Rancho Cordova is a beautiful place to live. I love being so close to the river and the American River Parkway. Hagen Park is so green with its many trees & grassy fields. After an early, fun, informal shoot there with my friends LaRee and Jeff, I went back to Hagen to create more photos.
(click on the photo for a larger image)
Hagen Park Pond
Bird in Flight
Ducks in a Row
New Dog Park!
Taking a break, watching the cyclists
Here’s another photo with this couple on my 365 Blog
I love living in the Sacramento area. There are many benefits to living here including how highly art is valued in the county. This is so obviously seen in the many public art installations. According to SacMag.com, Sacramento has more than 600! You don’t have to look far to see a sculpture or mural in the city. Over the next few weeks, I will be photographing and sharing many of these art pieces here. My hope is that you will go out and visit these works yourself. I encourage you to join me! Share in this pursuit and please comment here.
"A Time To Castaway Stones" by Stephen Kaltenbach
To begin this series, let’s take a look at “A Time to Castaway Stones” by Stephen Kaltenbach. It’s lives downtown at 13th & K across from the Convention Center. This lovely, thought provoking sculpture is one that you not only see but hear. It consists of two large, flowing fountains and in the hot summer sun, the water adds a misty quality to the air. The white ruin like sculpture with its huge human features, reminds me of the many ancient fountains I saw in Rome.
The sculptor, Stephen Kaltenbach, is an accomplished, award winning local artist with several public pieces in the Sacramento area. I was delighted to discover that he is the same artist who created one of my very favorite works at the Crocker – “Portrait of My Father“. Many of Kaltenbach’s works are conceptual in that he is conveying an idea or provoking thought. “A Time to Castaway Stones’ is such a piece. Each of the 4 lengths has one of the following questions: “What have we thought?” “Where are we going?” “What have we wrought?” “How are we loving?”
"What Have We Thought?"
"Where Are We Going?"
"What Have We Wrought?"
"How Are We Loving?"
“Time to Castaway Stones” brings to mind Ecclesiastes 3:5. The New King James version says, “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” The sculpture causes me to think and question not only our society’s actions but my own daily choices as well. What are your thoughts?
This weekend I downloaded the latest Craft and Vision e-book, “Chasing Reflections” by Eli Reinholdtsen. It’s full of beautiful photography and clear, helpful instruction on how Eli created her images. As with all Craft and Vision e-books, it’s only $5 to download. You can’t beat the value and it’s a sure win for inspirational, educational photography reading.
After reading it for a bit, I grabbed my camera and head to downtown Sacramento with “new eyes” looking for story telling reflections. Here’s my first attempt:
Bus in the Window
Today I’ve been practicing with lighting and depth of field…and…thanks to my daughter…enjoying fresh baked cookies.
Can you smell them?
For you fellow photo geeks, I shot this on manual at ISO 400, f/1.8 at 1/40.
I’ve been using the following gear today:
Laurie is beautiful, quick to laugh, smiles easily, and loves Jeff deeply. Jeff is handsome, gentle, is also quick to smile and he loves Laurie.
Laurie + Jeff = a beautiful relationship.
Here are a few photos from their May wedding. Congratulations!
Thank you, Laurie & Jeff!!!
In Baz Luhrmann’s epic, Australia, the little boy Nullah says at the movie’s end, “that’s why we tell…the stories…so they know they are belonging to us.”
Your story matters. And I so love a good story. That’s what this site is about.
