Spring is Just Around the Corner

I didn't have much time for photography today because I was working on college application stuff for my son Jay. This afternoon I drove with Annika down to her Sign Language class in Ukiah. It was a delight to see all the fruit trees coming into bloom. (Pray for no frost) After her class she and I stopped off and photographed the mustard in the vineyards, a true harbinger of spring. Later we saw a rainbow over the mountains to the east. Truly a glorious sign from the heavens.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Signs of the Times

Today I didn't do any photography as we went to the big city of Ukiah, Ca. to do our taxes. Upon our return home we grabbed the mail from the mailbox to be sorted. The first thing that caught my eye was a full page ad for a trimming machine for 13,995 dollars. Now I don't need a trimming machine but it's just that I was amazed at the fact that here was one being offered for sale in a full page ad in a local newspaper.

For those of you that are uninformed a trimming machine is often used in the marijuana growing business to trim off the useful leaves off of the plants after they are harvested. Lately there has been more and more advertizing of products that can be possibly be used in the growing, processing and shipping of marijuana. There has been a real shift in what is being offered for sale lately in some local publications. Last fall for example there were ads for turkey roasting bags at great prices. Do you need several hundred roasting bags? They are commonly used for storing and shipping marijuana.
Now with spring just around the corner there will be businesses lined up to receive growers dollars as they get ready to plant. I didn't say what they are planting now did I!
Here are some signs of spring from last year in Mendocino County.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

No More Squirrels!

If I were aspiring to be the worlds best squirrel photographer today would have been a banner day. There were wayyyy to many squirrels this morning. They dominated the feeders.At one point I counted eleven squirrels at or around the bird feeders. I didn't hear or see any Mountain Quail at all. Hmmmn... I wonder why? Hopefully there will be some tomorrow.

God's love and blessings,

chris

Stuck in Squirrel Gear

For those of you that have been following my photblog you know that I am working towards photographing some Mountain Quail. This morning I was up at it early to try and get into the photo blind before the Mountain Quail showed up to feed. My timing and plan was great for within minutes after settling into the blind I could hear the call of the quail. In less than three minutes they were literally right below my feet feeding on the grain that had fallen from my bird feeders. They were there right below me until some Ravens came in and scared them away.It was fun to watch them even though I couldn't photograph them in that position. How would the top of a quail look? Looks like I'll have to repostion my set up and try another day. So here I am again with another squirrel picture to show for todays efforts. At least they are pretty cute!

God's light and precious love your way,

chris

Dark eyed Junco

I pursued the elusive Mountain Quail in my front yard photoblind again this morning. I sat for about an hour and a half watching the squirrels and Jays come and go.I photographed a few out of habit until I heard the soft call of quail from far off down the road into our property. It got closer and closer until I could tell they were nearby. I froze not wanting to make any noise or motion. I don't know what scared them but suddenly it stopped and they were gone. I stayed in the blind for about another half hour or so capturing a beautiful image of a Dark Eyed Junco.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Play Time

Jay cleaned out his room this week. In the process he uncovered an old metal Batman car. When I saw it I immediately wanted to photograph it. It was pretty scratched up so I knew I couldn't photograph it in a daylight setting. I had to create something moody. I have been in a silhouette mode lately so I figured I could do something along those lines and I wanted a streetlight too.Tonight I played around with a few different sets but this is the one I liked the best.

God's blessings and love to all,

chris

Gray Day

My new feeder set up is intended to draw in some very elusive Mountain Quail. A few have come in but I haven't gotten any photogenic images of them yet. They are the holy grail quail of my front yard blind. Sometimes when I coming up the driveway I'll see a group of them leave the area by my feeder. A few years back I had a dozen of them taking a dust bath right next to my photoblind completely out of camera range as there was no way you could point a lens down onto them.

This morning I had to be content with photographing the Western Gray Squirrels as they dominated the feeders most of the time I was out there.I heard some quail but they never showed at the feeder. Even the ten oclock turkeys didn't show up. It was a Gray squirrel kind of day.

Back to the Squirrels

Spent some time creating a new set up for birds and squirrels at my photoblind in the front yard. The first visitors were as usual the squirrels and Steller's Jays.

God's love and blessings,

chris

Silhouette Composite

Still in silhouette mode. This evening I created a sunset image in camera. Then I searched my files for a suitable silhouette for it to be paired with. My search revealed some Santa Cruz surfers that were perfect for it. Here is the result.

God's love and blessings for all,

chris

Cross Silhouette

I had the idea to create a crucifix in silhouette yesterday and for a variety of reasons it never was completed.This morning I decided I would just create one using Photoshop with some images I already had in my files. So in reality it is more of a graphic than a photograph. It is two sunset images combined to make the sun a little bigger and the horizon lower. I then added a black cross to complete the graphic.A very appropriate image for Sunday. Time to praise Jesus for what he has done on the cross for all of us.

God bless,

chris

Deerscape

This week I took a nice drive out Sherwood Road in Mendocino County in northern California where I live. It's great country road with very little traffic. I went in search of one of the elk herds that reside out that way. When I found them they were in front of someone's barn in a pasture so it didn't look very photogenic. I drove onward out to the Sherwood Valley site of the old mill town of Sherwood. Only a single home on the west end of the valley the Octagon House gives any clue to its former existence.I didn't see any more elk and I turned around to head home. Just as I was about to leave the valley I spotted some deer watching me from a ridge top. I thought they would make a great "Deerscape".
God's love and blessings to everyone,

chris

Scorpion Silhouette

This morning when I was working out I thought up a creative concept for an image. Isn't working out a great time to think? I decided that I wanted to create the silhouette of a scorpion against a sunrise.I stopped first for grocery shopping then hurried home and went in search of a scorpion. Luckily I found one under the first piece of firewood in the woodpile.Then I spent the next hour creating a set up and photographing the little critter before I set it free.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Mendo Morning

A typical scene in Mendocino County California with the morning fog on my way to town this week.

God bless,

chris

Drop on By

I spent most of this morning playing with water drops and editing them on the computer. I know its been overdone but the darn things are so much fun to do. It is so cool to see the physics of what really happens when a water drop hits. The variations in color are only limited by what color liquids, back grounds and filters you can come up with to use.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Another Try at the Beetle

This is one of those images that bug me.(Pun intended) I have a vision in mind and I'm just not quite getting what I have in mind. Getting close but not there yet.I've got the beetle just about right but the composition is wrong as the beetle is headed out of the image. I'll keep at it.

God bless,

chris

Rainy Day deer

The rain poured down off and on all of Sunday. There was very little chance to photogaph anything but the local Blacktail Deer. I passed by one group with a really small buck and a wild eyed doe. I have never seen a doe with such bulging eyes.They stayed put while I photographed them from the car. Just stopping briefly from feeding now and then to lift up their heads and check me out.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Trip Report Part Two Other Birds

The Sacramento Valley trip in Northern California continues. Besides Mallards there were a few other visitors to the blind at Delevan. A pair of Gadwall swam by and the usual ever present American Coots. Even a group of four White Fronted Geese came by for a short visit.The most colorful bird of the day was a Meadowlark that landed in a tree above the blind and proceeded to serenade me with its' territorial song. I left the bind when the Meadowlark left and nothing came to the blind for close to an hour.

I then made the drive up to the main Sacramento Refuge and took the Auto Tour around the refuge. If you ever get the chance to do the auto tour in mid january it is well worth the drive with tens of thousands of ducks and geese sometimes on the ponds right off of the auto tour route. Today however most of the waterfowl were dispersed from the refuge now that the hunting season for them is over. But there were still a lot of birds to see and photograph including many birds of prey in the trees right above the road.This included a Turkey Vultureand a Redtail Hawk.

Waterfowl wise I photographed a Ringneck Duck, Snow Geese a huge flock and a single. Both Green Wing and Cinnamon Teal. Completeing the Auto tour I headed south through the valley town of Maxwell where on the outskirts of town there wasa flock of White Faced Ibis that flew in to feed. Overall it was an exciting trip full of opportunities to photograph birds and even a squirrel. I also got to see three River Otters and a Peregrine along the way but they weren't in locations I could photgraph them. Maybe next year.

God's blessings and love to all,

chris