Few things take me back to my childhood like riding a horse.

The smell of a stable is one of the most conforting smells I know. I grew up with horses. I mucked the stalls as a child, brushed our horses' coats, even watched as a foal was born into our horse family when I was an early teen. We called her Coco and she followed us around like a dog for the first full year of her life.

When I got the opportunity to go for a guided trail ride with some friends on April 27th, I jumped at the chance. While the ride itself was a little lack luster (you mean, they won't turn us loose in the pasture to gallup at break neck speed?!) the photo opps were endless.

Inside the barn I used my highest ISO, 12,800, to get this shot.

 This was the start of our trail ride. I was the caboose. :)

It was a slow enough trail ride that I could be artistic even on the back of a horse!

 

My horse, Perrier, was quite the lady. :)

And what's a good photography experience without some random thrown in for good measure? Here we have a basketball goal and a blue chair, both of which I loved photographing, in the middle of the pasture. 

 

There was a huge rainstorm as we arrived back at the stables. We stayed inside one barn, as the clouds gathered over the other barn. We watched the clouds quickly turn into driving rain, thunder, and lightening, and after a few flickers of the lights and loud cracks of thunder, it subsided. God certainly gave us a unique experience to take home with us. :)

I love this one; the water gleaming on the gravel.

Lit up like the 4th of July

My Canon S95 showed me what it could do with Fireworks on Friday night, May 4th, 2012 at a festival in Fort Mill, SC. I was blown away!

I set it to Fireworks Scene mode, and for the finale I set it to continuous shooting mode. The shots are so clear, which probably has something to do with the amazing ISO capability the camera has.

This one is my favoite. I love the starburst in the center.

And for the grand finale!

Taking the train

I'm posting out of order, but I took these shots today, May 6th, 2012, and just have to get them posted. I had the best time photographing in a train yard. I got great shots of the city skyline (the Charlotte skyline is my favorite thing to look at, let alone photograph!) and train tracks and trains...just an all around great day for photography!

I loved this building just ouside of the train yard so much, that I wanted to see it with several different effects. One B&W and the other with hints of color. Love them both!

Wheels. So cool...

I this this train car is still used, but it looked like it had seen better days. Those are the ones I love to photograph. :)

The skyline provided the best backdrop for some of these....train tracks and a skyline. What could be better!

The forgotten track, grown over with weeds...

 This shot of the wheel really got me. You know how sometimes you take that one shot that just makes you go "yes...that's it!"



I feel like this needs to be on a postcard. :)

This old car is outstanding. I couldn't get closer to it, or I would have taken many more pictures of it. Gorgeous!

I used a feature on my camera called "Poster Effect". Thought it did a good job of exaggerating the colors.

Zoomed

B&W. I took this one in color, but thought it looked better as a B&W.

The clouds cooperated with me today. :)

My passion lies in Car Shows

I've realized after just two photo shoots involving cars that I LOVE taking pictures of cars. New or old, it doesn't matter. It's fun, and there are so many different angles to grasp. In the first one I tried working with depth of field, but I'm realizing I won't really get to dive in with that feature until I have a camera with interchangeable lenses. I'm content at this point, though. Because I'm still getting some great shots. These were taken just days after I got the camera, at a Car show down in Lancaster, SC.

Amazingly enough I got shots at sunset! Granted, I know nothing about my manual settings at this point and one day I'll take a similar picture and it will be much better, but I am very happy with this shot.

This old truck was all kinds of cool. Very unconventional, which made for great photos!

More testing of depth of field...you'll find that I'm kind of obsessed with it....

My buddy's bike. She's a beauty!

Focused on the dice door lock.

Beautiful, even with my reflection in the bumper!

First photos, usually not the best, but always tied to memories.

I received my new camera on April 5th, 2012. Hard to believe it's been a month! The first few photos I took weren't so great, but there's something about this one I like. It could be because Mr. Oliver is my pride and joy. :)

And this one I took at a Chinese restaurant, while I was waiting on my food. The people working probably thought I was crazy. Ok, maybe I am a little crazy. :)