puddles – Slow Shutter Speed

Sacramento may be called the “City of Trees” but a truer name would be “River City!” Or maybe Rivers City for the two main rivers that run through Sacramento. In addition, there are many creeks. Cripple Creek runs through my community. If we travel an hour or two, we can visit water areas in the Bay Area.

So, John, it’s a pleasure to take your challenge on! I love living here so close to the rivers, creeks and ponds. But as my images will show, there are many aspects to water around here.

How about the San Francisco Bay shore line where many water fowl are present. This one was photographed while walking the Marina Bay Trail which is a short 1.7 miles. If I still had my bird book (lost when I moved), I could probably ID it for you.

We also have water in fountains. This one was photographed in Tiburon while waiting for the ferry to Angel Island.

The city of San Francisco seen from Treasure Island also gives us a great bay view.

Put ah Creek runs through the UC Davis Arboretum, attracting all sorts of water birds. Here we see a great egret.

And then there are ponds. We found this on on private property, and yes we asked if we could photograph it.

Rain water leaves puddles behind that capture wonderful reflections.

Water can also hide hidden treasure. My friend Ken is gold panning near a river.

Last we have the Spirit of Sacramento. She’s an old paddle boat that got stranded when the Sacramento River receded. Once after a lot of rain, I saw her in water. She hasn’t been moved in ages.

So there you have some of the water examples in and near Sacramento. Thank you John for this fun challenge. Next week I’ll be hosting a Black and White challenge. Take care and have a great week.

Photography is definitely a stress reducer. That’s what brought Marlene and I out on a Sunday morning. Concentrating on shooting takes your mind off various stressors and allows a couple of buddies to talk it out.

Fortunately, Marlene knows Sacramento City because I took the wrong freeway and truly didn’t know where we were when I exited. All I knew was that this wasn’t where we were headed! We decided to just drive and find neat things to shoot. We eventually found our way to the iconic Tower Theater, out last stop for the day. I’m saving that for another post because I want to focus on it.

This Sunday morning was fun, sometimes challenging because of harsh lighting or total clouds, but fun. I think for both of us, photography is an escape. Whether for just a couple of hours or a full day, it takes us away, gets us concentrating on the process of shooting, and challenges our minds. It’s also taught me what wonderful places we have right here.

Yes, this past Sunday was funday.

Confession: I thought this was a water tower, but I can’t find it on the internet. It’s located close to the fire department.

The Libby, McNeil and Libby Fruit and Vegetable Cannery was a cannery operated in Sacramento, California by Libby, McNeil, and Libby. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.