Crazy Day at the Coast

Late this morning I decided to drive out to the Mendocino Coast. It was raining off and on here and I thought just maybe I could catch some good breaking light over there. On the way I stopped a couple of times and it was still raining off and on. I had forgotten my big photo umbrella and all I had was a plastic bag to cover my camera with. When I hit Ft. Bragg I headed north. When I got to Kabiselah it was clearing and I photographed some of the incoming rain. By the time I had driven up towards Westport to the Fingers it had cleared even more. I decided to risk it and walk down to the ocean. I wasn't there very long before the rains returned and I questioned my sanity. Soon I was photographing in the rain and most of my images weren't coming out due to the raindrops on the lens. When I got ready to leave the sun came out and it turned out to be the most glorious day. I stopped off at McKerricher State Park and the sun was shining bright. It made for a much easier drive home. God's blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens. Camera Settings varied.

Planet Willits

Sometimes you run across something that is so cool looking that you just want to try it. Photographer Gavin Hoey has a tutorial for creating miniature planets. I drove to downtown Willits and photographed our local high school.It was fun trying something new and I love the final result. God bless, chris

Working My Way Down

I love wide angle lenses! I haven't had the good use of one for awhile now due to the fact that my previous one took swimming lessons in Pyramid Lake in Nevada a few years ago. At the time I dried it out in an oven and it worked well for awhile but the image quality of the lens has slowly been degrading. I finally retired it this week with the purchase of a newish lens. This morning I took it out for a work out as I worked my way downward in the fog off of the ridge top.With the ever changing fog there were always new compositions to seek out. I hope that you enjoy these. God bless, chris

Traveling Light Oooops Otters!

It poured over the weekend. The rain slammed down and our local lake went up over five feet. As a consequence the creeks started flowing and the rumor is that the salmon and steelhead are starting to move up the coastal rivers. Because the water was flowing in the creeks and there was a little bit of sun(beautiful sunrise) I decided to do a little stream photography.






In packing I decided to travel light as all I would need was one lens and a sturdy tripod. So I grabbed my Tokina 19-35 wide angle lens and trusty Manfrotto tripod and headed down to the creek. I immediately found some pleasing compositions as I worked my way up the creek. I kept hearing a birdlike chirp in the background. I was aware of it but not really locking in on the sound. Suddenly a movement right below me in the creek caught my eye. I saw the flick of a tail going under a cutbank. An otter I quickly caught myself thinking. Soon two others popped up and then they all stopped and looked up at me and started heading down stream.So that's what that chirping noise was!





I saw where they were headed and trotted downstream to get ahead of them. I climbed down the bank and sat in the brush and waited for about ten minutes. Looking up the creek I saw them coming. They were sliding through the riffles and climbing over the rocks. Suddenly they all stopped in catching my scent. They could smell me but couldn't figure out where I was located. Two of them dove under water and went right past where I was sitting on the bank. They all passed less than two feet away. The third one surfaced right next to my left side and when it popped up and saw me it immediately dove back under. See the inset image. Next time I'm bringing a telephot lens and a flash!



What an amazing way to end my outing. Those otters were really cool.

God's blessings to all,
chris