I know, it's been forever.. again.. and.. Again...

I'm so so sorry I've been absent.  I was in an apartment for six months that didn't have any direct sun- which apparently I need so I haven't been feeling up to blogging.

BUT I'm in a house now... a quaint, character filled, needing of a bit TLC little house and I couldn't be happier.  My back yard is filled with bad grass and wildlife and I have a gigantic picture window that I can shoot photos through.

I get light morning through evening and it makes me incredibly happy...

Which translates to more mental and emotional freedom to work on miniatures and photography.

A few weeks ago Heather Downing came to visit and it was totally inspiring and wonderful!  Admittedly I am a dyed in the wool introvert so it was hard having someone in my space, but she put up with me perfectly.. loL!  Even though my stomach freaked the eff out at one point after eating at Cracker Barrel. (Sound Familiar Morgen K? - Apparently if I have someone in my space my stomach freaks out)

Above is the Bridle that I've been working on, for forever.  I think I've finally come up with a clever way of adding a "twist" to the above bridle and making it cool.  I keep putting knots on and then cutting them back off, but that is happening more frequently instead of once every six weeks.. lol

I am also still slowly, slowly slowly working on my Opus western pleasure saddle.  I'm afraid that the Leather has darkened with age and it looks mUCH more like a light oil saddle now instead of bright natural leather but I think that the Tooling is holding up.  now that I have my own space I can work silver again.

I also made it back to Our Mims and shot a few more photos.

RJ and Kaylee Meeting for the first time

Jeanne's wonderful Sunflowers

Ms Royal Flagship Enjoying the Kentucky Sun.

Bragging Rights Napping

Beautiful JoJo

I hope that you are having a beautiful spring!  Thank you for not givng up on me :)

It should come as no surprise to you that I sometimes really screw up.................

So a few years ago, when I was still going thorugh a lot of things with my Dad's death and in a relationship that was draining my soul I stupidly published a blog post about working for free.  All I can say is that I was really deeply depressed at the time and........

......I was wrong.

Completely.
Utterly.
Wrong.

I was very down, and didn't even know it and allowed 1,000 + of my photos to be sucked into Wikimedia and used around the world for free.

At the time I figured that it would be better that they are out in the world than languishing on my harddrive. And clearly if they were good enough someone would want to pay me for a high resolution version.

That never happened. Not even once.

Now I understand though that some of the photos from the Endangered Breeds Show are being used to educate and that of course is fine.. but I've also seen them used on everything from phone cases to probably prints..

Needless to say I completely regret not at least pruning the photos or limiting which ones could be used.  In my defense, severe depression really hampered any clear thinking.

Recently this photo of American Pharoah getting a bath in April 2015 (BEFORE THE DERBY):

Was stolen from my flickr and used without my permission and compensation by a blogger on Equus Magazine. I never received an apology from her, in fact she was indignant about me even having a problem with her taking it. :"well you got credit. It's good exposure"

Donating your time and talent should be done on a limited basis and only on a cause you really believe in(my cause is Our mims and Equine rescue now). This is a good rule of thumb:  If the person or company that wants to use your work for free, is being paid you should be paid too. Period.

Happy Breeders cup day!  I'll leave you with some more thoroughbred photos I've taken! :)

Last Photos I've taken of American Pharoah.

These were taken June 1st at Churchill Downs.  it was an unseasonably cold, rainy day but I really wanted a few more photos.  I swear one of these days (hopefully) I'll get photos of this horse in the bright sunlight.  I've been to Churchill to take photos of him four times and none of them had bright sunlight.. what are the odds!?