Posted on by Anne Sandler

Helping nature create beauty: Crystal Hermitage Gardens, part 2

So many times we see where humankind has destroyed nature, so it’s refreshing to see where we’ve given nature a little help. The residents and members of Ananda Village have done a tremendous job on this years tulip garden. Last post I showed you the flowers, in this post, I’ll show you more of the garden view.

But first, I’m giving you a brief introduction about this amazing place. Ananda Village is a cooperative spiritual community dedicated to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, and they celebrated their 45th anniversary in 2014. People of all ages live there, enjoying the beauty in service and meditation. They share devotion to God through the path of Kriya Yoga.

The Crystal Hermitage Gardens is the spiritual heart of Ananda Village. Visitors enjoy the beautiful terraced gardens and vistas. There is also a small chapel where workshop attendees can meditate. The gardens are open for weddings, workshops and other events. You can also attend workshops through Ananda Village’s programming.

Whether you’re a photographer or just want to enjoy some time away from your hectic life, you’ll find what you’re looking for here where nature gets a helping hand. Now the for images!

is the spiritual heart of Ananda Village. Visitors enjoy the beautiful terraced gardens and vistas. There is also a small chapel where workshop attendees can meditate. The gardens are open for weddings, workshops and other events. You can also attend workshops through Ananda Village’s programming.

Whether you’re a photographer or just want to enjoy some time away from your hectic life, you’ll find what you’re looking for here where nature gets a helping hand. Now the for images!

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Someone’s in the kitchen:Crystal Hermitage Gardens

Right now there’s 35 matzo balls boiling on the stove, a turkey roasting in the roaster and chicken soup cooling on the counter. I’m in the kitchen to make sure there’s enough water in the stock pots so the matzo balls don’t burn. They can when the water gets low; I’ve done it before!

Happy Passover to all of you who celebrate the holiday also. It’s late this year. I look back at this holiday with fondness. I remember my entire maternal family gathered around my grandparents long table, my grandfather reading the entire hagadah (story) in Hebrew, and the rest of us reading from mismatched hagadahs just to keep busy. It seemed like agony then, but now, if I could only go back. After my grandparents passed, Passover was never the same.

I have tried to create my own holiday tradition for my children and grandchildren. I hope that my older grandchildren will create a tradition for their families when that occurs.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the Crystal Hermitage Gardens which are located in Ananda Village located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Grass Valley, California.

The Exploring Photography Meetup group organized a visit to these beautiful gardens to photograph the amazing variety of tulips planted. I can’t imagine the effort it took to create this beauty for residents and garden visitors. This will be a two-part post because I have many images to show you. Today, I’ll show you the flowers. Most are tulips and there are some others.

No captions again. I’m way too busy in the kitchen preparing my portion for a pot-luck Seder with friends!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 6 Comments

All caught up: UC Davis Arboretum

Yes, I’m all caught up with my photo editing! It’s a great feeling, and I had the opportunity to learn some of the wonderful advantages of my processing programs, mainly their filters. I also have been putting single images into Photomatix to get that HDR look. It works well.

Next, I need to delve into Photoshop. Right now, I’m using it to remove unwanted things in a picture, but I do want to learn how to use layers. I know I said that in my last post. So much to learn!

Taking the photo is just one part of being a good photographer, but for me, it’s the fun part. I love going to new places and back to places I’ve been before. In today’s post, I re-visited a favorite with the Camera Totin Tuesday group—the University of California at Davis Arboretum. I like it there because it’s just a beautiful and calm place to walk through. This trip we went through the flower garden and were treated to beautiful blossoms and color. Our stroll through the arboretum proper was less colorful since the red buds weren’t blooming yet, or maybe they bloomed already.

This wet winter has nature’s cycles off kilter! There was also algae in Putah Creek. I remembered it being there the last time we were there, but there was so much more this trip. I’m also wondering if the algae is keeping the birds away. We usually see egrets and other water fowl, but this trip—none!

But there’s always beauty to be found. I’m going to show you some flowers and the creek with algae; however, I won’t be putting in captions since it’s mostly self-explanatory.

I may be caught up with editing, but I do have more outings to post in this blog. So stay tuned.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

After a rain, shoot, shoot, shoot; part 2

Right now in Northern California no one is shooting pictures. We’re experiencing a series of storms. I’m not complaining! My go-to-practice place, Dry Creek, has water past its shore line, and there are flood warnings in place for the rivers and other creeks.

Being stuck inside has its advantages, I’m catching up on a few things, completing this post and giving you exciting news.

For the exciting news: I’m being featured on, Australian photographer, Leanne Cole’s Blog, Introductions post this week. I’ve known Leanne since I started shooting and had the privilege of shooting with her when she visited the U.S. last September. She’s given me advice and watched my progress these 4 years. The post will appear in the States on Monday and Tuesday across the ocean. You can find the post at http://leannecolephotography.com/.

I’ve also submitted an article for the upcoming Dynamic Range digital photography magazine for women in the coming issue. This is a great magazine full of information and beautiful photography. And, you don’t have to be a woman to enjoy it. Check it out!

Now, back to this post’s continuation. Today I have pictures from Schweitzer Grove and McKinley Park. Schweitzer Grove is a 17-acre park tucked into suburbia, and McKinley park is known for its rose garden.  Fortunately, there are people and other flowers at the park. Take a look while I continue to catch up on things.

People are sometimes more interesting than the flowers at McKinley Park.
This volunteer was tending to the area she planted.
Looks like love to me.
The flowers were simply beautiful.
Most of these are on trees.
Buds are ready to blossom.
Close look at the Bird of Paradise.
Looking at the whole flower.
The last flower from McKinley Park.
A small bit of color in Schweitzer Grove.
Remember the redwood tree burls, this tree has one also.
This Lazuli Bunting was posing! Yes, I have a bird book!
I’m not sure if blossoms will bloom from this or if this is the flower??
Acorns in the pine tree.
The grounds.
Wildflowers were everywhere.

 

 

 

 

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Love at the fountains: The Fountains, Roseville CA

I did fall in love at The Fountains–love with the ambiance of this outdoor shopping center and its beautiful flowers, fountains and decorative benches. This center is a great place to take a camera and practice! You just have to keep saying over and over, “I will not shop.” You can say, “I’ll enjoy a cup of coffee, ice cream, candy, cookies, salad, sandwich and more;” but you could easily spend money in the fabulous stores.

Oh, back to practice. See how you can get distracted. I’ve been there twice to practice. The first time, not knowing what to expect, I just had my 18 – 55 mm lens. I was meeting a friend for lunch and arrived early to catch a shot for my 365. The second time was today with my friend Marlene. This time I had my macro lens with me. I was ready to get deep into the flowers; however, there was a heavy breeze. Even the blossoms that seemed to be not moved, were moving when looked through the macro lens. I think given the breeze, I would have been better off with the 18 – 55 mm lens. But, that’s what practice is for.

In this post, I’ll show you some images from both outings. And, yes, I’ll be going back soon. I want to get there early in the morning to get the best light and maybe less breeze. After all, I did fall in love.

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Shooting with an old friend: Ironstone Winery, the grounds

My old friend in this case is my 18 – 55 mm lens. It is my utility lens. Every time I promise myself to shoot with the prime 50 for the day, I usually pick up the 18 – 55. It is so nice that I rarely use my ultra wide lens when I have to carry the gear all day. I can do landscape and close up with this lens.

During our Ironstone Winery visit, I used my D7100 and the macro and 18 – 55 lenses. I will say that I look impressive with my sling (that sometimes carries two cameras) and vest. I’m pushing to live up to the image! In this post, you will see the grounds where they hold life cycle events and underground wine storage facility they call the cavern.

So here’s to my old friend, my 18 – 55! And here are the images.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Getting to know you: Practicing with the macro at Ironstone Winery, Murphys California

They say that “Practice makes perfect.” Well, in this case, practice made good! The practice was with the macro at the Ironstone Winery in Murphys. The grounds were full of tulips. daffodils and other flowers I can’t name. They were mostly in wine barrels so they could be changed out at will. My macro and I had a great time.

They also had a lake, beautiful landscaping and an amphitheater that was being remodeled. I came home with so many images, it took quite a while to go through them and edit. In this post, I’ll show you my macro work–since I’m bragging. Hey getting to good is better than where I was! I’m not captioning these images since I can only ID the tulips and daffodils.

In my next post, I’ll show you the grounds not shot with the macro.

If I keep practicing, I just may get to perfect!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 1 Comment

Dem bones: back to the Sacramento Historical City Cemetery

Is it wierd to keep going back to a cemetery just to shoot photos? This cemetery draws me back, and back. It’s large enough that your get shoot it all in one visit, and, for me, I seem to focus on different things all the time. This time it was the statues. They are beautiful, and are non-existent in today’s graveyards. They express the sadness of loss and hope for an afterlife.

This time I also found some masoleums worth shooting, some small grave stones and flowers. History is in this cemetery, so I guess I’ll keep going back until I’ve shot it all!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

New year, new project: Marina Bay Trail, Richmond, California

I never wanted to get into portriat photography, but today Gem, my dog, was my subject and he did a great job of trying to sit still and look at me. I’m only on day 4 of the 365 challenge and was shooting Gem because I didn’t get out. But, I was learning. I’ve made a secondary challenge to shoot most of my daily photos on manual, and Gem had to be very patient while I was doing the learning curve! I was so excited that I finally managed to shoot him on manual, but he didn’t high five. That’s okay, he got his treat anyway. I’m sure there will be more shots of Gem throughout the year.

Yesterday, I went on an all day Exploring Photography Meetup to Richmond and had to process one of the images so I could post in the challenge group. I posted a sunset, which, as it turns out, wasn’t the best of the sunset shots. But, day 3 was covered. I’ll show you part of the day’s images in this post and finish it up in the next.

The Marina Bay Trail is somewhere between 3 – 4 miles along the Richmond shoreline. They have a yacht club, marina, condos, etc. It’s in stark contrast to the city of Richmond. I think I’ll show you the grounds in this post and the birds in the next.

I’m getting out to shoot tomorrow so Gem won’t have to model.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

On the road again: Long Island, New York at Planting Fields Arboretum

When you’ve flown to the east coast what do you do? You start south and work your way north! We’ve been in Long Island visiting family for almost a week now. I’m sure my cousins feel like it’s been more than that since we are staying with them. They are gracious hosts, driving us, feeding us and fitting our needs into their lifestyle.

They took us to the Planting Fields Arboretum on a cloudy day. It seems that last year we brought extreme heat and this year humidity and rain! We did go to there last year, but at 99 degrees (Fahrenheit) it was too hot to stay. I was thrilled that this time we were able to walk most of the grounds of this beautiful arboretum and hear stories of how they’ve enjoyed the grounds for years past. Also, there were three bridal couples having their wedding pictures taken at the park. Yes, I did take some shots of that activity, but in the end deleted them, keeping one showing the bride’s gown in the distance.

On the one sunny day, we went north in search of fall foliage, and I’ll cover that in the next blog. Meanwhile, enjoy these floral images. I’m not going to caption these because I don’t know the names of the flowers. They range from orchards to cactus. I did get a small amount of the autumn colors in the trees.