Anne Sandler

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Dial “M” for manual, mossy trees and mustard: Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is the place to go to find mossy trees and mustard plants, and shoot on manual. It’s actually where I had a significant breakthrough on shooting manual. I think I have a smidge more to learn, but I’m mostly there.

Known for its wineries and beauty, Napa Valley was the target for our Exploring Photography Meetup group a couple of weeks ago. We met for lunch and then went off in search for mossy trees and mustard. We had four in our car, and without written directions, we were relying on memory to follow the verbal directions given us. Of course that didn’t work, so we just followed our noses!

Before lunch, we did stop at Turnbull Winery to look at their Ansel Adams exhibit. We took the time to shoot what we could of the winery.

After lunch, we found mustard (a yellow wildflower that seems to grow well under the barren grape vines) accidently while driving to where we thought we remembered the mossy trees to be. It was a small and accessible field–a great find.

Luck followed us to the mossy trees also. These trees had lichen hanging from the barren branches, giving the trees an eerie look. We saw the trees but then went up to the Chappellet Winery and was quickly dismissed back down the road! We did stop to shoot the trees.

Now on to the mossy trees and mustard, both shot in manual!

The window in the tasting and gallery room.

The Ansel Adams exhibit. Loren Yip, a photographer in our carpool, soaks it all in.

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Wandering: Grass Valley and Nevada City, California

I’m on the move this year, shooting whenever and wherever I can. So, when photo buddy Greg Morris offered to take me up to the foothills and visit the sister cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City, I couldn’t refuse. I had been there and toured the Empire Mine State Park, but when you go with someone who knows the area, it’s a whole new experience.

As a former resident, Greg knows all the stores, buildings, neat homes and the area’s history. Greg shoots mainly on a tripod and takes a good deal of HDR shots. And the results are amazing. I’m going to have to ask him to give me a lesson in Photomatix.

It was fun listening to his stories. I hope you enjoy the images.

The main street in Grass Valley is colorful and quaint.

I loved the design and colors of this building above the stores.

The Nevada City Winery at The Miner’s Foundry Cultural Center.

I think this was called a stamping machine.

The chandeliers that light up the Great Room.

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Free museum day, part 3: The Museum of Medical History

Be happy–that you are able to get the medical care we have today. Of the three museums we visited, this was the scariest. When you look at what the doctors of years gone by had to work with, thankfulness and fear comes to the surface. The progress we have made is amazing.

Photographing some of the old tools was difficult because of the small quarters, glare and glass cases. Again, I shot tight. As you look at some of the images, be thankful!

This is an iron lung used when a patient had polio.

This was an instrument for medical research only!

This was a diathermy machine, 1920, that electrically produced heat.

Who remembers asprin packaged like this?

Early baby bottles and a picture of the Gerber baby.

A blood transfusion kit. They would transfer blood directly from one person to another.

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Sacramento Museum Day part 2: The California Automobile Museum

Muscle cars, race cars, classic cars. You can find them all at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento. And we found them all, including lots of people. You sort of expect that when it’s free museum day. We were’nt allowed to bring in our tripods because of the crowded condition, so we made the best of it.

I decided to shoot parts of the cars rather than the entire vehicle. A surprise was the small cafe made to look like the interior of a 50s ice cream parlor. That was fun to shoot. I also met a nice couple who were curious as to why I was shooting the top of a table. I wonder what they were thinking until I explained that I was shooting the reflection of the neon sign.

I was also surprised to learn that this museum changes exhibits quarterly. Marlene and I are going back to shoot the next exhibit. You’ll see what it is next month.

Meanwhile enjoy the best of the classic, antique and muscle cars.

The neon reflection in the shinny chrome table.

A horn. I guess the passenger had to honk it.

I had an old Buick with bullets like these.

A Studebaker grill. Look at the reflection!

A classic T-Bird. Do you remember the porthole windows?

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Anne Sandler

A wet weekend, what’s a photographer to do? Free museum day: The Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park

You make plans and then need to change them. But, this was a welcome change. It’s raining here in dry California. Although this is a warm storm and will do nothing to help the snow pack, it will help put some water back into the lakes and rivers.

We, photo buddy Marlene and I, had planned on visiting museums for about 2 hours on Saturday, but changed it to a day of shooting when we knew we couldn’t go to Crockett on Sunday. The three we visited were the Leland Stanford Mansion State Park, the California Automobile Museum and the Museum of Medical History.

It was a full day of walking, bending and kneeling. Great exercise! In today’s post I’ll show you images from the Stanford Mansion. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow us to shoot inside the mansion. It was beautiful, with some of the restored, original furniture like a side board that looked like a locomotive. Leland Stanford was President of the Central Pacific Railroad of California.

Build in 1857, the Stanfords purchased the home in 1861. Over the years the home grew from its original 4,000 sq ft to 19,000 sq ft. After their son’s death 1884, Lealand and Jane endowed the Leland Stanford, Jr. University in 1885. Today that college is a part of the University of California system. It was amazing to go back in time, yet be surrounded by today. The home is tucked in the midst of office buildings.

Enjoy the outside of the Stanford Mansion.

The stairs leading up to the front door were beautiful.

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Anne Sandler

A photo a day: still at it!

Okay, I’m a type A wanna be type B. I took on this 365 challenge and I’m still at it. What do you mean it’s only been a little over a month! It sounds longer at 36 days. And, I’m still shooting on manual.

This is helping me understand the exposure triangle relationship and how to make the image come out the way I want it to. Of course some are shot with my point and shoot, some are of the dog and more will probably be, some are of the grandkids and some are taken on walks.

This challenge has also helped me develop a more keen eye as I look for things to shoot everywhere. I always have my point and shoot with me. Here are some of the less mundane images I’ve captured so far. A few have been on meetups, but most are from everyday life.

This was shot during a Meetup. I think I posted a different version on a blog.

I took this today while walking the dog. I processed it as a single photo in an HDR program and then in Lightroom.

I took this when the younger grandkids were playing with bubbles.

Later I thought I’d crop it in more to see whether the bee was in sharp focus.

During this walk, the bees were active. I posted this image.

This was a try at an abstract using water, oil and food coloring.

When you’re getting your tires worked on, what do you do? I took a photo!

This one was from a visit to the Sacramento Historical Cemetery. It was a subject of one of my blogs.

This was one of my first attempts to stage a shot.

You may remember this one that was from a photo outing.

I was practicing at a creek one afternoon.

I posted this one also from The Aerospace Museum.

My only other try at staging a photo. I was trying to emphasize the color green.

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Graveyard photography: Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California

Walking through a graveyard may not be the ideal place to shoot photos, but the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is rich with history, unusual grave stones and beautiful flowers. My photo pal, Marlene, and I went there last week and spent some time walking, reading and taking pictures.

It’s not unusual to see photographers out there. I was disappointed that many of the flowers weren’t blooming, but it’s not that time of the year. This just gives me another reason to go back in the spring.

What impressed me was the way they inscribed the tombstones in the 1800s and the type of loss. One family lost two sons at the same age. Having lost a son myself, I could feel their grief more than 100 years later. I found large monuments and small, simple stones.

I’ll go back in the spring and walk the graveyard again. Maybe I’ll go on one of the cemetery tours that take us back into the history of Sacramento. Meanwhile here are my images from this outing.

I thought the poem on this stone was beautiful. I’m wondering if the deceased wrote it, knowing he was dying.

I liked this because of the style of the stone.

I was practicing HDR with this masoleume.

I liked the way these trees formed an entrance to the cluster of graves.

This is the headstone where two sons were lost when they were the same age. Tragic.

The statues on the stones were especially beautiful.

I liked how ornate this stone was. The sculpting on it is beautiful.

Here’s another statue. The sun is hitting it perfectly.

Thi stone is almost cracked into two pieces. I’m wondering if they will fix it.

Another masoleume. You can see right through the doors. It needs some roof repair. Looks like rust to me. Also an HDR shot.

In the summer when these trees are green, it must be beautiful.

Another simple, small stone. No name, no dates. This makes me wonder about its history.

Again, just a first name and no dates. It looks more modern.

A fountain, place to sit and shade under the orange trees.

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Photography is just ducky: The Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, San Rafael California, Part 2

The drought is now severe in California. Less water in areas means less wildlife. It is dismal here right now. Fortunately, we live in an urban area, and, although we are on water restrictions, we have water. As I said in part one of this post, there were few large birds to be seen during our outing.

But that didn’t stop us from trying to find them. On our way home, we stopped at a wildlife view area off the freeway. Again, no birds, but nice scenery. And, we were able to help a family stranded after they locked their keys in their car. There was a reason for us to pull off the highway.

Then we stopped at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area which is just about 25 minutes from my home. We did catch some wildlife there. I think my bird shooting is over for this year. I might go back to Yolo, but I won’t make the 90 mile one way trips again. We are still hopeful for rain, but we’re mostly getting overcast skies and fog.

Here are the images from our stops along the way home.

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Photography is just ducky: The Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, San Rafael California

Photography may be ducky, but most of the wildlife at the Las Gallinas Ponds were ducks! And to go that far, about 90 miles each way, to find mostly ducks wasn’t ducky! At least we found sun, and other things to shoot.

The ponds are next to a water treatment plant, so I was hoping for more wildlife than we saw. I looked at images posted by photographers who went there the day before, and it looked like there were more large birds. I’m thinking it may be the time of day also. We left Sacramento at 8 a.m. and got to the ponds about 10 a.m. But, we walked the trail, met other people and found good stuff to shoot.

I had difficulty shooting the larger birds (mostly gulls) in the air because I’m having a difficult time holding my 300 mm lens still. This is something new for me. I guess it’s back to the gym. I need more upper body strength.

So here are some images. Don’t worry, I won’t burden you with a whole lot of ducks! This will be a two-part post.

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Anne Sandler

When Mother Nature makes shooting tough: Gray Lodge and Sacramento National Refuge Wildlife areas, part 2

In addition to Mother Nature, sometimes WordPress makes things tough. I think some of you may have received all the images for both parts of this post and some I didn’t intend to post. I truly don’t know how that happened. However, I don’t know that all of you did. So I’m going to do the last part of this blog post anyway.

We are still fogged in during the morning and early afternoons here in Sacramento, and photographing is still difficult. Difficult unless you want to shoot foggy images. But, we’re trying to shoot wildlife!

And, here’s some more (or once again) some wildlife!

Slow Shutter Speed

Author: Anne Sandler