Well, we managed to get to the barrel racing event in Winona, MN on Saturday. It's a little over 2 hr drive for us, so we left about 5 am. Needless to say, by the time we got home at about 10 pm, we were exhausted. I will be needing to eat my Wheaties for days like Saturday. Holy cow, it was a long day and HOT!

     They ended up with the last event of the day having about 270 barrel racers. Wow! Loved seeing an old friend again, it really made my day to catch up with her after all these years.

     This time out I decided to shoot with the 70-200mm 2.8 Canon lens and NO flash. I certainly prefer it to the flash and 100-400mm lens I used last week! If you can stand the noise, it beats the heck out of dealing with a flash. The arena lighting was a little better here than the Cannon Falls arena so my ISO stayed in the 6000-8000 range, that kept the noise to a minimum. Of course the faster lens helped add some extra stops of light.

      I remembered to use the gray card! Woohoo!....then ended up adjustng the color anyway. *sigh* Let me go with it, I hate WB issues.  Gives me a headache. Anyway, I did set the WB to fluorescent and it looked better under these lights than last weekend. This needed no adjustment of color.

      I had the ISO set on auto and shot in shutter priority with speed set at 400. This way as the light changed from one end of the arena to the other, the ISO was compensating. I did add 2/3 stop to the exposure as this end of the arena had TONS of light being reflected in the barn doors from white trailers and campers from outside. I needed to make sure with all that back light I was getting plenty of exposure on my subjects.

      I did find my *sweet* spot for photographing the girls coming around the barrels. I like the last one as the horses turn it best since they know they are heading home. The only problem is when occasionally a rider will take the left barrel first. This then has them coming into that last barrel, going in the opposite direction. So, I just zoom in and shoot them coming off their second barrel. Not ideal, but it works in a pinch. :-)

     This event already had a photographer so I spent lots of time visiting and playing. :-) I decided to try that neat little menu item that is new on the 5D lll. Multiple exposer mode. I'm going to like this little gem! It is ridiculously easy to use!

          So then I wondered how bad my panning skills had gotten since I haven't used them in years. First attempt was a little challenged...so was the second, third, and fourth. :-) I finally managed this one.

       I couldn't help but snatch a shot of this little cowgirl on a mission. She definately had places to go and people to see. :-) I wish I would have taken more time for candids as I had planned, but I guess I got caught up with other ideas and it was so hot, moving around a lot wasn't my idea of a good time.

     Spur finally got her last booster shots and is all healed from her spay, so she went to her first horse show. She didn't know what to think with all the sights and sounds and...smells. She met lots of dogs and learned that we have yet to meet another corgi with ears as big as hers. Poor girl. I do tell her her extra big ears just make her extra special and extra huggable. :-) She was a hit with everyone especially all the little kids.

     Last but not least. I will be finding out who this lady and her horse are because it is my mission to to set up a photo shoot with this gorgeous palamino.

We didn't go to the Paint horse show today. When I got up and woke up my computer, we had issues and it took me 5 hours to fix the little crash I had going. We are back up and going fine, but it did take a big chunk out of the day. Oh well, it was even hotter today so it's just as well we stayed home in the cool house. :-)

Happy Trails ~ Gina