Praying for the Return of the Fog

When I first moved to the Redwoods just inland from the North Coast of California in 1989 I remember the fog rolling in from the ocean at least three to four times a week. It's beautiful to behold and it provides nourishment for the Redwood trees to be healthy through the summer. The incoming marine layer hits the tall trees and ridges causing fog drip that falls like rain around the bases of the trees. Within the last five years or so I have noticed the fog rolling in less and less. Now it seems like the fog only comes in three or four times a month robbing the redwoods and the rest of the forest of the moisture that it needs to be healthy. I wondered if my empirical record keeping had any validity? Today I did a little research and there are plenty of studies that show this to be true. The lack of fog is impacting the health of the Redwoods in California in a negative way. Hopefully the last few weeks mark the beginning of a change in the fog patterns. The marine layer has been rolling in almost every night as of late. That would be a wondrous change and something good we can pray for. God's love and blessings to all, chris This image wascreated with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 18-200mm lens, #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Brrrrrrrrr!

Fall is beginning to head out and winter is just around the corner. It has been cold in the morning lately. All of the Montanans, Siberians, Alaskans and North Dakotans etc. will be laughing at this but here in Northern California on the coast it has been in the high twenties the past few mornings. Frozen puddles and frost. Time to get that wood stove stoked up and going. Below are some frosty Oak leaves that I photographed before going to work out at the gym this morning. I hope you are having a great week. God bless, Chris All images were created with a handheld Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens. Exposures varied.

One of my Favorites

Yesterday afternoon Annika and I loaded up the pick up with camera gear and headed out to the Mendocino Coast. Our first stop was at the Q in Fort Bragg to load up on a couple of Pulled Pork Sandwiches. We had a nice picnic lunch a Lake Cleone. Afterwards we headed further up the coast to check out one of my favorite seal colonies. I love photographing seals with a telephoto lens and we had a great time watching them. There were two of them that looked really cute together. I'm not sure if was a mother and her young one or two seals that get along very well. They were sleeping side by side when we left. On the return trip we stopped at Pacific Star Winery for a bottle of wine and then we went to Cow Licks in Ft. Bragg for some ice cream. It was a gorgeous day. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a handheld Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens.

Mostly Foggy Day at the Coast

Lenore and I spent the day on the Mendocino Coast. We went for a bike ride on the Coastal Trail. We went down to Glass Beach. We finished the day off by going down into Noyo Harbor to Silvers at the Wharf for iced tea, steamed clams and a bowl of chowder. Lots of beautiful sights to see and photograph on the North Coast! God's light and love to all, chris all images created with a canon 7D and a Canon EF-s 17-85 mm lens.

What's that Down There?

I was looking over my chickadee images this afternoon and I realized that even though I had deliberately over exposed them for that snowy look there was still a bit of a gray cast to them. Thank you Tim Hale for steering me in the right direction. Here is a square cropped Chestnut Backed Chickadee from yesterday for a little closer view. I like how the chickadee is looking down at the feeder. God's love, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM at 275mm. Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV Mode + 2 E.V.,ISO 400,F5.6.0, Shutter speed 1/400th of a sec.

Brrr! It Was Cold This Morning.

It looks like winter is making it's return to the North Coast of California with some colder temperatures. Snow is in the forecast over the next week. None here yet so I had to create some. I spent about an hour in the photoblind this morning and I really needed my coat, hat and gloves. Of all of the images created this one of a Chestnut Backed Chickadee was my favorite. God's love and blessings to everyone, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM at 275mm. Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV Mode + 2 E.V.,ISO 400,F5.6.0, Shutter speed 1/400th of a sec.

The Fog Came Rolling In

We spent a glorious afternoon at the coast. It's amazing how fast the weather can change on the North Coast of California. After a dazzling, warm and sunny afternoon the fog rolled in and blotted out the sunshine. Within minutes the temperature dropped fifteen degrees. On our return trip home we stopped to photograph the beautiful Village of Mendocino from one of its iconic view points. God's love to all, chris

Stock Image From a Day Off

I took yesterday and today off. Well actually I didn't take today off because I spent a good chunk of the afternoon processing the last of some wedding images. Yesterday Jay and I spent an absolutely gorgeous day at the coast rock fishing. I caught two really nice rockfish and one really small one the size of a minnow and tossed them back. The weather was perfect and the surf was extremely small for the North Coast of California. The biggest waves were less than a foot high! Here is one stock image from the drive over. I have wanted to make an image like this for some time now. A flagman looking away at the highway and one image created by Jay while I was trying to pull a rockfish up off the bottom and it didn't want to budge.Fishing for rockfish on light tackle is a lot of fun. God's love and blessings to all, chris

An Albion Paddle

Today I took my Ultimate Watercraft Kayak for a long paddle up the Albion River on the North Coast of California. I went with my friend Joe and his wife Susie. We caught the incoming tide just perfectly and went as far as we could up river. On the return trip we timed it just right and hit the out going tide for the trip down river. To top it off the onshore wind didn't kick up at all. You can't ask for much better than that.

As we floated and paddled along we spotted a lot of seals. I got really close to a Cormorant and a Pacific Loon. The best sighting of the day was when Joe spied a Bald eagle up in a snag. I even got some sparrow images. The weather was perfect for a great day on the river.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Note: All of my kayak photography is done with a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Kayak. I use a custom made camera mount that I made specially to fit the kayak. Details on how to build the mount can be found here.

http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html

Native Watercraft's site is here.

http://nativewatercraft.com/boat.cfm?id=7

Chasing Blacktails Again

This morning after dropping Annika off at school I was out chasing the Blacktail Deer again. I had a little better luck today as a couple of them were still out even though it was after eight o'clock. They are starting to go into rut and so the batchelor groups are starting to split up a bit.

God' light and love to all,

chris

Playing With Rocks and Boats

Spent part of the day combining unlike things together. I was creating images using textures of weathered rocks from over by Clearlake with old fishing boats in the Noyo River Basin. The results surprised me. The two old things go rather well together.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

An Ultimate Day on the Noyo River

Today I went for a long paddle up the estuary of the Noyo River on the North Coast of California. Access was easy from the public launch and all I had to pay was three bucks for parking. If you have a boat and trailer it's ten. So having a kayak saves you a few dollars. I planned my paddle so I could catch the last of the incoming tide and make it easier on myself as I wanted to go upstream about three and a half miles or so to where the Skunk Train tracks cross the river. It worked out perfectly.

Right away I passed a California Seal Lion hauled out snoozing. I saw a lot of Osprey but none were close enough to photograph.The most amazing sight was watching a young Harbor Seal hunting for fish. It was swimming on it's back with its head downward so it could keep it's nostrils out of the shallow water as it swam. It was hunting the edges of fallen logs and brush along the sides of the river.

I saw a lot of waterfowl along the way. Mergansers, Canadian Geese and the usual Mallards along with a few Green Herons and one Night Heron. There was one Pond Turtle but it slipped away well from well over a hundred feet from me. With smaller bird life there were an amazing amount of Bandtail Pigeons moving in the trees as well as a few dove. One dove landed near me along the shoreline to have his portrait taken. I also got to see an leucistic or albino hummingbird. Though it was to far away to photograph well.

On the return trip down river I ran into Cate Hawthorne and Jeff Laxier. They were leading a group of clients upriver from where I had just come from. They own and run Liquid Fusion Kayaks and are really nice people. If you are interested in booking an ocean or river trip look them up if you are in the Fort Bragg, California area.

Down river from them a Blacktail Doe came down to the river for a drink. Near by a momma goose and her goslings were going up onto the bank looking for grass to eat.

It was a great day to be on the river photographing nature.

God's blessings to all,

chris

Note: For my kayak photography I use a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 kayak