Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

There’s gold in them their hills: Gold panning, Bear River, Colfax, California

I like to shoot photos, Richard likes to image the stars and Kenny Nichols likes to pan for gold. It relaxes him, and gets him away from work and home. Gloria, his wife, goes along to get away and enjoy time with friends. Fortunately, we are among their friends, and I finally got a chance to visit them while they were out on a gold panning weekend.

Everyone has their own way to capture that precious metal. Some have elaborate machines (I’ll call them that for lack of knowledge!) and others prefer simplicity. No matter which they choose, it’s very physical. After a day of panning, the club members relax and enjoy duck races, evening board games and other activities.

Their weekend was dampened by the huge King fire that filled their campground with smoke. The fire, which was arson, has been raging for a week and a half and is only 65% contained now. When we were there, the smoke had just come into their area and hung heavily over the river blocking out the sun.

My pictures will show the smoke, and because of it, we didn’t stay long. But, we did stay long enough to get acquainted with the community and their passion for their hobby. One couple took a good deal of time with us, and you’ll see their pictures in the next post. Kenny wasn’t panning because he fell the day before and was resting. I’m sure he panned the following day.

For Richard and I, we are back following our hobby passions.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Back to where I started: A point and shoot camera

It might seem like I’m going backwards, but I’m not. I’m simply covering all my photography needs. Well, not maybe all, but at least the need to not get caught without a camera.

You must have been caught in a circumstance where you said, “I wish I had my camera!” That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I had just left a meeting about 35 minutes from home and there was the most fantastic sunset, and I didn’t have my camera! By the time I got home, it was over. To overcome that, I purchased a Sony Cyber-shot camera. This morning I gave it a trial run while walking my dog.

It did well in the areas that I would use it. This model detects whether you are shooting a landscape, portrait, close up, night shot, etc. I haven’t figured out whether I can override its Auto Intelligence mode. What it calls macro doesn’t give bokeh (blurry background).

Of course, there’s nothing like my Nikon DSLR, but the Sony fits in my purse (It’s smaller than my cell phone.), and I’ll have it with me at all times. It’s also useful when you’re at a wedding and want to take your personal shots. Its small size won’t interfere with the professional photographer.

So here are some shots from today’s effort in going backwards.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

No traffic; no light trails: Sacramento, California

The challenge: to learn how to shoot light trails. The second challenge: Not a lot of traffic to create an effective composition!

That’s the way it was on Friday night when I joined a group of photographers to shoot light trails near Old Sacramento. I did succeed in overcoming the first challenge–I now know how to shoot light trails. However the second challenge left me disappointed. You’ve been there before. You have this image in your mind, but in the real world, it doesn’t happen.

Even though there were not enough cars running through intersections, I did have a great time. The group from Sacramento Photographers is great. There’s always someone to help you, and you learn by just talking to them. Oh, the pizza at the end just capped the evening. I’m ready to find traffic now!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Olympus Point Sculpture Park

Do you have a place where you live that you’ve been meaning to get to but never do? I’ve lived in the Sacramento, California area for 13 years now; I pass this big red sculpture on the I80 freeway all the time, but have never taken the time to see it up close. Yesterday I finally visited the Olympus Point Sculpture Park.

This sculpture by Aristides Demetrios is called “Cosmos,” and was dedicated to the Roseville, California community in 1990. I was between activities and brought my camera along with the intent to find the park and take images of the large red sculpture. I was disappointed and delighted. Disappointed because the area around the sculpture was not kept very, well and in some areas the sculpture needed re-painting. Delighted because it was fun to photograph from all angles. I started out with my 18 – 55 mm lens and then went back to the car to switch to my 10 – 20 mm lens.

There is a nature trail near the sculpture. I saw people coming and going, but I didn’t have time to investigate. Now when I pass the big, red sculpture while driving, I can have the satisfaction of having been there.