Helicopters to Hummingbirds

This morning drove down to the big city of Ukiah, California to drop my Mom off to do her taxes. While she was having taxes done I went for a drive in the country to see what I could see. Ukiah sits in a wide valley full of vineyards, orchards and is in a pretty pastoral setting. On the way out of town I passed the airport and caught a glimpse of "Reach" our emergency air ambulance. I swung a U turn and went back and photographed it. I thought it looked pretty cool sitting there ready to take on an emergency. Next I wandered out into the countryside taking in the vineyards and the hills. the vineyard are leafing out into swaths of green. Some of the meadows have patches of wildflowers. After picking up my Mom we had a great lunch of Super Burritos and Tacos and then I headed home, dropped her off and then went into my backyard and photographed hummingbirds both Rufous and Anna's hummingbirds. All in all just a wonderful day. May God bless you and keep you, chris All scenic images were creted with a Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens. The hummingbird images were made with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens and four Canon 540 EZ flashes set to 1/16th power.

Short Drive in the Country

On Wednesday after picking up our taxes I decided to go for a short drive into the country outside of Ukiah, Ca south of where I live in Willits. Actually in Mendocino County any time you leave any small city town or village you are immediately in the country. It's a beautiful place to live and I'm glad that for this period of time in my life that God has planted me here. Outside of Ukiah there are a lot of vineyards. I stopped by one where they were irrigating. As a photographer I loved the repeating patterns created by the rows of vines. There was something fascinating about the way they were broken up by the pattern of the sprinklers. I must say I really felt sorry for the poor guy working adjusting and repairing the sprinkler heads. It looked like cold, wet work. Enjoy the images and God's blessings to you, chris All images created with Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 handheld. Camera settings varied.

Thank You Lord for the Rain

We awoke to cloudy skies and the sound of rain. What a blessing and a delight. We are in the midst of a drought and the rain is most welcome here. I drove down to the big town of Ukiah this morning. In addition to driving the main highway I ventured onto some backroads so that I could do a little photography in the rain. Enjoy and God bless, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon Ef-s 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. Exposures varied.

Vineyards Dressed for the Fall Ball

Last Wednesday I ventured out just before sunrise to capture the blazing fall colors of the vineyards near to where I live in Northern California. The night before I fastidiously set my alarm to go off at six so that I would have plenty of time to take a shower and get everything ready to go. Instead I lurched awake at six fifty seven realizing that somehow it was too late and the alarm didn't go off as expected. I groggily pulled my gear together and headed out the door without my shower. The cool fall air awoke me by the time I drove my pick up down our road to the main street. When I looked to the east there was a nice bank of clouds in the sky. This was going to be great for photography I thought to myself. About a half an hour later I arrived at some vineyards that looked really nice. The leaves were all reds, yellows and greens and the vines were heavy with over ripe grapes. At this point the sun was already a little ways above the horizon and there was very little time to photograph as the clouds had all disappeared! The soft warm light lasted little more than ten minutes before it started getting to harsh for photography. I drove around Redwood Valley looking for some good spots and came up empty handed. Finally I found some grapes in the shade. I created a few images of them and then I was pretty much done photographing vineyards for the day. Such a beautiful harvest of images. God bless, chris

Spring is Just Around the Corner

I didn't have much time for photography today because I was working on college application stuff for my son Jay. This afternoon I drove with Annika down to her Sign Language class in Ukiah. It was a delight to see all the fruit trees coming into bloom. (Pray for no frost) After her class she and I stopped off and photographed the mustard in the vineyards, a true harbinger of spring. Later we saw a rainbow over the mountains to the east. Truly a glorious sign from the heavens.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

It's All About the Grapes

I started out the morning with good intentions to do some photography and then go to the bank in Ukiah. A phone call from Lenore straightened me out when she reminded me that it was Columbus day and all the banks would be closed. Wow, I thought to my self. That changes everything. Now I have more time for photographing than I thought.



I proceeded down to Redwood Valley which is a small grape growing area just south of here. I thought harvest was in progress as when I stopped at one vineyard I was watching two vineyard workers cutting grape clusters from the vines. Funny thing was though they were just dropping them on the ground. A truck pulled up a moment later and the foreman got out and began talking to the workers. I asked him if this was the harvest. He explained to me that harvests in this area were two to three weeks away. The workers were just pruning off unripe,small or rotted clusters to allow the remaining ones to sugar up faster for harvest in a couple of weeks.





I then spent the next half hour or so photographing the grape clusters that were hanging from the vines. I photographed until the lighting got too harsh to photograph in.

God's blessings to all,

chris

Parent,Taxicab,Harvest Time

This has been a mostly non photography week. The week seemed to have sped by without warning. I have been being the good Dad/parent and playing taxi cab and going to parent meetings and the orthodontist etc. This morning I was determined to go out and create some images. I browbeat the kids out the door this morning and dropped them off at school and headed off to the big city of Ukiah for an appointment of my own at the dermatologist. After the appointment I stopped off at a couple of vineyards on the way home and photographed the grapes that are just waiting to be harvested. Now it's off to do the recycling.

God's blessings to all,

chris