Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Seeing things a little differently: Downtown Roseville

Have you ever gone somewhere more than once and had a different experience each time? Downtown Roseville isn’t exactly a hot spot for photography. I posted on it when I took my friends there. I showed them the small area called Downtown and we watched kids play in the water fountains. However showing the area to Brian a fellow photographer was an entirely different experience.

He had two hours in Roseville and I was in the area for a chiropractic appointment. We met in Downtown and walked the area. Forget the Tower Theater, we went directly to the railroad tracks.

Before the dot com boom in the early 2000’s, Roseville was a railroad town. But the only place you’d recognize that fact is in Downtown Roseville. East Roseville is where all the office buildings are located, and West Roseville is suburbia. They also have a small section called Historic Roseville. You’ve seen some pictures of that area also in this blog.

So Brian and I spent some time near the rail road tracks and by Linda Creek. I also showed him the train sculpture that welcomes visitors to Downtown.

Just a disclaimer, I don’t live in Roseville or in Placer County. I live two blocks from the Placer County line in Sacramento County. Before I retired, I would network and look for new business in there. And, yes, in those days that city was a totally different experience for me!

 

I just couldn’t resist shooting the theater from this angle.
Trains and tracks.
The fence line above the tracks.
Working on the train.
The train sculpture from the back.
A neat mural.
Reflection.
City Hall.
The bridge going over Linda Creek.
The Veteran’s Memorial Hall at Royer Park.
Flowers are beginning to bloom.
This guy was washing his hands.
Walking on the bridge.
A mail man and his reflection.
Posted on by Anne Sandler · 7 Comments

In search of mossy trees & mustard: Napa Valley, California

I just love road trips, and recently we went to Napa Valley to find mossy trees and mustard. We really start out with no particular destination in mind; just what we want to find. And, we were successful!

First we found a beautiful grove of oak trees that had moss growing on them. Next we found some wine vines with mustard growing under them. Then we stopped for lunch at the Buttercream Bakery in Napa–one of our favorites when shooting in the city of Napa.

After lunch, we drove some more and returned to the city for some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream which is another of our favorite stops. Then we photographed the 911 Memorial. We shot it the last time we were there, but the light was different. This day the sun shined through the glass plates, illuminating the names of locals who died in that horrific attack.

Of course we made some more stops on the way home until it was too dark to shoot. What a fun day. I do love road trips.

Just a follow up on my previous blog: I am looking into what competitions are available for non-professionals and continuing my Photoshop studies.

Mossy trees were on either side of the road.
A close up of how the moss hangs on the bare tree branches.
Poetry in motion.
The moss has a lacy quality.
A Napa Valley landscape.
Mustard growing in the vineyard.
I just love tree canopies.
More mustard.
Another view.
A closer look.
The 911 Memorial. A homeless person is annoyed by our presence.
The sunlight filters through.
Another view of the Memorial.
I can’t resist a bit of street photography.
A sheep herding Llama.
The Buttercream Bakery.
The restroom sign at the bakery. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.
Posted on by Anne Sandler · 12 Comments

Goodbye 2016: A look back

I am melancholy this New Year’s Eve day. The year 2016 was full of personal challenges for me personally and my dear friends. The one thing I counted on to keep me balanced was photography. When I was out shooting, my attention was drawn away from health issues and global and United States politics. Editing in my office helped relax away fears. I almost lost a dear friend and another had heart surgery. Add that to Richard’s back surgery, it was a tough autumn.

So while in this moody state of mind, I’m going to show you some of the images I chose for my yearly calendar. I’m hoping 2017 will surprise us with political healing, prosperity, health and peace for all. Happy 2017.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Holiday countdown: Festival of Lights, Palm Springs

I know everyone is busy now with holiday preparation, but I hope you take time to view this blog anyway. The Festival of Lights is a weekly evening event in Palm Springs during the winter months. I don’t know what I was expecting, but all we saw were vendors. Since we got there early, musicians were just setting up.

To make matters even worse, I left my D7100 and walk around lens in my cousin’s car. That left me with the D3100 and my 55 – 300 mm lens. It was make do time and challenging. Cold, hungry and disappointed, we went inside a restaurant. There we found our evening’s entertainment.

A group was setting up on the small stage and we asked what they were doing. One of them impersonated Carol Channing, and they were going to rehearse for the next evening’s show.  We asked if we could stay to see the rehearsal and they were very agreeable. The show was very good, but we had to imagine it with costumes. We were even asked for input at the end. Also, photographing it was difficult. I only had my on camera flash, no tripod, bad lighting and a small area. But, I think I did well this was a shooting and processing lesson for me.

So here are some pictures. So take some time and look at them and thanks!

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Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Music, music, music: The 43rd Sacramento Music Festival 2016

The music was outstanding, but the weather was not. It was in the high 90s again this year, and our venue is outside. Even though the temperature was brutal, the Sacramento Music Festival was a hit.  I do this every year because I enjoy it. I like being involved at some level, and all staff members get a free four-day pass. We work 3 1/2 hours and have the rest of the day to enjoy music.

We work the youth venue at the Delta King. Most of the kids are high-school age, some are from middle school and some are from private clubs. Best of all, these youth bands play well. I do enjoy our venue.

We saw two of our favorites, Tom Rigney and Flambeau and Dave Bennett and the Memphis Speed Kings. We also heard some fantastic music from performers we hadn’t seen before.

I only brought my camera in one day so I didn’t get all the groups. And, I only used my walk around lens (18-140 mm). I’m learning that sometimes you just want to enjoy the activity without getting up and taking pictures–especially when it’s hot.

As we were breaking down the venue, I asked our site manager if he could order better weather for next year. He said something like it could be hotter or rain. We’ve had both!

So here’s a glimpse of Saturday at the Sacramento Music Festival.

 

They had a small classic car show. This was my favorite.
We caught the parade.
Every year a musician is named the Emperor of the Festival.
Here’s a group doing acrobatics.
They did this while they were walking.
People of every age walked and danced.
They also tried to get the audience involved.
Boy Scouts marched with the flag.
The multi-talented Dave Bennett. A great clarinet player.
And he puts on a show doing Jerry Lee Lewis songs and more.
I tried to catch his flying fingers.
Here he’s standing on the bass while playing the piano.
Here the bass player is standing on the bass.
What can I say about this!
Tom Rigney puts soul into his music. Every year I try to capture that. See the featured photo.
This is our little venue. I love it.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Memories are made from this: Shooting with Leanne Cole on the California coast.

Memories, they’re those warm, wonderful, sad and fearful feelings that emerge when you think of something from the past. Shooting with Leanne Cole, an Australian photographer, is something I looked forward to, totally enjoyed and now is a fond, beautiful memory.

You see, I met Leanne online by following her blog when I first got my D3100 three years ago. During that time I’ve seen her morph her photography business into what it has become today. She’s an amazing photographer, artist and now publisher of Dynamic Range–a magazine about and for women photographers. We’ve corresponded since meeting on the blog with her giving me encouragement and advice. Hopefully I’ve been able to do the same for her–well more encouragement, not advice! It is truly a small world.

We, Leanne, her friend Nicci and I, had a delightful day in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Monterey. The three of us fit; it was as if we had gone shooting together before. In fact, Nicci and I hit it off and will go shooting again. I’ve added an Australia visit to my bucket list, and I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll get there.

In the meantime, I’ll have the memories of that fun day shooting with my new friends.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Lightroom and more

Now where did I leave off? Oh yes, I was griping about my new gear. Of course (Remember I said I was afraid to try it on!) when I tried on the new vest, it just fit! It couldn’t go over a jacket, and my wide angle lens barely fit into the front pocket! So, back on the phone to B & H Photo. I ordered a large because the salesperson said to order a size larger than I think I should. I thought I should order the medium, but the measurements were correct for the small, and one review from a woman my size said she was swimming in the small! Just another bump in the photography road.

I did practice on Wednesday evening, and discovered that I’m not all that creative. Well, I’ve always known that. I’ve read enough tutorials that suggest that when we don’t have anything to shoot, look around the house. One of my treasures are my grandmother’s brass candle sticks and mortar and pestle. She used the candle sticks every Shabbat (Sabbath) and used the mortar and pestle routinely. I discovered that natural lighting didn’t work well, and I didn’t have a proper back drop. But, I did practice with the new tripod and found it much easier to use than the old one. I’m not going to post the shots from the practice, because I didn’t think they were that good.

What was good, was the fact that I got in some reading on Lightroom today. I spent a good part of the day going through the Adobe manual through page 72 of 219! I can now import and export photos in and out of my file system on my hard drive. I really like the way I have my images organized on my computer and want to load new photos directly into it and then bring them into Lightroom for editing. I’m relieved to have gotten that much figured out because I’m going to a workshop tomorrow on the Develop module. I’ll spend more time on it before the workshop begins.

This evening I’m posting some more from our scavenger hunt. That was a fun morning and forced us into some creativity. I also tried to do some street photography with my long lens. When I get a vest that fits, I’ll really look like someone who knows what she’s doing–wearing a photographer’s vest and a two camera sling! Well, maybe I’ll grow into the role!!