Photo Adventure Fridays.... Literally!

Last Friday afternoon, I had a pre-planned surprise from JenJ take place at my barn. A friend of hers, Josh Baker of AzulOx Photography, came up from Austin to do a photo shoot of just the mare and I. I have a lot of competition photos and photos of just Gogo over the years, but I didn't have any good ones of just the two of us together looking nice. We decided that we would trailer over to a local park where there was actually *gasp* some grass and trees and that would provide a nice beautiful backdrop for us. The day dawned warm and sunny, just like every day has been for the past four and a half months. It hasn't rained in that long either, so I of course didn't give the weather a second thought as I walked out the door to work that morning. Obviously there would be good weather for the shoot, we're in the worst drought in Texas history, how could there be any other weather aside from hot and sunny?

Fast forward to 5pm later that day as I am finishing up at work: there are giant stormclouds brewing on the horizon. Great... The first day we've had rain in almost five months and it ends up happening on the ONE day that I needed to be outside looking nice? Fail! After clocking out, I sped off to the barn (which thankfully is 10 minutes away from work), and had just enough time to bring Gogo up from her back field before the sky absolutely opened. Josh showed up at about this time as well, and was spared a moment of dryness to get inside the barn before the deluge began. It POURED! Sideways rain, thunder, lightning, wind.... and there was no end in sight! Josh and I stood around after I had cleaned Gogo up and chatted for about an hour about whatever came to us. He's a funny guy and he thinks I belong in Austin.... I think he's right!

We had a momentary lapse in the rain and we decided to go for it. We had long since abandoned the idea of trailering out anywhere - why bother, when we knew we might not even get to shoot at all before sunset - and we rushed out to the back pasture where Gogo and her friends live and decided to make the best of the scenery. The rain was still drizzling (and sometimes pouring) on and off, so Josh took refuge in the horses' shed while I took outside and posed with the Mami.

And they came out GREAT!! I can't believe it given the weather and the dim light and the whole situation in general! I waited to post about it until all the photos were uploaded online so I can share... these are just a few of my absolute favorites. Enjoy!












Also, for those inquiring about the grass in my pasture.... this is proof that there is NO grass, just check out the muddy shoes! I think I will never get them clean again!


It was super fun and I can't thank Jen enough for this. So awesome!


I have more updates on life changes for Mami mare coming soon.... they include a diet, a move to a drylot, and a stab at homeopathy. Stay tuned ;)

On the lighter side - photography!

I like this exciting discussion we have going on down below om my earlier post today - some very interesting and thought provoking responses. Keep on responding!

On the lighter side, I am excited to report that one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a super nice digital auto/manual Sony, not just your regular crappy snap-a-pic camera. I used to dabble in photography when I was a teenager, but my old camera was film, and once the digital age exploded it fell by the wayside and never even made it with me to Connecticut when I moved. I intend on getting back in the hobby on a very amateur level with this baby.

The quality of the pics are very nice....











... I am rusty but I feel like I'm pretty good at capturing a decent shot from an artistic standpoint.



Bonus points for evil kitty smile photo:




Guess who is next.... her name starts with a G....!