Yikes! Ann-Christine’s topicthis week is more than just one challenge for me! Explanation: My real challenge is that my toes are arthritic and I can’t wear many shoes except for Birkenstocks. I have managed to find a tennis shoe that I can wear for a few hours. It’s all subjective isn’t it! For some feet shoes can mean classy, dressy, casual, fun or barefoot. For me it’s Birkenstocks because of the support they give.
Now for photography, many things have feet (okay hooves) some even have shoes like this horse.
Most animals have feet although we refer to them with different names.
Dogs have paws. With some dogs we can see their toes, but some are covered. Can we say they have socks?
Wildlife like this deer have hooves (feet) but no shoes!
My Raggedy Ann has feet and shoes.
This egret flying up from a nest has claws (feet) but no shoes.
Last, but most important, are humans. No matter how they slide, they have feet and shoes!
So much for feet and shoes. Now it’s time to rest my feet without shoes on! Thanks Ann-Christine!!
If you want to photograph macro, go to your local nursery. Most owners don’t mind you walking around with your camera. So, whenever I want to take my macro lens out and aim it at flowers, I go to Green Acres Nursery. And they recently opened a new nursery in Citrus Heights not far from where I live.
If that wasn’t enough incentive, Ray wanted to practice with his new lens that does macro images. So off we went. I was more than pleased. Not only did I find a great spinner for my front yard, the flowers were under a net covering so they were not getting direct sunlight! Wonderful!!
In addition to flowers, plants and trees, they have many yard ornaments, fountains and other garden supplies.
We had a nice morning photographing beauty. We will be back!
Think Anne, think! What inspires you? Patti is asking us what inspires me! My pondering was interrupted by a late breakfast at our Club House for newcomers who moved in while the complex was in lockdown. Now with relaxed rules, we can enjoy community life again.
At that breakfast, an artist, Al Fichera, who paints on his computer via a Wacom Tablet approached me to tell me how much he enjoyed my photography. “You’re a great photographer. You must have had some art background.” If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’ve had no art background and deem myself not the creative type. Al went on to say I must know composition instinctively. The conversation went on a little longer and in the end, I was truly inspired. Below is one of his pictures.
For me, my inspiration comes from people. Bob Scheibel, professor at L.A. Pierce College, inspired me to write. He held my hand through my first three articles for the L.A. Daily News in their weekly Neighborhood section and then let me fly on my own. This was during my first semester at Pierce in the journalism department. With his inspiring me, I went on to win Columnist of the Year in 1987. The plaque is on my wall.
Inspiring me personally are my dear friends Carol and Alyse. Carol was handed a death sentence by a doctor. She had multiple things wrong with the worse being Polymyositis, a degenerative muscle disease. To her doctors’ amazement, she lived for 23 years, before she died, when she was given less than one year. Her courage to withstand pain and her will to live was truly inspirational.
Also inspirational is Alyse who care gave to her all those years. I would stay with Carol to give Alyse some respite.
Alyse is on the left and Carol on the right. As you can see, this was taken on their 76th birthdays.
Now on to photography. I’ve often called my dear friend Marlene Frankel my photo muse. While she didn’t directly inspire me, just being out in the field with her helped made things click. For instance the photo triangle finally made sense while shooting with her. If I have a camera question, she’s first on my list to call. We’ve had a lot of fun together and she’s a sometime contributor to LAPC.
Marlene on left; Anne on right
The next photographer to inspire me is Lucille Van Ommering. When I was entering two photos for the In Focus competition, Lucille took me under her wing and gently showed me how to print out my pictures. I remember telling her, “Wow, Lucille, I’ve never seen my photos that big!” She not only printed them, but showed me how to mat them. I left her house so inspired! Thanks Lucille!!
One of the photos she printed for me.
Next is the Yolo Art & Ag Project that invites artists and photographers onto farms and orchards for a morning of fun. I would never have been able to get onto the properties otherwise.
Taken at the Clarence Scott Ranch
And finally the LAPC group under the leadership of Tina, Patti, Amy and Ann-Christine. You inspire me with your kind comments on my posts and your faith in asking me to be a guest host for this great group.
Yikes! This week’s challenge from Ana is postcards. I never bought them when I traveled because I knew I would be home before the reader received them. Fortunately she suggested that we post images of our own that we thought would make good postcards. As I started looking through my archives, I remembered that each year I create a calendar to give friends and family. So here are some of my images on my 2019 calendar that I think would make a nice postcard.
Tulip Time at Ananda Village
Tulip at Ananda Village
Iconic Tower Bridge Sacramento
Sacramento Zoo
Folsom Prison
Sacramento River, Old Sacramento
Plymouth Countryside
Yolo County Countryside
Sacramento Historical City Cemetery
Napa Valley in the Fall
Calaveras Big Trees State Park: A Family Adventure
Going vertical at Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Thanks Ana for taking me down memory lane.
In her post, Ana gave many good reasons for buying and collecting postcards and what they mean to her. I might start buying them now!
I was worried that my younger grandkids, 12, Ryan, and 10, Olivia, would become bored during this farm visit Woodland and the Clos Cavanis Farm–a Yolo Art & Ag project. So I made sure they had their cell phones with them for picture taking. There would be no animals, orchards or farm machinery to look at but just the house and barn.
As per the flyer, “Preserving history is important to Van and Catherine Overhouse. That explains why they spent the last two decades bringing their 1868 Victorian Italianate home back to life. “We saved the house” says Van who recently completed repainting the exterior- which took 2 years working 40 hours a week – the final stage in the restoration.”
So I thought we’d be just photographing the house and barn–a quick trip. Olivia had dabbled with painting, so we talked with the artists. We also took pictures. The kids settled on macro work with their phones. They both took excellent pictures, and Ryan caught on quickly. It also helped that Catherine had baked delicious scones for us to taste. We were there 1 1/2 hours, and Olivia asked to come to the next farm visit so she could bring her paints.
Here are some of my pictures of this beautiful restored home.
We then went to the Mezger Family Zinnia Patch which was close by. Each year the Mezger’s grow zinnias and encourage the public to come and pick the flowers. They also provide vases when available. People who pick the flowers are encouraged to share them with “shut in’s” who can’t get out to see their beauty otherwise. Olivia picked some flowers for her mom. Here are some of my photos.
If Olivia still wants to, she will come with me in August and paint. I’ll bring chairs, do my photography and relax. Not a bad morning!
Just what are back country roads? Could they be roads that are new to you and fun to explore? Could they be taking a wrong turn and ending up on a road that’s barely suitable for driving? For Wandering Dogs, Beth and her husband, it’s getting your tires dirty and seeing the beautiful countryside. So this week she’s challenged us to take that road less traveled.
For me, it means adventure and new roads, paved or not. I’ve mentioned my photo outings with my friend Greg, who passed away, in other posts. He, Marlene and I would set out in the morning and return in time for dinner–maybe! We didn’t know where he was taking us and sometimes neither did he. He had a passion for turning down side roads, especially when it said “Dead End!” These are from some of those trips.
Sometimes it’s the need to get away for an hour or two. Early on during lockdown last year, I was getting antsy. When Richard noticed me scratching at the front door, screaming “Let me out!” (A slight exaggeration, but true feeling!), he said let’s go for a ride. We didn’t go far; just up Highway 80, looking for small towns. One of these towns was Dutch Flat, and it was small.
The garage that housed the hearse.
The old hearse.
Another of our escapes had us looking for the Sugar Pine Reservoir. The was one of those times when taking the wrong turn could get you into trouble. The GPS showed us a way back, but it didn’t say how narrow and twisty a dirt road it was. It took us 4 hours to do what should have taken at most 1 hour!
We should have taken this as a sign of what was to come!
This was the only time I could get out of the car to take a picture!
Photo buddy Jean likes to get in the car and go with sort of an idea of where to head. For this outing we headed out to the Eastern Sierras in search of Fall colors, but Jean smelled water, and off we went. We found a stream and a lake and I don’t remember the name.
We found water and pelicans in the stream.
The Lake
We did find some color.
So these are some of my road less traveled excursions. Yes, there were more, but I’ll save them for another time.
For years I’ve been looking at my friends’ (Sandy and Ken) ribbons attached to their photographs. They participate in the Motherload Fair, Sonora, photo competition. It’s a small fair and I asked them to let me know when the next one was happening. That was about 2 years ago. A pandemic interfered. But this year they suddenly decided that with California opening up, the fair would happen.
So I entered seven pictures in various categories. The entry fee was $1 per picture. I did say it was a small fair!
Sandy and Ken print and mat their own images and I drove down for a lesson in printing and matting. I did learn a great deal. First, matting is no easy task. I did one mat and Sandy did the rest. I’ve decided that in the future, I would print out a standard size and buy a standard mat! I don’t have Sandy’s math abilities or patience! I also bought a printer just like hers. Richard has already printed out one of his astrophotography pictures. So that’s the education.
When Ken brought in our entries, he was amazed at the lack of pictures. The Fair staff said that there wasn’t a lot entered this year. Now for the competition. Of the seven, I had four first place images with one of them being best of division, one second place image and two honorable mentions. Sandy took best in show and others. Ken’s won many ribbons also.
Here are my first place images:
Since this was my first time to this fair, I brought my camera. Well, I always bring my camera! Here are some captures that are captioned.
This clown had no problem getting in front of my lens!
The fairway to the rides and animals.
In the exhibit hall, this amazing quilt!
Fair food. We had tri-tip sandwiches.
The merry-go-round.
This was the first day and not crowded.
Bathing the cows.
They don’t seem to mind.
Do pigs always sleep?
I’ve never seen a chicken like this one!
A sweet goat.
Another variety.
The Ferris Wheel.
This band was a Creedence Clearwater tribute band.
They played well and had people dancing.
Even a mom and son.
Under the purple evening lights.
Nighttime camera zooming.
These were hand held.
No tripod.
Sandy and Ken are already talking about next year. Will I enter?
Finally, here’s Sandy’s Best in Show image. It’s hard to see because of all the ribbons!!
We all need a respite of sorts. It could be an afternoon of shopping or a long trip. We we did some travel overseas, I didn’t have a good camera or the ability to take good photos. I keep saying I started photography 20 years too late!
The trip I chose for Rusha and Bert’s challenge is our Cross Country Trip in the summer of 2013. This was to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, and took us 3 months. I could have traveled for 6 months, but Richard is not the traveler and was doing the driving.
I’ve always wanted to travel across the U.S., visiting as many National Parks as possible. So we headed out in our 5th wheel trailer and dog, Gem. Gem is a home body, preferring to be at his house and not anywhere else. Notice I said his house! He also doesn’t like the rumble of the diesel truck engine. I had also just bought my first DSLR a Nikon D3100 which also went with us.
We chose to get to the east coast via the southern route so we could visit my cousin in Plano Texas. Here are some places we visited.
Let’s jump up to Washington D.C. I really didn’t get good shots of what was important, but I did get a good shot of the Metro station!
Richard wanted to go to Times Square while we were visiting family in New York. We paid about $30. to park!
Now for Niagara Falls. How does a new photographer take a picture that’s different from all others taken so far. You can’t! But I was happy that I got all three falls in one picture!
We went as far north as Bar Harbor Maine. On our morning walk, Gem and I came upon a lobster fisherman unloading his baskets.
There were many more highlights during our 3 month journey. I totally enjoyed it and would repeat it if given the opportunity. Thank you Rusha and Bert for this reminiscing challenge.
Heat and drought! Not a good combination. We are in the midst of wildfire season here in the west, and Northern California is getting its share. But what makes us smile are the sunflowers. Yes, it’s also sunflower season here.
In the middle of June, the wonderful Yolo Arts & Ag Project brought us to the Elkhorn Basin Ranch in West Sacramento. It was going to be a hot day, so we got there early. Artists and photographers were lined up to sketch, paint and photograph the cheerful sunflowers.
Now these sunflowers were grown mainly for seed to ship overseas, and to my surprise, they were not super tall. I’m short and I always have a difficult time to photograph fields even with my three-step ladder. I was in photo heaven. Also the farm manager allowed us to walk into the field a little bit.
So, here are some of my images from that morning.
An artist stops to smile for the camera.
Before we reached our destination, we did stop to take images of this orchard.
The Elkhorn Basin Ranch is owned by the Yolo Land Trust and leased to Don Beeman and Garcia Farms.
I am delighted to be your guest host for this week’s LAPC. Thank you John for getting us into/onto the water last week.
As much as I enjoy photographing water, I also love black and white photography! I don’t process a lot of it, but when I do I enjoy the texture and depth it gives a scene. It reaches a place in your soul that color can’t. Some images cry out for black and white.
This post is not a “how to” or history lesson, but a vehicle to get you excited about processing in black and white. As photographers, we all have our own unique way of doing that. Some shoot in black and white while others shoot in color and process in black and white.
I’ve watched many videos and attended workshops on black and white photography only to realize there is no set way to create a good black and white image. I have, however, settled on a workflow that produces the results I like. This is my workflow.
First, I always shoot in RAW and in color. That gives me more flexibility and more tonal range to work with. Very rarely do I see the image in black and white before I shoot it. I mostly see color until I get it into Lightroom.
This fog landscape I saw in black and white as I shot it. One of my rare moments.
Once I get my images into Lightroom, I process them in color. If I see an image with a lot of contrast, texture, and tonal quality, I finish the color processing and then look at it in black and white in Lightroom. If I see a possibility for a good black and white, I transfer the color image into Nik Silver Efex. This is where the fun begins.
Here’s a lily in color and black and white. Look at how the various colors, contrast and lighting transfer in tonal quality to the black and white.
Although Photoshop and Lightroom have improved in their ability to process black and white, I still prefer Nik’s Silver Efex. I guess I’m just used to it and I like their presets. Better yet, I need their presets! I’m not an artist. I choose a preset and work on it from there. Nik also has the ability to use more than one preset on a single image. You can use the control points to dodge and burn (darken and lighten). I rarely do this but work more with the contrast and tone of the image. If you like different film effects, there are many film types and tones from which you can choose. Honestly, I don’t change film types but, sometimes, will give an image a different tone color.
This is the color version of Waterton Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada. A foggy day and not much color.
The same image processed in black and white. Adding texture and contrast, created a more inviting image.
While in Silver Efex you can also add texture and do other editing that I prefer to do in Lightroom.
Sometimes the venue calls for black and white photography. One of my earlier black and white images taken while at Bodie a ghost town in Northeastern California.
Here’s another where I think the black and white conversion accents the splash of the wave on the platform. Taken in Pacifica.
Once I’m done in Silver Efex, I then export the image back into Lightroom for the finishing touches. I sometimes continue working on the contrast and light. I love how Lightroom’s tone curve helps with that. For me I like images to have some “pop!”
Also figures in shadow are accented in black and white. This image was taken at the Marin Headlands during one of my first Meetup outings.
Back to the present, my latest black and white conversion is a lotus in the William Land Park pond. It’s beautiful in color, but how do you feel (Yes, feel it not think it!) about it in black and white? For me, the curves, contrast and lighting are accented.
So, this is my method for processing an image to black and white. I’m sure you have your own workflow for black and white photography, and I’d like to know what it is and see your images. This week’s challenge invites you to dig through your archives for black and white images or process color images in black and white. You can also take new pictures and process them in black and white.
As you post them, please explain how you processed them. This will help all of us learn new ways of doing what we’ve been doing for a long time. I hope you are now ready to see the black and white possibilities as you shoot and/or process.
Thank you, Tina, Amy, Ann-Christine and Patti, for giving me this opportunity. I do appreciate it!
Remember to link this post and use the Lens Artists tag. Next week’s challenge will be presented by Rusha Sams of Oh The Places We See: Getting Away.
Slow Shutter Speed 