Posted on by Anne Sandler · 37 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #320: Looking Back

Looking back is one of my favorite things to do. It reminds me of where I’ve been with my photographic journey and where I intend to go. For Sophia’s challenge, I chose the year 2019 to review. It was the year before Covid and a happy year. So let’s dive in!

Each year the wonderful volunteers at Ananda Village plant tulips for their April festival. This terraced field is lined with colorful and varied varieties of tulips. I haven’t gone for a couple of years. Maybe April 2025 will see me return.

Next, I’m looking back at one of the last outings with my dear friend who passed away from a brain tumor. We went to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. That’s Jean standing next to a giant sequoia. The other photo shows a young girl running along one of the paths.

Daffodil Hill closed down the day after these images were taken. The family who planted and cared for these flowers said the hill had become too popular and was being damaged by the large crowds.

I have another wonderful memory of a time with Jean. We went on a road trip into Amador County’s wine country. How beautiful.

Another memory I don’t want to visit again is Folsom Prison. You know the place made famous by Johnny Cash! We weren’t able to go inside for obvious reasons, but the gift shop was great. Here are some pictures of the outside as close as we were allowed to go. Thank heavens for zoom lenses!

Christmas will be here soon enough and so will the Victorian Christmas celebration in Nevada City. I’m not that anxious to face the brutal cold again, but it was fun.

Another private residence, that has since closed to the public, hosted weddings and other celebrations. The owners live on the property. We were lucky to visit on one of the public visit days.

Finally, I’m showing you the Sacramento River Walk in West Sacramento. It’s a walk I’ve taken many times and will continue doing so.

Thank you Sofia for encouraging us to visit our memories. It was a delight to bring the past back to life. When you reply to this challenge, please link to Sofia’s challenge and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Next week, as Sofia announced, we will be having fun with Intentional Camera Movement. I’m new at this and went out today for fun and learning. One hint–find shade or bring along a neutral density filter! I’m looking forward to seeing your abstract images. Until then, take care and be safe.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 25 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #177: Celebrating

We need to find cause to celebrate. And we need to do this frequently. If we can’t create our own celebration, we can always find one! Amy encourages us to do just that with her challenge this week.

I’ve chosen three festivals I’ve visited during the past years. I visited the Nevada County Fair in Summer, Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley, 2019. It’s a small fair, but large enough for a photographer to have fun.

In December of the same year, we went to experience the Nevada City Victorian Christmas where vendors sold crafts, musicians played and attendees dressed in costume.

In 2020, there wasn’t much happening but we did find a celebration at the Asian New Year Festival in Isleton in February, just before lockdown.

Lions were dancing. Here we can see two dancers getting into their costume and dancing.

Let’s end the fun with a Taiko drumming demonstration.

Thank you Amy for helping us celebrate down memory lane with your wonderful challenge. Seeing pictures from these outings made me smile!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 11 Comments

But I’m still posting 2019! Victorian Christmas in Nevada City

It’s the third day of 2020, and my first shoot of the year was a real estate shoot. I am anxious to get out with my camera for something else! I guess that will happen sometime next week.

In the meantime, I do have a couple of outings still not posted like the Victorian Christmas in Nevada City. This is a yearly happening in this small touristy town in Nevada County. The streets are decorated, all vehicle traffic is closed off on the main street, vendors take up the streets and people walk around in period costumes.

I once went to this at night, 2013, when the temperature was down to 25 degrees F! It was great that vendors were selling hot drinks! I had just started this photography hobby and now that I look back, the pictures were not that good. They were the best I could do at the time. It’s amazing for me to see the difference!

So back to the present and my images from this outing!

Vendors and visitors in costume. I hope the woman in the Christmas tree won the best costume!
Street entertainers!

I didn’t take a lot of pictures since it was crowded and cold. One last story: We were having a difficult time finding a parking spot. As we were going up and down residential streets, I saw a woman and her driveway was empty. Since I was driving, I asked Marlene and Ray to see if we could park in her driveway. I was willing to pay for the privilege. She not only agreed, but with Ray’s help moved some fencing to make room for us. She said she didn’t want any payment. How nice was that! We did buy her a small gift.

I’m probably not going back to Nevada City for the Victorian Christmas. However, I might visit another small town next year!