Construction Remodel by Western Gray Construction Company

I will say one thing for Western Gray Squirrels is that they are a determined lot. I love my small knot hole feeder. It's perfect for small birds, chipmunks and even the Douglas Tree Squirrels. The opening size of the knothole is just perfect for them and it keeps the Jays and big squirrels out. Just recently I noticed that the Western Grays have rekindled their desire to get into the feeder. They have remodeled the outside of the opening to the knothole by chewing all they way around the edges of the opening. They have a long way to go before they will fit! Here is a Yellow Cheeked Chipmunk looking out from its newly remodeled feeder. God's love and blessings to all, chris Photographed with a Canon 7D mkII camera and a Canon 100-400 IS v.1 lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/25th of a sec. There wasn't a lot of light judging by my slow shutter speed. I have barely scratched the surface of my images from Scandinavia. I'm a bit intimidated by the shear volume of images. #TeamCanon

Break in the Storm

Yesterday evening close to sunset there was a break in the storm. Lenore suggested we walk down our road to the gate and back. The lighting along the way was fantastic with pinks and soft oranges illuminating the clouds. After our walk I went back into the house and grabbed my camera and caught just the very end of the soft light. It was really cool to see the contrast between the snow covered trees above the snowline and the dark green trees in the lower elevations below. What a beautiful way to end the day. Right now it's raining out and the snow is melting away. God's blessings upon you, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens handheld or sometimes braced against a tree. #TeamCanon

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Last night we were given the gift of snow. It has been snowing off and on ever since and we have presently a little less than four inches of snow on our deck railing. Snow isn't that uncommon here in the Coast Range of Northern California. The ridge top where we live gets snow that usually doesn't last long and melts off fairly quickly. Though one year we did get a good sized storm that dropped over two feet of snow. God bless and stay safe, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII. #TeamCanon

Last Post of 2016

I have been away from my photoblog for quite some time galavanting around on a three city tour of Scandinavia. We visited Copenhagen, Denmark, Vaxjo and Stocholm, Sweden. It was Christmas time so there was an incredible amount of decorations up to light our way. I did a lot of night and long term exposure photography. At that latitude in December the sun rises at about ten a.m. and goes down around four p.m. and it doesn't rise very high in the sky. This will be my last posting of 2016. Here isn image of Nyhavn, Copenhagen. There will be many more images and details to follow over the next month as I slowly get around to processing all of our images from the trip. God's love and blessings upon a New Year, chris Many thanks to Jenny Senter of Celtic Heritage Destinations for organizing such a fantastic trip.

Looking Back in Time

Once again while looking for a piece of camera equipment I ran across another old camera. This time it was Lenore's brother Rich's Kodak pocket 20 camera in the original packaging. It is in fantastic shape and looks like it was only used a few times due to the fact that only two of the flash cubes are missing from the box. These cameras were made in the 1970s and used 110 cartridge film. We sure come a long way since then! God's love and blessings to all, Merry Christmas, chris This image was created with a black sweep and two LED light panels. It was photographed with a Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens at 66mm. AV mode, ISO 800, F 11.0 at 1/125th of a sec.

Rhymes With Orange

As a photographer I am always on the lookout for images that catch my attention. Which can keep my mind pretty busy because there is always something interesting passing me by. Yesterday when I dropped off Lenore at work there was this bright orange little car next to where I parked in the rain. It wasn't the car that caught my attention so much as the repeating pattern of the water droplets beaded up onto the nicely waxed finish of the vehicle. I grabbed my camera and made a variety of images of the droplets but this one is the one that worked best. God's light and love to everyone, chris Photographed with a Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens handheld.

A Few More from the Knothole Feeder

I set up the knothole feeder with fall colors in the background. Then I loaded up the feeder with black sunflower seeds and went inside and waited. While I was waiting I worked on editing some images. I was very surprised to see that my first visitors were the Yellow Cheeked Chipmunks soon to be followed by some Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Dark Eyed Juncos. Then everyone scattered when the Western Gray Squirrels showed up. They are the backyard bosses and when they show up everyone else moves out of the way. All except the hawks of course and I didn't see any today. God's light and love to all, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. AV mode, ISO 800, Exposures varied #TeamCanon,