Posted on by Anne Sandler

On the road again: Sedona, Arizona, the final chapter: Catapillar Point, Out of Africa and Tuzigoot

It wasn’t supposed to be a journey’s end, but it was. We were going to take a day on our way home, from Sedona, to drive through Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks, but I fell on the way to Bakersfield. It’s amazing how people rush to help when you have gray hair! I’m okay–just a couple scrapes, one big bruise and a sore shoulder. With that happening, I decided it would be best to head home.

Yes, I’m disappointed because those National Parks are my favorite. I’ll try to get there in the fall. In the meantime, I want to show you a little of the Out of Africa Wildlife Park. This isn’t like a safari park where you drive through and the animals are walking about. This park is a sanctuary. On this trip, we saw a small animal show, a tiger swim and play show and rode through an area where the animals roamed free. You’ll see from the pictures that these animals are very used to humans, especially the giraffes! The zebras can become a little testy!

Tuzigoot is a National Monument of Native American ruins. When you see the small rooms, you’ll wonder what the Southern Sinagua tribe would think if they saw our large dwellings! We decided not to visit their other dwellings, Montezuma Castle and Well, because we saw them during our last visit.

Caterpillar Point  was our last stop on this trip. It was a rocky stream bed, some small water falls and lots of wildflowers including a century cactus bloom.

Take a look at our last two days before we ended our journey and headed home.

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Birds of a feather: Suisun Wildlife Rescue Center revisited, Solano County, California

Many of the animals never leave here, so it was like visiting old friends when we photographers made our annual trek to the Suisun Wildlife Rescue Center just outside of Fairfield, California. This was my second trip there through a Meetup organized by the Wildlife and Landscape group. It’s actually a fundraiser for the Center that is run solely through contributions.

This Center is a non-profit volunteer organization, dedicated to the rescue of native California wildlife and to the preservation of the Suisun Marsh, working through the dual avenues of wildlife rescue & release and environmental education.  While some animals are able to be released once they are well, many are not. Birds with wing problems, an albino snake, a coyote and many eagles are just some of the wildlife that cannot be released.

But, they do work for their keep. Volunteers take them to schools through an educational program. While they educate, the animals are cared for by an all volunteer staff. And the staff brought out the animals in turns so we could photograph them. While we were shooting, we were told about the animal’s personality, how they were brought into the Center and whether they would ever be released. When you look at the images, in many cases, you can tell why they will remain at the Center.

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Deja vu: Mossy trees and mustard, Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California, part 2

Do you remember the mossy trees and mustard that I went all the way to Napa Valley to shoot? Well, I found the trees in our campground and the mustard in the countryside here at Lake San Antonio.

It’s amazing how much I’ve learned through photography, and I don’t mean learning the art. I’ve studied birds, flowers and trees! So during this trip I had the opportunity to educate my husband in the flora of the area. Sadly, because the lake is so low now, there wasn’t the opportunity to see many water fowl. There were plenty of turkey vultures though.

In addition, I became acquainted with the various stages of the dreaded fox tail from beautiful to mowed down so they stick in your socks and dogs paws. All weekend I picked fox tails from Gem’s hair, checked his ears and made sure he was tick free. The little guy was happy to be home.

In this post, I’ll give you the campground tour including the mossy trees. You’ll have to wait for the next post to see the mustard.

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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.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

A full day of beauty: The UC Davis Arboretum, the people

I love street photography, but I’d rather it was candid. I know that’s the more difficult way to go, but it tells a better story. Fortunately, it was a weekend and the people were out enjoying the weather and beauty of the UC Davis arboretum. There were families, students, runners, cyclists, and many more. I’ll tell you about each image in the gallery. If I have room, I’ll also put in some odds and ends that I either forgot or didn’t fit into my three categories.

Some street photography!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

A full day of beauty: The UC Davis Arboretum, the landscape

I’d like to think that the arboretum put on a fancy dress just for Laura, Marlene and me when we visited last week. However, I think we were lucky to catch the area in its glory. Spring had come, and beauty was everywhere, wildlife was out and people were strolling along the creek.

In my last post I explained that the arboretum is a 100 acre park that borders Putah Creek. About 17 gardens have been planted along the creek, giving variety to the eye and much to shoot for photographers. I also promised a three-part post with the second showing the arboretum’s landscape and the third–the people.

In this post, I’m showing you the landscape as seen through my eyes. I’m not going to caption these images since there are a lot of them. So, enjoy the beautiful creek, trees and shrubs. After all they dressed up just for us!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

A full day of beauty: the UC Davis Arboretum

When you’re in or near Sacramento, California, you’ve got to visit the UC Davis Arboretum. Laura, Marlene and I walked the approximate 5 – 6 miles around the area, stopping for lunch. Even though I carried my cameras on a two-camera sling and everything else in a photo vest, my back was protesting during the last third of the trip.

The arboretum is a 100 acre park that borders Putah Creek. About 17 gardens have been planted along the creek, giving variety to the eye and much to shoot for photographers. I don’t know whether I’m just getting better at my craft or whether the gardens were beautiful even though it wasn’t spring yet; but, I do have a lot of photos to show you. So I’ll do it in three parts. Tonight I’ll show you the wildlife, next the landscape and finish up with the people.

The arboretum wildlife consists of birds, turtles and water fowl. And, they were pleantiful when we were there, especially the egrets. I’ve always seen one or two at the arboretum, but there were more that Sunday. No more words–here are the images.

 

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A fun and learning experience: Yosemite, part 3

Two days is barely enough to take in the beauty of Yosemite, but that’s all we had. So we packed as much in as we could.

My last lesson here, was that I needed to get a neutral density filter to capture smooth water. I waited until we got to our final destination within the park–Happy Isles to try to get the water as smooth as I could. It was shady there, and there was enough water to work with.

We also went to the Lower Bridalveil Falls and the church. Tired, we left the park before sunset and ate dinner in Manteca. The Thai food was delicious especially since I was tired of eating meatloaf (for lunches and dinner)! Laura dropped me off at about 9:30 p.m., and I went directly to bed. I know she began editing her photos when she got home.

Here are the last images of Yosemite.

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A fun and learning experience: Yosemite, part 2

Live and learn–you’ve heard that before. So far during my excursion to Yosemite I’ve learned to get those heat pads for shoes and pockets when shooting during the dawn patrol.

My second lesson was that I chose the right person to travel and shoot with. Laura kept me moving–even after I called myself a wimp and she agreed. We had a lot of fun together, and she pushed me forward in my photography. There will be more on that subject in part three. I have been fortunate in my photography journey to receive help from fellow photographers, amateur and professional alike. Moreover, Laura knows this park and the right places from which to shoot.

In today’s post you’ll see Foresta. It was part of the area burned a few years ago, but the two barns remained and we were able to go into one. We also went to Stoneman Bridge and then the “fire fall” area. Remember, there was no water falling, but we did get to see how the “fire” effect was done. So we had fire but no fall!

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A fun and learning experience: Yosemite National Park

California is a true wonderland when it comes to visiting National Parks. So many are within a 5-hour drive. Yosemite is one of them. I’m so glad that I saw Yosemite before the drought.

Photo buddy Laura and I went there for a couple of days to catch the “fire fall effect.” Once a year when the sun is in the right place and water is in abundance you can get the “fire fall” effect just like the old days when they used to drop fire over the falls. Even though it rained the week before, there was not a drop of water coming down the mountain. The drought was evident elsewhere too with the meadows dry and brown. I remember green meadows.

Our journey began with our first night outside the park. We light painted a gazebo across from the lodge. Then at 4 a.m. the next morning we went into Yosemite to catch the sunrise from the Swinging Bridge. This will be a three part post. Today’s post will take you though first evening and morning at Yosemite. We waited on Swinging Bridge for the sunrise. It was an experience!