What Can You Do in Twenty Minutes? or Crawling Around in the Dirt

This afternoon I needed to pick up a new prescription. When I arrived at the pharmacy they told me it wouldn't be ready for fifteen to twenty minutes. They asked me if I had any shopping or something else that I could do while waiting. I ran out to my pick up and grabbed my camera. I usually carry my trusty little Canon EOS T1i with me in the truck. Luckily I had a Canon macro lens mounted on it. I headed to a field south of the parking lot. Here there were quite a few wildflowers just waiting to be photographed. There were California Poppies, Owls Clover, Tidy Tips and a couple of other species I couldn't identify. I spent the next twenty minutes crawling around on the ground photographing wildflowers. I'm sure drivers going by on the main road were wondering what that guy was doing lying down out there in the field? It's amazing what you can accomplish in twenty minutes. Have a great weekend and God bless, chris #TeamCanon All images were created with a handheld Canon EOS T1I camera and a Canon EF-S60mm Macro USM lens.

In Search of the Wild Things

After repeated notices in the mail warning me that I might be beheaded or maimed by the defective air bag in my pick up I brought it in to be serviced yesterday morning. Recalling that the dealership is in the area where I used to photograph wildflowers I grabbed my Canon EOS T1i camera and a Canon 60mm macro lens as I headed out the door. On pulling into the service area I was saddened to see that the new dealership sat right on the field where there used to be large purple patches of Lupines. Dejectedly I sat in the waiting room for the repairs to be made. You can only sit in a waiting room for so long looking at car magazines so I decided to walk out onto the car lot and look at the pick ups for sale. The first one I looked at made me have sticker shock. It was $59,197.00! That is more than the purchase price of my first home! I continued on down the line to the base model which was a more affordable $40,000.00 . Then I starting searching for some possible wildflowers that may still be surviving around the edges of the lot. Just past the edge of the last vehicle there was a patch of purple. I was happy to find a small patch of Purple Vetch that was creeping under the fence. Looking further I found a single clover blossom struggling to survive in this lonely little corner as well. Nature sometimes finds a way to come back. God's love and blessings to all, chris Both images were created with a handheld Canon EOS T1i camera and a Canon EF-S60mm macro lens. #TeamCanon

Springtime Joy

One of the things I really look forward to in spring is the blooming of the Californian Poppies. Growing up in Colorado I waited for them to them bloom in a rock garden we had in our backyard. My Dad had brought poppy seeds from California so we had a little bit of California with us. Here are two poppies one from the Brooktrails Community Garden and the other from the Little Lake Valley of Northern California. All photographed with my Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF-S60mm macro lens. Happy Easter to all, chris #TeamCanon

Winter Guest

With the warming spring weather we haven't been using our wood stove very much to heat up the house. Yesterday however there was a brisk fog pouring in off the coast and it sure felt like we needed a fire. It was pretty cold by California standards. I grabbed the wheelbarrow and wheeled it out to the woodpile to get some firewood. While grabbing some logs I was startled by an odd shape under one of the logs as I picked it up. It was in the shadows so I couldn't see it very well. There were some short appendages sticking out from it. My first guess was a bat. Pulling away some of the logs around it I was finally able to ascertain that it was a lizard. Further inspection revealed it was a Northern Alligator Lizard. It was all rolled up in a ball overwintering in our woodpile. As chilly out as it was it could barely move. I carried it into the house and placed it into a jar. This morning I photographed it on a mossy piece of bark before releasing it into a sunny spot on top of the woodpile. When I checked on it a little bit ago it was warm enough to crawl away. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF-S60mm F 2.8 USM Macro lens. #TeamCanon

Return to an Old Standby

I have been overwhelmed with family responsibilities of late so I haven't picked up my camera that often the past few weeks. This morning when I awoke I looked out out on the Little Lake Valley and I was compelled to grab my camera and photograph the scene below. The trees silhouetted by the morning light were so beautiful. What a great way to start my day. God's blessings upon your week, chris This image was captured with a Canon EOS 7D mkII camera and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. #WithMyTamron, #TeamCanon

Iconic Crab Traps

On Monday my brother and I headed for a quick trip out to the coast looking for grand subjects to photograph. For lunch we headed down into the Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg for some delicious fish and chips at Sea Pal. Near the restaurant we spotted colorful stacks of crab traps getting ready to be shipped out. What trip to the coast can be complete without photographing an iconic image of a crab trap? After a great lunch we wandered around the harbor photographing the traps, Sea Lions and some of the fishing boats. Even though the weather was cloudy we had a great trip. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon All images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i camera and a Tamron 18-200mm lens. #WithMyTamron

Cloudy Day on the Coast

My brother, Eric visited from Colorado for a week. He is a professional photographer from Estes Park Colorado. He can often be found leading photography tours into Rocky Mountain National Park. While Eric was visiting we photographed a few times in the morning chasing turkeys and deer. One day we headed out to the coast looking for whatever we could photograph. He got some great images of the Black Oyster Catchers. While he was chasing them I focused on some long exposures of the coastline north of fort Bragg, Ca. We both came back happy. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon These images were created with a Canon EOS 7D camera and a Canon S- 10-22mm lens. I used a Lee Super Stopper filter and a Lee soft grad filter to enable me to have a 30 second exposure during the middle of the day.