CLOSE UP shots of the week

I waited for the right moment with my heavy but ergonomic Canon EOS 10D DSLR and lighting setup to catch this shot. I was really elated when I got it because moments like this can be hard to capture. It is pictures like this I've been dreaming of catching since I was a kid and saw them in books. Just last night I got lucky and was in the right place at the right time with my camera as this beetle decided to fly. They spread there wings and hesitate just a moment before liftoff which gave me just enough time to keep my cool and take a focused shot.

I am not sure what kind of beetle this is yet, I think it's some kind of june bug, but I could be wrong. I will be looking it up sometime soon here.


And incredibly, it spread it's wings yet again for me when I had a clear shot. This beetle was captured with a Canon EOS 10D, extension tube, and a home built macro flash system.

CLOSE UP --The Grass Spider

This is one of my favorate species of spiders. She is related to the crab spiders. Useing a small plastic petree dish, I got some serious close ups on this Tibellus oblongus. They are hard to find since they blend in so well with grass and folage. That flying beetle shot was nice, but spiders still have the most of my interest. This one made it to my outside light last night.

Here you can see the eyes which are actually quite small for a hunting spider. Her main senses can be seen in those hairs on her limbs. They are highly sensitive to vibration.

On the underside we can see her clearning one of her limbs, and clearly we can also see her female reproductive organ, the small black mark on the abdomen, the epigynum.Another shot of her cleaning her limb. Spiders often do this and keep themselves quite clean.

The full underside as best as I could with the setup I had here. It took me couple of hours of shooting to get these shots.

Here she is about 0.5mm above the ruler here but this gives you some idea of her size, she could grow to have a body 10mm long.

Hanging out here, as you can see she's in the plastic dish and just about 0.5mm above the surface here. To take these shots in doors, I used a LED flashlight to see through the SLR viewfinder well.
I tried my best to get through any glare and get the best shots I could of this spider as she was in the dish. She's nearly fully grown but they get a bit larger.

Then I let her go right where I caught her, this is the typical way they sit in wait. They are a sly and very quick species.

Sun loving daddy longlegs and the Silverfish

This species of daddy long legs is very common in California but I only recently found it here in Oregon. To my surprise on a walk with my wife near a power transformer on the ground I found these three spiders. One of which put on a show for me giving me quite a few angles.


I call her the "Sun loving daddy longlegs" because unlike to my knowledge all other species of Pholcidae, it does not have any problem living out in the open and even in bright sunlight.



Most daddy longlegs spider species like others featured in my website crave caves, cellars, and dark basements. They don't like building webs out in the open. You may find one under a large rock, but it usually won't be in shrubs or out in the open to light.


It's about the same size and body type and shape as your average daddy longlegs. Pholcus phalangioides seems to be a close relative. I've done several very close up shots of those in my basement and articles on them in this website. This species is clearly Pholcus sp. But what?? If anybody knows let me know.


Another difference is body color, the sun-loving species has a rich pattern on it's body and it's underside. Also, females carry there eggs in exactly the same way as other daddy longlegs.

They are sub-communal, meaning that they live in large webs semi-connected and do not eat each other. All ages can be found and sometimes like these two juveniles. I observed that these also practice the classic blur-body motion when frightened. They are also very sensitive and quick even in the brightest of sunlight on a hot day to jump out onto there webs when they detect a person talking. They definitely build a bit more of a little home for themselves then the traditional daddy longlegs but the webs are similar. All daddy longlegs are harmless and it is a total myth that they are the most poisonous spider in the world. Urban myths do allot of damage to spiders. Actually I've been bit by rather large daddy longlegs and the pain scale was about 1/10th of a bee sting or less. Like a pinch.



I tired hard to get a eyes on shot, showing the differences in it's eyes and carapace (prosoma) as well as the deep fovea. The ridge in the thorax. I plan to go back to the site where I found these spiders here and take some better more close up pictures. My wife had to wait for me to take these shots in the hot sun so I did not want to stay too long.


The natural habitat of the sun-loving daddy longlegs. A hot day she sits in the sun when at all alerted. They can be found in shrubs and in even brighter situations.



Then we made are way into a local park called Hyde park. There I found this web possibly of a daddylonglegs as shown above in a bunch of amber. This is interesting since insects and spiders get preserved in amber with incredible detail for millions of years.


Amber, of course, is fossilized tree sap. Such as these drops coming out of a pine tree of some kind.

Some of the drops where very transparent and cool.

This is my favorate future amber shot.

The Silverfish:

Speaking of ancient insects and spiders this is the silverfish. It's something like 300 million years old and it has not changed much since.


They can be found scurrying across your bathroom floor or deep in caves. What is most interesting about them is how primitive an insect they are and that they have been unchanged for so long. As an order, they are one of very few surviving species of insects that have never possessed wings. Most all insects at least at one point developed wings in there evolutionary past.


And you can clearly see the lobes that turned into wings over millions of years not ever having developed in this tiny creature. It's virtually blind but very agile, fast, and will keep things clean for you. I consider it to be a beneficial insect and let this one go where I found it in my house.


The underside, showing antania both in front and back of the insect.
This shot I got a few days ago on another walk. This is a crane fly, often called a "daddy longlegs" as well. It obviously is not a spider and is a kind of fly. Harvestmen too get mixed up for daddy longlegs.
On the same phototime, I shot this ladybug in direct sunlight as it was walking on a leaf.

INCREDIBLE FIND:

I featured this spider last year in late summer 2008. I have looked all over and this species just does not live in this area, I have only found it down by the docks right on the Columbia river and other areas miles away from my house. I captured this spider in 2008 out on a barge. She had either hatched there or ballooned there from a great distance. This species of Araneidae or Metidae (I'm not sure yet) lives in damp and dark areas where she has a very good hideout and a small web. Here is the kicker-- I took this picture just a few days ago!


I let this spider go in 2008 after featuring her on a website article (go back a few months--pages to find it) on my back porch. I figured she could live the reminder of her almost certainly just 1 year lifespan there. As you saw in my pictures, we had a really hard winter, over 4 feet of snow for weeks and sub -0- temperatures here in The Dalles. It got so cold I don't know how but somehow she managed to survive and hibernate through the winter. I found her just about 15 feet from where I had released her last year. Not only did she survive the winter outside but she has lived obviously longer then the normal lifespan of most orb weavers which is about 1 year or season. I was more then amazed and check her picture with the ones I took of her when I caught her.. it's her as best as I can tell. The chances of it being another spider is extremely low, as this species just does not live in this area at all and her size and features all match up perfectly to my high-res pics I took last year. There is no doubt, she lived through the winter and she was captured again when I saw her ram shacked web damaged by the wind and took an opportunity to put her into an enclosure for photography and observation.


She has since built a full orb web in it and captures insects I feed her inside this little spider cage. It is incredible to me that she not only survived this very harsh winter and lived through the spring, but that I would find her again after letting her go nearly a half year ago. I am really going to find out what species she is and by keeping her hope to see just how long she will live. Spiders do fine in captivity if they have the means and the food they need. In additon to safe insects, they also need watter mist that is free from contamination. Remember when ever catching spiders, just about everything contains insecticides. An old used can of coffee can be washed out 5 times clean and still kill a spider in less then an hour.

ADVICE NEEDED:
I have been trying to figure out how to get my pictures out there more. I appreciate any comments you add or send me. My e-mail address can be found in the intro-text on the right hand side of the top of this website. I am looking for someone who can give me some tips about how I might get my pictures out there more. I am not very experienced on the internet and admittedly after several computer crashes internet-phobic. I'm trying to break that down and get more involved in showing and viewing pictures as well as the art of photography. I want to be noted someday as an amateur Arachnologist (someone who studies spiders and there kin) and somehow make a mark on the spider world with my pictures. If you have any tips on who to talk to for advice or what clubs to join or contests to enter please let me know. Thanks all and enjoy my website as I continue to add pictures and come up with new ideas. Spiders are definitely my favorite and if I could find enough of them I'd have allot more shots of them here.
Being physically challenged since 2005 and not having a car makes it difficult to find new species but I hope to travel again more and in some way contribute as well as learn from the study of spiders and photography in general.

It's the season for love!

It is the season for love! Just after we got our marriage certificate we stopped and I had to pose for a picture. Get through the article I wrote (for once I rant and rave like people do in blogs:) and see a better shot of the marriage certificate. Love is universial.



SPIDERS IN LOVE!
It is my mission to try to destroy some of the rumors and misconceptions about spiders that people have. If seeing is beliving, these spiders are literally kissing! No photoshop and no question. This is the way a great number of species reproduce. There's no violence, or gore and I dare even say joy.

Many spiders do also have a strange caring side. One species I recently read about actually
becomes the ultimate mother by committing suicide so that her young can eat her body. Now that's gross--but only one species I know of does it. Several species of male spiders commit suicide for the female every time on purpose to mate and in fact will not even start mating until they have forced there body into the females fangs! There is an estimated 35,000 species of spiders and only a small number of them practice any kind of regular cannibalism. We like to demonize what we fear for good reason. But if we are to survive in the long term we must admit our own history to ourselves before we demonize all low and disgusting actions of animals. I was absolutely shocked when I found out how cattle are treated. And how we treat ourselves.
Africa, the mid east, wars.. drugs.. rich getting richer and poor dieing of diease. People acting and not acting have caused more graphic and terrible violence then any spider species ever will or could. If spiders were to disapper completely, I give humanity only about a decade or so. That means just that, we need spiders so much that if all species where to disapper one report I read said that we would litterally be "knee deep in insects". Like the honey bee, the spider gets a less glammous but no less important posion in our world and in every one of our lives. We could not exist without them. Even with all of our technology, spiders are too much of an intergal part of the echo system for us to exist without them. Period. So we should have some respect for them, and give that poor spider in the bathtub a break by letting it run into a jar and then take it out side.


Picture break!
The local Barber shop here in The Dalles not too far from where I live. This is one of a few buisnesses that has been here for many decades. Yeah, yeah, I know I can't save the world and that's not what my website is about. So finding a picture hit some nerves here. I can go ranting and raving blogging like the rest. Maybe for the good or not. Mainly I want people to teach there children to respect all life. Spiders included. So spread the word about my website, and about respecting life. An old poem of unkown origins goes like this, "if you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive".


We treat cattle in an unbelievably horrible way. They never see the light of day--everything is artificial--even sex--and is so disgusting I can hardly eat beef let alone tell you on a G-rated website how bad it really is. The treatment of cattle and other animals is worse then any spider species could create. And when I learned about it on an educational channel, I found myself wondering how all this came to be. Who the #$#@ thinks this @#$% up! I don't think anybody in there right mind could think something this messed up as how we mass-produce beef unless they were psycoticly violent. If we are ever to leave this planet and possibly find other life forms intelligent as we know it or not, we are going to live with quite a burden. If everyone knew about how beef cattle were treated, the beef industry would go bankrupt. If everyone knew how much oil was destroying our world and how we are going to run out of it.. things would change very quickly. If everyone really KNEW. Saw it with there own eyes in person. Be able to see the behavior of those things which are truly alien to the human condition that we do anyway behind the scenes and hush hush. We are also going to need to make serious changes if we are to really live up to the qualities of being human. Like the way we treat animals. We need not judge it nor fear the actions of other species for we did not create nor did we invent it. All animals when afraid or harmed will bite and will feel pain. Anyone who disagrees must surely be moraly bankrupt. To smash a spider because its' there, because you judge by so-called human values or un-based fear is a very unfair act. We ourselves as a species have a lot of evolution to do before we are able to understand how to live with other species and live without deeply fearing them irrationally.

An example is simple of how we think: Leave it to us to capitalize on the Black widow and other species that are both dangerous to humans and have the most gruesome names and reputations. Despite her reputation as being a widow, she does not have much choice in the matter. If she lets the male free, or he simply goes free, he will die in a matter of hours. Male black widows are born without feeding organs, thus they live for one reason, to mate with the female and provide her with a meal. Yeah, sometimes being a guy can really suck in the animal world. Hell, even in humans, women tend to outlive men by about 10 years. A great many species harmlessly lock jaws in a display that resembles kissing to show submission and mate. Even if disturbed I saw them come back together in what I can only call spider passion! There's no agression, and little or no danger of a male becoming a meal in many species. Spiders and indeed most animals, can be very human. And vice versa.




And now we have come full circle with this. I'm kissing my soon to be wife after finding spiders kissing. The truth is, animals do an amazing number of things that people do. And therefor we should not think ourselves so far different then them. Yes, that is a marriage certificate, the wedding is set for April 4th 2009. I'm excited and ready. I love her very much and trust her with my heart, something I was not sure I could do again. It's incredible how far we have come in a year and I thank her and God deeply for everything she has done for me.

A Jumping Spider Catches food in mid air

Jumpercatch: 5min approx. A jumping spider captures a lacewing in mid air. Both real and slow motion times are shown. Check it out!

VIDGEOS and EDITING
I shot this video actually back in 2005. In it's RAW form it captured something rarely seen and even more rarely captured on video in any way, a jumping spider catching pray in mid air. The Video lasts about 5min. This was totally impromptu, I had no idea she would really catch something. Simply hopeful, I filmed her for about 15mins and ended up getting a shot I never expected. Especially using the gear I was, a Kodak DX7630 with a homemade close-up lens. This video was shot right out side my door on my outside light. I edited it now that I have a good video editing program (something other then Microsoft Movie Maker.. and yeah you gotta pay for it if you want it when it comes to video edit software). With that program I did some quick experiments this time, not only did I cut out most of the boring parts of the video but I did a second take on the capture which shows the spider capturing the lacewing in mid air at 1/10th real-speed. The ability to show you both real speed and "slow-mo", is one of many reasons I chose to finally get a video edit program. I usually keep the topic on photography and the topics of my pictures but here I will make a note, after going through HELL with Microsoft Movie maker in BOTH Windows XP and Windows Vista I looked on line to see if I was not the only one. I found several sites with endless comments way too graphic in language to quote here. It seems, windows movie maker comes with Windows Vista and with Windows XP but is a completely failure program. In other words, its so full of holes that I was unable to even edit the smallest of videos and spent most of my time restarting. One would thing, Bill Gates has the largest personal fortune in the world, something like 25 billion dollars. Enough to make every man woman and child in America a Millionaire without even a downgrade in lifestyle. Yet he won't even ship programs that work! And I tried to find fixes for Microsoft Movie maker, which used to work. Back about 4 years ago. Now days it's been left in Windows Vista but it simply crashes. All reports say it's completely useless. If Microsoft wont' fix the problem with there most basic software, and old Bill just keeps getting richer and richer.. it makes me wonder if he uses his own software. Or does windows movie maker work if I were to buy the full 64bit version for my dual core computer "Windows Vista Professional" or Whatever the f&$%...maybe.. I bet it works in there. Yeah. Sorry, I don't have an extra $500, or is it $1000+?? The fact that Bill Gates got away with selling something that costs 25cents to make for $250+ is bad enough, the fact that the product does not even work for the consumer or the poor and thus semi-pro user is even worse. I wonder if he reads any of the hate mail he gets on line. I really do. There was literally 100s of pages of it on Movie maker alone on one site. But he's the richest man in the world. So he does not care. He does not strike me as being a very humble or generous man. 25 Billion. That's his "personal fortune" last I heard. On paper it's a whole lot more. Considering that 1000 million is 1 billion, that's a difficult number to put into perspective. How Bill Gates can live with himself and act like he does is something I don't and won't ever understand. Imagine having the power to change the world, and not using it. It’s sad. As I said, I usually don’t comment on politics or anything like that on this site, but in this case I just had to say something. If you want a basic and stable Video edit software package around $50-100, Roxio My DVD Video Lab 10 is not a bad choice.
--G.Beasley

Dancing Talking Spider!

The star of this show is the incredible Araneus diadematus

I know what you might be thinking, I used a video edit program to match up the spider's movement to my voice. However, had I have done that.. do you really think that I would have chosen to say what I said. This is RAW footage as you can see from the overexposure. I had no time to set my video mode correctly for this one. Timed exactly and caught on video by accident while I was taking stills with a Kodak camera. I used the video function to show the spider and purely by accident realized that every time I spoke she shook her web and moved her legs! This of course was a response. Spiders do not have ears as we know them, however the slightest of vibrations on there webs or leg hairs can cause them to quickly respond and investigate as it may mean for her.. a meal. When she taps the web, she's using a kind of "sonar" in the web. Females listen for the right sequence of taps on there web made by a male of the correct species. This way they don't get eaten. Before a spider goes for a kill, she will check out as much as possible what she's going for. So in effect, she's sending a "sonar ping" through her web. These taps bounce back differently if anything is in the web. Spiders have an extra ordinary ability to remember things. This same species even shocked the scientific community when they systematically learned how to build webs in 0g orbit and a completely new web-building strategy was needed. They adapted quickly in the Space shuttle and built perfect webs after some trail and error.



She dances to nearly every word I say with her lighting reflexes. This was originally a large video that showed me capturing a spider in my aunts house. I used a new video edit program to add the text and convert it to an internet-compatible file. NO other modifications where made. Not every spider even of this species will do this so on demand. Spiders do have there own personalities there is no question. Usually you can only do this a couple of times before a spider gets wise and afraid climbing or dropping out of the web. This one however, seemed to like to dance to my voice!

An example of the "drop technique" used by many species of spiders. Often used by our hero here, A. diadematus. This is another shot of the same species of spider. This time she's playing dead after having dropped out of her web. A quick defense. It is not a good idea to handle spiders like this however. First off she will roll around in your hand in a ball like that but she may be injured if your not very careful. And last but not least, this is the time when a spider is most likely to bite in self defense. They are not considered dangerous to humans by anyone’s standards, but one should always be careful as you never know about allergies and you should also consider that the spider is a living thing which belongs safe in her web. Outside of it.. she has to build a new one. Catch one too small, and she may not have the energy to rebuild a new one.


Also called the "cross spider" and garden spider. These are among the safest spiders. Although I recomend NEVER handleing spiders, if you were to get bit by this one, the most you would get would be about 1/10th of a bee sting. They are not very agressive and play an important role in insect population control.




Since web builders have such bad eyesight, they almost completely really upon vibrations to tell what kind of pray is in there web and what's going on. If they detect something dangerous, they will not approach, or may even cut it loose. I've seen them pluck objects like dead leaves from there webs without even a test bite. They know what's going on. So in this case, the feel of her web memorized, she's confused by it's vibration when I talk. So she wonders what's going on. Both as a warning to other spiders and to investigate where the vibrations are.. she sends out her "pings" every time I talk. Unable to isolate what direction they are coming from she becomes confused and on guard. I could have kept doing this for a while, but sooner or later she would have tired of it.
--G.Beasley

SPIDERS in WINTER an unexpected find

First it got really cold here as you can see from my recent articles. Then, over a couple of days, when the snow had all finally melted, out came a few spiders as fast as the sun. This Wolf spider was one of about 5 I spotted in my front yard. Wolf spiders are well known for carrying both there eggs and there young. I was astonished to see how quickly they appered. Clearly, despite a recorded 8-20 degrees farenhight that lasted for over 2 weeks many wondering (non web building) spiders hold on and build sufficiant places to overwinter.These pics were taken just a few days ago. When a warm spell after the snow melted that had been arround for nearly a month came through. When the temp gets past about 65 degrees farenhight, the spiders and insects start comming out. No matter what time of year it is or if winter is over yet or not. I was amazed to realize that these species clearly overwinter and can survive serious temperature extremes while being burried under feet of snow for weeks or more.

This is a nearly fully grown jumping spider (Genus Salticus) about 1 cm long or so. She seems well fed and appered very fast on one particularly hot day in the sun. I captured this shot at about F32 with a directed light flash and my Cannon 10D digital SLR. Having a directed flash for lighting is a very important key to getting nice insect and spider shots.

If you don't have the money for a macro flash (most of them run about $400+) a very inexpecnive alternative can be setup. If your DSLR has all the contacts, any old extenernal flash will do. One that can be held in your hand is a real benifit. A flashgun or even a small flash ment for older cameras. If you can direct the light at the right angles, your shots will show far more detail then if shot stright on such as with a typical clip above camera flash unit. With some cameras, clever use of aliminum foil can direct light where you want it but it's not easy. It's best to buy a macro-flash unit like those used by CSI detectives. However, with a bit of electronics knowledge one can build a flashgun out of a couple of old flashes that will do as good or even better a job. My favorte is a low power flash unit that I can velcro right to my lens any way I want to direct the light. I only very recently began useing it. One of it's best features is that it only uses 1 AA rechargable battery and is very small and easy to use yet procduces plenty of light up through F40+

I won't give away all my secrets, but lighting is deffinately the key to getting good spider and insect shots or macro shots in general. Light comming from right on a subject makes for a "flat" image. And does not show detail. It's incredible how my new flash equpiment works with my Cannon 10D to produce exciteing new possibilities for this summer. I have a whole new series of insect and spider shots to shoot with directed lighting. Most of my past images were not done with very much light direction. The few that did were really awesome. Sometimes things like the top of this sync works natually to throw light on the subject. This spider survived most of the winter in my house. Others clearly can survive and thrive if the sun comes out any time of year. They also are keenly aware of it, as just a few days change from freezing cold to spring temperatures in early Janurary can bring them out for a short time.

This species I hardly ever see during the winter, but this was one of the first shots I took useing directed light. It's dated 2009 but it was actually taken in mid 2006. At that time I had no professional camera gear. I only had a Kodak DX7630. It was good on the mega pixcels, but for macro I had to build everything. Lenses, and a flash director-reflector which I used to capture this shot. Showing how clear details come up when you have the lighting right. I try to shoot from angles that will brightly show either one or two sides or completely bathe the subject in light from all directions if possible with two flash units.

LET IT SNOW! The Storm of the decade!

Alina and I walking in of a winter wonderland. Here we did our shopping before the snow got really heavy. In less then a week, it went from temps in the 50s and looking like we are having no winter, to the hardest winter and deep freeze in years.


The first thing I do when there is snow is go out and take night shots, and long exposures. This tree was a 20sec exposure at iso100 or so. Focusing can be difficult if your using a digital SLR. My best advice to set your focus quick and easy is to use a pocket laser pointer. The red dot will give the camera a point. Make sure one of your AF area points is focused on the dot and you should be able to focus in on things at a distance in darkness where otherwise use auto focus would be impossible and manual focus just as impossible because it's too dark. Another way is to use a flash but often these light pulses are not bright enough to focus the camera. Expensive flash units have IR or light focus systems built into them. If they do work for you, just get the right range and then switch your lens over to Manual focus. Then the camera will stay focused until you put it back on so you can take several shots and find the best exposure time. Be sure and turn off the flash unit or close your pop up flash before you take the shot if you want it to be a true night exposure. I find a small pocket laser-pointer an easy system to focus my SLRs and DSLRs in the dark. Some cameras have IR focusing systems that make it even more easy, especially compact cameras.

Every nightshot needs good white ballence. Sometimes however, I just let the camera select for me or set it for daylight. This produces off colors but also can show interesting effects and add color and feel to pictures. White ballence setting here should have been twards the 60hz range. The "light blub" setting. Your digital camera will show. If you shoot film, you won't have much choice in the matter unless you go to speical mesures. So this winter Cathedreal I just captured and left exactly how I shot it. However, since it was shot in RAW, like all images shot in RAW, white ballence is not fixed. You can adjust it with a simple mouse movement into the right colors. Sometimes however, effects like this can be cool so I don't change them. It's this color because of the color of the light it is picking up on. Street and home lights.
Ice cycles get longer and hard enough to become dangerous! These are more then 3ft long.
This is how it started..
Like the calm before the storm, I went out because it was nearly 60F in Decmeber! I took quite a few shots one day. Not knowing yet that the biggest winter storm in over five years here and 40 years in Oregon was about to hit!

Grass was growing and dew formed making for springtime shots. Just a week after this picture was taken, this grass was barried in snow and it was about 15F.

Moss before the snow was green as spring.

A new flash lets me take better macro shots. This female Sheetweb spider made it inside before the cold weather. Prolonged below freezeing weather kills spiders and insects. If there are a number of hot winters, many species survive through the winter well.

This was the most amazing, taken just before the snow storm, this maple bug feeds on a blade of grass. You can tell from it's long mouthparts extending. Maple bugs overwinter communally. They often live under houses but pose no threat to homes.

Then the snow came.


A shot from one of my favorate lookout points as the storm started with severe cold and a light dusting of snow in low areas. Your looking at Washington state and the town of Dallsport.

Ice cicles formed in the coldest of times. These were probubly created by my dryer. Melting in only one area when it was very cold all day and night.

Then the snow came. This was a few days in, we got a total of about 2 and a half feet solid. That is not as much as we got in 2004, but very close. The news in Portland where they got over a foot (uncommon there) said this was the largest storm since the 1960s. Most notably the coldest. My digital thermomiter got as low as 6 degrees.

BLIZZARD DAY!


Snow piles over 6ft high in parking lots.

I hiked over a mile in the snow just to capture these shots of MillCreek. In The Dalles, 2 feet of snow seems to come every few years. However, this cold made for some awesome creek shots and the coldest photo-walk I've ever done. I protected my digital SLR with a special camera sack that fits over the entire camera. You can operate the controls in rain, snow, cold and all. It works well but like everything in photography costs too much!


Another shot, be sure and click on this image to see a large image. Use your <-- explorer's back arrow to return to my site. Over a foot accumulated in less then a couple of days on this picknick bench. People cleaned them off, but it kept pileing up. When I got here after my long hike, I bought a cup of coffiee and sat at the bench outside. Even though it was only about 12 degrees, I was hot, and too covered in snow to stay inside the store so I waited for my cab out here.

And here we have a nightshot, one of nearly 100 shots I took at night. These exposures range from 5 to 30 sec. The art of taking nightshots has been awesome this year and is really fun when there is snow. I need to go through allot more of my pictures to find more of the better ones. One peace of advice I have to give to photographers.. don't take too many pictures but take enough. Finding that ballence is difficult in the digital age.
Another area of millcreek. The snow and nice makes this look like somewhere up in the mountains. It was a fun hike. I had to use garbage bags to keep my feet warm and dry. Took a cab home, it was a long hike! With my dissability (chorinc pancreititus) I was also in allot of pain to take these pictures. I just did it because I love it. And am proud of the shots I got because I decided to make this difficult and dangerous hike. I stated in constant contact with Alina (My feioncee) with a 2 way very long range VHF radio cliped on my backpack.

Some ice cycles were incredible but I am a bit afraid of showing them because in doing so I put other people's houses on the internet. As a photographer, I should not do that. So I will have to go through my pics and see if I can find some more that are generic enough to post once cropped.
More millcreek views.
As I left, this was the view looking back. Public and private people were getting arround every way possible. This guy was right in thinking his tracktor was a better idea then his car!

This kind of ice can be dangerous when it thaws out. Not just to hit people, but ice cycles can break windows.


Another shot from one of my favorate lookout points here. In walking distance, I was able to shoot the Washinton state view so often shown in my website. Now with well over a foot of snow on the ground this was a cold but beautiful night. This was a nighttime exposure set for about 20sec. I finally got the colors right when I set my white ballence for 60Hz or so. Your going to want to manually set your white ballence when doing nightshots.



A nearby house really was in the Christmas sprit. Against this dark background, it can be seen how hard it was snowing. It snowed like this, and harder, for days.


Dark as night but yet brighter then day. Nighttime exposures are fun and one of my favorates. You never really know how it will turn out.
Taken completely late at night, things get bright the longer your exposure. The camera has to be absolutly still. I have many other shots, some showing litghts from passing cars I plan to add to this article. I need to process more pics for that.
It was so cold that this long exposure captured my breath. I had to learn how to hold it for a while when taking long exposures. It was very bright however, so most of them did not have to be very long in this environment.
The key to captureing snowflakes in a picture is to use your flash unless your background is sufficiantly dark to show snow. Set your flash to a low setting and see snowflakes!