Posted on by Anne Sandler · 58 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #272: Billboards and Signs

I don’t know about you, but these days I feel bombarded with signage of, mostly, the advertising kind. So, it’s great to pay attention to the signs that keep us safe and bring us joy. Thank you John for this fun challenge.

I’m not into photographing signs as a photo practice, but we happened to be at Ruhstaller Farm in Dixon, a beer distillery and farm, and featured in this blog. But, I didn’t post signs when there was so much more for you to see.

I’m learning to look for nature to provide the unusual and man to provide beautiful murals along the American River.

Little did I know that Spam was so popular! There’s a Spam festival in the Sacramento Delta and Spam is popular in Kauai.

I do love neon signs, find sadness at the Old Sacramento City Cemetery and find it wonderful that one store could stay in business for more than 100 years.

And there’s nothing like signage at the Nevada County Fair to get those hunger pangs going. Spicy nachos and sweet churros!

Sometimes feelings give us signs that we have to do something. This goat is no exception. Got an itch? Scratch it!

I’ve enjoyed looking through my archives for signage. I hope you’re having fun too. Remember to link to John’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag. I enjoyed seeing all your contrasty posts last week. Next week Sophia is challenging us, so look for her post.

If you’d like to join in the challenge, but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 35 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #236: East Meets West

I think I may have taken this challenge from Amy too literally. When I saw the challenge title, I immediately thought of our cross country trip taken 10 years ago for our 50th wedding anniversary. I’ve tried to think of other ways to do this post, but I keep coming back to the trip across the United States and back. I’m sure I’ve posted some of these images before, but not in this context. So let’s start.

My dream trip has always been to take our trailer and tow it across the country. I didn’t want to go overseas; I wanted to see my country. Richard finally relented and we took my dream trip in 2013. I had just bought my first camera, a Nikon D3100, and was totally new at photography. In fact, that is when I started this blog as sort of a journal of the trip. I’ve picked out just a few images to share. My memories of this trip don’t need a visual.

The U.S. is big (We took three months and didn’t see it all.) and each state has its own culture and beauty. I was amazed at how flat middle America is, that we have more National Parks in the West than in the East, and the abundance of our National history is on the East Coast. But no matter how different the culture, jargon and lifestyle is, everyone we met were gracious and kind.

I have 10 pictures to share (Yes, it was tough!) and I’ll caption them.

We’ll start with the Golden Gate (not from this trip)
Painted Desert National Park, Arizona
The Mississippi River, Little Rock, Arkansas
Club in Memphis, Tennessee
Great Smokey Mountain National Park, Tennessee
Reconstructed stone wall at the Fredericksburg Battlefield, Virgina
A replica of the Liberty Bell was placed here while the real bell was hidden in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Rockefeller Center. NYC
The Niagara River at the falls, Niagara Falls
A lobster fisherman pulling out his catch at Bar Harbor Maine

So, that’s my brief look at my cross country trip of the U. S. — from “Sea to Shining Sea.”

When you post your response to this challenge, please remember to link to Amy’s post and use the Lens Artists tag. I hope you enjoyed preparing your reflections and shadows last week as much as I did looking at them. Next week Bren of Brashley Photography will be challenging us with using clarity to create softness in your photos. Look for her post.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info. 

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 39 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #224: Exposure

Sophia, I had so much fun with this challenge. I seldom take the time to try different things with my images once I’ve processed them, so this was an enjoyable practice. I may do it more often.

I played with exposure in post processing, using images in my archives. Most of them have been posted before. First, the high key images. I used a great egret taking off. I wanted to see what happens when you do a white bird as an overexposed image. Then I had fun with some of my roses.

I’m not sure I achieved the look I was after!

I just lightened the entire image and put a misty filter on it.
This was a dark pink rose, I lightened the color, added a misty filter and then a white vignette.

Now for the overexposures. I found these easier than the high-key images.

I like the way this one came out. It has sort of a mood to it.
Again a colorful rose with a flat color. Does it work?
The color of this rose was certainly taken down a great deal. But I think it has enough color to stand against the black.
I like the way the dark background accents the light on this bird’s face. This image almost came out black and white.

For my last bit of fun. I was trying to do a building in high-key and tried the infrared filter. I played around with it and I like it. I usually don’t like infrared images.

I hope you’re having fun with Sophia’s challenge too. When you post, be sure to link to her original post and use the Lens-Artists tag. We enjoyed reading about and seeing everyone’s Flight of Fancy last week. There were many variations of the theme. I’ll be leading next week’s challenge so look out for my post.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.