Let’s hope you see more birds once I get my new Fuji 100 – 400 mm lens. To do most wildlife photography, I’ve been using my Nikon D7100 and an old metal F/4 300 mm prime lens. It was almost impossible for me to hold until Ray made me a short monopod that helps hold the camera and lens steady. The other problem is the Nikon itself. It’s not very good in low light. So photographing in cloudy and overcast days was difficult.
So, I finally decided to try the Fuji lens which I hope is lighter. It’s coming tomorrow. Meanwhile, Laura and I recently went to our local wildlife area in Yolo County, just across from Old Sacramento. The Yolo Bypass is a favorite for local photographers.
I was lucky to get a series of a great egret hunting for what ended up being a cricket, beetle or some other bug.
There were also some other birds.
And then two cormorants.
Get ready and fly.
I’m not sure what bird this is but….
And here are some landscapes taken with my Fuji.
Now, I’m anxious to test out my new lens, but we will have to wait!
I’m happiest when I have my macro lens on my camera. Yes, I love macro and close up photography. But Patti is correct in this week’s challenge of getting close and closer. Getting close to the subject changes the story slightly. My images are cropped sections of a larger area, but I believe the feeling is the same.
To begin, we visited the Manetti Shrem Museum, an art museum on the U. C. Davis campus. More than what’s inside, I love the exterior. All the lines and angles. They can also be found inside. The first image shows some of the exterior as seen from the hall in the museum. The second photo is cropped in to show more of the detail in the metal. The shadows also add design to the image.
The second set shows a winter scene at Donner Lake. Photographed from the roadside, the long, curved driveway invites the viewer toward the home. I drastically cropped in the image to show the window and its reflection which creates a design of its own. I’m glad we can crop in a photo and respect the owner’s property.
Next we have a path at Fort Ross on the California Coast. Uncropped it shows a winding path leading through a tree umbrella. Cropped, the focus is on the detail of the trees.
Last we have an old farm building. This was taken at one of the Yolo Art and Ag Project farm visits. In the landscape a photographer is taking a picture of the same building. In the close up, I focused on the window. Processing it in black and white added a more realistic quality to the age of the building. Do you think the photographer was doing the same thing?
Thank you Patti for showing us how getting closer can change the look, feel and story of an image. And thank you Tina for encouraging us to find our oddest ends last week. Next week, Ann-Christine will lead our challenge. Please remember to link to Patti’s post and tag Lens-Artists so we can find your post in the WordPress Reader.
Mother nature is fickle. Wind, rain and all sorts of weather can ruin crops and cause financial distress for the growers. It can also cause disappointment for photographers. Last year a BIG wind storm blew almond blossoms off trees, rendering them bare. It was a tough year for the growers. This year, I got sick the week we were to take advantage of a Yolo Art and Ag visit to an almond orchard. We went the next week knowing we couldn’t get on the property, but thought we could photograph from the road. However the blossoms were almost gone. What a difference a week can make!
I tried photographing through the fence. This is what I saw.
But we did see a field of old, rusted equipment. Now, I do love rust and its texture, photographing close up.
Not rusted, but if you like lines and angles, power line towers rule.
Always looking for something to photograph, we found these on the way to Winters for lunch.
After lunch, we walked about the town.
On a front portch.Part of a large mural.
Will 2023 be the year we photograph almond blossoms? I hope so. If not rust will never disappoint!
This challenge is a challenge for me because I don’t typically keep photos that don’t make it into my blog posts. Maybe I’m too good of a housekeeper! But, I do have one, only because I did a post, forgetting that I hadn’t finished editing. So for Tina’s challenge this week, here is a macro image of an orchid from Green Acres Nursery.
And I did find this one of a flamingo’s rear that I don’t think made it into a Sacramento Zoo post. Let’s just call it “art!”
And here are some true odds and ends I did find in my archives. First the lumber jack from the LumberJacks restaurant and a metal chicken sculpture nearby. These were taken while out with my friend Marlene. We were looking for a metal horse sculpture. Never found it.
I must include these photos from 2020 just before the pandemic hit because I haven’t been able to get good photographs of almond blossom trees since. In 2021 we had a BIG wind storm before we were supposed to go out to photograph an orchard, and all the blossoms were blown off the trees. This year we were one week too late.
I’ll end with an iris from my garden. The plant bloomed one year in 2020 and never again!
Thanks Tina, from now on I’ll leave some Odds and Ends as I process.
Thank you all for participating in Karina’s (Murtagh’s Meadows) Special Places challenge last week. It was interesting to visit your special places. Next week Patti will host the challenge.
Sometimes the spirit is more willing than Mother Nature wants to give us. Recently Laura and I went to the U.C. Davis Arboretum, in Davis, to photograph the red buds and the wildlife it attracts. Yes, our spirits were willing to take the images, but there were hardly any red buds and birds. We did find some.
I’m guessing there might be more now. But we did find some nice scenery. I had my 55 – 200 mm lens on my Fujifilm XT3 so I did a lot of stepping back for some of these landscape shots.
We did come across a group of cormorants sitting on the shore of the creek. I focused on this one.
And, I couldn’t resist photographing flowers and more in close up.
When I needed to rest, Laura went further while I sat on a bench and people (and dog) watched.
So, our red bud search gave us a beautiful walk and a lot of photo opportunities even if we didn’t see many red buds on the trees.
Just think about the photographs you’ve reviewed lately. I bet a lot of them include either a foreground or background of water. Water enhances our photos, adding impact. Photographing it is also fun and sometimes a challenge. My dear friend Jean, who passed away recently, loved to photograph anything water. In fact, many outings were diverted because she saw a sign saying there was a lake or other water nearby. This was taken on one of Jean’s detours.
Water is featured in many landscapes. This ocean picture was taken in Pacific Grove.
This Folsom Lake image was taken before the drought hit last year. The sailboat is the focus, and the water gives it location.
Bridges usually go over water and in Sacramento County we have many that help us get to the other side of the rivers. I took this one recently of the Rainbow Bridge, a Folsom landmark, and the American river. Reflections in the water add a certain dynamic.
Water can also be the focus of our pictures. Waterfalls, from the great Niagara Falls (the American and Bridal Veil falls), to the small falls at our local Dry Creek are focus points. At Dry Creek, I was handholding the camera and trying to show water as silky by slowing down the shutter speed. I’ve yet to master that because I don’t often carry my tripod! One day I will get up early, plant myself at the ocean, put on my neutral density filter and photograph beautiful waves as they hit the rocky shoreline.
Here’s another handheld close-up image of water coming out of a pipe. This just shows that water of any kind can be fun to shoot. Next is a macro image of a water drop on a leaf. I had a lot of fun taking that one. Finally, the last of this trio shows simple drops of water on lotus pads.
Oh, the last bit of water I’ve had fun with is the snow. Fortunately, here in Sacramento we don’t live with the snow, but we can visit it. Here’s an image of a home in Blue Canyon one hour up the interstate. The second image is of icicles (And their reflection in a window) on a cabin at Donner Lake which is 1 ½ hours away.
I’ll end my show and tell here, but what water fun have you had? Please show us your water fun and tell us about it. Go through your archives and retrieve some memories or find new liquid delights to photograph this week. We’re anxious to see your images. Please remember to use the Lens-Artists tag and to link to this post.
Thank you for participating in Sophia’s challenge of “Low Light” last week. Next week we are pleased to have Karina of Murtagh’s Meadow as our guest host. I wonder what she has in store for us.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, we have easy to follow instructions. Just click this link and join us:
Actually, it’s not that I’m sleepless, I can’t sleep because of a sore throat. It’s not Covid, the rapid home test came out negative, and I have a yearly doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Great timing! So, let me use this time to tell you about a recent adventure around Grass Valley in Nevada County.
We sometimes take off without a definite destination in mind as we did recently. We headed toward Grass Valley. Some stops along the way yielded fungi, a pine cone, a not so scary scarecrow and a scenic pond.
The real exciting find happened after lunch. We found the Bridgeport Covered Bridge! Constructed in 1892, this bridge had undergone renovations and reopened in November 2021 to pedestrian traffic. It crosses over the South Yuba River.
The South Yuba River.
This gentleman was drumming with his family nearby.
We visited the visitors’ center and saw the old Shell station which added atmosphere to the park.
I’ll say goodnight and hope that I can sleep tight!
I like standard time during the winter months because it means the sun sets early making photographing in the dark more feasible, getting me home early in the evening. Thank you Sofia for offering this challenge that fits perfectly with a recent visit to Old Sacramento.
My small group of senior photographers visited the waterfront last month to capture the new Ferris Wheel installed as an attraction to draw more visitors.
When we arrived, we came upon a guy break dancing. He kept on performing as darkness fell and his jar filled with dollar bills.
We then walked out on the Tower Bridge (A Sacramento landmark) to capture the Ferris Wheel and waterfront. I’ll be honest, we did not use tripods (which is suggested in low-light photography). As the cars went over the bridge, the resulting rumble would have made the tripods useless.
Tower Bridge
We then walked back to the waterfront to get a better view of the Ferris wheel.
While we were photographing the wheel, the sun had almost set. I ran to a vantage point and fortunately got a decent sunset and reflections.
Now, back to the bridge for the Ferris wheel in action after nightfall.
As we were walking up to the street, I was lucky to see this image: A restaurant with the Ferris wheel reflected in the window. I couldn’t resist photographing it.
I had so much fun this evening which included a cup of hot chocolate. Low-light photography presents challenges but the rewards are great. I’ve also enjoyed light painting and indoor photography.
Thank you Sofia for this fun challenge that fit perfectly with my photo activities. Please be sure to link your post to Sofia’s, and use the Lens-Artists tag. Next week I’ll be presenting the challenge.
Sometimes it’s best not to plan. All we knew for this outing was that we would go to the old town area of Folsom. We’ve been there many times before so I was very ambivalent about the outing.
First we wanted to capture the Rainbow Bridge, a Folsom landmark. I’ve photographed it before, but not from the walking bridge next to it. As a special treat, I photographed a fisherman spotted through the archway, two kayakers and a paddle boarder.
Below the walking bridge, I was able to get the American River, the walking bridge and Rainbow Bridge, at different angles.
Next came lunch at our favorite café. I think, for us, that a photo shoot wouldn’t be complete without a good lunch!
After filling our tummies, we spotted a farmers’ market. I just love to photograph vegetables.
And there’s the atmosphere of a farmers’ market where prepared food can be purchased and other crafts can draw you into a booth.
Sometimes a simple basket can be made into a beautiful art piece in post processing using a Photoshop filter.
I think we made some great decisions that morning. Do you?
Every day, something changes–whether we want it to or not. In his challenge John asks us to think about change: “Maybe it’s the changes in your family over the years, the change of seasons in your favorite park, or even the change in the technology of your camera equipment. In short, what does “change” mean to you?”
I thought about it, and what came to my mind was how Sacramento has changed since I started photography. First are some of the things we lost.
The first blow to photographers was Daffodil Hill. This beautiful hillside of color and flowers closed last year because of too many visitors. It’s remote location caused the one road in and out to become jammed, and visitors were not staying on the designated paths. Daffodil Hill was owned by the McLaughlin family who planted and cared for their farm. This was their labor of love to be enjoyed by many.
Daffodil Hill
The next thing we lost was the annual Sacramento Music Festival. We worked on and enjoyed the festival for several years. I loved walking from venue to venue, listening to wonderful music. It discontinued because of money loss.
Opening parade at the Sacramento Music Festival.
One change that was fought and won was Sacramento City Council’s decision to remove the flowers from the Sacramento Historic Cemetery. The decision was made because when the cemetery was first founded there were no flowers and they wanted to keep it true to its history! The public and the gardeners won. The team of gardeners is volunteer based, and thanks to them we continue to enjoy this amazing place.
A volunteer tends to the garden. The beautiful florals add peace to the cemetery.
Ever changing are the murals that brighten Sacramento each year through Wide Open Walls. We go downtown each year to see what new art adorns the city’s walls.
One of my favorites.
New to Sacramento, specifically Old Sacramento, is the Ferris Wheel along the waterfront. After fixing the wood walkways, the city wanted an attraction to bring families into the Old City.
The Ferris Wheel and its reflection in a restaurant window.
Last, is a thing we want changed: the homeless. There have been many programs offered to help. Some have succeeded, some haven’t.
Asleep on a sidewalk/curb in Old Sacramento.
Among the venues we hope don’t change is Effie Yeaw Nature Center. This center along the American River is close to us and offers us the nearness to wildlife like deer, coyotes, wild turkeys, etc. I hope this center continues for years to come.
A buck at Effie Yeaw.
So, because change is inevitable, we need to embrace it and continue on. Isn’t it wonderful that we are able to capture things we enjoy on camera before they disappear!
Thank you John for giving us a reason to pause and reflect. Last week Amy helped us to remember our travels and what they have taught us; next week Sophia leads the challenge. Look for her post. Remember to link to her post and use the Lens-Artists tag in WordPress.
Slow Shutter Speed 