Posted on by Anne Sandler · 42 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #367: Everyone Should See This

When was the last time you hugged a tree? Have you ever hugged a tree? Or maybe you’ve just stood by one and soaked up their energy. I love trees, their energy and graceful branches. This week our guest host Joanne Mason wants us to share some photographs of things/people/places that are inspiring.

I find trees inspiring. I don’t know why. They give me peace, energy and relaxation. Let’s go to the forest first. I love the smell of pine trees. Unfortunately it will take this forest, in the picture on the right, a long time to recover from this fire. Please be careful and show nature the respect it deserves.

It’s Autumn let’s enjoy the beauty of the leaves.

Trees and fungi have a mutually beneficial relationship, where fungi provide trees with water and soil nutrients, while trees supply the fungi with sugars. And they look pretty too!

We have a lot of almond orchards in the Yolo County countryside. When the trees blossom, they are so beautiful. When they are bare, you find a carpet of mustard plants.

I love trees in the fog, especially during the winter season.

And if you’re able to catch that special moment when a tree allows a sunbeam through its leaves, that is just WOW!

I hope this post has you inspired to enjoy trees. When you respond to Joanne’s post please link to hers and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Last week, we looked at the lives of city and rural dwellers urged on by Tina, and it was fun. Next week John will be hosting the challenge.

Until then, stay safe, hug a tree and live in gratitude!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 56 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #348: Serenity

Serenity can be found in a crowd with yelling people, horses and riders. Yes, this weekend we went to a rodeo while visiting friends. I had fun experiencing a rodeo for the first time and trying to capture the events with my camera. With my attention captured, I was calm and serene. But, that’s not the only way to capture serenity. This week Egidio suggests that we show where we go to be serene.

I like landscapes with beautiful skies; and, I like to see people enjoying the same scene I do. The next two images show people enjoying flowers, one at the ocean and the other in the forest. Both are calming and wonderful.

Skies can help a landscape become serene. Whether at the ocean or in the country, a good sky can create a calming atmosphere. Water is always calming. Whether I’m at a lake or ocean I’m entranced by water. Our country outings always have a calming effect especially when the scene is simple and beautiful.

We can also find serenity viewing public art. Our yearly Chalk It Up and many murals about downtown Sacramento leave me in awe and serene. A mural of a mother and child embracing sends me to a calm quiet place–not that raising kids is always calm! A mural of a swan and heart reminds me of how graceful swans are as they glide through the water.

Last, there’s nothing more serene than a beautiful sunset. I sometimes sit and wonder how nature can paint these beautiful pictures.

After seeing these images, you’re probably wondering how I can find serenity at a rodeo. I just got immersed in the activity. Mind and body relaxed. Isn’t that what serenity is all about? Thanks Egidio for sending us to serene places this week. I’ll catch up with all your posts and look for more. When you do post, please link to Egidio’s original post and tag Lens-Artists. Next week Tina is challenging us.

If you’re wondering about my Rodeo pictures, they are still in the camera. You’ll see them someday. In the meantime, stay safe and live in gratitude!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 48 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #317: Walking the Neighborhood

I walk my neighborhood every day with a dog at the end of a leash. It’s really too early to take photos, so I’ve enlarged my stomping grounds and take my camera on photo outings. But, last week, I found a new neighborhood: Rollins Lake in the Sierra Foothills.

I don’t think Tina will mind if I show you the small campground I walked Gem through several times a day. We camped, or should I say glamped, with another couple. Both of us have RVs. The season just ended and we had the campground to ourselves.

Although mostly overcast, the weather was great. We were even treated to a pre-rain rainbow.

We did climb into the truck to see the boat launch and lake.

I hope my temporary neighborhood qualifies for Tina’s wonderful challenge. I’m excited to see your neighborhoods. Please remember to link to Tina’s post when you respond and use the Lens-Artist tag. Last week Egidio prompted us to show how we have fun. It was a delight to see all your posts.

I’ll be in San Jose for two weeks caring for a dear friend. I’m sure I will be able to enjoy your posts, but I’m not sure about generating my own. My laptop doesn’t have enough memory to handle processing programs. Take care everyone!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 28 Comments

Change is sometimes not good: Lassen National Park, part 1

You can’t stop change, and sometimes you don’t like it. I was anxious to get to Lassen National Park again. It had been so many years. So I called the national reservation number and made a reservation. I thought I was so smart because I had a map of the campground which showed all the sites. This was great, a pull through site right near the flush toilets.

I was so excited to be camping and not RVing again. When I opened the truck door, the forest smell hit me. Wonderful pine trees. It was going to be great. But maybe not all that great.

The pull through was not on flat land and there was no ranger in sight. All the sites had reserved signs on them. We had difficulty getting in and out of the trailer because the campsite was steep. We assumed that all the campsites were taken because they had the reserved signs. So we were stuck.

Since I have a few days worth of photos, I’ll continue my rant in part 2. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the Lily Pond trail located at one end of Manzanita Lake. I didn’t go all the way because the altitude was bothering me.

I don’t want you to think that I’ll be complaining throughout this series. We had a great time and there’s more to come!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 22 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #146: Focusing on the Details

Given this week’s challenge by Patti to focus on details, my mind went back to a Toastmaster Photo Club I tried to start and a speech given by a professional photographer in the group. He talked and demonstrated about a different way to focus on details: finding the picture within the picture.

He showed us how to focus on the details of an image to find more images by cropping sections. His example was of a construction site. First he showed us the entire landscape of the site. Then he focused in on a worker, continued with more sections and ended with a pair of shoes. It was an amazing lesson.

Today I’m going to try the same with a landscape taken yesterday at Scotts Flat Reservoir in Nevada City. I was hiking with my daughter-in-law Jess and granddaughter Olivia. Here’s my picture within a picture.

First the landscape.

Next I isolated Jess, Olivia and their dog Hana.

My final capture from this landscape is of a log on the beach.

Although the official Toastmaster group disbanded, a few of us kept meeting until 14 months ago when the pandemic shut us down. We continued to share information, but I will never forget this lesson on details and finding the picture within the picture.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 9 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #112: Word challenge

This week Ann-Christine challenged us with words: Comfortable, Growing, Tangled, Crowded and Exuberant. Our assignment was to choose one or more of these words and display our photo interpretation.

I saw growing and crowded and instantly my mind went to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Boulder Creek, one of our beautiful parks consumed by the CZU Complex lightening fire this month. I visited in February, 2016. It was my first time shooting in a dark forest and although my current forest efforts are better, I wanted to show you Big Basin.

As you can see, these trees are no strangers to fires. Redwoods can be almost hollowed out and still survive. After the fire is put out, the top continues to grow. My mind went to Big Basin because it is crowded with trees and constantly growing. The ground brush is usually well maintained in parks so they don’t provide super fuel for fires. But dry lightening strikes and thunder brought the forest to its knees. Here is how it looked in 2016 on overcast day, with some re-editing.

While the redwoods will survive, structures within the park didn’t. I’m sure during these pandemic days, rebuilding will be slow and it will be some time before we can walk through this beautiful forest again.