A dark, dark winter day

Another dark winter day at the stables. 3200 ISO dark.

Laurent, one of the blog’s most faithful readers, suggested I got up on the large wooden beams supporting the barn’s roof, to get pictures are cool new angles. Well, Laurent, I couldn’t really do that. There’s nothing low enough to pull myself up there, and the few lower spots where I could possibly have sat would probably have upsetted the ponies if they’d seen somebody in a place they’re not accustomed to. As it turned out, Marla even took a bad fall when her mare got spooked by… a loose hen 😉

So today’s pictures are gonna be very similar from all the stable images you’ve seen before. That’s both a good and a bad thing.

Bad, because it makes for boring, repetitive posts, and good, as it displays the NEX7’s ability to deliver technically good pictures, regardless of conditions.

Chivas was back from a little runaway stunt in the nearby fields

I had promised Laurent I would try and show a little bit more of the farm grounds

Lovely subjet isolation and detail rendering from the SEL35 at 1.8

I had no choice but to use ISO 3200 thoughout the entire session indoor

And Enora had no choice but to ride the much feared Polhaar today

Things look slow and peaceful. In appearance only. Eclaire got spooked by a loose hen and sent Marla in a spectacular flying fall 😦

We were all sorry for her. Chivas wasn’t fazed one bit, though

Back on the poney she went. My little trooper…

No fall for Enora, she handled Polhaar perfectly !

I see a smile. All is well

I see concentration, too

From both girls

I see more coaching and support

I processed that from RAW. Better way to handle the crazy contrast 😉

A little unsure here

Light *that* low is tough to catch motion

Battle of wills

Some of the odler girls came and inquired about the camera. “When you take the shot”, she asked, “it comes out clean right away ?”. I had no idea what she was talking about. I made her reformulate but still wasn’t sure what her question was. I chose to show her instead. I picked up a 1/40s shutter speed and let her see how the ponies’ legs were blurry with motion. Then I kicked it up to 1/100s and showed her they were sharp. She got the idea.

Here’s my 1/40s proof in the pudding shot

1/60s is a little short, too

From jpeg. I still keep RAW editing to a barebone minimum

The N7’s native DR being exquisitely wide

They finally got along fine

Eclaire had a new, slighter more severe bit, along with a German noseband today (whenever you read “German” about equine equipment, you can safely assume it’s “tougher”, lol). To try to give Marla a smidge more control over her

Relaxing after the lesson

I might enter this image in a challenge called “Repetition”

And so the session ended

The huge pile of sand is bound to go in the new indoor arena (on the right)

A genuine French Percheron mare

That’s one big ol’ farm

And one very wet dog

The gaping black opening on the left is the indoor barn I shoot the sessions in. Dark, anyone ??

So, Jan 30th. The Fuji XT-1 has been announced, previewed, and is making quite a splash. Olympus’s own entry-level E-M10 has been pretty much darwed and all but totally overshadowed by the Fuji announcement. I do find the E-M10 much more appealing than either the Spartian E-M5, or ass ugly E-M1, though. Probably one very capable little body to carry in a cargo pocket with a 25/1.8 prime permanently glued on it (by next Christmas price should have settled down very nicely as well…). What is the f#ck Sony doing ? Who knows.. I suspect they’re waiting for CP+ in mid February to come out with the NEX 6/7 successor. By then my XT-1 will be pre-ordered and getting closer by the day. Sure, I’ll most likely try the new Sony as well, unless the form factor is so screwed up I don’t even want to. But let’s not be unnecessarily pessimistic here. As we say in French, “le pire n’est jamais sûr” (don’t ever count on worst) 😉