Am I really a well-trained horse?

To click or not to click, you have the freedom to decide; and freedom is a wonderful thing in any form.

Determination

This is the last day of the Sherry Cervi Youth Championships, and I can honestly say I've seen enough barrel racing to last me for a while. Two days of barrel racing last weekend, and three days of barrel racing this weekend, is a lot of barrel racing. There was also barrel racing after dark this weekend, but trying to get a picture of a high-speed event like barrel racing with only the arena lighting was  hopeless for me. I can barely get a decent shot with the arena lighting and the skylights on a no-cloud day.

I prefer the rodeo kind of barrel racing; that way, I've got other events I can take a picture of, so my photos don't become so redundant. And  speaking of redundant pictures. I'll be heading for Whitewater Draw tomorrow or the next day to visit the Sandhill Cranes. I haven't decided yet about which day I will go because some of my decisions depend on the weather. But it doesn't much matter, I can be packed up and leave in five or ten minutes, and since I'm going to a boondocking area, I don't have to make any plans ahead of time.

I hope to have some cloudy days while there because it gives me a better chance of pretty sunrises and sunsets with the Sandhill cranes flying around. I'm not really sure why I like seeing the Sandhill cranes so much. Whether in Alamosa, Colorado, Bosque Del Apache, New Mexico, or Whitewater Draw, Arizona, I look forward to getting there and spending time with the Cranes. I think it may have something to do with being around wild nature.

I like watching barrel racing because horses are fun to watch, but the rider controls them, and the horses aren't living the way they want to live. But the Sandhill cranes are different. They're living the life they want to live, exactly how they want to live it, and the human beings around them, such as me, don't control them; we simply observe. And I find that more interesting and relaxing than watching an animal being forced to do what humans want it to do. Maybe that's why I value MY freedom so much; I know what it was like to be a well-trained horse and spending my life doing what I'm supposed to do, and not necessarily what I want to do.

Theboondork

Full speed through the timing lights.

In good spirits, waiting for her run.

In the zone.

Full gallop, totally relaxed

Which one spends more time at the hair salon?

See the woman on the right hand side of the picture? She's a REAL professional photographer. She can sit anywhere she wants inside the arena. She has a nice comfy chair to sit in, and two different cameras set up and ready to use for any situation. And she obviously has the skills and talent to produce photographs people want to buy or she wouldn't be sitting here.

My situation is different. I have to take pictures through the fence rails which are about shoulder high. And since I have to take pictures through the fence rails there's no place for me to sit because I have to be standing right next to the fence. And I can't just stand anywhere because I would block somebody's view from the bleachers, so it's sheer luck that I get a picture of anything. I have several cameras, but I refuse to be a pack mule caring around a bunch of cameras and extra lenses just to take snapshots for my hobby, so if it won't fit in my jeans pockets... I don't take it.

Another big difference between her and I is skills and talent, which for the sake of brevity I'll ignore and go straight to the big difference, which is for her this is a job, and for me it's fun. There's few things in the world that people will pay you to do that is actually fun year after year. Just look at famous actors and famous musicians. They've got a job so great and pays so much money that they have to be an alcoholic and, or, a drug addict to deal with it year after year. I am neither, because nobody pays me to live the way I do, I live my life the way I do simply because I enjoy it.