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31 January 2010

EYE- Max theatre

I adore equine eyes... do you?
I think horses have the most incredible 'windows to the soul' of all animals.
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There was a rare moment of stillness during our recent week of branding: the men (and kids) had taken some cows and calves back to their paddocks after I had helped mother up (match calf tags to cow tags for our records) and all was suddenly still and peaceful.
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I wandered over to Yvette (often my steed, but also mount to Dad and Salina when she is visiting) - she is a sook who always adores a cuddle and has the most wonderful warm, open eyes. The skies were intensely blue, and the shape of her prominent brown eyes made for an incredible warped mirror of our surroundings...
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First I focussed in on her spiky red lashes... who says redheads need mascara?
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And then realising how clearly the dark liquid surface of her iris was reflecting the scene around her, I drew closer.
I reached to touch her cheek...
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Then tried again - can you see her shadow on the ground?
And the yard and shed behind me?
And how the white timber rail of the gate is whoopy, following the curve of her eye?
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This angle is even better...
you can actually see me AND her shadow AND her neck and back reflected in her orb...
I might be wrong, but I reckon you would only ever see this in a prey animal. Animals whose eyes are set at this particular spot on the sides of their heads, so they can check behind them for predators and still see in front to escape.
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I love that she is so relaxed with me and stands patiently while I point the Nikon at point-blank range at here eye. Clearly I am not considered a predator!

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Have YOU seen any freaky, fabulous reflections in your world lately?

I bet you have - if you disagree, look again!

(Think: rear-view mirrors, the still water of a lake or puddle, the tinted window of your car...)

If you are inspired to post a reflected image at your blog, I will put a link up here at the bottom of this post to share...

Come on...

Play with me!

...

Players...

Trace Elements

A Novel Woman

Farmer Gal

Kelly

Debby

Marilyn

Bull Rhino

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well BB, my daughter has a thing about reflections in photos too... so I'll have to cheat and post up some of hers! I'll DO it!!

Country Girl said...

I'll see what I have. This is a good idea. And I wish I could write clever post titles like you do!

Jenni said...

I've tried taking photos of our horses' eyes, but they rarely stand still long enough. I don't think they particularly like the camera. Two of the mares are better at letting me take their pics than the others, though, so I may try more with them. The best horse eye photo I've taken was of someone else's horse and with my little Canon Power Shot. She was such a lovey horse and let me stand there and take picture after picture of her beautiful blue eyes until I finally got one that was right.

A Novel Woman said...

Done and done, although I don't have any of myself reflected in a horse's eyeball. But they are reflections...

My word ver is "tusheing". Is it trying to tell me something?

Mom L said...

Your photos are incredible, as always! What a beautiful horse, and those eyelashes! I know you've done this before, but I still cannot imagine getting such a gorgeous mirror shot from such a magnificent creation as a horse's eye!

Well done!
Nancy in Iowa

"Cottage By The Sea" said...

I don't think I've ever seen red eyelashes on a horse before. Those pictures are amazing. I can't get over that you can see everything reflected in there. Some of the pics look like you are going to reach right through here eye! Brilliant, really.

Anonymous said...

No reflections---but any new news on your knee???
gramps

Farmer Gal said...

On Sundays I always like to just put up a picture and a few Bible verses on my website. Last night as I sat down to look for a verse I typed in the word 'reflect' in the Bible verse search engine. Earlier this week as I was getting ready to write a post about my aching hip I happened to read that you had a bum knee... You and I are thinking alike this week I guess.

Very nice pictures by the way. The reflection in her eyes is just amazing. I DO have a picture of a reflection that I'll share. Will post it on my photography page.

Kelly said...

My photography is pretty lame, but I joined in with a post of my own.

There are some wonderful photos here...both yours and those who have played along!

Marilyn said...

This is just for fun, right? Not a contest to see who took the lamest ones? So if that's it....I'm in.
What a good idea you had.

BB said...

Wow - so impressed you guys are playing along. That last invite was like an afterthought as I wrote it and I absoultely did NOT want to make a contest of it. I LOVE seeing your world through your eyes (and lenses). Encouraging all lurkers and readers to click on the links and check out these reflections... great fun!!
:-)
BB

Jeanne Frances Klaver said...

Absolutely amazing! Inspiring, too. I'm going to be looking at the world a little bit differently after seeing this post.

Carla said...

Those pictures are amazing!!
The only freakishly weird reflections I've seen today are of me in the mirror. I was inspecting the lines on my aging face. My hubby walked in and said, "The lighting's not too good in here, is it?" He got a whack in the arm.

Mary @ Framed and Tagged said...

Great photos!!!...we have miniature donkeys and I have tried to get shots of their eyes but when I get close with the camera they lower their head...maybe I need to get on the ground...;)

Scott Law said...

That horse was very patient with you. Great job!!!

Okay, I'll play along. I took a photo today that works perfectly. Problem though. . . I've already got tomorrow's post scheduled and so I'll have to wait and put it on Wednesday at 12:01 AM my time which will be 6:01 PM Sydney time. Since I didn't know where in Australia you are I had to go with Sydney time.

diane said...

ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i LOVE these shots!

Jayne said...

I reckon ginger nuts the world over are salivating at the sight of those magnificent au naturale eyelashes!
Wonderful reflections, you're blessed with such a lovely natured steed such as Yvette ;)

Patrinas Pencil said...

I follow a couple of horse blogs, and they both have fun with the horse's eye. It never ceases to amaze me. Stunning!

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Unknown said...

LOVE these photos! I love taking photos of horse's eyes. I have some great ones but haven't had time to post them on my blog yet :-( i'll get to it soon. Thanks for the beautiful pics, i really want a horse!!! :-)