Rockin' It!

Yesterday afternoon I found a nice medium sized rock covered in moss and lichen down by the creek. I carried it up to my bird feeder and gently placed it on top of the bird feeder. This morning I cleared all of the seed off of the feeder except for the side facing my photo blind. That way the birds landing on the rock would be facing either sideways or looking down at the bird seed. Here are a couple of my favorite images from the morning.A male House Finch and a White Breasted Nuthatch. God bless, chris Both images were created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Canon 100-400 IS v.1 lens. Settings used were AV mode, ISO 800 at F 8.0. Shutter speeds varied.#TeamCanon

Mellow Yellow

Yesterday afternoon I went out to the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley. I sat in my photo blind for a couple of hours and photographed House Finches. There were plenty of them and not too many other species. I was amazed when a young Raven stopped by at the bird feeder. It was far too close for photography so I sat and watched it feed. I had a really nice afternoon. God's blessings upon your day, chris

A Little More Technology Comes to the Little Lake Valley

Yesterday afternoon I did a little bird photography out in the little Lake Valley. On my drive out I saw that they were working on the new cell tower on the North end of the valley. There was a big pile of branches lying near the base of the tower. I photographed for about two hours there were more than enough House Finches and very little of anything else. On my drive home the cell tower was bristling with branches. They attached all the branches to the tower in less than two hours. What an amazing transformation! Just as I got into the town limits of Willits I passed an Apple mapping van. They stopped for a little bit and the drove onward and turned down Bittenbender Ln . I in turn drove up Sherwood Road towards home. I wonder if they are going to map all of the streets? God's blessings upon your weekend, chris#TeamCanon

Island Time

This native Shoulderband Snail is enjoying the slow pace of island life before being safely released back in to the forest. I have been having a great time collecting creatures for the, "Island Series", of images. This one was created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens at 41mm. The camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 100, F 13.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bee studio lights outfitted with 2' x 4' soft boxes. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris #TeamCanon

Drizzly Day

Winter has made a come back this morning. I had great plans for doing some bird photography. The thought of sitting in a wet blind doesn't appeal to me this morning for some reason. What to do on a rainy day? I haven't done any smoke photography for quite a long time. It took me about ten minutes to grab what I needed. After setting it up I created close to a hundred images. Afterwards I edited it down to my favorites. The last image reminds me of the movie the, Exorcist, (even though I didn't see it) because apparently the main character in a famous scene in the movie turns her head around facing backwards. On that strange note please have a heart filled blessed day, chris All of these images were created with a Canon 7D camera and a Canon EF -S17-85mm lens.The camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 100, F 5.6 at 1/80th of a sec. Lighting was provided with a Canon 550 EX flash set to 1/16th power. A tutorial on smoke photography complete with a diagram of the set up can be found at http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2012/02/diy-smoke-photography.html Just copy and paste this url into your browser.#teamcanon

Island Hopping

Here is one more from the island series. A millipede (Paeromopus angusticeps) from the woodpile. Millipedes are a fascinating creature. They are the slow moving garbagemen of the forest. They are detrivores eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter of of the forest floor. They protect themselves by curling up into a spiral or a ball and emitting a foul smelling chemical. Watching all of their legs moving with such precision is quite fascinating. It's like little waves moving down the sides of their body. Pretty cool. God's love and blessings upon your day, chis This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens at 41mm. The camera settings used were Manual mode,ISO 100, F 13.0 at 1/80th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bee studio lights fitted with 2' x 4' softboxes.#TeamCanon

My Island

This morning I started cleaning up one of the remains of one of our woodpiles in preparation for bringing in some wood for next winter. Inevitably I found a couple of scorpions. I had a jar along with me for just the occasion. After I finished with the woodpile I took them inside and photographed them before I released them back into the forest away from the house. I hope and pray that your week has started off well, chris This image was created with a handheld Canon 7D with a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens at 30mm. The camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 100, F 13.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bee Studio lights both with 2' x 4' soft boxes. #TeamCanon