Meet Chopper

I had a vision in mind of photographing a Western Gray Squirrel on a slanted mossy log. I pictured it with its long beautiful silver gray tail hanging down. This morning I sat in the blind for about an hour and a half . After a long wait Chopper showed up and climbed confidently up onto the log. He is a Western Gray Squirrel has been hanging around the area for a couple of years now. He is easy to spot because he has a deformed tail. His tail is missing most of the fur in the middle part of his tail. I'm not sure how it happened but the fur doesn't seem to be growing back.I call him Chopper because it looks like he got a bad hair cut and his tail fur is chopped up. When squirrels are relaxed they will let their tails down much as humans let their hair down when they feel comfortable. After a bit of time Chopper let his tail down and I had my image. Not exactly the perfect one I had in mind. But it was the one I was supposed to take. A lot like me. I'm not perfect but I will have to do. Thank you God. God's precious light and love to all, chris

Feeling Crabby Again

Yesterday while weeding the flower beds in the backyard we ran across this beautiful bright yellow crab spider. I photographed it this morning and then found a new home for it in our herb garden which has some nice yellow blossoms for it to hide out in. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Fairy Crowns

Yesterday afternoon when I went to pick up Annika from school I noticed a lot of the girls coming out of her class were wearing daisies in their hair. When Annika got in the car she had a supply of daisies to make some more crowns. Hmmn... that would make a great picture I thought to myself. G

od's love and blessings to all, chris

I'm Ready For My Portrait Now Sir

This morning I headed out to the Little Lake Valley for some more bird photography. Spring is the perfect time for birds because the males are in their breeding plumages. So I tend to do a lot of bird photography in springtime because of this. Today I really wanted to get a few more Acorn Woodpecker images. I had my Oak Tree limb all set up and my feeders were all filled. Within minutes of getting into the photoblind a California Valley Quail hopped up onto the fence railing next to the blind. Several more soon followed. I watched in amazement as soon more than a dozen arrived. I was set up for woodpeckers so there weren't any real perches other than the fence for the quail to perch upon. I finally settled upon getting some tight portraits of them on the fence railing as it is so close to my blind. They have such cool looking feathers when you get to see them so close up. God's light and love to all, chris

Squirrels and Jays

We awoke to a rainy, blustery day. Winter has returned for a short performance that is supposed to last just for today returning to Spring conditions tomorrow. I worked out at the gym and then headed out to the Burris ranch to restock my bird feeders. Then it was home to photograph some Steller's Jays and Western Gray Squirrels at a new feeder set up in the front yard. I was pretty cozy in my blind for about an hour and a half before I got cold and headed back indoors. It's starting to clear already and the clouds are just beautiful. God's love and blessings to all, chris

At a Snail's Pace

This morning when I was walking back to the house from my photoblind I noticed this snail that had crawled all the way across the driveway under my pickup. You could see its trail all the way. Must have had a hot date to want to crawl so far out in the open.I rescued it from the driveway took its portrait and then put it back out into the forest. it's probably really ticked off at me and there is probably some disappointed lonely snail waiting somewhere for it to show up for their date

. God's love and blessings to all, chris

How Green is My Valley?

This morning we awoke to overcast skies and a little bit of drizzle. The sun broke through in patches at one point illuminating parts of the Little Lake valley for a beautiful display of green pastures. God's love and blessings to everyone, chris

Birds

I spent three days last week photographing birds out at the Burris Ranch.

Here are a few of my favorites from those three sessions. It was some of the best bird photography I had had in awhile. God's love and blessings to everyone, chris

Another Weird Bug

This morning I finally got around to photographing this weird bug I

found among my photo backdrops. I was straightening them up yesterday and found this weird looking insect on the backside of one of them. OK all you entomologists and naturalists. What is it? It was about 3/4 of an inch long and it was very slow moving. God's light and love to all, chris

Lonely Boots

When I finished up my photography this morning I stopped by to visit my friend Israel who was in the barn mucking up after his horses. He had taken off his Cowboy B

oots and put on a pair of rubber boots for working in the stalls. I thought his Cowboy Boots looked kind of lonely sitting there next to the horse trailer. God's light and love to all, chris

Delight in the Small Things in Life

This morning dawned bright and clear over the fog filled Little Lake Valley. When I looked out my bedroom window I knew that it meant my bird photography would be over quickly. Bright sunshine isn't the best of conditions for most kinds of photography. I went out to the ranch after dropping Annika off to school and had a great time photographing birds. The birds were really nervous today. Sometimes a change in the weather will do that. As soon as the fog burned off it was getting too bright for doing birds. I went to my truck and grabbed a macro lens and a set of extension tubes. I wanted to photograph the tiniest wildflowers that were growing in the pasture next to my photo blind. The flower's bud is less than a quarter of an inch long. Photographing them meant getting down low into their world. I was laying flat on my stomach in the grass. The flowers looked positively beautiful on that level. What do you think? God's love and blessings to all, chris

Wonderful Wildflowers

Yesterday afternoon after a fantastic morning of bird photography I settled down to the computer and did some editing. I got some excellent bird images! Later on in the afternoon I went with Annika to her American Sign Language Class at Mendocino Junior College. After I dropped her off I went to one of my favorite places to photograph Lupines and California Poppies. The Northwestern Railroad tracks run right through Downtown Ukiah and are abandoned. Some stretches have large swaths of wildflowers that you can photograph without being worried about being disturbed by traffic or people.I spent close to an hour photographing flowers before I had to pack up and go pick up Annika for the drive home. She is getting to be a pretty good driver.

God's love and blessings to everyone,

chris

Blessed

I have been sick for over two weeks with the flu. During that time I had a lot of time to think about how God has truly blessed me. Here I was sick flat on my back in a warm bed in a nice house with plenty of food to eat. I admit being sick wasn't any fun but it could have been far worse situation had I been homeless or had a more severe form of the flu.

Today was the first day I have attempted doing any serious photography other than taking my camera out and taking a few snap shots. I went out to the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley and it was fantastic. I had a wide range of birds coming into the feeders including one Bullock's Oriole and some woodpeckers. I think they like the hen scratch I mixed into the bird seed I have been using. It was amazing to see such a variety of birds today. Now it's time for some severe editing! Can't get better than that.

God's blessings to all,
chris




Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall's Woodpecker,Bullock's Oriole

Evening Light

Yesterday was windy with torrential rains, snow and hail. This morning we awoke to sun filled skies with a scattering of clouds. I didn't pick up my camera all weekend until I finally created some images of the last evenings light on some tree trunks off of our driveway. I combined these with some cracked pavement for a little texture.

God's love and blessings,

chris