Posted on by Anne Sandler · 53 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #371: Street Details

One of my joys in my photographic journey is to visit small towns and stroll their streets. This is when I look for details that I may not find in Sacramento. In fact, I’m seldom in downtown Sacramento. One-way streets drive me crazy. So, I’m happy that Ritva chose this subject for her challenge.

Doors always catch my eye. Here are three that caught my eye while on photo outings.

And where there are doors, there must be windows!

Sacramento used to be known as the City of Trees until it became The Farm to Fork Capital.

Now for some street scenes from my wanderings.

Thank you Ritva for encouraging us to see as our cameras do and to pay attention to details. When you respond to her post, please link to Ritva’s post and use the Lens-Artist tag.

I’m sorry to have missed Ann-Christine’s and Sofia’s challenges, but I did have an enjoyable time cruising the Panama Canal. And it’s great to be back. Next week Tina will be leading the challenge, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, stay safe and live in gratitude!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 65 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #359: Tools of Photo Composition: Lines, Colors and Patterns

It’s amazing how we learn. In past posts I’ve said that I learn by doing and photo composition is no different, but there’s always something new to learn. Now John is giving us a lesson on the use of lines, patterns and color in photography.

Not taking any photography classes, I learned by experience and asking questions of other photographers. That’s when I first heard of the Rules of Thirds, negative space, etc. But they were just names to practices I was already doing. Maybe it was my working for 20 years with a graphic artist. And loving bright colors, that came naturally.

With that explained, here are my examples.

My love for photographing buildings yields many lines and patterns. I like the blue sky against the brown building.

Small town street.
The Barn = A concert venue
Window in an old house.
A rooftop capture.

Fabrics have lots of lines and patterns.

Have you noticed how stairs can also have patterns and circular lines?

I can’t forget ICM! Lines and patterns and color all over the place.

You’ll find lines and patters in the least obvious places. Like in a warehouse and a bridge.

And now for my favorite. This is a mural set in between two buildings. The sun, shade and reflections create lines and patterns on this beautiful image.

So there we have my journey through lines, colors and patterns. Thanks John having me delve into my archives for this one. This was a natural to follow Tina’s wonderful post asking us how we “Live and Learn.” I enjoyed see all your responses. As usual, please remember to link your response to John’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Next week Ann-Christine will lead the challenge.

In the meantime, stay safe and live in gratitude!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 25 Comments

Downtown Roseville

We moved to the Sacramento Area, specifically Antelope, in 2001. In the last 25 years Sacramento County has grown and changed. Cows were walking in Citrus Heights (where I now live), and there are still farms in our neighboring city Orangevale.

Roseville was spreading her wings and spreading out annexing properties. Roseville is in Placer County. The town now consists of West Roseville (suburbia). East Roseville (office buildings), Downtown Roseville (City Hall, shops and railroad). Old Roseville where smaller buildings are found and the railyard.

Roseville became prominent because of the railroad. There is still a depot there, and Amtrak still stops there. The day these pictures were taken, my friend and I were strolling Downtown Roseville. There are shops, restaurants, city offices and two movie theaters. Here are some of the pictures I took that day.

A freight train was moving slowly along that morning.

The Tower Theater.

The square where community events is held and water features entertain the children in the summer has a beautiful fountain. I concentrated on the sculpture and base. I guess I was in a close up mood.

Some other sights I thought were photographable.

Linda Creek borders the Downtown area and beautiful old homes.

That’s about it for Downtown Roseville–for now! Stay tuned for a festival in the square.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 58 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #272: Billboards and Signs

I don’t know about you, but these days I feel bombarded with signage of, mostly, the advertising kind. So, it’s great to pay attention to the signs that keep us safe and bring us joy. Thank you John for this fun challenge.

I’m not into photographing signs as a photo practice, but we happened to be at Ruhstaller Farm in Dixon, a beer distillery and farm, and featured in this blog. But, I didn’t post signs when there was so much more for you to see.

I’m learning to look for nature to provide the unusual and man to provide beautiful murals along the American River.

Little did I know that Spam was so popular! There’s a Spam festival in the Sacramento Delta and Spam is popular in Kauai.

I do love neon signs, find sadness at the Old Sacramento City Cemetery and find it wonderful that one store could stay in business for more than 100 years.

And there’s nothing like signage at the Nevada County Fair to get those hunger pangs going. Spicy nachos and sweet churros!

Sometimes feelings give us signs that we have to do something. This goat is no exception. Got an itch? Scratch it!

I’ve enjoyed looking through my archives for signage. I hope you’re having fun too. Remember to link to John’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag. I enjoyed seeing all your contrasty posts last week. Next week Sophia is challenging us, so look for her post.

If you’d like to join in the challenge, but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 42 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #209: Surreal

Yikes, Tracy you want us to post images that are surreal? Can I? Do I have any? Well, I don’t say “no” to a challenge, so here goes.

My first image was truly a mistake. I was trying to take away hay from this alpaca‘s face and ended up with…..

I think a three eyed alpaca is weird if not surreal. I put two more images into Photoshop and used various filters to get the effect I wanted. The first was a diffuse filter which gave me surprising results. For the second I used one of the distort filters which gave me predictable results.

This next picture has no fancy editing. I think this mural’s artist had a surreal bent to begin with.

To be honest, I don’t know what this next image was a picture of! It looked surreal to me in the beginning, but I brought it into NIK Silver Efex to see if I could exaggerate it a bit. Do you think it might have been a puddle and drops on concrete?

Finally, I had fun using Photoshop’s distort twirl filter on this one. I don’t think it’s as surreal as much a fun design.

Thank you Tracy for this great challenge. I had fun with it. When you respond, remember to use the Lens Artists tag and link to Tracy’s original post. And we all enjoyed reliving special summer vibes with Andre last week. Next week Sarah Wilkie, blogging at Travel with Me, will be our guest host. She will encourage us to post Three Favorite Images.

Until then, have fun and stay safe.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us: https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com/about-lens-artists/