Posted on by Anne Sandler · 76 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #415: Move Your Body

I love my 18 to 300 mm lens. I use it all the time because I don’t like to change lenses in the field. How many of you use a zoom lens? Now what would happen if you had a fixed lens and had to walk forward, backward or sideways to get the shot?

You would have to think a bit more before you decided to squat down. It depends on how difficult it would be to get up! For me, it’s very difficult and not very pretty, but sometimes I do it to get the shot. Your challenge this week is to move your body up, down, forward and back.

Here are three photographs that I bent down and stood up for. This was my first time out with my Nikon D3100 and were taken at a balloon festival. It was the first time using my camera in the field. How excited I was. In the beginning, I laid on the ground, then got up and at last looked up. The first two are the same balloon, the third is not; but you get the idea.

Next, we are going to start close to the subject and then walk back to get a different view. Moving back does tell a different story. These were taken at Ananda Village during their tulip festival that they hold every April.

Now for the lotus blossoms. One was taken while I was squatting so I could get the light on the petals. The other was taken standing over the flower so I could get the bud.

Next at Lassen National Park’s Sulphur Springs area, I walked back for a shot of the Sulphur pool and then came up to the fence and looked over the area for the bubbling Sulphur.

Fortunately, the smell wasn’t as bad as the Sulphur pools at Yellowstone National Park!

These movements are one reason I like photography for seniors. It’s exercise! Younger folks can also take advantage of extra exercise! So, get out there and squat, bend down, and walk!

When you post your response to this challenge, please link it to mine and use the Lens-Artists tag.

We built a lot of bridges with Beth’s challenge last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed the variety. Next week, Ritva will be leading the challenge, so look for her post. In the meantime, stay safe and be resilient!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 21 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #147: Gardens

I hate to work them, but I love to look at and photograph them. The “them” are gardens. And when I do photograph them, I tend to do macro or close up work. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a formal garden. So, for Amy’s challenge of gardens, I looked back about 3 years and this is what I found.

Maple Rock Gardens is a private residence that is open to the public for special events. Linda and I visited during one of those events.

Each year in June I love taking pictures of sunflowers in and around Woodland. Usually on the way out we, my photo buddies, go to Mezger Zinnia Patch. They ask people to come and pick the flowers for their own use and to give away to others who can’t get out. The zinnias always attract butterflies.

Soon we’ll be looking to photograph the lotus at William Land Park in Sacramento.

And finally are roses from the McKinley Rose Garden in Sacramento.

I now realize I do have to photograph more landscape images of the beautiful gardens near me. While I do enjoy macro work, sometimes I need to look at the big picture!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

An annoying cold in the summer: Catching up

I thought I was over the 2-week cold, but I guess I wasn’t. I’m in my fourth week of it and not feeling really well. Can I continue to complain a bit? The worse part of it is the fog brain that keeps me from posting, etc. I didn’t even realize that I haven’t posted in a long while. Okay, that’s enough complaining.

I’ve been on a few shoots since my trip to San Francisco, and I’ll try to post about two of them here. My Tuesday group visited The Fountains Shopping Center again. It’s always a challenge to come up with something different at a place you’ve photographed many times. So here’s what I came up with:

Another visit was to downtown Sacramento and the third year of the Wide Open Walls Festival. This time we shot on the second and last days of the week’s artistry. On the second day, we found only one artist at work. On the last day, we were treated to two amazing murals: Johnny Cash and Monkeys (which was three-dimensional with metal parts and paint). Here’s some of what we saw:

While shooting our first set of murals, we stopped by William Land Park in Sacramento to photograph the lotus pond:

And, of course, I do enjoy shooting buildings:

That’s it for now. Have to rest. I do hope this cold is over before my next post!