Life Unplugged

I feel like I have been unplugged. Over June 1-3rd, I spent the weekend at Rollin H Arena between Brush and Akron shooting the Eastern Plains Barrel Bash and the Saturday Rodeos that are held there. Over the 3 days, I shot over 1,400 pictures and captured some fabulous moments. My mother (and slave for the weekend) caught me in a couple as well.





Each day of the Barrel Bash, I choose a photo that I liked the most for the Photo of the Day contest. The winner receives a free 8x10 print. This is Friday's winning photo at the open jackpot race. The sun was setting and the lighting was gorgeous.



Saturday's photo of the day was tough. This photo stood out when I was going through the images because of the perfect form they both had going into the second barrel. The horse is relaxed and the rider is soft in her hands and they are in perfect position. She is setting her horse well and has him well prepared. Good job Kathy!



Sunday's picture was harder to choose. I went through all the images and this one was the one that stood out in my mind. I remember taking it and thinking that it was such a sweet and gentle moment between horse and boy.

So, my story of being unplugged. Rarely do I ever spend DAYS away from the Internet. Over the few days at the Barrel Bash, I was without Internet. It was rather nice to just be focusing on photographing and not worrying about my email. I returned from the event at about 6:00pm on Sunday, plugged in for about 20 minutes and then fell into bed after a long weekend. At 3:30 am the next morning, I was up and headed to Cortez, Colorado with a group of FFA (Future Farmers of America) students for their state convention.


I was rather excited about the trip because I knew I would get some time to just wander the territory and take some photos. I was not disappointed. The image above is looking southwest from Mancos, Colorado toward the Sleeping Ute Mountain. I was blessed to have some horses at our lodge for models. Our lodge was the Sundance Bear Lodge and was tucked back in the mountains with great views, but NO Internet, NO cell phone service and NO phone! It was a rather strange feeling to be so isolated, but a good experience. I had a chance to just veg.

Sonja, an artist and friend from Cortez, toured me through the Aspen Guard Station and the National Forest in Mancos. There we came across the horses of the Aspen's she has been telling me about.

Sonja was patient as I stopped and took in the sights and clicked the shutter to my hearts content. The forest was amazing. These trees have been twisted by heavy snows. I am always intrigued by nature's unique forms.

And last, but not least, I have to include a photo from my file that I was looking through over the weekend. This is from my Lost and Found collection.

While I am plugged back in for the moment, I will again be unplugged as the summer moves along and I continue on my wanderings. I am heading to Copper Mountain next week where I will be teaching a workshop at the Technology in Education Conference about creating artwork using Photoshop. Should be loads of fun and well attended. This is my second year teaching this workshop and I look forward to hearing new and interesting ideas from the participants. Actually... I may be plugged in there since it is a technology conference. We will see.