American Wild Horses - Good News

American Wild Horses - 
149 unbranded horses saved from slaughter!


Following a brutal round up by BLM, the American Wild Horses Preservation organization and other supporting organizations worked hard to save the horses from slaughter and worked towards their rescue.

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August 23, 2013:  News from the American Wild Horses Preservation:

It's been a long and difficult week, but I have good news to share. The 149 unbranded horses in limbo at the Fallon Livestock Auction in Nevada have been saved! In fact, our friend Terri Farley just sent this photo in from the stockyard where the rescue is underway right now: You'll recall that these horses were rounded up by the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribe earlier this month with the blessing of our federal government. As a result of our lawsuit against the federal government, a judge last Friday issued an injunction temporarily blocking their sale at the auction. The sale continued with the auction of branded horses, about half of whom were sadly purchased by kill buyers. On Wednesday, the same judge lifted the order, clearing the way for the horses to be sold to the highest bidder. Clearly, we disagree with the verdict and with the actions of the federal government, which was complicit in making these horses available to kill buyers. Following the ruling, we did everything we could to save the 149 horses from slaughter. I’m happy to report that, after an amazing collaborative effort, these horses are safe.  Our coalition partner The Cloud Foundation, secured the involvement of Victoria McCullough and the Triumph Project of Wellington Florida. Florida State Senator Joe Abruzzo, negotiated with the tribe on Ms. McCullough’s behalf to purchase all the horses for rescue. Stepping up to take the horses were Ellie Phipps Price (Dunston Wines), Madeleine Pickens (Saving America’s Mustangs), Liberty for Horses, Nevada Horse Power, and Return to Freedom. AWHPC has played a key role in coordinating this monumental rescue. It has been a true team effort and we are touched and grateful for the outpouring of support and concern. Our work is not yet over, though. Many the rescued horses are in need of permanent homes. And, we of course want to make sure this situation never happens again. If you can offer a home for one of these horses, please email contact@wildhorsepreservation.org or just reply to this email. If you would like to donate to help feed and care for these horses, Return to Freedom has started a fund dedicated to this rescue. The outpouring of support and concern over the fate of these horses have demonstrated the strength of Americans’ opposition to horse slaughter and support for wild horses. In memory of the more than 150,000 horses who are sent to slaughter every year, please join us in continuing this fight!  Thank you to all have supported this amazing rescue effort. ` - Suzanne & the AWHPC Team American Wild Horse Preservation

Photographing the 4rth Dimension: Time

The sky over Russian Ridge during the Perseid Meteor Shower on August 12, 2013

[Timelapse Animation of ~180 images during the midnight hours.]

Photographing the 4rth Dimension: Time

The art of painting and photography has captured the 3-dimensional that we inhabit in a 2-dimensional way.  Historically, the early paintings and up about to the renaissance were often ‘flat’ due to lack of special differentiation.  It was the Dutch Masters and others of that period in the 17^th century that introduced the mastery of special perspective, working with depth of space, shadow and light to bring out the special orientation and perspective.

In photography, depth of field, line-work and other tools bring out the spacial dimensions beautifully. 

But it is possible to bring the element of time into photography?  You might say of course since the invention of movies and videos we have captured time beautifully.  But can it be captured in a still frame?

Loop-di-loop over the City by the Bay - Helocopter and airplane traffic depicted over time

In the past 2 years during my exploration of the night sky, the stars and the Milky Way, I have pondered this question.  I often am out at night and set up my camera to take images of the stars in consecutive frames over 1-3 hours.  As the earth rotates on its axis intersecting with Polaris, the North Star, it appears that the stars are moving but obviously it is “us” that is moving. Now, by combining the many images that are captured into one still image, I am actually capturing the 4rth dimension: Time in a 2-dimensional space.

Remember Copernicus (~1533) and Galileo Galilei (~1570) from your history lessons?  Both postulated heliocentrism and earth rotation – observations that at the time were deemed to be heresy by the church who believed that the earth was the center of the Universe.  [Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism,^[1] is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. Ref: Wikepedia]

SkyArt - Startrails around Polaris and airplanes reflecting in the Duck Pond

When planning to photograph the night sky, the Bay Area is unfortunately not a good place to point the camera towards the sky since the light pollution from the many cities.  Have you looked towards the sky at night?  Not many stars are visible.  Moreover, there is a lot of air traffic overhead and the 'trails' of airplanes crisscross the sky.  However, when you travel to remote areas were the surroundings are dark (no light pollution) there are millions of star in the sky.  If you have traveled to the Sierra or hiked in the back country, you might have marveled at the beauty overhead while laying in your sleeping bag.  I am no longer backpacking but I can reach ‘dark sky’ areas by driving away from the cities and I do enjoy being out at night under the canopy of stars.

Tranquility over Lake Tahoe

The following images were taken over the last year or so during my travel to many different locations:

The Southern Sky over Torre del Paines, Chile

Last light and the marine (fog) layer over the Pacific at Pescadero

 Moonlight over Half Dome, Yosemite

Double Arch with light painting at Arches National Park, Utah

Starry Skyover Golden Gate - 

Less stars are visible but even with the light pollution of San Francisco 

one can capture the beauty of the sky.

This image was published by EarthSky.org daily Newsletter in June, 2013

Airplane traffic out of San Francisco Airport

I hope you enjoyed my exploration of the night sky.

Til next time, 

Meggi