I attended the Festival of the Horse & Drum at the Kane County Fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. After walking around for awhile, I spotted a Friesian being warmed up for a performance in the main arena and I was on a mission. The poor rider probably wondered why he was being stalked throughout the fairgrounds but I was determined to get a photo before they entered the arena. Fairgrounds can be a difficult place to shoot—a lot of bright white gravel, buildings in the way and clutter! I decided to focus on the horse's legs, trying to capture the feathers on the legs and avoid the clutter that surrounded us, as they piaffed and passaged their way around the warm-up arena. I intentionally over-exposed because I liked the contrast of the black horse and the white terrain. Once in Photoshop, I upped the contrast to bring out the black vs. white. The result was this dreamy image!

I recently vacationed "up north" in Cable, Wisconsin. There was an inlet at the resort that was covered in lily pads. It almost felt as though I might be able to walk across parts of the inlet with all the lilies floating in the water. While I liked the image of the open lily with the sun shining through the petals, I felt it was a very common image. Water lilies close at night and I found a few that had not opened completely yet that morning. I like the image of the partially opened lily image more—it is a little more interesting. I did not find any frogs sitting on any lily pads though!!!

This is Arthur's version of sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee. He loves to sit in the living room window—his back half on the ottoman, his front half on the window sill—as he watches the birds conduct their own morning routines. I like how the camera catches his ear and chin fuzzies and the little glint in his eye as he daydreams about interrupting the birds' routines. His face is filled with peace but his tail defies that look with its tiny, almost imperceptible twitches that are a sure sign he'd prefer to have one of those birds for breakfast!