Friday, February 18, 2011

Embracing imperfection

I brought my camera to the girls' riding lessons for the first time in months.

It has been soooo dark and sooooo cold 
that I generally spend my time huddled in the corner of the arena under the space heater
holding my hand warmers up to my nose.

It's been cold, people!

Just last week, I was sooo cold that I wimped out and sat in the car.

I never do that.
What if one of them fell off?
What if they did something amazingly good?

I usually want to be there for those moments.
But I was COLD!

But this week...
oh, it was wonderful!!!

It was 65 degrees out.

Warm enough to leave off the winter gloves and bring the camera out to play.

Even on a sunny, summer day
the arena is not the ideal place for taking pictures.

There are pockets of bright light and pockets of dark shadows.
At this time of the year, at 6:30pm,
there is nothing but darkness and the harsh artificial lights.

But I gave it a go anyway.
I placed the girls in the frame differently.
I turned the camera to the black and white setting.

I embraced the blurriness, 
the heads cut off, 

the bright lights 
and the dark shadows.

And I kind of love these pictures
with all of their "not-perfectness."

11 comments:

Suburban Girl said...

Oh the memories. My daughter took riding lessons too. And I did spend some days in the car. Plus I have allergies and all that barn stuff was murder. So glad those days are over.

Unknown said...

I really love them, too! Very cool. The picture & the temperature. I can't imagine riding on a horse, with the air moving fast around me, when it is so cold outside. Brrr!!!

Jess said...

Colleen these are great! (Really!) The composition on your first and fifth ones is fantastic, and they're perfect in B&W.

koreen (aka: winn) said...

These are amazing! I know how dark riding arenas are, and you did an amazing job with the difficult light conditions. I think the true soul of a photographer is someone who finds something worth shooting and finds a way to capture it, despite the conditions. (Except cold. I understand about cold.) So, well done, my friend!

Jen said...

I like this set too! I think the tones and shadows are great.

those first two, wow!

Jen said...

oh yeah, I remember sleep away camp and riding, but I was always scared lol

Kathy Campbell said...

So wonderfully imperfect! I love it!

Susan said...

I love these! Especially that you shot them in black and white.

My favorites are the one under "There are pockets of bright light and pockets of dark shadows." (Great expression of both the horse and the rider.) And the action shot right above it.

Karli @ The Bonnie 5 said...

I LOVE these! Love the cut off heads (as you've seen from my posts too - ha!)...love the blurriness - they're running after all. Love it all! I'm totally trying to crank up the creativity factor, and you totally did it with these shots! GREAT job! :-)

Jay said...

I think you took some really cool shots!! And you'll love them even more as the years pass and you look back on those days .. what's more, you will hardly remember the cold!

Unknown said...

I think these are pretty great in black and white. :0)