Hi Ho Silver!

Today was spent just hanging around the house with the kids. Schools out for summer as the song goes. This afternoon we organized a game of Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of Jays friends and one of our neighbors.We had a blast and all the adults that participated are sore.



This evening I got a chance to photograph a bunch of mares and their foals. A good friend of mine Israel wanted some documentation of this years crop of colts out on the ranch where he boards them. Luckily for me I had two great animal handlers (Israel's sons) to walk back and forth over the pasture driving the horses in front of me. Aaron and Josue you both did a great job!






The shoot was both fun and challenging and I will probably do it again to try and get a few more individual colt images.





God's blessings to all,

chris

Leapin' Lizards or a Cheap Model

My son Jay and my daughter Annika brought me a Northern Alligator Lizard they captured while restacking the woodpile. Alligator Lizards are tough little characters as far as lizards go. When cornered by predators bigger than themselves the go into attack mode. They hiss and bite at their attacker. As for humans they are pretty harmless because the lizards can't hurt you as the bite is less intense than being pinched by someone. It sure does make one pause when you go to pick one up and they start hissing and trying to bite you. Scary little devils!



In any case this morning I set up my trusty plastic tub and a rock. I placed them near the window and proceeded to get some really nice images of the little critter using a 100 mm. macro lens on a tripod. I used a piece of blue tagboard for a sky and I shot the lizard in a wide variety of different poses. I really like how some of the images worked out.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Finchy Keen and a Dragon Too

This morning I had finches coming out of my ears. They were almost non stop coming to the feeder out at a friends ranch. I stayed in the blind from just a little before eight until about a quarter after ten when the light started getting to harsh to photograph in.





The only other birds that came to the feeder other than the finches were a California Brown Towhee that didn't like my perch and a White Breasted Nuthatch that I chopped the top of his head off when I was taking his portrait. Those little nuthatches never stop moving! There was also a crow that landed in an old apple tree above me that was making the most amazing gurgles and croaking sounds in addition to its cawing.





When I finally got home I retreated to the back yard for my lunch where I spied a dragonfly that has taken up residence next to our small garden pond. So I added his image to this mornings collection.



God's light,love and blessings to all,

chris

Slim Pickings the Grass Isn't Greener

Well, today I finally checked out the other side of the fence and it isn't any greener. In fact the pickings were far worse. Today I spent about an hour and a half in my new blind set up on another ranch about forty five minutes east of where I live. For some reason the birds didn't like the position of my new feeder. I think that it is too close to the nest of a nearby Red Shouldered Hawk though that is just a guess upon my part.I saw a few Western Tanagers but they were up in the trees and there was no sign that my new feeder had even been touched.



Because the feeder appeared untouched I moved it to a new location and moved the blind close to it. I left and then went back to the other ranch I have been photographing at. There I found most of the feed cleaned out of the feeders and a covey of quail right next to the blind. So I restocked the feeders and headed for home. I guess the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence, at least so far. So I'll keep trying.



I did mange to photograph a wild turkey next to the road putting on his display and I got an image of a Western Fence Lizard on the ranches gate post as I was leaving to go back home today.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Volunteered

Wednesday night was my daughter Annika's promotion from Baechtel Grove Middle School (where I taught for eighteen years) to Willits High School. Here in the little town of Willits that is a pretty big deal. In small towns a lot of ta do is often made around things that in a bigger city no one takes much notice. I think it's because there isn't much to do sometimes.






Well sometime way back before the big event my dear wife thought I should volunteer to take the pictures at the dance.So naturally I readily volunteered after being beaten into submission with kind words and thoughts of how I would be helping my daughter through life etc.



Well the day of the big event arrived and I went down early with Annika to set up my lights. She was embarrassed by the berry stain on one of my white umbrellas from when I was shooting hummingbird pictures. Aren't teen aged girls interesting.? I just looked right at her and responded. I don't have to do this you know. They could have someone else do it. For some reason she made no response and continued helping me set up my lights.






The shoot went really well. The theme was Hollywood and they gave me some sun glasses to use as props. The kids just kept coming with a few five minute breaks here and there . It was really impressive to see how nicely all of them were dressed. They are all becoming young ladies and gentlemen. In the end I ended up taking close to a hundred a hundred and fifty images. Even the principal of the school stepped in for a portrait when I asked her. I even convinced a few old teaching pals to get their images made.






Overall it was a hit. The pictures were printed at a local store and handed out at a class picnic the next day in the afternoon. The demand was so great they had to go back and have more printed.

God's blessings to all,

chris

Surf Series

Today didn't turn out how I expected it at all. Hmmmnn.. there seems to be a theme starting to develop along those lines. The rain came down all day though at times it was really light almost a fine mist. I thought I would get some blind time in photographing birds. WRONG!


As it turns out Lenore really needed help in getting things packed up and moved around in her class room. So I spent the majority of my time doing that. Luckily Annika and her friend helped so that made it a little easier.



I spent this evening going through older images and I worked on some surf images I took at night up on the North Coast near Trinidad in late winter.The waves were running close to twenty feet high and it was pretty spectacular to see and hear. Something I really would like to do in the future again.



God's light and love to all,

chris

Thinking About Dead Things Again

This morning was dead. Dead in the sense that no birds came to my feeder for over two hours. Being the diligent photographer that I am I only fell asleep once during that time. At least that is by my count. Finally a few house finches came in. None of them however liked my carefully prepared perch as a landing spot. Then the Lazuli Bunting came by just to taunt me with its presence. Once again it stayed just out of camera range. At least far enough out that I couldn't create a fantastic close up of it anyway. I know it was thinking about all those paparazzi that stalk it's beautiful plumage trying to capture its image for the tabloids.




Finally after about three hours I packed it up and headed home. Along the way I spied a Turkey Vulture sitting on a lichen covered post right next to the road. I think it was waiting for a car to run over something so it could eat. Bracing my camera against the edge of the window I was able to get some nice images of it.




As you can see it was a dead day.

God's light and love to all,

chris