We found these wonderful old olive trees in Gerber. Grafted from 100 year old trees they are like bonsai on steroids. Absolutely beautiful.

Here we have some kind of blue colored bird. I wanted to see how a small crop looked. I used my 28 to 135mm zoom and it doesn’t look too bad for this crop.

Here is a little plant I found today. I think it could be poison oak. I am working on a macro this week for the print competition.

Here is one from Thursday at Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge. We were in San Francisco for Photoshop’s 20th Anniversary Party. It was cool to see the Photoshop Guys, Joe McNally and other recognizable industry figures.

As I accumulate more and more photographic equipment over time I found myself trying something different this past weekend. I did one of the DIY projects that I see, especially on the Strobist, on the web. Turns out it was simple and quick and cost me a total of about $3.50. I’m just learning how to use it but there are so many possibilities. Here is an early shot from the $10 DIY Macro Studio.

Well I finally made it to Mossbrae Falls. Tried to make once in the winter and it turned out I was dressed way too warm and had no water with me and the snow on the tracks was way too thick. (I will go back in winter some day) It was nice to finally make it there and such a sight to see and photograph. I know I will be back someday.

Here is some of the lightning from last week. I was out on the deck trying to get some lightning shots when I had the feeling that it was time to go in. Just about the time I was closing the screen door slider a bolt came down, probably right behind the neighbor’s. There was a flash and an instant loud crack. Close enough.

So Smokey, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Here is my entry from July 8th the day I took this photo:

Today was the 3rd day in a row that the readings for Redding air were over 250 in the “Very Unhealthy” to “Dangerous” range. The fires have been burning over a month now and even though most are “contained” it is still very bad. Contained just means that there is a perimeter around the fire and that they should spread any further but there are still burning and filling the air with smoke. I just hope that we don’t have to wait till the winter rains before we see clear blue skies again.

It has been a nasty fire season so far. The past week alone it seemed there was one or two fires every day in the local area. We’ve been lucky so far that no fires have happened in our canyon. About 4 or 5 years ago there was a summer that saw about 4 fires down our ridge. The worst thing is that the fire season is really about to start and fires have been raging for over 2 months already.

Threatning, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Who would thought that the first day of summer in such a dry year would be full of rain and clouds. Unfortunately it was also full of lightning which started about 800 fires in Northern California and now our skies are totally smoky.

Churn Creek near Lema Ranch, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

I’ve been here in Redding almost 20 years now and it never ceases to amaze me at the kind of thing I can find that I didn’t in L.A. County. I can be in the city and really be pretty close to homes and houses and see something like this. Streams and fish and birds and trails and all things like that. I guess that I could find this kind of scene in LA when I was young but maybe I couldn’t.

But, I still enjoy the fact that I can find it here. Glad to be here and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.