Out and about Sacramento with my camera

I’m beginning to take my camera with me whenever I go where I think there may be something to shoot. Now, a trip to the grocery store, well there may be stuff to shoot there too. But, recently I was a trainer for Toastmaster officers down in downtown Sacramento during the lunch hour. So, I brought my camera. I should have brought lunch too.

My Toastmaster and photo buddy Bob and I took the light rail downtown where parking is difficult. While waiting for the training to begin, I practiced on manual, promising my fellow Toastmasters that I would delete the shots–I did. After the training, which was held in a cafeteria without food or vending machine, Bob and I walked to a nearby light rail station hoping to find something to shoot and something to eat. I did have an opportunity to shoot a memorial to slain police officers and a sculpture of a wife and daughter who had lost a husband and father. I also found some Mickey Mouse statues in a museum. We stopped in there to see if the gift shop had any food. We were desperate.

A couple of days later, I was chasing a sunset at Gibson Ranch with a couple of other photographers. The day before the sky was on fire, but I didn’t know it until it was dark out and photographers were posting their spectacular images on the web. Although we didn’t have the cloud cover of the night before, I did get a decent one-cloud shot.

So here are my images of being out and about with my camera.

 

Out and about with Goose: Dry Creek Falls and Gibson Ranch

Photographers are willing to go out and about whenever they can and they are willing to help.  “Goose” Simmons has been a big help to me. I recently went out during an evening with him and shot on manual until I realized my GPS was stolen. Then I went back to aperture priority.  I was too upset to think. I think I was so excited to be shooting with Goose that I forgot to lock my car. I won’t forget again!

Tonight, I’ll be learning how to shoot the Milky Way, and I hope I’ll be posting some great images for you soon. Meanwhile here are some (because I ended up with more than 20 shots I liked) shots from my outing with Goose.

 

Gibson Ranch near sundown

What I love about the “Shoot Or Go Home” photography meetup group is the small, close to home opportunities they offer. Tuesday we ventured to Gibson Ranch (about 10 minutes away) for a photo walk and sunset shoot. I wasn’t feeling well, but I needed to do something I enjoyed after losing the trailer and missing out on a weekend away.

Gibson Ranch is a park where people board horses, organizations hold events and individuals picnic. It was a Sacramento County park, but is now being run by a private company. I think the County still owns the park but has leased it out. We met at 6:30 p.m. and proceeded to walk the area around the stables. It was a small group, so I had a chance to meet some of them. Mary and “Goose” helped me with my prime 50 mm lens. I’m still having troube getting the exposure correct. After enough frustration, I switched back to my zoom lens.

The setting sun created a challenge for exposure no matter what. I’m so glad I’m learning Lightroom. We all gathered at the small lake to shoot the sunset. This was my first time shooting a sunset for HDR, The sunset wasn’t all that spectacular, but I had fun processing the HDR and was pleased with the various results.

So, here are some of the images captured Tuesday night with the “Shoot Or Go Home” photo group.

 

A love of horses part 2

Yesterday I admitted that I had not been around horses, but had a yearning to photograph them. I’ve always thought they were beautiful animals. So, the shoot at Dr. Stacey Adam’s ranch was a joy. I got caught up in sensing her love for her animals. Each of the three has their own personality.

Part one of this shoot focused on Lucky, a very handsome and photogenic horse, and Alyda (Stacey, I apologize for messing up her name) the grand old mare at 30 years. I only posted a couple of Alyda’s images because she was muddy on one side, and I really don’t know how to use the clone tool in Lightroom yet. When I master the tool, I’ll post more of our senior horse. I also realized that I had not totally followed the advice in the articles I had read about shooting horses. In some instances, I did not get down low enough and the horses’ legs did look a little short. Fortunately, I took a lot of shots. Lesson learned, and I’m sure there will be more to come! Each shoot is a learning experience for me.

Today you will meet Honeymoon, a frisky 3-year-old. Right now, she is the only horse that is able to be ridden. Stacey’s goal is to get another horse so she and her husband can ride together. Age and health conditions are not problems here. All the horses are loved equally. I think Dr. Stacey is amazing.

Meet Honeymoon!