Choose Chico Weekend

I have been out of the loop for the past few days. As part of our college search for my daughter we went to visit CSU Chico in Northern California. They have a "Choose Chico" weekend complete with campus tours and meeting department heads and instructors. Annika got to meet with her major advisor and department head one on one. Simply amazing. The campus was lush and beautiful with Bidwell Creek flowing right through the middle of campus. Pretty smart of their administration to choose a beautiful spring day for this event before the summer valley heat starts up! Chico has a population of close to 80,000 people but the downtown area has a very nice small town feel to it. Some really good restaurants too as we found out. Lenore and Annika left me for four hours in our hotel to go dress shopping. With not many areas close by to release my creative outlets I made some sad looking images of our hotel. The hotel staff was a bit overwhelmed with all of the weekend guests and there were a few dishes that sat in the hallways for two days! We made one stop on the way home in Upper Lake, Ca where I photographed the town clock. My how time flies! God's love and blessings to all, chris All images photographed with a Canon 7D and a Canon 28- 135 IS lens

Lots of Juncos

It's always amazing to me how wildlife populations shift. I have been photographing birds in the Little Lake Valley for years. I hardly ever photographed Dark Eyed Juncos there until last year. At my house at over thousand feet higher and in a mixed coniferous forest they have always been plentiful. For some reason last year and this year there just seems to be a plethora of Juncos down in the valley. Yesterday afternoon they were the dominant species coming to the bird feeders. In fact I didn't photograph anything else. I was excited to see the my first Lesser Goldfinch come to the feeders in full breeding colors. I didn't get to photograph it but it was a joy to see. Here are some beautiful Dark Eyed Juncos for your viewing pleasure. God's blessings to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied

Wonderful Wildflowers

This afternoon I was driving to my photoblind in the Little Lake Valley and I noticed for the first time that the lupines are starting to bloom along the side of the road. I just had to stop and take a quick photograph of them! First it was the Fairy slippers and now the wildflowers are starting to bloom on the valley floor. A sure sign of spring. God's blessings to all, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 210mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F16.0,Shutter speed 1/250th of a sec.

Beautiful Day for Squirrels

The past few days have been weather wild. There have been gusty winds, hail, sleeting snow and pounding rains. To wake up to the sunshine today was a blessing. This morning I got off to a late start working on changing my feeder set ups. This afternoon I got around to setting up my camera and my best image of the day ended up being a Douglas Tree Squirrel that came to check out what that lovely peanut butter smell was coming from the feeders. When God gives you squirrels you photograph squirrels. I was happy with that! God's love to all, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 310mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed 1/400th of a sec.

Hiding From the Rain

Today is another day to be hiding out from the rain and snow out side. It spit snow and literally poured off and on all morning long. After taking a break form editing today for lunch I spotted this Western Gray Squirrel huddled up against a fir trunk trying to stay dry. I am so blessed to be safe and warm inside. God bless, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 400mm, Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6.0,Shutter speed 1/15ths of a sec. Handheld braced against a door frame.

Digging Into the Past

I spent the day looking through old images and working on editing my forth coming book. Looking back on some of my older images from Death Valley from 2004 I was transported in my mind to another rainy day. It really poured in Death Valley. They had to sand bag around our hotel in Furnace Creek to keep the water from coming in. There were people kayaking on the river and canoeing at Badwater. Oh, if I had only known to photograph them! The light in the breaks in between storms were incredible! It was a challenging time for me as well. I had just gotten my new Canon 10D a digital DSLR and it was a learning experience of trying to use it after shooting film for so many years.( I think I did O.K.) Here is one from the files for my rainy day. Badwater at sunrise looking west. God's blessings to you, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 10D,Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 115mm, Bogen 3021 Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 100,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed 1/60th of a sec.

An Inside Kind of Day

I woke up to the sounds of the wind and rain. I snuggled down further into the warm blankets of my bed to escape the chill. It didn't take much convincing that this was going to be an inside kind of day editing images etc. Later while looking out the kitchen window I spotted this Tan Oak tree in the front yard with the moss fanned out to capture the moisture of the rain. I opened the window and created several images of it. This one was my favorite. May you have a blessed day, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 120mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F16.0,Shutter speed 8/10ths of a sec.