Thunderheads and Lace

Not much time for photography today. This afternoon when I was taking Annika to a friends house I stopped and took a panoramic image of some thunderheads starting to build up over the Mendocino Mountain Range east of Willits. On the way back I created a few portraits of some willing "Queen Anne's Lace".

God's precious light and love to all,

chris

Hansen's Resort

Tired of Garter Snakes yet? I feel like I own a Garter Snake resort. Now they come everyday to spend all day swimming and sunbathing on the rocks in my pond. Eating and snacking on my fish when they get hungry. There isn't hardly a time I can't go into the backyard and not spot one of them at "Hansen's Garter Resort and Pond". Sure makes for some nice wildlife watching and photography though.

God's love and blessings to everyone,

chris

How Many Ways Can You Use a Background

I was chasing after the Garter Snake for a little while this morning. I find it fascinating to watch them hunt. I spotted some rye grass growing off of our deck and I thought to myself. That would make an interesting image. So using my a backdrop I had been using for my hummingbird photography I decided to give it a try. Is it a bit too bright and wild?

God's light and love to all,

chris

Sad Reality

I spent most of the morning uploading stock images to PhotoMission's website. Later in the afternoon Lenore and I went downtown to do some shopping. As I was getting into the car I noticed a mouse nest next to the driveway. At least I thought it was a mouse nest. When I went to pick it up I noticed it was really, really soft. When I turned it over I noticed there were some limbs sticking out of it. It shocked me just a little. Then I realized I was holding a dead mole. I wonder what happened to the poor creature to cause it's demise?

Good's light and love to all,

chris

Just Dandy

Today I wanted to get a graphic image of a Dandelion seed head. I had the idea of getting the sun behind it and making it a silhouette with the sun in it. You have to be really careful when doing this to keep yourself from getting your eye damaged by the sun. The idea is to focus on the edge of the dandelion without the sun in it. Take your eye away from the viewfinder and then swing the lens over to where you think the sun will be included and take the image. That's the idea anyway. My eye hurts a little from catching the edge of the sun in the frame. The best way to do it is to use a pair of welding goggles. Next time I'll wait until I have a pair handy.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

A Little Still Life

I spent a lot of today chasing after the Garter Snakes in my little garden pond today. I got lots images of snakes in the water and on the rocks. What I'm really looking for though is an image of one with a goldfish in it's mouth. I got a chance at one today and I blew it. I saw a Garter snake with a goldfish in its mouth. I managed to take three frames of it before it crawled off. Big problem was that I had left my camera on manual and the exposure was way off. A good reminder and learning experience.
I found a Stellars Blue Jay feather on the ground as my consolation prize.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Anna's Hummingbird

I spent a short session with the hummingbirds this evening. I had one Rufous show up but all the rest were Anna's. I quit as soon as the mosquitos started buzzing around me.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Garter Snake Round 2

I have been hoping to catch the Garter Snake in much better lighting. Throughout the day I was checking the pond to see it. Better lighting was not to be. It came out in the middle of the day forcing me to once again lie down on the hot flagstones to capture some images of it.( Note to self put a pad down next time.) I watched it for a long time. It was indeed lying it wait for one of the goldfish. At one point it struck towards one and missed. Then it went back to waiting again. Itt had the patience of Job. Finally it yawned and swam off out of sight behind some rocks in the corner of the pond.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Little Predator

This summer the terrestrial garter snakes have taken to using my small backyard pond as one of their hunting grounds. A few weeks back I encountered one of them leaving the pond with a rather large bulge in it's belly. It was only later that I noticed my biggest goldfish was missing. Today one of the was sunning/hunting off of one of the rocks in the center of the pond. It stayed there long enough for me to photograph it.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Eaten Alive by Mosquitos

Today was a learning day. I was troubleshooting my flashes for hummingbird photography and I finally learned what the problem was. I inadverdantly bumped the channels on the wireless flash trigger causing two of them to be on the wrong channel. I learned something new. I decided it was still light enough to give them a try at the feeders. I set them up and only managed a few images before I was set upon by hungry mosquitos. Now I'm itching bites on both my arms and my legs. I learned something new. Don't go out and photograph around seven when there are mosquitos everywhere.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Road Trip Through the San Joaquin Valley

Once in awhile you need a good road trip to open your eyes up to the rest of the world. Even if it is a trip on I5 which travels down the Central Valley almost straight as an arrow for hundreds of miles. Not much to see which is interesting in itself. The landscape is punctuated by cell towers, agricultural fields and equipment. Also too is the never ending procession of trucks hauling all manner of items for this vast consumeristic country of ours. Smell wise you pass by a few feed lots and dairies that will really open up your mind and make you immediately close the car windows if you just happened to have them open.It was very challenging to photgraph from the car traveling at 70 mph. The scenery just zips by so you have very little time to think and compose an image. A long but interesting road trip.

God's love and safe travels to all,

chris

Oh No! Not the Dog Again.

Today we picked up the dogs from the kennel. They went completely nuts when they saw us. Badger turned into a whirling barking dervish that couldn't decide what body part to move next. Lance being the labrador that he is just bounded out and pressed himself against me. We decided to take them to the dog park to run off some pent up energy. Here is a sequence of Badger just running for the sheer joy of it.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Soccer

We just got back yesterday from San Diego. We had a great time in the sun going boogie boarding every day at Ponto Beach. We went go cart racing indoors with electric go carts. I came in fourth out of twelve. I can't wait for a rematch next time we go down that way. I also photographed two of my nieces soccer games. They won one and tied one. It's been awhile since I have photographed soccer so it was quite challenging. By the second game I was getting the hang of it and capturing some pretty nice images.
God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Tequila Sunrise Hummingbirds

It's my favorite drink. So the hummingbirds have no relationship to it at all. The backdrop I was using for hummingbirds this afternoon just reminded me of a Tequila Sunrise.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Misty Mountain Morning

There was just a kiss of fog caressing the ridgetop this morning. I happened upon it when I was getting ready to head down the driveway to the big city of Ukiah to run some errands. I love it when the fog lazily drifts through the trees creating angel's breath patterns of light, shadow and fog. The scientific name for it is crepuscular rays but that just sounds too clinical and boring for something so beautiful. Thank you Lord for a beautiful day.

God bless,
chris

Hummer No.3

Had another session with the hummingbirds today. Still working things out. Had a lot of fun with one Rufous Hummingbird. He was determined to keep all the hummingbirds away. Quite the job as there were about ten of them flying around the feeders today.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

More Hummingbirds

Continued with the hummingbird theme for today. I need a better background. I guess I'll have to drive out to the ranch today and pick up the one I have out there. Right now I'm using some dark matboard on the side of the house and it's way too dark for my tastes.
Had a few male Anna's Hummingbirds fighting for the feeder this moring. I just love thier gorget when they light it up. Such a beautiful bird.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Humming Around the Backyard

Today I got to test out my new Ishoot Sniper radio flash triggers. I must say I was really impressed how much better they work than my old optical slaves for doing hummingbird photography. I had a wonderful session with the hummers and they obliged me by coming in two and three at a time and fighting over the feeder.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Previsualization

Before I even clicked the shutter with this image this is what I had in mind. I previsualized what I wanted as the end result and here it is. I asked my friend Israel to pose his horse in front of the Skunk Train. This morning I finally found the time to process the image the way I had it pictured in my mind. First I converted it to B+W . Next I added a sepia tone. Following that I added the texture of some peeling paint to selected parts of the image. The next stage in the process was to erase some of the edges and add some sepia around the edges of the frame. The last and final part of the process was to add some light areas to the image. I'm really pleased with how the image turned out.
God'ss blessings to all,

chris

Red Roses

A red rose from the backyard this evening. A black marble texture was applied to the background.

God's blessings to all,

chris