Serendipity

I had planned on creating a few more dragonfly images this morning out at the Burris Ranch. God had other things he wanted to show me I guess. I did take a few dragonfly pictures but there were so many other things to look at before it was warm enough for the dragonflies to be up and flying about.





First there were the quail and then the wildflowers. Then the horses showed up for their morning drink. One of the colts even nervously came over for a pat on the nose before he left. Best of all though was the horse with the bird on her back. She got something in her mouth she didn't like and it made it look like she didn't like the bird on her back.













It was a beautiful morning out in God's creation

Sincerely and God bless,

chris

What No Studio Lights?

Today I came up with a challenge for myself just by random chance. I was cleaning up my office and I found a pair of sunglasses. Wow, these are pretty cool I thought to myself. I wonder if I could sell them on Ebay. One thought led to another and I thought about photographing them with my studio lights.
Then it occured to me. What could I do with just one L.E.D. flashlight? Now there is a challenge! So I set up a sweep of green reflective wrapping paper on the kitchen counter. I turned off the lights and painted light over the sunglasses as I made my exposure. The effect was pretty cool.



Later in Photoshop I went in and cleaned it up and added my own name to the side of the sunglasses. The overall effect is pretty good for not using any studio lights.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Chasing Dragons or Provide a Perch

This afternoon I trekked out to the Burris Ranch in pursuit of dragonflies. Last time I was out there I discovered that a small pond above the ranch house had a lot of dragonflies. When I walked up there they were buzzing all over the pond but rarely landing on anything as there weren't any perches. So I walked up onto the hillside and found a few branches and stuck them into the mud for for them to land on. Within a few minutes they were using the perches to land on.






I had a great afternoon going from perch to perch making dragonfly images. It was a lot of fun.

God bless,

chris

The Challenge of Flight

Today I set out to photograph some insects in flight. I parked myself in the back yard by a flower bed and and photographed butterflies,bees and bumblebees to my hearts content. Believe me when I tell you that photographing insects in flight isn't all that easy to accomplish.











Later on in the afternoon I went out to the Burris Ranch and tried my hand at getting some images of dragonflieson the wing. I will say that the dragonflies were far more challenging.





God's light and love to all,

chris

Mixed Bag Close to Home

This morning I got off to a slow start venturing out the door at about seven- thirty in the morning. I wanted to check a local spot for dragonflies. The spot used to be really good and over the past few years it has dwindled to almost nothing. Today was no exception as I only saw one dragonfly that was on the move and wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.



What I did find was Western Fence Lizards in abundance. They were warming themselves on the rocks to start up the day.After stalking them for a while I spotted a Buckeye Butterfly flitting among the rocks. It was just beautiful. I then headed for the creek. I stopped along the way and focused my camera on a Valley Quail guarding his flock. Once I got to the creek I photographed some rocks in the current. It was a good spot to photograph as it was cool next to the creek.















When I arrived home there were some butterflies just inside the gate waiting to have their photograph taken. It was a wonderful morning.

God 's blessings to all,

chris

Bird and Butterfly Part Two

I spent the late afternoon rooted to a spot about about ten feet square. I was alternating between making images of a male Anna's Hummingbird and a Swallowtail Butterfly. The hummer was going back and forth between a baby oak tree and the feeder and the Swallowtail was feeding on flowers just below the oak tree. So between the two I was really busy creating a lot of images.

It was a lot of fun.

Sincerely and God bless,

chris

Birds and Butterflies

I played in the backyard this morning. First I sat in a chair watching the squirrels and jays at the feeder. I took a few images though the lighting was getting a little bright. Following that I chased the butterflies around the flowering plants and watched a few Rufous Hummingbirds darting to and from the feeder.

God's light and love to all,

chris

700 Dollar Mistake

My seven hundred dollar mistake arrived today and I couldn't wait to give it a try. My mistake is a refurbished Canion 50D to replace the one that I arranged to give a swimming lesson to in Pyramid Lake awhile back. It survived for quite some time before finally dying.

The camera arrived via Fed Ex today and I immediately installed a fresh battery and went through the settings on the camera to set it up how I like it. I set up a longer preview and enabled the highlights to show etc. After setting up the camera I threw on a 100-400 telephoto. I set it on the tripod and wandered into the backyard looking for a subject. Some male Anna's Hummingbirds immediately caught my eye and I took numerous pictures of them trying to get one with the gorget lit up on display.






Works the same as my old 50D. Just waiting for the Vertical Battery Grip to come in as it is on back order. Currently saving money for a water resistanr body and a few more lenses. I just thank God that I was able to afford a new camera.

God bless,

chris

Non Photo Days

The past few days have been non photo days. The vast majority of yesterday was spent dealing with computer issues. I'm donating one of my old computers to Lenore's class room and I had a bunch of photos backed up on it from Bora Bora that I needed to transfer to a back up hard drive. The problem was that my computer wouldn't recognize the drive on the old computer. A lot of time was wasted doing a work around to get the images all transferred. When I finally finished I spent some time cleaning my office which has been a bit neglected and needed some attention.









Today was spent ferrying children to and fro and doing a doctor visit to the dermo to have too much sun in my past burned off of my face. Ouch! When picking up Annika in the afternoon from her "Rock Camp" I saw a pretty cool yellow flower in front of a nearby house and I created a quick image of by adding some texture to it from another image.



God's special blessings to all,

chris

Evening at the Ranch

Today was the first day of summer and for once it felt like summer. It was warm and the temperatures got into the low eighties. Woo hoo! Summer has arrived. This morning was spent going down to the big city of Ukiah and buying shoes. My shoe selection has pretty much dwindled down to nothing. So shoe shopping was in order as there are no stores in the big town of Willits that carry foot apparel of any kind except flip flops.



This afternoon I beat myself up at the gym and then headed out to the Burris Ranch for some photography. I sat in my blind for a short time before I got restless and then I took my camera for a walk. I really haven't explored much of the ranch so I headed up hill to where my friend Israel said there was a small pond.





When I got to the pond I saw a small turtle slide under the water and I saw plenty of dragonflies for a future photo expedition.
I also photographed a Western Fence Lizard checking me out from a top of a rock. Then the horses came for a drink to cool off and I got a chance to shoot some images of them as well. Afterwards I went down to the barn and sat the shade and had a fine conversation Israel before I packed it up and headed home. All in all it was a fine evening out at the ranch.

God's blessings to all,

chris