And with that, slot donations are closed! Thank you so much everyone, this is pretty incredible. Not only did you all make it possible for THREE people to win, we've already raised around $60 for Astral! I'll try to find a counter somewhere to display how much we've earned so far So from here on out we can only accept cash donations through paypal for tickets--sorry if you missed out on slot donations; they came much quicker than expected Needless to say all the donations, cash and otherwise, have really warmed everyone's hearts around here <3 So take a gander at the prizelist once more time! We've got quite a variety of mutations down there And if you'd rather have art than mutations or other horses,  =Zandromina is offering! [link]

Thank you! I love you guys.

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Okay guys, donations are fabulous, thank you all so much! I've expanded this to include 3 winners. I may do some reshuffling of prizes but ticket numbers will stay the same. Once the 3rd prize pool is filled, I will no longer be accepting slot donations. Thank you so much for the response thus far, it's fantastic!


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Yes, annual! I have been thinking quite a bit that I'd love to do some kind of kindness/charity thing with Nordanners. However, since it doesn't seem right to use the group itself for that, these will only be held on my personal account. I think I'll try to host one once or twice a year, either benefiting someone in the community or a local charity (local to me, that is). Prizes will vary. Read below for details.

The Point:

To help out someone struggling in the community OR a local charity. Please don't ask to be featured/for help via the raffle. I will choose my projects according to my own standards and rules--bothering me will not help your cause.

Current Kindness Target:

^Astralseed. Sounds all official when you call it a target, huh? Astral is one of the sweetest people I know. She works hard both in and for the community, as a leader of many groups and a community volunteer. She and her family have been struggling for a little while, and, well...when it rains, it pours. In her own words...

"We live in an area that is roughly 1 hour drive away from any public transportation so we rely on having a car.  My oldest son is Autistic and both him and me rely on getting to our doctors (20 miles from where we live) in order to continue getting our meds.  Our car has very recently taken a turn for the worse.  It currently has transmission problems as well as serious issues with either the brakes or the front axel (or potentially both).  We only have a little bit of extra money (since our income is incredibly limited) to put into either fixing the car or buying a new one.  Ideally we should find a new used car to buy since the current car is having issues with the transmission and it wouldn't be smart to pour every last penny we have into a car that will die in another 2 months anyway, completely leaving us without the ability to even put  money towards another car.  The other issue we have is that we can not afford car payments, nor full coverage insurance since we have to move this summer which will cut our income by a potential 200 a month and raise our cost of living by just as much."

They are also dealing with the issue of moving, as the house they're currently living in is being sold, and they MUST move. But how does one move without a car? And no moving money? Exactly! So that's what we're here to do: help.

Let's just speculate for a moment. Let's say I have 300 ACTIVE watchers, who read things and click on them even if they don't necessarily chitchat much. Now imagine if each of them donated $3.

3 x 300 = $900. Wow. Pretty impressive, right? Means a lot to a family just trying to get from point A to point B without a piano falling on their heads. So, interested in helping someone? Great! Only here for the prizes? That's fine too! Keep reading.

Raffle Rules

All donations go directly to ^Astralseed's PayPal, NOT mine. Her paypal is dreaming.myth@gmail.com. You must include your screen name in the memo so we know who you are.
- In order to donate, you must have paypal. Donations less than $3 do not earn you a ticket and are considered gifts.
- You must provide proof of your donation in order to receive your tickets. To do this, once the transaction is completed, take a screenshot either of the receipt sent to your e-mail or the one provided in the transaction details. See examples here: [link]
- Please make sure to block out any personal information! Your account numbers are not wanted. Seriously. Keep them. I only need to see your screen-name, the amount, and that it was sent to Astral. That's it. If you're not comfortable commenting with your screenshot, feel free to sta.sh it and note me.

Once verified, you will be given your ticket numbers and they'll be added to the journal.

This is not a 1-1 ratio of $$'s and tickets.
- $3 earns you 1 ticket. $5 earns you 2. $10 earns you 5.
- Tickets are priced this way due to the high value of the prizes. Whining doesn't earn you any tickets. Just fyi.

No cash or paypal, but want to help? Certain donations can earn you tickets! Please read this part very carefully. You've all donated so generously that we can't take it anymore! Thank you so much! You've made it possible for 2 more winners and a huge variety of amazing horses.

- No point donations are accepted. Sorry guys, but I've already checked with staff to make sure this is as legit as it can be on my end and dA has a rule about that. So, no points donations will be accepted, nor asked for.

- No art donations will earn you tickets. Sorry, but I don't want to get into trying to value people's art to tickets, and as much as you don't want to hear that your pile of chibis wouldn't be worth 200 tickets, I do not want to tell you. So. Let's just back away from that very slowly. However, if you want art for your money, =Zandromina is offering! [link]

- Donate a slot to a dominant Nordanner mutation with decent lineage (long lines and/or lineage blocked will be declined) and earn 3 tickets.

- Donate a slot to a recessive Nordanner mutation with short lines (again, long lines/lineage blocked will be declined) and earn 2 tickets.

- Donate a slot to any Nordanner starter and earn 1 ticket.

- No slots to natural Nordanners can be accepted for tickets unless they are a starter (see above). If you want to donate just to be nice, you may, but it doesn't earn you a ticket.

- No other breed slot donations will be accepted, sorry.

No more than 5 tickets may be earned per person via donations.

Slots must be able to be gifted should the winner not need them. However, the winner MUST clear the recipient of their gift through the slot owner. Always ask the horse owner first in this case as you might not know who is on their personal blacklist. Winner may NOT re-sell slots for profit.

Slot donators are allowed to request a headshot breeding picture if absolutely necessary, but nothing more than that as the point of the raffle is not to drown the poor winner in art they must do to use the given slots. Stipulations like these will be added next to each prize that requires it. All slots must be immediately usable, i.e no slots after 200 kaaring, slots to foals, etc.

End date is forthcoming. Winners will be decided by the ever powerful RNG. The first two three tickets drawn will win their respective prize pots.

A 3rd pool may be added depending on donations. Already here!

I love seeing results on the camera screen, and through the lens. Often after I've taken a photo, I can't wait to get home and see it on the computer screen too. But my pet peeve is the maths and numbers behind getting it spot on. I can't deal with that, I loathe it, and actually it takes the fun out of Photography (for me anyway!) I know that some people love the technical details, I think that's why ~TouchedD and I work so well - he does the figuring out, I do the seeking for the shot - but if you're purely a creative type with no passion for delving into technicalities then hopefully this article will be able to help you.

You will find countless articles, tips, tutorials and theories on Composition. Many will throw advice and instruction at you before you can even press the shutter on your camera. In truth though, it can be much more basic than that. Before you take a photograph, think about why you're taking the shot. I know this doesn't work everytime, because often (like me) you'll end up racing for the camera then racing to your subject and snapping away before the moment has passed. We all have those times, and it's okay to disregard everything you've learned so far. But for those times that you're concentrating hard and want visible, perfected results - think first.

Look at your portfolio and consider why you were in that certain angle, facing that certain direction or choosing to shoot from that certain vantage point. I can look at several of my own shots and have no clue, but equally, I can look at others and realise that yes - I shot from over there because the light was better. Or I stood up there because the shadows fell differently. When you can begin to justify your work like this, you will start to realise that you are thinking more about composition. And that actually, it isn't all that complicated after all.

Once the plain and simple thinking has begun, you can start to introduce the theories. Learning backwards isn't always a bad idea. You shot that leaf in a certain sector of your image frame because you were using the rule of thirds. You angled the camera just so when capturing that street scene because you were setting up an invisible grid.

The things that our eyes see, and the things that are lens captures - are completely different. Until we learn that, we often will strive for something that is actually unachievable. You'll do it right here on deviantART - amazing colours, amazing setups..things you've never seen before with the naked eye, will astound and amaze you. Actually those things were never created with a single shot. Photo-editing has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. So it works both ways, our lens can capture something and in turn we can manipulate it into something that was never seen. Just like we can see things our lens will never capture. Learning that there is a distinct difference between the two is simple. But astounding. Don't forget that whilst we can see in 3D - our cameras, for the most part, capture in 2D.

^{A Collection of -}