My Morning View

Last night we received a dusting of snow. Overall we got about four inches. Just enough for them to close school. I can already hear the laughter from many parts of the globe on this one. Many Californians can't drive in the snow so for safety's sake it's best to close the schools and many of the roads as well after some snow.It's very mountainous in this part of California and it's not a good idea to venture forth without a good 4WD vehicle or or a car quipped with snow tires or chains. Driving around after a snowfall I always see cars that have slid off the road. Here is our morning view of the Little Lake Valley below us. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Somebody's Watching You

Do you ever get that feeling that someone is watching you? I had that same felling when I stepped into the bathroom this afternoon. I was the only one home so it was kind of an eerie felling. That's when I noticed him. Well at least I assumed it was a him. For I'm not exactly an expert at the sex of spiders. Sure enough I looked down into the sink and there was a good sized spider staring up at me with beady, black, little eyes. It didn't seem inclined to run away. In fact it even shared the sink with me when I brushed my teeth. Afterwards I photographed it with my macro lens. Bathroom light isn't flattering to spiders either I've discovered. Some weird color casts. Later tonight I set the Wolf Spider free outside. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Sap Sucker

Living in the forest we find the weirdest bugs at times. I captured this one on the window screen in our bathroom. After photographing it on an old fish fossil I did a Google image search of it before setting it free into the forest. I found out that it is a Western Conifer Seed Bug (WCSB). They feed on the sap of young conifer cones as the cone is developing. Talk about a specialized bug. What a strict diet! This one was photographed with my Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 180mm lens in natural light from a window. God's blessings upon your week, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Play Day in the Rain

It seems like I'm always cleaning out my office/studio. It's finally getting better and one of the biggest jobs left is to clean off my desk. During cleaning we uncovered a small box of costume jewelry. I'm always fascinated by the beautiful of the lines, colors and patterns of pieces from the nineteen forties, fifties and sixtes. They are made of cheap metal but have an inherent beauty. This afternoon it was pouring down rain and the wind was just howling. I could see the bases of the redwoods move. When that's going on it's no time to go outside. Looking for something to do I decided to play around and photograph the jewelry and a tray of Lake County Diamonds we unearthed as well. The diamonds are a very pure form of quartz that were blown out of the earth eons ago during an eruption of Mount Konocti in Lake County. Hence the name for them of Lake County Diamonds. All of the images were created in natural light with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 180mm Macro lens. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Samaras or Helicopter Seeds (Last post of 2018)

I have always been fascinated with helicopter seeds. As a child we called them whirlygigs. The official botanical name of this type of seed is "Samaras". Samaras are the winged seeds produced by maple trees. They are a really cool way for a tree to disperse their seeds upon the wind. It's so much fun to toss a handful of them into the air and watch them come spinning down. Here is a macro image of one of them from our recent hike where we passed under a grove of Big Leaf Maples. I photographed it in window light with my Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron SP 180mm F 3.5 DI Macro lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400, F 3.5 at .5 sec. God's love and blessings to all of you during the coming year, chris

Massive Surf!

Earlier this week I read the surf report for the Mendocino coastline. They were predicting swells in the range of twenty five to forty feet. When I saw that I knew I had to drive over and do some photography. It's not often that we get to see surf of that size. The next morning I got off to a slow lazy start and then got stuck behind a really slow driver going between thirty and forty on the straight aways. They wouldn't use pull outs and I had to drive half way to the coast before I could pass them. When I arrived at the Fort Bragg harbor entrance there were already some photographers set up photographing these massive swells rolling in. I stopped and talked to them for awhile. One photographer was all the way from Maryland! Leaving them behind I headed north for more scenic terrain. I stopped for awhile and photographed Wizards rock at Kabiselleh and then drove further up towards Westport for some more images. This was a day of safety first as the surf if you were to be swept in was incredibly dangerous. Some of the sneaker waves that rolled in were hitting the tops of the bluffs!!! There would be nowhere to run if you were on the rocks or the beach. It was a great morning for photography. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and either a Canon 100-400IS v.1 lens or a Canon EFS-10-22mm lens. A Lee 15 stop "Super Stopper" ND filter was used on some images as well. #TeamCanon

Tis the Season for Giving

Check out that cluttered hall closet, your storage cabinets or that place where all your old camera gear goes to die. You most likely have a working camera that you don't use anymore. Especially an old film or outdated digital camera. Donate that camera to an aspiring photographer! If you don't know any aspiring photographers make a few phone calls. Many middle, high school or colleges have photography classes or clubs that need cameras. Tis the season of giving! I found a local high school that is going to be taking this Minolta and a nice variety of lenses. Merry Christmas and God's blessings to all, chris This image was created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera. #TeamCanon