Thursday, March 7, 2013

A Lovely Encounter

Still quite a bit of snow on the ground so headed out this morning with camera in hand.  Drove around the neighborhood looking for snowmen....pitiful, somebody needs to teach the kids of today how to build a snowman to be proud of.  Hmm, maybe I should build one, oh just looked at the clock and it is getting close to 4:30 and within an hour it will be dark....too bad, not enough time to build one.  Now if it were Sunday, we would have an hour extra of light due to the beginning of daylight savings time.  Whoopee!!  More light, now I won't feel like crawling into bed at 7:30 PM because it's been dark for so long.  In December & early January it gets dark by 4:30 PM, leaving us with an awfully short day.  And if it's cloudy, the lights come on about 3:30 PM.

Anyhoo I diverse....after finding no camera worthy snowman, I decided to travel to the horse farm a short distance from here.  And I wasn't disappointed.  Not only were all the horses out, but I met some really delightful people.  First I met grandparents with their 2 grand-daughters who were having so much fun petting the horses.  Grandpa and I had a friendly conversation about the area and how it had grown etc etc...seems like we both had lived here for about the same amount of time and had watched the burbs grow from small towns to large cities.  My city has grown from 35,000 from when we first moved here to it's present 147,000.  Certainly no longer a small town.  Thank goodness the counties and towns have left lots of wide-open spaces with parks & forest preserves or no telling what our population would be.

After chatting for awhile to both grandparents, I asked if I could take their grand-daughter's pictures.  They were both so cute, and such beautiful blue eyes.



They loved looking at the horses....


Some of the horses were sleeping, standing up....I suppose they are done with this cold and snow and now waiting for some springtime weather.


This pony was a favorite of the girls...Tucker was more their size.


And while we were there, here came the sleigh, pulling a wagon filled with people enjoying the ride.


Before leaving, I ran into a group of "photography" students.  A couple of them had cameras and were taking photos so naturally I stopped to talk to them.  They convinced me to take some photo classes at our local community college.  The only "classes" I have taken are those that have been offered on the internet. And thank God for those, because when I first began this photography journey my husband had reached the point in his dementia that I could no longer leave him alone.  Now I think live classroom instruction would be beneficial.

How about you....have you taken classroom photography classes or on-line or self-taught?  If you have taken on-line classes, any that you would recommend?

Linking to Kim's Little Things Thursdays.

Little by Little


"Express joy in your daily life whenever you can, so that joy becomes a habit.  Cultivate the habit of living joyously so that your very first response to life's experiences is one of joy."

Until next time....


19 comments:

  1. i want to go on the ride. such great snowy pics. those eyes are memorizing. wow!! ( :

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  2. Those children are beautiful! What do you need classes for? Your photos always look spectacular to me. I've thought about taking a class and might do so this summer. Online classes do not appeal to me for some reason, so I'll definitely go to a community college in my area.

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  3. Love that sleigh and these two little girls are so cute. I think it would be great to take a community college photography course. The school near me only charges $25. for seniors and they have a bunch of classes. Think it would be a great learning experience. Have a great day!

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  4. I have done an online class - it was great intro for me, the instructor spoke my language. But I haven't seen her offer any further classes since then. :(
    Last year I took a 12 week class at our local art institute and it helped my understanding even more.
    For the most part, I'm self taught, read lots & lots of blogs & just keep practicing!

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  5. love the horse farm! i should take a photography class. think i'd learn a lot as i have a ton to learn. trying to read manuals and how-to books - my mind wanders...

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  6. Love the horse drawn carriage, what fun! Gorgeous shots of the girls, their eyes are amazing!

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  7. Oh my goodness- they certainly are adorable. Love the sleigh too- how fun!

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  8. What a beautiful,charming day!Those little girlies are gorgeous. I have taken a course or two from Clickin Moms, which offers online workshops. They have tons of awesome looking courses. Other than that I read and scour articles online for continuing education.

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  9. The girls' smiles are simply lovely and those horses are gorgeous! :)
    Happy International Women’s Day, Deanna. Have a lovely Friday! xo

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  10. The girls are beautiful but you know me when I saw those horses my heart started beating alittle faster......The head shot looks like an oil painting; such beauty.....

    I know it's always good to improve our skills but Deanna your photography skills are amazing as well as your processing. I would love to think I will reach the level you have attained...
    I haven't taken any classes but seriously thinking about taking an internet class so I am very interested in what other commenters have to say...I just bought a new camera and I have been waiting until I got it before starting a class....Now I think I am ready...

    I think you could teach us tons about photography....

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  11. Oh, well, this just puts us all to shame. I just KNEW you had taken many photography classes. Your pictures are just about the best on these blogs. Seriously. You don't need to take classes....you need to TEACH classes! We could all learn from you. Those girls are sooooooo cute, cute, cute! And the sleigh filled with people...wonderful fun...makes me wish we had snow...and I hate cold! I love what you did with the horse the girls loved. Loved this post, too. Promise us you'll build a snowman when you get time...and then take pictures of it and post!

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  12. Adorable little girls, and horses!
    Your photos really are just so gorgeous. And I would say I envy your photo processing/editing.
    Also I would definitely suggest taking a photography class at a local collage. Not 'cause you need it but because it sounds like loads of fun!

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  13. Yes I agree, you should teach classes! I can't wait for that to happen, love your compostions and crisp results.

    PS. Refering to FOL, you can add one more "pick", pick up a challenge to teach photography classes :)

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  14. What a wonderful excursion and fantastic photos, Deanna!
    As to photography classes - I took a few at a community college here, but the quality was very diverging - depending on the teacher and also on the fellow students. As to online classes so far I've only taken processing classes like Kim's PSE and texture classes and then the Tracy's Picture classes.
    However, your photos are so gorgeous I guess it would be difficult to teach you anything new!!!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  15. The little girls are beautiful as well as the horses! I would love to take a ride in that sleigh.
    I haven't taken any photo classes, but I really should. Haven't seen any offered locally.

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  16. What a fun day, cute girls, and those horses and that sleigh! I just started turning dials and pushing buttons until I got pictures I liked in manual mode, THEN I got a book on understanding exposure and had an aha moment!

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  17. Awww.. That little girl is the sweetest. I could barely turn my camera on when I got it. So I took a course out at our community collage. Buy the time I was through I was using all the settings. I am sure it will be a breeze for you. The best part was going out for our photo walks. So cool to see the different shots the other students got that I didn't even see..

    Hope you have a happy weekend.

    Hugs~

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  18. Beautiful little girls and that one head-short of the horse looks like a water-color painting - gorgeous! I think a live class would be so fun - if for no other reason than to spend time with others filled with excitement about taking pictures and improving their skills.

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  19. This is delightful. It's so good when we go find some life to capture. It is always somewhere. I took a three-session class that came with my camera at the local camera store. It was phenomenal! It did a great job of tying together all of the "pieces" I'd gotten off of the internet. If I hadn't been studying for a long time, I would have been overwhelmed! I know you will love learning with others. That would be a good thing for me to do. I hope you find one at just the right level to challenge you. Don't sell yourself short and start too basic. ;-)

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