Bee Vision and Ultra Violet Photography

Today, I experimented with ultra violet light and learned about how bees see differently than humans.  When humans see, the objects we're looking at absorb and reflect different colors of light from our rainbow.  What we see is the reflected color.  Our vision is limited to seeing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light.  When we see white, it's all the colors being reflected by the object.  When we see black, all the colors are being absorbed.

There are types of light that go beyond what we can see with our eyes as humans.  One is called ultraviolet light and it is just past violet on the light spectrum.  Bees can see ultraviolet light.  Here's an interesting video about how bees see:

I decided to try to photograph what a bee might see.  I followed the instructions from the Instructables website on how to build your own UV light filter for a digital camera.  You take a blacklight bulb and break it.  Tape a piece of the blacklight glass it to a bottlecap or ring that fits around the camera lens.  I used the lid to a sea salt grinder and black duct tape.  Here are the instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Photography-in-the-Ultraviolet-spectrum/

Here are some of the results of my photography in the community garden across the street from my house.  I found that the filter on the camera makes it necessary for a very long exposure.  To help solve that issue, I used a tripod, but the wind was blowing the plants and the sun wasn't that bright, so it hard to take the UV photos.  I'll try it again on a day when the conditions are better. If you want a closer view of the photos, just click on them to make them bigger.

Ratha Yatra, Chariot Festival, in Manipur, India

Here is a new video I made to share a special festival called Ratha Yatra that took place in my dad's hometown of Manipur.  We celebrated it when I was there in June.  It was the first time I experienced the holiday and my dad hadn't been in Manipur to celebrate it for more than 30 years.

4th Grade Biography Report - Pele

In 4th grade, my teacher assigned a biography report.  We could choose anyone we wanted to do, and I chose Pele.  I wrote a report and made a poster.  On my poster, I used color pencil, watercolor and sharpies.  In the middle is Pele's portrait wearing his Brazil national team jersey.  In the background are the different teams he played on and other facts about him.  

This is the report I wrote:  

Pele was the greatest soccer player the world has ever seen.  He is from Brazil and he is known for his speed, balance and his hard, accurate shots with both feet.  He is known around the world and he uses his fame for good causes.  I chose to do my report on Pele because I like soccer and I admire him.

Pele was born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes, a small town in Brazil.  His real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento.  Nobody knows how he got the name Pele, but it started when he was a kid playing soccer.  When he was young, he was poor.  He did not have money for shoes, so he played soccer barefoot.  His neighborhood team was nicknamed, "The Shoeless Ones." 

At age 17, he was the youngest player in World Cup history.  That year, Brazil won the World Cup.  They also won in 1962 and 1970 with Pele leading the team. 

In 1969, Pele scored his 1000th goal.  In the same year, he actually stopped a war!  He went to the Congo, a country in Africa, to play a tournament.  There was a civil war going on and the sides called a truce to see Pele play.  Unfortunately, the war continued after Pele left. 

In 1975, Pele signed a contract with the New York Cosmos for seven million dollars, making him the highest paid athlete in the world at that time.  He said that he did not do it for the money, he wanted to make soccer popular in the USA.  His last game was in 1977.  In his 21 year career, he played 1,363 matches, and scored 1,281 goals. 

After retirement, he used his fame for good reasons.  He became a UNICEF ambassador, helping children around the world.  In 1995, he became Minister of Sports in Brazil.  In 1998, the Pele Law was passed in Brazil, protecting the rights of professional athletes.  He received an International Peace Award in 1980.  In 2000, he was named FIFA Player of the Century. 

I admire Pele because he was an amazing soccer player.  He is also a good man with a good heart.  Pele changed the world by making soccer popular where it was not before.  He is a good role model for other athletes because he uses his fame for good causes.  He is a good role model for kids by being a good sport and playing his best. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Carbon

Carbon is naturally obtained from coal deposits, but is usually process for commercial use.  Two of the many allotropes (different forms) of carbon are graphite (used in pencils) and diamonds (used for fashion objects).  60-70 carbon atoms linked together forms a Buckminsterfullerene, or a "Buckyball.   Its structure looks like a soccer ball, it's made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, with a carbon atom at each point.  It's named after Buckminster Fuller because its structure looks like his famous geodesic domes. 

My idea for this element was to draw a buckyball, surrounded by the letter C, the abbreviation for Carbon.  The atomic number is surrounded by a diamond, an allotrope of carbon.  I used a graphite pencil to create the artwork, an allotrope of carbon. 

Jean Paul Gaultier Paper Doll

A few weeks ago, I went to the Friday Nights at the deYoung and I saw the exhibit, "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk."  I thought the exhibit was great, with alot of interesting fashions.  Many looked like they would take a thousand years to make - some of the dresses were made of seed beads in impossible designs.  One of the dresses I really liked looked like the statue of liberty made out of metal.  There were outfits that looked like muscles and skeletons, mermaids and indian chiefs, cheetahs and Chinese warriors.  


Back upstairs, there was the Friday Night art table where kids and adults can make art together.  That day, you could make your own paper doll inspired by Gaultier.  For mine, I made a corset out of thin strips of foam with cloth on top.  Then I used silk flower petals to make a dress and leather strips to make boots.  Then I made a turban out of fine netting.  I'm really proud of it because it looks like something Gaultier might make. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Boron

The element Boron is used in pyrotechnics and flares, it is used to create a green color.  Boron is strong enough to use as a radiation shield in nuclear reactors.  Boron has commercial compounds: one is sodium borate, or borax, which is used in laundry detergent.  It is also a key ingredient in ooblek (see my post about flubbericious gak). 

At first, I wanted to make green fireworks on a white background and then paint the card with a solution of borax and water to make  borax crystals on the surface.   But the Borax did not stick on the paper , so I made the same design on black paper with a silver sharpie and metallic colored pencils. 

National Missing Children's Day Poster Contest

Last school year, my 5th grade teacher told me about National Missing Children's Day and encouraged me to make this poster for their poster contest.  I thought of the idea that there is a storm that represents missing children.  I put question marks in the storm to show that the kids' future is unknown.  On the right, there is a home that is surrounded by sunshine.  The sunbeams are exclamation points.  They show the happiness of coming home.  In the middle, the kids are walking down the path, leading them out of the storm to home.  I want my poster to raise awareness and give hope to families with missing children.

I used watercolor paper with sharpies and liquid watercolor.  Here is a video showing how I made it:

I was awarded "Finalist" for the state of California! 

 

If you want more information on National Missing Children's Day, go to:  www.missingkids.com