Brrrr------

It's hard to convey just how bitterly cold it has been here the past week. We've been well into the minus 20s and minus 30s all week, and when you add in the effect of the wind (aka "wind chill") the net result has made it feel like the minus 40s. LOW minus forties on several occasions.

About the only positive note is that it has been nice and sunny, and the viciousness of the weather has made me feel less distressed about being without my main camera, since even I would have been hard pressed to go out and get photos in these conditions, although it has been known to happen in the past.

I've been reminded of some of the things that don't work well in the extreme cold, such as the plumbing to my studio (high up on the house and on a north wall), and the water pipes at the barn, which tend to freeze up depending where they are located, and despite everyone's best efforts to prevent this from happening. The seat cushions of a car that has sat outside in the driveway in these conditions acquire a certain distinctive ice-block-like consistency, with no give whatsoever. Ditto the wheels. Steering takes a while to function right, too.

At least the car is still starting, given enough time with the block heater plugged in. Other than necessary trips out for supplies and to the barn, though, I'm not going anyplace much, and I have developed a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and worry about my poor elderly retired Thoroughbred. He has grown a good enough winter coat, has a shelter (if his "difficult" pasture companion will let him in it) and also has the option of a winter horse blanket and/or an indoor stall for the truly bitter nights, but still he's a concern. Few remaining teeth mean he's hard pressed to take in enough calories to keep his weight where it should be in the winter, so it's all a cause for concern. He lives at the acreage of a friend who is a genius at managing the old boys in an optimal fashion, so there's not much I can do other than hope for the predicted warming (and that's a relative term) trend to come quickly. And worry in the middle of the night.

On the camera front, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that I have bought a new camera (picked up this afternoon) and the bad news is that I *had to* buy a new camera. The old one had so many things needing to be fixed (including a new shutter) that I just wasn't willing to invest the money required to make it right. I admit to being very hard on my camera bodies, as I use them heavily year-round, usually in difficult conditions (heat, dust, cold, wind, snow, rain, you name it) and am just generally a demanding if not mildly abusive camera user. I'm going to try to be a better owner to this one, but don't make any bets on my success rate at this. I do what I am able to in order to be nice to my cameras, but I'm not about to change my shooting style.

So far I have managed to attach the strap to the body (don't laugh, this is usually the most challenging and irritating part of setting up a new camera body) and that's about it. I'll spend some time tomorrow sitting in the comfy chair with the camera and the manual and get it up to speed and set for my style of photography, then I'll be good to go. Tonight I'll try to cowboy up and install the software package that came with it. I tend to be quite phobic about any sort of computer installations, assuming (sometimes correctly) that it will all go terribly wrong and I'll be up the creek without a paddle. I think I spent too much time with the old PC that was a nasty piece of work, and I still think of that as the default level of performance for computers. I now have a very lovely and compliant (mostly) Mac, but I still live in a state of mild apprehension that it will all go south with no notice and am consequently always amazed when everything goes well.

Since I didn't take any photos this past week, I've delved about in the files for today's shots, all thematically related to the season and the current weather. The first three shots were collected under very cold conditions in the past couple of winters.

Shot one was taken a couple of winters ago, at a get-together of drivers and teams on a day that was pretty much like today. It was well into the minus twenties with a seriously nasty wind. Despite that, a large number of drivers with many and varied types of horses and conveyances turned out for the event. I thought this fellow had the best set-up. He's out of the wind, and to judge by the chimney in the front, he also has a heat source in the form of a little wood-burning stove. Now that's sensible. Almost as sensible as staying home and not venturing out at all would have been.

Shot two was from a client horse shoot, which took place in the usual cold and wind, but with the added element of a snowfall thrown in for good measure. The barn cats were happy just to observe the world from the doorway of the barn.

Shot three was one of the mares from my favourite mixed herd south of the city. Yet again cold and windy that day. Judging from her shape, I'd say this was into the new year, as she was in foal and starting to show the effects.

I've been working away in the past while converting some of my images into card format. Some will be available as free e-cards on a horsewoman's website (I'll post a link once they are launched) and others I will print up for sale myself. Shots four and five show a couple of the card designs.

It's here

While I was busy doing other things last week, winter seems to have slipped in the back door and established itself rather firmly. Not much snow, mind you, just a skiff, but darn cold temperatures and not much different to look forward to for the coming week. Luckily I had a heads up on this decline into seasonable temperatures so I made time to run out to the barn on Friday after setting up for the Sundog arts and crafts show to put a warmer blanket on my poor horse. I blanket Alpac in winter to keep him from growing a really heavy coat, as horses can get pretty sweaty when worked if they have a full winter coat, then take forever to cool out. There are advantages and disadvantages whether one blankets or not, but I have always blanketed my going horses and have an extensive collection of equine outwear amassed by now. I'm sure he was grateful for it this morning when it was minus 31 at turnout time.

I made it through the show in relatively good form, and am happy to report that it was the last one for this year. Nothing on the horizon for me until well into 2010 and I'm content to keep it that way for the moment. Sundog was a good enough show for sales (could have been better but I say that almost invariably at every show) and was excellent for making contacts both for potential future clients and for photo shoots down the road.

I keep forgetting that I am minus my serious camera, and making plans to do shoots "next week", or "in a couple of days", then I remember I don't actually have the camera that I need to execute these plans. Not so much of a concern right now as I'd really need to be desperate for a photo op in the current cold snap, although it has been known to happen. I'm trying to adapt my thinking to what I *can* do with the little camera and shorter lens, rather than mourning all the things I can't do without my usual set-up. Maybe this week the big camera will at least send a message home to let me know if it is fixable or not.

Since I am shy on the usual number of new shots to choose from, you'll be seeing a bit of a "mix and match" variety here for the next while. Now that I'm less preoccupied with show prep and with new photos coming into the system, maybe I'll get some time to work with the ones I already have.

Shot one is an eye close-up, one of the things the little camera is actually better at than the big one. Not sure who this is--one of the many bay geldings in the driving pen at Ebon.

Shot two is from about a week or so ago and is also taken with the little camera. Would have been a differently framed shot with the big one, but it is still reasonably acceptable. I was wandering around outside that day, which was sunny and relatively warm for the time of year, when I noticed almost all the mares in the north pen were lying down in the sun and enjoying a quiet moment. You'll often see one or two lying down, but it was a little unusual to see so many (about five or six) all down at the same time. This is Wendy, the big mare, eyeballing me over her shoulder to see just what I was up to behind her back.

Back to the summer for the next two shots. Shot three is one of a number of moving water studies I took at the weir. Water outdoors that isn't solid already seems quite exotic to me, and just a distant memory. I liked the coloured reflections with the intense blue of the water, and the contrast of the smooth areas with the texture of the spray, also the rhythm of the movement in the water.

Shot four was taken on my back deck, showing the Clivia in flower, along with one of the larger cycads. All are tucked safely and warmly away in the studio for the winter. My studio is on top of the house and has large south facing windows, so is an excellent place for overwintering the houseplants and a few geraniums that I keep from year to year.

Shot five is a new photomontage that I found time to create last week. I call this one "The Doors of Creation" (even though that's really a window, not a door or doors). It features my friend Pearl's Canadian mare, with a medieval star chart laid in the background, among other things.

I have a few commissions and other odds and ends to get done for clients before Christmas hits, which really isn't that far off at all. I'm kind of appalled at how unready I am, but as I have often told myself in the past, it will come and go whether I'm ready or not, then I'll get another chance at it next year. One way or another, the world will keep spinning and the sun will continue to rise, so I'm just going to keep plugging away and not get too bent out of shape over the whole thing.

Two out of three

Two show/sales down, one to go, then I'm done for the year. Last night was the "Little Spaces" show at Persephone theatre. Seven artists set up just for the evening, in a nice space in the upstairs area. Not a lot of visitors, unfortunately, due in part to the Grey Cup football game which was on at the same time and which preoccupied much of the population of the province, the Saskatchewan Roughriders being one of the participating teams. As the saying goes. "timing is everything". It always takes a bit to get new ventures noticed and established, but at least this one has had a launch, and we'll see what the future brings for it. Friday I'll be setting up for the Sundog show which usually draws about 10,000 visitors over several days, so that should be a bit livelier.

The local public health authority finally opened up H1N1 vaccinations to the general public last week, and I thought I'd better get my shot in time for it to do me some good before I spend three days shut up in a building with the above-mentioned thousands of people trooping past my booth. Despite wanting the shot, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend several hours in line to get it, so I went during the supper hour last Thursday. Apparently this was a good move on my part, since it was busy but not grid-locked, and it took only about twenty minutes for me to move from the end of the line to the front. I was impressed with the thought and attention to detail that went into setting up the facility being used for the vaccinations, and also with the positive attitude and cheerfulness of the public health staff who were working there. One of the nurses told me the line-ups earlier in the day had been over two hours in duration, so I felt lucky to get in and out in just over a half hour total, including the fifteen minute post-shot wait.

As foretold in last week's blog, my principal camera body and I have parted company for the moment. It is en route to Vancouver for diagnosis, and, I hope, a cure for what ails it. I wasn't too distressed to send it off as I have the smaller back-up camera, although my hopes for an uninterrupted life of taking shots as usual were severely dashed when I went on a shoot on Saturday only to discover that my mainstay big fast zoom lens doesn't work with the remaining camera body. That means none of my usual style of photos until I get the "big" camera back, which could be a month or two. Not sure what I'll be shooting for the next while, but I'll come up with some sort of plan, I'm sure.

As a result of this set-back, the Newfoundland pony shots I had hoped to feature today just didn't happen the way I wanted them to. I have been taking a bit of time to work with some previously existing shots, so that's what we'll be viewing today.

Shot one is one I created from a very dark (almost completely unviewable) shot I got during the Gypsy stallion photo session. It was one of the worst of the "misbehaving camera" shots, of which I had way too many. Me being the way I am about these things, I was curious to see what if anything could be salvaged of the image, which as best I could make out was nice enough apart from not being visible. With a lot of massaging and Photoshop experimentation, I was able to pull the horse and a dim background out of the murk, then I merged it with one of my night sky images, since although it was taken in the daytime, it looked pretty much like night anyway. I quite like the end result, although I don't think it would be printable due to the poor quality of the original shot. When I get time I'll select a base shot that actually has some technical merit and try the same idea with it. For the moment, it's in the "interesting concept" file.

Shot two would be from that same "interesting concept" file. This is another merged shot from one of the abandoned farmhouse series, with added and overlaid elements. Again, I think there is an idea here that I like, I'm just not all the way there yet with where this concept needs to go, so this version is just one of the stops along the way.

One of the things I've been meaning to do is to work up a series of images that I will print on greeting cards. Shots two and three are a couple that will end up in that format. I have lots of images that will work well for cards--ones that are too good to delete, but not quite right for larger format printing and framing as art shots. I'm enjoying thinking up captions for the more humorous ones.

Shot five shows my entry-area gargoyle in sunnier and warmer months. I bought him a couple of years ago at Hallowe'en and am quite fond of him. I never have liked his finish though, so today I decided I'd better extract him from his vine and drag him into the studio for a new patina, before he gets frozen in for the winter. I plan to "antique" him with (I hope) a slightly warmer hued stain. Not just sure how I'll proceed, but at least I've got him indoors which is step one. For the moment he's hovering beside the computer, waiting until next week when I have show season behind me and will be able to devote some time to more frivolous pursuits, such as gargoyle refinishing.

One down, two to go

I'm not sure how far back in the week I can go this time round, as I don't think I remember all of it. It's been a bit of a gong show, what with trying to get the studio sorted out for the show/sale of this past weekend, an unexpected but always welcome photo op with the Gypsy cobs, a field trip with a couple of my "barn lady" friends, trying to keep up with the regular round of riding five or six days a week and getting some artwork done in addition. And then there are the on-going anxieties and vet visits with Mickey (one of my Boxers) who has been enduring a nasty and prolonged allergic reaction to some bodily insult, likely a bee sting. The short version of it is swelling of the head and neck, lumps all over the front half of his body, and breathing problems. Not anything either of us wants to be dealing with, although that's exactly what we have to do. We're on round two of the little pink pills which did an admirable job while he was on them, but as soon as we finished them up all the symptoms came back, so now we're looking at another couple of weeks medication. Hope that will be the end of it. I am grateful that at least there is something that works for him, no matter how long he has to be on it.

I think I did an adequate job on most fronts, although by today we were pretty well out of eating options since getting to the grocery store wasn't one of the things I could fit in, and I have to confess to not having seen my horse since Friday. Got the groceries topped up today and will resume riding tomorrow so my world will be back in balance again for the short term at least. Another show next weekend and the big pre-Christmas one the weekend after that yet to be dealt with, but if it wasn't for deadlines in my life I'd likely get nothing done at all.

Shot one today is from the North Fork Gypsy cob shoot. I haven't done many shots of their stallions, and I got a call to say that Tully, the new young stallion, was going to be turned out into his big grassed area and might give me some good chances at action shots. I got there a bit after mid-afternoon on Wednesday with nice conditions (i.e. dry and not too cold ) and not bad light. At this time of year the sun is quite low in the sky by four, so shadows are part of the equation, and you just have to work with them and with the nice backlighting possibilities afforded by the sun position. All this is assuming you have a camera that is willing to co-operate with you, which much of the time I didn't. I've mentioned my intermittent camera woes before. I've been nursing my "big" Nikon along for a while, but this shoot pushed me to the limit of my tolerance and I will be sending it off for diagnosis and rehabilitation this week without fail. I did get a good number of nice shots of young Tully, but missed many as well due to mechanical problems with the camera. It kills me to be parted from my camera, but it's overdue and at least I have the "baby" Nikon to keep me from going into the unpleasant zone of total withdrawal from photography. That's Tully in the foreground of this photo, with the older stallion Tumbleweed keeping pace with him in the next pasture over. There is a no-man's -land strip of several feet between the fence-lines of these two pastures so that the stallions don't make direct contact over the fence but can still see each other and visit at a bit of a distance. Each stallion has his own live-in mare as well for company. I love to see stallions that get to live like normal horses with lots of space and with a companion. Such a simple thing in many ways, but a lot of stallions never get to experience either.

As noted in last week's blog, I had several guest artists join me for my open studio sale. My grandson Mark was one of them, and shot two shows one of his photos of a daylily that was popular with the customers at the show.

Shot three shows part of the studio during the sale, with Mark enjoying a bite of lunch in the foreground, and Ric the sculptor in the background, possibly wondering what he would have to do to get some lunch himself. There were five of us in all, fitted into various nooks and crannies of the studio, and we had a good time and worked well together. We didn't see the numbers of visitors that we hoped to, but we did our bit and the rest is really beyond our control. I do have to say, though, that despite the somewhat limited number of visitors we had, they were all a pleasure to visit with and I was certainly grateful that they took the time out of a busy weekend (and they're all busy weekends at this time of year) to come to our event.

Shot four is one I have been working on intermittently since the last ghost town shoot. It is shot from inside the grain elevator towards the old store and other buildings. I had the idea of incorporating an old family photo into the scene, so used one of my grandfather (from the early decades of the last century) and his team as a "ghost" image on the grass area, and then threw in Arrow, my "grand-dog" to round out the picture. Also added an overlay of a fabulous "crackle" texture that I photographed in one of the old buildings of the ghost town. Those interiors are a treasure trove of texture and faded colour.

Today's field trip was to Solar Gardens with a couple of my riding friends who hadn't been there before. They are open weekends from now until Christmas, or by arrangement on other days, and Mondays are the only days we are all available and not at the barn. Shot five shows Dylan, one of the resident very large dogs, having a romp out by the greenhouse area. He had his beloved chicken in his mouth, and he really wanted the ball as well, but wasn't willing to set the chicken down to get it. Sometimes we just have to make choices in life!

For Saskatoon and area residents, I will be participating in a group show/sale upstairs at Persephone Theatre next Sunday (the 29th) from 7-11 PM. Food and drink will be available in addition to the artwork. Hope to see you there. The following weekend (Dec. 4-5-6) I'll be at the Sundog show at Credit Union Centre, upstairs.

October, at last

Now that it's chronologically mid-November, we are finally getting the weather we should have had in October. Seems only reasonable since we had November weather then. Back a number of weeks ago when we were experiencing snow, ice, and freezing rain, and driving was potentially a hazard, I got spooked into booking my snow tire installation. Guess everyone else was on the same page as me back then, as the earliest appointment I could get was for this coming Wednesday. I'll of course follow through and get them put on, but goodness knows when I'll really need what they have to offer with the mild and dry conditions we have settled into. This is not a complaint. I like snow and winter in general but I'm happy to keep on with the current weather status for a good while longer. Dog walking is so much easier with good footing, and the riding areas around the stables have finally dried up enough that the occasional ride outside is once again a possibility. The light of late fall is also totally different in years like this when there is no snow on the ground and I'm enjoying that aspect of it as well, not to mention the fact that I can keep up my photo endeavors without too much stress on either photographer or camera.

Speaking of camera stress, I'm actually working myself towards sending my "big" camera off for diagnosis of an intermittent but irritating and ongoing problem, which I sincerely hope can be cured with the usual administration of time and money (and the technical know-how of the Nikon people). Sending my camera away and being parted from it is a pretty serious state of affairs in my world. I had to do it once before with my first digital SLR a number of years back, and it was a traumatic experience. I'm handling the prospect better this go-round as I have the "baby Nikon" for backup, but it's still going to take an act of will on my part to let the big one go. I keep trying to convince myself that the problem is either getting better or has gone away, but I had another go-round with it today and I know that a fix is required. Maybe next week.

Today's shots are a mixed lot, representing a few of the activities of the past week and one of the week to come.

Shot one--

I got a " Mom's Photoshop help-line" call from my daughter in Nelson BC to say that she needed some amending done to a shot she took of their "new" dental clinic building, which was to be featured in an ad in the local paper. This is a fine old heritage building built in the 1930s as a Scandinavian Church, and which has been through ups and downs over the decades. They purchased it a couple of years ago, and it has undergone extensive renovations in preparation for its new life as a dental clinic. The inside has been gutted and remade, but there are restrictions on how the outside can be dealt with due to the heritage designation, and I think they've done a great job on it. Haven't seen the inside in real life since it was finished, but from the photos my daughter has sent, they've done a superior job there as well. My job with this shot was to remove some distracting clutter in the form of builder's signs, street signage, roofs of the neighbouring houses, and adding some nice grass to the area in the photo where it was badly needed. She seemed happy enough with the end result, so that was one more job done.

This coming weekend I am hosting my annual open studio show and sale. This is the first of three consecutive show weekends for me, so by the end of the third one I'll doubtless be fairly happy just to collapse for a while. In the meantime, I've got to get this studio pulled together which is in itself rather a daunting chore. I almost opted not to have an in-house sale this year, then decided that I would go ahead with it but would liven it up a bit by inviting a few other artists to share the space with me. This is a first for me with a studio sale, and assuming I can clear the area enough for them to display their work, it should be a fun weekend. Shot number two is the show announcement/invitation. Anyone in Saskatoon and area is welcome to come and take a look.

Grandson Mark and I went on a photo shoot to the zoo on Remembrance Day as he was off school. We did the usual zoo animal shots, but for me the most exciting part was the flocks of wild geese coming in to land on the open water areas of the zoo wildfowl pond. Wave after wave came in, all calling loudly, circling the open area, and jockeying for position and landing space. I got a lot of shots where they looked more elegant than this, but I was fascinated with the ones like shot three where they are in "touch-down" mode, with feet spread and outstretched, wings set, bodies all puffed up, and heads looking very tiny compared to the rest of them. Not pretty, but it gets the job done. I'd like to get back there again this week while there is still open water, if I can take the time from studio prep.

As shown in shot four, we finally have actual dust on the country roads, taking the place of the eternal seas of mud we have endured for the past couple of months. As long as you can keep your camera out of it, dust is the photographer's friend, as when it is backlit it can transform the most ordinary scene into a thing of beauty. I was just leaving the stables in late afternoon last week when a car went down the grid road, send clouds of dust into the backlit trees and bushes. I've taken a few liberties with this shot, pushing the colours and levels to maximize what the camera captured.

Shot five is one I have been working on from the ghost town shoot. I took one of the interior shots of an old house, overlaid peeling paint texture onto it, and created a new view out the window. I'm working on several variations of this one, with different horses and landscapes outside the window, just feeling my way through the concept and its possibilities. That's one of the many reasons I love Photoshop--it doesn't have to be an "either/or" situation, rather one of exploring all the variations and possibilities, at least the ones I have time for.

Ghost town, the sequel

Since the weather has finally settled into a steady and reasonable pattern (i.e. dry, sunny and not too cold) I have been happy to extend my usual outdoor shooting season. Granted, I do shoot year-round, but serious winter shooting is challenging and hard on hands and camera, so I'm quite content to carry on with what we've got for the foreseeable future.

I made a pilgrimage to the Gypsy cob farm on Friday, which was a ridiculously warm +17 C (about 62 F) albeit with an absolutely ferocious wind to temper things just in case we might actually start to enjoy ourselves. I love big winds so I was quite happy with the whole state of affairs anyway. Didn't get quite the shots I hoped for as the stallions I wanted to shoot were not in their pastures due to construction work, but I had a great time nonetheless visiting the brood mare pasture and checking on the progress of the youngsters in the close-in turnouts. I think my best shots from that visit were of the young dogs, tussling and tugging on their pull-toy that I finally gave in and threw for them at the end of my visit. I've learned not to start a visit by throwing things for the dogs or I'll never get as far as the horses. If you are interested in seeing one of the young mares in action, click here for the video of Violet's debut at Spruce Meadows this past September. For a youngster with only three months of training, she came through like a trooper in surroundings that can intimidate even seasoned horses.

The unseasonably warm weather apparently brought out some unseasonable stinging insects, as when I got home that evening it was to discover that my poor dog Mickey had been stung by something and was having a nasty allergic reaction. This has happened to him before in the summer with bee stings, so that's my working theory for this go-round as well. Odd though it is to think of bees being out in Saskatchewan in November, my brother-in-law reported seeing a bee in their yard that afternoon, so it does seem possible. Mickey's neck and head were swollen and his head had lumps all over it. He was breathing OK, thank goodness, but couldn't hold his food down (or the antihistamines that I had given him) and was generally a very pathetic creature. Luckily within twenty-four hours he was back to normal, but I did feel very badly for him in the interval.

Since the weather is holding for the moment, it seemed a good idea to make a repeat visit to the ghost town of the Hallowe'en day shoot, this time without the low clouds, wind, snow and freezing rain. A couple of indulgent friends came along with me for this outing, which we made today. We were able to get into several of the ghost town buildings, which for the most part seem sound enough underfoot and overhead, and in general had a good poke around. Second stop on our route was a return visit to the house down the road with the wonderful staircase and all the interesting peeling paint textures (it doesn't take much to make me happy) to add to my collection. Since it wasn't pouring rain this time, we made a third farm call to the one that we passed by totally last time.

This was an absolutely fabulous place for those of us interested in taking shots of old and decaying items. The workshop was full of stuff: tools, horse harness, bridles, metal things, you name it. The house was in really poor shape and not safe to enter (although my friend Donna *really* wanted to) but we could move around the outside and peer into windows. There were books and a child's report card in one room, coats and sweaters hanging on the wall, tables and dishes in the kitchen, and in general it looked as if the family had just gotten up and left one day and never came back.

Then there was the machinery. All sorts of old grain trucks (every single windshield with multiple bullet holes), and one of the trucks with the keys still in the ignition. There were old wagons and wagon wheels, ancient combines, and many antique farm machines that were a total mystery to me (I am a city person, after all). There was even an ancient (relatively speaking) classic beetle-style Volkswagen out behind the henhouse. I don't know how we would go about finding out the story of this place, but I'm sure there is one. As with our first two stops, this one definitely merits several return visits in other seasons and varying light conditions.

On to the shots for today. Now that the sun is setting so early (around 5 PM at present) I have been able to get some nice sunset shots on the way home from my afternoon rides at Ebon. Shot one was taken last week on my alternate route home from the barn. I was struck by the reflection of the sky in the water, showing around the edges of the ice in the middle.

The rest of the shots are from today. Shot two shows the back of the store with all its interesting roof angles. The orange snow fencing on the right of the building marks the open well. Good to know where it is!!

Shot three was taken from inside one of the houses (actually it might be the only house, as none of the other existing buildings seemed very house-like), showing classic "old farmhouse of the previous mid-century" decor, complete with an old TV in the corner.

Shot four shows a detail of some of the horse tack hanging in the shed of the last farm, and shot five is the interior of one of the old grain trucks, where you can see the keys still in the ignition. Poor exposure on the windshield, but not much to be done about that.

So far the forecast is for the weather to continue much as it is, so here's hoping next week's photos are still "late fall" ones, and not "early winter", although we have had a taste of that already.

Hallowe'en ghost town

This was a reasonably busy week for me in a photo gathering sense. Mid-week I was asked to head out to Ebon for indoor shots (in the usual challenging lighting) to get the first "under saddle" photos of one of the many nice home-bred youngsters that is starting her education as a riding horse. I don't dread these requests the way I used to, as I have finally figured out which camera/lens/settings combination will allow me to get shots that I'm not completely ashamed of. Outdoors, no problem. Indoors, a challenge, at least the indoors that I have access to. Those shots turned out well enough, so then management decided to up the anxiety ante for me by requesting a return visit to get some chute jumping shots on Friday morning. Normally indoors chute jumping is my most dreaded assignment of any given year, but this one went strangely well all round. I stayed calm, didn't make too many technical errors, have noted the one I did make so I can avoid it next time, and the whole thing was actually a reasonably pleasant experience. Quite unaccountable. Who knows, a bit more practice and I might actually start looking forward to it. Even a tough photo shoot is better than no photo shoot in my world, and it is satisfying to feel that I have learned enough along the way to be able to do this type of shot adequately.

We (daughter Margaret, grandson Mark and I) had made tentative plans to go shoot the twisted trees of the Hafford area on Saturday, but it being Hallowe'en day, it seemed to me much more in keeping to make another attempt at the ghost town that we failed to locate on our August attempt (see my August 3rd blog post for details) . Unlike the last time, we had a map that actually had roads on it (not the large blank area with a place name in the middle of nowhere of the last map), we had gas in the van (were running on empty in addition to being lost last trip), and we had a GPS. Perhaps most importantly, two out of three of us were women, who are actually willing to *consult* the maps and pay attention to the GPS, although I have to confess that Mark was the one who noticed when the GPS had useful information to impart. Margaret and I were going on intuition and forgot to check it. The short version of all this is that this time we actually got there.

Not to say our trip was uneventful. It was (as usual) cold, overcast, dark, and chilly when we headed out of town. By the time we were a few kilometers beyond the city limits, it was snowing quite heavily and a strong wind had come up. Then we went through several combinations of snow, rain, and freezing rain, all the while making hopeful comments that "maybe we would drive out of it", and "so far the roads don't seem *too* bad", followed by "well, we can always turn back if we have to". We stopped once by a large slough which had a large gathering of corvids (couldn't tell from a distance whether they were crows or ravens) for me to get a couple of shots of their rapidly retreating forms, and I was encouraged to see that the camera was picking up a lot more light than actually seemed to be around. That made me want to carry on, as I'll put up with a lot of bad weather as long as the light is remotely adequate for shooting.

Eventually, following the twists and turns of the map on ever smaller roads that remained surprisingly good for navigation, we came to our ghost town. I had found some photos of it online as part of my research, so I knew it had a grain elevator, which was a great help in spotting it from a distance. It was well worth the time and effort we had invested (both times) to see this place. For someone in love with photographing ruin and decay, as I am, it holds endless potential.

Today's shots are primarily from the Saturday outing. Shot one shows the grain elevator with Mark leaning into the wind on the path up to it. Shot two was taken inside the elevator, and shows some of the working mechanisms. There is still grain sitting inside on the floor, and the odd thing that I noticed, both in the elevator and in the other buildings, is that there was no evidence of mice, rats, or any other living creatures. I would have expected that, at least in the elevator, and for the grain to be gone or disturbed, but no. Very strange.

Shot three is the broken north window on one of the houses. Windows on three sides of the house were damaged, but intact on a fourth side. Again, odd.

Shot four is taken from the front door of an abandoned farm-house south of the ghost town. I loved the colours and textures of the surfaces in this house and want to go back again when there are better light conditions and it isn't pouring rain. That said, I'm impressed with the job my lens did with no flash and available light. I'm a sucker for crackle texture and this staircase had it in spades. I took this shot from the front door jamb. There are safety issues involved in entering old ruins, with the potential of falling through the floor, having the upstairs floor fall on me, or breathing in who-knows-what in the old dusty and moldy surroundings (hantavirus, anyone?). Then there is the respect issue. I tend to feel fairly strongly about making minimal impact, not touching or moving things, and generally taking only my photographic images away with me. After all, these buildings still belong to someone and I don't want to get on the wrong side of the owner if he happens to come along while I'm in the midst of my shoot.

So, all in all, a very satisfactory way to spend part of a Saturday, despite the weather handicaps. I'm already planning a return trip before the snows make getting there too difficult, but Hallowe'en day was the perfect time for our first visit. I'm thinking it might need to become an annual pilgrimage on that day.

The final shot is one that I have been working on in the computer. It features one of the North Fork gypsy cob stallions, overlaid onto a page from the Book of Kells. This is one of several variations on the same theme that I am developing.