Bricks and toylet paper -- the yard next door! :)

OUCH! I think anyone who owns a car dreads this. I first want to start of by saying -- I DID NOT DO THIS -- and I do NOT know who did. I don't even know who owns the car. I asked the many small kids in the area who were walking around if they knew what happened but they were very tight lipped about it. I spotted this relatively new car totally TP'ed from my apartment yesterday. You don't see this everyday so I had to go take some shots before the cops showed up or it got cleaned up. I was loosing daylight quickly so I had to go back to my apartment to get batteries for my flash.

For kids of all ages out there--DON'T TRY THIS--you might end up in jail because this is vandalism. Joke or not it could be very dangerous.

Less then 15min later I came back with fresh batteries in my flash and noticed that there was even more toilet paper on the car! Someone had not only come along and done this while it was still light outside, they did it while I was walking back to get batteries! I could have caught them in the act on video had I known! As for the post-it notes, I looked carefully without touching the car. No message was written on the post-it notes. And incredibly, the cops never showed up as far as I know. The car was cleaned up by a couple hours later.

It was not just TP! Although no serious damage seemed done, there were rocks, grass and post-it notes all over the car. Someone obviously wanted to tell someone something but did not write it on the notes! Either that or it was a practical joke. Somehow, I think the message theory is more likely. What amazes me is that they were still doing this when I was down there and I did not even know it.

This was the scene when I first got there without my flash batteries. Most of it had been done. I was surprised to see that the car had not been scratched, no tires damaged and no obvious serious stuff luckily for the owner--whoever they are.

In the end my presence here with my semi-large sorta professional camera and flash became a bit too noticeable and I got out of there. Someone clearly came back and did more damage in the less then 15min it took me to get back down and take the flash photos!

TRACTOR PULL
CLICK on picture to see details-- use back arrow (<--) to return

After a nearby house burned down I thought it was a good idea that they tear down the houses next door. People were going in them and vandalizing them as well as using them to abuse drugs. But when they did, this excavator had an accident and I happened to catch it in one shot. I did a burst of pictures showing the situation. (below) The 60 year old home had a chimney which came down right on the windshield of the excavator! Here you can see the moment of impact almost exactly as well as the tempered glass shattering.

"Falling - - -"
The moment before the crash as gravity propelled the heavy brick chimney towards the windshield of the excavator. I was too shocked to do anything but keep shooting. I did not get this on video. However I took a very fast burst which captured each step of the fall. Don't worry, the guy driving this tractor was not hurt.

"Houses Revenge"
I have several other frames almost showing a movie of this crash but this is where it started. He must have moved something wrong and there was no time at all to move out of the way.

"Just another day on the job"
I was careful not to show his face here. You can clearly see the broken safety glass as well as a brick inside the cab! What a mess! What amazed me was not only was he not hurt, he simply cleaned out the mess quickly and got right back to work as if nothing had happened. This guy really is a hard worker and dedicated to the job!

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