Posted on by Anne Sandler

Photography is just ducky: The Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, San Rafael California, Part 2

The drought is now severe in California. Less water in areas means less wildlife. It is dismal here right now. Fortunately, we live in an urban area, and, although we are on water restrictions, we have water. As I said in part one of this post, there were few large birds to be seen during our outing.

But that didn’t stop us from trying to find them. On our way home, we stopped at a wildlife view area off the freeway. Again, no birds, but nice scenery. And, we were able to help a family stranded after they locked their keys in their car. There was a reason for us to pull off the highway.

Then we stopped at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area which is just about 25 minutes from my home. We did catch some wildlife there. I think my bird shooting is over for this year. I might go back to Yolo, but I won’t make the 90 mile one way trips again. We are still hopeful for rain, but we’re mostly getting overcast skies and fog.

Here are the images from our stops along the way home.

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Photography is just ducky: The Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, San Rafael California

Photography may be ducky, but most of the wildlife at the Las Gallinas Ponds were ducks! And to go that far, about 90 miles each way, to find mostly ducks wasn’t ducky! At least we found sun, and other things to shoot.

The ponds are next to a water treatment plant, so I was hoping for more wildlife than we saw. I looked at images posted by photographers who went there the day before, and it looked like there were more large birds. I’m thinking it may be the time of day also. We left Sacramento at 8 a.m. and got to the ponds about 10 a.m. But, we walked the trail, met other people and found good stuff to shoot.

I had difficulty shooting the larger birds (mostly gulls) in the air because I’m having a difficult time holding my 300 mm lens still. This is something new for me. I guess it’s back to the gym. I need more upper body strength.

So here are some images. Don’t worry, I won’t burden you with a whole lot of ducks! This will be a two-part post.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

When Mother Nature makes shooting tough: Gray Lodge and Sacramento National Refuge Wildlife areas, part 2

In addition to Mother Nature, sometimes WordPress makes things tough. I think some of you may have received all the images for both parts of this post and some I didn’t intend to post. I truly don’t know how that happened. However, I don’t know that all of you did. So I’m going to do the last part of this blog post anyway.

We are still fogged in during the morning and early afternoons here in Sacramento, and photographing is still difficult. Difficult unless you want to shoot foggy images. But, we’re trying to shoot wildlife!

And, here’s some more (or once again) some wildlife!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

When Mother Nature makes shooting tough: Gray Lodge and Sacramento National Refuge Wildlife areas

Sometimes photography can be a challenge, especially in fog and overcast skies with only a 300 mm lens! That’s what we were shooting in when we went up north to the wildlife areas to catch the birds in action. Not only was the weather bad, but there wasn’t much water and the bird population was way down.

Usually at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, you can see a few bald eagles. We didn’t see one! One photographer in the meetup did capture one and his image was great. I’m thinking that he was using a longer lens. It was very disappointing.

Further west, the Gray Lodge Wildlife area was not much better. There were enough birds for the hunters to shoot, but not the numbers we normally see. But we did have fun.

When you travel to these meetups with other photographers, they don’t mind stopping and shooting something ineresting that may have nothing to do with your original purpose. We made a couple of those side trips–three of us in the car. Plus we had the extra joy of having the GPS get us lost.

All in all, it was a fun 12-hour day. I hope you like these fogged and overcast images! This will be a two-part post.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Urban art: Midtown, Sacramento, part 2

Wow, what a busy photographic weekend. But, you’ll hear more about my Saturday and Sunday outings soon. Now, I want to finish up on my visit to Midtown, Sacramento. Midtown is not a separate city, but a community within Sacramento. We have the various directional communities (north, south, east) and in the middle is….Midtown! West Sacramento is in Yolo County and is a separate city. Sacramento City is in Sacramento County.

Now that I’ve thoroughly confused you, here are more images from last week’s visit.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Urban art: Midtown, Sacramento

Actually, I’ve renamed this area of Sacramento Morristown! Yesterday afternoon, I went along with Photo buddy Greg Morris to shoot some of the wall murals. As a former resident, he knows the area well and is always discovering new places to shoot. I had a lot of fun seeing awesome murals, old buildings and decay.

There are a lot of stories to be told in Midtown: the art, the people and the structures all give you an inkling of how people live there. Withing a few blocks you can go from decaying buildings to upscale eateries and shops. Well, I’d better let the images tell you more. This will probably be a three part post. I’ll begin with a couple of murals and people.

Welcome to Morristown!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Late morning practice: Nimbus Fish Hatchery, Gold River, California

I love the Sacramento Photographers Facebook group. It’s where I learn by seeing what others post, asking questions and attending activities. It’s through this group that I found out about the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, and I thought it would be a good place to practice shooting on manual.

And it is. There were birds, people fishing, a nice path to walk on and a great visitor’s center. I wish I were feeling better so I could have stayed longer, but I did what I could. Also, I shot my D3100 on aperture priority because I couldn’t remember how to change the F stop in the manual setting. Now I’m wondering whether I ever had that camera on manual!

I also realized that I need more practice shooting flying birds and getting them in focus. So, this morning while getting a pedicure, I read all about focus for the D7100. I am determined to push and advance in my photography knowledge this year.

I will go back to the fish hatchery and practice. And, I will continue enjoying the Sacramento Photographers group.

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New year, new project: Marina Bay Trail, part 2

Can the 365 challenge a success after 5 days? I truly don’t know, but so far so good. I’m in an accountibility group, and that helps me post each night. Oh, the session with Gem has to be redone. One of the photographers gave me some great advice–that is until she typed something to do with hyperfocal length. My head has stopped spinning now! Actually, I have heard and read about that, but I think it’s beyond my math abilities and understanding. So I will take the rest of her advice and try again right after I post this blog.

Also, I signed up for a free online course that lasts a month. It’s all good except for the amount of emails that appear in my box each day! So far after four lessons in Module one, I haven’t learned anything new. But, there are more lessons and three more modules.

I’m hoping all this effort shows in tonight’s image of Gem. Now for the birds on the Marina Bay Trail.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

New year, new project: Marina Bay Trail, Richmond, California

I never wanted to get into portriat photography, but today Gem, my dog, was my subject and he did a great job of trying to sit still and look at me. I’m only on day 4 of the 365 challenge and was shooting Gem because I didn’t get out. But, I was learning. I’ve made a secondary challenge to shoot most of my daily photos on manual, and Gem had to be very patient while I was doing the learning curve! I was so excited that I finally managed to shoot him on manual, but he didn’t high five. That’s okay, he got his treat anyway. I’m sure there will be more shots of Gem throughout the year.

Yesterday, I went on an all day Exploring Photography Meetup to Richmond and had to process one of the images so I could post in the challenge group. I posted a sunset, which, as it turns out, wasn’t the best of the sunset shots. But, day 3 was covered. I’ll show you part of the day’s images in this post and finish it up in the next.

The Marina Bay Trail is somewhere between 3 – 4 miles along the Richmond shoreline. They have a yacht club, marina, condos, etc. It’s in stark contrast to the city of Richmond. I think I’ll show you the grounds in this post and the birds in the next.

I’m getting out to shoot tomorrow so Gem won’t have to model.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Twas a few nights after Christmas: Orangevale, California

Okay, so it took me a while before I got out to shoot Christmas lights. But, when I did, it was great. My photo buddy, Laura Munro, braved the cold and walked a cul-de-sac in Orangevale known for its beautiful and, in some cases, decorative homes. I don’t know what their electric bills are, but I’m glad I’m not paying them!

Now, when I say cold I’m talking about high 30s and low 40s (faharenheit) in the evening. For Sacramento, California, that’s cold! I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a fair-weather photographer. But once I’m out there and start shooting, I forget about the temperature until we head back to the car. That’s when I realized I couldn’t feel my finger tips and my feet were cold!

Enough about the weather. Here are some of my Christmas light images.