No "rain" today ...

... "the rain" has gone away ... with apologies to Herman's Hermits!

After what seems like weeks of non-stop rain, and a rather bleak forecast for show day, yesterday was dry!

Last year at this time the trees were in full leaf, this year the leaves are barely showing:

And we managed to have a fun morning at the SVEA Jumper Warm-up!

Not only did it allow many horses and riders to stretch their legs over some jumps for the first time this season, it also allowed me to get my photographic "eye" back in after a long winter!

If horse shows are your thing, have a browse around the gallery (30% off with coupon code SVEAwarmup until the end of April).

Two weeks today will be gymkhana day!

See you there!
Tanya

My Dance Card is Getting Full!

All of a sudden, thanks to the unfailing support of my Most Significant Other and a firm push from a couple of friends, I have a very busy year ahead of me ...

Three 3-day hunter/jumper shows at MREC ...

Three instructional clinics at MREC and Southlands ...

Seven gymkhana fun-day Sundays at SVEA ...

And a couple of SVEA dressage days, too ...

The busiest month features 2 one-day events and 1 three-day ... and there's a possibility of more dates to be added!

I'm excited!

Until next time ... keep that umbrella handy!

Tanya

Sunset & Night Long Exposures

That's a photography expression ... believe me, any other type of exposure is not something you want to see!  :D

It all started with a forecast of Aurora Borealis - and this dramatic view from our deck yesterday morning:

(please click to enlarge the images!)

There was similar drama going on above Mt Garibaldi throughout the day, so I thought I'd try for some longer exposures at sunset. The closest we got to sunset colours was this ...

... and that was minutes before the clouds slammed down over the mountain!

After about an hour of standing in freezing wind, hoping that the clouds would break up, they finally started to give the mountain back to us:

As darkness fell, the focus shifted from sunset, to capturing the "dragging" clouds and the indigo sky of alpenglo, then to stars, followed by a (very faint and forlorn) hope of aurora borealis!

Lessons learned:

- Need a shooting location further out of town ... once darkness fell the light pollution definitely impacted my efforts in a negative way!

- Need to find a sturdier qrp (plate that connects camera to tripod) to further minimize the impact of wind on long exposures - can you say camera shake?! I know it's in a box somewhere ...

- Need to investigate a remote shutter release device ... the 2 second delay mechanism doesn't cut it!

- If I want to capture Aurora Borealis, I'm going to have to stay up late or get up in the wee hours, when they're more likely to be putting on a show! I'm definitely not a night-owl!

Thanks, as always, go to my ever-patient and supportive hubby for his company - and the cup of Timmy's hot chocolate!

Until next time ... have a great week!
Tanya

A House Guest!

We are busy this weekend, with a friend staying overnight ...

Well, he's actually more family than friend!

The small but mighty ...

Madi the Teacup Maltese Poodle

Madison!

What a cutie, eh?!

See you next time!
Tanya

Blue Between Blizzards

Ok, blizzards might be putting too strong a spin on it, but you catch my drift!

Before I get onto that, though, here's the sunset Alpenglo on Garibaldi from last weekend's day of gale-force winds - the fuzziness you can see is the snow blowing around in the alpine!

As always, click to enlarge the photos!

And now, back to regular programming...

Yesterday's storm brought 10cm+ to the Squamish area. Needless to say, this caused chaos on Highway 99, the main artery between Vancouver and Whistler, on the worst possible day of the week: Friday! Vancouver was snarled, too, because the city isn't set up for snow (or efficient snow-clearing) and city-mice don't put winter tyres on their vehicles.

This morning, though, we woke to a glorious bluebird day and, as soon as the sun reached the valley floor, we were out walking to enjoy the winter wonderland before the sun started knocked the globs of snow out of the trees:

The next storm is forecast for tonight ... another approx 10cm of snow!

Could this be the last blast of winter?! We shall see...

Until next time!
Tanya

Onwards!

As I sit at my window and watch the latest North Pacific winter storm dumping what's forecast to be up to 30cm of wet snow by tomorrow morning, I am contemplating what's scheduled for me (and my camera) this year!

After a couple of summers taking photos at local equestrian events, this year I have been offered the chance to shoot at three multi-day hunter-jumper events at Maple Ridge Equestrian Centre! Those are in May, June and August.

Hunter-Jumper at SVEA

Also, in late June and early October, I'll be capturing the action at two two-day eventing clinics being taught by world-greats William Fox-Pitt and Lucinda Green! These gigs will be shared with popular Vancouver area equestrian photo-guru, Marion Fox. (Marion also happens to be the person who I owe props to for opening the door to the events at MREC!)

Lucinda Green instructing at MREC

To say I'm excited about these opportunities is an understatement!

As soon as the schedule for the local Squamish riding club, SVEA, has been released, I'll be adding a few more dates to my calendar - hopefully a couple of dressage dates along with hunter-jumper and other activities!

Dressage at SVEA

Of course, I'll be continuing to do any pet photography that comes my way, too!

But, it's only mid-February and, the weatherman says, after this snow has fallen and the skies start clearing, there's an Arctic outflow coming! This means all this lovely slush will freeze solid! Ack!

See you next time!
Tanya

A Year Ago Today ...

It's almost a year since I posted here! I have every intention of making it a regular contribution but, as my track record indicates, my intentions can't be counted on ... at least when it comes to regular blog posts! (One of my new year's resolutions was to get back to my blog ... and look how long that took!)

What inspired this return to the blog? Today was the first full day of sunshine that we've had in about 6 weeks! It feels like spring (although we know that's probably a false alarm)! Don't get me wrong: Not complaining! We had a couple of weeks of snow over the holidays but, since then, nothing but rain. Dreary, yes, but less of a pain in the butt to deal with in daily life!

Today we had a lovely walk from our flat through Squamish towards the Terminals and Estuary area. Here are a few of the photos (click the image to enlarge):

As many of you already know, we now live in Squamish. That's about 90 minutes' drive south of Pemberton, where we were before. It's a moderate-size town at the head of a fjord called Howe Sound, on British Columbia's coast, about an hour's drive from Vancouver. We've been here since June last year, and are loving it! That's a big surprise, particularly to me, because I didn't have the town at the top of my list of most-want-to-live-in locations!

Have to admit that I'm getting a tad nervous because our lease is up in 4 months. No idea if that will mean we have to move yet again ... one can only hope not but, at this time, it's up to the landlord gods, if we're to continue renting. And the WHA gods ... which by extension means the wait-list gods, if we ever hope to be able to find a place to buy ... and finally unpack all these xxxxing boxes!!!

If anyone's still out there ...

See you next time!
Tanya