enjoying photography – Page 35

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Starry, starry night: An astronomy star party, Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California

Dry brittle low lying ground cover with lots of fox tails and some wildflowers welcomed us to our campground at Lake San Antonio this past weekend. Some of it was due to the fact that we were in the overflow area where there were few trees, but the drought has also taken its toll.

But the wildlife activity was normal with many chipmunks and rabbits running the campground. They left small to large sized holes that Gem liked to stick his mussel into and I kept pulling him back. But we were there for the stars and there were plenty of them.

This was my first attempt at shooting star trails. So armed with my printed out tutorials, I set up my tripod and camera and did my best. Thank goodness for Lightroom! No matter what I did, my images turned out with a light tan background. Each night I used a different lens and kept the aperture open. I did 30 minute exposures because I didn’t have stacking software.

I brought my challenge to my Toastmasters Photo Club meeting, it was suggested that I needed to close down the aperture because I was letting in too much light. Well, I’ll try that the next time we go up to the observatory at Blue Canyon. It needs to get a little warmer for my body! In the meantime, I’ll show you what I did get.

I was also shooting during the day, catching some of the wildflowers and fox tails, and I’ll show you those images in my next post. On to my starry nights.

Star trails the first night. Shot: 18 mm, F 3.5, ISO 500, 30 min exposure.

Starry sky. F/3.5, 18 mm, 78 second exposure, ISO 1000.

Shot the second night. F/4.7, 16 mm, 13 minute exposure, ISO 800

Again on the second night. F/5, 13 mm, 56 minute exposure (I forgot to set the timer!) ISO 200.

The last night. Shot with my prime 50 mm. F/2.8, ISO 100. I decided this was not the lens to use so I switched back to my 18-55 mm.

Last shot. I moved the set up away from the North Star and ended up capturing the lights from astronomers who were imaging. The lights are coming from their computers. F/3.6, 18 mm, 30 minute exposure, ISO 100.

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 1 Comment

Shoot ’em cowboy: The Arrgo Cantua shoot at Sloughhouse, California

I’m not a lover of guns. In fact, they scare me. But I did have fun at the Single Action Shooting Society’s contest at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center in Sloughhouse.

We went there to see what our family members, Richard and Sandy, spend their time with and travel the western states for. In this shoot, everyone dressed as cowboys and cowgirls. Yes, women shoot too. The buildings were facades with targets behind them. The club members are scored on their accuracy and time which is converted into their score. Each member rotates from one building facade to another, completing the circuit during the two-day activity.

While they are waiting for their turn, members tend to their rifles and pistols, cleaning them. They also make their own bullets. And, they visit, talking with each other. It’s truly a fun time. And, it’s not just for adults. There were two 10 year old boys shooting.

So, while I’m not a lover of guns, I can appreciate the skill involved in shooting, the passion of its members and the safety this club provides. There are a lot of images in this post, but I hope you’ll look at each one to understand the fun of this activity.

The town. Members shoot through the facade windows.

The targets that are behind the facades.

Before each shoot, members are briefed on the rules.

These carts hold members’ guns, bullets, etc.

Everyone is in cowboy garb. Here, a member shoots as an official looks on.

The cowboy image is down to the boots. Richard’s boots have spurs.

Here he caught me taking a candid shot and posed for me. Extra bullets are worn around the waist.

The final product is carried in holders like this one.

This 10 year old is proud of his clean and fast record.

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Chasing windmills: Montezuma Hills, California

Have you ever chased windmills, you know the big white ones? Photo buddy Linda and I went out the day before a scheduled Meetup to catch the scenery, windmills, moonrise (which I didn’t get a good shot of) and sunset. Tall order for tall windmills!

We got to the area an hour later than the Meetup group was scheduled for the next day. Well, an admission, we didn’t get to the appointed area until we saw it on the way home. Typically when we meet with the Exploring Photography group, we enjoy a meal together and our organizer gives us directions and tips on where we should go to shoot. Not having these directions, we sort of got lost, but had a great time.

We stayed mostly on Montezuma Hills Road, stopping whenever we could after seeing something worth shooting. The area is farm country with windmills sitting in the pasture land. It’s not unusual to see windmills among the cows and farms.

I can’t say that the images I’m going to show you are my best, but they were the best I could do without an ND filter system. I wanted to get those giant windmills in slow shudder, but the sun was too bright. And by the time we got back from dinner, we almost missed the sunset. By the time we were on our way home, we were tired and thoroughly enjoyed chasing the windmills.

Sheep graze at this farm that is the object of the next six images.

Getting closer, you can see more detail.

Across the driveway are the silos, barn and old tractor.

A closer look. The only thing I could do was to stop action.

Someone tell this cow it’s time to go home!

The sun is behind the horizon. I can now get some slow movement in the windmills.

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Going to the dogs: Visiting a practice dog show, Citrus Heights, California

I wish I had more time, but I could only stay about an hour. That’s hardly enough time to experience my first dog show. My friend Laura was showing her great dane puppy, Laura is a professional breeder of danes, Dane Affaire, and also shows them. Cayanne, for the first time. It was a practice show for both the dogs and youth handlers.

Cayanne was my draw. What a beautiful dog, and she’s so sweet. But the other dogs were photogenic too. I learned a little about how a dog show is run and a little about shooting dogs.

Again, I wish I had more time. I could have shown you more of this event.

This dog won first place in the Diva division.

The youth line up their dogs. Laura says the handlers are judged, not the dogs in this division.

The young handler brings her dog around.

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Shooting with an old friend: Ironstone Winery, the grounds

My old friend in this case is my 18 – 55 mm lens. It is my utility lens. Every time I promise myself to shoot with the prime 50 for the day, I usually pick up the 18 – 55. It is so nice that I rarely use my ultra wide lens when I have to carry the gear all day. I can do landscape and close up with this lens.

During our Ironstone Winery visit, I used my D7100 and the macro and 18 – 55 lenses. I will say that I look impressive with my sling (that sometimes carries two cameras) and vest. I’m pushing to live up to the image! In this post, you will see the grounds where they hold life cycle events and underground wine storage facility they call the cavern.

So here’s to my old friend, my 18 – 55! And here are the images.

This old truck and cart greet you as you come in from the parking lot.

This will give you a better view of the cavern.

A close up view of the wine barrels in the cavern.

Sculptured grounds with the lake behind it.

They hold wedings, and more here at lakeside.

This old music player was placed before a mirror and made a nice reflection.

The banquet hall where they hold concerts, dinners, and cooking classes. There is a pipe organ in the auditorium side of the big room.

You know how I love expressive trees. This one just adds to the beauty.

At the end of the day, we decided to stop at Lake Natoma to catch the sunset.

Posted on April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Getting to know you: Practicing with the macro at Ironstone Winery, Murphys California

They say that “Practice makes perfect.” Well, in this case, practice made good! The practice was with the macro at the Ironstone Winery in Murphys. The grounds were full of tulips. daffodils and other flowers I can’t name. They were mostly in wine barrels so they could be changed out at will. My macro and I had a great time.

They also had a lake, beautiful landscaping and an amphitheater that was being remodeled. I came home with so many images, it took quite a while to go through them and edit. In this post, I’ll show you my macro work–since I’m bragging. Hey getting to good is better than where I was! I’m not captioning these images since I can only ID the tulips and daffodils.

In my next post, I’ll show you the grounds not shot with the macro.

If I keep practicing, I just may get to perfect!

Posted on March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 1 Comment

Dem bones: back to the Sacramento Historical City Cemetery

Is it wierd to keep going back to a cemetery just to shoot photos? This cemetery draws me back, and back. It’s large enough that your get shoot it all in one visit, and, for me, I seem to focus on different things all the time. This time it was the statues. They are beautiful, and are non-existent in today’s graveyards. They express the sadness of loss and hope for an afterlife.

This time I also found some masoleums worth shooting, some small grave stones and flowers. History is in this cemetery, so I guess I’ll keep going back until I’ve shot it all!

This statue got to me. You can sence the sadness. There is another similar one in this gallery.

Another one where you would suspect that a child was lost.

Here they are showing the loss of a loved one holding his pet.

This one made to look like a tree stump belongs to a woodsman.

Here’s the other statue that is similar to the first.

The grounds are just beginning to bloom.

Here’s the burial plot of a family. The large head stone belongs to the Patriarch .

The flowers make the grave stones beautiful.

Parents are buried here. The father has the larger stone. Would we do that today?

Here a family lost two sons. I’m hoping you can read the inscriptions on each.

Sometimes what is written says more than the stone’s design.

A different type of masoleum with a Spanish look.

This is the masoleum for the Mark Hopkins family.

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Combining passions: Return to Midtown Sacramento

My combining passions has nothing to do with returning to Midtown, but everything to do with my love for photography and Toastmasters. I’m currently much better at the latter (being a DTM), and gaining skills daily on the former! I took the bold step of starting a photography club within Toastmasters about six months ago.

That was a big step because of the time dedication it needs. We now have nine members and hope to get to 10 soon. We call ourselves, “All About Photography,” and follow the Toastmaster format. Since we are an advanced club, you have to be in a basic club to join. It has been fun for me and the other members as we learn from each other. Our skill set ranges from beginner to professional. I’ll tell you more about the club and show you some of the members’ images too in a future post; but, now–back to Midtown.

Our guide, Greg Morris, loves this area and will take us down alleys, along the railroad tracks and some places that I wouldn’t go if we weren’t together. I’ve shown you some of the murals painted on walls and garage doors in a prior post and I want to show you some more.

So, here’s at least an example of one passion!

This mural was along side a cloting store specializing in gently used articles.

Part of the mural was painted onto the concrete parking lot.

From the same mural. I don’t know why their heads were in animal’s mouths!

There are many old victorians in Sacramento. This is one of them.

Another victorian. When they are well kept they are beautiful.

This is Sandra Dee’s, a soul food restaurant. You can see the mural painted down the brick wall of the eatery.

I loved the mural and shot some single images.

I’m thinking they may be of musicians who played there.

Whoever painted these did an amazing job.

I need to go back there an taste the soul food. I hear it’s good, but greasy.

This small mural in in their parking lot.

Greg befriended a homeless man named Timothy.

Timothy was carrying a book he was reading and told Greg all about it.

From what I heard, they got on other topics too.

I liked the fencing on this home. Someone told me it was a harlequin pattern.

This is a view of an apartment building in an alley.

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Operating on slow shutter speed: Sunrise Mall, Citrus Heights and Old Roseville

Slow Shutter Speed, that’s the name of this blog. Why? When I began this passion, I was overwhelmed with all of it. I had a feeling that this was going to be a long journey and thought that name was fitting. Of course now, it has another meaning for me: using slow shutter speed to blur objects, create abstracts and to shoot at night.

I love shooting lights at night, playing with the zoom and blurring the motion of whatever I’m shooting. So, when I heard there was a small carnival at a local mall, I took my camera and tripod down there. I had a blast, especially when people stopped and asked me whether I was from a newspaper or magazine! I’m not ready for that, but it was nice to be asked that question.

Then, a couple of nights later, I went to Old Roseville to shoot the two theaters on Vernon Street. Again, I wanted to capture the marquee and play with the zoom effect.

I’m still learning on “slow shudder speed,” but I feel like I’m not taking snapshots any longer.

The carousel at slow shudder speed. You can still see the horses and the mechanism that runs the carousel.

Same carousel but an even slower shudder speed. Where did the horses go?

A zoom on a slow shudder speed creates an abstract.

This looks like a giant top when shot at slow shudder.

This ferris wheel had lights out in one section. You can see the effect.

Slow the shudder speed down more and you get this.

Even slower and the entire wheel is covered in lights.

Here the lights look even more uniform–slower shudder speed.

I needed to use slow shudder speed to get this night shot crisp.

Here’s what happened when I played with the zoom.

Posted on March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Back to the 18 – 55: Sutter Creek, California

Old, quaint, touristy, and surviving are just some words to describe Sutter Creek in the California gold country and Amador County wine area. I say surviving because you used to have to go through the town as you drove highway 49. Now there’s a bypass so drivers don’t get bogged down in the town’s traffic.

From the town’s website: A wonderful balance of old and new, today’s Sutter Creek maintains its Gold Rush facade while catering to the wants and needs of visitors from around the world.Shop, dine, slumber, stroll, wine taste, and enjoy the quaint atmosphere of Amador County. Sutter Creek, the jewel of Amador County & the Gold Country, is steeped in history being born of the California Gold Rush and nurtured by the deep rock gold mines of the 19th & 20th centuries.

I wasn’t as impressed with Sutter Creek as I was by Downieville. But then, we were able to buy lunch in this town! Sutter Creek was more commercial, not catering to any season. But it is surviving.

Here are some images.