very few people that own them locally.

All of the horses on April's farm are retired. Either they had some sort of injury during their various careers or they are at the end of their career and were therefore retired by their owners. I find this to be an amazingly generous "gift" that the owners of these horses have given them. It takes a lot of character and good heartedness to take care of a horse in this way the rest of his days.

It was wonderful to me to be able to just wander around a pasture, being mobbed by 15 or more friendly horses. They all wanted to see what I had, what I was doing, and if I had any peppermints. April kept having to hold onto them while I walked far enough away to take a photo. My friend Anna also came with me and we had a wonderful time!

I had a chance in October to go back to her farm but it rained that day and I haven't had time to go back there since. I'm hoping we'll get a bit of snow sometime in December and I can go photograph the horses then.

I have more photos but I'll save them for tomorrow :-) Happy Wednesday!

A rare moment.... (#1)

2008-11-17T07:04:00.014-05:00

I'm calling this a rare moment #1 because in life, there are a lot of rare moments. I'm just going to number the ones I talk about so that I can keep track.

Last night, munchkin and I were driving home right around sunset. It has been cloudy for days here which means that photography is a futile effort, unless I want to take dark pictures of fallen leaves. (no thank you!) I had never seen neon colors occur naturally in nature until last night. In fact, I didn't think it happened..

There was a weather front just pulling out and there was very strong pinkish/reddish light in certain places just under a line of clouds. We drove down a street with old, tall trees and all of the trees had neon pink leaves at the tops and the rest of the trees were dark! It was so magical and I kicked myself for not having my camera with me. (it is always a huge decision for me - do I be obsessive and bring my camera with me or leave it at home) By the time I got home, the sun had set and I couldn't get any pictures. Needless to say, I am very disappointed in myself. Next time that camera is coming with me!!

So to console myself for not having any pictures of that rare moment, above is a rare moment of another sort. If you've been reading my blog all summer (and I don't think a soul has until now) you know that I was obsessed with the Ruby Throated hummingbirds that frequented my Black and Blue Salvia bush underneath the laundry room window. I left my camera on the dryer right by the window and I would go check every so often for the hummingbirds. Photographing a hummingbird without a feeder is an extremely difficult task, so I'm pretty pleased I got any decent pictures of them at all! I had less than a minute to snap away and hope that something was in focus or in frame. The hummingbird happened to fly in front of one of the yellow flowers next to the bush and I was able to snap away and get the above picture! I was so proud!

Today I have to fill out and mail invitations for my Son's first birthday next month. (Instead of photographing anything or going in the studio) I can't believe it's been a year. It's been both the longest and shortest year of my life..!

I am not a social butterfly(In fact, I'm a certified hermit) and planning a party of any sort is a huge stretch for me. I've already gotten the decorations but I'm still mulling over the cake and food to serve. If I was working, I swear I'd just hire a party planner to do this stuff...

PS. if you ever want a print of any photos on my blog, please visit my website or you can just comment and I'll get back to you.

Kona Gold

2008-11-14T08:21:00.007-05:00

(Kona Gold, Top, Cigar Watching Kona Gold, Bottom)

I don't know a lot about Kona Gold other than he is a Throroughbred. I read about him though and he accomplished quite a bit in his years of racing. http://www.kyhorsepark.com/kids/sub.php?pageid=115&sectionid=1 I think during Kona's years of racing, I didn't pay a lot of attention to what was going on in the racing world. Thats changed now because I have a very good friend who is very into horse racing and Saddlebreds. (and my pictures reflect this don't they!?)

While I was photographing Cigar, they had let Kona Gold out in his Paddock and he was running around like a "mad man" neighing and having a good old time!

Since I had never seen Cigar with his head up out of the grass, I chose to stay where I was and photograph Kona From a distance. I have a lot of photos of Cigar's head turned towards Kona's Pasture. Cigar did call to him a few times, and I have a feeling that if he could have, he would've run the fence next to Kona. It really was a testament to cigar's personality that he didn't get all squirrelly and DEMAND to run next to Kona Gold. (I'm sure if Cigar was 10 years younger, he would have :-))

Happy Friday!

Gypsy Supreme

2008-11-12T07:16:00.010-05:00

This is Gypsy Supreme. Gypsy for short. Actually I think his barn name is Del but don't quote me on that. Most horses have their official registered name (if they're purebred and registered with their respective registry) and a "barn" name. A Barn name is kind of like a nickname and it's specific to each horse.

Gypsy has been at the Horsepark for as long as I can remember. He is a gorgeous horse and seems to be very sweet whenever handled.

The last time I attended the daily presentation of the champions in the champions barn, I saw Gypsy do the most wonderful thing. When they were showing the video of one of his wins, and he heard the crowd on the tv, he perked up his ears and stood a little taller and got a little excited. The sound of the crowd turned him into a show horse again for just a moment..

If you go to the Kentucky Horse Park's website you can read the long list of accomplisments by Gypsy. http://www.kyhorsepark.com/kids/sub.php?pageid=3&sectionid=1 He's one of the Greatest Saddlebred Show Horses of all time.

My Pictures of Gypsy aren't that different than most pictures of him. All of the Champions have that "door" with the cross bars on the front of their stalls so that well meaning folks don't accidently get bitten. (not that Gypsy bites, it's just for insurance reasons) I took a photo of Gypsy through the bars because it's so typical of what folks see, day in and day out when they go there.

Gypsy was checkin out Cigar while I was photographing him so I made sure I got a few photos of Gypsy too.

Cigar

2008-11-10T06:52:00.009-05:00

This weekend was a good weekend for me. It was fairly productive for a bit of house cleaning and laundry and I finished up an almost 2 year project with my miniatures. I didn't get out to photo any more horses though. I'm hoping to do that next weekend at the Fairgrounds.

Everyone seemed to really like the photos of Alysheba from the Kentucky Horsepark. I was SO thrilled to see him in good shape!! I also got a few pictures of that old Campaigner, Cigar. The pictures of him aren't as exciting because cigar has been at the horsepark for a long time now, and he just wasn't very excited about much. It was just another day for him. This is the first time I was able to get a photo of Cigar where he wasn't grazing. I haven't had time to get these up on my website yet so you're "peeping" them first here.

I really should have used a polarizing filter the day I was at the horsepark. I was just too caught up in worrying about munchkin to remember to bring the danged thing! Oh well, live and learn!

I know it's monday but hopefully some of these retired racehorses will help you daydream about your own relaxing retirement. May they be as carefree and may you be as well taken care of. :-)

Alysheba

2008-11-08T07:18:00.010-05:00

On Thursday, I took a 60 minute "road trip" east to the Kentucky Horse Park. The Trip from Louisville to Lexington is a scenic rolling one and it always seems short to me. I know each exit, and the landscape as if it were my own neighborhood. I am always in a good mood when I go to Lexington because most of the time, it means I am on my way to the "Kentucky Horse Park".

This time was special to me for two reasons. First It marked the first time that I took my son with me. On Thursday of this past week I was feeling very stir crazy and I really needed to get out of the house. It was a rare day 74 degree day in November. I can't remember the last time we had those kinds of temperatures when it was supposed to be winter. I really wanted to take advantage of what would possibly be the last nice day of the year. My son is at an age now where everything is fascinating to him and I don't know how many more days I'll be able to get him outside until spring.

Secondly, I wanted to visit and photograph Alysheba. Alysheba was the 1988 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner. His race record is 21 times placed out of 26 starts and he was the 1988 Horse of the Year. Over his career he won $6 million US. In 2000 he was exported to Saudi Arabia to stand at stud. This year, I assume that he was no longer getting mares in foal so the King of Saudi Arabia was kind enough to donate him back to the United States where he would live out his days at the Kentucky Horse Park. I emphasize kind enough to donate him back because many great racehorses that are exported to other countries come to not so glamourous ends. Not everyone reveres race horses the way we do in the US.

All that said, Alysheba looks fantastic for his age. A lot of stallions are allowed to get fat or unfit and the trip from half of the way around the world to Kentucky can take a lot out of a horse.

Alysheba was very bright eyed and curious the day I was there and he looks exceptionally fit considering his age. He also appeared to be very sweet. A lot of stallions throw their weight around or are ill behaved because there is a misconception that if you "train" a racehorse too much it takes the fire out of them. This guy was wonderful. Definitely gave his handler space and didn't get nippy at all.

I was very lucky in that there was another photographer there (who's assistant wouldn't give me his name for some reason) and they were posing Alysheba for him. Normally when you visit the Hall of Champion HOrses you can only get pictures of them with their noses in the ground. I got quite a few decent shots but as always, there is something that I feel I can improve on.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures of this Kingly, stately stallion in his new home where he will be loved and well taken care of for the rest of his days.

Intercoms and Squirrels

2008-11-06T07:47:00.007-05:00

Every morning since the time change, munchkin has been waking up at 5am. I hear every little peep that he makes through our excellent baby monitor. So I wake up at 5am, and tell myself that he's ok and safe and then go back to sleep (Or at least try to) until 6am.

We wait until 6am to get him because that is "THE SCHEDULE" and I keep reading how every baby should be on a schedule. Besides, we can barely get him to stay awake past 7pm and if we wake him earlier and put him to bed earlier, I'll end up waking every day at 4am instead.

Our house has a built in intercom system, but every time there is rain with lightning it gets frazzled and only half of it works. The half that isn't working right now, is the speaker in our master bedroom. For some reason, my husband refuses to call the company that installed it and bought a baby monitor so that we could sleep in the master bedroom and still hear the baby.

Ok, he bought the baby monitor for my parents to use when they're watching munchkin but we've commandeered it for our bedroom.

The REALLY Funny part about the baby monitor (the store bought one) is that it picks up a local radio station. And I don't mean, a little bit of noise faintly in the background. I mean you can hear it all plainly. The later in the night it is, the more clearly you can hear the radio station. The reason for this is because our "high end" neighborhood is built about 5 blocks (as the crow flies) from the stations Gigantic radio tower. The Tower has been there since the 70's (maybe longer) and our Neighborhood has been here since the early 2004's. So it's really not the radio stations fault.

To remedy this, my husband, who is really an exceptionally smart dude, has put aluminum foil around the upstairs portion of the baby monitor (the transmittor) and the Reciever in our bedroom. And you know what? It's worked. The static and the radio station isn't as loud as it used to be.

I'd take a picture of it but the baby is sleeping right now and if I wake him, I don't get to pollute the internet with my witty drivel. :-)

The First three photos above are obviously taken at the 2008 Worlds Championshp Horse show in Louisville, KY during the $100,000 Five Gaited Stake. During the class, they strip the horses to take a look at their conformation. Now the points given during this portion of the class don't factor in a LOT, but it drags the class out so that everyone gets their money's worth. I definitely did.

The Last horse photo is of the winner "Breaking News" performing the gait, the "rack" which is an "artificial" gate taught to him by his trainer and he's really good at it. (obviously)

The Fourth picture is of a squirrel, doing squirrel things in one of the trees out back. Although the lens I used doesn't have the "foo" to get one of those great, close up, pictures showing every hair in his fuzzy hide, I think that the overall feeling is pretty nice.

The fifth picture is a reflection of the trees on the water in the creek in my back yard. Some day I'll have to blather on about why we're in the house and how much I love my back yard, but I'll spare you today.

YAWN

2008-11-05T07:57:00.008-05:00

I know, it's 8:20am est already and I should have plenty of caffiene in my system by now. I was like a lot of Americans in that I stayed up late last night to watch the final results of the Presidential Election come in. I have to say I was pleased.

Unfortunately though, when munchkin woke up at 5am (which would be 6am, his normal time to wake up according to his body clock because of the daylight savings time thing) I was under the impression it was 2am. Because of this, I changed his diaper thinking that I had hours before he needed to be awake again and we both went back to sleep.

At 7am my husband, who has to be at work at that time, rolled over and said "Babe? Did you feed the munchkin?".. and I said "No.... I guess he's still asleep". Sure enough, when I went upstairs, I had to wake him to feed him. He never sleeps this late so I guess he was tired too..

I went out in my back yard last night with one of my other zoom lenses that I don't use too often. I have been spoiled by my Canon 70-200mm IS USM f2.8 zoom because it is so big and clear. I thought surely this other zoom doesn't stink as much as I thought it did. I was wrong. It does. It's very soft (meaning it doesn't take a clear image) at 300mm. Some of the pictures look like they might be usable, and some don't. Most disappointing are the pictures of the Mallard Duck pair that has taken up residence in the creek in our back yard. The pictures are very out of focus. That lens has a tendency to "back focus" or grab something behind the subject and focus on it instead of the subject. I'll have to stake out the creek again with my good lens when boy is taking a nap today.

Today there are more pictures from the 2008 Worlds Championship Horse show. The show isn't just for Saddlebreds, it is for Roadster to Bike horses (which are usually retired racing standardbreds) and Hackney ponies. Some of the hackney ponies have docked tails and some don't. For the record, I loathe the docked tails but I'm a photographer and I photograph what I see.

I'll probably have a couple of more days of horsie photos and then I'll have to dig into my stash of landscape stuff in my back yard. I'm hoping that I'll get to Churchill Down's fall meet this week or next so if you like horse racing photos, stay tuned! :-)

Happy Voting Day!

2008-11-04T07:00:00.011-05:00

I won't attempt to "wax poetical" about how lucky we are that we can vote in this country. I'm sure that everyone knows that voting is a great privledge not afforded to everyone in the world so we should feel lucky and "blessed" that we can decide our leaders this way.

Please, be nice to the poll workers and everyone in line with you. Please resist the urge to stab the person spouting off about the candidate that you hate with a pen. :-) Please resist the urge to tear the opposing candidates bumper sticker off of the cars around yours. If you can't play nice then you can still play but it would be more pleasant if you're not psychotic about it :-)

Above is a patriotic picture of the arabian stallion "Good Thunder". "Good Thunder" is a champion in many disciplines (native costume, saddleseat and more!) and at the final Arabian Horse Nationals held in Louisville, Ky in 2006, he carried the American Flag on Friday and Saturday Nights.

My apologies for the all of the "noise" in the picture, I was using my old Point and Shoot Camera. (only 5 megapixels as opposed to the EOS Rebel that I use now which is 10) The noise reducing plugin that I use "Noise Ninja" only made the grain worse so I left it as is.

Supposedly there will be at least a 2 hour wait to vote around here today. My husband is going to come home early so that I can go vote without toting munchkin along. I would imagine that 2 hours in a line would be torture for a 10 month old! I wonder if I still have my old "Game boy"......

More American Saddlebred Horses

2008-11-03T06:59:00.003-05:00

I still have another 350 to go but these are a few that I pulled out to put up on the blog...

More Beauties from The Worlds Championship Horse Show.

2008-11-02T10:55:00.005-05:00

There is something so elegant about American Saddlebred Horses. Even the ones that don't have their tails done for a show, exude an elegant presence.

I took about 1500 photos over the three days I was at the 2008 Worlds Championship Horse show. I'm just now getting to some of them because I had more lucrative show photos to get through first. I"m really happy with how some of these turned out even though I was in the "nosebleed" Seats at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.

Halloween Night

2008-11-01T06:17:00.006-04:00

Last night we had a nice night. The munchkin didn't stay up too much past 6:30pm because he was exhausted from going to his grand parents and going to the neighbors. We didn't have any trick or treaters until almost 7pm and then only about 20 came in total.

We did have a visitor of another sort! We had a bat land on the window sill on our front porch! I couldn't believe it! An actual little brown bat! Just as I ran inside to go get the camera, he figured out where he was and flew off again! It was amazing, I've never seen a wild bat up close like that :-) What a great coincidence on Halloween!

The Pictures of my fabulous fake glowing pumpkins was taken with my Canon Rebel XTI 400D and the regular 18-50mm lens. Manual mode, shutter speed 1/50, F5.6, ISO 400

The Picture of my Son in is Dinosaur outfit was taken with my Canon Rebel XTI 400D and the regular 18-50mm lens. F7.1, 1/100 Shutter speed, ISO 400 and on "Normal Program( cause hubby was taking the picture)

More Photos from the 2008 Worlds Championship Horse Show

2008-10-31T10:45:00.003-04:00

The Grey horse would NOT put his/her ears forward for anything! I tried so hard to get a good picture of him/her because I love greys..

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:06:00.016-04:00

I really like Halloween. I don't LOVE it and go nutso or all out during this time of year but I really like it.

We used to live in a smaller town than we live in now, and it was a very friendly place. The little neighborhood where we had our first little house would come together during Halloween. We'd all sit on our porches and talk and get to know one another and look at all of the childern's adorable costumes. I miss that a lot. Maybe we can start the tradition here in our new neighborhood.

This year is different for me because it is my Son's first Halloween. He is going to be a dinosaur. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit over what I would dress him as because (stupid me!) most of the costumes that my husband and I liked a lot were sold out by Oct 1. He is going to his grandparents today and I am going to put him in his costume to get pictures of him with them. Unfortunately it's supposed to be unseasonably warm here today so I can't keep the costume on him too long cause the poor guy will get too hot!

You may or may not know that I am proudly owned by two black cats. They were litter mates and we adopted them from the Shelby County Kentucky no kill Shelter. My husband was forced to give up a black cat when he started seeing me because my cat at the time had FIP. When my cat Max died of Cancer a few years later our house was very empty and lonely. Every noise I heard, that I was used to attributing to Max, only made me miss her more. I looked online at the local shelter and they had a litter of black cats that needed adoption and I knew that the universe was telling us to go see them. Thats when we went to adopt Sahara and Lill.

They have been a joy in our lives ever since. There is nothing like the love one recieves from a pet.

Ok! Since this is a photography blog, how about gettin to the pictures!

The first picture is a photo of our fake pumpkins on my front porch. No fire involved so that I won't burn my hand off.(I am a SERIOUS clutz) :-) Taken with my Canon Rebel XTI 400D with my 70-200mm IS USM zoom lens (it's the clearest lens I own and I love it!) Set to AV mode f5.0 aperature and a 1/30, ISO 200 shutter speed. (It was just after dawn when I took it this morning)

The second picture is of Sahara. Again, same camera, AV mode, F2.8, 1/10 shutter. ISO 800. taken in September.

The next two photos are of the trees in my back yard, this morning right around dawn. ISO 800, AV mode, F5.0 and really slow shutter speeds. I used the posts on my deck as a tripod because there is no way I could've gotten a good photo just hand holding my big ole zoom.

I am still ever so slowly going through my photos from the Worlds Championship Horse Show and I spotted a few good ones that I'll be uploading sometime later.

SITS

2008-10-30T10:21:00.002-04:00

I joined the "Secret is in the Sauce" sisterhood today! I love when women help out other women like this! :-)

I haven't had any time to photograph anything recently except my son.. it's just been too busy around here! I need to go out and photograph some leaves in my back yard because they're finally turning to beautiful Fall colors :-)

Breeders Cup Horses

2008-10-25T15:10:00.004-04:00

This past June, I was fortunate enough to be at Churchill Downs on the "Stephen Foster Handicap" Day. On this day, I was lucky enough to be able to photograph some great racehorses. Most important of these horses was Curlin. I am so glad that I was able to see him run in person! Above are my photos from the day of Curlin, Hysterical Lady, Einsteine and Pyro, My Pal Charlie, and Visionaire.

Busy again!

2008-10-19T12:57:00.006-04:00

This month has been very busy. Not with anything specific but with a lot of little things. I finished the photos from the Festivale of Endangered Equines and I've been working on the photos from the 2008 Worlds Championship Horse Show.

Other than that, I haven't really been out photographing anything specific. I did photograph the horses from the post office again but not with a lot of luck. I just love that little grey mare that lives there. If I had the money and the room, she'd be mine (if she were for sale).

more polo photos.. last ones I swear!

2008-10-03T15:25:00.001-04:00

More Polo

2008-10-01T13:41:00.005-04:00

I took 1200 Pictures of Polo. I only like about 90 so far. I'm being very picky about them.. :-) I can't wake up today either! It's this fall weather! It makes me want to snuggle up in bed.. heheeh

Fall light in my backyard

2008-10-01T10:33:00.002-04:00

When I was going to school as a kid, I didn't really care for fall. I also hate to be cold so the second half of every year was kinda of a bummer to me. Now though, I can see the beauty in the changing light and the crispness of the air.

last night I shot a couple of trees in my back yard. The light was hitting the vines on them and highlighting them beautifully.

Mistakes = Learning

2008-09-29T10:24:00.004-04:00

Used to be that I was really afraid of making mistakes. I was so insecure that when I made a mistake, and someone tried to help me by constructively pointing it out, I would get all bent out of shape. Now I know that if someone actually takes the time to constructively point out my mistake (and I of course value their opinion) It is a gift.

Yesterday, I sat on the wrong side of the polo field for lighting. I used a shutter speed of 500 and let it pick it's own fstop. It mostly used f4 - f5.6 with an occasional 7.1 or even 11 thrown in. This made most of my photos very contrasty. On the one hand, it wasn't really what I was going for. On the other hand, the photos look kinda cool! So I'll be popping that tidbit into my brain for creative photography in the future.

I also tried a lot of panning to show movement.

One More..

2008-09-27T15:31:00.003-04:00

ok, Last one for today, I swear..

Post office horses

2008-09-27T14:25:00.016-04:00

On Thursday evening, I ended up going "horse lookin" after all. I was having a "moment" of feeling creative and a bit irritated. I do sometimes have a typical "artists temperment" and I get all moody. Sometimes this works to my favor. I left the house right around sunset and drove by the tiny post office on "main street" Eastwood. As I mentioned previously, there is a monument of some sort within a horse pasture right across the street. This time the same dappled grey horse (a mare I found out) that I had photographed last time was there along with her buddy a flaxen chestnut pinto. (forgive me, I get tobiano, overo, tovero etc confused so I'm not exactly sure what this horse was) Both horses are probably 15hands or under. I "think" that the grey is a welsh of some sort because her head is not arab-y at all. Her ears are very tippy though. (wish they'd brush her mane but it does make photographing her interesting)

Although there wasn't as much sunset sunlight on the pair as I had hoped, I did manage to use the light to my advantage. I accidently had my ISO wayyy up on 800 because I was shooting pictures of my son indoors earlier in the day but the 800 ISO worked out fine. The one problem that I find with my Rebel XTI 400D is that it's images are a lot noiser than I would prefer. The ISO up on 800 certainly didn't help that fact but it gave me the shutter speed that I needed while using a F7.1 aperature.

I didn't get very many images of the Pinto that I liked tremendously but as usual, the grey's coat reflected the light beautifully. Note to self, don't photograph colored horses in the shade.. LOL!

The Grey has lost a lot of her dark coloring over the course of the summer and I find it interesting that she has lightened so much. I'm glad that I got a photograph or two of her while she still had that dark dappled grey coat.

I would like to try to go shoot some polo tomorrow but my poor hubby is ill so I'll probably end up staying home. (we don't want the baby to get sick too).

Next weekend is the "St James Court Art Show" which is the second largest art fair in the country. 7 or 8 full city blocks of every kind of art you could imagine! It is simultaneously inspiring and overwhelming to me. I hate going by myself but I find that I don't normally have anyone to go with. If I get to talk about the art with someone, It helps me stave off being overwhelmed. I may try to bring munchkin with me but we'll see.

I do daydream about having a booth at St James. I can never make enough miniature tack to sell in a booth so I'm hoping that someday I can sell my photographs instead.

I would dearly like to get up into my studio this weekend so wish me luck!

light

2008-09-25T13:27:00.003-04:00

I didn't go "horse lookin" on Tuesday. By the time I was on my way home from my appointment I was tired and the muse had left me. Today my head hurts and is threatening to turn into a migraine.

I decided to go back through some of my photos of my son and I'm glad I did. I keep all of my original photos so that when I learn more, and I see differently I have them. Above is one of those pictures. It may not be a good photo for grandma and granpa to see munchkin's face but it seems a little poetic to me because of the lighting. Munchkin was just laying on the rug in the sunlight, playing with the hat he had just taken off of his head.

Feeling creative

2008-09-23T13:04:00.007-04:00

Starting last night and into this morning, I've felt a compelling urge to be creative. I'm really fascinated with lines that make up objects. I really need to find some horses to photograph with this thought in my head. I'll be out this evening so I may go "horse lookin" then..

Meanwhile, here are a few more photos from the 2008 Festivale of Endangered Equines.

Here is the order of Breeds:

Caspian (Caspians are not Ponies, they are horses)

Fell Pony

Mountain Pleasure Horse

Highland Pony

Caspian

Newfoundland Pony (Love his roany butt! :-))

Images from the chaos

2008-09-22T14:57:00.009-04:00

Above are a few images from the chaos of hurricane Ike that hit our area. As you can imagine, a hurricane hitting in the Ohio Valley is a strange and rare event. The winds that blew through our region were supposed to only be about 25 - 30 miles per hour and they turned out to be 70-85 mph which is equal to a level I hurricane. Our Fair city was definitely not prepared for such an event. I would be surprised if any city on the mainland, that is landlocked , is prepared for hurricane force winds. Cincinnati and northern Ky was hit hard as well. It turns out that about 286,000 people in Louisville alone lost power. Some lost their houses when large trees fell on them. We definitely could have fared worse.

The first three images above are slow shutter shots of our trees being blown around. These trees are at least 40 - 50ft tall, so to get the kind of sway you see, requires quite a bit of force. I was also sitting down, holding onto the railing trying like hell to keep my camera steady while taking those shots. I probably should've used my tripod but I was afraid it would be blown off the deck.

The dragonfly you see, the poor thing, was holding on for dear life on the brick outside of our screened in porch. He eventually ended up plastered to the screen and I don't know where he ended up after that.

The last photo is of the generator that we were loaned so that we could at least have SOME power like Internet and TV. It was wonderful to have lights so that we could make munchkin's bottle at 6am instead of trying to do it via flashlight. Generators are VERY loud and they actually cost more to run per day than having regular electricity because of the cost of gas prices now. It was impossible to buy a generator while the power was out. There was a report that the nearest Home Depot with a Generator was in Nashville, TN, four hours away.

We did invest in a Coleman LED Camping light and that was really one of the best purchases we could've made. It was the last one left at Walmart at 6am. Walmart had lost their power as well and re-opened at 2am so we felt lucky to get it.

We finally got our electricity back last night at 8pm. I was on the way home from doing laundry and a few streets over from our Subdivision I saw about 20 utility trucks. (that is not an exaggeration, there were really that many). Some cutting down trees, some working on lines, directing traffic, etc. I called my husband to confirm that our electricity was back up, because if it was not, I was going to turn around and let the guys know! ha!

The bittersweet thing about having no electricity was that I had a lot (read "too much") of time for introspection and contemplation about what I would blog about should I ever get back on the internet for an extended amount of time.

I'd like to correct my post about the Rare Breeds. The show was actually called "The Festivale of Endangered Equines". It was organized by the Equus Survival Trust and specifically Victoria Tollman. Victoria has graciously corrected me on the labeling of some of my photos with the correct breed. I feel very badly that I got them SO WRONG! So this is a public apology to Victoria and I will update my website soon. In case you're not sure of the URL of my website, it is here: http://abounaderphoto.smugmug.com/2008%20Festivale%20of%20Endangered%20Equines

I have also realized that I have far too many pictures up on my website. I've already been paring them down. I also realize that I need some photo shop elements classes so that I can put some of the photos on more interesting and compelling backgrounds.

Actually I have years worth of things to learn about photography. I really would like to learn studio lighting, and I would really like to learn more about what settings to use in what circumstances.

I would also like to get one of the new Canon Cameras. I am still deciding between the new 5D mark II and the 50D. Both have some great features that I think I need and both are very expensive. I will need to find a new job in January because munchkin will go into daycare so I will probably have to wait till then.

Correction!

2008-09-20T17:35:00.001-04:00

The Ponies below that I Identified as "Exmoor Ponies" are actually "Gotland Russ" ponies. My apologies and my thanks to Victoria Tollman who organized and ran the 2008 Festivale of Rare Equines

Not really 100% back

2008-09-19T09:37:00.005-04:00

We were lucky enough to secure a generator from my parents, who borrowed it from my sister. My sister never lost power in her neighborhood. We are still without power and it has been said that it could be another 10 days before we get it back. I have no idea why our power is out. As I stated before, all of the houses around our little sub-subdivision have power but we don't. So no laundry which is what we are currently in need of!

Because of the generator, I was able to tweak a few more photos from the 2008 Rare Breed Expo. So please enjoy!

THe breeds are in this order: Highland Pony, Exmoor, Highland pony, Exmoor pony, caspian pony.

More to come!

No Electricity

2008-09-16T17:32:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately, as of today, I've been without electricity for two days! It stinks!! Especially for an Internet junkie like myself! THe Power Companjy says it could be yet another 7 days before our power is back up. This is due to the 71 MPH winds that came through our area on sunday. These winds were the remanants of Hurricane Ike. There are 260,000 people in Louisville without power and unfortunately, I am one of them. All of the houses around us on different streets have power - it is very frustrating. We are fortunate though, the trees behind our house withstood the winds just fine and our house suffered no obvious damage.

Luckily my husband bought a small power supply a couple of years ago so that we can have 25 - 30 minutes of internet a night.. Our home network is down though so I can't tweak any photos during this time. The good thing is that I can work in the studio in the mornings when my son sleeps because the sun shines right into it. I haven't gotten a lot done because I am spending time looking for some of the supplies I need, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be more productive!

Akhal Tekes!

2008-09-09T17:29:00.006-04:00

Over the Weekend I was Privledged enough to be able to attend the "Rare Breed Expo" at the Kentucky Horse Park. In 2006 I met many Akhal Teke Owners at the Symposium that was held there. It was wonderful to see everyone again and have the opportunity to photograph their horses. I took a mind-blowing amount of pictures to make sure that I had some good shots. Above are just a few that I've had time to go through and resize. MANY more to come! I also got a few good photos of some of the other breeds that were there as well.. I just haven't yet had the time to tweak them.

TOOOOOO busy!

2008-08-31T16:50:00.004-04:00

This week has been "too busy!" I haven't had a lot of time to work on tweaking photos from the Worlds Championship Horse show (saddlebreds) or to even finish up the Photos from the 2008 Kentucky State Fair Morgan show. I've also taken quite a few photos of my son and my cats.

I know that everyone takes photos of their pets, but my cats are black and I think that artistically, that makes them special. They are fantastic for making a photo look good in either color or black and white. Light on their coat is fascinating to me as are their faces and their movement. I swear that someday I'll be in the right place at the right time to catch a good picture of what I call "Kittypalooza". This is when my cats run after one another and playfully tackle eachother. Our rule is "no blood, no foul".

Above are photos of Sahara sleeping and of her watching me watch her.

I have a potential chance to do a farm shoot of Miniature Horses. I really hope that this opportunity pans out because I would LOVE to photograph them. I think that Miniature Horse are Absolutely adorable and I would love to own one someday!

The Worlds Champion Five Gaited Horse, "Breaking News"

2008-08-28T21:17:00.002-04:00

The Worlds Champion Five Gaited Horse, "Breaking News", originally uploaded by Heather Abounader Photography.

This photo was taken at the 2008 Worlds Championship Horse show held simultaneously with the Kentucky State Fair. My Friends and I went to watch this show of elegant horses. The horse pictured is "Breaking News" this year's winner of the $100,000 Five gaited stake.

Lets try this again.

2008-08-22T19:56:00.003-04:00

My signature obscured the hummingbird in the picture above. Here is the high res picture.

Perspective

2008-08-22T18:08:00.006-04:00

Above are some more hummingbird pictures. One of them was taken as I snuck around the corner of our house this evening, hoping to get another picture of the hummingbirds. I couldn't get nearly as close though as I can when I'm in the house in the laundry room. I snapped a couple of pictures of one anyway, to show how tiny these birds really are. Even I forget after looking at so many pictures of them this summer.

Next Summer I am going to plant Red "Trumpet Honeysuckle" because those are a favorite of the hummingbird. I am lucky in that there is spot outside of the window where I could put in a planter or two of it and still get decent photos (I hope).

I am very much going to miss these guys when fall rolls around. There is nothing like the thrill of getting a good picture of a hummingbird without a feeder!!

I spent quite a bit of time this week at the "Worlds Championship Horse Show". This is "THE" show for Saddlebred Horses. Tomorrow night are the finals and I am lucky enough to be able to go!

I've started uploading pictures of the "2008 Kentucky State Fair Morgan Horse Show" on my website. I don't know if anyone will be interested in purchasing the photos but they'll be up there!

I'm also working on transferring the Stonyridge Retirement Horse Farm Photos to the smugmug site. I'm finding that after a second look at some of the photos, I'll be uploading a few that didn't make it before. April that runs the farm has invited me back. I think I'm going to make the trip when the leaves change colors.

I'll apologize in advance..

2008-08-18T14:24:00.004-04:00

I don't normally put my son's photo on the internet because I want his life to be private. I also watch too much MSNBC. This photo however, doesn't really show his face but it does show his bright personality. He's mostly a happy baby but he's a fire sign so he has his moments.. This was taken by our front door this morning as the sun was shining through.

Relaxing Weekend

2008-08-17T10:11:00.003-04:00

This weekend there wasn't a big rush to do anything which was nice. I was able to find a horse to photograph and my kitty, Sahara, was nice enough to pose under our new dining room table.

The horse that I photographed "lives" (as far as I know) in a field across from our local post office.

Our local Post office is a nice throwback to the days when everyone knew everyone and there was only ONE person behind the counter there. It's a one window affair that shares it's building with an ebay store. They are open from 8am - 10am on Saturdays and because of the low volume of people, are faster than the "big" post office in town. I really like going there to spend my shipping money because it helps keep the post office open and I like it when my money helps the local economy.

Across the post office is some sort of very old Grave Memorial (hard to read)in a field. In this field also lives the beautiful dappled grey horse above (I *think* he's either arabian or high percentage arabian.. or possibly Welsh pony) I've watched him grey out over the last couple of years. I wish that I had thought to bring my camera sooner to get his other grey stages.

This particular saturday morning, he was nice enough to pop his head out of those feed bins long enough to look at me and walk away. I don't know where the paint horse was. Hopefully he'll be around the next time I bring my camera with me to the post office.

In the second picture, is my kitty Sahara. This morning was a beautiful Sunday morning and the light was perfect while Sahara relaxed under our dining room table. As you can imagine, with a baby that is starting to crawl, any good, high, hiding spaces are heaven to my poor cats!

Busy!

2008-08-13T10:11:00.005-04:00

I've actually been really busy over the last 10 days! Three horse shows and numerous other things!!

I went to the 2008 Shelbyville Horse Show, the 2008 Ky State Fair Quarter Horse Show (roping portion) and the 2008 KY state Fair Morgan show.

The Shelbyville horse show was just wonderful with my new lens! Although I REALLY wish it was a 70- 300mm 2.8 lens instead of just 200mm. I have two 70-300mm lenses but they are not even in the same League as the 70-200mm cannon 2.8 lens that I have now. They are no where near as crystal clear as it is. I'm definitely spoiled on lenses now. I'm going to have to get really good lenses from now on or I just won't be happy with the image quality. I learned alot about shooting into the sun too. You can do it but not everything will turn out well.

The roping show was great because it taught me about shooting images in Freedom Hall. Freedom hall is so much better lit than the Kentucky Horse Park Arena. It still has it's challenges though. I learned that I need an 800 ISO to get a good enough shutter speed to remotely capture any action. I also learned to not expect to get crisp, stopped action but to work with panning techniques to get moving images instead.

I haven't had the time to go through my Morgan Horse show images just yet so I don't know how I did on those.

I've also entered the "Capture Kentuckiana" photo contest put on by the local newspaper, The Courier Journal

I'm hoping against hope that one of my images will be good enough for the book. It seems like everyone will have at least one Image on the CD which is why I want to be in the book (as usual, I aim high! LOL~!)

http://capturekentuckiana.com/people/abounaderphoto

Please, out of the kindness of your heart, please vote for my images! If my images don't get votes, they drop out of the random vote pool and then I'll never get anything in the book! unfortunately though, you have to sign up for the website in order to vote. (yes, I think this is lame too but I think this is how they make sure that no one cheats)

Munchkin is now sitting up and crawling and he is into EVERYTHING! This is actually a great sign and I'm so pleased with his curiosity.

I've also been dealing with a touch of post partum depression. I've never been good about going out of the house and over the last three months I've been much worse. I'm seeing a counselor though so I will be much better in the future.

I day dream a lot about taking munchkin places and taking his picture there... Like taking him to the slugger museum or taking him to the park and taking his picture in front of well known Louisville Landmarks... Hopefully I can actually do that soon.. I think it would be adorable for his photo album.

Ropin Show! (More to come later today!)

2008-08-13T09:54:00.002-04:00

Roadster Ponies

2008-08-04T22:36:00.001-04:00

Roadster Pony

2008-08-04T22:35:00.001-04:00

Icelandic Horses Tolting across the Kentucky Horse Park Arena

2008-07-29T12:07:00.001-04:00

Perfectionist

2008-07-29T12:04:00.002-04:00

If you know me from my miniatures work, the fact that I state that I'm a perfectionist isn't new or a surprise. The hard part about this is that I mercilessly beat myself up over not having watched my background or if I miss a shot or if a shot is out of focus etc. I do have photoshop elements 5 but I don't know how to swap out backgrounds.

I finally got over myself enough to go back through some of my photos from Breyerfest that were taken in the indoor arena. Although I rented the Canon f2.8 70-200mm (non IS) lens, I didn't get the shots I was hoping for or expected. There just is not a way to get a good shot in the Kentucky Horse Park arena (that I know of, but I'm still a newbie with digital SLR photography) without extra lighting. A flash is wasted in the stands though because it doesn't go far enough, and there is an unwritten (or in some cases written) rule about no flash photography in the first six rows of the stands of a horse show.

I expect entirely too much of myself, ALL of the time. In some ways this helps me tremendously and in some ways it hinders me. I am always searching for a balance.

Anyway, I reconsidered some of the breyerfest photos that were taken in the ring, especially of the Icelandic horses. Those suckers can "tolt" like nobody's business and the pretty girls on them made for nice pictures.

After renting the lens above, I bought one. WITH the IS and USM though because that danged lens is VERY heavy. I've had it a day and I am already eager to go try it out wherever I can! I don't know anyone with horses here in Louisville though so I'm taking a lot of pictures of my son and my cats! ha!

Been Working Hard..

2008-07-25T21:19:00.004-04:00

I've been trying to mentally work out how I was going to build a website where I could do ecommerce and print ordering. I've been reading some on how to customize my current website www.abounaderphoto.com but there just not enough hours in the day for me to be able to figure it all out. Because a lot of folks on the equine photographers board use www.smugmug.com, I decided to give it a try. It's only been three days but so far I like it A LOT! http://abounaderphoto.smugmug.com/ Many more images to come but I have to tweak them all first. This is going to take a few weeks so please keep checking back!

I realize now though that I'm going to have to tweak a bunch of high resolution images but I think that the intial work will be worth it in the long run. I'm so hoping that this move will help me generate some sales of my photos!!

I don't think I'll be able to photo any horses this week but that is for the best I think... I have enough images to play with for now.

Next weekend is the Shelbyville Horse Show so I'm hoping I'll be able to get a few images for my portfolio then!

I have to confess, I'm weak. I loved that Canon f2.8 lens so much that I bought one..hehehe The decision was pushed somewhat by the fact that I had to send my fast 75-300mm zoom back into canon for repair which means I'm stuck with my slower zoom now. I will definitely need a faster zoom for any of the horse shows coming up..

The above images were taken yesterday while I was playin around with my camera. There was a bird outside of the office window that was protecting it's territory and driving the kitties crazy because it was flying from one window to another. I got lucky in that it landed on a decoration I have in the landscaping out front so I snapped a photo of that sassy bird!

The other picture is of a spiderweb. While I don't care much for spiders, I think that spider webs are wonderful! This particular web was on our paperbox. I used a mirror to shine light on the web so that I could focus on it and get the picture.

yawn

2008-07-23T22:14:00.005-04:00

I should be in bed. Mr boy gets up promptly at 5:40am and I am always dragging my butt out of bed.. I couldn't resist posting more breyerfest photos though. I'm really fond of the photos of Unraneo the bay andalusian. I should've taken a lot more. I also should've been more aware of Alborozo and taken more photos of him but I missed that opportunity unfortunately.

I like the freedom of the woman on the white horse while he is galloping out of the ring.. I like that she has no shoes on..hehehe

My teacher in my Equine Photography course really liked the photos that I put up this week and her words gave me such a mental boost! I really needed it about now...

a Few more photos..

2008-07-22T12:38:00.004-04:00

I'm still working on Saturday's photos but here are a few I'm particularly proud of..

Breyerfest photos For Sale!

2008-07-22T12:02:00.003-04:00

Hi Folks!

YES The Breyerfest photos are for sale. I don't normally do that but since I took my class and there is no conflict with the official photographer I'm going to go ahead and sell them. I'm still working on a bunch from Saturday but I have all of the Good Alborozo Photos up as well as all of friday's photos tweaked. Unfortunately my main website is having issues so I've uploaded everything to Flickr.

Alborozo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertnightcreations/sets/72157606297295629/

The Rest of the horses : http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertnightcreations/sets/72157606301137814/

My prices are very reasonable because I'm building a client base and a portfolio. Please contact me for rates and photo sizes. heather@abounaderphoto.com To show me which photo you like just provide me a link to the photo so that we're on the same page.

Breyerfest 2008

2008-07-20T19:06:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was the weekend for Breyerfest 2008 at the Kentucky Horse Park. For those folks that don't know what that is, it is a Celebration put on by the Breyer Model Horse company of model horses, and real horses. It's also "model horse mecca" for anyone that collects model horses. I had a great time and it was good to see old friends.

I rented a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens so that I could try for some decent pictures in the Kentucky Horse Park Arena. Unfortunately the place where I rented the lens didn't hear me say that I wanted the Image Stabilization Version of the lens so I got the one without. Needless to say, that was challenging to shoot with. It'll probably take me a few days to go through all of my pictures but here are a couple that I've already "tweaked".

One is of the Celebration horse, Alborozo. Alborozo is a Grey Andalusian and is also trained in Haute Ecole. He can do the Capriole and a few other very impressive maneuvers!

The second horse (the bay)is also an Andalusian and I believe is owned by the same ranch that owns Alborozo. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.

Both looked glorious on Friday morning in the Sunlight so I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

Sometimes Good things happen when one isn't trying...

2008-07-16T14:09:00.000-04:00

I know that Yesterday I said I was giving up photographing hummingbirds until I had a better lens... well.. like I also said yesterday, I'm a "tad" stubborn. Today I got the best photos yet of the female hummingbird! I'm fairly pleased but I'm going to try a faster shutter speed this afternoon.. not because I want to stop the wings but because I want a good clear picture of her.. but we'll see...

The flower that I've posted is one of our flowers in the same flowerbed as my beloved day lilies. I think this flower is beautiful too but the japanese beetles and the ants seem to like it as much as I do. I have to photograph these as soon as they bloom because if I don't, the bugs will eat them.

I've been surfing the net for more daylilies to plant. So far I like Black Ambrosia really well and some others with different colors. I have no idea where I'm going to plant them but I want them anyway.

This weekend I will be at "Breyerfest" at the Kentucky Horse Park. I intend to get a lot of photos of horses this weekend! I can't wait!

ok.. I give..

2008-07-15T16:33:00.003-04:00

Normally my big stubborn butt doesn't give in very easily. Normally I'm tenacious to a fault and stubborn about banging my head against something creative until I figure it out. This time, though, I just don't have the right equipment. Today I was shooting pictures again of those beautiful hummingbirds and I had a terrific vantage point and opportunity. But my lens just isn't clear enough. I'm definitely going to have to get a Prime lens if I want to take crisp, clear pictures of birds, dragonflies and whatever else tiny I find in my viewfinder.

Canon has two 300mm IS US lenses. One with an f stop down to 2.8 and one with a f4-5.6 range. The one that goes to 2.8 is $4,000. The one with the f4-5.6 is about $1200. I'm going to have to start selling more photos if I'm ever going to have the kind of moola it takes to get those lenses! ha!

monday

2008-07-14T14:32:00.004-04:00

I've still been trying to get some better pictures of that danged hummingbird! Actually, we have a ton of birds in our yard because we have a small patch of trees in the back yard. Everything from Herons to Bluebirds fly around.

My canon IS 70-300mm zoom is still soft at 300mm so I never get decent pictures of the birds. I got an "ok" one this morning though.. a lovely male eastern bluebird sitting on our garage roof. We have several breeding pairs of bluebirds and the males are always feuding about something! Makes for good photo ops though.. and yes, I know, I need a 300mm prime lens and canon makes a couple of nice ones (and expensive!) ;-)

We have a screened in back porch that the cats go out onto to "hunt" birds. I should spend more time just sitting out there waiting for the birds to land on the deck railing..

Hummingbirds

2008-07-12T15:21:00.003-04:00

I've heard a lot of folks say that Horses are very hard to photograph. I agree that there is a degree of difficulty in photographing them, but I'm telling you that Hummingbirds make Photographing horses look like a piece of cake!!

We have a pair of ruby throated hummingbirds that love our "black salvia" bush. We didn't know until after we bought the flowers that it was a hummingbird "Draw". Last year we only saw the hummingbirds as they flew away so we had no idea what kind they were.

This year, we're staking out the window in our laundry room which looks out over the bush. I have the 300 mm zoom lens with the Image Stabilization on the camera and it hasn't helped us capture a good image of them. Either the image is over exposed, or blurry or under exposed. It's difficult to set a camera for lighting conditions for the OTHER side of the window. This is the best we've (me) gotten so far..

I've looked up online how folks get good photos of Hummingbirds and it seems to involve several flashes and prime lenses...

New Lens and New Watermark

2008-07-10T10:27:00.004-04:00

I bought a new lens recently. It is a Canon zoom lens with image stablization. It is really heavy compared to my other lenses. Thank goodness it has image stabilization because I can barely hold it still!

I've become aware that folks may be snagging my images from my flickr, webshots, website and my blog. Because of this I'm going to have to go with a more aggressive watermark. I hate that I have to do it but I need to protect my copyrights. I've also removed most of my photos from Flickr and webshots. I am working on getting the photos watermarked on my website.

I found out yesterday that two more of my photos have become editors choice on betterphoto.com! This is pretty exciting! Unfortunately, as of July 1 they have done away with entries into their contests by free members. Paid membership is $45 and that is money that I currently need. At least I have the three photos entered for June's contest. hopefully they'll place!

Tired today..

2008-07-08T15:03:00.006-04:00

I'm a little tired today for some reason. I think it's the heat! I'll post another photo from the photo shoot on sunday that I enjoyed so much! I already have business cards but I really should put THIS Image on there instead.

I did shoot some Dragonflies with my new canon Zoom lens that has image stabilization. (BLESS YOU MARIO!) The handheld shots were still a bit blurry but there was a lot more detail in the wings than my old lens. I can't wait to try this thing out on an equine photo shoot!

For some interesting reading on who's allowed to shoot photos at Horse Shows you can read trot.org or this Chronicle of the Horse thread.

I won't say which side I'm on, but I will say that everyone has the right to make a living and there has to be a compromise somewhere in those threads that makes sense.

I'm looking for more horses to take photos of, so if you live close to me, tell your friends with horses!

Betsy's Horse Playboy

2008-07-07T14:05:00.006-04:00

Last night I had the privledge of photographing "Playboy" an arabian owned by a friend. He was very photogenic and very sweet. I learned how to photograph a horse at liberty and how to time my shots with his stride in order to get the right photo at the right time. He was a joy to photograph and I think I'm improving!

Success!.. Well Almost..

2008-07-06T08:01:00.005-04:00

Last night, my neighborhood clubhouse did indeed set off fireworks! YAY! It was a bittersweet time though because I was so worried that the fireworks would wake our baby! Happily he sleeps like his dad and slept through everything.

There are trees between us and the Clubhouse so a lot of the fireworks bursts were slightly in front of the trees. I think it makes for an interesting photo of a shillouette of the tree but I'm sure other people will say "man, that would be a nice picture if the tree wasn't in the way". So I'll leave those on my hard drive and share the few bursts that did clear the trees.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Jeff Roush sent me the "formula" for getting the fireworks photos. You can find his website here: Jeff Roush Online

This morning it is very foggy. I wish that I could go drive the country side and look for horses to photo in the fog but I don't want to wake the whole house to leave. (I'd have to wake hubby to have him watch munchkin)

And yes, I took more pictures of my daylilies this morning...

I am going to a friends this evening to photograph her and her arabian. It's for my class. We are photographing action this week. Horses at the Trot, canter and at liberty. I'm hoping he gets all "Arab-y" for me so that I can get some nice pictures.

"even the best laid plans......"

2008-07-05T10:48:00.008-04:00

Last night, the clubhouse in our neighborhood did not shoot off fireworks. Everyone else did but it was pouring. My camera isn't waterproof so I just played around with the settings, shooting images of the houses in the streetlights. I wasn't using my tripod so everything turned out blurry but I did get some interesting photos - if they were in focus. I'll have to give that another shot in the snow or at some other time.

On his way to the store, my husband stopped by the clubhouse and found out that they will be shooting off fireworks tonight, (well hopefully) so I have another shot. Our back yard has some "rough" inbetween us, the creek and the golf course and the clubhouse. I hope that the trees aren't too overgrown for some good shots of fireworks.

I was complaining to a couple of people about my lack of focus once I get around horses. I guess that everyone has their "inner child" and mine tends to take over. I didn't have any horses growing up (I'm a SOLID suburban kid) so I am still in awe when I see one.

I'm actually not one known for "being in the moment". I tend to plan things out most of the time. (For instance, I plan my birthday almost hour by hour so that I can get the most out of it.) At my last shoot, I at least kept my class objectives in mind(too literally) but I forgot a couple of settings on my camera. I Forgot to change my ISO and I really should've shot in AV mode instead of Manual. I just don't trust that my shutter speed will be high enough when a horse unexpectedly takes off and does something fun. I also have to remember to keep looking at the scene from a perspective of "is this a good photograph" instead of just enjoying being around horses. I got two pictures in some really great light and if I had been alert enough, there would have been a lot more.

I am going to start keeping a list of things to check on my camera before I shoot in my bag.

I also have to remind myself that I haven't been seriously shooting for very long and try not to overwhelm myself with all of the things there are to learn.

The next time you see a horse show photographer and you like their work, tell them so. They make it look a whole lot easier than it really is.

Ok, I fibbed....

2008-07-04T15:20:00.008-04:00

Since my Red Daylilies are almost finished blooming, I had to go out and get a few more photos of them while they were still wet from the rain.. I've also read an article about photo-ing fireworks and i think I'm going to give it a try - IF the clubhouse in our neighborhood has a fireworks show..

I also took the flies off of one of the Photos of Mocha the Arabian from the Stonyridge shoot and recropped one of the quarterhorse photos. My assignment was to get headshots and I took the assignment too literally. I think I may have to go back through those photos and redo them at some point. I wish though that I had gotten more of Mocha's neck in that beautiful light..

I haven't gone upstairs to work on tack yet.. maybe during munchkins next nap.. just seems like there is so much to do around here!

Rain

2008-07-04T08:33:00.005-04:00

Thank Goodness it's raining today. I can focus on making tack and not worry about what I'm missing by not taking pictures..hehehe I'd say about 75% of the time, it rains in Louisville on July 4th.

This will be my son's first July 4th celebration.. I hope that he's not going to get scared at all of the noise.. To be honest, I'm sure my cats will be more afraid than he is..

Happy July 4th Everyone!!

Daylillies and Balloons

2008-07-02T09:32:00.006-04:00

I went out this morning and took more pictures of my glorious red daylilies.. They are so gorgeous in the morning in the shade. They're almost done flowering which means I won't have them around much longer.

This morning I was joined by a bumble bee. I don't care for bees because I swell up a bit when they sting me. I took a few pictures of my new friend but the fear I have of them showed in my shaky pictures.

Last night we had some hot air balloons float over our yard. We live close to a park and some wide open land so seeing them isn't uncommon. I've posted my three favorite pictures of them. I know that they're not the normal hot air balloon pictures but they're the three I liked the best.

Tonight a friend of mine and I are going to go take pictures of HORSES! Yay! I'm really looking forward to this shoot!

Polo and the Horsepark

2008-06-30T15:25:00.004-04:00

These Images were taken this past sunday. It was an interesting day to try to take some photos. It was a partly cloudy day in that, every 5 minutes it was either Extremely bright or Extremely cloudy. I didn't get to stay for the actual polo match. I did however get some decent photos of the friesians at the horsepark and of the practice polo.

Sunset. I took this after the last rainstorm...

2008-06-28T17:13:00.005-04:00

The light was just right at sunset to silhouette the trees

Yippy Skipee!

2008-06-27T09:18:00.003-04:00

I found out this morning that one of my photos that I entered into the photo contest over on Better Photos.com is a finalist and an "editors pick"! WAAHOOO!!!!

I will also go to the Horsepark this weekend and shoot some polol! I can't wait!!

Latest Equine Photo Shoot

2008-06-26T13:15:00.005-04:00

I was very lucky in that a Friend/Acquaintance spent the time with me to photo her horses last friday. It was a stormy, rainy day but we manged to get a few good photos anyway.

All of her horses are rescues and they are very happy and content to be in her care.

More Photos from today

2008-06-26T12:43:00.004-04:00

I am really enjoying my red Regency Dandy Daylilies. I love their maroon color in the mornings after they Just open, before the sun gets to them.

I also shot more dragon flies today but I was not nearly as successful as last time. I didn't have time to sit and wait very long however. I'm sure If I had waited an hour or more I would've gotten better photos.

First Post!

2008-06-25T11:30:00.003-04:00

This is a blog about my photography. I also have a miniatures blog here: http://desertnightcreations.blogger.com if you're interested. This blog is here so that I can blather on about photography and not bother my miniatures people with it

Above are photos of dragon flies that I took yesterday. I'm trying to teach myself to be observant and quick with the shutter. I learned that sometimes auto focus just doesn't pick up what you need for it to. These photos were taken on manual focus and manual settings for shutter and f stop.

I am learning a lot about my new camera that I've had for six months, the canon eos rebel xti 400D. I've had point and shoot digital cameras up until now so this is a whole new ball game. I've shot with SLR cameras in the past (canon, pentax and nikon) but this is my first DSLR.

I'm hoping to turn professional within the next year or so..

My main focus is horse photography (Equine photography) because that is my first love. I've been taking pictures of horses since I was 11 years old but that in no way has prepared me for becoming a pro. I am taking an equine photography class online and I'm learning a lot. I hope that I can keep at this until I become good enough to turn pro....