Oh, it’s so good to be attending a Yolo Arts and Ag farm visit. This one found us along the Sacramento River Delta in Courtland. This month we have been invited by Chiles Wilson of Rivermaid Trading Co, California’s largest grower and producer of pears (they grow cherries too!), to visit their Delta property.
Rivermaid Trading Company is a family farming business and leading innovator in growing, packing and shipping fresh pears and cherries around the world. It was a small property with the most amazing trees. You know how I love trees. There were more artists than photographers when I was there, making it more interesting. I enjoy speaking with the artists and watching them work.
It was a bright and beautiful day. The trees welcomed us.
And now for some of the artists capturing the scene their way.
And finally, a beautiful road around the property.
It was a great, short visit. And perfect for my first photo outing after my back injury. I can’t wait to see where April sends us.
I didn’t hesitate when Sandy called and asked if I wanted to go on a cruise through the Panama Canal. YES! That trip has been on my bucket list just waiting to be fulfilled. I wasn’t thrilled to be on a ship for 16 days, but if that’s what it took. And, better, Richard, my husband, came with me. Ann-Christine’s challenge was perfect timing for me.
What a fun trip that ended up being. Traveling in October, it was mostly a senior tour. Leaving from San Francisco, California and ending in Galveston, Texas; we were mostly Californians and Texans. We enjoyed each other’s company–no State conflicts!
I was also concerned about the ship being a Carnival ship, but that was great too. The ship’s interior was beautiful, the food great and the entertainment awesome. The most photogenic part were the elevators.
Now for the reason I went on this trip–the Panama Canal! We went through the old locks. The new locks are reserved for larger ships. The last picture shows our ship entering the lake mid-way through the canal.
The Lake
Entering the Atlantic Ocean was a mirror image of exiting the Pacific Ocean. I went to the cabin to rest and watch the rest on the television.
It was an amazing experience. We did visit other ports in other countries, but with a limited number of pictures as directed by Ann-Christine, those will have to wait.
We also took the opportunity to visit the Huston Space Center before we came home. My homecoming is another story to be told next week as I lead the challenge. Stay tuned!
Thanks Ann-Christine for pushing me to process my canal transit images. Be sure to link to her post when you respond and use the lens artist tag. In the meantime, stay safe and be resilient.
When I photograph, I typically crop my picture in camera. I’ve come to learn this habit does present problems—you are stuck with no place to go when you edit! So while Ritva’s challenge is a stretch for me, it’s something I’ve been trying to work on. I need to give myself more room so I can edit better. Unfortunately, my back injury has prevented me from practicing. This morning was the first time I held my camera in my hand in 3 1/2 months! When I process the pictures, we’ll see how I did. It’s so hard to break a habit!
In the meantime here are my choices for this week’s challenge.
First is a farm machine out in a field. I cropped it in close and processed it in black and white. I think the B&W shows more texture and weathering of the wood.
While stopping for coffee during a photo outing, I saw this gentleman sewing something. He was so intent on what he was doing. He had a face begging to be photographed, and the crop shows the details of aging.
Now we have the bare metal bones of a hot house found at Soil Born Farms, a non-profit urban agriculture and education project. I liked the metal frames as they curved, looking like they are overlapping on the left of the full picture. The metal in the cropped picture looks more jumbled and maybe artistic?
Last, we have a stately palm. The original was photographed so I could capture most of the leaves while accentuating the bark. The cropped version puts the emphasis on the leaves.
Thanks Ritva for pushing me in the right direction. When you post your own response, please remember to use the Lens-Artists tag and link to Ritva’s original and educational post. Next week, Patti will be challenging us, so look for her post. In the meantime, stay safe and be resilient!
If you’d like to join the Lens-Artists Challenge, click here.
The answer to Beth’s challenge used to be easy, but we live in a complicated world where things change daily. It’s the speed of communication that astonishes me.
That’s why I love this community. It gives me the chance to stop and reflect on less complicated and more beautiful things. So, here are some of the things that astonish me.
Let’s start with something truly astonishing–a two-bodied donkey!
Because I’m not creative, letting my camera capture the unusual and beautiful for me, I’m astonished at the artist’s ability to draw on a sidewalk as people walk by.
Since we adults have lost that youthful wonderment, I’m astonished at my grandson’s reaction, at a young age, to an exhibit at the Railroad Museum. He now has his driver’s license! Adulthood is right around the corner.
Of course, Nature is truly astonishing. Crashing of the waves on a rocky shoreline and the sun rising on a misty morning are just two of nature’s wonders.
But when you are able to capture a total solar eclipse that will not return in your lifetime, that is truly astonishing. This was taken in 2017 in Idaho–a moment I will never forget.
So, thanks Beth for taking me away from the world’s worries and into times of wonder and excitement. When you respond to her post, please remember to link to her post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Next week Ritva will be leading the challenge, so be sure to look for her post.
Wow, what a tough topic Egidio has given us this week. You’d think the way I hold onto clothes, I would do the same with pictures. But I don’t. I tend to toss the pictures I don’t edit or think I would post. So here I go twisting again. I went back to when I began taking pictures–more as a tourist than a photographer.
This taught me three things. 1. As I said, I don’t keep pictures. 2. I do minimal edits because I don’t have the technical ability. 3. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear! At least I can’t. I can be out all day photographing, but rarely take more than 10 minutes in the editing process.
My examples today were taken from 2010. My camera at that time was a tiny Lumix, 10 mega Pixel camera with a zoom lens. I didn’t get my first SLR until 2013. In my mind, these images prove that gear does matter! I now use a Fujifilm XT3. These were edited in Lightroom Classic just for this post. They were not edited before.
This first two photos emphasis size with a giant sequoia and small boy. I think I had some sense of composition back then. I edited it to bring out color and sharpen.
In the next two, I tried to un-center the cactus by cropping and did some sharpening.
For the next examples, I cropped and worked with the lighting. I put more light on the deer, uncentered it and darkened the background.
Finally I took out most of the foreground twigs in this picture. To be honest, today I probably wouldn’t have even photographed it! Now that I’m looking at the pictures, I see that they are different?? Somehow after finding the picture, Lightroom couldn’t find it again. But, you can see that I did the editing work.
So, there’s my rejected photos. Will I change my lazy ways? Probably not. I enjoy photographing images more than editing them. Thanks Egidio for helping me realize that I need to get it mostly right in the camera. 😊Please remember to link to Egidio’s original post when you respond and use the Lens-Artists tag.
Last week I loved seeing all your minimal photos in black and white in response to Ritva’s challenge. I’m a fan of both, so it was a treat. Next week Tina will be leading the challenge, so be sure to look for her post. In the meantime stay safe and be resilient.
When I look back at my photographic experiences in 2025, I can’t get too excited. Except for my Panama Canal Cruise (which I haven’t been able to process yet), it was a repeat of places we had been before. So, I just picked a few that I liked. I’m sure I posted pictures of the outings from which these were taken, but these were not edited or posted.
Let’s start with the one image I processed of the Panama Canal. This is of the lock just before entering the lake.
Next are pictures of birds. It’s difficult for me to get pictures of Sandhill Cranes because I don’t have a super long lens. I got lucky with this one being closer to the road. The next image is my first of a pheasant. Too bad it was a super foggy day.
You know I enjoy photographing flowers.
I love trees. They are so expressive.
My back is telling me to end this post, and I must listen. Thank you Beth for encouraging us to spread our wings last week. Have a wonderful holiday and happy New Year. I’ll see you in 2026! In the meantime stay safe and live in gratitude.
I’m plagiarizing Patti because she said it so well:
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Oh, it is tough to get back into routine after a vacation. Almost over a sore throat, I checked to see what outings I hadn’t shown you before we left for our Panama Canal trip. I found this delightful winery in the Delta region sponsored by the Yolo Arts and Ag Project.
It was delightful because of the photo and artistic opportunities the Heringer Vineyards offered. There were many photographers and artists in attendance. Although late in the season, some grapes were still on the vine and beautiful against their colorful leaves.
All wineries have tasting rooms and beautiful grounds. Being in the Delta, the Sacramento River is nearby.
And there were many painters sketching and painting the beautiful scenes.
Let’s not forget the traditional old and rusted farm equipment.
My camera always leads me to plants, and that morning was no different.
I think this was the last outing planned by the Yolo Arts & Ag Project for 2025. They will start again in Spring 2026. I do appreciate the opportunities they offer us.
It’s not John who has presented me with a challenge this morning, it’s Adobe! Lightroom and Photoshop lost my account. I tried to be a good Adobe user and follow their instructions, but so far it’s not working. So I resized my images with Microsoft, and hope they will be okay. Now back to John’s original challenge–the beauty of Autumn.
We do not get much of a leaf changing season here in Sacramento, so we travel to higher ground.
One place is Hope Valley (A mountain valley known for its fall colors, outdoor recreation, and historical significance as a route for Gold Rush emigrants.) It’s located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And it’s beautiful in the Fall season with the aspen trees changing color. All the photographers drive up there, about 1 1/2 hours away, to photograph “The Cabin.” It’s not occupied now, but it’s a landmark.
Here is another bit of Autumn in Hope Valley.
Let’s travel north up Highway 49, still in the Sierra Nevada mountains, to the Empire Mine State Historic Park. We happened to be at the right place at the right time–when the Gingko trees were changing color.
Let’s go back down south on Highway 49 to Apple Hill which is known for many apple farms, apple pie, and apple everything.
That’s about it for Fall color. When you post your beautiful colors, please remember to link to John’s post and use the Len’s Artists tag. I really enjoyed reading about and seeing your images posted for Joanne’s “Everyone Should See This.”
Richard and I will be cruising for the next three weeks, and not taking our computers. Yes, not even one! This means, I won’t be able to post or comment on posts. I’ll see you again in November. In the meantime, stay safe and live in gratitude!
When was the last time you hugged a tree? Have you ever hugged a tree? Or maybe you’ve just stood by one and soaked up their energy. I love trees, their energy and graceful branches. This week our guest host Joanne Mason wants us to share some photographs of things/people/places that are inspiring.
I find trees inspiring. I don’t know why. They give me peace, energy and relaxation. Let’s go to the forest first. I love the smell of pine trees. Unfortunately it will take this forest, in the picture on the right, a long time to recover from this fire. Please be careful and show nature the respect it deserves.
It’s Autumn let’s enjoy the beauty of the leaves.
Trees and fungi have a mutually beneficial relationship, where fungi provide trees with water and soil nutrients, while trees supply the fungi with sugars. And they look pretty too!
We have a lot of almond orchards in the Yolo County countryside. When the trees blossom, they are so beautiful. When they are bare, you find a carpet of mustard plants.
I love trees in the fog, especially during the winter season.
And if you’re able to catch that special moment when a tree allows a sunbeam through its leaves, that is just WOW!
I hope this post has you inspired to enjoy trees. When you respond to Joanne’s post please link to hers and use the Lens-Artists tag.
Last week, we looked at the lives of city and rural dwellers urged on by Tina, and it was fun. Next week John will be hosting the challenge.
Until then, stay safe, hug a tree and live in gratitude!
After reading Egidio’s post and his challenge this week, I thought heavily on what I’m longing for. Health, wealth, increased life expectancy. Yes, really deep subjects. Then I got real. What am I truly longing for. I had the ride in the small 2-seater airplane, but I didn’t take to the sky in a balloon. That’s it. I want to ride in a hot air balloon!
It almost happened at a balloon festival back in 2012. I had just bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D3100 and was anxious to use it. We went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Windsor, California. This was a great introduction for me since it was relatively small.
We pulled in with our trailer the night before. I was woken at 4 a.m. the next morning to grab my camera and take pictures of the dawn patrol. In the dark, the only setting I could see on my camera was a green “A.” I knew that would put me on “auto.” That’s the way the following images were captured.
Later that morning, with my camera set to “manual,” I photographed these:
I was signed up for a balloon ride the next morning, but they cancelled all rides because of wind. I’ve not had a second chance yet. However, maybe next year I’ll have another opportunity for a ride with two neighbors who also have the same longing.
Meanwhile, In 2017, my friend and I attended the balloon festival in Reno, Nevada. This was a much bigger festival and the availability for taking pictures was less. But once the balloons got in the air, it was a magnificent sight.
I’m still longing for that ride and hope that 2026 will be the year it happens!
Thanks Egidio, for helping me isolate another activity from my bucket list. When you reply to his post, please link to it and use the Lens-Artists tag. Last week we saw a great deal of quiet — the places you go to for solitude and relaxation. They put me in a very mellow mood. Next week Tina will return and challenge us. Stay tuned!
Slow Shutter Speed 