dogs – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on February 1, 2025February 1, 2025 by Anne Sandler · 40 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #334: Cats and Dogs

It’s funny that Tina should have us talking about cats and dogs, because it’s raining here right now and at times you’d think it was raining cats and dogs!

Did you have a dog when you were growing up? I didn’t! And we spent the first 7 years of our marriage without a pet. To be honest, we moved nine times in those 7 years–not conducive to having a pet. But when we bought our first house, we adopted our first dog. We’ve had one ever since. Most were adopted; two were purchased.

You’ve probably guessed that we are partial to dogs. They listen better, don’t jump on food prep counters, etc. Mostly they give back love and allegiance. Unfortunately, I didn’t start photography until we got our latest family member, Gem our Schnoodle. He’s 20 pounds of stubborn joy. Here he is as a young dog. I made the mistake of using him as a model while I was doing the 365 challenge. Now he leaves the room when I take out a camera!

He’s now 14 1/2, has a heart condition, and we are doing the best we can for him. He’s even more stubborn in his old age, wanting his daily walk and treats. I have a stroller for him when he tires.

Here are some other dogs I’ve come across during my photo outings.

And there’s always a dog at Chalk It Up!

Now on to the feline subjects of Tina’s challenge. In the past years, I’ve softened my stance on cats, but not enough to own one; or have one own me! Here are some I’ve met.

Then there are the residents of Dead Cat Alley in Woodland, Ca. Well worn ceramic statues adorn a three-blook alley.

And finally at Chalk It Up, I found one of our favorite cat characters.

We’ve come to a difficult decision to not get another dog after Gem passes. At our ages, we wouldn’t get a puppy because we don’t want to leave a dog behind and caring for another senior dog is also something we don’t look forward to. I’m hoping Gem will make it to his 15th birthday. In the meantime, it’s love, love, love!

I enjoyed all the colorful posts last week. Egidio’s challenge put us in a wonderful and complimentary world. I also look forward to seeing your dogs and cats. When you respond, please link to Tina’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Until next week, live in gratitude and be resilient!

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 30 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #219: Treasure Hunt

I enjoy a good treasure hunt, especially when it involves photography. I’ve participated in a couple of outings that involved finding treasured objects, and had fun. This week Tina encourages us to participate in her treasure hunt. So here goes!

I found all but the moon. But that was for extra credit since I do have a sun image. Each image is captioned.

Thanks Tina, this was fun. It’s good to be back with LAPC after being gone on an enjoyable vacation. I’m sorry to have missed some challenges, but without internet, it was not possible to participate. If you haven’t posted your response yet, be sure to link to Tina’s original post when you do. Next week, Patti will host the LAPC challenge. Be sure to look for her post.

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

Posted on August 16, 2021August 16, 2021 by Anne Sandler · 22 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #161: Feet and Shoes

Yikes! Ann-Christine’s topic this 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!!

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Anne Sandler · 18 Comments

Poppy field? Not this year! Mokelumne Hill & Jackson

Maybe we didn’t go far enough last time we went in search of a poppy field. So we drove further south on Highway 49 to Jackson. No poppy field. It was then I decided that there would be no golden orange field for me this year. Little clusters of poppies were along the road. We even went further than Jackson to Mokelumne Hill, a quaint little town that Marlene and I had been to before. No poppy field!

So here are some pictures from Mokelumne Hill.

Now on to Jackson and lunch.

Next year will be the year for me to find a poppy field! In the meantime I did have fun taking photos with my photo buddies.

Posted on May 16, 2021 by Anne Sandler · 26 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #148: Spots and Dots

Spots and dots? This challenge from Ann Christine put my lack of creativity to a test. Fortunately, I got some ideas from members who posted before me. They do say that imitation is the best form of flattery!

Animals were shown in a few posts; at least those having spots. So off I went to my Sacramento Zoo archives.

I also found a dog with spots. Not a dog called spot. I spotted him in one of my tours of a small town. Sorry, I couldn’t resist having some word fun.

And you’ll never know what you’ll find at IKEA. With a Photoshop filter, I turned a dotted pillow into a swirl with a center dot.

Every year there are Christmas lights that you can shoot normally or zoom. But they all start out as brightly lit dots.

Finally, you know how much I love photographing flowers. Whether it’s a macro, showing the stamens or a field dotted with golden poppies, I totally enjoy it.

This was a fun exercise. Thank you Ann Christine for the challenge!

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Anne Sandler · 5 Comments

In search of poppies: Sutter Creek

You never know where you’ll end up when on a photo outing with your photo pod. You start out with a destination in mind and a fork in the road can lead you somewhere else! That’s what happened when we started out to find a field of the California Poppy, our State flower. Our destination was Jackson, but I’m not sure where we ended up. Not Jackson and no poppy fields.

So we decided to capture the flowers and poppies in Sutter Creek. It’s always fun to visit that small town anyway, and it was getting to be hungry time. We found potted poppies and other things in the town.

On our way back to the town we spotted a mine from the road, but it was too early to enter it, if we could due to the COVID pandemic. So we took our pictures from the road and went into town.

Now in Sutter Creek. Stores and restaurants were just beginning to open.

With full tummies and a nice walk around town, we headed home. We stopped along the way to photograph this barn and vineyard.

We weren’t done yet! We spotted a model airplane airport and Ray instinctively drove in to see what was happening. Once in, I remembered I stopped there with Richard, but there was a new type of plane that I’d never seen before. The wings were like cellophane and it buzzed around the sky fast.

I still want that poppy field and hope to get to it before it’s gone. But, we did have a fun journey!

Posted on June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Len-Artist Challenge #103: Surprise

Now this is a challenge. A surprised moment could be photographed in many ways. I was thinking about this and came up with the idea that sometimes people would be surprised they were photographed candidly. So here goes my interpretation of this week’s challenge by Ann-Christine.

Let’s begin with a most recent picture taken on my son’s boat during an outing to Folsom Lake. This was part of my birthday present. I love to shoot the backs of people. Totally unaware were my daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and grandson. Maybe I should have told Ryan to straighten up his head, but then it would ruin the candid moment. Separately, the kids were also surprised.

Now, we go back in time (2018) to a photo walk along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. In this shot we have a young couple helping their very senior dog into her stroller. This touched my heart.

These next two are of homeless guys. One is asleep and the other is trying to get his belongings into the restroom. More images to touch my soul.

Last, was opening day at Daffodil Hill. This was run by a family who plant these lovely flowers each year and open their property to the public. They closed permanently after the first weekend because of the crowds on the property and traffic mayhem on the road in/out. From left to right: The traffic on the road in, the line for the restrooms, the congestion along a path.

I may have been behind the camera for these images, but I’ve also been on the receiving end of a candid shot or two by my photo buddies! I love candid images.

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Anne Sandler · 7 Comments

The end and the beginning: The Fountains & About Town

The beginning:

I’m sure you all know that things don’t always turn out as scheduled. For instance, Marlene and I had planned to go to the Sacramento Zoo for the first photo outing of 2020; however, I left my camera case (full of gear) at my kid’s house. I didn’t think my Nikon D3100 and an 18 – 55 mm lens would do well at the zoo. So where to go?

Marlene said that she had three things to take pictures of, but never got to it. This seemed perfect! A short but sweet shoot and all in Sacramento. We just wanted to get out with our cameras. The first on her list was a horse statue, but it had galloped away. Where, we didn’t know. So, on to the next, a bigger than life sized lumber jack statue outside a Lumberjacks restaurant He hadn’t stomped away!

It was overcast, and I tried to get the lumberjack at various angles. Practice! Practice!

Next was the bigger than life size chicken. I tried to get various angles, but it was fenced in. But, it was unusual!

You’ll have to click on the image to see the entire metal sculpture.

The end:

For the last shoot of 2019, Marlene and I decided to tempt the possibility and do some street photography at The Fountains, in Roseville, an outdoor mall featured in this blog many times. I thought on December 26 there would be a lot of bargain shoppers, but I was wrong. One store owner allowed us to take photos of his beautiful inventory, and a lot of it was on sale. Here’s what we found.

There you have it. The beginning and the end. A little backwards, but then………

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

To the market we go: Folsom Farmers Market

Summer, it’s the season when local farmer’s markets abound, and I do enjoy taking pictures of the produce and people. But, you never know what you’ll find when you get there. The Folsom farmers market, in Folsom, was more representative of large growers than local. I asked several vendors where their farm was located, and they answered they were representing a large farm based elsewhere. Here are some produce images.

I was probably also not “in the mood!” I find that my attitude and health affect what and how I shoot. Whatever it was, I enjoyed taking photos of the dogs than the produce.

There were a couple of food trucks that I thought were interesting.

But, I truly enjoyed how the light fell on this flag.

So, maybe, it was a good morning shoot after all!

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

In one day: Lotus, a peacock, and a dog fashion show!

It was time for the beautiful Lotus flowers to make their appearance, but there were few and just a few lily buds in the nearby pond. We are wondering why! Maybe all the rain? Maybe the lack of a true spring season? But I’m thankful there were some to photograph at the Vedante Society of Sacramento’s lotus pond in Carmichael. It would be a shame to have missed them altogether.

But, there was an added attraction: a peacock strutting about to impress a peahen! This guy made sure his feathers were fanned out and ready to impress.