October 31

I was out in Woodland this morning, and decided to drive to where I took my October 1st photos, hoping to see the peacocks again, but no luck.  I'm pretty sure these hawks were hunting together.  As I drove down the road they just kept moving down the fence posts ahead of me.  I guess this particular post was the choice one.  f/3.2 at 1/4000, ISO250, 200mm.

October 30

A Halloween Eve preview of our Jack-o-lanterns.  Second from the left is Bumpkin, a 25-pounder I grew myself!  And on the right is the other pumpkin from my garden.  He doesn't have a name other than Bumpkin jr.  (showing my lack of creativity in naming). Looking at them in this photo, I think that together they resemble Bender on Futurama, although that wasn't what I was going for.   f/7.1 at 13. ISO250, 45mm.

October 29

Those of you who follow 45journal regularly know I have a weakness for water refleftions.  And lately, if it's an abstract water reflection, all the better. 

Would you believe me if I said this was Bill breaking bricks? 

Does it help to know that he was wearing red?
I actually cropped away about half this photo, because at f/4 it wasn't all in focus. 
I'm happy with the colors. 
Day two for red, white, and blue! 
f/4 at 1/1250, ISO250, 200mm.

October 28

I saw this internet article today about places in the US where you could experience life from another century, and I was sure Old Sacramento was going to be included.  It should have been, I think.  It's a vintage 1849er section of our downtown, about four square blocks, boardwalked the whole way.  Very touristy, of course, but nice.  Anyway, I like the red white and blue in this photo.  All the shades have an old-time feel, like vintage comic book colors.  f/11 at 1/160, ISO250, 80mm.

October 27

Barefoot running seems to be all the craze around here.  Barefootedness in general, actually.  I was just wondering...do you think their feet are cold?  f/6.3 at 1/200, ISO200, 155mm.

October 26

This Apsen photo probably comes closest to the photo I envisioned.  Most of my photos last year had this bright blue sky, and I thought it was really distracting.  Or just too much.  So I'm happy I took the blue out of the equation this time.  Still struggling with lighting though.  f/5.6 at 1/60, ISO250, 55mm.

October 25

Tahoe "vacation" Day 3:   The light was just so pretty along this river, and the colors were different every direction I looked.  This one is much more subtle than the liquid gold photo from Sunday, but so easy to look at.  I'm very happy with it.  It makes me want to take a watercolor painting class.   f/22 at 1/3, ISO100, 155mm.

October 24

Tahoe Day 2:  I really struggled with tree photos yesterday.  I think this is because I had a particular photo in mind, and this is never a good thing for me to do, becuase it blinds me to all sorts of photo opportunities.  I like this one though (in spite of the lighting issues).  The scene caught me by surprise, and I think the depth of field gives it that look.  Like how you'd spot this tree in the woods and just focus on the carved words.  So it's whimsical.  I just wish the Love Tree were lighted better.  f/4 at 1/640, ISO160, 200mm.

October 23

I was so impressed with this area up by Tahoe that I dragged the family back here today for a picnic, not far from where I photographed on Thursday.  It was a great picnic location, and beautiful lighting for photography again.  The river is in the shade, and the Aspens are in the sun, so the reflections are strong.   I think it looks like liquid gold!  My second favorite photo is also a water scene, but at least I do have some Aspen photos I like this time too.  I'm considering taking a blog "vacation" for a few days and posting some other photos from today's trip during this week.  We'll see...   f/7.1 at 1/160, ISO200, 200mm.

October 22

I was looking to take an early morning photo today out in the walnut groves near Winters, imagining a photo with some wildlife.  But the fields were full of people preparing to harvest, so no wildlife to be found.   I thought the row numbers in this orchard looked interesting, but I'm not completely happy with the lighting.  Half the 52 is in the shade, so it doesn't look right to me.   Maybe the sunny part is just too bright.  If only I'd come by about 15 minutes earlier...   f/3.2 at 1/250, ISO320, 100mm.

October 21

Another day when the balloons came my way!  And this one came VERY close!  I thought maybe it would land at our county airport, but it passed right overhead and began an ascent instead. 
f/9 at 1/400, ISO400, 200mm.

October 20

Clover and I took a day trip up to Hope Valley east of Lake Tahoe today.  Us and about 300 other photographers who were parked along the side of the Aspen-lined roads up there.  Only the reflected glow of Apsen leaves in this photo though.  All my Apsen photos have way too much glare.  Now I realize how important a polarizer is up in the mountains!   Oh well.  It was still a pretty drive.  And Clover got to swim.  f/22 at 1/4, ISO100, 55mm.

October 19

So many different kinds of pumpkins grown here, it makes for an interesting photo.  This is Cool Patch Pumpkins.  We were here a few weeks ago for the corn maze.  Actually the corn maze (which is over 40 acres) is a promotion for their pumpkin farm, which is at least 40 acres as well!   Lots and lots of pumpkins!  I wonder what they do with them after Halloween. f/13 at 1/250, ISO200, 112mm.

October 18

It was the last Cruise In for the year, and I'm happy to report, only about 80 degrees!  I'll be sorry to see this event end for the year, but these car buffs don't like to bring their cars out in bad weather.  I'm sure they spend a lot of elbow grease keeping the cars this shiny!  So in addition to the better temperature, I think that having the sun lower in the sky also helped.  Very nice light today.  f/5.6 at 1/100, ISO400, 145mm.

October 17

This is the last in my series of farm related photos for the calendar competition.  It's my favorite farm stand, where I got all my tomatoes in the summer.  I got other produce there too, but mostly tomatoes.  I got five 40 lb. boxes of tomatoes for canning and freezing, and I'm well acquainted with the family, so I'm emotionally invested in this photo.  I think it would make a good cover, but I'm worried it's not bright enough.  I've tried multiple times but never with the right light, and it's always either too bright or not bright enough.  Also the sign is in the shade until 4pm, so I have to photograph it after that.  Anyway, it will probably be in the CAFF facebook photos tomorrow.  People's Choice voting is happening at www.facebook.com/famfarms, by "Liking" your favorite photo.   Hopefully they will get more photos during the week, because there aren't that many there yet, and it's a good cause I think.

October 16

We went to the Ugly Pumpkin event today at our CSA, Eatwell Farms.  Afterwards we got a tour of the farm.  These green bands of winter vegetables probably made for my most interesting photo today.  I think maybe it would have been a better photo taken later in the day, but we were there at noon, so I think the light is kind of harsh.  The different textures are nice though.  Strawberries in the front, then fennel.  After that I'm not so sure until the top of the photo, but maybe collards, lettuce, and kale.  The top two are definitely leeks and kohlrabi.  It's like the green section in a Crayola 96 box!  f/11 at 1/200, ISO250, 145mm.

October 15

What a beautiful and colorful produce display today at the Placerville Farmer's Market!   f/4 at 1/250, ISO200, 55mm.

October 14

So I'm posting another farm photo today.  I decided to enter some photos in the Communiy Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) calendar competition.  I need to submit my photos by Monday, so it's likely I'll post another farm or farmers market photo (or two) before then.  This one's cute because they're baaashful!  :)  f/3.5 at 1/100, ISO100, 200mm.

October 13

This photo makes me laugh.  Sheep are so noisy!  And I never realized that when they baaa their abdomens puff up.  Everytime they bleet this flap of wool lifts up, like a toupee in the wind.   You can see it in this photo.  So if the cute face isn't enough to make you smile, then hopefully the baaa-flap will!  Just wish he wasn't standing in those sun patches.  f/3.2 at 1/320, ISO400, 135mm.

October 12

Well it's about time we got an interesting sunset.  I'm not living in a sunset mecca here, so I take what I can get!  It was a very feathery sunset.  Photos with my wide angle lens had a completely different look than this.  Lots of blue and feathery white.  But the landscape got lost in the wide angle, so I opted for this one.   f/5.6 at 1/800, ISO100, 80mm.

October 11

I got this oversized Ansel Adams book last month when our local Borders closed down.  When I'm done reading through it, I'm planning to tear it apart and hang the prints so I can really see how he composes the value shades from a distance.  There's a photo in the book called "Juniper Terrace-Fountain Geyser Pool, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 1941."  It made a really strong impression on me, and this scene reminded me of it a little, so I decided to try to make an Ansel Adams style photo today.  I think the depth of focus is good, but I wish I'd used a faster shutter speed.  The water looks too blurry.  I tried including a link to his photo, but it wasn't working right.  Needless to say my photo falls a little short in comparison :( f/22 at 1/13, ISO100, 55mm.

October 10

It rained today, and I know I'm in the minority here, but I love overcast rainy days.  And yet after eight straight months of sunshine, I'm struggling to adapt to the change in light that's happening this month.  It was really soggy in the Yolo Basin this morning, and I've had this "after the harvest" soggy rice field photo in my mind (I'm pretty sure it's not a takeable photo, yet I keep trying!) so I drove through the basin.  I think my car startled this flock of grackles into flight; they startled me too.  I'm happy with the effect though.  Like photo pointillism.  Watching grackles in flight is so mesmerizing.  As a kid I used to love watching them swarm when we were driving in the car.  Now they always remind me of the LOST smoke monster.  f/5.6 at 1/125, ISO250, 55mm.

October 9

Today was our second annual visit to the Dixon World's Largest Corn Maze.   I didn't take that many photos, but maybe that's because so much energy has to go into navigating the maze, which is very intricate.  And as the name suggests, Large.  We ended up having to go at high noon because of schedule constraints today, but I think it was probably the best time for this little late-growing stalk to get its daily dose of sunshine.   f/6.3 at 1/400, ISO250, 40mm.

October 8

Wow was this a tricky event to photograph!  We went to the jet show put on by Davis/Woodland Aeromodelers today.  And I mean JETS!  We were imagining model jets with airplane engines, but these models actually had jet engines!  At the end they did a lineup and we got to vote for our favorite.  Honestly my best photos came from the lineup, but I was determined to post an action shot.  And today that means lots of blue sky again.  This one was interesting because I managed to get both the jet and some loops in the shot, even though the jet looks so tiny! f/2.8 at 1/1000,  ISO100, 200mm.

October 7

With Columbus Day weekend approaching, I start thinking of colorful fall foliage.  I thought maybe I could find some color change on my walk today, but there's no change in sight around here.  However I was really happy with the subtle the color variation in this photo of some ornamental grass growing in my neighborhood. I love how it goes from green to purple (reading right to left).  Guess it's a right to left photo.   f/2.8 at 1/1000, ISO100, 200mm.

October 6

We had crazy storm clouds come through here today, so I was expecting a glorious sunset.  But things changed quickly and by sunset the sky was clear except for the moon and birds.  I was feeling unispired for photography today, all week actually, and I'm not sure why.  This photo interested me though, especially because the bird silhouetted by the moon is also glowing the brightest from the sun.  A waxing gibbous bird.  Ha ha.   f/8 at 1/125, ISO200, 186mm. 

October 5

 Nuf said.   f/4 at 1/60, ISO400, 55mm.

October 4

One of the things I love about living here is variety of fruit trees growing along the side of the road.  This pomegranate looks about ready for picking!  Today's photo was a challenge because the light changed so much today.  Cloudy with our first storm approaching, so the light was very flat and hazy.  I think maybe it works to the advantage of this photo because it lightens the background a little.  And it really puts me in the mood for pomegranates.  f/2.8 at 1/250, ISO400, 200mm.

October 3

Well I had one of those days!  I can't believe I'm posting a tire rim.  It is fitting though, because my every free hour today was spent in the Les Schwab waiting room.  So I hereby present the shiniest tire rim in the place.  It represents just a small break from catching up on all my reading and watching football highlights on Sports Central.   I like that you can see the reflection of the jean-clad legs of one of my fellow waiting room patrons in the rim center.  We were all slumped that far down in our chairs, believe me!  f/3.5 at 1/50, ISO400, 145mm.

October 2

There wasn't too much decision-making needed for today's photo.  It was going to come from the Pumpkin Regatta at the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival!  This photo, which was taken after the race, has such nice color saturation it was my favorite.  There were seven pumpkin "boats" racing.  The racers hollow out the center,  sit in them like kayaks, and paddle across a pond and back.   One pumpkin sank almost immediately, and the racer swam, dragging his pumpkin behind.   Pumpkin weights (pre-hollowing, I assume) ranged from 400-ish lbs. up to 900-ish lbs.  The winning pumpkin was a 900 pounder.  But the biggest pumpkin on display at the festival weighed 1684.5 lbs.  The owner, who sat with his pumpkin for photos and was grinning ear to ear the whole time, won a price of $6.00/lbs. ($10,107) for his prize winning pumpkin!    I'm including a second photo FYI and FYA (for your amusement).  I'm getting lax with my blog rules, but a Pumpkin Regatta is a rare event, and maybe a little hard to imagine...

October 1

Another day where I'm posting two for now.  This photo is the more typical photo for me to take, so maybe that's why I'm drawn to it.  And the dragon photo is more whimsical.  Actually the light was awful today for photos.  I'd love to go back here and take both these photos again in better lighting.  This road comes to an end at a ranch about two miles down to road.  Not far from here I saw a huge flock of turkeys, which quickly divided it two groups, male and female.  And surprisingly I also saw a flock of peacocks!  Would have loved photos of those, but my old car scared them off.  They run fast!  I'm surprised by how quickly the terrain changes just from Davis to Yolo.  Very hilly and winding here, as the road shows.  f/9 at 1/320, ISO100, 80mm.

October 1

When I made this photo I wasn't imagining I would choose it for my photo of the day.  It was pretty much a throw away shot made during a cross country meet held at Muller Vineyard in Yolo.  I was waiting for the runners to come up a hill and noticed a break in the vine here and took the photo.  It wasn't until I saw it on the computer that I thought the vine looked like a dragon.  And such a lot of grapes he's about to eat!  I think it's hard to tell from the photo, but these grapes are turning to raisins.  Capay Valley is a new (and maybe up and coming) wine growing region east of Napa.  I'm not sure how much wine is produced from here or why this particular vineyard is going to raisin.  But the dragon is so cool!  f/3.2 at 1/500, ISO400, 80mm.