It’s one of my favorite places to practice. I’ve learned how to shoot sunsets, sunbursts, animals, water fowl, events and buildings there. And, best of all it’s close to home! Gibson Ranch is a park where people board and care for their horses. They also train them there. It’s a place to hold large events like the Civil War Re-enactment. Most of all, it’s peaceful.
When you visit you may see children feeding the ducks and geese, or a father and son fishing. With two playgrounds, it’s also a wonderful place for a family to picnic and play.
For me, it’s a great place to practice photography. On a recent visit, that’s what Marlene and I did. We walked through the horse grounds, caught peacocks high and low with our cameras and tried to have as much patience as the egret had as it was trying to fish.
Here’s our visit to Gibson Ranch and my practice session.
I love the rustic look of the buildings.
A barn cat.
Getting up close and personal with a peacock. They don’t seem to mind people.
Inside the horse barn.
A bridle and rope.
A peacock watches the horses.
Hay in the barn.
Equipment waiting to be used.
This wheelbarrow gave me some Lightroom practice in working with exposure.
Oh, sorry to leave you right in the middle of Fiddletown, (Where we left off in my last post.) but we will leave once I tell you how it got its name.
Founded in 1849, the town mainly served as a trading camp for the many mines in the area. A popular mining technique, placer mining, was heavily dependent on water. Dry Creek, the local water source, ran dry in the summer months, meaning the miners couldn’t work. It is said that the miners would fiddle around, and the town became known as Fiddletown. Not happy with his town’s name, a local resident lobbied to have the name changed to Oleta (his daughter’s name). This name stood until his death in 1932 when the name Fiddletown was restored.
Embracing the name, residents are not idle. They have fund raisers to support renovations for historic landmark buildings, a Living History Day and a Fiddlers Jam. I’m hoping that some day they will put in a proper public restroom!
Now we will leave Fiddletown and head down to D-Agoustini Reservoir enjoy your journey!
The main action in Fiddletown. From left: The firehouse, community center and library.
The big fiddle sits on the Community Center’s roof.
A closer look at the fiddle.
A bench at the Community Center.
A building across the street.
A rusted old safe on the porch of the building.
Old wagon wheels also on the porch.
I just liked the way this tree framed the building.
Fence ornament. The fence probably hasn’t been opened in years.
An old house with rusted statues.
An old boat abandoned at D-Agoustini Reservoir
A farm house across the lake.
Remnants of trees in the lake.
Reeds and moss ad color to the water.
Looking across the lake.
Dead but still pretty and shapely.
The colors on the lake shine in the water.
Do you see the prehistoric bird eating something here?
It was Tuesday with seniors. I was still hobbling. it was the three of us me, Marlene and Greg. But, we took a different course into Plymouth and Fiddletown.
I’ve been to Plymouth, but not to photograph the sights. We used to square dance and went to a yearly festival there. And, just the name Fiddletown was attraction enough for me. So off we went, with Greg taking us down every back road he knew! I was still in the back seat with my foot up.
Plymouth is a city in Amador County, and the 2010 census shows a population of 1,005. This is a very small town with the downtown area maybe three blocks long. It looks like they are trying to create an upscale yet old look with new construction on the main street.
This is in contrast to Fiddletown where the main drag shows buildings empty and almost falling down. A census designated community in Amador County, Fiddletown’s population was 235 as of the 2010 census. It is registered as a California Historical Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. But, it has a charm to it.
Our guide, Greg, also took us to D-Agonstini Reservoir which I thought was a large pond! And we had crossed the county line into El Dorado County. I’m sure I mentioned in a previous post that you never know where you’ll end up when Greg is driving!
So that’s where our course took us last week. See for yourself in this two-part post.
The Well Fargo bank in an old but modernized building.
Some rusted locks and door handles.
An old gas pump.
A bench on main street near where we ate lunch.
I hadn’t seen one of these in ages!
The old school house in Fiddletown.
The children used an “out” pass instead of a hall pass when they needed to go to the bathroom. These are behind the old school house.
A cemetery across from the school house.
An old brick building that has a lot of rustic charm.
Another old brick building.
The Chew Kee Store (a Chinese herbal shop) established in 1850.
An animal skull on a phone pole in front of a residence.
It was desperation that pushed me out the door on Labor Day. I knew I wouldn’t be able to shoot for at least a week after foot surgery. Laura and I visited downtown Sacramento and the Capitol building during the morning. I knew enough not to be out all day because surgery was early the next morning.
In my last post, I showed you the various statues, sculptures and street life around the Capitol. We shot outside for about two hours. But, it was getting late in the morning and tourists were walking around–a great time to go indoors and see our State Capitol. Part of the first floor is a museum, one wall gives a history of all the California counties and houses the Governor’s office. It’s a beautiful building with an amazing rotunda.
I was amazed it was open on a holiday and very glad I felt desperate enough to want to get out and shoot.
Here’s a glimpse of the California State Capitol.
The Capitol building shot from across the street.
One of the sculptures outside the rotunda.
I liked the lines in this shot.
A closer look at the capitol as the sun shines down upon it.
A bronze sculpture in one of the second floor’s door way.
The beautiful rotunda.
Another view of the rotunda.
One of the planters set into sort of a mini rotunda.
The hallway leading to offices.
Here’s a room inside the museum.
They had docents in some of the rooms.
We weren’t allowed in if there wasn’t a docent in the room. We had to get creative with shooting.
A stairway.
More from the stairway.
And, the former Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bronze bear statute.
I told you that I learn from my mistakes, and for this outing, I remembered my Tripod. It’s a good thing I did, because it came in handy at the Empire Mine State Historic Park in Grass Valley. The park was begging to be shot in HDR which added so much depth and character to the images.
As usual on Tuesdays, our guide and driver Greg took us, me and Linda, the back way to the Park, stopping along the way to discover future shoots, do some actual photography and eat. That is how we ended up in Wheatland, the first stop on our journey. This is a very small town. I put the “very” before small because that’s how small it is–at least to our photographic eyes. The town, in Yuba County, actually has a population of 3,456 as of the 2010 census.
We were going to Rough and Ready but never made it because it was getting late and we wanted to get to the Mine. Oh yes, we made a couple more stops along the way. The Empire Mine was founded in 1850 and operated until 1956. The William Bourn family maintained control of the mine and lived there until 1929 when it was sold to Newmont Mining. In 1975 it was purchased by the State who then created the Historic Park.
We got there late afternoon, quickly going to the mine area. The grounds are separated into the mine area and living quarters consisting of a beautiful home and gardens. We shot until we were asked to leave. It seems they close the Mine at 5 p.m. When we left, the ranger reminded us that we were there almost two hours which should have been enough time to see the mine, and I had to explain that photographers take more time than most people. I don’t think she was sympathetic; she just wanted to go home!
Oh, another lesson learned! Check out the hours before we leave home! Yes, we’ll have to do that because we will be returning.
The Wheatland water tower. They were doing some work on it.
This is either a replica or an actual old school house located on a school property.
A Wheatland church.
A stop on the road, this rugged road and golden colored grass land.
Remnants of what might have been an old gate.
Fencing and Eucalyptus trees.
Old log with a lot of character.
Country farm house.
Stamp Mill Site.
This building contained the Mine Manager’s Office, Assay office and Refinery Room.
A different view of the building.
The Warehouse.
Mine Equipment Exhibit.
This image shows the blacksmith shop, the Compressor Building, Tool Sharpening Shed.,
The greenhouse.
The garage.
The mine shaft.
The stairway to and from the mine shaft.
The fountain on the grounds surrounding the living quarters.
Part of the fun of going somewhere is the before you get there and after you’ve left! Have I confused you? Well, we don’t go straight to any place. We stop along the way, get sidetracked and look for unique things to shoot. This happened on the way to Locke in the Sacramento Delta.
The Sacramento Delta is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Northern California and is an important habitat for migratory waterfowl and more than a hundred species of fish. It is also farmland, a popular recreation area and a source of drinking water for two-thirds of California’s population.
We first stopped at the small Freeport Marina. It was there that I realized I left my tripod home! Greg offered to share his with me, but I knew he used his most of the time and declined his generous offer. So, it was a handheld day for me. Lesson learned! Seems I’m always learning. Didn’t I say in my last post that I learn a lot by making mistakes?
Next we found a Halloween surprise, an old truck and a bridge to shoot. Then we got to Locke. You can see that our journeys seldom follow a straight path, and that’s the fun of a photo outing.
In this post you can see our before finds. You’ll have to wait for the next post to see Locke and what happened on the way home–the “after” part of our trip.
The only decent shot at the marina. Poles were all over the place. It wasn’t very photogenic.
Here’s Greg at work.
Meanwhile I found some flowers to practice on.
You know I can resist the texture of a rope.
One of the many bridges that crisscross the Delta region.
Railroad tracks and an old truck. I don’t think anyone was in the truck, but why would the doors be open?
Fishing is popular in the Delta.
Our Halloween surprise.
Either that or someone forgot to feed him! A lot of the spider webs were real. What fun!
There were a grouping of cactus near the same property. Here’s bigfoot complete with spider webs.
Cactus flower close up.
Cactus flowers waiting to open.
This old truck hasn’t moved in about 30 years and has become a landmark.
We like to have fun. Here we shoot our reflections. I’m not too happy with the distortion or did I eat too much lunch!
It’s time to say goodbye to Amador County; but, I’m sure not for good. I was looking over my images and there are still a few to show you. And, alas, I’ve duplicated some in prior posts. Hope you didn’t mind seeing them again!
With each outing, I learn. Sometimes I learn by watching. Sometimes by trying different things. And sometimes by making mistakes. Mistakes, unfortunately, seem to be the best teacher! How many time do you repeat the same mistake? Not too many I hope. It also pays to go with friends who remember to prompt you like, “What’s your ISO set at?” or “Did you bring your tripod today?”
I’m grateful for those prompts because it shows they care. I’m grateful for all the caring critiques I get on my photographs when I ask for them. This is especially true for the folks in Sacramento Photographers. Ask for help and you’ll get it. And my new Toastmasters Photography Club is also great for giving feedback.
So, as you look at the last of Amador County for a while, understand that with each image I have learned more about photography.
We’re back at Fat Freddy’s. Meet Carlos, aka Fat Freddy.
You could spend hours looking at his walls and the stuff on them. Here he has some funny money and some real that are folded into unique shapes.
How about this shirt and tie.
The outside of his Jackson restaurant.
Now we’re in Volcano. I loved this town. Here’s the jail!
A vintage sign.
An old bench and old building.
Another vintage sign.
The Volcano look.
Red chairs.
A bench dedicated to a loved one.
If you look close enough, you’ll see the most important directional sign on this post: the bathroom!
Another view of the main street in this quaint town.
Isn’t it great that we can just take a day during the week and go shooting–with a camera! Now, I don’t want you 9 – 5’ers to get upset, but we’ve earned the right. You see we’re retired, older and want to do what we can while we can. That’s why a few of us decided to designate Tuesdays as our get away day. And its been great.
The town of Jackson was our destination this time, but you know we never know where we’ll end up. Greg wanted to show Marlene and I Michigan Bar Road. I had already been on part of that road with him, but got too self assured and shot HDR handheld. Mistake! So I was glad to be able to get a second chance. For, Marlene, it was new territory.
We simply drive around (Greg has 4-wheel drive and knows the area so he drives), stop when we see something to shoot and sometimes never reach our designated destination. It’s okay because there’s always next week.
The lone tree.
The dirt road we were on. This was a single shot image.
HDR helped provide this scene.
The drought has made everything so dry. But, the golden color is beautiful.
The trees seem to be reaching deep down with their roots for water.
I love the texture of this old fence and how the barbed wire just cuts into the wood.
Getting close up with the barbed wire.
This road led to the farm where I shot without a tripod. I didn’t get to try again because we turned around.
Yes, I do love fences.
This farm was beautiful.
The National Hotel in Jackson. From our first trip out there.
A Jackson store. Most of these small towns have colorful main streets.
Another store.
Inside a kitchen store, I saw these colanders strung up. Who could pass up that color.
When you go shooting with Greg, you never know where the next turn may take you. For instance, on a recent outing, we came upon some guys flying RC controlled airplanes on Michigan Bar Road near the bustling town of Ione–I jest! Of course we stopped.
The RC pilots belonged to the Gold Country Flyers and were very willing to share stories and have us take their pictures. While Greg was visiting, I started shooting. This was not my first experience with RC Airplanes since my husband tried the hobby once. However, these were very serious pilots with elaborate planes–even one helicopter. I did appreciate their answering my questions and letting me get to know them a little.
Mostly, they had a great passion for this hobby. In fact, the hobby turned into a lucrative business for one gentleman. The airport is owned and operated by the Club which was founded in 1972. The members meet once a month, offer free instruction to new pilots and generally have a great time.
After almost an hour, we left the airport to continue our adventure. That’s what we call it, because we never get lost; we just never know where the road will take us.
A plane awaits its pilot.
These are the stands where the pilots work on their planes.
Getting ready for take off.
The auto pilot!
The plane’s real pilot.
Going down the runway.
Airborne.
Not a plane. This pup was too cute not to shoot. Look at those teeth.
The pilots chat while waiting to fly.
Working on the plane.
The helicopter and its pilot.
I liked the way it was painted and decorated.
I loved these decals.
The helicopter now sits on the pad.
It’s airborne.
I was lucky to get this with a 55 mm zoom lens.
The Club also remembers their members who passed on.
I’ve gotten complacent. I’ve gotten bored. I’ve become too comfortable. Yes, I haven’t currently pushed past my comfort zone with the 365 challenge. For those of you who are not familiar with this ominous task, it means taking a photograph a day for one full year. I’ve just started into my 34th week, and I can tell you there are some days I’m ready to quit.
But, I won’t because I realize what I have learned through the process. I was talking with Greg, a photo buddy, during one of our outings and he said that I was a good photographer. Others have said the same thing, but I wasn’t ready to hear them, being stuck in low photographic ability esteem. That day I said, “Yes, I believe I can finally say I’m not a beginner, but maybe call myself an intermediate.” He then went on to tell me all I needed was to learn the software. I agreed.
This is all part of the 365. I’ve become very comfortable and good at close up, macro, and landscape shooting. I’m having fun doing HDR and trying not to over process it. My camera is mostly on manual these days, and I’m helping new photographers. However, there are still things to learn. This is mostly in setting up and lighting a shot. This is what I need to work on with the 265. But, I don’t have the equipment and don’t want the expense of studio lighting. I’ll just have to ask my photo buddy if I can come over!
I know I need to move past my complacent, bored and comfortable self and expand my knowledge. I’ve set a goal to have that done before the 365 ends. If I’m persistent enough, I can do it. Greg, when can I come over?
Here are some of my 365 images. There are others that I posted directly from outings already shown in this blog.
This was taken during a meetup. Mossy trees.
This is the sculpture at the Roseville Sculpture Garden.
Slow Shutter Speed 