Posted on by Anne Sandler

On the road again: Sedona, Arizona, the final chapter: Catapillar Point, Out of Africa and Tuzigoot

It wasn’t supposed to be a journey’s end, but it was. We were going to take a day on our way home, from Sedona, to drive through Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks, but I fell on the way to Bakersfield. It’s amazing how people rush to help when you have gray hair! I’m okay–just a couple scrapes, one big bruise and a sore shoulder. With that happening, I decided it would be best to head home.

Yes, I’m disappointed because those National Parks are my favorite. I’ll try to get there in the fall. In the meantime, I want to show you a little of the Out of Africa Wildlife Park. This isn’t like a safari park where you drive through and the animals are walking about. This park is a sanctuary. On this trip, we saw a small animal show, a tiger swim and play show and rode through an area where the animals roamed free. You’ll see from the pictures that these animals are very used to humans, especially the giraffes! The zebras can become a little testy!

Tuzigoot is a National Monument of Native American ruins. When you see the small rooms, you’ll wonder what the Southern Sinagua tribe would think if they saw our large dwellings! We decided not to visit their other dwellings, Montezuma Castle and Well, because we saw them during our last visit.

Caterpillar Point  was our last stop on this trip. It was a rocky stream bed, some small water falls and lots of wildflowers including a century cactus bloom.

Take a look at our last two days before we ended our journey and headed home.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Deja vu: Mossy trees and mustard, Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California, part 3

Mustard! It’s yellow just like the condiment, but you don’t spread it on sandwiches or hot dogs. You just look at its beauty and admire it. I’m amazed at how wildflowers can make a hillside or valley look stunning. You’ll see mustard in this post; the last of our visit to Lake San Antonio.

It was sad to see Lake Nacimiento and San Antonio so low in water capacity. We used to camp there with our children when we had a boat. We saw Nacimiento from Lakeside Rd and drove down to San Antonio. The California drought is becoming very noticeable now. We are beginning strict water rationing, which I think should have been done sooner.

Right now there are thunder storms north of us and it may be snowing in the Sierras. But, that won’t be enough to get us through the hot summer. I know the east coast has had enough rain and snow. Funny how Mother Nature is!

So, let’s get on with the serving of mustard–no hot dogs on the side!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Starry, starry night: An astronomy star party, Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California

Dry brittle low lying ground cover with lots of fox tails and some wildflowers welcomed us to our campground at Lake San Antonio this past weekend. Some of it was due to the fact that we were in the overflow area where there were few trees, but the drought has also taken its toll.

But the wildlife activity was normal with many chipmunks and rabbits running the campground. They left small to large sized holes that Gem liked to stick his mussel into and I kept pulling him back. But we were there for the stars and there were plenty of them.

This was my first attempt at shooting star trails. So armed with my printed out tutorials, I set up my tripod and camera and did my best. Thank goodness for Lightroom! No matter what I did, my images turned out with a light tan background. Each night I used a different lens and kept the aperture open. I did 30 minute exposures because I didn’t have stacking software.

I brought my challenge to my Toastmasters Photo Club meeting, it was suggested that I needed to close down the aperture because I was letting in too much light. Well, I’ll try that the next time we go up to the observatory at Blue Canyon. It needs to get a little warmer for my body! In the meantime, I’ll show you what I did get.

I was also shooting during the day, catching some of the wildflowers and fox tails, and I’ll show you those images in my next post. On to my starry nights.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Dog walking human: A surprise at Dry Creek Park

You know we use our dogs as an excuse or motivator to exercise. They know it and pretend they want to go for a walk. There’s the reality: they walk us! It was on such a walk that I received a surprise.

I had agreed to walk with Richard and Gem at their new place, Dry Creek Park. They have a new playground and sort of trail. When I go to Dry Creek, I walk along the creek with my camera to practice. This time I knew we weren’t going to the creek, but I need a shot for my 365 challenge so I brought my camera.

Now you’re probably wondering what the surprise was…wildflowers! My dog had this all planned out! So enjoy the walk that Gem took us on!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Dial “M” for manual, mossy trees and mustard: Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is the place to go to find mossy trees and mustard plants, and shoot on manual. It’s actually where I had a significant breakthrough on shooting manual. I think I have a smidge more to learn, but I’m mostly there.

Known for its wineries and beauty, Napa Valley was the target for our Exploring Photography Meetup group a couple of weeks ago. We met for lunch and then went off in search for mossy trees and mustard. We had four in our car, and without written directions, we were relying on memory to follow the verbal directions given us. Of course that didn’t work, so we just followed our noses!

Before lunch, we did stop at Turnbull Winery to look at their Ansel Adams exhibit. We took the time to shoot what we could of the winery.

After lunch, we found mustard (a yellow wildflower that seems to grow well under the barren grape vines) accidently while driving to where we thought we remembered the mossy trees to be. It was a small and accessible field–a great find.

Luck followed us to the mossy trees also. These trees had lichen hanging from the barren branches, giving the trees an eerie look. We saw the trees but then went up to the Chappellet Winery and was quickly dismissed back down the road! We did stop to shoot the trees.

Now on to the mossy trees and mustard, both shot in manual!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Toastmasters and the rest of Capay Valley

Confession: I’m shy. I’ve always been a leader, but could never announce anything before a general meeting of any organization. Toastmasters changed all that. In fact, it changed my life. I went from being totally freaked out when speaking before an organization to giving workshops and seminars.

People join Toastmasters for all sorts of reasons. Some just want to punch up their speaking skills, some came because they got a new job that requires they speak before groups, and some need a self-esteem boost. Whatever the reason, I have seen, during my many years with Toastmasters, amazing growth in both speaking skills and leadership, and it fills my heart with joy.

Where else could you go for continued support in developing speaking and leadership skills for around $50. per month? Probably nowhere but Toastmasters. It’s now contest season for Toastmasters International, and I’ve been lucky enough to be the Toastmaster at two contests. And, I loved it! It’s wicked good fun to interview someone whether it’s for an article or at a contest.

I’m still shy, it doesn’t go away, but Toastmasters has taught me how to handle it. Yesterday, at a photography meetup in Old Sacramento (You’ll see some images soon.) I was able to go up to complete strangers and ask them to help me out with a picture.

Confession: I’m so happy to be involved with Toastmasters. And now for the last of Capay Valley.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Learning the hard way and The Sacramento Wildlife Refuge

Why do I insist on learning the hard way? I haven’t had, or taken, the time to fully learn the D7100 before I used it at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge  on Friday. So, that meant I lost a couple of potentially good shots because I was trying the camera on different settings without truly knowing how to set them or get out of the setting. I’m also having trouble with the auto focus–way too sensitive. There’s probably a setting that will help, but!! And worse, I left the camera’s field guide at home.

Now, I’m going to make sure I prioritize time for the camera and me! In spite of that frustration, my friend Sandy and I had a wicked good day. I finally used my sling with both cameras, and it made shooting easier because I didn’t have to switch lenses. Most of all, the sling made carrying the cameras comfortable. It was worth the cost.

We got to the refuge about 2 p.m. and stayed until sundown. This was a Meetup originally scheduled by Dennis Ariza, Wildlife and Landscape group. Even though I couldn’t go on Saturday, Dennis allowed me to post my shots on the website. If you are local to the Bay Area and surrounding California communities and do photography, check out this Meet Up group. Dennis always has interesting places for us to go to.

One good thing about going out during the week is the quiet as you walk around. It was peaceful. By the time we got onto the auto tour, the sun was starting to set, and the marsh took on an orange glow. We saw one “fly up” by the snow geese, but I wasn’t too thrilled with my images as compared with last year’s. I’m beginning to get more picky. We ended the drive with a nice sunset that lit up the waters.

That was Friday and today is Sunday. I still haven’t picked up my manual, book or field guide for the D7100. I’ve got to set that priority. Today I’ll show you some images, excluding the eagle. Tomorrow more about the eagle. Suspense!