A Day at the Lake

I spent the day at Highland Springs Resevoir about an hour south east of where I live. It's over in Lake County amidst the dry blue oak terrain. It was in the low nineties and there was a breeze blowing so it was a wonderful day.At the end of the day as I was loading my kayak on my truck this big brown dog wandered through and then went out onto a little point to get a drink of water. I had images in my mind of predators going to the waterhole for a drink. Any day on the water is better than a day in the office!

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

The Local Buzz

This morning I was able to photograph a wasp on a Zinnia flower right after I dropped off Jay at school this morning. It is really hot today. Funny thing is just as I typed those words a litle breeze started kicking in from the coast. Maybe it won't get too hot today after all. I guess I shouldn't complain I'm not in Afganistan. My niece Chelsea is though so say a few prayers for her safety as well as others in the armed forces who are continually in harms way.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Cicadas

Cicadas are such cool looking insects. I found one this afternoon lying on the dirt road just down from my house. I saved it until this evening so I could photograph it in the soft evening light just before sundown. Then I set it free

God's precious light and everlasting love to all,

chris

Rocket Science

I picked up some school supplies for Annika and Jay. Naturally one thing lead to another and soon I was using some of my old engineering tools with some of the school supplies to create some stock imagery. I like to call it "Rocket Science". BTW the yellow thing is very old school and it's called a slide rule for those of you that don't know. I have forgotten how to use it as I bought the very first calculator that came along from HP. Much much, easier to use.

God's love and blessings to all
chris

Misty Magical Morning

With school starting for Jay and Annika I'm back into my parental role of taxi driver soon to be driving instructor as they are both at the point where they are planning to get driving permits. This morning I had a few moments for photography as I waited for Jay to get out of the shower. The Little lake Valley was full of tendrils of drifting fog. The sun was blocked by the backyard trees making for a perfect photo opportunity. In a couple of weeks the earth will have shifted making the sunrise a bit further south making an image like this close to impossible due to the suns rays.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Some Days Don't Go as Planned

My goal today was to capture an image of a vulture in warm sunlight. I knew from observing the dead raccoon that they have been feeding on that the sun was on it at pretty close to four o'clock in the afternoon. My plan was to get into the blind around two in the afternoon and wait.

Several things happened through out the day that kind of torpedoed that. The first one was that my loving, wonderful dog Badger escaped about one thirty or so scattering the vultures in all directions. I could hear him barking and the vultures crashing through the branches as they made thier escape. The next event was that the vultures had ripped the carcass so that it was hanging off the branch so that it wouldn't really be in the photograph anymore. I got out my old (emphasis on the old) wooden ladder and climbed up about three feet or so to correct the problem by moving the dead raccoon back onto the branch. The ladder promptly broke sending me plummeting to the ground in a standing position. Now I was trapped in the ladder with twin scratches from the wood going up my thighs! After extricating myself from the ladder I finally settled into the blind. I waited in the blind until about four twenty or so dazed and daydreaming while nothing came to feed. All I managed to capture an image of the grisly reamains of the raccooon. Not exactly something very pretty to look at.


God's light and love to all, chris

Days in the Making

Some wildlife images are just pure serendipity. You are walking or driving along and you just happen to find some bird or animal. Usually though it's not pure serendipity as you were looking in places you would expect to find deer or wolves or what ever animal you were searching for. You did your homework and were searching in habitat and at a time where you could expect that form of wildlife to be there.

Many wildlife images however are the result of a bit more planning and hard work. They involve not only finding the proper habitat and time but involve setting up a photography blind. Then a lot of patience and hours sitting in the blind waiting. For the viewers of wildlife images it doesn't matter. What they see in both cases is the end result. They don't see what went into the creation of the image.

The simple vulture images shown in todays blog are of the latter type. I found a dead raccoon and set up my blind nearby. It took several days before the vultures started feeding on the carcass. This morning I went into the blind and waited. Finally after about forty five minutes one lone vulture came in and started feeding. The lighting was very low so I had to wait for times when the vuulture would look up and not be moving for a fraction of a second while I pressed the shutter release.

A special note about Turkey Vultures is that they find their food by both sight and smell.

God's precious light and love to all,

chris

Laundry Line

I took a few days off and went to my cousins house in San Mateo. It was for her Dad's birthday. She knows how to throw a party.
A few days back before leaving I was coming around the corner of the deck and I noticed how beautiful the laundry was hanging there drying in the warm mornings sun. I really liked the mood and feel of it. So here it is.

God's precious light and love to all,

chris

Backyard Bugs

Earlier this week I spent some time chasing insects around the backyard. The flowers are in bloom so there are plenty of insects to photograph.

God's love and precious blessings to all,

chris

Dr. Seuss Bug

Today Lenore and I were playing Frisbee out on the front driveway. When I bent down to pick up the Frisbee I found the coolest looking bug on a dandelion flower. Naturally I grabbed my camera and made some images of it. It was such a neat looking insect. It was fun to watch it eating the dandelion as I photographed it. Later on when I was eating my own lunch in the backyard with Jay and Lenore a tiny green bug the size of an aphid bit me. Then a few minutes later a hummingbird pooped on my head. I was having such a good day too.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

I Went to a Garden Party...

Yesterday they had a garden party benefit for education in our local schools. Lenore and I went to show our support. Mostly we went to socialize and partake of the wonderful food, drink, music and art. There were drawings and auctions. It appeared that a good time was had by all.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Photoshop Fun

I'm not a big Photoshop kind of guy but every once in awhile I get the bug and I like to get creative and have some fun. I found this old Yugoslavian bill when I was cleaning up in the office a few days ago and I thought what can I do with this? It sat around by my keyboard for a few days and then it hit me today. I'll replace the welders face with Annikas. I took Annika outside and photographed her face in a similar position and layered it in. She complained that it makes her look too manly. The wleder would probably say that it makes him too feminine. I'll let them argue it out. I think it looks pretty cool.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

How Do You Measure Up?

Spent a short period of time working on some simple stock images today. One light set up with two different backgrounds.

God's blessings to everyone,

chris