Posted on by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

More Tuesday fun: Rutherford, California

I asked fellow photographers in the car, “Who knows where we’re going?” None knew, except that we were meeting at Karen’s and were taking off in two cars with Karen in the lead. This was sort of a first for us. We’d never had two cars, and we were reasonably sure of where we were going. Fortunately Karen knew exactly where we were going and the cars were able to stay together.

So, you’re asking, where did we go? To Rutherford! Where? It’s a small Napa County town that caters to wine tasting and  delicious but high priced lunches. We ate, but did not wine taste. Of course we stopped at various places there and back to shoot, and we shot in Rutherford. We also re-visited the city of Napa. And, now that Tom is shooting with us, we stopped for ice cream! Ben and Jerry’s to be specific. Yum!

What did I learn? I learned that with good friends you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going–trust and your friend will get you there. Oh, I also started using some Nik software. Google is giving it away free right now. It’s probably being discontinued.

A lone sunlit poppy.
The Monticello Reservoir. Shot through the fence.
The hillside across from the Dam.
Rutherford Fire Station.
Roof of the old train station. Let’s a lot of light in.
Tom is shooting the roof.
I just liked the angles in this.
Be careful walking on this!
The train advertising the wine train tour. I edited this in the Nik Silver Efex software.
On the patio of a winery. When the sun is high, take advantage of shadows.
More of the patio.
Building window.
I liked the way the tree’s shadows graced this building.
Looking through the old at the new.
We weren’t the only ones eating ice cream.
Fungi blending in with surroundings.
The 911 Memorial in Napa.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Dial “M” for manual, mossy trees and mustard: Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is the place to go to find mossy trees and mustard plants, and shoot on manual. It’s actually where I had a significant breakthrough on shooting manual. I think I have a smidge more to learn, but I’m mostly there.

Known for its wineries and beauty, Napa Valley was the target for our Exploring Photography Meetup group a couple of weeks ago. We met for lunch and then went off in search for mossy trees and mustard. We had four in our car, and without written directions, we were relying on memory to follow the verbal directions given us. Of course that didn’t work, so we just followed our noses!

Before lunch, we did stop at Turnbull Winery to look at their Ansel Adams exhibit. We took the time to shoot what we could of the winery.

After lunch, we found mustard (a yellow wildflower that seems to grow well under the barren grape vines) accidently while driving to where we thought we remembered the mossy trees to be. It was a small and accessible field–a great find.

Luck followed us to the mossy trees also. These trees had lichen hanging from the barren branches, giving the trees an eerie look. We saw the trees but then went up to the Chappellet Winery and was quickly dismissed back down the road! We did stop to shoot the trees.

Now on to the mossy trees and mustard, both shot in manual!