fun with photography – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 60 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #230: Last Chance

My last chance is my first chance! Tina encourages us to post favorites from 2022 that have not been previously shown in LAPC. This is easy for me since I just took these photographs this past week.

We went up to Reno to stay with the grandkids. We were smart enough to take the train because we don’t have the proper tires to drive in the possible snow that was predicted to fall at higher elevations. The train ride was beautiful and I did take cell phone pictures going and coming. Today’s images are of the snow storm that hit us the night of December 10. I have never experienced anything like this. I’ve been in a hurricane and many earthquakes, but this was different.

It was snowing and I took some pictures. These were before the big storm hit.

During the night the wind started. It was slapping the house hard and the windows shook. I woke up early Sunday morning and went to the family room windows. It had started to snow hard and the trees were swaying violently. There was nothing I could do so I went back to bed. When we woke up, the wind had stopped and there was about 3-feet of snow. My son’s truck was stuck in the snow. He had someone come to dig it out and clear the driveway and walkway to the front door. It took three men about three hours to complete the job.

**The black object was part of the snow blower. You can see the snow shoot out of it.**

My kids were a day late coming home because the highway was closed. I woke up early Tuesday morning and caught some of the sunrise. My son’s back yard looks down on Reno.

Again, I’ve never been through a storm like this. When we took the grandkids to school on Monday, the scenery was just beautiful.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of your hidden favorites. Please link to Tina’s original post and use the Lens Artists tag. We totally enjoyed all your patterns during last week’s challenge. As we at LAPC take a 2-week break for the holidays, we are excited that Donna Holland of Wind Kisses is joining the LAPC team. She’s been a faithful follower, poster and guest host. Please be sure to follow her at her site, windkisses.com.

Have a fun, enjoyable and safe holiday season. We will be back on January 7, 2023 when John will be leading the challenge.

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

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 16 Comments

For the want of a hot tub part: Charles Schultz Museum

You never know what will bring you to a place, but when the opportunity knocks–take it! Ray needed to get a part repaired for his hot tub and the only place he could locate that could fix it was in Santa Rosa which happens to be the location of the Charles Schultz (creator of the Peanuts comic strip) Museum.

Add the fact that he offered to buy, photo buddy, Richard and I lunch, we couldn’t refuse. The museum is part of a complex that houses a gift shop, ice rink with ice cream parlor and the museum itself.

First the gift shop. You want to buy it, they had it. I was more taken with the decorative pieces.

The next building housed the ice skating rink and ice cream shop. This is the window of the shop just outside the skating rink.

Now for the museum itself.

These are just a small amount of pictures I took. One of the docents said they change the exhibits regularly. Maybe Ray’s hot tub will break again and we will return!

Posted on September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Finally got it!: WPA Rock Garden, Sacramento

I am tenacious and never give up. I went back to the WPA Rock Garden in William Land Park, Sacramento with my macro lens for more practice. Finally, I now understand my lens and how to shoot macro.

This was my second time shooting there, and there were new flowers and small critters to find. The first time, I learned that I needed a higher ISO to get a faster shutter speed to capture the close up detail. This time I learned that I also needed to narrow my aperture (use a higher F stop) to get less of a shallow depth of field.

Now I’m ready to go back just to enjoy the shoot. Tenacity is a great trait, but offers little relaxation.

I also experimented with what else I could shoot with my 105 Macro Lens. Enjoy the pictures! (Captions not necessary!)

Posted on January 17, 2017January 17, 2017 by Anne Sandler · 6 Comments

Couple time: Point Reyes National Seashore

I shoot pictures during the day and Richard shoots pictures at night. You see, my husband, an amateur astronomer images the night sky. His observatory is in the Sierra Mountains, and he finds galaxies and nebulas via a camera attached to his telescope. Viewing is done through his computer.

My advantage is that I can shoot on cloudy, overcast and pretty much any kind of weather. The result may not be pretty, but I can take my camera out more than he can use his scope.

So when we decided to take a day and run away, I did take my camera. We ran, excuse me–drove, to the Point Reyes National Seashore. Once there, he wanted to see the Lighthouse. It was well worth the long drive. I had been there, and I wanted him to have the experience too.

When we got there, I got out my camera and set one up for him. Richard wanted to whale watch, but we didn’t bring binoculars. I hoped that my 55 – 300 mm lens on my D3100 would give him enough reach. Whale watching was a bust, but he did get some great photos that you’ll see in this post.

The Lighthouse was also a bust. It was closed. If it was open, I don’t think we would have made it down to it and back up. There’s 300 steps which they say is equivalent to climbing 30 stories of a building. I’ll put a picture of the Lighthouse stairs in the second part of this post.

Meanwhile, winter is definitely a tough time for astronomers. For photographers, if we can put up with a bit of fog, rain and clouds, we’re good to go. And, we take pictures at night also!

I like the water pattern in this shot. I also took the same shot, but this one was outstanding.

A great picture of a Raven (I think).

Two of them–mates?

Richard asked me if I edited this image.

The lighthouse.

There were supposed to be whales and/or sea lions at this point. Now I’m shooting.

The pathway to the Lighthouse.

A twisted and fun climbing tree.

Another one!

Still walking to the Lighthouse and approaching the closed Visitor’s Center.

The rocks were very expressive

Caught this guy tying his shoe.

A closer view of the Lighthouse which was closed.

It’s amazing how some plants find a pathway through tough conditions.

Look at the holes and textures in the rock.

Posted on September 21, 2014 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!