Amami Superman Photography

So my daughter Jade comes in to show me her science test and how she got 100% on it. I was completely happy for her. I decided to take a photo and took this test shot. It wasn't until after I uploaded the photos to my computer that I noticed her shirt. I then asked my wife why she got her that shirt when she is clearly not a blonde? Her reply was, "She doesn't have to be a blonde to wear it." It dawned on me that maybe my wife is the Japanese equivalent of a blonde... I joke, I joke, I keed I keed!

OK, I know I haven't been posting in quite some time now. Truth of the matter is, between work and the rainy season, I haven't been taking hardly any photos at all. I feel like I'm starving. I can't tell you how many times a day I see something and I want to take a photo of it but don't because I'm in the middle of working or I'm out and about and I don't have my camera because it's pouring rain. Yes, Amami is still in the rainy season. Okinawa finished with the rainy season well over a week ago. What's the deal?! I usually take my bike to work and for fear of getting caught in a down pour, I leave my camera at home; even if it's a sunny day (Amami's weather changes so quickly). Today even, it was sunny with some clouds this morning and I was all, "Ah, good day to ride my bike to work." FAT CHANCE! I got about 10 minutes out of the city and it was raining cats and dogs. By the time I made it out to Uken where I teach, the wind had picked up and the rain felt as if I was driving behind a dump truck on a gravel road. Talk about your stinging rain.

On an up-note, I bought a brand spanking new 27" iMac with the 2.88GHz Quad Core i7, Radeon HD 4850 graphics card and 8GB (4GB x 2) of RAM. It also came with a 1TB hard drive.

One of the many cool features this computer has is a SD slot for my camera's memory card. It works fantastic compared to my old card reader. My old card reader always had problems mounting but this one mounts every time. It's great.

I also like playing games on my computer. Before, one of the downsides to owning a Mac is, they didn't have very many games made, or ported, for the Mac platform. Recently a few companies have started porting games to the Mac platform. One of which I highly recommend, if you're a gamer, is Steam. I've bought the game Half Life 2 along with its Episode 1 and 2 and I really enjoy it. I'm more of a FPS (First Person Shooter), fan myself. I do, however, play other games like World of Warcraft, but games like that take a bit of commitment and I haven't had the time to play as much as I like due to work constraints. As you see in the above photo, I've also bought the game Bioshock. I've had the game a few weeks now, but I haven't had the time to even open it up and try it out. Bioshock was recently ported to Mac by the company Feral Interactive.

Schools here in Japan will be starting their summer vacation this month and I'm so looking forward to some time off. I'm making a plan for this summer and what I want to do. I'm planning a few family outings as well as events for my school such as barbecues and camping, but I'm also thinking about my own relax time. I've kind of made a groove for myself and it's all about work right now. I'm afraid if I too much relax time, I might get lazy and not fall back into my groove after summer vacation. I don't know, we'll see. I suppose if I keep busy during summer vacation as much as I feel I can without burning out (I feel I'm going to burn out soon the way I'm going), I should be OK. I just need to be strict with myself and not sleep in and lounge about everyday.

This was one of the many photos I took last March when we went out to Tomori Beach to build sand castles. The water was still on the cold side but it was quite refreshing.

These photos were taken the same night as my previous post. I slowed the shutter to 1/2 sec and just stuck the camera out the window of the car as I was driving. The first photo has been flipped upside down and cropped just a bit. The second photo was also cropped just a bit. I thought they were kind of funky looking so I thought I would share them with you. What I found kind of weird about the second photo is the crosswalk stripes. There was only two sets but in the photo with the first set coming in intervals of three. I would have expected them to be just a blur. Maybe there was some type of strobe effect nearby that lit them up this way.

I had to work late last night out in rural part of the island. It was well into the evening when I finished work and as I was driving home, I came across the amazing sight.

The name of this snake is mamushi. Mamushi are similar to habu in the fact that they are poisonous with the same type of venom (only weaker), but the similarities stop there. This snake is short when compared to other snakes. I would say on average they grow to be about 30 to 50 centimeters long. The one doing the eating is about 40 centimeters long. I've heard of snakes here in Amami eating other kinds of snakes, but I've never seen nor heard of a snake eating its own kind. Mamushi are pretty timid snakes and aren't very aggressive. You could step right up next to one almost touching it and it would do nothing. On the other hand, if you stepped on it, you would be in a world of hurt.

I've been trying to take photos of habu but haven't had very good luck taking nice ones. Last night I decided if I came across one, I would try to use my built in flash. I didn't find one, but I did take these photos using it. I thought they turned out pretty well for my first time and I think I'll try to use it again next time I'm out snake hunting. :P I'm also going to try and take photos of the other kinds of snakes they have here on the island and also give a rundown on the different things I use to catch them.

Here is another photo of a flower taken near my house. I haven't had the time to get out and do some shooting so I've been going through older photos. Hopefully I'll be able to make some time this weekend to get out and do something.

This is one of the insects they have here on the island. Every once in a while when your out in the woods or doing something outside around your house, you'll flip something over and find one of these creatures. At first glance you will notice the pincers and the scorpion like body and think it is a scorpion when in fact it is not and isn't even venomous.

The whip scorpion is in fact a spider apart of the arachnid family. Although it only walks on 6 legs, the front two legs have been modified to act like antennae. As I said, it also has pincers which makes it look so much like a scorpion. The actual Japanese name, sasori modoki, means mock scorpion. Sasori is scorpion and modoki means mock or impersonate. I've heard this called one other name for good reason, a puheri mushi. Short and simple, a farting bug. When disturbed, it will secrete/spray a liquid that has a tart, sour smell sort of like vinegar. It's an unmistakable odor if you do come across an agitated one.

This was a pretty bad photo. I took around 10 shots and this one turned out the best. I think my 55-200mm lens' autofocus maybe a bit off. I've been noticing this more and more. One example is when I was taking photos of Jade skateboarding. I was using continual focus with dynamic area mode on one single person and I couldn't get an in focus shot. Looking further at the photos I took of the skateboarder, I noticed that the asphalt just before the skater was in focus. I'm thinking about sending it in for cleaning and calibration, if it doesn't cost too much.

So this is one of the more scarier looking bugs they have here in Amami, but is harmless. There's another one here that I've only seen twice in the 13 years living here that just gives me the heebie jeebies. If I every come across 0ne again and I have my camera, I'll try to photograph it. But let me tell you, I'm a wussy when it comes to insects. They just creep me out too much.