Coastal Trail and a Redwood Sunset

Late this afternoon I was catching up on editing images from earlier this week. We went over to the coast and went bike riding along the new coastal trail in Ft. Bragg. The fog and sun moved in and out trading places along the coastline when we were there. We got home just in time to capture the sunset over where we had just been on the coast. There is a large Redwood tree being silhouetted by the sinking sun. God's blessings upon your days, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII and a a Canon EF 17-85mm lens handheld.

Redwood Sunset Silhouette

Today was not a photography day. I was much too busy to pick up my camera until it was almost sunset. Then I grabbed my camera and tripod and walked down the ridge looking for something interesting to put in front of my lens. After a short walk I could see that there weren't enough clouds to make a grand sunset with clouds I was going to have to try something different. It was then that I noticed two Redwood Trees growing side by side. "Hmmmnnnn..." I thought. That would make for a nice composition. I worked the Redwoods over pretty good trying different angles and focal lengths. This image ended up being my favorite. I should have titled today's photoblog sisters. For some reason the redwoods reminded me of two sisters growing up side by side through thick and thin always there for each other. God's love and blessings upon you, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 at 200mm set on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a 3055 Bogen Ballhead. Camera settings used were ISO 100, F 13.0 at 1/30th of a sec.

Fern

Every time I have walked down to the end of our road recently I have been captivated by this small Bracken Fern growing at the base of this massive Redwood Tree. There is such a strong contrast between the light green delicate features of the fern and the dark, gnarled and burned Redwood Tree. Late this afternoon I dragged my camera down there and photographed it. The wind was a bit of an issue but luckily there were a few breaks in it to sneak in a few exposures of the fern. God's blessings to all, chris

Tis' the Season

It is indeed the season! Now that the rains have come the "Fungi Season" has begun and will probably continue well into late spring and early summer.I have started to see more and more fungi beginning to push themselves up through the forest duff and leaves lately. Here is one that popped up next to a Redwood tree close to our road yesterday afternoon. I loved how it stood out from the dark forest floor. Love and blessings from God to all of you, chris

Gas Spill and Just Thinking

This morning was spent running errands to Ukiah in the rain. I had to stop and buy gas. When I hopped out of the car the first thing I noticed was all the rainbow colors from some spilled gas on the pavement.That looks pretty cool I thought and grabbed my camera. While my car was filling I created a few images of some redwood needles lying amidst the spill. When I was finished and returning the handle to the pump I spilled some gas!

While driving away I thought of a variety of thoughts. The first was that it was interesting that a small piece of a Redwood Tree ended up on the pavement next to the gas pump.I live in Redwood country so it's pretty easy for it to get there from being on a car or truck.Perhaps from its tires or the rain washed it off from the top of the vehicle. Then my mind went to the gas. Nationwide there are thousands of gas stations with little gas spills just like the one I just witnessed. Would I want to drink water that had gasoline in it? How much would I be willing to put up with? I pictured a lake and a hand dropping in gasoline from a container. Not the same thing but then end result is the same. Gas and other chemicals do end up in our water supplies.It's an added expense to put filtered drains around gas stations but that's what's required now.Where do we draw the line on how far we need to go to protect ourselves and the environment? How much are we willing to pay at the pump? How far do we go to legislate the control and protection of ourselves and our environment? Lot's of questions sprang to mind that I had no answers for. Just thinking...

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it Rain

Christmas in my part of Northern California was rainy, very rainy. One storm front after another has come through. I got a Christmas present from Santa early on the morning of Christmas day in the form of a triple spike power outage. The lights went off and on three times in about ten seconds. Needless to say it knocked out my computer. The first four or five start up attempts were only met with the blue screen of death. After a bit of work over a few days I coaxed it back to life.

Here are a few images of the weather. One from my back window of the St.Francis Castle redwood and a couple in my front yard on Christmas Day.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Personal Icon St. Francis Castle

There are some locations that I tend to photograph over and over because they are great spots. My personal favorite is one that I recently named St. Francis Castle. It's an old wind topped Redwood tree on a local ranch called you guessed it the St. Francis Ranch. It's easily my most photographed icon because it is one of the first things I see from my bedroom window most every day. It's in the first group of trees to push its way above the foggy mist in the morning so it easily grabs my attention.

So it was this morning when I arose to check out the mornings sunrise. There it was poking its blunt top up out of the fog into the first rays of sun. Once again it reminded me of a castles tower rising into the sky. I propped my camera onto the window sill and created some more images of my most favorite personal icon to photograph.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Portrait of a Fallen Giant

On my travels on my way homeward yesterday I stopped to photograph the fog filtering through the forest. I was really drawn to an old fallen Redwood Tree. What's left of it anyway. Fires and a slow deterioration of the years have reduced it down to this beautiful moss covered mass on the forest floor.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Getting There

Sometimes images evolve. Which in simplest term means it needs more work. Sometimes the work can happen over the course of a few minutes or it can mean years. I think this image is one that involves years. It's not yet what I'm envisioning in my mind. For some time now I have this idea of castles floating in the sky which is what Redwood Trees rising out of the fog often remind me of. It's an image that I really want to capture.

This morning on my way to the school to drop off Annika. (Wow, Does this sound familiar?) I noticed the Redwoods sticking out of the fog as I came down off of the ridge. With not really enough time to stop and take any frames I was forced to move on or face the wrath of my daughter by making her late for school. So I promised myself I would take some images of it on the way home.

I stopped on the way back and drove up and down looking for a spot where I could pull safely off of the road and not be mown down from behind as I was composing my picture. I found out pretty quickly that there were few locations where I could shoot from that there weren't poles or wires the bane of all landscape photographers. So I opted to shoot with my telephoto. It's all I had with me anyway!

The resulting image is getting there. I think it needs more grandeur and space. I need to shoot it from higher up and with a wide angle len so that I can include more. This might be years in the making. I'm getting there.

Sincerely and God bless,

chris