I was in Cleveland this past weekend, yes I know… Cleveland?!  Actually, it is quite a beautiful part of America, and my photo experience only heightened my opinion.  I was invited to photograph three beautiful Arabian horses by my friends the Cardello family.  I must admit to feeling very apprehensive about the shoot, as the weather was a bit “iffy’ to say the least.  It was cloudy, rainy, and at times thunder and lightening.  Because of the weather, we started in the barn and I did a few headshots, and then some in the doorway.  Even though it was raining, it was actually quite beautiful outdoors, the light was just softly filtering through the trees.   We decided to just “do it” as Nike says and I for one am so happy I choose to follow my heart and gut.   I got a bit wet, and it was very muddy,  my cute riding boots were covered with horse poop and mud, but all in all, it was definitely worth the investment.  The horses seemed to come alive once in pasture and if a horse could smile they would have definitely been smiling.  I choose to use the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera body, and shot with the 70-200 2.8 lens.  The new 70-200 is just screaming sharp!  I used manual metering in the spot meter mode.  My aperature was 4.5 @ about 200 sec.   Finding the light was my top priority,  and then the trainer,  and owner would direct the horse to the general area I wanted it to run.  This type of photography feeds my soul, it wasn’t one done for financial gain, but in the end, I was paid very richly in hugs, laughter and sharing time with dear friends.  How lucky I am….