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Playing In The Weeds

Posted in Jacob Sheep, Photography on June 26, 2009 by mudranch

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Mud Ranch’s Keefer

We used to have all these “beautiful” weeds all throughout our pasture, next to the house.  Thankfully, and at my request, my Dad brought over the tractor and mowed them all down. 

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Chicory Lane Emma

I did want to show you what a nice background they made for pictures though.  Something that drove me a little crazy because they were taking over this patch of ground, proved to make for some nice pictures.  I would have sent Annie out in to them for pictures but the smell of those things isn’t very pleasant and they also irritate my skin.

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Mud Ranch’s Elvin

Something about this picture (and a tip to consider,) it is taken with me standing up looking at Elvin through my lens.  Normally I like to get down on my knees to make for a more attractive photo.  Also, if you’ll notice there’s a distracting blur up in the left hand photo which happens to be Keefer’s head.  When you take photos, look from corner to corner to corner to corner making sure that your whole viewing area is clear from distraction.  You can get away with noisy backgrounds if you have a shallow depth of field (large aperture number and thus makes for a very blurred background.)

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Kenleigh’s Lilly

You will notice in a lot of my photos, the subject is off to the side, such as Lilly here.  I could have put her smack-dab in the center but the photo would not be as attractive.  I like to have a good sized void to either side.

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Mud Ranch’s Champagne “Bubbles”

The shade is also a better place to take photos especially if your background is shaded too.  If you take a photo of your subject in the shade, but the background is bright the bright spot will be a distraction (this is mainly for portraits.)

Just some helpful tips (hopefully) — enjoy!

Don’t forget to go on over to Mud Ranch’s Mercantile to become a follower for your chance to win a pack of my Lupine Cards!

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Peddler’s Faire Readiness

Posted in Photography on June 3, 2009 by mudranch

This coming Saturday, while most of you are still in bed, I will be up chugging coffee setting up my booth for the Peddler’s Faire.  It runs from 8-5 but set up is from 5-7 a.m. … Too early for my blood.  But I wanted to show you some things that I’ve got going.

Costco Collage

I have created this collage to promote our sheep.  I will have some raw fleece there in a handmade Hubby box along with information on the Jacob sheep.  We get a lot of locals who shop there so am hoping for some more local sales! 

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I’ve done a couple of prints in frames.  I liked how this one turned out, especially since I picked the frames and matting without having the photos in hand!  Never have done that before and things turned out alright. 

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The frame on the above photo is distressed pine looking with a really grainy texture.  I love old distressed looking wood and I believe this really works with the photo of my Kiger mare “Sister” (Annie Oakley.) 

By the way, it is Sister’s birthday today!  Happy Birthday to one of my most beautiful and favorite equine girls.

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I also got my donation to the JSBA’s (Jacob Sheep Breeder’s Association) 2009 AGM ready for shipping.  Here it is in a nice black frame with black matting.  I thought that these would do well in most anyone’s home.  If you want to donate to the JSBA by way of raffle ticket buying, please visit their site by clicking on the highlighted link above (in orange!)

Now my last piece is a favorite among many.  I tried two different frames and I’ll show you both:

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This is a real ash wood frame that I got for a great price.  It is very heavy but it makes the picture look small.  That photo is 8×10 and I think maybe the frame is overpowering.

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So thankfully I had this one lying around and like it much better.  Less red, which sets off the red in the photo.  What do you think?  Which do you like better?

I’ll keep you updated on the Faire.  I’m looking forward to it.

Thank you also, for all the great name suggestions!  Please keep them coming — I’m really enjoying each and every one of them.

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Photo Cards are Here — And a Gift

Posted in Crafting, Giveaway, Photography with tags on May 21, 2009 by mudranch

Okay, I ordered my photo cards through Snapfish a couple days ago and I seriously cannot believe they’ve already arrived.

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There is a pretty heavy little box here on my counter that is full of 16 different photo cards, 7 of each.  Over all quality is pretty good!  I think that if I were to order them through MOO, they would be higher quality but these are not bad at all.  Really, they are of the quality that some are in stores with a high gloss finish and a nice weight.  Some of the fancy borders I put on a few didn’t come out as I had hoped as they got cut off a bit but they were so subtle on some that it doesn’t seem to really matter and I doubt anyone except the “creator” (me) would notice.

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Overall, I am pretty well pleased — even more so since I won a little gift certificate over at the Pioneer Woman (shocking, I know — you now know someone who has won over there) just by signing up with Snapfish through her site I was put into a drawing for a gift certificate (this was unknown by me) and I won… get this… $150.00!!  How cool was that!?  So, I ordered these up and only had to pay a hefty FedEx charge but it sure beat buying all of these!  And yes, I used up my whole certificate.  I really couldn’t believe the timing on that win though, it sure brightened my day!

So now my gift to those who want to try out my other favorite spot, MOO, where I bought my business cards.  You can type in my special code and receive 20% off if you are a first time customer.  So those who were interested in getting your own business cards, now is the time.  You can also now order from their USA plant based out of Rhode Island and get faster, cheaper shipping because they’re now not coming from the UK like I’ve done before.  So here’s the code: 77WPXH.  Remember this is a one time, one product, first time customer deal… Enjoy!

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I Heart Faces – Laughter

Posted in I Heart Faces, Photography on May 11, 2009 by mudranch

I have been meaning to participate in I Heart Faces challenges the past few weeks but just haven’t seemed to be able to get my act together.  This week I had more incentive because 1. I thought the challenge looked interesting and fun and 2. I was excited that Ree over at the Pioneer Woman was going to be the guest judge!

For my Children’s Entry, I have this little girl nick-named “Zoozer” — she has a fun laugh and such sparkley eyes!  Her Daddy (I inspired him to start a blog too!) was pushing her along a zip-line that is strung between two trees and her face shows that she was giggling every second of the way!

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My second for the Adult Entry is actually of Zoozer’s Mom!  She and her husband have four little girls and they were at my parent’s in law’s house for some fun on the trampoline and the zip-line, obviously Maleah was enjoying watching her kids participate in silly kid stuff.  I love that she had no idea I was pointing the camera at her… and I better watch my back if she happens to look at my blog this week. ;)

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To go visit all the other particpants for this week, go check out I Heart Faces!

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Rainy Day Work – Photo Cards

Posted in Crafting, Nature Photography, Photography with tags , , , , , on May 4, 2009 by mudranch

We’ve been receiving some very much needed rain here the past couple of days and it has given me good opportunity to stay inside and work on my photo cards I’m going to sell at our Peddler’s Faire.  I wanted to share what I’ve got so far, and thank you all for responding to my questions.  I have taken what every one has said and use your thoughts to create — so far, this is what I have and there’s more to come… some with quotes, some without.

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This is “Sister,” we call her that because my daughter and her share the same first name… Obviously I’m a fan of Annie Oakley.  I didn’t get a lot of ‘wows’ over the other photo I took and actually found this one that I liked better.  Getting shots of grazing is a hard thing to do, if you want to make it look creative.

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This is part of my Lupine Series…

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… as is this one.  How do you like them?  I was thinking these would be in a little bundle of Lupine photos tied with some raffia and a little tag.

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I think I’ll include this one in a scenic set, since I don’t have a series on geese, but like them anyway and I know a lot of people around here do too.

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And this is one of my favorites.  I’m actually thinking on having it turned into a canvas for myself (without the border though.)

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And last but not least, this photo of our local river which flows right next to the Peddler’s Faire.  It’s always a good thing to have some “local-ness” for those that want a little token of the world around them.

What do you think so far?

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