Guess what I've been up to....

I know that this blog is about photography but I have another passion- horses. That passion has been with me since birth. My mother tells stories of when I was 3 I would leave the backyard and found in the horse pasture next door. After buying the dream property last year and building the dream barn, the next step was to buy the second horse. My dream has been to buy a young horse and raise him. it took longer than I thought to find the horse. I went to look at a young PRE Andalusian. I was expecting to fall in love but from the minute I met him I fell hard. He also checked my boxes: gelding, not too big (we estimate around 16hh when he's done), sensible, bold, smart.
So I made the plunge and purchased him. He came home today. I was like a child waiting for Christmas. None of these shots qualify as art. It's difficult to get good photos of young horses. But here he is anyway.
Meet Acero (Spanish for Steele). He will gray out as he ages.

and this is what I found when I went in tonight to do the last check:

Old Boat

earlier this week I was invited to a art show opening of a friend of mine. He's a brilliant photographer and is very generous about sharing his knowledge as well. If you want to see some brilliant photos here's the link:
http://sideways-glance.com/blog-2/. On the way to the show I did a brief digression and returned to my favourite boat. I don't know it's story and each year it's a bit more decayed.

Casa Grande Monument

on whim back from Tombstone I pulled in to a place called 'Casa Grande Monument'. It's an ancient structure constructed in the Sonaran Desert approximately 650 years ago. If you are in the area- I highly recommend it. In some ways I felt like an alien on another planet. The life these people would have led is far removed from mine. If you are quiet you can feel them. I swear.
When we arrived the sun was low on the horizon and it created problems in taking this shot. In the end I decided to go with the sun flare. I did 3 exposures and then merged them.

can you imagine walls made of sand/mud and wood lasting so long?

here's a shot to show the scale:

if you want more info here's a link: http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm

Pride-

On April 17, 2012, Raymond Taavel was killed outside of a gay bar. He was killed by a psychiatric patient who did not return from a one hour unsupervised pass. It seems that Mr. Taavel was trying to intervene and help another man from the bar from being attacked. Unfortunately, he died a violent and senseless death. This event has sent shockwaves across the country. By all accounts, Mr. Taavel was a kind and gentle man who was also very active in the LGBT community of Halifax. I won't pretend that I had heard of him before this event but his story inspired me to compose this vidoe tribute. It's a series of photos that I took at the Halifax Gay Pride Parade last July. It is my tribute to a good man to all of those who are persecuted because they don't fit someone else's view of 'normal.'

Tombstone

As part of our trip to Arizona we decided to head to Tombstone for a visit. It was about a 2 hour drive. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing- I liked the hold storefronts but I would have preferred more history and less souvenirs. I guess I had in my head that it was like the Louisburg Fort in Cape Breton, NS. But it was a nifty drive and fun anyway. I went with my 2 kids and my brother in law. Ed was golfing that day. :)

some nefarious characters hit Tombstone