flowers – Page 6 – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Best therapy, photography: UC Davis Arboretum, Davis, California

I wasn’t feeling well. In fact, I told myself that I probably shouldn’t go. But, I knew I wasn’t contagious, wanted to go, so off I went with my Camera Totin’ Tuesday group to the UC Davis Arboretum. Located on the UC Davis campus, the arboretum draws people of all ages to walk, ride their bikes, picnic, study and take pictures.

I was warned by my friend Laura that they were in the process of restoring half the rambling arboretum and the water was low, but we decided we would go anyway. We knew the flower garden would be there. I took the majority of my images there in the small garden. The flowers were beautiful.

Laura was right, in some areas the water level was so low that you could see the ground beneath. There were less birds, no turtles, but it was still pretty in some areas. At least the red buds were blooming, adding their rich pink color to the landscape.

Because I wasn’t feeling well, I turned back earlier than others. Karen A. (We now have two members named Karen and both were on the outing.) walked back with me. The others came back in two’s. We were probably shooting for two hours.

The next stop was lunch–isn’t it always. So, I’m wondering whether it was the photography or the people that made me so anxious to go when I knew I should have stayed home?

In this post, I’ll show you some of the flowers. In part two I’ll show you some of the birds, landscape and people I was able to photograph.

Posted on October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

But I was just there: The Fountains and farmers’ market

I’ve come a long way with my photographic ability, but it has been difficult at times. Like, what do you do when you’re going back to shoot at a place you recently visited? When my Tuesday group went to The Fountains shopping center in Roseville shortly after I had been there, I brought along my crystal ball–not to see the future, but to see the present differently.

It was a great idea, but very difficult to work. I brought along an old tripod that would hold the base for the ball so I could shoot through it to capture flowers. No matter how high I had the tripod, it wasn’t working like I had visioned. Add the breeze, and you pack away the ball. I did manage to get one shot I truly like. I suppose that made it worth it.

Halloween decorations and steam coming from the fountain also made the trip slightly different. I had some fun with the scarecrow images. You’ll see those in the gallery.

What really made the trip, was the farmers’ market. I love to shoot vegetables. They have such great color and texture. One vendor had a decorative vulture that was motion sensored and a glowing red eye. Fun! Fun!

So, at the end of the outing, I said to David. This wasn’t much of a shoot, but the company was great. I truly had a great time, and learned there is always someting different to shoot in a familiar place especially with great friends.

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Anne Sandler

Shopping and shooting: The Fountains, Roseville

Senario: one week before husband, Richard’s, back surgery; dear friends come to visit from Los Angeles for a couple of days; Richard can’t walk much and is in pain; we stay home first day; second day, just to get out for a while, we, minus Richard, go to The Fountains shopping center and the Romanian Festival, both in Roseville.

Now that you know what’s going on, let me tell you about our friends of at least 40 years. We’ve seen our children grow and marry, our grandchildren reach the age of Bar Mitzvah, and stayed in touch after Richard and I moved from Los Angeles. Life cycle events would bring us down to L.A. more often than bringing these two couples up our way. So, it was a treat to have them stay with us, and it provided a diversion for Richard.

We went to The Fountains because Lois wanted to see the Vera Bradley shop, and Ron’s shutter finger was getting antsy. Shelley and Jim just enjoy walking. So, while Ron and I took pictures, Lois enjoyed signing up for Vera Bradley’s discounts, and Jim and Shellie walked.

Next, I tried to get them to the Romanian Festival, but our way was blockaded by a farmer’s market. We did make it to the Festival, which provided Ron and me another photo opportunity. You’ll see those images in my next post.

For now, come join us at The Fountains. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ve seen flowers from this unique shopping center before. I also took on the challenge of shooting more than just flowers.

Oh, the end of this senario: Richard’s back surgery went well with just one complication. Now he thinks he can do anything one week after surgery.

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Anne Sandler

Trip 2 and part 2: Return to Apple Hill

I’m either shooting better or not being discriminatory enough. I’ll go with shooting better! It’s my personality to not toot my own horn. But, here I am with a lot of Apple Hill images to show you. Thus, we continue from my last post.

Every year people make a pilgrimage to Apple Hill in El Dorado County (just above Placerville) for their holiday pies–apple of course. Since I don’t like pie, that’s not the reason I go. I like to photograph the people, the landscape, the old equipment and sometimes flowers.

So, let’s look at the images that remain from that day’s outing. Was I correct in thinking I’m shooting better? I can handle constructive criticism.

Posted on August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 by Anne Sandler

Finding cooler weather: Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, California

Yes, we ran away! At least 1 1/2 hours west where the temperatures were about 20 degrees cooler. And, we enjoyed it. Camera Totin’ Tuesdays went to Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley and visited the Botanical Gardens, Golf Course, steam train and carousel.

It was a wonderful day. The park is magnificent and large, and the weather was delightful. While we didn’t expect any flowers this late in summer, we managed to find small blooms in the Botanical Gardens. The gardens were large and separated into different areas. We managed to walk through the entire garden before we stopped for lunch at the Golf Course.

After lunch we rode the miniature steam train and went to shoot the carousel (merry-g0-round). But, we didn’t get to everything. Maybe we’ll go back. Right now it’s in the high 80’s and low 90’s in the Sacramento area so we stayed local yesterday and visited the Sacramento Zoo.

In this post I’ll show you some of the Botanical Gardens. In my next post, I’ll show the rest. I hope those of you who are enjoying summer, are cool!

Posted on June 21, 2016June 21, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Having fun, but not making progress: Petaluma, part 2

If you’ve been following this blog, then you may remember that I began the year with a goal of learning Photoshop and other processing programs. With half the year gone, I haven’t made much progress. I can take out unwanted things easily in Photoshop, but haven’t ventured into layers. I have gotten acquainted with some processing programs, but have only used their presets.

And, no, I’m not being hard on myself; I’m just stating facts. I’ve been shooting a lot and loving it. My photography has improved too. Maybe it was just too big a goal. Maybe I need to chunk it down to learn one thing at a time with Photoshop, especially now with the big update to 2015.5 in the CC version.

Okay every week, I will learn one new thing about Photoshop. Can I do it? We’ll see. In the meantime, we will continue touring Petaluma with the walking tour of Victorian houses. These old houses are beautiful, and the flowers are from their gardens. You’ll notice that I concentrated mostly on the doors and entries. No captions.

One new thing a week, one new thing a week. I’m beginning to feel like the “Little Engine that Could!”

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Anne Sandler

I ran as fast as I could: Flowers in San Jose

I tried to outrun a cold, but I think it caught me anyway. That’s a bummer because I want to go learn more about lighting tonight and shoot on Saturday and Sunday. So, at least during the day today, I’m taking it easy. However my dog keeps asking for his usual walk. We all learn to deal with disappointment, even him.

When I was in San Jose visiting my friends, I wanted to go to the Municipal Rose Garden, but decided to take my camera on my neighborhood walk instead. I wasn’t dissatisfied. The gardens were beautiful and well cared for. I wish I had more time and energy for a longer walk.

This proves we really don’t have to go far to find beauty. With that in mind, here are some of the beautiful flowers I was able to shoot with my 18 – 140 mm lens. No macro that day; it was too breezy. No captions today. Mostly I know the roses, but not the names of the other flowers. All I know is that they are beautiful!

After I post this I’ll rest for a couple of hours.

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

A day gone awry: Japanese Friendship Garden, part 2

Did you ever have one of those days? You know, the kind that are full of mishaps. Well, Friday, June 10 was one of those days for me. Oh, this has nothing to do with the Japanese Friendship Garden.

It all began when I woke up at 5 a.m. This was my last morning at my friends’ house in San Jose. My hope was to wake up around 7 a.m. so I could stay up to shoot the Milky Way at Blue Canyon Airport in the Sierras. I had it all planned: leave San Jose at 9 a.m., get home, rest and get ready for the night shoot. I couldn’t skip the shoot since we were hosting it at our observatory!

The day started wrong and continued from there:

I couldn’t nap during the day.
I was tired and left my red colored flash light home.
When we stopped for dinner, Richard remembered that he didn’t bring along the observatory keys. So he had to go back home to get them–a two hour round trip.
All the photographers came and were anxious to shoot the Milky Way. But, the cloud cover didn’t leave. Most of us left without our prize.

So, that was my day. We got home about midnight and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. the next day! Last night, I slept nine hours!

So that was my day gone awry. What about yours?

While you’re thinking about how you can better me, here are the last of the Friendship Garden images.

There were many beautiful flowers in the garden.

Again, cell phones get the attention.

Another flower worth shooting.

This Great Egret put on a show for me.

He’s looking for food.

He sees food.

He catches his food.

A closer look at this beautiful bird.

He flew from log to log looking for food.

Ready for take off.

More flowers.

This goose hissed at me protecting his gosling.

This one gosling was all that remained. Larger predatory birds snatch babies up.

More flowers.

There were many beautiful flowers in the garden.

Ready for take off.

He flew from log to log looking for food.

A closer look at this beautiful bird.

He catches his food.

He sees food.

He’s looking for food.

This Great Egret put on a show for me.

Another flower worth shooting.

Again, cell phones get the attention.

This goose hissed at me protecting his gosling.

This one gosling was all that remained. Larger predatory birds snatch babies up.

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

More macro: Sacramento Historical City Cemetery, part 2

When I promise, I deliver. This is part two of my fun morning at the Sacramento Historical City Cemetery. This cemetery is known by another name: The Old City Cemetery. And, because of its historical nature, volunteer tours are given on weekends and various holidays. The who was who of Sacramento are buried here.

What I find interesting, besides the beautiful flowers, are the grave stones and monuments. Some are simple and some ornate. On my first visit there, I found one that simply said: “Our Baby.” Life spans are given in years, months and days. If you’re a history buff, you’ll find it here.

Maybe that’s why the City in its misguided effort is trying to take away the roses to present history as they think it was. But that would take away the beautiful attraction to the cemetery. This move is being fought by the volunteers who planted the gardens surrounding the grave sites. I’ll keep you posted on their effort.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the pictures. And, as promised in a prior post, I just sent in an order to have five of my black and white images printed!

Purple in all shades dominated the gardens.

This grave site is simply beautiful. Was the palm tree there historically?

I love the red flowers.

Soft in its beauty.

The head stones were beautifully engraved. This one, a sad loss.

Can you imagine these stones without flowers?

Some of the history: The son of Alexander Hamilton is buried here.

Getting close with the macro lens.

A lone flower waits for friends to bloom.

It takes two bugs to do this flower justice.

Another grave made beautiful with a floral addition.

I loved the colors of these.

More macro.

Another bee.

Pretty pink.

Beautiful rose.

A grave site needing attention.

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 10 Comments

Macro Madness: Sacramento Historical City Cemetery

We visited the Sacramento Historical City Cemetery with a sense of loss. Not for people who have died and are buried there; for the flowers and archways the City wants to take out. The goal they say is to bring the cemetery back to what it would have been in the 1800s. What, they didn’t have flowers then?

We come to shoot here at least twice a year. We come for the history and the beauty of the gardens. We came this time because the flowers were blooming and there was no breeze. Well, just a slight intermittent breeze, but great for macro work. I haven’t been able to use my macro lens all winter. Fortunately, my walk around lens does a great job on close up shots, and I’ve been making do with it.

But this Tuesday was macro madness indeed! And, I came upon some head stones and statues I hadn’t shot before. You could keep going back and come home with images from a different perspective.

We also met the head volunteer who is fighting the City, trying to keep the gardens as is. I hope she wins. This is going to be a 2-part post because I have so much to show you. I hope my next post about this amazing cemetery isn’t to say that the flowers are gone, because that would be a great loss.