Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fall Colors in the Studio




Today I photographed some images of some leaves I picked up off of the ground.I just love the amazing details that the veins in leaves provide. Such subtle beautiful fall color.

God's blessings to all,

chris

Just Call Me Squirrel Head








Anyone that has followed my Photoblog for any length of time can tell you I'm a sucker for small furry things. Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Squeeckers. Squeeckers is an orphaned Western Gray Squirrel that was raised by the Rogers family. Squeeckers has been released back in the wild but she still likes people as she has lost her natural fear of them. As a result she will allow you to get very close to her. In my case she got very,very close. She was on a fence and as I leaned forward to get a close up image of her she jumped off the fence onto my head. I was really startled and then started laughing where upon she jumped back to the fence breaking our close bond. It was an unforgettable experience. Let me know what you think of Squeeckers by leaving me some feedback in the comment section below.

God's love and blessings to all,
chris

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Catch Up Day










I spent this morning going through some turkey images from last week that I never got around to editing. The lighting on that day was challenging and interesting. It was a mixture of soft sunlight and fog. This was also an instance of too many turkeys. It was hard to isolate single turkeys or small groups of them as there were too many of them. It was a flock of about thirty or so. They all seemed to want to be in the same place at the same time with a lot of pushing and shoving going on. I think I ended up with some pretty nice images. Let me know what you think in the comment section below.

God's blessings to all,

chris

Friday, October 29, 2010

Two Blog Day





Tonight the sun and the fog( the marine Layer) combined to create some beautiful lighting right in my front yard. The Bracken Ferns were lit up by the sun and the fog made some delightful Crepuscular Rays through the fog and trees.

God's blessings to all,

chris
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Playing in the Rain










This morning I dropped Annika off at school and then I spent about an hour and a half looking for images in the rain. I found some pretty cool colorful reflections on the pavement. Later on I photographed some of your standard people walking in the rain images. I loved how this one woman's boots matched up with the sidewalk paint on Highway 101. Finally on the way home I created a few traffic and road images. My favorite one is the abstract curvey road.

God's blessings to all,

chris,
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Leftover Memory of Summer




Today I awoke to the sound of wind and rain buffeting the house. I looked out onto the front yard and there stood a fading pink petunia in the planter box on the deck railing. Out the back window the hummingbird feeder hung there seemingly lifeless until a hummer made a bold dash against the rain and sat on the feeder and took a quick drink before dashing back into cover. I usually have one sometimes two Anna's hummingbirds that spend the whole winter here. When it snows they apparently go into short term torpor to survive it. Today I've got to attend to the house after a few days of neglect. it needs a quick pickup.

God's blessings to all,

chris
Please provide me some feedback in the comment section below.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Photo Trip Report: Clearlake's Rodman Slough

Clearlake in the fall is a wonderful place to visit especially Rodman Slough. I went today with two of my buddies with the intention of making it a combo fishing/photo trip but I never even picked up my rod except to move it out of the way. Joe the weatherman Benoit predicted there would be a break in the weather and he was right on. Steve the Bassman Eckdahl and Joe met me at the boat launch this morning just a little past dawn. We unloaded our kayaks and headed out onto the lake.




There was a light cloud cover so the lighting was soft and light and there were immature Western Grebes in flocks everywhere around the entrance to the slough. They were feeding on schools of minnows that were scattered over the slough.There were a lot of Great Egrets and I decided to focus on those first. I got a couple of nice perching images and then a few birds in flight as they took off. There were a few Redtail Hawks present but they were too high up in the trees for my 400 mm lens.





After the egrets I worked on getting some images of the Western Grebes. There were lots of opportunities with them as there were so darn many of them. Which actually made it difficult to get portraits without another one showing up in the frame. The fall colors on the shoreline made for some beautiful colors on the water in a couple of locations.











After the Grebes I was slowly going down the shoreline looking for ducks when I spotted a Virginia Rail on the edge of the tules. A first for me so I was pretty excited. I only managed one image of it due to the heavy cover. I caught several glimpses of it later on but it was too well hidden to even try.



Following the rail Steve called me over to capture an image of a nice Largemouth Bass he had caught before he let it go. It was a really nice fish as you can see in the picture. It took off like a shot when he let it go.



A little bit later Joe motioned to me to join him out on the main lake. When I paddled over he pointed into a cove to the side of the slough. There were literally hundreds of American White Pelicans feeding on minnows and fish pushed up against the shore. When I paddled into the cove they started taking off in waves. The sound they made taking off was incredible. What an incredible sight to witness. About then the cloud cover lessened and the lighting immediately got to harsh to photograph any more. in any case it was a fabulous morning for photography.





Rodamn Slough is located on the northwestern end of Clearlake. The slough is roughly 4 miles long. A good paddler can kayak or canoe to the end and back in four to six hours depending upon the conditions. Towards the end of summer only about half the slough can be paddled sometimes due to low water conditions. Access to the lake is from several dirt or gravel boat launches at Rodman Slough County Park. Small boats only as it would be really easy to get a larger boat trailer stuck. The park is on the Lucerne Cutoff located about a 1/2 mile off of highway 29. A kayak ,boat or canoe is highly suggested as it is all but impossible to get around on foot..

God's blessings to all,

chris

link http://www.konoctitrails.com/wt7-rodman-slough

Please provide me some feedback in the comment section below.