We are spending the weekend in Chico, my hometown. We visit pretty infrequently, and every time I come back, I am reminded how fortunate I was to grow up in such a wonderful town. Bidwell Park, where most of these photos were taken is one of the best reasons to live in (or visit) Chico; it has miles of trees, trails, and recreational areas along Chico Creek.
A fence at the 5 Mile at golden hour
Lonnie exploring Upper Park (Yahi Trail)
Wildflowers
This is NOT a self-portrait! Lonnie actually took this with my camera using aperture priority, Auto ISO, and back button focus! He was amazed at how heavy the camera is with the zoom lens (yup!), and I was amazed that the photo is in focus! There is a big compositional error that I am aware of now that I’m taking this photo class- a MERGER! Leaves coming out of (or into) my head! But- all in all, he did a great job!
And now for my photo assignment for my class: a creative shot showing movement. I had this image in my mind of a perfectly (ahem!) focused bicyclist with a blurred background (showing motion). You won’t believe how many attempts I made to get the photo I had in my mind; this one is the closest I got. It was hard to pan smoothly with no camera shake at the correct speed to keep the bike in focus- and still show the background blurry. FYI: I took this shot across the street and facing my childhood church.
melinda anderson photography 
love love love these!!
Wow Melinda. These are all great shots. The composition is excellent on all and the shot of the cyclist is fabulous. You have very effectively conveyed movement with this shot. Nice one! On the shot of you, I suspect Lonnie had a bit of coaching on composition and you can’t teach it all in one shot. I think your hat saved you from having a true head merger tho’. And it’s a really cute shot of you.
So cool!!