Stuck in Squirrel Gear

For those of you that have been following my photblog you know that I am working towards photographing some Mountain Quail. This morning I was up at it early to try and get into the photo blind before the Mountain Quail showed up to feed. My timing and plan was great for within minutes after settling into the blind I could hear the call of the quail. In less than three minutes they were literally right below my feet feeding on the grain that had fallen from my bird feeders. They were there right below me until some Ravens came in and scared them away.It was fun to watch them even though I couldn't photograph them in that position. How would the top of a quail look? Looks like I'll have to repostion my set up and try another day. So here I am again with another squirrel picture to show for todays efforts. At least they are pretty cute!

God's light and precious love your way,

chris

Dark eyed Junco

I pursued the elusive Mountain Quail in my front yard photoblind again this morning. I sat for about an hour and a half watching the squirrels and Jays come and go.I photographed a few out of habit until I heard the soft call of quail from far off down the road into our property. It got closer and closer until I could tell they were nearby. I froze not wanting to make any noise or motion. I don't know what scared them but suddenly it stopped and they were gone. I stayed in the blind for about another half hour or so capturing a beautiful image of a Dark Eyed Junco.

God's light and love to all,

chris

Play Time

Jay cleaned out his room this week. In the process he uncovered an old metal Batman car. When I saw it I immediately wanted to photograph it. It was pretty scratched up so I knew I couldn't photograph it in a daylight setting. I had to create something moody. I have been in a silhouette mode lately so I figured I could do something along those lines and I wanted a streetlight too.Tonight I played around with a few different sets but this is the one I liked the best.

God's blessings and love to all,

chris

Gray Day

My new feeder set up is intended to draw in some very elusive Mountain Quail. A few have come in but I haven't gotten any photogenic images of them yet. They are the holy grail quail of my front yard blind. Sometimes when I coming up the driveway I'll see a group of them leave the area by my feeder. A few years back I had a dozen of them taking a dust bath right next to my photoblind completely out of camera range as there was no way you could point a lens down onto them.

This morning I had to be content with photographing the Western Gray Squirrels as they dominated the feeders most of the time I was out there.I heard some quail but they never showed at the feeder. Even the ten oclock turkeys didn't show up. It was a Gray squirrel kind of day.

Back to the Squirrels

Spent some time creating a new set up for birds and squirrels at my photoblind in the front yard. The first visitors were as usual the squirrels and Steller's Jays.

God's love and blessings,

chris

Silhouette Composite

Still in silhouette mode. This evening I created a sunset image in camera. Then I searched my files for a suitable silhouette for it to be paired with. My search revealed some Santa Cruz surfers that were perfect for it. Here is the result.

God's love and blessings for all,

chris

Cross Silhouette

I had the idea to create a crucifix in silhouette yesterday and for a variety of reasons it never was completed.This morning I decided I would just create one using Photoshop with some images I already had in my files. So in reality it is more of a graphic than a photograph. It is two sunset images combined to make the sun a little bigger and the horizon lower. I then added a black cross to complete the graphic.A very appropriate image for Sunday. Time to praise Jesus for what he has done on the cross for all of us.

God bless,

chris