American Pharoah Mania

Yeah, I am taking a lot of photos these days.. I have access to the Backside of Churchill Downs This year and I'm taking full advantage of it.  These are photos of American Pharoah taken yesterday morning.

Kentucky Derby Contender Photos

American PHaroah

Firing Line

Materiality

American Pharoah Getting a Bath

Dortmund Getting a Bath

Bob Baffert Taking a look at DOrtumund

Since I live in Louisville, KY and I LOVE all things Kentucky Derby time, I thought I'd share some of the photos I took while I was lucky enough to gain access to the Backside of Churchill downs.

I'll probably share more photos as time goes on because I'm doing a lot more photography.  I hope thats ok with you guys!

Almost done!

Yes, I am still alive and kicking..

I have been doing a lot of photography and a little bit of model Horse tack here and there.  I have added two more plates to the "Opus" saddle and I intend to work on that more often.

I post more frequently on both of my facebook pages:

http://www.facebook.com/desertnightcreations

http://www.facebook.com/abounaderphoto

but I'll still update this page from time to time.  I've just been very busy and very tired  but I'm still creating!

Bit collection and other stuff..

From Left to right: Sue Rowe Bit, Silver Carol Williams Bit (on a braided bridle I'm working on), Heart bit made out of plated silver; key chain bit; pistol bit where I've painted the handles white, another hand made carol williams bit, another silver plated bit (Robin..clark maybe), last row are both robin clark bits (I think).

 

 

 

I made this bit myself out of sheet silver and a dremel.

Made this bit myself using sheet silver and a dremel

Made by Me out of sheet silver and a dremel. This was a prototype and I Only made one shank.

Again, I made this bit myself as well.  Unfortunately one side broke and I never made another.

Made this bit myself for the Mother Hubbard I set.

Firstly, Alicia Vogel has a bridle and matching Breastcollar of  mine available on the Model Horse Sales Pages. These colors are unique to my work. I normally hang out in "Traditional" colors "land" of browns, darker blues and reds. Anything that could've been made from naturally ocuring dyes.  (This is part of the reason that I enjoy Danielle Hart's work so much... she doesn't have those dumb limitiations that I do!):

http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/view.asp?id=1138707

It occurs to me that I have been "officially" making tack since 1997. Yes.. 1997. So... I've been making miniature tack for 18 years. Gawd I'm old.. lol!!  I have gained considerable knowledge and skill in that time, albeit slowly.

I am a firm believer in dispelling myths about myself and showing people that my earlier work wasn't all that great.  I'm hoping by doing this that I'll inspire more tackmakers to keep at it.  I'm finding as time moves on there aren't a lot of us in the hobby who have been around "FOREVER" in the tackmaking biz.  (Insert crotchety comment here about the A.D.D. generation) I want to change that.

Here are some of my older works:

2003

2001

2000

2000

2001

2001

I know that I had some photos of some really old stuff but apparently my Subconscious has deleted those. LOL!!  Actually I've had at least 5 or 6 computers since then so those photos are probably on some "lost" hard drive somewhere.

Well, happy February!

Another Catch Up post!

 

So much has happened and I am having a really hard time right now with focus.

I post a lot on my Facebook Page so you can keep up there if you are on facebook..

http://www.facebook.com/desertnightcreations

http://www.facebook.com/abounaderphoto

I lost my friend, Mark (above) in December and that dredged up a lot of feelings from my dad's death on top of mourning the loss of such a kind, genuine, authentic human soul.  

I'm having a really difficult time focusing right now and it's effecting my pool game during league play and work.  I work now whenever I can get myself to focus which isn't always at the time when I should work. Luckily my company can accomodate that and I'm still employed:)

I am working on a braided bridle that I'm going to try to keep for myself, so that eventually I'll have several examples of my own work. Wish me luck on that!

LOTS and LOTS More Photography and Life

Outrider Pony At Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Diana D and Zorillo

Zorillo

Diana D and Zorillo

Diana D and Zorillo

Lee A and Magnatli at the Horsepark Costume Party

Thomas the Hackney at the Horsepark Halloween costume Party

Lee A and Magnatli at the Horsepark Halloween Costume Party

Kentucky Horse Park Halloween Costume Party

Shires Drawing the Horse Drawn Tour at the Horsepark

"Anna from Frozen" on her Fjord at the Kentucky Horse Park

"Ilse from Frozen" at the kentucky Horse park Costume Party

Snowy Egret at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando Fl

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando Fl

Feline Resident at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando FL

Dharma at Wolf Park

Wotan at Wolf Park

Dharma at Wolf Park

Dharma at Wolf Park

Kanti at wolf park

Kanti and Bicho Arguing at wolf Park

Kanti at wolf park

The second half of 2014 Has been exceptionally busy for me.  There have been a lot of real changes in my life this year, and if I really sit and think about them, I get super overwhelmed.

Let me try to share the things I've learned about myself in the last few years in just a few sentences.. ha!!!

I am highly sensitive: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/highly-sensitive-people-signs-habits_n_4810794.html

I am an INFJ: http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.htmlhttp://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html

Which means I'm a highly sensitive, artistic introvert that has a difficult time with major change.

I don't think any of those things are a negative. I actually have learned to work within the confines of my psyche and draw strength from my perceived "weirdness" and I'm happy. (as a friend recently said "You're not weird, you're interesting.")

Turns out that being highly sensitive isn't that rare. Being an INFJ is.  This concludes the portion of my blog where I share too much

I haven't touched my saddle in a couple of months. I hate that I haven't worked on it but my brain apparently needs a rest. Photography is downright easy compared to making little things so I assume thats whats going on.

So I've turned (obviously) to photography. I've been photographing and photographing and photographing lately.  The photos sort of chronicle what I've done in the last few months.

I went to a "women in technology" day at Churchill Downs in September that connected me to several local, dynamic women and was so refreshing!  While I was there, I shot several photos because there was NO WAY I would go to Churchill Downs and not take pictures.

Then I got lucky and Diana D. who works at Churchill Downs and is a model horse person invited me to go take some photos of her off the track thoroughbred, Zorillo (Little Sheik).  That was great fun because when photographing a 6 year old "Thoroughbred off of the track" it's more of a negotiation than a "Stand him there and let me take photos".  Standing still is not his strong point. Being Beautiful is.  Diana has a very laid back calm, personality which is perfect for Zorillo.  She handled him expertly and he absolutely loves her. (As you can tell from the photo where he's actually hugging her back).

Next was off to Wolf Park in Battleground Indiana.  A photographer who usually photographs horses got together a small group of photographers to go to "Wolf Park" in Battleground, Indiana.  I saw the invite the week before the trip and quickly jumped in.  The interesting thing about going up to the Wolf Park to photograph wolves is that we would be allowed to go into the various enclosures with the wolves.  It was an amazing experience to say the least.  We had an hour long dissertation on what to do and what NOT to do when around wolves and then were turned loose with some wolf park folks to photograph to our hearts content. I took over 2,000 photos in an 8 hour period. I will never ever forget it.

Then I went ot the Kentucky Horse park to take photos during the Kentucky Horse Park Halloween Costume Party which was organized and put together by the folks that run the breed barn.  It was a wonderful little show and RJ enjoyed it.  Thankfully it was a Stunning day outside and the light was exquisite!

Last week I went Orlando Florida for "Susecon 2014" which is a convention for all of the people that use the Linux operating system called "SuSE".  It was a week long learning and networking convention held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida, a mile from Walt Disney world.  Turns out that Florida actually does get quite cold in the winter and most of the days topped out around 47 Degrees.  Too cold to sneak off to Disney so I didn't leave the hotel much.  On Thursday It did get warmer so I had some time to go out and shoot a few photos.  It was very windy though and I got cold really easily so I didn't take as many as I would have wanted.

I have also started to post a photo a day on my twitter account here: http://www.twitter.com/heathermoreton

I went on all of these excursions while Anthony was out of town a few weeks with a new job and I worked a full time job and took care of my elementary school agedson.. We also now have a 9 foot pool table that I practice on every night. (I Play league pool too!) So "busy" doesn't even begin to describe what I've been.


Today I'm going to try to get back to my saddle and muster up the energy to go for a long walk.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the "blah blah"!