Thursday, December 29, 2011

Occupy --The last sign in the park-- a new year dawns

Happy Holidays everyone!  A new year comes, 2012.  Some say it's the end of the world.  End or not--I will keep shooting and shooting spider macros and learning more about spiders.  2012 is no different then 2000.  And we all know how that went.  I will also post events that my lens captures but don't get me wrong because of the Occupy photos and videos--I am a freelance journalist/photographer and NOT here to write a political blog about my views.  I will post what I photograph and experience and to some degree that alone should show you what I believe.

Back to macro basics-- since I got my D7000 I have a load of new images I need to post. Until I get some stuff done first I will not be able to post as much as I want too.

"Foggy building UFO"
I shot this the night we covered Occupy Portland closing.  The parks were closed and fenced off, they seemed cold and smaller without all those people.  I will put more pics of that night up soon but suffice it to say as photos below show, little actual damage was done to the parks by protesters.  I was really amazed at how cleaned up the park was and how little impact the demonstration seemed to have.   The turf is replaced every year anyway--and it nearly did not look that bad.  I expected far more visible damage.  I encourage anyone who is interested in the Occupy situation to not just see it on the news and then judge the parks as being "trashed".   If you actually seen it for yourself you may well not agree with what some media outlets said about things.  I don't agree with all the varied and sometimes differing opinions we heard down there but I think it is an important right to protest and speak your mind to the government and the world.

 And people say I take too many pictures!  I don't know why there are 3 dishes and at least 5 security cameras on this building.  I snapped this shot while riding the Max transit line and only this side of it is visible.  One thing everyone should remember-- there is no such thing as not being photographed.  Sometimes people also get mad at me for taking a picture with them in it.  Almost always this is because they happen to be in the photo--not because I want to put them up on line or have a picture of any particular person.   In this day and age, when everyone has a cellphone with a camera and security cameras everywhere-- no matter what you are going to be photographed weather you know about it or not and weather your like it or not.  I ask when ever feasible but sometimes people over-react and asume I am photographing them.  I understand the fears people have, but please don't take it out on photographers!  I say this--if you don't want to be photographed--don't go to a public event such as Occupy Portland!  I respect the wishes of people who say they do not want to be posted or photographed and have proven it many times.  Clearly--many people do not.
"HAM RADIO OPERATOR" --this is my station--KF7DFP-- this is NOT a CB or those family radios.
I have not been talking much on Ham radio because I have been busy and I have power supply issues, but I am a licensed technician class radio operator.  These are my main radios.  A Kenwood 2M all mode TR9000 (Left) and A Radio shack TRX-10 (right).  I also often use my portable, the VX-7R, 6m, 2m, 220 and 440Mhz transceiver with very wide TX/RX.  My call-sign is KF7DFP and I usually listen on 144.2 USB 2M SSB.  And on 10M 28.388-28.4 USB.

 This is me and my new D7000.  Almost 2 years saving to get this camera. It's not only a full 14bit 16.1 MP DSLR, it's also a full functioned 1080P video camera with pro inputs and other awesome features.

 I have not seen this many birds in a while!   I shot this from the Max in Portland.

 Some Details of a spider I found.  She is also at the top of this post.   I have yet to look up this spider exactly.  She was one of two that I found in a restaurant.   They repelled down after ballooning into the wrong place.  I photographed them and then released them in a better spot.

For these shots I let her walk on my bed but in future shots I will be shooting some spiders against a new background to show just how much I trust spiders and why people should not be so afraid of them.

 This little spider was fast but my camera and I were faster and I got some cool shots of her before letting her go.  I have been taking pictures of spiders through the winter and trying to find out more about the some species that live through the winter.
 The size of this spider next do a quarter.
 Abdomen and thorax details.
 More details, I can get even closer and more detailed then this with some of the new macro setups I have been testing.

 The start to all our travels, this is the Max transit system.  Two lines run through Portland and a couple other lines run to other areas.   A bus ticket will get you a ride on both buses and this electric train.
 A Fall spider--she is building one of her last webs but may live into December if she does not get too cold. 
 Another shot of the same spider, she's a bit cold now but just a little sun and she will make repairs to her web.   Spiders are born knowing how to make perfect webs, but over time they also learn how to make better/different ones and save time in repairs.  This is the same species that shocked the scientific world when they built webs without gravity in the space shuttle. This was done after some experimentation on the part of the spiders but successful.

This was quite a find.  My wife is holding up a heart shaped peace of a water melon which incredibly naturally seemed to fall out of the melon.  I know it looks cut on purpose or with a tool, but this was a total accident.


My wife holds up the heart shaped melon.


 "The Portland Building UFO"
The night Occupy was doing a vigl for loosing the parks, there was cold fog and it made for some awesome building shots.  I don't know why this building has such huge spot lights on it-- they are not strong enough to be able to see the ground. 
 Lit by the same huge flood lights powered by portable generators, the 2 previously occupied parks are now fenced in.   I have many important pictures I will eventually post on this site of that night once I get them ready to post.  The parks were as I said, in really good shape and had I not known what had gone on there just a couple of days before-- I would never have guessed and wondered why the parks were closed down and fenced off!
 Fences completely surrounded the downtown parks when we were last down there.  There was almost no visible signs of any gathering of people.   It was almost spooky.

"The Last sign"
After photographing the parks from many angles which I will post soon on this site looking for any sign that there had been anything going on at the parks-- I finally found one sign that remains.   Somehow the Fall leaves had covered it up or something and thus it was missed by cleanup crews and those who helped cleanup the Occupied park when they left.   Giving the amount of security, fences and lights-- I think it is amazing the sign was there.   They probably spent more money on fencing off the park then they will actually need to "fix it" after all the "damage" was done.   I was told that every year the turf has to be re-done anyway due to mud build up and leaves.   I am glad that the Occupy movements are happening and people are standing up for there rights and the rights of the oppressed.  People should pay fair taxes and there are many things about our society that seriously need to change.  The people who work the hardest do NOT make the most money--and the criminal justice system is a mess--two name just two major problems I want to see changed.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

First Dishes of the Revolution -- Occupy Portland




"Occupy Interviews 1"
Produced/edited by: Gabe Beasley
Interview questions asked by: Alina Beasley
WARNING! This movie has been rated by me as "PG" due to some mild language content.
First Interviews taken at Occupy Portland.  Here and see what a few people at the Occupy movement had to say in there own words, why they are there, and what they think of it.   I am just learning movie making so bare with me as I learn and perfect my technique and use the video abilities of my camera.  I have A LOT more to add, these videos take HOURS to upload and photos take hours to process for this site.  If I interviewed you you will be on this or one of the next movies on this site and my YouTube site "Mostlymacros". 




"FIRST DISHES OF THE REVOLUTION"
An on site documentary by Gabe Beasley
THIS is a PEACEFUL MOVIE showing the atmosphere and attitude one usually would have experienced.  I made this video to show what it might be like to take a walk through the Occupy camp during this time.  I did not know anyone down there yet and was met by a peaceful and awesome people.  I want to show this side of things in contrast to the constant media and YouTube buzz of videos with bad language, brawls and other sensationalism that is posted too often.  That JUNK misses the point!  Most of it was and is a peaceful protest and usually people were NOT yelling at each other.  This was and is a very peaceful movement with important and serious messages.   I am not only impressed by most of the serious Occupy movement but ALSO by the Portland Police who showed far more respect for free speech here in Portland then was shown in many other cities around the world.

IMPORTANT ART NOTE:
Some art in this movie was done by unknown artists, signs, and beginning sign) If you do know who did the sign at the beginning of this movie PLEASE email me as I want to give them credit for there art which made the opening screen of my first documentary possible).

OCCUPY PORTLAND -- RECENT EVENTS -- MOSTLY MACROS
I Really enjoyed and agreed with most of the stuff I saw at Occupy Portland and my wife and I can be seen in this video as we got involved in the protest.  When I was not taking pictures I was protesting as well.  I really think it's time that corrupt people are shown what they have done and big changes are made in the way our government and the super-wealthy do things.  We all deserve a chance and fact is we don't all have one.  There are just too many unfair situations going on.  Not only to human beings and not only in the USA.  All over the world, injustices need to be heard and not simply ignored as another 'phase' to be put down.  Because it WILL NOT go away.

"Golden Bee" 2006
I took this shot with my Kodak DX7630 back when I got going in digital.  It was actually shot with a compact camera to which I had added a homemade closeup lens and a flash reflector to make shots like this possible without a hot-shoe for an external flash.

MOSTLY MACROS will be changing but for the better--some things will not--I am just adding more "Independent lens" Journalistic content.
I have often pledged to not talk about politics in Mostly Macros but for this I have made an exception because I feel there are important issues that need to be shown.  As an totally independent jornalistic photographer I want to show the facts as much as I possibly can since the mainstream news media so often fails at this.  At Occupy Portland I took 1000s of still pictures, night and day, dozens of videos, and several interviews my wife really helped me with.  In time, many will be posted here and or on Flicker and YouTube but I want to start here as this is my main site.  Sorry about the delay if I interviewed you and you don't see it yet.  Because of budget problems I am using a very small and slow Netbook (Intel Atom 1Ghz processor--equiv. to about a 2003 computer) to process my pics and even compile some videos.   It took me over 4 hours to make the 12min movie "First Dishes of the Revolution" and another 3 or so to upload it to my YouTube channel.   This is my first YouTube video and I plan to make more but until I can get a regular laptop with Win7 and more then 1GB of RAM it will take time.  I hope that eventually I will be able to afford a full laptop/notebook that has enough memory and a fast enough processor (about $500 cost) to work with video files and my huge RAW files which are often larger then 20mb with my Nikon D7000.  I am a true struggling artist and trying to save but I have to take into account other costs (life) and have not yet been able to save up enough for a computer that can handle my needs.  Even though a pretty basic laptop would do it.  We are still recovering from our house burning down in 2009.   I am hoping that eventually my photographic and artistic works will be more recognized and I want to go into documentary film making.  As for Political opinions go, that's not really what Mostly Macros will ever be about.  I may say my opinion on some issues--but generally I am here to show what I photograph--the facts and report.  Some people may say things which I do not agree with in videos--but that does not mean I will not show the interview.  I want to report on the issues I take interest in and photograph them.  I also want to do artistic/photographic projects and even get into documentary film making.  It is not my intent to make another political blog or news and views site.

There are many opinions in the world and many at Occupy--I do not agree with everything everyone is saying--but it is time for corruption to end and the poor should not pay for it.  I know this is not a simple issue.  The spider/nature and artistic shots are NOT over!  I will be doing a number of articles about spiders and other pictures as time goes on.  I am just announcing here that I plan to open Mostly Macros up a bit to some political situations, declare it to also be a jornalistic blog.  I have a lot of work to do on it, but given time I think this will be a good looking blog.  I will continue to try to keep Mostly Macros as G-RATED as possible.  If there is content in videos or articles that I think will be a problem (such as bad language in an interview) I will post serious warnings before and under the video.  I have still not decided if I will post such videos in this site as I want kids and schools to be able to continue to use it for information and projects on insects and spiders.  Once I get a laptop that will let me edit videos I will be able to bleep out bad language in them.  If a video does have such language there will be plenty of warning and NO VIDEOS on this site will have other types of questionable content.  If you read this please leave a comment about content issues, your opinion matters!

Incredibly this small Intel Atom powered Netbook was able to cut my movie down from 720p HD which was HUGE to a smaller and more manageable 480p video.   It was shot originally in wide screen HD but had to be cut to 4:3 in order to bring it down in size so that I could work with it on this computer (I can't watch even 720p HD on this computer direct from camera).   This video took 4+ hours to process with this computer and it will take similar amounts of time to get other videos ready that I made at Occupy Portland.   Give it time--and they will be up there.  Thank you for checking out my site and don't forget there are lots of pictures on this site!  If you want to link or have any questions please email.   I will try to respond to comments in time.   --G.Beasley

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

OCCUPY PORTLAND -- Pictures SET 1


I have over 1,700 pictures from Occupied Portland Oregon that I took during 2 days and part of the night there.  In my opinion it was a great event and these 'Occupations' are bringing out serious and solid social issues that MUST be changed sometime in the future.  Being here was both an awesome experience photographically and in hope for our country and world's future.  I don't believe in all these ideas, but many of them I do.  I am breaking my long-held non-political stand on Mostly Macros.   HOWEVER This does NOT mean I am no longer going to show you the spider pictures and articles I do or other nature shots I will continue to publish.  While this is going however--my lenses are on Occupied Portland as the mainstream News media seems to want to act as if it means nothing and does not exist.


Not changing them and not listening to the people will eventually not become an option.  America and indeed the world, may well be at a crossroads.  This to me even though I was not born yet in the 1960s, is the greatest protest for civil-rights and liberties, justice, and accountability as well as the fight against greed since that time.  I have a set of mostly SIGN pictures that I WILL release soon.   This set 2 of pictures will have most of the expressed political views and artistic signs made by the protestors during Occupation Portland while I was photographing it.


NOTES:  I DO NOT NECESSARILY AGREE WITH ALL SIGNS OR STATEMENTS MADE HERE!  I will add text later if I am interested in a specific thing to agree with.  Otherwise consider this simply what I viewed through my lens.  Journalism as I think it should be done showing whatever I see--not just tiny snippets of what I want to see.  Opinions were often common but a very wide number of views and issues are being represented by the Occupy movement in general throughout the world.  I hope it is a peaceful revolution that will enact some serious change and spark some well doing in a now obviously desperate nation and world.  Inequality and oppression cannot remain in place forever, such things cannot be ignored.


(2) IF you wish to have your photo removed please email me--(email on sidebar of this blog) IF you wanted to be on my blog and have not seen your shot yet--PLEASE WAIT--I have lots of pictures and work to get these up.

THE BEST PICS I GOT ARE YET POSTED HERE!
MORE WILL BE UP SOON--LOTS OF WORK SO JUST GIVE ME TIME!

(3) I HAVE MANY MORE PICS TO POST!  This is only the first installment.  I have the protest march, and many other events and activities I think should be shown.  These are NOT the best pictures or the pictures I picked.  They were just the first ones to fall on the top of my JPEG pile of over 1700 shots from that day.  There is far more to see and come about OCCUPY PORTLAND.

(4) To view full size of any image double click on image. USE BACK ARROW on your internet explorer (such as Firefox) to get back to my site.

Here is my wife, doing a really great thing on the protest walk October 15th.  She really helped me by watching my camera gear while I took shots and did the full protest walk.  She's the best wife in the world for understanding my ideas and photographic life. 



































































































































 This is a married couple who were just married yesterday, hailed as "the first married couple of Occupied Portland".  I promised I'd post there picture on my site.  (Contact me if you see it and I will add your names--email me your names! :)
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 Normal pictures.  Even at a high ISO, taking shots in near-darkness is not easy.  So I got out my tripod and went for night-shots turning night--into day. 
 This shot was taken just a few seconds after the above black dark shot showing how dark it was in camera terms.  With long exposures, you can get incredibly detailed shots of anything that stays still.  However, if people move in the picture--the movement can be seen in an interesting and artistic ghost like way.  Night-shots can be better then day-time shots.  So I have a number of them more I plan to take and post of Occupied Portland.