2 cats, 3 llamas, 1 horse, 1 donkey

...and 1 dog - but I didn't get any photos of him. Saturday I went with a group of plein air painters and photographers to an incredible estate called Chapelle de l'Artiste in Paradise. This gorgeous property rightly belongs in a place called Paradise. The event was part of Avenue 9 Gallery's annual Paint-Out. By the time we could arrive the sun was already beginning to cast harsh shadows and blowing out the backgrounds. Stubbornly, I kept using a zoom lens I know to be soft and hinky. I had other lenses with me, but with few exceptions kept to the one zoom lens. Between the lens and the sun, most of the highlights are blown out - except on the one perfect cat photo and the precious donkey who couldn't take a bad photo.