enjoying photography – Page 13

Posted on February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 11 Comments

Anxiety: Finalist in the INFOCUS competition

I was on overwhelm. I had bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D3100 in late 2012. Digital photography was slightly out of my technical expertise. Like what was ISO? Nikon wrote a pretty good manual, but assumed that the reader understood the terminology.

So, I looked for help, and I went to visit my friend Sandy, in Sonora, who’d been shooting for years. We had a great couple of days. Mostly, she showed me how to relax with the camera and gave me composition tips.

Since then, my expertise level has increased, mostly because of doing the 365 (taking a picture each day of the year) and joining the Sierra Camera Club in Sacramento which offers juried competitions twice a month. I’m not there to win; I’m there to learn. But, I always wondered if I should enter into a more broad type of competition.

I watched Sandy winning or placing at small county fair compeitions and asked her to let me know about one when it came along. The California State Fair, right here in Sacramento, seemed daunting to me. Could I really compete with the wonderful photographers in this region?

Sandy did let me know of the INFOCUS Photography Competition & Exhibition in Columbia, California. I knew if I didn’t enter this one, I would never enter one. I submitted five photos and two made it into the finals. So why am I anxiety ridden? It’s the printing, matting and framing that has me in a tizzy. The wonderful owner at Image Pros Photo, in Orangevale, helped me understand that I couldn’t make the images larger. I would lose some of the picture. Since these were macro and closeup photos, I kept them small. She also worked with me on the lighting in the picture.

So, here I am, ready to frame and bring the pictures down to Columbia for judging and exhibition on March 9. Still on overwhelm!

Here are my entries that made it into the finals. Wish me luck!

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

It’s raining, it’s pouring: Antique Trove, part 2

Yes, it’s still raining here in sunny California. In fact, we are getting atmospheric storms. A woman in Toastmasters this morning told us that her neighbor’s tree ended up in her pool! They are preparing for floods in certain areas that usually flood in rains like this. Discovery Park, a nice picnic area on the American River has been closed off. Many years in the past, those tables were under water!

Today, I was able to walk my dog, Gem, on his usual 2-mile trek. But, as I write this, the rain is coming down.

So, back to the Antique Trove in Roseville. I always bring money in with me when I shoot inside because I mignt find something I can’t live without. It’s also nice to buy something as a way of saying thanks for letting a photography group invade the store. Here are the last of the images I took.

Baby owls in metal.
Momma owl.
Thirsty birds.
A flower cart.
Wheel.
Flying.
Camera with a special flash.
Bulbs!
Nice still life.
Baby doll in old stroller.
Low angle.
Motherly love.
I should have posted this yesterday!
Old record player.

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

This and that: Sacramento Zoo, sunset and roses

December is almost gone and I haven’t posted! But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been shooting. On Dec 1st., Laura, Marlene and I went to Kauai, Hawaii for a week. This was my first dedicated photography vacation. I’ll tell you all about it when I finish editing the images.

I had a cold before I left and have been busy since I’ve been back. So, this post is a catch up on an outing to the zoo, a West Sacramento sunset and my very own rose garden.

I wanted to visit the Sacramento Zoo to see Coconut the new snow leopard cub and the new meerkats. I was fortunate to see Coconut out with his mom, Misha. Dad, Blizzard was out on his own for a while. Coconut is a bit mischevious as are all kids, and mom takes it in stride.

The meerkats are much smaller than I expected. After all, I had only seen them in the Lion King! Also, they were behind glass which made it more difficult to photograph them.

I also went by the Red Panda enclosure, hoping to catch one of them awake and moving around. Well, one had an eye open!

From daytime to an evening sunset at the Deep Water Channel in West Sacramento. We were lucky enough to catch a decent sunset without going too far. The roses?? I have a small rose garden in my yard, and they were beautiful one morning.

Have a look!

A meerkat resting.

Standing up.

Looking in another direction.

Coconut playing.

Coconut posing.

Misha and Coconut.

Pretty Misha.

Blizzard.

A Wolf Guenon.

Baby Wolf Guenon feeding.

The pelicans–one of my favorites.

Sunset.

My rose garden.

Somehow the pink roses were pretty that morning.

Posted on November 25, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Completing a life cycle: The Nimbus Fish Hatchery, Gold River

I’m still amazed by my recent visit to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. Salmon work hard to complete their journey and spawn. The hatchery plays an important role in insuring the salmon life cycle.

Here’s what Wikipedia says: From November through March river water flows down the fish ladder to encourage fish to enter and climb the steps to the hatchery. The gate at the foot of the ladder is closed when the holding pool at the top is full in order to prevent overcrowding. Ripe (ready to spawn) fish are brought from this holding pool into the hatchery spawning deck, where workers collect eggs from the females and milt from the males. Fertilized eggs are placed in hatching jars, with river water upwelling from the bottom to simulate natural conditions. When the eggs are ready to hatch the jars are tipped into large tubs where the baby fish (alevin) will remain while they absorb their yolk sacs and become free-swimming. They are then moved outside to raceway pools where they are feed multiple times a day and grow rapidly. Once the fish are ready to begin their outmigration to the ocean, at 60 fish to the pound for salmon and 4 fish to the pound for steelhead trout, they are loaded into tanker trucks and transported to the river for release. From here they make their way downstream and eventually journey out to sea.^[7]

The salmon work hard, jumping to get out of the holding tank. Taking their picture was also difficult. At first I tried to follow a possible jumper. That didn’t work. Then I tried zone focusing, which worked better. I was shooting at a shutter speed of 1/160, but still some of the fish were not in focus. My other problem was a slow reaction time. Sometimes I didn’t push the shutter down fast enough. They jump so fast, water splashing all over the place, and some jumping around the one I had in sight. I did get enough though.

My lesson for the day: patience. I just stood there, camera aimed and waited. I know, that’s not me, but I did it!

At certain intervals, the salmon are pushed into the building where their eggs are collected. I was about to shoot the last fish being gutted when a worker stepped in front of my camera. All I have is a shot of them cleaning the table.

We were fortunate enough to have a Ranger show us a female that still had some eggs in her.

So, take a look at my adventure.

The ladder.

They test out the wall.

And, then jump.

Another jumper.

It looks like this one got just above the water.

They are being pushed into the building.

Once inside, their eggs will be harvested.

They try to get back to the other side.

Workers clean up the table.

Inside the visitors’ center.

A female salmon.

Her eggs.

The American River at the Hatchery.

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

Hey, you said this trail was flat! Auburn Quarry Trail, Auburn, California

He really didn’t lie; but when my dear photo buddy Richard promised us a flat trail with one or two hills, he under exaggerated. You see, Richard is an experienced hiker. We are not! The hills were a huge mountain for us. Now, am I exaggerating?

I do like to complain and Richard gives it right back. We, in our little Camera Totin’ Tuesday group, have a lot of fun. Through all the griping (I wasn’t the only one!), we had fun. After all, it’s the interaction of the group that makes a photo outing great.

We followed the Auburn Quarry Trail, part of the California State Park system, along the American River, and when we reached the top (as far as we were going to go), we were fortunate to come upon a few mountain climbers practicing. The sun was powerful that day in Auburn, so I had to deal with exposure issues. I shot mostly handheld HDR, but wasn’t satisfied with the results. So I basically edited one of the three shots in Lightroom. In the end, I was satisfied. Take a look. No captions needed.

Posted on November 4, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 3 Comments

So what have you been doing? Wrapping up October

My October was busy with routine stuff and photo outings. However, these outings didn’t produce a super amount of images, well any that I would post here! But practice is great and I’m still learning. So I’m just going to separate them into outings.

Folsom Lake, late afternoon shoot. This outing was with our local camera store, Action Camera. They are great and are always willing to help.

The shoreline was rocky and expressive.

The clouds were beautiful.

Tire and bird tracks in the sand.

Rocky terrain.

Davis Ranch: This was with my All About Photography Group. We went out to Davis Ranch, in Sloughhouse, where all sorts of produce is sold. They are known for their delicious corn. At this time of the year, they also have a corn maze, a pick your own strawberry patch and more. And, of course, pumpkins!

I think this is a corn stalk.

I liked this pumpkin!

Small gourds. Imagine this as a puzzle!

Jensen Botanical Gardens: Marlene and I visited this garden in Carmichael. It would be beautiful in the Spring, but during the Fall, not much was blooming. It was a great exercise in shooting what was there!

This butterfly posed.

I didn’t have my macro lens with me.

But my walk around did well.

I love shooting flowers.

Carnival Pictures: My Camera Totin’ Tuesdays group took the day off and did a night shoot at the Citrus Heights Sunrise Mall’s small carnival. This was a great way to practice slow shutter speed and zooming. I was amazed to see everyone’s pictures and what they concentrated on. Some didn’t zoom, some did street photography. But I enjoyed zooming. I also brought along my neighbor and friend, gave her my D3100 and showed her how to do slow shutter and zoom. She was amazing, especially since I didn’t give her too much direction! You’ll have to guess what some of these were because I don’t remember. But I did have fun!

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Anne Sandler

Finishing up: Maple Rock Gardens, part 2

Finishing up is not exactly correct since there is so much to see at Maple Rock Gardens in Newcastle. But, I’ll focus this post on the small touches and sculptures. If you missed the first post on this fantastic place, here’s a summary.

The garden is a private residence associated with High Hand Nursery in Loomis. When you visit, you’ll walk from one themed garden into another. It also has acreage that supplies flowers to the nursery. It’s only open to the public twice a year and is available as an event venue for special occasion parties, like weddings, the rest of the time.

Look back at my last post to view the grounds, and now for the rest!

There were quite a few of these metal sculptures.

Taking a siesta in the garden.

An artist at work.

Another metal sculpture looks like a dinosaur egg hatching!

Now for the bird houses.

House for rent!

Occupied!

Gribit!

Napping in the garden.

A small ceramic home.

Let’s talk. This was my favorite.

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 7 Comments

Only twice a year: Maple Rock Gardens, Newcastle

It’s some place you’d like to visit often, but this home and popular event venue is only open to the public twice a year. Other times, you need to be at a wedding or some other event to see the beautiful gardens. I’ll admit that at the end of summer, the flowers aren’t blooming and the lavender fields are hiding, but the property is beautiful just the same.

Maple Rock Gardens is a private estate, in Newcastle, and is affiliated with High Hand Nursery in Loomis. Its 30-acres is host to one of the largest garden railroads in Northern California. There are themed gardens, like a Japanese Tea Garden, and a 4-acre farm that supplies flowers to the High Hand Nursery. We spent almost 2 hours walking from one garden into another.

Each garden was decorated with sculptures, plants, small water falls and more. The easiest way to describe it is to show you. I did take a lot of pictures, so this will be a two-part post. Oh, you’ll also notice that I am now using a logo rather than a copyright symbol. Since I’ve made a little money with my photography, doing some real estate shoots, I decided to be more professional.

So, come along with me and visit Maple Rock Gardens.

They were selling sunflowers.

An arrangement.

Fixing a train.

One of the trains.

Carrying special cargo.

The land is on a hillside with meandering paths.

One of the water falls. There is so much stuff at each area, it was sometimes difficult to shoot one area. I had to crop in close for this.

Each path was beautifully landscaped.

A peak inside the home.

Another path.

There were many places to sit and rest.

Overlooking the valley and parking area.

One of the waterfall areas.

A place to sit and look at the valley below.

One of the many bird baths.

Part of the tea garden.

An interesting fountain.

Posted on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

Wild but gentle: Searching for wild horses

You know, one person photographs something, then everyone is after the same thing. And, of course, I’m no different. A few photographers recently went on a tour to photograph wild horses in Nevada. Their photos were great and spurred Me, Laura and Marlene on to find a herd.

We did, just outside Reno, Nevada. The other photographers found their group near Minden, Nevada. Laura knew of a herd near Reno and had their approximate position. When we got there, civilization had encroached on their territory, but they were still there. We drove through a housing complex, found the gate, drove beyond the gate and there they were! That easy!!

I couldn’t believe how used to people these Mustangs were. One came up to me straight on. I had to tell him I didn’t have anything for them. I did see someone feed them some carrots before he left the area.

It was amazing. These horses live just outside a residential area with a small stream as their water supply. They were grazing on whatever they could find on the ground. At one point, I saw a bunch galloping down the hillside. I yelled galloping and ran to the spot. Laura turned around and got some excellent shots. Mine are not so good, just a little soft, but I’ll show you one anyway. I was having a difficult time handholding the heavy F/4 300mm lens. Next time I’ll bring a monopod like Marlene did!

I want to find more wild herds. And, maybe my post will spur other photographers on to find herds to photograph.

I mostly used my 18 -140 mm lens since we were able to get so close.

Do horses wag their tails?

Beautiful profile.

Shall we dance?

They just quenched their thirst.

Here’s looking at you!

Walking from the stream.

I watched this horse lay down and….

Then he rolled in the grass!

Eating some greens near the stream.

Standing tall.

The galloping horses.

More of the herd coming down the hill.

In the water.

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 6 Comments

Never forget: 9/11 Flag Tribute, West Sacramento

Growing up, I heard those words, “Never Forget,” but they were talking about the Holocaust where 8 million Jews were slaughtered. We are still remembering today as most of our survivors are dying.

Now in the United States, we have another reason to “Never Forget.” On September 11, 2001 we were attacked by terrorists using commercial airplanes as weapons. I remember listening to my radio as I drove to a networking meeting that morning; It was unreal. During the meeting, we were all stunned. Later, millions watched videos on TV as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down. Another plane would crash into the western side of the Pentagon. Then came the word about the brave souls of Flight 93, crashing their plane in a Pennyslvania field before it could hit another building.

On September 11, 2018, my photo buddies and I, went to the West Sacramento Memorial Flag Tribute. This is put up each year to pay tribute to the lives lost through the attacks and the first-responders who tried to find survivors. We went specifically to capture the scene during the golden hour, and it didn’t disappoint. The sun lighting up the flags made the memorial more significant. The tribute was set up beautifully.

I remember that day in 2001, and the days after, when the world mourned with the U.S. and patriotism rose. We came together as a nation. No, we will Never Forget.