All in a Morning's Work

I set out this morning to see if I could capture a few deer images. I grabbed my camera and telephoto as I walked out the door. I forgot my tripod which I could kick myself for now as a number of my images aren't as sharp as they should be and so will end up in th trash. After dropping off Annika I went back to one of my old haunts for deer and found quite a few bucks there. It was a challenge as they were all in mixed lighting with a lot of distracting elements in the backgrounds. If I had my tripod I would have been more mobile. As it was I had to keep moving my truck here and there to try and get the best positions possible. The deer have just lost their velvet and it was hanging down on a few of them. The acorns have started dropping so they had those to eat in plentiful supply to bulk up on for the rut and the winter ahead.
After leaving the bucks I stopped by Lake Emily and photographed some Queen Anne's Lace and one lone lizard who had just come out onto the rocks to warm themselves. I also got one image of some cattails with the lakes reflection in the backfround. It was an awesome way to start off today.

God's light and precious love to all,

chris

A Day at the Lake

I spent the day at Highland Springs Resevoir about an hour south east of where I live. It's over in Lake County amidst the dry blue oak terrain. It was in the low nineties and there was a breeze blowing so it was a wonderful day.At the end of the day as I was loading my kayak on my truck this big brown dog wandered through and then went out onto a little point to get a drink of water. I had images in my mind of predators going to the waterhole for a drink. Any day on the water is better than a day in the office!

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

The Local Buzz

This morning I was able to photograph a wasp on a Zinnia flower right after I dropped off Jay at school this morning. It is really hot today. Funny thing is just as I typed those words a litle breeze started kicking in from the coast. Maybe it won't get too hot today after all. I guess I shouldn't complain I'm not in Afganistan. My niece Chelsea is though so say a few prayers for her safety as well as others in the armed forces who are continually in harms way.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Cicadas

Cicadas are such cool looking insects. I found one this afternoon lying on the dirt road just down from my house. I saved it until this evening so I could photograph it in the soft evening light just before sundown. Then I set it free

God's precious light and everlasting love to all,

chris

Rocket Science

I picked up some school supplies for Annika and Jay. Naturally one thing lead to another and soon I was using some of my old engineering tools with some of the school supplies to create some stock imagery. I like to call it "Rocket Science". BTW the yellow thing is very old school and it's called a slide rule for those of you that don't know. I have forgotten how to use it as I bought the very first calculator that came along from HP. Much much, easier to use.

God's love and blessings to all
chris

Misty Magical Morning

With school starting for Jay and Annika I'm back into my parental role of taxi driver soon to be driving instructor as they are both at the point where they are planning to get driving permits. This morning I had a few moments for photography as I waited for Jay to get out of the shower. The Little lake Valley was full of tendrils of drifting fog. The sun was blocked by the backyard trees making for a perfect photo opportunity. In a couple of weeks the earth will have shifted making the sunrise a bit further south making an image like this close to impossible due to the suns rays.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Some Days Don't Go as Planned

My goal today was to capture an image of a vulture in warm sunlight. I knew from observing the dead raccoon that they have been feeding on that the sun was on it at pretty close to four o'clock in the afternoon. My plan was to get into the blind around two in the afternoon and wait.

Several things happened through out the day that kind of torpedoed that. The first one was that my loving, wonderful dog Badger escaped about one thirty or so scattering the vultures in all directions. I could hear him barking and the vultures crashing through the branches as they made thier escape. The next event was that the vultures had ripped the carcass so that it was hanging off the branch so that it wouldn't really be in the photograph anymore. I got out my old (emphasis on the old) wooden ladder and climbed up about three feet or so to correct the problem by moving the dead raccoon back onto the branch. The ladder promptly broke sending me plummeting to the ground in a standing position. Now I was trapped in the ladder with twin scratches from the wood going up my thighs! After extricating myself from the ladder I finally settled into the blind. I waited in the blind until about four twenty or so dazed and daydreaming while nothing came to feed. All I managed to capture an image of the grisly reamains of the raccooon. Not exactly something very pretty to look at.


God's light and love to all, chris