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.

Aw Nuts

It's amazing what you hear in the forest right now outside my house. Tock, tok,twish and Tock, tock and twack. The ripe acorns are falling every few minutes or so and hitting tree trunks and branches as they fall to the leaves or my deck waiting for them below. This is an important event for deer, bears, squirrels and a variety of birds like Band-tailed Pigeons which gorge themselves on acorns. They can fuel up and store up on mast to help them survive the upcoming winter. Mast is the fancy name for the acorns and nuts of forest trees. Some years there can be an abundance of acorns like this year. Some years it can be pretty lean. Many people are of the belief that a heavy fall of acorns indicates a big winter ahead with lots of rain and snow. We shall soon see in the upcoming months if they are correct. May you have a blessed day, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 28-105 lens at 105mm set on a Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with a Bogen heavy duty ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/25th of a sec.

Short Cure for Cabin Fever

Much of the eastern US and other parts of the world are stuck in the midst of winter. One way of bringing a little spring into your step and into the house is to go to the grocery store or florist and buy some flowers. Besides adding to the decor they can be fun to photograph as well. Here I took some carnations and put them in three vases all in a row on some kitchen chairs. At the end of the row I propped up a dark grayish brown piece of foam core on a chair to use as a backdrop. I bounced some light onto the flowers using a reflector. I focused my camera on one of the flowers in the first vase allowing all the ones behind it to go out of focus. I really liked the end result. A beautiful and quick cure for the winter time blues! Though I will say it is pretty nice outside here in Northern California. God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a 100mm macro lens. Camera settings used AV mode, ISO 100, F22.0 at 1.3 sec. A Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead were used to support the camera. Natural light with a gold reflector used to lighten up the flowers.

Join the Chorus

This has been one weird winter. We have gone from heavy rains and howling winds to warm spring like weather. It was in the low seventies yesterday. Not exactly winter time weather. We are doing a lot of yard work taking advantage of beautiful conditions.It's going to be interesting because we typically tend to get the most snow in March! While cleaning up in the backyard I came across this Pacific Chorus Frog. They used to be known as a Pacific Tree Frog. I created quite a few images of it but this one was my favorite because it really showed off the pads on its front feet which they use in climbing.The pads stick to most any surface including glass. Each night of late we are audience to a small chorus in the backyard as they are starting to breed in our little backyard pond. Please enjoy this little creature. God's love and blessings, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a 100mm Macro Lens. AV mode,ISO 400 F 6.3 at .3 seconds.

More Boughs of Holly

This morning was spent looking on websites for a new car to replace one of ours that has met its demise. This afternoon I got a chance to spend some time in the blind photographing Chestnut Backed Chickadees. They are such a cute little bird with a big personality. On my hard drives they are labeled cbc because it's so much easier to type! Come winter time the CBC's and the Steller's Jays are about the only birds that hang around my bird feeder in any numbers anyway. Luckily for me I really enjoy photographing both of them and I had a great. This image was my favorite from about five that didn't hit the trash can on my computer. I have always loved the over the shoulder look. God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens at 235mm. Camera was set on AV mode ISO 1600, F 5.0 at 1/320th of a sec. The camer was supported by a Manfrotto 055 PROBX tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead. Now that Christmas has passed go out and buy yourself a copy of my book as a present to yourself. "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography", available at many local book stores and on Amazon in both hardback and as an Ebook. Just cut and paste this into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

I Love Those Anna's

With fall just around the corner I'm left mostly with just the local hummingbirds. There are always one or two Anna's Hummingbirds that will stay all the way through until next summer. We do get snow where I live and Anna's can survive the cold for short periods by going into torpor. In torpor they suspend their high rate of metabolism by entering a sort of hibernation, where heart rate and body temperature are reduced to a bare minimum. Their breathing and heart rate slow, and their body temperature can drop as low as 48 F. When the cold weather clears, the hummingbirds return to being active again in a few minutes. It's pretty amazing! Here are a few images of hummingbirds from this morning in the backyard. I had a great time photographing them. They are such gorgeous little birds! God bless, chris My new book "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography" includes a chapter on how to do hummingbird photography. It is available from Amazon and other fine book sellers and for Kindle as well. All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Camera settings used Manual mode, ISO 200, F18.0 at 1/200th of a sec. (4) Canon 540 EZ flashes were used set to 1/16th power. A Manfotto 055XB tripod and a Bogen 3055 ballhead was used to support the camera.

Winter Stash

Woodpiles are the source of a lot of my photographic efforts. It's not that I particularly like woodpiles it's just that's where I seem to find a lot of of my subject matter. I find everything from really interesting pieces of wood for perches to salamanders and scorpions. Last week I was putting in some wood for my Mom and when I lifted up a piece of firewood acorns started pouring to the ground. There was a stash of four or five gallons of acorns piled in between the logs. I really felt sorry for the poor creature that put them all there. It's hard to imagine all of the effort and countless hours it took to gather so many acorns into one place. If you look closely at the image you can see where they were gnawing on one of the acorns for a winter's meal. May your day be blessed, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D,100mm Macro Lens. Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. , Camera Settings- AV Mode,ISO 400,F11.0, Shutter speed 1/4 th of a sec.

Awesome Bee

This morning when I went out to get something from the car I was shocked to see a Bumblebee feeding on one of our bushes that is in flower next to our gate. I was shocked because I very rarely see bees where I live in wintertime. It flew off from me being nearby but on my return trip I spotted a Honey Bee feeding there as well. I went inside and returned with my camera, macro lens and a flash. I spent about ten minutes chasing that bee around the bush. I came away with an amazing image. God bless you through out this new year, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon 540EZ Flash, 100mm Macro Lens. Camera and Flash Settings- Manual, ISO 400, F18.0 at 1/200th of a second, Flash set to 1/16th power on manual.

Last Flight Before Winter

Yesterday a large moth landed on the window outside of our living room. Annika pointed it out."Dad look at that unusual moth". It was rather different. For one thing it was rather large almost and inch and a half in length and the other odd thing about it was that almost all of the scales on its wings were worn away. Here was a survivor making some of the last flights of its life before it died. I photographed it this morning and then set it free onto the outside of the house. God's precious light and love to all, chris

Bulking Up on Acorns

Right now if you are looking for deer in the area where I live most of the time you will find them eating acorns. This morning that is where I found this little 3x3 and a spike. It was difficult to get an image of them looking up because the majority of the time they had their noses down looking for acorns in the leaves. They eat an amazing amount of acorns in preparation for the upcoming winter. God bless, chris

I Opened Up My Little Eye

This morning when I popped out of bed this is the sight that greeted me from our bedroom window. We have been experiencing our first winters storm over the past few days and here was a short break in the storm. The view is to the east of where I live over the Mendocino Mountain Range.I love all the layers and banks of puffy clouds. God's light and love to all, chris

The Long Winter

OK, so it's not really winter. You could have fooled me with all the rain we have been having. We have had some spring weather but it has been mixed with quite a bit of rain. Enough already! I awoke this morning to the steady beat of rain. when I looked outside all I could see was a wall of gray and raindrops on the window pane. All my prior thoughts of photographing bluebirds left my head. I think I'll go work out and run some errands downtown and in Ukiah.
Here are a few images from yesterday afternoon of the Little Lake Valley from my bedroom window and the raindrops on my window this morning.

God's light and blessings to all,

chris