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My Hobby is Photographing Clouds and Sunsets

Ranked #8,602 in Arts & Design, #152,523 overall

I love to chase the clouds and sunsets with my camera.

When the Rocket Moms assignment to write a hobby lens came along, my first thought was that I wouldn't be able to do it. I didn't have any hobbies. There's just no time when I'm not writing, doing household chores, running my book business or designing Zazzle products from my photographs. So I put aside this assignment and went about my life. And then, as I was out with my camera one afternoon on the way or the way home from the post office, it hit me that my hobby was photographing subjects for making Zazzle products. The dictionary says a hobby is a favorite occupation pursued for amusement. When I find myself leaving early for the post office daily so I will have time to look for and photograph interesting cloud formations and especially colorful sunsets, and when I have started taking my camera everywhere I go -- just in case -- I realize that photography is a serious interest and my way of relaxing and getting outside to enjoy nature. I think that qualifies it as a hobby.

Another reason I'm considering it a hobby is because I'm definitely no professional. My camera is probably obsolete -- one of the first affordable digital cameras. I've had it since about the end of the twentieth century. It's an HP Photosmart C200. It's simple enough that I know how to use it without frustration. If it had a long learning curve, it wouldn't seem like a hobby. When I go out with my camera, I want to relax. In this lens I will take you along on one of my daily journeys so you will see how this hobby works for me. I will show you some of the pictures I've taken and what I've done with them. So, let's go.

The photo in this module was taken on the trip I'll describe. I had gone out to Larry Moore Park in the late afternoon hoping to catch a lovely sunset. To my surprise, just as I had my camera poised to catch the clouds, the evening Amtrak train came by along the river. This was an unexpected bonus. I probably could not have got this shot by planning for it. I will show it in more detail later as a Zazzle product, since this picture makes the train almost invisible.

My cloud-chasing adventure on Sunday, February 7, 2010

A damp part of the Salinas Riverbed on February, 7, 2010.My husband was away on business and I was free from a schedule. I could have gone to the gym, but I decided I'd get my exercise by taking a walk with my camera instead. It was a day between rainstorms, but we did have some sun in the afternoon. Since we had had so much rain during the week, I decided to take my walk at Larry Moore Park in Paso Robles, since I was at the Paso Robles house in Riverbank. I often take my camera to this park because it's near the Salinas River that runs through Paso Robles. While I was waiting for the sun to go down, I wanted to document the fact that the Salinas River, which is normally nothing but a dry riverbed, actually does flow sometimes. So we will walk through the park and I'll show you some of what I saw on this Sunday afternoon. This photo was taken after the rain, but this part of the riverbed is only damp -- not filled with water.

Let's start the walk in Larry Moore Park

Be sure to click to enlarge the pictures and read the captions.

I took this one for the sky, even though it also shows off the playground.

I took this one for the sky, even though it also shows off the playground.

I took this one for the sky, even though it also shows off the playground.
Although this is getting dark, you can see across the sand and trees to the freeway on the other side of the river, but it was really the clouds I was after here. I just like a bit of the landscape under it to set it off.
Since one of my goals was to document the water actually flowing in the river, I shot this. you can see by the shrubbery that this is usually a dry part of the river.
There is water here, but it's not really flowing.
Here we are approaching a part of the river that is flowing.
This shot of the sky was taken from the dry part of the riverbed.
Here is a part of the river that really is flowing. It is typical of many more I took.
Thsi shot enables us to see a bit a bit farther down the river and a bit more of the sky.
I took many shots of puddle reflections. Most had trees. This has a bit of the trees, but does better at capturing the clouds than the others.
As you can see, I stayed until it was almost dark. This was one of my parting shots -- capturing both the glorious sky and the dimming figures of the trees.

So is it a hobby or not?

To me, it's a hobby because it's something I really enjoy. I get to go for exhilarating walks in the fresh air and see scenery that takes my breath away sometimes. Having the camera along causes me to look at things more closely because I'm always hoping I'll find something unusual I can use creatively somewhere -- in a lens, in a Zazzle product, or in some way I may not have thought of yet. When I have the camera along, it's more than just a walk -- it's a walk with a purpose.

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Here's that train again.

Amtrak across the river from Larry Moore Park in Paso Robles, CA

I wanted you to see it in a larger format.

Have a Wonderful Trip Greeting Card card
Have a Wonderful Trip Greeting Card by barbsbooks
Browse more greeting cards available on Zazzle

I love taking pictures.

I stopped taking them for years except for business after Jason died and Sarah was gone. There seemed to be no reason for it anymore, since there would be no one to pass the family pictures to. When I joined Squidoo, all of a sudden the pictures in the albums were a means of illustrating the stories. As I wrote new stories, or thought about them, I wanted to take pictures again, and an old interest came back to life.

Here are some of my favorite Zazzle products from my pictures

Although I now have a good collection of products which will keep growing, there are some I especially like. I am showing some of them off below.

What bloggers say about the Salinas River

Although my hobby is photographing many subjects, the Salinas River Trail is one of them, and the Salinas River is a big part of that. It is surrounded by a variety of trees, including many gnarled oaks which make bold silhouettes against a sunset. I love catching it all with my camera at different times of day and different seasons of the year.
Salinas' River Ranch voluntarily recalls bagged salad
River Ranch Fresh Foods of Salinas issued a voluntary recall of certain bagged salads after routine sampling detected Listeria monocytogenes, the county Health Department said Friday. The bacterium was detected in two packages of shredded iceberg ...
No live stream in Salinas River
SLO COUNTY ? San Luis Obispo County Hydraulic Operations Administrator Doug Bird announced that on Friday, May 11 the County Department of Public Works determined that a live stream no longer ran on the Salinas River. Dam Superintendent Charles Berna ...
Calif. lettuce grower River Ranch Fresh Foods recalls bagged salads after ...
CDC declares Listeria outbreak from cantaloupes "over" Listeria: 7 key questions answered The voluntary recall by the Salinas, Calif.-based grower initially included lettuce shipped to California and Colorado. The bagged salads are sold under the names ...
River Ranch to shutdown Salinas produce facility
By KATE MOSER River Ranch Fresh Foods is shutting down its Salinas salad and vegetable processing facility, cutting jobs for 300 employees. But the company hopes that most of those workers will be rehired. The company, which is a wholly-owned ...
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I hope you've enjoyed our stroll as I took my pictures.

Please let me know you were here.

  • Tipi Oct 7, 2010 @ 2:01 am | delete
    This reminds me of a scripture though I don't recall the reference. "How clearly the sky reveals God's glory, how plainly it shows what He has done. No speech, no word is heard, no sound is made." I think it may be part of one of the Psalms.
  • ohcaroline Sep 25, 2010 @ 7:45 pm | delete
    Wonderful photos. I'm glad you started taking pictures again.
  • marsha32 Sep 10, 2010 @ 10:22 pm | delete
    I enjoy taking sky shots...some of them actually come out pretty well even with my cheap camera :)
  • Pastiche Apr 8, 2010 @ 8:33 am | delete
    The beauty of the ever changing sky inspires me as a photographer, and is a source of ideas for my husband who is a painter. He's got a huge collection of sky, cloud and rainbow pictures and also water and waves photographs ready for his retirement, when he plans to paint full time.
  • mistyriver Feb 26, 2010 @ 12:02 pm | delete
    These pictures are beautiful! I don't know how many gorgeous sunset pictures I missed while living in Arizona because I did not have my camera with me.
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More about BarbRad

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Some lenses to fill in the holes.

In this lens I've referred to events and places that those who have read a lot of my lenses know about. In case you haven't read them and are curious about Jason and Sarah, I'm linking to some of the lenses that tell the stories of my adopted children.
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BarbRad

In my life I've been student, public library clerk, English teacher in public school, elementary teacher in private schools,card buyer for Logos Bookstore... more »

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