May the Horse Be With You

Lots of changes happening....

2011-08-05T00:58:00.001-08:00

There's been some changes the last couple of months. First, my landscape and wildlife images will now be under the name "Northern Source Images".

Second is that the blog is now moved to our own domain. The link is http://northernhorsephotography.com/blog/

Hopefully now I can post more often.

Winter Time Thoughts on Warmer Times

2011-01-21T20:17:00.010-09:00

I woke this morning to a pounding head and a dizziness. While fumbling to the shower, I called to check on the temperature; still a balmy -42°F. "UGH again?" as I listened to this cheerful recorded voice. In an attempt to clear my head, I stood in the pounding water, trying to breath in the steam.

I have random thoughts while taking a shower, I never cease to be amazed on the weird things that pop into my mind while going through the motions. I thought about how the weather reports had said this would be a La Nina winter, with it being colder and wetter than normal. If there was ever a winter that this was truer, I haven't seen it. With the "Icepocalypse" rain we had in November to the coldest average temperature in December, we've had nothing but ice and cold so far this winter.

Since our summers are usually a reflection of our winter, I recalled about how we had a wet summer. I witnessed more rainbows this year than any year that I can remember. While we had great hot sunshine and lots of sunny days, we still had storms almost every evening. One of my favorite landscape photographers Jon Cornforth made a comment that stuck in my mind that he preferred a cloudy day to a completely blue sky because it added so much to his photographs. Having a clear sunny day washes out the landscape on the photographs, while clouds give texture and offer better light.
Then I realized that without such a wet summer, I NEVER would have been able to capture the amazing images that I witnessed this summer. This summer was by far the best for weather formations, with dark clouds, lightening, rainbows and pink sunsets. I doubt we'll have another stormy summer like this last one again for a while, so I'm grateful for the chance to witness the enormity and awe of the Alaskan summer sky this year. Even thought we're enduring a wet and very cold winter, I think it was worth it. If you want to see more, I linked this post to my weather section on SmugMug.

New Year and New Path

2011-01-10T23:47:00.005-09:00

I've been very neglectful of my blog in 2010. Not one post. One reason was that I was the busiest ever on the weekends with my photography, between traveling around the state or shoots booked with clients, I was definitely always going somewhere.... but not always sure where.

I made it my goal in 2010 to figure out just what I wanted to do as a photographer. Landscapes, portraits, seniors, motocross or weddings; I've been trying hard to find my niche.
I ran across this poster and it made me stop and pause. I actually think I'm going to go back and buy it. I don't want to go down the same path as everyone else, I sure don't want to be your average photographer. I don't want to just take photos, I want to capture memories and a moment in time.
I surely hope, with some help from some great friends and mentors far and near, to be able to take my business to the next level and to be able to begin to work for myself and set my own hours and schedule, and get more time with my family.
I'm looking forward to 2011 being my breakout year. What about you?

Onole and Don Wells Wedding

2009-09-30T00:17:00.001-08:00

Since September, I have been a very busy person. With kids in school with homework and more, my husband gone hunting almost every weekend and photography projects, I've been delinquent on my blog. Apologies and one of my new year resolutions is to try and do more. I don't think I can do a photo a day, but a post a week will be my goal.

That being said, here is where I left off after my last post. One of my husband's classmates from high school knows that I do photography and asked me if I could do her wedding. I've only done a few weddings so I was a bit nervous, but it was a small wedding and Onole had seen my work and knew my style. The wedding was on 1st avenue in Fairbanks in the late evening with lots of fall colors and beautiful weather... here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Sunflowers at Chena Lakes

2009-09-09T09:04:00.004-08:00

Every fall, we cruise out to the Chena Lakes Recreational Area to enjoy the fall colors on the trees with the bright blue skies. Usually, they have a few large beds of sunflowers in all their glory. This year we only found one bed of sunflowers, but they were lovely as always.
You can see more in the Sunflower gallery on my smugmug site. Link included.

Christmas in Ice from 2007

2009-08-19T23:10:00.003-08:00

Back in December 2007, I volunteered for Ice Alaska in their first event in North Pole, Christmas in Ice. It was a great event, the carving was very intricate and the amazement by those that attended made it feel like Christmas morning every time I was there. These two pictures are just a sampling of the photos I took during this event. Fast forward to this week and I found out the the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau is using my pictures in their brochure for last winter and also this winter. The links will take you straight to the brochures.

If you get a chance, make the trip to visit North Pole for this event. You won't be sorry!

6th City Race - Fairbanks Motorcycle Racing Lions

2009-07-24T18:22:00.003-08:00

Motocross racing is in the second half of the season and the riders are really busy riding like crazy people!

Motocross is in full swing!

2009-06-27T22:53:00.004-08:00

Motocross is in full swing now for summer 2009! Here are some highlights from last weeks race with some of the expert race!

Photoshoot with the Cutest Cousins

2009-06-14T03:40:00.005-08:00

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of photographing two very cute and energetic pair of cousins. They were a blast to follow and photograph, and the lighting couldn't have been better... a beautiful Fairbanks summer evening. I've included the link to their album so feel free to leave some comments, I'm sure their moms would love to read them!

Ignite Alaska - New Photos

2009-06-03T07:44:00.001-08:00

Motocross has started for 2009!

2009-05-21T00:36:00.003-08:00

Sunday was the first motocross race of the season. The track was pretty fast with only a few muddy spots. Here are some highlights for your enjoyment.

Driving Down the Denali Road

2009-05-14T00:25:00.002-08:00

We drove down the road in Denali National Park recently to 30 mile at the Teklanika campground.

Geese at Cramer's Field

2009-05-03T00:01:00.002-08:00

Right after I returned from Hawaii, we visited Cramer's Field in Fairbanks to see the migrating geese.

Fairbanks Motorcycle Racing Lions 2009 Season

2009-05-01T23:44:00.002-08:00

After much deliberation, I have finally made a decision about motocross for 2009. Last summer, I paid to be a sponsor of FMRL and covered every race and darn near every moto. It was crazy some days and exhausting. I appreciated all the kind remarks made to me about the photos that I was taking and how people appreciated that I was there covering the races. However, I didn't get to spend very much time with my family and my two racers.

This year I will concentrate on those riders that want me to take their pictures. If you are interested in having me take your pictures this year, please let me know before the first official race so I can add your name and number to my list of riders to shoot and I will cover your riding photographically for at least one moto (will probably be both but I don't want to guarantee that). This will give my customers who want my services to get more coverage (who wouldn't want that!) by more pictures and also give me more time with my family and my riders.

Thanks to all of you that ordered pictures last year, I truly appreciate your business and your support. The albums from 2008 are still up on my SmugMug page if you would still like to order prints. I can meet with you in person if you are having difficulties ordering through SmugMug as well.

How to Spend Easter in Alaska

2009-04-15T01:09:00.002-08:00

For Easter this year, we decided to do something different and go ice fishing. The weather was absolutely perfect, it was warm with no wind on the ice and they were really biting. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying a day of fishing with their Grandpa and Dad.

Crazy Kids Sledding

2009-04-10T08:28:00.003-08:00

There is nothing more satisfying than watching your kids have a good time. But then they wipe out and you have to ask yourself, should I laugh or run over and make sure they are OK? It was the last weekend to get anything done out in the snow and we took full advantage of it. A full weekend of sleding and messing around in the snow.

Faces of Autism

2009-03-20T01:37:00.002-08:00

I've entered a contest for Name Your Dream Assignment for a continuation of my Faces in Autism Project that I started last fall. Here are some shots from my beginnings.

If you would consider voting for my idea, please visit the link and give me a vote!

More Northern Lights

2009-03-17T22:54:00.002-08:00

Aurora at Chena Lakes

2009-03-11T00:09:00.002-08:00

2009 World Ice Art Championships Fairbanks

2009-02-28T14:14:00.002-09:00

The 2009 World Ice Art Championships have begun! The first set of competition has been completed and the sculptures are available for viewing.

Alaska Celebrates our 50th Anniversary!

2009-01-18T23:03:00.004-09:00

Alaska is celebrating their 50th year of statehood as on January 2009. Festival Fairbanks put on a wonderful fireworks display last night in celebration of statehood. Here are just a few. I'll upload the rest to my Flickr site and Facebook.

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-17T02:07:00.002-09:00

A family relative gave me a call and asked me to drive over to her son's hockey game to take some photos with the indication she'd like to buy some prints. Well that means they better be up to my normal standard of picture taking. This is quite a challenge with indoor lighting and reflections of the light off the ice. Needless to say, I've heard of how hard it is to photograph hockey....people are not kidding. The white balance on this picture had to manually set and reset, along with the exposure but I think these turned out acceptable, all things considered. Oh and the outside temperature was -42° at the time I took these pictures. Thank goodness for indoor ice rinks!

Paintball in Lace and Ruffles

2008-10-11T11:35:00.001-08:00

This is one of the albums from Carol Gerings Flickr Album. Hilarious!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vpixel/sets/72157606308335394/

Lone Tree in a Parking Lot

2008-09-29T23:12:00.003-08:00

I saw this tree in a parking lot and had to stop and take a photo. There is a black/white version and a full color for your enjoyment.

My First Post

2008-09-14T22:25:00.001-08:00

Now that the motocross racing season is over, now I have a little more time to edit some of the pictures I took this summer. Here is rider #23 looking ahead to the next corner.

I had a great time this summer, learned a lot about motocross, and ended up as a board member nomination for 2008.

I'll try and post some more pictures here on the blog as I go through and process pictures from the 2008 season.