Silver Lining

The smoke from the wildfires has been really bad this past week. Normally the coastal breeze blowing off the ocean kept our air fairly clear. It stayed that way until this last week when it shifted and we awoke to a red sun and smoky skies most of the week. There was one small silver lining to the smoky air. It made for the most wonderful, diffuse, soft red light for bird photography. Some days I could photograph birds all day long. The lighting on those days just never got harsh. The downside to all of this bird photography was that I had hundreds of bird images to edit. This evening I finished editing and there were a lot of fine images to choose from. Much to my surprise the only two species of birds that came to our bird feeder for the whole week were Band-tailed Pigeons and Steller's Jays. I selected four of each from the final edit. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris All of the images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Smoked Out

On July 27th of this year the largest fire in California history got started roughly 20 plus miles to the east of us. The Mendocino Complex Fires is made up of two fires that are close together. The River Fire and the Ranch Fire. To date they have burned 378,720 acres. The River fire is now 100 percent contained and the Ranch Fire is 76 percent contained. The Ranch fire is burning North and West and is burning through the Snow Mountain Wilderness at the moment. The smoke from these devastating fires is gray and thick and it blocks the sun sometimes. Luckily for us and not the people of the Central Valley most of the smoke blows to the east due to the prevailing coastal breezes. Here are some views of the Little Lake Valley and one of the Ranch Fire I created at night from our bedroom window last week. God's blessings and safety to those firefighters fighting these fire here and else where, chris #TeamCanon

Random Acts of Photography

This last weekend we went out to the coast for a mini family reunion planned by my cousin, Rose. We all stayed at the Beachcomber because it is right next to Pudding Creek Beach and the Haul Road. It's only a three minute drive to downtown as well. It's a great place for families to meet and hang out. It's also a great place to just wander around with my camera and photograph most anything and everything I ended up with a lot of images to edit. It was fun and challenging to attempt to photograph Pudding Creek Beach from a variety of different perspectives. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris All images were created with a Canon T1i camera and a variety of lenses. #TeamCanon

Chasing Bugs

Today Lenore and I went to Brooktrails Community Garden to water our little garden plot. While we were watering we picked blackberries. They are so sweet and delicious. I chased bugs around the garden with my camera and macro lens. Here are a few of my favorite images. Have a great week and God bless, chris All of these images were created with a handheld Canon EOS T1i camera and a 100mm macro lens. #TeamCanon

More Wanderings in the Garden

Most every day unless it's cool out I have to water our plot in the Brooktrails Community Garden. While the water is flowing it gives me plenty of time to wander around the garden looking for things to photograph. Right now with all of the flowers in bloom there are plenty of things to catch my eye. There are butterflies, bees, wasps and many other kinds of insects. It's a feast for the eyes.I hope you are having a blessed week, chris All images were created with a Canon T1i camera and a 100mm macro lens. Basic camera settings were used. AV mode, ISO 800, mostly at F8.0 . Shutter speeds varied. #TeamCanon