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.

Gabe and Alina Beasley --our honeymoon trip to Portland

In a small ceremony on 4-4-2009 I married Alina, my girlfriend for over a year. She has had an incredibly positive influence on my life and this was the most incredible thing I have ever done. And I mean that. I've been all over the world, and done allot of things, but this is definitely the most amazing and moving. Alina and I wish to thank everyone involved, family and friends for the outpouring of support and love that is still overwhelming. Thank you.

Alina and I just after. Honestly, I was nervous having never been married before. It was also very moving since I've had a couple of times in my life where I thought I'd never see this day come. It was intense, and anyone that says getting married is not stressful or is easy no matter how small the wedding is.. must not have ever tried to get married! :)


The wedding ring on my finger is both a symbol of love and a badge of honor to me. Living through pancreititus and overcoming things in my life this moment is one I will treasure forever. We were married in a Hotel on the waterfront in Portland Oregon. It was really nice.


As you can see, this was just a 3min walk from our hotel. They said it would be raining but it was a bright sunny couple of days. I took 100s of pictures, but did not have nearly enough time to take as many as I wanted. There is SO much I want to do in Portland. Getting stuck in The Dalles has been difficult and we are going to try to get back as often as possible. Money makes this difficult but I have allot of pictures to take. Most of these pictures were taken with my Nikon D40 digital SLR. I bought a 55-200mm zoom lens for my Nikon, it will prove very useful when I eventually get a more powerful Nikon SLR. When that will be I don't know.. I'm thinking of playing the lottery because that's about the only way I can see upgrading right now! Of course I have other SLRs that are more powerful, but I find the D40 and Nikon to be really versatile and easy to use. If you were to ask my what kind of professional camera (SLR) to buy.. I would tell you to get a Nikon or a Canon. Right now I'm swinging towards Nikon but Canon has is a very good system too. Most of my gear and my other SLRs are Canon.


Here is a close-up on the geese on that log. Those two were there for almost two hours without moving much.


Don't ask me what these people where doing! They are not Chinese.. what's up with this!?


Sometimes pictures turn out that are really cool from chance shots. Take lots of pictures. I snapped this of someone holding a video camera down by waterfront park. My shutter speed was set just fast enough to capture a clear image in the foreground, but not the background. Usually motion causes this to be the other way around! I took this from a bus. It may have been because we were turning when I took the shot creating a strange optical illusion. Waterfront park is awesome, we'd love to go back down there and take pictures and even jump in the fountain.


Portland is a really clean and modern city to visit and live. The bad parts of down town have been cleaned up over the past 10 years or so.

However, you always have the street people. This guy had two shopping carts full of what looks like garbage. I myself once upon a time slept under a bridge in Portland. I know what it's like to live on the streets for a short time. It's not easy but it is possible and some people even chose to live that way. Portland has a large population of street people but most of them are not dangerous and humble. The funny thing is.. this guy got away with stealing two shopping carts from what looks like Safeway. I was once on the News back in 1999 or so for taking a shopping cart home to my apartment. I did not have a car and it was the only way to transport my groceries. They interview me right on the street. I was so mad later because they cut out the part where I told them I knew about the guy who comes by and picks up the carts where we leave them after we use them at our apartment building. When I moved into those apartments I was told it was ok and met a guy hired by Safeway to pickup the carts. Everybody knew they were not just going to end up in the river. But the news made me out to be a thief that did not care. Thankfully this is not the only time I've been on TV! :)


This area of Portland used to be a used tire dump. It now is really cleaned up and as you can see a really awesome place to walk down the waterfront. It is directly across from Omsi. A retired submarine is docked outside across the river.


Portland really was an awesome place.. we just did not have enough time. Our hotel had a pool and spy, and we had our honeymoon in the Residence inn Marriott Hotel. It was an incredible trip. I can't wait to get back to Portland for more pictures.


On the way home I shot a few pics in the gourge. Very high powered lines run from hydro-electric power plants contrast a washington state vista.


The gourge is an awesome place to take pictures. There was still some snow up there when we got back but not anymore! It got up to nearly 85 the day after.

I caught this shot from the road. Taking shots from a moving vehicle is something that takes allot of learning! Make sure your shutter speed is high so there is no blur and sometimes you get a lucky shot.


A train goes down through the Gourge.



We came home to an incredible surprise. Flowers were blooming for only about a week on a bush in my back yard and they attracted 1000s of honey bees and two humming birds. I got a number of shots that were very lucky. This was shot with a 200mm power lens and cropped. This bird is literally smaller then my thumb here.

It is rare to catch a hummer not in flight, and even more rare to catch one in a good lighting situation. They don't stay put for long, and they zoom arround so fast that getting a focus lock can be difficult even with the best of gear.

It moves so fast, the little head was watching me. It took me nearly 2 hours to get this shot. I had to squat completely still and then slowly raise myself up when it landed to get the shot.

At first I could only shoot it through the bush getting glimpses blurred by leaves.

I sure wish I could have had a more clear shot here, but I thought it was worth putting up anyway. Here the hummer is flying and drinking at the same time as they must do nearly all day long in order to keep up there very high metabolism.




A few rare moments I got to see when a humming bird ruffles it's feathers. Straining to shoot through the bush, I managed to capture a few shots of it cleaning itself and being relaxed. One false move.. and I would not see this humming bird for at least another half hour or so.




Even though this one is blurred as well, it is interesting. They move so fast that getting a focus lock is very hard let alone setting up a shot. I managed to snap just one that was in focus enough. In this shot the bird's wings are moving so fast that it looks like it has not wings at all!

And then it landed as shown in the other pictures giving me a near perfect view. This was an incredible shot I've been waiting to get for a long time.

This may be the other half of a mating pair here. I shot this one on the day before the one above. That was just a lucky shot after waiting for a long time on my knees for the right moment. I leaned up and out and snapped a burst of about five shots before it flew away showing an incredible iridescent green color. Usually, male birds have the more colorful feathers but I'm not sure.


The shot I was waiting for, they landed in the clear with good lighting only about three times over several hours of waiting for the right shot.

And what would my website be without BUGS. This is a true bug, one that is harmless but will leave a big stink if you mess with it. It was shot with my Canon 10D. A very versatile and robust digital SLR. It's an older camera, but it's features and abilities were way ahead of it's time and it's very well built. It also has an old-style flashgun hookup so I can shoot directed lighting shots without buying a very expensive macro flash unit. It came out about the same time as the Nikon D70 but had better features. A much higher resolution screen, and easy to use controls as well as a very informative LCD and in viewfinder setup. The 10D was eclipsed by the 20 and 30 and 40Ds. But you can still find this pro-class digital SLR in second hand camera stores today for a real bargain. It can shoot over 3Fps and it accepts many cannon lenses that are still being manufactured.

This was a great trip and I want to express my deepest thanks again to my mom, dad, aunt Karolyn and my family and friends for making our wedding possible.
-Alina and Gabe Beasley 4-28-2009