Posted on by Anne Sandler · 25 Comments

Down in the Delta: Heringer Family Estates Winery & Vineyards

Oh, it is tough to get back into routine after a vacation. Almost over a sore throat, I checked to see what outings I hadn’t shown you before we left for our Panama Canal trip. I found this delightful winery in the Delta region sponsored by the Yolo Arts and Ag Project.

It was delightful because of the photo and artistic opportunities the Heringer Vineyards offered. There were many photographers and artists in attendance. Although late in the season, some grapes were still on the vine and beautiful against their colorful leaves.

All wineries have tasting rooms and beautiful grounds. Being in the Delta, the Sacramento River is nearby.

And there were many painters sketching and painting the beautiful scenes.

Let’s not forget the traditional old and rusted farm equipment.

My camera always leads me to plants, and that morning was no different.

I think this was the last outing planned by the Yolo Arts & Ag Project for 2025. They will start again in Spring 2026. I do appreciate the opportunities they offer us.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 27 Comments

Sunflowers: 3M Ranches, Woodland, California

Sunflowers always make me smile. It seems like they are smiling as they follow the sun through the day. We recently went on a Yolo Arts & Ag Project outing to 3M Ranches to view their sunflower field. They had a warning to alert us of the bees, asking us not to interrupt their mission of pollinating the countryside.

Thanks to the bee boxes along the field, there were plenty of industrious bees working hard. I’m glad they were concentrating on their work because I’m allergic to them. I give them plenty of space. Watching them is amazing. They have one job and that’s all they do.

It was difficult to find a flower without a bee on it, but I managed. You’ll have to look into the full field pictures to find a sunflower with no bees. Unfortunately there was one casualty. I don’t know what happened to that one flower since the field looked young.

This ranch also had old equipment that we were allowed to photograph. In my next non-LAPC post I’ll show you the beauty of rust.

Until then, stay safe and healthy!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 46 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #280: Last Chance

It’s not very often in life that you get a second or last chance. It’s like seeing a purse in a store that you like but can’t decide to buy it. You go back to get it the next day, and it’s gone. Today Tina gives us that second chance, and our photos aren’t going away!

I had fun looking through my early years of photography to avoid Tina’s one rule of not having posted the image in LAPC before. Here are my choices.

Big Fork Montana
Bodie California
Coyote Point Lincoln Calif.
Effie Yeaw
Kauai, Hawaii
Having lunch near the Sutter Buttes
Sunrise in Coloma California
Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley
A Yolo Art & Ag Outing

Thanks to Ann-Christine for reminding us that there is still magic in this world in her challenge last week. I enjoyed seeing your memorable, magical posts. And thanks to Tina for this fun challenge. When you respond to her post, please link to it and use the Lens-Artists tag. Right now, WordPress is having trouble with the Lens-Artists tag in the reader, but we are making every effort to see all your posts.

And now for some end of the year news from the LAPC team: After having been an integral part of our team since its inception in June of 2018, Amy of Share and Connect will be leaving the team to begin an exciting new adventure. She and her husband will be traveling more extensively and making some happily-anticipated visits with family. We wish her all the best and look forward to her posts as she continues to respond to our challenges whenever possible.  We are also announcing that this will be the final Lens-Artists challenge of 2023. We will return on January 6 to begin the New Year with our traditional Favorite Photos of 2023. We look forward to seeing you all again then. In the meanwhile we wish all who celebrate the happiest of holidays as well as a peaceful and joy-filled 2024. 

See you in 2024. Have a great New Years and stay safe!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 21 Comments

Out on the County Roads: Pollock Farm

When you’re a suburbanite, driving on various country roads that are labeled County Road __ or __, can be confusing. And you can never count on your GPS to get you there. That’s why I appreciate directions given by the organizers of the Yolo Arts & Ag visits! The visit to the Pollock Farm in Woodland was no exception.

Fortunately, we only had one wrong turn. This farm is 137 acres of olive trees. The owners Lynnel and Herb Pollock have left the original structures dating from 1861 – 1872 to decay at their own pace, giving photographers and artists a wonderful opportunity to capture those times. They live on the property in a 1950s house.

Here’s a glimpse of what we saw.

An artist chatting with a photographer.

I love how carefully the wood is chopped and stored in this last photo. Might we expect a cold winter? That would be great!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 19 Comments

We’ve got a lot of catching up to do: Ruhstaller Farm

I just love the Yolo Art & Ag Project. They allow us photographers and artists to visit the most amazing country places. This post is about our visit to the Rumstaller Farm in Dixon California. And this place was amazing!

This is an excerpt from their website:

We Grow Beer.
Easy to say…hard to do. Just spend a morning with us! This is where our beer is born, where its soul comes to life. Dirt, sun, rain, wind…sweat. It’s an opportunity to grow the highest quality, most unique tasting beer in the world…not with engineering, or in a lab…but in the Dirt!

Yes, they brew beer, but there is much more. They grow the hops, have walnut and citrus orchards, sheep, dogs, sunsets, bonfires and concerts.

It’s all in one large area where people can relax on their old furniture, visit the bandstand, buy their beer and wine, etc. In fact, you can spend a relaxing few hours viewing the orchards and hops growing areas, or sit in a comfy couch or chair. It’s up to you. Here are some pictures.

I know these are a lot of pictures, but I do have more. This is a wonderful farm that I will visit again–and again!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

A country wedding: Pheasant Trek

If you’re dreaming of a wedding set in the country, Pheasant Trek at Dunnigan Hills may be the place for you. A working ranch of olive groves and vineyards, Pheasant Trek, in Yolo County, mostly bills itself as a wedding and event destination. We were invited there through the Yolo Arts and Ag Project.

On the way there we stopped to catch this scene and more.

The actual ranch consisted of buildings, a barn, a water tower converted into a bridal dressing room, an enclosure for a cow and two donkeys. Here are some of the buildings seen from the central part of the ranch.

Here are the animals.

I walked around to the back of the ranch and found these.

Yes, I was a little disappointed, but there was enough to photograph and keep me busy. I’m wondering what Yolo Arts and Ag has in store for us in July? Really, I’m very appreciative that we are allowed to photograph in these venues.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

May was…: M3 Ranch, Woodland

What can I say. May was sometimes good and sometimes disappointing–for photography. I’ve taken you on many Yolo Art & Ag farm tours and this one of the M3 Ranches in Woodland promised such varied crops like olives, garlic, almond trees, agave plants and more. How exciting! Well, maybe not.

The first clue was there was no greeter to take our names. The roads were open and we drove around them. I’m thinking maybe we missed something???

We did find the almond trees. At least we think they are almonds.

Then we found a pond that they call their oasis.

And now the agave plants.

The grape vines already had fruit.

I think these are the olive trees. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

I’ll end with some of the vistas I photographed.

Working with the images for this post, I’m thinking it wasn’t such a disappointment after all.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 39 Comments

Lens-Artist Challenge #190: Close and Closer

I’m happiest when I have my macro lens on my camera. Yes, I love macro and close up photography. But Patti is correct in this week’s challenge of getting close and closer. Getting close to the subject changes the story slightly. My images are cropped sections of a larger area, but I believe the feeling is the same.

To begin, we visited the Manetti Shrem Museum, an art museum on the U. C. Davis campus. More than what’s inside, I love the exterior. All the lines and angles. They can also be found inside. The first image shows some of the exterior as seen from the hall in the museum. The second photo is cropped in to show more of the detail in the metal. The shadows also add design to the image.

The second set shows a winter scene at Donner Lake. Photographed from the roadside, the long, curved driveway invites the viewer toward the home. I drastically cropped in the image to show the window and its reflection which creates a design of its own. I’m glad we can crop in a photo and respect the owner’s property.

Next we have a path at Fort Ross on the California Coast. Uncropped it shows a winding path leading through a tree umbrella. Cropped, the focus is on the detail of the trees.

Last we have an old farm building. This was taken at one of the Yolo Art and Ag Project farm visits. In the landscape a photographer is taking a picture of the same building. In the close up, I focused on the window. Processing it in black and white added a more realistic quality to the age of the building. Do you think the photographer was doing the same thing?

Thank you Patti for showing us how getting closer can change the look, feel and story of an image. And thank you Tina for encouraging us to find our oddest ends last week. Next week, Ann-Christine will lead our challenge. Please remember to link to Patti’s post and tag Lens-Artists so we can find your post in the WordPress Reader.

 If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, we have easy to follow instructions. Just click this link and join us: https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com/about-lens-artists/

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 25 Comments

Lens Artist Challenge #173: Interesting Architecture

Architecture surrounds us whether it’s a historical building, a small store, a different sort of home or an iconic skyscraper. In this week’s challenge, Tina encourages us to share our images of interesting architecture, opening the field to what is fascinating to us.

While California is known for cities like Hollywood and San Francisco, it is primarily an agricultural state. In Sacramento we are so close to a countryside of farms, ranches and orchards. Here are two country houses, very different in architecture, that I’ve visited through the Yolo Arts & Ag Project.

  • Clos Cavanis Farm
  • Oliver Farm

Close to Sacramento is Donner Lake, a busy place for summer and winter recreation. Some people live there full time and some have homes to enjoy as a get away. Here is a winter scene.

We also have buildings of historical value. One is the Gibson House, It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, in Woodland and another, bulging in the front for years, is located in Locke which is a historic district. I think it’s amazing that it is still standing.

And, of course there’s Folsom State Prison. Its architecture gives us a hint as to its age–141 years. Built in 1880, it’s a minimum to medium security prison and houses only men.

Next is Sacramento’s very own Tower Bridge. Spanning the Sacramento River, it connects Sacramento to West Sacramento, and is used as a branding image for many ad campaigns.

And finally, my favorite building, the CALSTRS building. In the picture above, it’s located just after another amazing architectural wonder, the Pyramid (The Ziggurat) Office Building. Here you can see it up close.

This ends my tour of interesting architecture in and around Sacramento. Thank you Tina for this fun challenge!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 8 Comments

Yolo Arts and Ag: Capay Canyon Ranch

Sometimes you just feel like a winner! That’s the way I felt when we (Marlene, Ray, Richard and I) went to the monthly Yolo Arts and Ag Project in Esparto. The flyer said that at Capay Canyon Ranch we would be able to see the almond orchard and processing of the almonds. Usually we go when the trees are blossoming and that’s all we get to see. And you feel more like a winner when you find a wonderful photo opportunity on the way there and back. Here’s what our morning was like.

On our way to Capay Canyon Ranch.

At Capay Canyon Ranch.

I managed to get some of the warehouse and machinery before I was asked to leave for safety reasons. I truly thought we had the ability to photograph anywhere we wanted.

I walked around and found some almond trees and grapes being dried for raisins.

Then I found where the almonds were getting ready for shipping. There were large mounds of almonds everywhere with bags to mark where each were to be delivered. It was a treat to catch the large machine as it dumped almonds on the mound.

Then on our way home, we came upon this old house. Now who can resist photographing something old and falling down?

A great big thank you to Capay Canyon Ranch for giving us access to an amazing photography and learning opportunity! I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.