landscape photography – Page 16

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Da Bear: Lake Tahoe, California

It took 30 years of camping before Richard and I saw a bear in the wild. And, it took our first day in Lake Tahoe for us to see one fishing! Yes, I did get pictures, but with just an 18 – 140 mm lens, I wasn’t too happy with the results. But, it was exciting.

Marlene and I were there because another photo buddy Jayne had reserved a 3-bedroom time share condo and invited members of the photography community to join her. Unfortunately, Marlene and I were the only ones who were able to take advantage of her generosity. I remember last year I couldn’t go. We were to be there three nights. However our trip was caught short a day.

The bear and Taylor Creek was our first stop during our visit. We got there late in the afternoon and walked the path to the Profile Chamber where visitors could view salmon. However, once we got there we had 5 minutes before closing and there weren’t many salmon. It was on our way back to the car that we saw the bear. It was a good thing that it was concentrating on fishing and didn’t care that a crowd of people were close and shooting pictures.

In this post, I’ll show you the bear, the rest of Taylor Creek and a cloudless sunset at Nevada Beach. It’s just amazing to me that you wait 30 years to sight a bear and within hours at Tahoe, you sight one.

It’s intent of finding fish. It even went under the bridge we were all standing on.

I couldn’t resist the colors in this branch.

This model was dunking her head in the water and then flinging her hair back.

Here’s the photographer she was working with.

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Before and After: The journey to Locke in the Sacramento Delta

Part of the fun of going somewhere is the before you get there and after you’ve left! Have I confused you? Well, we don’t go straight to any place. We stop along the way, get sidetracked and look for unique things to shoot. This happened on the way to Locke in the Sacramento Delta.

The Sacramento Delta is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Northern California and is an important habitat for migratory waterfowl and more than a hundred species of fish. It is also farmland, a popular recreation area and a source of drinking water for two-thirds of California’s population.

We first stopped at the small Freeport Marina. It was there that I realized I left my tripod home! Greg offered to share his with me, but I knew he used his most of the time and declined his generous offer. So, it was a handheld day for me. Lesson learned! Seems I’m always learning. Didn’t I say in my last post that I learn a lot by making mistakes?

Next we found a Halloween surprise, an old truck and a bridge to shoot. Then we got to Locke. You can see that our journeys seldom follow a straight path, and that’s the fun of a photo outing.

In this post you can see our before finds. You’ll have to wait for the next post to see Locke and what happened on the way home–the “after” part of our trip.

The only decent shot at the marina. Poles were all over the place. It wasn’t very photogenic.

Meanwhile I found some flowers to practice on.

You know I can resist the texture of a rope.

One of the many bridges that crisscross the Delta region.

Railroad tracks and an old truck. I don’t think anyone was in the truck, but why would the doors be open?

Either that or someone forgot to feed him! A lot of the spider webs were real. What fun!

There were a grouping of cactus near the same property. Here’s bigfoot complete with spider webs.

This old truck hasn’t moved in about 30 years and has become a landmark.

We like to have fun. Here we shoot our reflections. I’m not too happy with the distortion or did I eat too much lunch!

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

How we learn: The rest of Amador County

It’s time to say goodbye to Amador County; but, I’m sure not for good. I was looking over my images and there are still a few to show you. And, alas, I’ve duplicated some in prior posts. Hope you didn’t mind seeing them again!

With each outing, I learn. Sometimes I learn by watching. Sometimes by trying different things. And sometimes by making mistakes. Mistakes, unfortunately, seem to be the best teacher! How many time do you repeat the same mistake? Not too many I hope. It also pays to go with friends who remember to prompt you like, “What’s your ISO set at?” or “Did you bring your tripod today?”

I’m grateful for those prompts because it shows they care. I’m grateful for all the caring critiques I get on my photographs when I ask for them. This is especially true for the folks in Sacramento Photographers. Ask for help and you’ll get it. And my new Toastmasters Photography Club is also great for giving feedback.

So, as you look at the last of Amador County for a while, understand that with each image I have learned more about photography.

We’re back at Fat Freddy’s. Meet Carlos, aka Fat Freddy.

You could spend hours looking at his walls and the stuff on them. Here he has some funny money and some real that are folded into unique shapes.

Now we’re in Volcano. I loved this town. Here’s the jail!

If you look close enough, you’ll see the most important directional sign on this post: the bathroom!

Another view of the main street in this quaint town.

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Tuesdays with seniors: Part two of Amador County

Isn’t it great that we can just take a day during the week and go shooting–with a camera! Now, I don’t want you 9 – 5’ers to get upset, but we’ve earned the right. You see we’re retired, older and want to do what we can while we can. That’s why a few of us decided to designate Tuesdays as our get away day. And its been great.

The town of Jackson was our destination this time, but you know we never know where we’ll end up. Greg wanted to show Marlene and I Michigan Bar Road. I had already been on part of that road with him, but got too self assured and shot HDR handheld. Mistake! So I was glad to be able to get a second chance. For, Marlene, it was new territory.

We simply drive around (Greg has 4-wheel drive and knows the area so he drives), stop when we see something to shoot and sometimes never reach our designated destination. It’s okay because there’s always next week.

The dirt road we were on. This was a single shot image.

The drought has made everything so dry. But, the golden color is beautiful.

The trees seem to be reaching deep down with their roots for water.

I love the texture of this old fence and how the barbed wire just cuts into the wood.

This road led to the farm where I shot without a tripod. I didn’t get to try again because we turned around.

The National Hotel in Jackson. From our first trip out there.

A Jackson store. Most of these small towns have colorful main streets.

Inside a kitchen store, I saw these colanders strung up. Who could pass up that color.

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

On the road again: Bodie and Mono Lake, California, final chapter.

Catch a breath, relax and gaze. That’s one way to take in Mono Lake. Photo buddies Marlene, Laura and I took it in with our cameras. We were there as part of our weekend trip to the ghost town Bodie.

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake 8.321 miles long. It’s at least 780,000 years old and is among the oldest lakes in North America. While we enjoy its beauty, migratory birds call it home for a while and brine shrimp swim its waters.

You can see Tufa Towers as you walk down to the lake. These salt towers are formed because having no outlet, trace amounts of salts and minerals brought into the lake by freshwater streams have accumulated over the centuries. This resulted with Mono Lake having a salinity two to three times the Pacific Ocean. Tufas are the result of the combination of minerals in fresh and salt water. They take on all sorts of shapes and various neutral colors.

The images you’ll see in this post are of sunset and sunrise (Only Laura can get me to wake up at 4 a.m.) when the lake looks most beautiful. Just catch a breath, relax and look.

A little closer to the lake. I didn’t walk all the way down because I wasn’t feeling well.

Tufas have amazing textures and sometimes dark and lighter colors are mixed in the same Tufa.

A sunburst peeks through the mountains and Tufas.

The golden light hits the Tufas in the Lake.

Posted on May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 5 Comments

An amazing find: Rush Ranch, Solano County, California

The best things are the ones you don’t expect. And, I didn’t expect Rush Ranch to be so beautiful and fun to shoot. We went there after we visited the Suisun Wildlife Rescue Center. Photo buddy Laura suggested this and Marlene and I were agreeable. Oh, did we have fun, and we didn’t even take any of the nature paths. We stayed and shot old equipment, etc.

Rush Ranch is a working ranch, with cattle and sheep grazing under a wildlife habitat management program. Prior to its purchase by the Solano County Farmlands and Open Space Foundation in 1988, this ranch was owned by the Rushes (a pioneer family).

Now it is open to the public with three hiking trails that take you through different ecosystems. These are the trails we didn’t have time to walk. So we need to go back. Who knows what we’ll see, especially when we don’t expect to.

Meanwhile, enjoy these images from the immediate property.

One of the barns. This was first as we came on the property.

Next four images are old, rusted equipment.

I liked the angles in this old equipment.

A different tower view in black and white.

Some old things on a shelf inside the barn.

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Deja vu: Mossy trees and mustard, Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California, part 2

Do you remember the mossy trees and mustard that I went all the way to Napa Valley to shoot? Well, I found the trees in our campground and the mustard in the countryside here at Lake San Antonio.

It’s amazing how much I’ve learned through photography, and I don’t mean learning the art. I’ve studied birds, flowers and trees! So during this trip I had the opportunity to educate my husband in the flora of the area. Sadly, because the lake is so low now, there wasn’t the opportunity to see many water fowl. There were plenty of turkey vultures though.

In addition, I became acquainted with the various stages of the dreaded fox tail from beautiful to mowed down so they stick in your socks and dogs paws. All weekend I picked fox tails from Gem’s hair, checked his ears and made sure he was tick free. The little guy was happy to be home.

In this post, I’ll give you the campground tour including the mossy trees. You’ll have to wait for the next post to see the mustard.

Now I’m shooting ground cover with the macro.

I also shot this log with the macro lens.

I saw this fly but didn’t have a swatter, so I shot it instead!

I don’t know what this is, but it was leaning just above the ground cover.

Again, I don’t know what this small plant is either, but I think the macro captured it well.

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Chasing windmills: Montezuma Hills, California

Have you ever chased windmills, you know the big white ones? Photo buddy Linda and I went out the day before a scheduled Meetup to catch the scenery, windmills, moonrise (which I didn’t get a good shot of) and sunset. Tall order for tall windmills!

We got to the area an hour later than the Meetup group was scheduled for the next day. Well, an admission, we didn’t get to the appointed area until we saw it on the way home. Typically when we meet with the Exploring Photography group, we enjoy a meal together and our organizer gives us directions and tips on where we should go to shoot. Not having these directions, we sort of got lost, but had a great time.

We stayed mostly on Montezuma Hills Road, stopping whenever we could after seeing something worth shooting. The area is farm country with windmills sitting in the pasture land. It’s not unusual to see windmills among the cows and farms.

I can’t say that the images I’m going to show you are my best, but they were the best I could do without an ND filter system. I wanted to get those giant windmills in slow shudder, but the sun was too bright. And by the time we got back from dinner, we almost missed the sunset. By the time we were on our way home, we were tired and thoroughly enjoyed chasing the windmills.

Sheep graze at this farm that is the object of the next six images.

Getting closer, you can see more detail.

Across the driveway are the silos, barn and old tractor.

A closer look. The only thing I could do was to stop action.

Someone tell this cow it’s time to go home!

The sun is behind the horizon. I can now get some slow movement in the windmills.

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Anne Sandler

Discovering Northern California: Downievelle

It was an adventure back in time. With a population of 282 (the 2010 census) Downieville, the former gold rush town, now caters to summer visitors. However, photo buddies Marlene and Greg, and I were there last week. I can believe that they are a seasonal vacation spot because all the restaurants were closed and set to reopen for the season. I still don’t have any idea when the season starts!

Fortunately, the grocery store was open, had a microwave and allowed me to use it after I purchased a frozen rice dish. The small town hospitality came through. Sure I could have a glass of ice with my bottled diet coke–no extra charge for the cup! As we shot photos on the main drag, people passing knew each other. One of the residents explained that when they want to dine out, they go to the nearest town. It’s a simple life.

I’ll show you pictures of Downieville and give you more history in my next post. In this post, I’ll show you the sights on our way to the town and on the way back. You’ll be transported back in time along the North Fork of the Yuba River.

We stopped at this bridge along the North Fork of the Yuba River.

The Yuba River makes its way over rocks.

Even though the water is low, it is still beautiful.

This bridge is not used any longer and probably won’t be repaired.

On our way home we stopped at this Post Office. It was closed, but operational.

Does it have a portch where you can sit.

This truck probably hasn’t been moved in a long time.

Posted on March 8, 2015March 8, 2015 by Anne Sandler

A full day of beauty: The UC Davis Arboretum, the people

I love street photography, but I’d rather it was candid. I know that’s the more difficult way to go, but it tells a better story. Fortunately, it was a weekend and the people were out enjoying the weather and beauty of the UC Davis arboretum. There were families, students, runners, cyclists, and many more. I’ll tell you about each image in the gallery. If I have room, I’ll also put in some odds and ends that I either forgot or didn’t fit into my three categories.

Some street photography!