Spoiled Rotten Dog

Today was mostly a non photography day. Last night we made a late night decision to go watch an Ultimate Tournament down in Sonoma County . We were out of the house and on the road before seven thirty a.m. Why do most of my days start so early? We decided it would be easier to bring our dog Badger along for the ride rather than putting him in his dog kennel for the day. He had a great time. At the tournament the players absolutely loved him. He got more attention than we did. My favorite image was of him watching the game and then looking back over his shoulder to check on me. I really like it. God's love and blessings to all, chris Images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM handheld. camera settings used, AV mode, ISO 400, F4.5 at 1/2,000th of a sec.

Good bye Wyoming Hello Prairie Dogs

I paid my respects to the silhouetted cowboy and his dog as I left Wyoming at the Colorado border. I don't know who the artist is but it makes for a wonderful image early in the morning. This was day 13 of my trip and I was headed south on I25 to Loveland, Colorado and then on to Denver for my trip home in NorCal the following day. I was up way before the crack of dawn as is the norm for any kind of a photography expedition. My first major stop was to the Prairie Dog Colony on the east side of Loveland. Sadly this colony may not be there very much longer as the property is up for sale. Who knows what will become of them once the property is developed? I photographed some great behaviors of the eating and greeting. I even got an image of one barking out it's warning out to the rest of the colony. When you see one getting ready to bark you have to leave plenty of room at the top of the frame for them to leap up to. From there I stopped by for short visit to my brother and sister in laws and then I drove past my old house and photographed Barnes Ditch where I spent many a day fishing,swimming, tubing and ice skating in my youth. I'm sure that in this current day of lawsuits and safety none of that is allowed now. My final stop in Loveland was to visit my second Mom, Joanne Burke. Check out her artwork it is fantastic. I call her my second Mom because I was always over at her house when I was growing up. From there I drove with my friend Dan and his girlfriend Julie back to Denver where I got another chance to photograph Zack Julies dog. Dog images are a lot of fun to make especially when you have a great dog like Zack t work with. Such a handsome fellow! God's love and blessings to all, chrisAll images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Settings and exposures varied.

Red Skies of Wyoming

After listening to the rain patter on the roof off and on I wasn't quite willing to crawl out of my warm bed. This was day twelve of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming and I was still at my sister and brother in law's house. I remember lying there thinking," Is it too cloudy to give it a try? Is it too rainy?" Luckily my brain won over my body because I dragged myself out into the dark with my camera gear and headed towards the Hat Creek Breaks north of Lusk Wyoming. There were gaps in the clouds that promised an incredible sunrise as I occasionally pushed on the wipers to clear the windshield of rain drops. By the time I was half way to the breaks the sky started turning a flaming red. It turned out to be just fabulous. I photographed the breaks first where I managed to get a little damp! Next I headed out to the Hat Creek School House which I had noticed from the day before. What a grand old school! It was easy to imagine what it must have been like back in its prime with kids playing on the creaking swing set. After the sun rose I headed back to the breaks to create a panorama. Then I drove back to Lusk and photographed two coal trains passing each other on the outskirts of town. I never did count the cars but they run through town about every half hour. I'm guessing they are all close to 125 cars each. I finished up the morning photographing the light shining down onto the prairies and some Pronghorns near the local golf course. God's love and blessings upon your days, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a variety of lenses.

Day Eleven

Day eleven of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming found me still in Lusk, Wyoming. Lusk is a small town in eastern Wyoming almost to the Nebraska border. It's ranching country as far as the eye can see. The topography is mostly low, rolling hills broken up by chalk buttes and small creeks. North of Lusk are the Hat Creek Breaks which are quite beautiful. I spent the morning chasing silhouettes in the sunrise and then Steve my brother in law took me on a grand tour of the old Deadwood to Cheyenne Stagecoach route. We drove up north of the breaks and the turned east and then south along the old stage route. There were places where the road and the stage route split and you could see the old wheel ruts cut into the prairie. We stopped at the old Hat Creek Stage Station and Post Office. The doors were open and you could go inside and look around. I photographed the outside widow which was pretty cool. Along the way we passed a few old abandoned ranches. We stopped at the top of the breaks and got out of the pick up for the view. You can see Nebraska and South Dakota from up there.On the walk back to the car we found a dinosaur fossil. You could see the fossilized sections of the vertebrae in the dirt. Unfortunately I was so excited at the find we didn't photograph it. Once we got back to Lusk we headed out to the golf course to look for Pronhorns but the were too far off. I settled for photographing a BNSF coal train, Izzy the Chihuaha and Steve's Jack Russel named well "Jack". May God bless you and keep you, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a variety of lenses.

Light in the Forest

We awoke to heavy fog that crept in on little cats feet last night without a sound. It was the perfect morning for an image I have been wanting to try out. Lenore grabbed her red hoodie and the candle lantern and I grabbed my camera. I think this will be fun to try again sometime when it is even darker out. I love the moody feel of this image. God bless, chris Image created with a handheld and braced Canon 7D and a Canon 28-105 lens at 100mm. Camera settings used. AV mode, ISO 1600,F 4.5 at 1/25th of a sec.

True Colors Shining Through

The fall colors are in their prime right now. Golden yellows, bright oranges and vibrant reds are all in abundance. Yesterday when Lenore and I were crossing a foot bridge I happened to notice the bright yellow leaves reflections dancing on the flowing waters of the creek. It was just so abstract and beautiful. Naturally I had to stop and create some images of it. It wasn't until today when I was processing the images that I noticed the ID tag on the bottom of the creek. Can you spot it? God's love and blessings to all, chris Images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 28-105 lens. Camera was on AV mode, ISO 400. The first image was made at 85mm, F13.0 at 1/15th of a sec. The second image was at 105mm, F 4.5 at 1/160th of a sec.

Bird by My Garden Gate

Thursday and Friday I spent some time on a series that I have been planning and thinking about for some time now. I created a series of Chestnut Backed Chickadee images by a white garden gate. I had an old garden gate that got knocked down by our cat Papaya (long story) and I realized that it would work perfectly for what I had in mind. All I had to do was to paint it white. After digging up some white paint out in the garage I got to work on it. I set up the gate and slowly began adding flowers to the setting. I ended up with a lot of beautiful, great images. These are some of my favorites. I placed them in order so you can see how the project progressed as I moved along. God's precious light and love to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is USM lens. The camera was placed on a Manfrotto 055PROBX Tripod with a 3055 Bogen Ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F stops and shutter speeds varied. If you haven't already done so please check out my book on bird photography. It is available in both hardbound and as an ebook at many online book sellers and many local book stores as well. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559 God's love and blessings to all, chris