Virtual Brush Box

Foto Friday: Lesson 1, Depth of Field

Book List

photo books

Photography (11th Edition) by Barbara London, John Upton, Jim Stone [Pearson 2013]. Textbook, art school slant.

The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally [New Riders 2008]. The stories and gear behind the photos.

David Busch’s Compact Field Guide for the Nikon D7100 by David Busch [Cengage 2013]. The manual writ large.

Alternates
Perfect Digital Photography by James B. Dickman and Jay Kinghorn [McGraw-Hill 2005/2009]. Textbook with journalism school slant.

Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin [Nrew Riders 2009] Taking travel photos without being a jerk. Within the Frame Photographic Adventures

First task for any project, buy books!

Homework: Depth of Field Exercise
Watch the changing focus on the front and back horses.

A: Only the middle horse is in focus.

B: The area in focus expands front and back.

C: All in focus.

Behind The Scenes

Photo Class Posts
Syllabus
Meet Meg
Camera

Meg head

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Daily Routine – Afternoon & Evening

What’s it like having horses at home? Part II [Part I – Morning]

Housecleaning II
If I did not clean the stall when I let them out, I go back later. I try for a time when they are at the far end of the field. If they are nearby or in the run-in, they will come help [Let Me In!].

I take the serving buckets back to house, leaving them in an obvious spot.

Work
If Greg is home, we work horses in the ring. This is the time for exercises that require two people &/or supervision, generally weekends and one afternoon during the week.

If I am alone, I vary the activity: a thorough brushing, body work, walks, hill work, ground work exercises, or a combination thereof.

House rule is to get halters on them every day, even for a simple brush-off. These two go feral around the edges after only a day or two on their own.

Dinner
Greg feeds the evening meal. If he’s running late, I offer to feed. He almost always says no. After a long day of working to keep the ship afloat, he enjoys seeing the horses and sitting in the field with them.

Dinner is fed outside. Since the meals never quite match, we often have to play referee [Talk To Me, bonus example 1]. There are worse things than being out in the field under the sun/stars, listening to horses chew.

Mealtimes can vary several hours in either direction. More than that if we are leaving for the day &/or returning home late. Horses do not cope well with schedule changes. However, we figure if they never get adapted to a set schedule, then they can never have that schedule interrupted. Plus, they are out grazing rather than hanging about in a stall wondering where we are.

As he leaves, Greg tells them, “You guys be good. Stay safe. Don’t do anything stupid.”, and pulls up the drawbridge.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Get Ready, Get Set, Don’t Go

Saddle Seat Wednesday

Tuesday
I spent yesterday helping Stepping Stone Farm get ready for The Dixie Cup show this weekend: cleaning the trailer, making up haynets, loading haybales, finding room for those last few miscellaneous boxes, and so on, and so on. I miss this part of showing. Yes, even mucking the trailer. A clean trailer is a beautiful sight.

I miss getting my gear tidy and organized the week before.

I miss hitching truck to trailer and then standing back to contemplate my rig. I love knowing that I have a rig.

I miss braiding in the wee small hours while the horse dozes.

I miss those first few can-can steps a horse takes in leg wraps.

And so on.

Undoubtedly, I would have a better competition record if I had consigned myself to a hunter/jumper/eventing/dressage training barn rather than lurch through life as an AOT. But I would have missed a lot in the process.

Saturday
The irony is, I’m not showing this weekend. This show was to be the first test of my vow to show less this year [Revised Plan]. As it turns out, we are not taking Academy horses. So much for stressing my resolve.

Good luck to all horses and riders. Go Team Stepping Stone!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Milton’s Meters

If Rodney is progressing in millimeters [Steps], Milton is bounding along by meters.

Ground driving – check.

Pulling – check.

Ground driving while pulling – in work.

Milton had his second session of tire pulling this weekend [first tire session]. Greg led. I held the tire on a break-away. Milton tromped around the ring like a milk horse on a delivery run. His entire body language was, ‘Weight on chest. I pull. BFD.’ I am amazed how quickly he has accepted this idea.

He was not as happy about being ground driven while pulling the tire. He still behaved flawlessly. He just registered concern about the proceedings. It’s not clear whether he didn’t like being draped with enough ropes for a bondage fantasy, or if didn’t trust the student drivers involved. Or both. Never rule out both as an answer.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Rodney Takes Baby Steps

Given my epic lack of motivation lately [Inside My Head], the boys did very little last week. WHAM.

Since I was still pissy by the weekend, Greg lunged Rodney with a halter and saddle (!). In the past, Rodney has gotten wound up when lunged [Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet …]. He still had more go than was called for. He insisted on jumping the tiny cavaletti instead of trotting it & on continuing to trot instead of coming down to a walk. However, both the jumps and the trots were relaxed and springy (and beautiful. He’s a gorgeous horse.) This was the quietest he has ever worked for us. With a saddle, no less.

Inch by millimeter, we progress.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Letter Art: I is for I Love You

2016 letter I rs

To my husband:
I love you for so many reasons, not least of which is putting up with my horse habit for all these years.

To everyone:
Today is our 28th wedding anniversary.

Back when Previous Horse and Mathilda were reaching their retirement years, I suggested that – come the day – we could try not having horses. Perhaps see what else the world had to offer? He didn’t hesitate, “I’m not living with you without a horse.” Does this man know me or what?

I posted similar sentiments two years ago [26 years] & four years ago [Husband Training]. Still true. Other years, I was less noisy on the subject [Good Things, Spring in the Pasture], but I did not forget! This is not a given [Aftermath].

Wishing everyone a day of love.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

2016 Alphabet

H is for Halter
G is for Ghost Gallery
F is for Fence
E is for Eventing
D is for Do
C is for Carrot
B is for Brush
A is for Apple

2015 Alphabet

State of the Blog: TYFR

End-of-the-month commentary on blogging. [State of the Blog]

At the end of last month, I started new habit. I end each post with

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

At end of the audio CD of Pacific, the author/narrator Simon Winchester says, “Thank you for listening.” How nice, I thought. I should do that. It’s entirely possible that I have read this in tens or hundreds of other blogs over the years. For whatever reason, the Pacific CD is the first time it registered. (If you are wondering, audio CDs in the car, Audible on my phone everywhere else.)

Pacific CD

It’s the right thing to do, since you were kind enough to share part of your day with me. However, it has the added marketing advantage of getting my name on the screen and injecting a personality into the post. I struggle with this. Decades of journalism trained me to do the opposite. Keep my opinions to myself & present the information. [Identity]

Also, I fiddled with subtitle again. [Subtitle History]
~~
Show today, but not for me. No biggie. I don’t usually go to this one: long drive, no third riding class, & no separate adult division [Quietude]. The last time I went to this show was 2013 [Report: ETSA Spring Classic].

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott