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Did someone mention…Knight’s Landing, California?

Yes, someone did mention that small town near the Sacramento River, and, of course, we had to go. We had no preconception regarding Knight’s Landing. Greg did say that there was really nothing there, but he took us anyway. He was almost correct–there was an old trestle foundation left from the old railroad days, and a quirky bar and grill.

Knight’s Landing is another census-designated place in Yolo County. Founded in 1843 by William Knight a doctor from Baltimore Maryland. it’s located on the Sacramento River in the northeastern portion of the county. In its early days it was a steamboat landing and point of communication between people east and west of the river.

Knights Landing was founded in 1843, by Dr. William Knight, a practicing physician from Baltimore, Maryland. On March 25, 1890, the Knight’s Landing branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad was completed and ready for business, and later the completion of the bridge across the river added immensely to the prosperity of the town. Today empty tracks and the remnants of the railroad trestle on the river are the only reminders of this town’s glory days.

Leaving the beauty of the river behind, we went to Stingrayz Beach Boardwalk Marina. Well, it sounds fancy doesn’t it? It wasn’t, but it was fun. I understand that the joint jumps on the weekend with music and party goers. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the images.

We did stop in Woodland on our way home, but I’ll show you those in another post about the Woodland Opera House. Meanwhile visit Knights Landing through my camera lens. In my next post you can experience Stingrayz.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Leaving the clouds behind: Shooting the blood moon at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge

We decided to escape from Sacramento. We didn’t know where we’d end up, but just wanted to get out from under the cloud cover that would prevent us from shooting the blood moon eclipse. Laura was our navigator while Linda and I gave suggestions.

We ended up at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge a little over 100 miles when you don’t take the direct route. We knew there was a viewing area that would give us a perfect view of the moon rise over the Sutter Buttes (a low mountain range). However, smoke from the recent fire was still hanging low on the horizon as if mocking us for traveling so far to shoot the moon! I was hoping to still catch some of the moon rise through the smoke haze.

While waiting I shot some pictures of the wetlands and at sundown, turned my camera around to shoot the sunset. Not a cloud visible. Then I turned my attention to the moon rise. There were five of us with cameras and tripods set to shoot, but we couldn’t find the moon! Finally as it rose slightly above the haze, one of the photographers found it and helped the rest of us hone in on the red sphere.

I went in with the realization that I was only shooting with a 300 mm and I wouldn’t get professional images. But, I was still a little disappointed with what I did get. This morning when I looked at some other photographers’ images, I saw similar quality. So maybe I didn’t do so bad. My lens did what it could. Hindsight, rent a longer lens and use your heavier tripod! But am I into it that much?–I don’t know.

Oh, we really didn’t have to travel out of Sacramento. The clouds dissipated after dark! But, we had fun!  The next morning I iced my foot again! Foot surgery is a bummer.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Popping up again: Sunflowers and the California Automobile Museum

Yes, sunflowers were popping up again. But this time in a different field, in Davis, and different time of day. We, Marlene, Linda and I, found the field about 11 a.m., and the sun was getting high in the sky. A visit to the California Automobile Museum, in Sacramento, caused us to arrive a little later than we would have liked.

My goal was to shoot over the field and get a wide shot. However, we forgot to bring a small ladder. Okay, I’m short! I did my best, trying to stand as tall as possible. It was a different type of shoot than the last during sundown. There was no back lighting, just blaring sun. I’m finding that I now make do with the environment I shoot in, figuring what type of shot would work best.

For instance, at the Automobile Museum, the cars were so close together and the lighting poor so I decided to do mostly close ups. I went for the hood ornaments, the tires, the horns–whatever looked interesting and different. I’m now shooting with intent and not just doing snapshots. I’m actually able to pull out something good from what doesn’t look like a great photo opportunity.

I’m still learning, but I’m more confident in my abilities. There’s another sunflower shoot on July 5. Maybe I’ll join them, you never know what will pop up!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Shooting in the dark: Fireworks and light trails

I love it when I learn, and I did learn when we went to shoot fireworks. I had good luck when using my old point and shoot by putting it on a special setting. It did all the thinking. When I tried to shoot fireworks with my D3100 it was a mess. I just didn’t know how to set the camera and I didn’t have a tripod.

Fast forward a year and a half, Shoot Or Go Home Meetup group is going the shoot fireworks–A chance to learn. Our local minor league baseball team, the River Cats, have fireworks after their home games. We used the Tower Bridge to set the stage and waited. During that time, Mary, the group’s organizer, gave us a lesson on how to get the best images.

And then they started. We were all anxiously pressing down the shutter button. The show was short and we did our best. I was happy with what I got. What I was not happy with was my camera’s processing length. With a short show, every second of processing time seemed like minutes.

Afterwards, we went to capture some light trails. Since I’ve done that before, I was able to help two other women succeed. So the student became the teacher!

I do love both teaching and learning.

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Music, music, music: The Sacramento Music Festival, Sacramento, California

Four days of music, music and more. The more resulted in a pound weight gain! I wait all year for the brats, kettle corn, and ice cream: jazz, dixieland, rag, rock and country. What would you do at a music festival besides listen to wonderful music and eat fun food? Well, we work at the Sacramento Music Festival too.

Should I call listening to talented youth bands work? Probably not, except for the night we closed and our last band set ended at 11 p.m. That was too late for kids and seniors! Our venue is free for the public while most other venues are by paid admission only. So, our attendance varies between 50 and 70 people who come and go during the sets. Some youth bands have a strong following and attendance can go up to 90.

We enjoy working here because it’s a small venue with little clean up and the kids are great. In fact, some are equal to the professional bands we listened to. Many of the local youths are graduates of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society’s, sponsor of the festival, music camp. In fact, local professional musicians are involved with these young musicians and their musical education.

I also used this 4-day festival to practice photography. Each day, I had a particular goal in mind. Many times, you cannot do photography and enjoy the event. But, while I was shooting, I could still hear the music. And, the performers don’t mind having someone take their pictures.

Confession, we did not go in on Monday except to help tear down our venue.  Yes, there is such a thing as too much music, music and more! This a 2-part post.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Talking with the animals: Sacramento Zoo, Sacramento, California

It’s not big as far as zoos go, but that’s the beauty of it. You can get around the Sacramento Zoo in about 2 hours–more if you have children with you. You know kids like to snack and play at the playground.

Marlene and I went to the zoo to shoot (gently with a camera) the animals. I had taken the grandkids there a few weeks before and discovered you’re either a grandparent or photographer! However, we were surprised by the bus loads of school kids there on a Thursday morning. It made shooting a little more difficult, but it was fun to watch the children as they reacted to the animals.

So we walked, talked and shot the zoo’s inhabitants. It may be small, but it’s mighty.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Combining passions: Return to Midtown Sacramento

My combining passions has nothing to do with returning to Midtown, but everything to do with my love for photography and Toastmasters. I’m currently much better at the latter (being a DTM), and gaining skills daily on the former! I took the bold step of starting a photography club within Toastmasters about six months ago.

That was a big step because of the time dedication it needs. We now have nine members and hope to get to 10 soon. We call ourselves, “All About Photography,” and follow the Toastmaster format. Since we are an advanced club, you have to be in a basic club to join. It has been fun for me and the other members as we learn from each other. Our skill set ranges from beginner to professional. I’ll tell you more about the club and show you some of the members’ images too in a future post; but, now–back to Midtown.

Our guide, Greg Morris, loves this area and will take us down alleys, along the railroad tracks and some places that I wouldn’t go if we weren’t together. I’ve shown you some of the murals painted on walls and garage doors in a prior post and I want to show you some more.

So, here’s at least an example of one passion!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

The 365: Old Sacramento with Sharon

I had the pleasure of spending most of the day with my friend Sharon from Los Angeles before she went on to San Francisco last week. I picked her up at the airport after my Toastmasters meeting, we went to lunch and then headed to Old Sacramento. Now I would never had pulled out a camera before the 365 day challenge, but I did. After feeding the parking meter, I explained the 365 challenge to her. Not only was she okay with it, she was pointing out interesting things to me.

Old Sacramento is an area, located on the Sacramento River, containing quaint shops, old architecture, a train station, a few museums (most notably the Railroad Museum).

I enjoyed that day with Sharon, not only catching up with her, but realizing that I will probably pull my camera out from now on–365 challenge or not.

This challenge is amazing. I’m learning more than I thought I would and also found the support of a long-time friend.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

A wet weekend, what’s a photographer to do? Free museum day: The Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park

You make plans and then need to change them. But, this was a welcome change. It’s raining here in dry California. Although this is a warm storm and will do nothing to help the snow pack, it will help put some water back into the lakes and rivers.

We, photo buddy Marlene and I, had planned on visiting museums for about 2 hours on Saturday, but changed it to a day of shooting when we knew we couldn’t go to Crockett on Sunday. The three we visited were the Leland Stanford Mansion State Park, the California Automobile Museum and the Museum of Medical History.

It was a full day of walking, bending and kneeling. Great exercise! In today’s post I’ll show you images from the Stanford Mansion. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow us to shoot inside the mansion. It was beautiful, with some of the restored, original furniture like a side board that looked like a locomotive. Leland Stanford was President of the Central Pacific Railroad of California.

Build in 1857, the Stanfords purchased the home in 1861. Over the years the home grew from its original 4,000 sq ft to 19,000 sq ft. After their son’s death  1884, Lealand and Jane endowed the Leland Stanford, Jr. University in 1885. Today that college is a part of the University of California system. It was amazing to go back in time, yet be surrounded by today. The home is tucked in the midst of office buildings.

Enjoy the outside of the Stanford Mansion.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Graveyard photography: Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California

Walking through a graveyard may not be the ideal place to shoot photos, but the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is rich with history, unusual grave stones and beautiful flowers. My photo pal, Marlene, and I went there last week and spent some time walking, reading and taking pictures.

It’s not unusual to see photographers out there. I was disappointed that many of the flowers weren’t blooming, but it’s not that time of the year. This just gives me another reason to go back in the spring.

What impressed me was the way they inscribed the tombstones in the 1800s and the type of loss. One family lost two sons at the same age. Having lost a son myself, I could feel their grief more than 100 years later. I found large monuments and small, simple stones.

I’ll go back in the spring and walk the graveyard again. Maybe I’ll go on one of the cemetery tours that take us back into the history of Sacramento. Meanwhile here are my images from this outing.