Eye of the Beholder

by

 

Over the years, I’ve snapped many photos of eyeballs – horse eyes, to clarify.

I don’t know what is about their eyes, something soulful and deep that just draws me to them and makes me want to capture that moment with my camera.

This horse, Steve, was one my niece was training at the time. It was getting close to sunset when I snapped the photo. When I got home and blew it up on the computer, I could see the silhouette of the skyline in his eye. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to enhance it. This remains my favorite, favorite eye.

This is our neighbor’s horse. He used to hang his head over our fence all the time. It was just starting to snow when I took this photo. You can see a few white specks clinging to his dirty face.

This was one I took when we were on vacation in Central Oregon. There’s a resort there that keeps several horses and we went out to see them one morning. The deer were wandering around at the time too.

This old fella was also at the resort. I didn’t get any fun reflections in his eye, but he was such a sweetheart.

This is a horse my niece was working with a few months ago. He was such a laid-back guy.

What about you?

Do you ever snap photos of animals? Landscapes? Flowers?

Just post your answer for a chance to win

an art print of Steve’s eye and some other goodies!

 

Website |  + posts

After spending her formative years on a farm in Eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky western heroes.
When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

63 thoughts on “Eye of the Beholder”

  6. Shanna … I take photos of everything. We just got back from the Big Horn Mountains and we have moose pictures that are incredibly awesome! We saw horses on the range and got to love on them and get pictures. Cattle, sheep, elk in abundance. Through pictures, my memory bank will stay full for a long time. Loved your post today!

    • It is so neat you got to take all those photos! So cool you got moose photos as well as sheep, elk, cattle and the horses. I love how photos can jog our memories and stir those special feelings long after the moment has passed.

  7. Horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal!! I love the expressions they can give you and of course the ears go along with them to judge their moods!

    • Yes, those ears! So neat to watch them and their expressions. I often feel like our neighbor’s horses are looking at me like I’m the dumbest human on earth. LOL!

  8. Wow, Shanna, these horses’ eyes are amazing ? I LOVE horses and their huge, gorgeous eyes, but never had a camera handy to capture any scenes in their eyes! You are awesome ?

  10. That’s so awesome. I never knew you could capture little mini-scenes in a horse’s eye. I love this.

    Most of my pictures are of my cat sleeping in weird positions.

    • Oh, that’s so fun about your cats. Yes, if you have a little patience, (in my case luck rather than skill) and a horse with just the right eyes, you can get incredible images captured in them. Have a great day!

  11. Those pictures are so beautiful! I don’t take pictures often but I like to do portrait photography. The only problem is that none of my family likes their picture taken, so I end up having to do self-portraits which are slightly difficult to take when you want a good angle. (Plus it feels a little weird taking pictures of yourself lol)

    • I’m with you – taking photos of myself is not my favorite. Hope you can talk your family into taking setting for portraits. Tell them one day they’ll appreciate having those images!

  12. I enjoyed these wonderful photos. My rescue dog, Bogie of 17 years died 3 weeks ago and I miss him badly. I took many beautiful photos of him which show his handsome face and cute, small body. He was very photogenic and special. Many people commented on the photos and were very taken with him and his cute personality.

  13. Photos of animals are inspiring, emotional and treasures. When we had cats I loved taking photos of them sleeping. I still have the old black and white photos.

  15. Many years ago we had our first and only dog. Sweetest and cutest dog. We were given this dog from a farm where we had once visited. We took many photos which I still have and cherish. They give me great enjoyment.

  16. Hi Shanna, wow, those are some awesome photos! Thank you for sharing them. I love taking pics of animals, birds , flowers , sunsets and sunrises. I love taking photos with our camera. Alot of things can be captured on photos. Have a great day and a great week. I enjoyed reading your post.

  17. I like taking pictures of landscapes whenever I go somewhere I haven’t been before and I always love taking pictures of flowers in my yard.

  20. Shanna, I love to photograph animals. I’m drawn to the eyes also. Especially horses. I get really emotional and feel like I’m intruding on their thoughts.

  22. welcome today. yes I love to snap pictures of animals, landscapes and flowers, many of which make it into either my quilting or my homemade greeting cards. our daughter in law has two horses. she loves also to take pictures of their eyes for the same reason as you do. plus she loves to get different reflections in their eyes. she got a really cool one with the head of our son. and then he took a picture of her reflection. put the two together and they have a wonderful picture on their wall. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

    • That is so neat about the photo of their reflections they put together. I love that they did that! And that is awsome you create greeting cards and quilts with your photos. So wonderful! Thank you for stopping in today!

  24. I love taking pictures of wildflowers because I know man didn’t plant them. I go to the mountains behind my house so I know no one has touch them. I talk to God a whole lot and praise him when I find a wildflower. I cry sometimes because I see what He has made and my heart is full knowing He loves me and made me and will watch over me.

  25. I take pictures of everything! Photography is a passion of mine as is graphic editing of photos. I’ve done people, animals, landscapes, structures (I love old buildings and even new ones too), and even cars, weather events and more.

  26. Mostly I take pictures of my kids but would love to take more photos of nature and God’s creations

  27. Those are beautiful! I love fun pictures like that, that sometimes have a hidden image. I take pictures of plants, animals, and people. I love a good sunset picture!

  28. I love these pictures, Shanna–the eye with the skyline is amazing! I take a ton of pictures of my dogs. I think at this point I have more pictures of my dogs than I do of my kids. But I do that because we had a dog that passed away about 4 years ago and I realized I just didn’t have that many “good” pictures of him at different stages of his life, so I am not making that mistake again. I love sunset pictures, cloud pictures, animal pictures– heck, I just love pictures. LOL Great post!

    • Hi Cheryl! I love photos in general too. That is so smart to take a bunch of photos of your dogs. Someday those images will be so precious to you! Thanks so much for stopping in today!

  29. Fabulous pictures. I take pictures of Canadian geese as well as the stray cats and kittens we feed. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  31. Gorgeous photos, Shanna! I love to take pictures of flowers and animals. I’m hoping to get a camera and macro lens so I can really work on my flower photos. Something about getting up close in the details just makes my heart happy.

  33. We take pictures of just about everything. Animals, landscapes, buildings, gardens tend to be the most common subjects.

Comments are closed.