Adventures of an Eclectic Mind

This is a shot I took several months ago and have been meaning to do something with. I took several shots of this Momma and Baby orangutans interacting, and it was very difficult choosing just one. I finally decided on this one because I like the expressions on their faces. The second runner up had the baby making 'kissy lips' at Momma, but it wasn't as sharp as this shot. I still might revisit it sometime in the future though.

Although this particular photo was taken at my local zoo, I was thinking about one of the innovative things we saw when we visited a different zoo. The National Zoo has the coolest thing set up for their orangutans. They have a "Think Tank" for them to interact in. The animals don't live at the "Think Tank" though... they live in another exhibit that is a fair distance away. The Zoo came up with a pretty ingenious way to allow the animals to have access to the interactive exhibit and their house.... they set up something called the "O" line. It is a series of cables that are set on towers and allow the animals the choice of where they want to be!  We really enjoyed the exhibit and the unique way the curators figured out to make the situation not only work, but be another form of enrichment.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I'm trying to finish up a project and still trying to play with the new program. So far there is only one change I dislike and I am still hoping that there is a way to 'do it the old way'. Most of the improvements have been nice. Still, sometimes they change something that doesn't really need to be changed though. Sigh!

One of the improvements I like is  a way to upload directly to Flickr from the organizer. I've only got a free account over there, but I have been thinking about upgrading to the Pro account and this might be the thing that pushes me to actually do it. The only reason I've not gone 'pro' before now is the thought of taking the time to organize and decide what to upload. This may actually push me to get my butt in gear and get my online life organized... well, at least the picture part!

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Ooooh... Look! Two days and two entries! Don't get used to it, but I do plan to be around a little more often than I have been the last couple of months.... which would be like um... Zilch. I've been around the interweebs.  I read journals/blogs. I even do online research. I just couldn't seem to find time (or maybe inspiration) to actually write an entry. Part of this has been my lack of time to play with (or even take) any photos. Now, why would that keep me from posting? I'm not sure, but I have gotten into a habit of posting a photo along with an entry even if the photo had nothing to do with the subject matter. No time to play in Elements equals no new photos to post equals no posts. And part of the problem has also been that even though I'm busy, I'm boring!

Yesterdays photo was me playing with my new Photoshop Elements 6. Yep, I went straight from Ver 4 to 6. I skipped Ver 5 because it didn't offer anything new that I felt was compelling enough for me to switch from the version I was used to. I'm not sure I really needed this version either, but it had a couple of new features I was curious about AND I found it on sale for half price. I had been wanting it, and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. LOL! I only played with it for a few moments, but I think I really like the improvements in this version. The new interface is really nice. I don't know if it is new for Vers 6 or from 5, but I like the darker colors and ease of switching from one thing to another. I also think the organizer is faster than the version I was using. I still haven't deleted Ver 4 from my hard drive because I want to be sure I have all of my brushes and things switched over to the new version before I do that, but it is just sitting there for now.

I'm also recycling! I'm sending the disks and the books I bought about Ver 4 to my DIL as she was interested in it when she saw it on my computer when we visited. She has been using whatever came with her camera and it was very basic. I think she is ready to move up to something a little more, and I am glad to be able to help her out by sending along Ver 4 to her.

Tonight's picture is from a photo shoot that I did for a friend who needed some new publicity shots. After we were done doing her pictures we had her daughter do a few poses with the horses since they were already cleaned up and looking pretty. She is a lovely girl and with such subjects it is almost impossible to take a bad picture. I'm finally starting to go thru the rest of the shots I took from that day and get them printed out for her. I worked on her mother's photos right away so she could send them out, but hadn't gotten around to her pictures till now. She has been amazingly patient..... and I've been amazingly slow! Still, I thought I would post one of the shots here and see what you all think of it.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'm officially a published photographer!! One of the publicity shots that I did for my friend (during the photo shoot mentioned above) just appeared in a magazine. She showed it to me today. The ad for her appearance is on the inside of the front cover and it is one of the shots I did for her! Yeah, I know it's not like really being published, but I'll take it! LOL!

Anyway, here is the shot of her daughter and Ricco. Some of you might remember Ricco. He is an Andalusion stallion and I have had shots of him up here before.

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Several of you have noticed my extended absence here and have been kind enough to remark on it in the comments and in e-mail. I really meant to get here and put up something sooner.... But, read on and you will understand!

We recently returned from the Equine Affaire that was held in Columbus, OH. The lady I work for performed in the show that was being put on there. The travel to, performing at, and finally return home takes up about 10 days of my absence. The clipping of horses, practicing, general grooming and the getting everything together and ready to go (along with all the normal daily care of the horses) makes up for about another 14 days of my not being around.

In addition to all of the getting ready and preparations for travel, I also did a photo shoot for my friend, worked on the pictures she liked, and made up DVD's of the photos and the music we needed to send ahead of us.

Oh.... AND, they finally got our new --o.k., new to us!-- trailer ready for us to move into. They got it hooked up a week before we left. Yep! I moved just enough stuff in for G and Morgan to live in there till I got back, and I've been completing the move since my return. Also, to add insult to injury, I got an order for the cables I make the day before we left. That meant I was already 10 days behind on making them when I returned.

LOL! I have to laugh or I would cry. Add to all of that the fact that the 10 days I was gone I had Internet access for a total of 3 hours... well, you can imagine the number of e-mails and RSS feeds I returned to.

With luck my life is now calming down just a little bit. I am hoping so at any rate. The shot at the bottom of this entry is one from the photo shoot we did prior to leaving. Not bad for my first time, I think. I still need to go through the pics and remove red-eye from some and do some 'cleaning up', hopefully I will have time now.

Believe it or not I didn't take even one picture while we were at the show. I was sooooo busy I only got to go over to the shopping area for about an hour.That was probably a good thing as I only bought 2 t-shirts. There was a lot of cool stuff and I am afraid if I had found more time to shop it would have gotten very expensive! I did walk around and admire the beautiful horses on my way into and out of the barn each day. There were some remarkable horses on display! I wish I had been able to spend a lot more time looking around and exploring, but that is what happens when you are working an event instead of attending!

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Last week there was a really cool event that was to occur on that very night. An eclipse of the moon! I was excited. I would get a couple of really good pics and use them for my Wordless Wednesday entry. TaDa! Great Idea. Very Timely. Awesome subject. Yeah... Right!?!

Ever hear the quote, "The best laid plans of Mice and Men..."?  Here's what actually happened:

• The first problem was that I misread (i.e. didn't pay enough attention) the article about the eclipse. Yes, it did actually occur early in the evening... IF you were on the West Coast! Unfortunately, I am on the East Coast and the beginnings of the Eclipse were around 8:45pm with the actual Totality being between 10pm and and 11pm and ending around Midnight.
• Still thinking, "No Problem! I snap the pics during the early partial eclipse and a couple during the midpoint. I pop them on the laptop. I edit them. And Viola! Entry!"
• Trotting outside at around 8:30pm revealed..... CLOUDS! Lots of 'em.
• Grumbling, but still determined I continued to check the clouds... er I mean Moon... every few minutes still hoping for a decent shot.
• I did actually get a couple of decent shots in between the clouds, but by the time I got them edited it was getting close to Midnight. Soon it would no longer be a Wordless Wednesday Entry.
• I bring up AOL Pics (where I store my static, non moving pictorial blog offerings) and I upload the pictures. And..... no go. AOL informed me that the "upload has failed". I tried a couple more times, each time failing. Finally I decided to throw them on my Flickr account...... But I looked at the time and found that it was 11:54pm. No way was I going to get the pics uploaded AND into entries before Midnight.
• Discouraged, frustrated, and demoralized I decided to just go watch Keeping the Faith on Starz. Yeah, how's that title for irony?
• BUT, I will be returning later on today with a very cute entry for this week's Wordless Wed.... Stay tuned!

Yes, the best laid plans often do not come off as we intend.

For the record though, the actual Eclipse was still a very cool sight, especially the red color during the middle part of the Eclipse. The clouds, while somewhat annoying because I was trying to take pictures, actually added a different look to the eclipse, often giving it a surreal appearance that, unfortunately, did not carry over well into the shots I did get.

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Bet you thought I was going to be talking about Valentine's Day, didn't you?!?So sorry to disappoint, but something more important happens this time of year. New York City goes to the Dogs with the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. It's an annual tradition for us to watch the show and we watched the first half tonight, and will be sitting in front of the TV tomorrow night for the last half and the all important crowning of the champion.

Tonight we watched to see who would win in the Hound, Terrier, Non-Sporting, and (Morgan, our Corgi's favorite) the Herding groups. Tomorrow night we will see who wins in the Sporting, Working and Toy groups. Finally all 7 Champions will be brought together to crown the best of the best. Check it out, you might just see your next doggie there.

Clicking on the link above takes you to the official site for the show with all kinds of pictures and facts about the dogs. Clicking on the poster will take you to the section of the site were you can buy a copy of the poster for yourself, or a maybe a DVD of the show if you want.

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