Giants Among Us

Yesterday I finally got around to stacking the last of our firewood. It was from a small pile that was more of a mess of bark and debris than firewood. I had to use a rake to pull and scrape down to find the wood. The wood will be great to burn next fall when it dries out. Not unexpectedly at the very bottom of the pile my rake uncovered a giant. A Pacific Giant Salamander to be exact. It was a good sized one too. Just a little over ten inches long. Bigger ones can get up to twelve inches. Sadly this one didn't bark at me. They can and sometimes do! Not quite the bark of a dog but a guttural sound. I photographed it on a chunk of mossy bark and then let it go. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris Photographed with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 180mm macro lens. #TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron

Umbrella Day Gray

The weather has been rather intense. We had winds this last week that blew off part of the shingles and the roofing felt off of a section of our roof. Stuff was hitting the house all night long. In the morning the yard was littered with leaves and small branches. Three Tan Oak Trees blew over not far from our deck. They are currently hung up on some other trees which is good in some ways as if they had fallen all the way they would have taken out our fence. This morning when I woke up it was positively pouring. I decided to try some bird photography anyway. A few birds came but they were way too fast for the shutter speeds that I had available to me. It was pretty dark due to the heavy cloud cover. A couple of Western Gray Squirrels did come into feed at the bird feeder. They were very curious about the sound of the camera shutter and kept looking towards the bedroom window from where I was photographing from. These were some of my favorite images from the morning. God's blessings upon your week, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon 100-400IS USM v.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550Ex flash.#TeamCanon

Snowy Day Backyard Birds

At the beginning of this week the snow came floating down. By the end of the storm we had just under six inches of snow on the ground. I set up a bird feeder and a perch about eight feet from our back bedroom window. Immediately after I filled the feeder the birds began coming in. Because it's winter I managed to capture all of the most common birds from our backyard. Dark Eyed Juncos, Chestnut Backed Chickadees, Red Breasted Nuthatches and Steller's Jays. I had a great session and the birds enjoyed the free food. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera with a Canon EOS 100-400 IS v.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash.#TeamCanon

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