The Chico Thursday Night Market from the Air

I've been working with Butte College on a promotional video for International students, and one thing they wanted to capture was aerial views of the Chico Thursday night farmer's market and the downtown Chico Plaza.

Taking off over the Plaza fountain

Gaining altitude

Starting to get above the city

High above downtown Chico looking south down Park Ave.

Aerial view of the market

The Plaza Fountain

Fall Colors in Bidwell Park, Chico - Part 2

More of the amazing fall colors in Lower Bidwell Park in Chico, CA.

Hikers and runners under a canopy of gold in Bidwell Park.

Reds, pinks and yellows line a trail in Bidwell Park.

Hkers in Bidwell Park enjoy the fall colors.

A cyclist enjoying the variety of colors in the park.

Hikers enjoy the incredible colors in Bidwell Park.

Fall in Bidwell Park, Chico - Part 1

A cyclist enjoys the incredible fall colors in Lower Bidwell Park, Chico

This warm dry fall has resulted in an incredible color show in northern California, and particularly in Bidwell Park in the town of Chico. I can't say that I ever remember fall colors as bright and varied as this year.

Typically, there's some yellows and golds, but this year there is virtually every color of the spectrum this year, from bright yellow through orange and red, and even shades of purple. The mild weather has helped the colors stay longer because there haven't been any storms to blow off the leaves.

Enjoy! I'll post more next week.

Runners enjoy to fall colors in Bidwell Park.

Fall colors over Big Chico Creek in Bidwell Park.

Runners enjoy the golden colors of the forest in Bidwell Park.

A large valley oak in Lower Bidwell Park

Downtown Chico at Night

No one will deny at Chico is a 'cute little town.' People particularly like downtown Chico. But that doesn't necessarily make it photogenic. There are certainly parts of downtown Chico, such as the plaza, that are photogenic - I posted some photos of the downtown plaza in a previous post, "Merry Christmas Chico".

I few weeks ago, I decided to take another shot at photographing parts of downtown at night.

In some ways night photography is easier than daytime photography in a place like downtown Chico because you don't have to contend with blight sunlight and deep shadows. The lights of the buildings at night also tend to look more colorful and interesting than storefronts during the daytime.

However, night photography can also be more challenging in some ways. Buildings and blocks lacking interesting lighting can make dull subjects. But the biggest problem is often cars. Car headlights can ruin a street scene by being too light. Cars moving through the scene can leave streaks of light which can be interesting or intrusive.

Still, over a period of an hour or so on a Saturday night, I managed to capture a few representative images of Chico's downtown area. I also witnessed a car turning the wrong way on a one way street, a couple of cars completely running red lights, and large numbers of people in various states of drunkenness. Ah, Chico.

Fall in Chico's Bidwell Park

Bidwell Park is the jewel of Chico, and one of the best seasons to visit and photograph the park is during the fall when the trees are changing color.

As a result, I've made an effort to visit the park several times over the past couple of weeks to record the changing seasons. There is still color in the trees in the park; hopefully I'll get a chance to visit at least once more before the leaves fall.

These photos say a lot about the natural environment of Chico and the north state, and can be used to communicate the lifestyle of Northern California. These images could be used by any business promoting the quality of life in Chico and Northern California, including banks, realtors, local business, job recruiters, or anyone trying to demonstrate that Chico is an attractive place to do business and live.

Here are a few images from my recent visits: