Posted on by Anne Sandler · 10 Comments

Almond blossoms and rust: Winters California

Mother nature is fickle. Wind, rain and all sorts of weather can ruin crops and cause financial distress for the growers. It can also cause disappointment for photographers. Last year a BIG wind storm blew almond blossoms off trees, rendering them bare. It was a tough year for the growers. This year, I got sick the week we were to take advantage of a Yolo Art and Ag visit to an almond orchard. We went the next week knowing we couldn’t get on the property, but thought we could photograph from the road. However the blossoms were almost gone. What a difference a week can make!

I tried photographing through the fence. This is what I saw.

But we did see a field of old, rusted equipment. Now, I do love rust and its texture, photographing close up.

Not rusted, but if you like lines and angles, power line towers rule.

Always looking for something to photograph, we found these on the way to Winters for lunch.

After lunch, we walked about the town.

On a front portch.
Part of a large mural.

Will 2023 be the year we photograph almond blossoms? I hope so. If not rust will never disappoint!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Capay Valley–after almost a month’s absence

Do people really forget about you when you don’t blog for a while? I hope not! My spirit was wanting to blog, but that 4-week long cold kept saying, “Stay home. Rest!”

Resting is boring; shooting photos is exciting. I had a wicked good time when Jayne West and I joined other photographers from the Exploring Photography meetup group in Capay, California. I’ve never been on a trip like this. We met each other for lunch at the Road Trip Bar and Grill, had lunch and then went on our individual road trips. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if Jayne hadn’t been in the car with me. Two women from the group met a landowner prior to our lunch, and he invited the entire group to come and explore his property. It was amazing. A literal junk yard for old cars and other stuff. Jayne encouraged me to try some bracketed shots. I managed to set up the tripod myself (A feat!), but I couldn’t get my new remote shutter release to work. It worked the night before! So I’m not sure how the bracketed shots will work on Wednesday when Jayne shows me how to use the HDR and Lightroom software.

After that, Jayne and I went to find Peacocks that were supposed to be at a park nearby. They were there, but stubborn and didn’t want to spread their beautiful feathers. After that, we drove on to find Lake Berryessa. But, it was closed by the time we got there. We did shoot some images from the side of the road just to prove we were there.

Just going out with this group makes me feel like I’m still spinning wheels. Most of the photographers do HDR and are more advanced than I am. So, I need to catch up! I’ve decided that every Tuesday will be practice day. Most of it will be local, maybe even my back yard! But, I will practice!

The added bonus to learning will be the routine blogging I hope to do. I have quite a few images from the Capay Valley so this may be a two or three part post.