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The arrow correctly indicates they they are indeed right next door to Beta, and thus the eponymous bridge.

In other news, the sidewalk looked particularly colorful and textured right here:

The sidewalk on the bridge, looking like some constantly evolving Jackson Pollack masterpiece.

ΦΣΠ RUSH PHI SIGMA PI! 1/30 BROTHERHOOD Ern Commons 8pm THX β

I fear this indicates the beginning of the no-rules painting Greek rush season, during which the bridge will be painted at least once a day with inane messages having to do with some rush event.  At least they decided to keep the portion of the old paint on the right.

Also today I took a couple random shots — first, getting a picture of the golden bike mentioned here:

Gold bike.

And also a shot of the ivy growing on Beta Bridge, which withstands much painterly abuse:

Ivy growing on the bridge, covered in paint.

Yes, it was warm enough to be painting without a shirt on (guy on the left).  What kind of January is this, anyway?

Their finished product was revealed later:

UNIVERSITY GUIDES TELL IT YOUR WAY TRY OUT UVAGUIDES.ORG INFO SESH: Sun 1/29 5PM MIN 125 MON 1/30 6PM MIN 125 Tue 1/31 7 PM GIL 130 WED 2/1 6PM CLK 107

IRC HOXTON ROX MY INT'L SOX !!!!!!! 111one(love) JJJ<---sox LEWIS IS BETTER, AT BEING WORSE MUNFORD =/ BEST!! WHAT UP IRC IRC IRC IRC IRC IRC IRC IRC

The west side has remained largely untouched since the Pokemon arrived.  I assume people would feel bad covering up something that obviously took a lot of work.  We all know it can’t and won’t last forever, but only a few markings on it so far:

kardashians 5k

And finally, these markings on the southwest pillar:

2012 ΣK babies ΣK 2012 ba Rock of Love

THX BETA PEDAL DAMNIT JOIN CYCLING V MONROE 111 7:30 7:30 JOIN CYCLING MONROE ROOM 111 7:30 JOIN CYCLING MONRE 111 @ 7:30 LOVE Hootie HOR

I didn’t notice until after I looked at this image, but it looks like they painted a golden bike under yesterday’s rabbit so it could ride.  Should have gotten a close-up of that.  Instead I got a shot of the 3pm Amtrak arrival riding in under Beta Bridge.  Does this make me a trainspotter?

iiiHAPPY BIRTHDAY HOOLIA!!!

Not sure what this is (a person petting a rabbit?) but I like it:

Also, it looks like “someone” recently put up a mediocre stencil on the northwest column:

Beta Bridge Almost Daily bit.ly/bbad_uva

That would only be the second time there has been an advertisement for this site on Beta Bridge.  No noticeable increase in traffic yet.

"Oh bother! They're back..." (brb... tmrw warmer)

I don’t blame them for getting frozen out, it was only 18F when I came by, so the overnight low must have been pretty frigid.  Here was the completed version in late afternoon:

AMY ELIZABETH VALERIE Thanks β "Oh bother! They're back..." Happy New Semester! -Winnie the Pooh

I believe that is a Pikachu, a Squirtle, and a Wigglypuff amongst some other Pokemon there, Pokeballs not to go unmentioned.    Apparently they are here to wish students a happy new semester.  I think this big’n might be my favorite:

I don't know what this thing's name is, but it's cool.

The east side of the bridge received a minor partial repaint of the recent proposal.  I assume this was done jokingly because not repainting the whole thing yourself lacks the impressiveness usually thought to be important for such an endeavor of chivalry.  Also the “Yes” box was unchecked and “Maybe” was checked instead:

Stacey, Will you Marry Me? ♥ She said: Yes No Maybe ✓

First let me say to any other photographers reading this — have you wanted to dabble in macro, but didn’t have nearly $900 to spend on a lens?  Me too.  Luckily there exist two pieces of hardware that inexpensively turn your normal lens into a macro lens.

One is a reversing ring, which lets you mount your lens backwards. (No, I am not being paid by Amazon to put links to their site on here… although maybe I should be… I just like buying things there.) Conveniently, most lenses have the property that when turned around they act to focus at very close range and thus magnify your subject.  For me, I have had luck with my cheap 50mm prime (at $100 that lens is a crazy good deal).  I can hand-hold macro shots with that one reversed, whereas my 18-55mm gives too much magnification to use hand-held.  My telephoto would just be out of the question.

The other magic piece of hardware is an extension tube, which is essentially a hollow tube that mounts the lens farther away from the sensor.  This also has the effect of magnifying the subject and, yep you guessed it, these two tricks work in concert with each other.

Here is a shot of the paint chunk sitting on my desk at closest focusing distance with my 55mm lens:

Closest focusing with 55mm lens.

I probably should have put a coin next to it for scale, but you can see the letters there.  The chunk is about half an inch long.

Here is the same face of it with the lens reversed, using a reversing ring (and a tripod for all subsequent shots):

55mm lens reversed.

Now, here is that same piece with the extension tube (lens mounted facing normally):

55mm lens on extension tube

Finally, here it is with the lens reversed and mounted on the extension tube:

55mm lens mounted in reverse on the extension tube.

That’s a pretty close-up macro with decent quality for less than $20!!  It gives an interesting view of the paint layers that is even hard to see with the naked eye.  Just think of all the buried birthday messages in there.  Given that the short side of my camera’s sensor is about half and inch, and that open face of paint layers is about 1/4″ long, this fits in the classic description of macro (which is that the object appears larger on the sensor than it is in real life).

For saving you $880 dollars, you are welcome (if you want to donate any of that money to me, I will be glad to take checks).  From this little test I recommend that:

• The reversing ring alone be used when you want to take kind of macro-ey hand-held shots.
• The extension tube alone be used when you want pretty strong macro, and to maintain the ability to focus with the lens (tripod required).
• Both combined should used when über macro is required, and you can focus by moving either the whole camera or the subject (tripod required).

To cap it off, here is a shot I liked from another side of the chunk:

Things look different down in macro-land!