My wife teaches third and forth grade combo class. Every year they do Life Science, so they hatch chicken. This is some one of the first baby chicks from this years hatchlings. The kids in the class named this one after me, since I played chicken herder this year and got all the fertilized eggs for them to hatch. 102 or 9 dozen eggs for six third grade classes.

Every year I go into the my wife’s class and do a chick fashion shoot. I do a different theme. The first year was KFC Box theme. Last year was a KFC Bucket theme, this years theme is Easter.

The eggs in the basket are real. They came from the same hens that laid the eggs that these baby chicks were hatched from.

Here is the link to the Chicks set

44/365 Paper Whites, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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Paper White in Oakland/ Piedmont California

Every year they day they start to hatch I arrive with my travel studio equipment and set up a little studio. Over the years a I learned a few tricks.

1. Take paper towels to clean up the poop.
2. Use a seamless background (paper) so you can throw away fouled paper
3. Take images within the first day of hatching. Chicks are easier to manage when the are a day old. Any older and they are hard to keep in the same spot.
4. Don’t drop them off the table, they break.

Here is a slide show of some of the images I took in the past. Yes, I have a warped sense of humor.

41/365 Ornamental Pear, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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This is an Ornamental Pear Tree that has recently blossomed. Spring is close, you can tell when these trees bloom.

35/365 Urban Mushroom, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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I found these mushrooms on a tree just down the street from my house. I waited until the afternoon light. Since the light was fading I used a 12 inch silver reflector to get light under the mushrooms.

16/365 Lioness, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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This photo was taken at the Oakland Zoo. This Lioness was following the young male lion. They were waiting for the zoo keepers to open the enclosure so the lions could be feed.

13/365 Selenium Bee, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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Sometimes photographers would use Selenium (Se) while developing.

Photography
Selenium is used in the toning of photographic prints, and it is sold as a toner by numerous photographic manufacturers including Kodak and Fotospeed. Its use intensifies and extends the tonal range of black and white photographic images as well as improving the permanence of prints.
Early photographic light meters used selenium but this application is now obsolete.

12/365 Male Monarch, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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This male Monarch was so busy collecting nectar that is didn’t even mind the lens of my Canon G10 camera two inches away.

11/365 Plumage, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

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I saw this Snowy Egret feather on the ground. I took this Macro shot with my Canon G10.

Ghost Trees, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.