On June 6th I am hosting a Sacramento Capitol and Park Photo Safari. This is a great opportunity to get experience with your camera in the field. Plus, it’s lots of fun.
Overview
The class starts at 9am and ends about 4pm, with an hour break for lunch. The first half of the day we explore the Capitol Park, the plantings and statuary, ending at the World Peace Rose Garden. In the afternoon we take pictures inside the Capitol Building itself. There are historic rooms to shoot as well of lots of architectural detail and nooks and crannies to explore. I’ll be zipping around helping everybody, answering questions and doing demos.
The only requirement is that you have a tripod (beg, borrow or steal one, if you need to!) as the interior shots are far easier to compose and the light is quite low. I’ll be demonstrating how to use a tripod effectively if you’
ve never really gotten the hang of it. No particular camera make or model or type is required.
Specifics
Getting there
Getting to the Capitol Building is very easy. It’s right off I-5 east of Old Sacramento. A GPS will make a piece of cake out of it. Park at the Capitol Garage (1303 10th St, Sacramento, CA) for $5 all day. Bring cash as they sometimes have an attendant taking the money as you drive in.
Sheldon’s Parking Garage Tip: Regardless of how many people are parked in the garage, drive to the very top and park right next to an elevator on the top floor. That way, no matter how full the garage gets, it’s always easy to get to your car quickly. Plus you get a nice view. There is a map at the bottom of the page.
Morning – The Capitol Park: 9am -12pm
Meet on the east (back) steps of the Capitol building. From there, we’ll be wandering around the Capitol Park where there are lots of very interesting features with statuary, monuments, water features and plantings.
Concepts we’ll be exploring will be lighting, framing, white balance, and usin
g manual settings. We’ll be ending the morning at the World Peace Rose Garden.
Lunch 12-1pm
Lunch break is on your own. There are plenty of places to eat nearby on K Street.
Afternoon – The Capitol Building: L Street entrance: 1:15pm-3:30
We will meet on the L Street (north) side of the Capitol Building to go through the weekend entrance. We’ll take pictures of the various displays, in the rotunda and the building itself. Tripods are allowed, but flash
is not.
Recap: Capitol Building, front steps: 3:30-4pm
At 3:30pm, if there are no crowds, we’ll meet on the front steps and have a bit of a recap of the day. After that we can take some photos of the front of the Capitol Building in the rays of the setting sun.
What to bring
- Your camera
- Tripod
- Extra batteries
- Extra storage media
- A hat and/or sunscreen for the morning
A printable PDF for the event is available by clicking here.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me here.
