Times change!

I have had a lot of amazing moments in my life. This one has to be the most. The first time I ever really "officially" purposed to anyone (with a ring and all). On my knees, she said "YES" and the rest is a love that I feel will last forever. Our wedding is planned in about 2 years because of family factors and of course, cost. Low budget, we want to do it how we want it and that means doing most of the work ourselves for our custom wedding.

I Still need to do a proof-read of the following articles. I thought I'd go ahead and publish anyway, please excuse any errors for now.


BE SURE TO CLICK ON THIS TO SEE A 1080 pic of it. USE the <-- (back) arrow in your internet explorer to return to my site.
The Columbia river was very calm on this day. I happened to be out for an appointment when I got a chance to take this shot. It was taken with a Cannon 10D DSLR at ISO200. I did very little Photoshop work on it, I stuck to the rule I usually use which is "if you can't do it with film in the dark room, you don't do it with Photoshop". For example a couple of power lines were slightly visible and removed, and I increased the contrast and levels to make the image more vivid and clear. I use the minimum or no Photoshop on my pics. I think that many photographers have lost the art of Photography in complex photoshop fixes and very simple ways to get "perfect pictures". Photography for me would be no fun if it were perfect pictures every time.


Another shot, this was very hard because the contrast and lighting was so low. Foggy and rainy the river however was dead calm. More calm and still then I've ever seen it. This is the Columbi just before Hood River Oregon. This place is world-known for excellent wind surfing. Usually this area is covered in "whitecaps". Small breaking waves usually caused by high winds.


And here I captured a shot just by chance of a creek going into the gorge. I forget exactly where this was, I took it from a car so I was lucky to get it at all. Sometimes the fog can be
spectacular and remind me of myths and stories like The Lord of The Rings.

THE "HIDEOUT SPIDER"
Some may call it the "garden spider" or an "orb weaver". You can't get more generic then that. Since this spider is hard to spot in person, I dubbed it the hide-out spider. For the longest time I've been finding webs built by an obvious Aranidae but I had no idea what kind. Finally I found one in the most unlikely of places. While swimming in the River with my Fiancee I decided to check out a large empty barge that was close by. I swam to it and where it was docked. Climbed up only to find dozens of webs. Finally, the chance to capture one of these illusive spiders.

So I climbed up the rigging as much as my health would let me, and that was just enough to uncover under an old tire, the hideout of one of these spiders. She jumped out but was well aware of the watter benethe her. Dispite being afraid of me, she knew not to drop at the wrong time. I was surprized by this. She dropped when she knew she could, and I managed to get her into a small sample container for further photos. At the time I was useing a compact camera shooting low-res HD video of the event with an underwater camera. (I may post this video later but it's really big so I need to work with it). Anyhow, the video was great underwater. I just bought a watterproof housing for another kind of camera, a box-large 35mm camera. It held my small Cannon Powershot very well. It's pro-quality video is one of it's trademarks. Better then any other camera I have, even my newest DVC camera! IT can shoot video in high res mode for as long as you have space, I got over 45min out of it which was really great. Using
even higher res, I would only have gotten 15min but it would have been totally pro. I set the
fps down to 24 to save space at 800x600 which is much better then regular TV. Low grade HD and really good quality. Truely "pro". Unlike the other video cameras I have from VHS to night
vision HI8 to even a nice mini-DVC.


WAIT ON YOUR VIDEO CAMERA
Try using your new digital compact camera for video, you might be very surprized by the results. Latest models shoot in 1080. One thing though, be sure you get a big memory card and manually setup the video mode or you will probably be shooting in economy mode and that would be really bad. Either low quality image or really choppy like 10fps. 24fps is plenty, going t 30 is more like total pro.





That little Cannon Powershot (slim about the size of a cigarette pack) amazed everyone with that little Cannon that only cost me about $180 I think. It's much smaller then a mini DVD video camera and has much higher quality videos that can be burned to DVD on my computer. I see n need to even buy a camcorder anymore. My compact camera is better at video. Some older models have limits, but most will run until your card is out of memory and sound quality is usualy really good as well. The main thing you need to be able to do is convert the video into something you can work with. That's important for editing of course. If you can, I recommend getting a compact that shoots good video, you'll have pro-quality video for far less then a DVD camcorder! Just be sure your compact cam has eiether LI-ION rechargables or can take MORE THEN 2 AA rechargeables. A recent Kodak model made allot of people mad. Great camera, but the batteries with the screen on only last about 15min. With it off, 20. It's not really worth using and I plan to use it by adding my own battery pack to it since you can't get one that lasts very long. Even the best NIMH batteries are too small. And be sure to keep the screen off when your shooting long videos. This gives me up to an hour more use time at least on my Cannon Powershot. It's got a nice Lith-ion battery that can be recharged and replaced.


Anyway, got off on a tangent there. Here is a shot of the spider from up top. This species is common in California and all through the northwest where there is a good food supply. Probably widespread all across the USA. Myistory solved, the webs have a signature look. These spiders pretty much re-build a new web every night. Finding them however during the day is very hard since they hide out in very elaborate ways. They will have one line from the center (hub) of the web, and then one line to another leaf, and then another barried deep in shrubs. They could be so far removed from there web you would not think that they have one if you found the spider wrapped up in a careful spot. What surprised me is how aware she was of land and watter. She knew when she was over watter and the danger of that, she also knew when she was on land an used the typical drop and dash technique as soon as she was over land. I let her go in a good are for insects and she lived out the remainder of her life on my pourch. I very rarely relocate spiders because it usually results in there deaths. It's a complex matter. In this case I finally wanted to get some decent pics however and could not catch an release in the same day as I had no way to get my gear for good macro shots all the way out to her. A mistory has been solved here, but good luck in finding this spider, if you find a web and no spider, chances are it may well be a number of species. For some reason however if you cant find it in a typical one lined hide out.. it's probubly the "hide out spider". As they often make more then one hide out connected by silk to detect pray possibly captured during the day. Why they are so "paraniode" comparied to related species with similar tactics, I have no idea, but finally I've figured out who's there. Most spider webs can identify the species of spider or at least you can get close. Espeically if it's very new and a complex kind of web.

THE DADDY LONG LEGS STORY

This has been a long time comming. I've done so much work on the daddy long legs. This is a bizzar find. This spider is the "sun loving" daddy long legs. Your typical daddy long legs loves cellars and dark places. This one is nearly exactly the same, web type, size, everything.. except coloration and the fact that it seems to not mind and even prefur being in brightly lit shrubs and places. A daddy long legs that loves the sun.

Here is one taken in full sunlight. She's got her eggs in her mouth as the normal moma long legs does. However, there are other species besides these two related species that are called "daddy long legs". They are not even spiders.

This is the first one, sometimes called the "gran-daddy long legs" because of some species large size. It also enjoys the sun, but it spins no silk, has no web, has only 2 eyes, one body segment, and anatomny that puts it closer to crabs then spiders. It's called a Harvestmen. There are man of them, some get huge, however they are completely HARMLESS. To my knowledge they don't even poses venom glands of any kind. They eat vegetable matter to already dead creatures. Omnivorous, they also have somewhat different mouth setups them spiders.

They have two simple eyes, often on complex and elabrate stocks that go up from the main body. They are related to sqarpions, crabs, and pillbugs.

And here is a telltale sign of sex in all cases. The males have mating organs called palps that are elongated and enlarged both in Harvestmen and spiders. The classic look can be seen surprisingly in both entirely different families and species. Somewhat of a coincidence. Anyway, this is your typical Daddy long legs here, a very closeup shot I actually took from a live spider in my basement. Useing high-powered macro gear, I captured this shot from nearly a foot away.
Another shot showing the male daddy long legs look. The only other species commonly called "daddy longlegs" is the Cranefly. It is clearly not a spider as it has wings and looks a lot diffent then these two. Pictures of several are in this website, includeing a recent extreme closeup o it's mouthparts and eyes. But I am talking about Arachnids here, so I left out pictures. They al share some qualities. But I admit finding a species that loves the sun was a real surprize that I was surprized I'd never read about. I still have not identified this species which I found in California in the San Jose area. It's very common there. Above is your typical daddy longlegs.Big moma pest control. Seen here ready to burst with eggs, the male and female were shareing a web. I noticed them mate several times, and she ate this entire asasin bug herself.
Here's moma and daddy long legs. Together and without fighting, they remained like this for over a week until they both got scared of my camera and fled. I'm not sure if they "hooked up" again. Another shot showing clearly how to tell males from females. F30+ needed for shots like this and a big flash.

From Fireworks to Bali --some backloged shots

I set off a number of legal fireworks on the 4th of July this year and recently did some work in Photoshop to show how the same shot can show so many aspects of an image.
Non-visible light aside, catching a shot of a simple firework going off can be interesting and easy to do producing fun results. Using RAW data, the same image can change.

Caught at the right moment, the same shot takes on a new view depending on how the exposure level you set in RAW.
A Flicker, a common butterfly that I was able to shoot from nearly 8 feet away with a teli-converter lens extension. I am still using my Cannon D10, wich shoots at about 6.3mp. Plenty.. despite what you might read in some magazines. I like my 10D, as outdated as it may seem, it was built well, takes lots of lenses, and great pics.
Seen here with wings folded. I think they open there wings to warm up in some cases showing 4 wings as seen in the picture above this one.
Another fireworks shot best seen if you click on it to see full 1080 image. Adjusting the exposure gave me a very surprising range of colors and images from the same RAW file from my Cannon D10 digital SLR.
The same shot, only exposure turned way down to pick up far less light.
Another shot showing black powder smoke trails when brought up in exposure level.
The same shot as above, exposure low.
A great time to snap the image. I shoot fireworks relatively fast, but sometimes longer exposures produce interesting results. In this case, it was possible to shoot at ISO100. RAW files are deffinately worth the downside of them being larger then there JPEG counterparts.
Two lovers.. in Guam. It is my hope that I will be able to take my fiance, Alina, to this spot in Guam right out in my mom's back yard. Incredible, they have a condo here. However, it's not cheap and my budget it very low. New cameras and HDV is not really an option. I have not been able to upgrade to a live-view camera.
Here are a number of shots from Bali I think I forgot to post or did not post much about. These huts litter the rice fields. They are rest-stops where the locals take breaks from there hard and long work on the fields.
A shrine, the many Hindu god's are warshiped here. This one was above my hotel room.
I think I posted this shot before but It's a great rice paddy shot and I thought I'd post it again for sure this time at 1080 so you can see more detail.
Depasar Bali, the skyline. A rare sight. The motel we were staying at had stairs up to the roof with a beautiful garden on it. I was able to find this shot so far and have several more from this rooftop I will post later when I find them in my archives. This was a great spot, but I won't take the elevator. The button caved in and smashed when I pushed it! A long climb up and I was able to get a few shots of the rooftops.
Every hotel has lots of art, incredible art like this in Bali. This was the main hotel I stayed at in U bud. Incredible woodwork and other materials. I don't know how they do it and for such a price. It's truly amazing.
So you think your job sucks!??
This man spent hours reaping by hand with a sickle. I am sure it is rice, but I am not completely sure how the whole rice process works. Be sure and click on this shot. It was captured with a 300mm Cannon zoom lens. Some time later a woman carried off his work in the bag.
A zoomout of the field he's working.
I think this lady is working with him but there are many trails in the rice paddies and they go on them for all kinds of reasons including shortcuts to markets. Snakes including cobras are not uncommon, but they are luckily afraid of people and run often before you even see them.
--G.Beasley

LATE SUMMER SPIDERS--Updated

Recently I was able to find some species of spiders I have truly never seen before. This has been an awesome experience for me as this does not happen very often here where I live. I have yet to identify two of the spiders. This one clearly looks like a black widow, it's even the same size as the black widow. It also has a very similar web structure. But then so does the closely related
(Achaearanea tepidariorum). A species which is commonly called the American house spider and is entirely harmless. (UPDATE: This spider is most likely a Steatoda sp.. Colors match the S grossa. A species able to reach this size.)

This species may look like a black widow but it is not. It is almost certainly not closely related and the same goes for how toxic its venom is. There are many species of spiders that try to take advantage of coloration and other factors to appear more dangerous than they are. Although the spider looks a lot like a black widow, I think it is extremely unlikely that its some kind of rogue species or genetic mutation. It's coloration on closer examination resembles that of the Steatoda sp. Although most of these spiders are very small, some are known to get up to 8mm, so this very well could be a Steatoda borealis or S. grossa.


I have since looked up this species and become convinced that it is in the Steatoda family of spiders. Related to Achaeranea, they get near to this size and colorations as I noted above.
Some people tell me "well maybe you found a new species!", and then when I tell them how unlikely that is they act like I'm a quitter! (ouch!) I wish! There is almost no chance of that unless you're in some of the most remote places in the world. Most people would be surprised how many people have taken an interest in spiders and are describing and photographing them. Every now and then they even make the newspapers, such as when a species that is little known, is first photographed mating. I wish I could be on the front lines but with my life challenge, I am currently not able to get the access or the money to do so. At least I've reached one great milestone in my life, I found myself the woman whom I want to marry. I am a very lucky man to a found a woman so understanding of my hobbies and my personal difficulties. :-) I love you Alina.


For those of you are afraid of spiders I thought maybe you would like this shot. As summer comes to a close some flowers bloom and spiders reach their seasonal largest size. This coming up is one of my favorite times of year.


There are small anatomical changes as well as markings on the abdomen at make it clear to me this is not any species of widow (Latrodectus). So what is it?? I will have to do some more Internet research to find out but it appears to be related to a species that I only thought got 1/4 this size. This spider is new to me. It is approximately the same size as your typical black widow and the common harmless American house spider shown here.


I want to say for the recored that although this species may look intimidating it is my serious opinion that it is as harmless as the American house spider shown also here in this article. I have been bitten by the American house spider about 1/2 dozen times. When I was a kid I used to catch them at taking advantage of the drop technique they often used to escape their web. It happened because if they fall into your hand then you move your hand they will bite. People often associate a spider bite with a lot of pain and a large bite mark. I did not have so much as redness and as far as pain went; that tiny pinch of it's very small jaws was all I felt. Suffice it to say, I found the spiders at my friend's house and I would have alerted them they were dangerous and these are not as I will explain further.



This is the other species entirely new to me. I got really lucky this day capturing a few shots with my digital SLR. I did not have much left on my CF memory card, but I was able to capture these few shots of this spider which was truly fascinating. First off you can tell the size of the spider by looking at the screen it is hanging on. This is regular window screen found in most homes. The spider is most odd because it has as a very long (Tarsus)-- the last segment of its front legs. She seems to be living in a cob collection of webs built by other spiders as well as possibly its own but did not have any kind of retreat. It's strange flat-sided-drip abdomen seems to put it in a class of spiders not so closely related to the American house spider and the black spider was living near.


am going to consult some online databases and my books about both these species of spiders I will get back to you in this article if I can identify them. Some people tell me "well maybe you found a new species!", I wish. There is almost no chance of that unless you're in some of the most remote places in the world. Most people would be surprised how many people have taken an interest in spiders and are describing and photographing them. Every now and then they even make the newspapers, such as when a species that is little known, is first photographed mating. I wish I could be on the front lines but with my life challenge, I am currently not able to get the access or the money to do so. At least I've reached one great milestone in my life, I found myself the woman whom I want to marry. I am a very lucky man to a found a woman so understanding of my hobbies and my personal difficulties.

I am going to consult some online databases and my books about both these species of spiders I will get back to you in this article if I can identify them. Some people tell me "well maybe you found a new species!", I wish. There is almost no chance of that unless you're in some of the most remote places in the world. Most people would be surprised how many people have taken an interest in spiders and are describing and photographing them. Every now and then they even make the newspapers, such as when a species that is little known, is first photographed mating. I wish I could be on the front lines but with my life challenge, I am currently not able to get the access or the money to do so. At least I've reached one great milestone in my life, I found myself the woman whom I want to marry. I am a very lucky man to a found a woman so understanding of my hobbies and my personal difficulties.


This this is some type of ground beetle I thought I would put here just because I founded right near where the spiders were. I want to stress that if you see a bunch of spiders somewhere, chances are they are not dangerous. There is a common scenario of people freaking out thinking that the Sydney funnel web spider, seeing huge black widows, the brown recluse and other dangerous species are all over the place. I have heard such ridiculous rumors and spiders with "boxing gloves" that indicate they are the dreaded hobo spider. Personally I think the hobo spider thing is mostly hype and possibly even a myth. These "boxing gloves" are actually just a characteristic of all male spiders. These are the palps, the male mating organs.

My neighbors complain about ants and roaches. I don't have a lot of spiders that are visible in my house, I just let them do their thing. By doing so, I am letting them live in my basement and other places where they can get in the house quickly just naturally. I don't bring spiders and release them inside on purpose. I have virtually eliminated my ant and roach problem without the use of any pesticides whatsoever. People often forget that bug lights, pesticides and other gadgets are designed to actually seriously attract insects. They may end up inadvertently bringing more insects to your house then if you were to have left well enough alone and nature to itself. Try it and give it a good while. Cleaning up after yourself is the best policy. How else do you expect these companies that make all these fancy bug lights to make money?? Many species are becomeing immune to such poisons and harmless species in the end, get hurt. The food chain gets contaminated. I strongly believe that the use of many of these products actually creates and or exaggerates insect problems in a very hazardous and not environmentally friendly way.

--G.Beasley 2008

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Please don't stop here! There are over 700 pics on this site to view. To see them all just keep clicking on "Older Posts". You can also access the rest of this site with the date and title article menu on the top left hand side. Each Article, or "Post" is given a number. Every month of every year that I have posted pictures on this site in Order are all there to see! I can only show so many articles in one page or it would take forever for my website to load. So please don't stop here, just click "Older Posts" to see the rest of my published photography and articles. Each time you get to the bottom of the next set, click "Older Posts" again to see more and explore my entire site.

News and new stuff

My Fiance Alina, and me. I finally have some new pics ready to put up and I will keep this site going! I hit 20,000 hits not too long ago, and many more page views. Thanks for compliments and if you have a question and do not get a response from me please e-mail me at the address given in the intro. Leave your e-mail address with your e-mail and it will remain Anonymous.


A Female jumper, I still can't get over these eye shots. It's like you can see she's thinking and definitely knows your there.

Recently I have been juggling my photography and my interest in electronics and ham radio. I pulled these parts out of a junk pile that was given to me by one of my ham radio friends named Jeff. (WA7MLH) I have been intensely studying to pass my technician class amature radio licence. Out of the some 391 questions in the question pool, I only missed approximately 90. So I should have my license just as soon as I learned some of the new stuff concerning Internet protocol and ham radio.

This is a crystal oscillator with a single transistor amplifier which could be used in an of itself as a QRP transmitter. I built it a couple of weeks ago. For those of you in The Dalles area currently I can be contacted on (11m) CB ch9&19 or VHF FM 151.82Mhz MRS ch1, part of the multi use (MURS) radio service. Just ask for "Skullbones 158" and I just might talk back to you! 73s, I can't wait until I can talk on the 2m ham band. I will add some more stuff about radios and radio here the more I learn as I get ready for that


Lights and camera in motion.
Alina is with me now. She is incredible and it is so nice to have someone to love who loves you back. Oh yeah, It has been a long time since I've added any pictures, some people have been concerned about my grammar and spelling errors. Sorry, nobody's perfect no need to continue to state the obvious.


The sunset shots I can get here can be not as impressive as the ones from overseas but they can sure still be something to look at.

Our private swimming hole:-)
Recently my fiancé and I, Alina went to the revire on one of the really hot days we were having there for awhile here in The Dalles Oregon. I have a few more pictures and an underwater video I was able to take by placing a small high definition video camera inside a waterproof housing built for another camera. This proved to be very functional allthough I could not control the camera so I will have to do allot of video editing. I may put more pictures then later from this trip as I also caught a spider all the way out on the barge in the rigging. And warm weaver I have not shown on this site yet. I have a few other new spider pictures with I also need to convert. So keep coming back! Thank you for the reson compliments.


Looking out from an awesome spot in The Dalles a while back. I 1000s of pics I want to put on my site, 100s of them from Bali. Finding the energy and time is the hardest part.

Some more orchids from Bali. They nearly grow on there own here. There are so many of them. A sweet place I hope to take Alina some day.



I still have so many shots from Bali that I have not yet compiled. This is one of the hotel pools that I stayed at on my 2007 trip. What an incredible place!

This was just before a win and lightning storm. This sky color changed to a bizzar tint of orange
As many of them all and Crows move away from the approaching thunderhead not shown in picture.


I managed to catch this picture from a greyhound bus trip back in July. The porch and do a full weather all year round when it's frozen like that its amazing. It got a bit too hot for us, so we went down of the river wich was a nice comfortable temperature after it been over a hundered agrees that day.


A local wildflower that blooms even on the warmest of days in the driest spots.


A male sack spider, clearly shown are the boxing glove look-like plaps that make telling males from females easy. The palps are located near the eyes and mouth.



A hover fly in flight. This shot is even more interesting than you think about how I was more than 8 feet away from this flower and the fly when I took his picture.




A hover fly in flight. This shot is even more interesting than you think about how I was more than 8 feet away from this flower and the fly when I took his picture.




Look at the squirrel .

"Out on a limb??"
I caught this sequence while outside ready to take pictures of birds. Don't worry the squirrel did not get hurt. He ran out onto the wire puting a new meaning to the phrase " out on a limb". Luckly he was only entangled in telephone and cable wires that do not carry dangerous voltages.

For a minute there I thought he was going to fall. But when the trust of this tale he righted himself and successfully got back on wire.


Impressive acrobatic skills here.



For a minute there I thought he was going to fall.

He made it! And probably won't make that mystake again.