I belong to a couple of special groups on Facebook, one of which is a group that features photos of all things Iowa. On Monday I noticed a post asking if anyone was interesting in joining a group for women to meet occasionally on photo shoots and to also provide ‘photo partners’ since, let’s face it, going it alone to pursue the hunt for great photo ops can be a little scary and even dangerous depending on where you want to venture out, whether it’s in the woods, or downtown or traveling the back roads and stopping wherever inspiration calls your name.

So I was thrilled to meet up with a small group of women last night for our first photo shoot. We met at the state capitol grounds which looks westward toward downtown Des Moines. The camaraderie was great and it was such fun to meet other like-minded women for whom photography is so much a grand passion.

Here’s one of the better outtakes from my attempt at a little night photography – still so much yet to learn, no doubt about it. I’m really looking forward to future endeavors whether with the whole gang or even with one or two new ‘photo partners’ the next time hubby wants to hit the driving range and I want to prowl for opportunities to spark my imagination!

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Iowa is, and has been, a crazy place the last several weeks leading up to tomorrow’s first in the nation caucuses for both the Democrats and the Republicans. We’ve been inundated with speeches, mailings, letters to the editor, phone calls, news conferences, sound bites and kissing babies, hyperbole and promises, TV commercials and, of course, candidates, candidates, CANDIDATES. Tomorrow night, we caucus.

For giggles, my husband and I walked around our state capitol grounds and then descended on downtown Des Moines to take in all the political sights and sounds. We take our politics seriously here although for many of us – whether Democrat, Republican or Independent – we are just ready for it to all be over!

Here are a few shots I snapped this afternoon.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a Trump supporter. I only took the photo of the sign as it was part of the whole caucus ‘circus’ environment. And what’s a circus without a few clowns? 🙂