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• Modulus Ravi Hair @ TMD
( April 5 - April 30 then available @ ᴍᴏᴅᴜʟᴜs ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ)
• Gloom. - Yusuki Skin - Velour Eros - Moon - Browless @ Men Only
( April 20 - May 15 then available @ ɢʟᴏᴏᴍ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ)
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Tнαɴĸѕ тo мy ѕpoɴѕorѕ, pleαѕe cнecĸ oυт тнeιr ѕтoreѕ!
•ᴍᴏᴅᴜʟᴜs ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ | ᴍᴏᴅᴜʟᴜs ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴛᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ
•ɢʟᴏᴏᴍ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ | ɢʟᴏᴏᴍ ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴛᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ
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«Feαтυred ѕтore(ѕ) - Noт ѕpoɴѕorѕ»
Shirt • Cold Ash
Pants • Reinvent
Drink • Hive
Backdrop • Foxcity
Outfit - MMC - Milla Set, available at Beauty60 maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Good%20Girls/32/74/22 until Sept 15 then in Mainstore maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Envar/119/144/3402
Pose - Infinity Poses - Nexus, available here maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Casvian%20Caye/24/157/22
Nails - Tulssy Nail's Art - Lime, available at Unik Event Sept 7-28 maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/UniK/176/142/27
Hair - Stealthic - Allure
Taken at Dolce Amore Beach maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dolce%20Amore/108/117/27
1 “I love You, Lord, my strength.”
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my savior,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death encompassed me,
And the torrents of destruction terrified me.
5 The ropes of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
And the foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
And fire from His mouth was devouring;
Coals burned from it.
9 He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
And He sped on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,
Darkness of waters, thick clouds.
12 From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,
And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.
15 Then the channels of water appeared,
And the foundations of the world were exposed
By Your rebuke, Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He saved me from my strong enemy,
And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
But the Lord was my support.
19 He also brought me out into an open place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
20 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also blameless with Him,
And I kept myself from my wrongdoing.
24 Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
25 With the faithful You show Yourself faithful;
With the blameless You prove Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the crooked You show Yourself astute.
27 For You save an afflicted people,
But You humiliate haughty eyes.
28 For You light my lamp;
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
29 For by You I can run at a troop of warriors;
And by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, His way is blameless;
The word of the Lord is refined;
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God,
32 The God who encircles me with strength,
And makes my way blameless?
33 He makes my feet like deer’s feet,
And sets me up on my high places.
34 He trains my hands for battle,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your right hand upholds me;
And Your gentleness makes me great.
36 You enlarge my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
And I did not turn back until they were consumed.
38 I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise;
They fell under my feet.
39 For You have encircled me with strength for battle;
You have forced those who rose up against me to bow down under me.
40 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,
And I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save,
They cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them fine like the dust before the wind;
I emptied them out like the mud of the streets.
43 You have rescued me from the contentions of the people;
You have placed me as head of the nations;
A people whom I have not known serve me.
44 As soon as they hear, they obey me;
Foreigners pretend to obey me.
45 Foreigners lose heart,
And come trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 The God who executes vengeance for me,
And subdues peoples under me.
48 He rescues me from my enemies;
You indeed lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from a violent man.
49 Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, Lord,
And I will sing praises to Your name.
50 He gives great salvation to His king,
And shows faithfulness to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forever."
1955 Magirus-Deutz Mercur (GW-ÖL) at the Oldtimer Museum Rügen.
Until 1976 a regular fire truck (TLF 15), then converted into a oil removel truck. The equipment box were replaced with a bed to carry oil barriers and a dinghy. It served until 1993.
Whenever I see a sunset like this, I expect to hear a big voice coming from the sky to give me a really important message. I never get them unless the message is to photograph the moment.
Explored Aug 27, 2008 #2...then #15...then #20...then #1. Who knows where it goes from there!
This photo is one of many in my new book called Through Len's Lens.
This is available for purchase at Red Bubble.
I now own and operate www.EcuadorPhotoTours.com
Taxiing for departure.
Reregistered VP-BNN 27-Jun-03,
then N934DF 16-Jun-05,
exported back to Bermuda 30-Oct-06 as VP-BKI,
then reregistered M-PBKI 13-Dec-10,
then N504ST 23-Oct-15,
then N400JZ 27-Mar-19.
Usually when you hear fishermen talk about the one that got away..well you take it with a pinch of salt. However, if you hear a birder say there are about 40 ospreys in the Pitch Lake at La Brea, you better believe it. Birders hardly ever lie - after all their sightings depend on the old honour system. :)
Today I had the pleasure of seeing at first 15, then twenty with much more flying in. When we left there were about 35 ospreys hanging out in the pitch lake. Too dangerous for us humans to go closer as the soft pitch is likely to behave like quicksand. This guy decided to investigate what was happening on the other side of the lake... hope he was satisfied with what he saw!
Schweiz / Berner Oberland - Blüemlisalp
seen from Morgenberghorn
gesehen vom Morgenberghorn
The Blüemlisalp is a massif of the Bernese Alps, in the territory of the municipalities of Kandersteg and Reichenbach im Kandertal.
Its main peaks are:
Blüemlisalphorn (3,660 m)
Wyssi Frau (3,648 m)
Morgenhorn (3,620 m)
Oeschinenhorn (3,486 m)
The entire massif is contained within the canton of Bern, as it lies north of the main crest and water divide of the Bernese Alps. To the west, it is connected with the Doldenhorn group via the Fründenhorn; to the east, it is continued by the Gspaltenhorn. To the south, it is connected to the main crest by the Tschingel Pass.
Ascent is from the Blüemlisalphütte (2,840 m), over the glacier, past the Wildi Frau (3,274 m)
Geography
The Blüemlisalp forms a ridge of great height, cut away in precipices on the southeast side, surmounted by four principal peaks, in the following order, reckoning from east to west: Morgenhorn (3,620 m), Wyssi Frau (3,648 m), the Blüemlisalphorn (3,660 m) and the Oeschinenhorn (3,486 m). To the southwest of the last peak, and between it and the Doldenhorn, is a minor summit — the Fründenhorn (3,368 m). In front of the main ridge, as seen from the northwest, e. g. from the Dündenhorn, are seen three minor peaks which project as steep islets of rock from the great glacier-fields that cover that side of the mountain. These are the Wildi Frau (3,274 m), the Ufem Stock (3,222 m), and the Blümlisalp Rothhorn (3,297 m).
The two main feeders of the Blüemlisalp Glacier (German: Blüemlisalpgletscher) flow downwards through the openings between the three last-named summits, but a short branch from the ice-stream that descends between the Wildi Frau and the Ufem Stock turns to the north, and flows into the head of the Kiental.
First ascent
The highest peak was ascended in 1860 by Leslie Stephen, accompanied by R. Liveing and J.K. Stone, with Melchior Anderegg and Pierre Simond of Argentière as guides. Starting from the chalets of the Oeschinenalp at 2 a.m., they reached the ridge near the Dündengrat at 4.15. Then mounting over snowfields, and the glacier lying between the Wilde Frau and the Ufem Stock, they passed behind, or south, of the latter summit, and gained the depression between the Blüemlisalp Rothhorn and the highest peak at 6 a.m. They finally reached the top 2 hours laters, Stephen wrote:
"We reached the top at 8 a.m., and had a grand view down the cliffs to the Tschingel Glacier, as well as a very fine view over the Swiss plains, and a general panorama resembling that from the Altels, returning easily to Kandersteg by 2 p.m."
(Wikipedia)
Die Blüemlisalp, manchmal auch Blümlisalp geschrieben, ist ein stark vergletschertes Bergmassiv der Berner Alpen in der Schweiz.
Geographie
Der Bergstock trägt von West nach Ost mit
dem Oeschinenhorn (3486 m ü. M.)
dem Blüemlisalphorn (3660 m ü. M.)
der Wyssi Frau (»Weisse Frau«, 3648 m ü. M.)
dem Morgehorn (»Morgenhorn«, 3620 m ü. M.)
vier ausgeprägte Gipfel, deren Verbindungsgrat oft überschritten wird (ausgeprägte Wechten). Diesen Hauptgipfeln sind auf der Nordseite mit dem Blüemlisalp-Rothorn (3297 m), dem Stock (»Ufem Stock«, 3222 m) und der Wildi Frau (»Wilde Frau«, 3274 m) drei weitere Gipfel vorgelagert. Während die Nordseite durch Firnfelder dominiert wird, die von weither aus dem Schweizer Mittelland und bei klarer Sicht selbst von den höheren Gipfeln des Schwarzwaldes aus sichtbar sind, fällt die Südflanke in steilen Felswänden auf den rund 1000 m tiefer liegenden Kanderfirn ab.
Die Blüemlisalp liegt ganz auf Berner Boden und ist dem Hauptkamm der Berner Alpen, der weiter südlich über das Balmhorn zieht, nördlich vorgelagert. Weiter westlich hängt das Massiv über das Fründenhorn mit der Doldenhorngruppe zusammen. Im Osten folgt jenseits des Einschnitts der Gamchilücke das Gspaltenhorn im Gratverlauf.
Die grossen Firn- und Gletscherfelder der Blüemlisalp-Nordseite fliessen über den Blüemlisalpgletscher ab, der über den Oeschinensee in die Kander entwässert. Im Südosten des Berges liegt der Kanderfirn, aus dessen Alpetligletscher genannter Zunge die Kander im oberen Gasterental entspringt. Im Nordosten befindet sich der Gamchigletscher, dessen Wasser via Gamchibach, Gornerewasser und Chiene (Kiental) ebenfalls in die Kander fliesst.
Alpinistisches
Erstbesteigung: Der Gipfel des Blüemlisalphorns wurde am 27. August 1860 durch Melchior Anderegg (Führer), Robert Liveing, Fritz Ogi (Führer), P. Simond (Führer), Leslie Stephen und J. K. Stone erstmals betreten.
Der heutige Normalanstieg führt von der Blüemlisalphütte (2834 m) des Schweizer Alpen-Clubs (SAC) zunächst in südlicher Richtung über den östlichen Arm des Blüemlisalpgletschers gegen die Nordhänge von Morgenhorn und Weisser Frau. Zwischen Stock und Weisser Frau wendet man sich nach Südwesten und steigt etwas in die Firnmulde unterhalb der Blüemlisalphorn-Nordwand ab. Jenseits der Mulde wird der Rothornsattel in einem steileren Eisanstieg erreicht. Vom Sattel steigt man den anfangs felsigen und nicht leichten Nord-West-Grat hinan (abwärts geschichtete Platten, oft bei Vereisung heikel, Sicherungsstangen vorhanden). Im oberen Teil folgt man dem hier schneebedeckten Grat bis zum Gipfel (Gipfelwechte nicht betreten!). Ca. 5 Stunden von der Blüemlisalphütte. Der Weiterweg über die Weisse Frau zum Morgenhorn (Blüemlisalp-Überschreitung zurück zur Blüemlisalphütte) stellt nochmals deutlich höhere Anforderungen und ist nur versierten Alpinisten anzuraten.
In der 450 m hohen eisgepanzerten Blüemlisalphorn-Nordwand wechseln sich bis zu 70° steile Passagen mit flacheren Wegstücken ab. Die Wand weist eine mittlere Steilheit von etwa 45° auf. Die Schwierigkeiten hängen stark von den Eisverhältnissen ab. Die Blüemlisalphorn-Nordwand wurde am 1. Juli 1924 von Willy Richardet, Walter Amstutz und Hermann Salvisberg erstmals durchstiegen.
Die Anstiege von der Südseite führen durch eher brüchigen Fels und sind daher von untergeordneter alpinistischer Bedeutung.
Von Kandersteg im Kandertal führt eine Höhenwanderung am Oeschinensee vorbei zum Pass Hohtürli, und weiter über die Sefinenfurgge ins Sefinental. Dabei passiert man die Zunge des Blüemlisalpgletschers und den wilden Gamchikessel. Knapp über der Passhöhe von Hohtürli bietet sich die Blüemlisalphütte als hochalpiner Stützpunkt an. Die Hütte kann auch aus dem nördlich gelegenen Kiental erreicht werden.
Sage
An den Namen «Blüemlisalp» erinnert in mehreren Varianten eine Sage, in der menschlicher Hochmut schlimme Folgen hat:
Früher soll die Blüemlisalp eine der besten und ertragreichsten Alpen weit und breit gewesen sein und der Senn, der sie bewirtschaftete, wurde von Jahr zu Jahr reicher und reicher. Eines Tages holte er sich eine junge, hochmütige Magd ins Haus. Damit ihre Füsse nicht schmutzig wurden, baute der Senn ihr aus Käselaiben einen Weg ums Haus, füllte die Fugen mit Butter und wusch jeden Morgen mit frischer Milch den Dreck von den Stufen. Die Mutter des Sennen hörte von diesem Tun und stieg auf die Alp, um ihren Sohn von seinem Tun abzubringen. Müde und durstig erreichte sie die Hütte. Aber der Bursche lachte die Mutter nur aus, und auf Geheiss seiner Geliebten reichte er ihr eine Schale mit verdorbener Milch. Empört erhob sich die Mutter und sprach einen Fluch aus: "Gott strafe euch, ihr Frevler! Der Berg soll euch mit Eis bedecken und du und deine Kathrin und deine Herde sollen für immer darunter begraben werden!" Dann nahm sie ihren Stab und stieg ins Tal zurück. Kaum hatte sie die Alp verlassen, türmten sich schwarze Wolken um den Berg und ein dumpfes Grollen war zu hören. Mächtige Fels- und Eisbrocken stürzten von den Gipfeln hinunter auf die Alp und bedeckten Mensch und Tier. Von nun an blieb die Blüemlisalp weiss und kalt, und noch heute soll man in klaren Nächten die Schreie des sündigen Sohnes und das panische Brüllen der Kühe hören.
Vermischtes
In seiner Kurzgeschichte Winterkrieg in Tibet beschreibt Friedrich Dürrenmatt die Blüemlisalp als grossen Bunker, wo die Schweizer Abgeordneten ungestört ihre Tätigkeit fortsetzen können, während vor der Tür Weltkrieg herrscht.
Die Blüemlisalp wird im Hit Alperose von Polo Hofer besungen.
Nach der Blüemlisalp sind der Schaufelraddampfer Blümlisalp auf dem Thunersee und die Thuner Sektion des Schweizer Alpen-Clubs SAC benannt.
Seit 2004 findet der Blüemlisalp-Lauf statt, ein 10-Meilen-Berglauf mit 720 m Höhendifferenz.
(Wikipedia)
Wow! So, I got ANOTHER Selfie Snaps Sasha for a Secret Santa I was in. Then, I got HMNI Cameron as an early Christmas present. Then got VEE (AAAAHHHH!!!), the 5-pack, and all of Metallic Madness (except Raya) on Christmas plus 3/5 of the fashion packs and 5/6 of the shoefies. Plus Selfie Stick Jade. Then, I received Study Abroad Jade from my boyfriend (different guy then from my birthday, long story). We went out to eat and then stopped at Walmart and picked up the Photobooth and the Study Abroad case which went down to $15. Then we decided to head over to TRU and price match Study Abroad Sasha, Fierce Fitness Cloe and Jade, Big Cloe, the last Shoefie pack I needed, and MM Raya. It's been a good few days but now I'm almost drained of money again. Worth it? I still have fourteen dolls to go to complete this season.
The Lovebird siblings recently born in our Family...The puppies of Blu & Luce!
Photographed in the garden with my reflex Canon EOS 250D that always gives me great satisfaction, especially for the true colours.
Shot few days ago, at the age of 40 days around when they just had completed the first moulting but could not fly yet.
We are carrying on the flying lessons and just yesterday they begun with some short timid flights...soon they will become acrobats and quit the baby food to focus on seeds and lots of fruits and vegetables...
Ref.PAPPAGALLI 2022\Pappagalli up-dates\in the yard 015 ok def VM
©WhiteAngel Photography. All rights reserved.
(Entered in the #GREEN topic on Flickr Social ), then selected & manually explored for this TakeOver Green Day on Oct. 27 2022 with the absolute hit list n. 15.
Then selected as cover image of the "Global card" appearing in the login Flickr home worldover for many weeks and as cover of the new initiative "Weekly Snapshot" from October 28. My best thanks to Flickr for having chosen my photo but also to the 1,8 millions people who liked it and contributed to diffuse it virally !
⭐ EXPLORED ⭐ 27.10.2022: www.flickr.com/photos/white-angel/52116287291/in/explore-... Selected for the "Green" TakeOver Day.
Selected as cover of the editorial "Weekly Snapshot with Flickr Social" in the Flickr Blog, Oct. 28 2022
blog.flickr.net/2022/10/28/weekly-snapshot-with-flickr-so...
On Fluidr: www.fluidr.com/explore/interesting/2022/10/27 # 15
(1 in a multiple picture album)
Do not miss Kolob Canyon if you go to Zion National Park. It is away from the main part of the park where most of the folks go. You will need to drive back to I-15, then north a bit to find it. But it will be well worth your while.
Visiting on a round trip from Warroad International Memorial MN.
Reregistered N500JS 4-Dec-15,
then N783HL 28-Jul-21,
then N90AS 29-Jan-24.
On July 31, 1956, we boarded the Grace Line's SS "Santa Rosa" at La Guaira, the port that serves the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
It was my first trip abroad. Naturally, I don't remember a thing about it, so I am glad to have found these slides. Unfortunately, they didn't age well and developed a red cast. It took considerable effort to make them look this good using Photo Shop. Actually, considering they were taken almost 70 years ago, it's fitting that they should have a markedly vintage look.
We disembarked in New York on August 8 after meandering across the Caribbean, calling at ports such as Curaçao in the Netherland Antilles and the colonial city of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia.
The twin towers and dome in the background on the left belong to the Cathedral of San Pedro Claver in Cartagena. Here is a link to photos I took there when Frank and I visited in 2014: www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=40595948%40N00&sort=da...
From left to right are my father (47), my nanny and I, my sister (12) and brother (15), then in the forth form at the Choate School and looking every bit the suave preppie.
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The Cathedral of San Pedro Claver was first built in 1575, destroyed by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, and rebuilt in 1602.
It was eventually named for a Spanish-born Jesuit priest, Pedro Claver, who arrived in Cartagena in 1610. Cartagena was a hub of the slave trade, with over 10,000 slaves arriving in the city each year, most arriving from West Africa.
Father Claver was not in the city long before he began dedicating himself to ministering the slaves.
During the 40 years he served in Cartagena, he personally baptized over 300,000 slaves and worked to ensure that they were treated humanely. He often would meet the slave ships and provide food, medicine, and care for all those who were ill or malnourished.
The scope of Father Claver's ministry was not known until after his death. He was canonized in 1888 and was the patron saint of slaves. Many black descendants of slaves make the pilgrimage to Cartagena to honor Saint Pedro Claver.
Those visiting the inside of the cathedral can see Father Claver's remains in the altar, and the church contains interesting furnishings. It is also possible to visit the home of Saint Pedro Claver which has been converted into a museum and is located just next door to the church.
Don't miss the lovely quiet courtyard of the church.
A photo from June 2013 that I just got around to post-processing last night.
For our Bodie workshops this year, we have one last interior access session for 2015 on August 15, then it's all night photography after that on August 15, October 11 and October 12.
After leaving Los Vegas we drove back up I-15 then east on I-70 to the Colorado National Monument near Fruita, CO. The drive was beautiful. Many times we stopped, set up the tripod and snapped away....this is one of my favorite views. In fact we back tracked a few miles just to capture this scene.
London United route 27: Chiswick, Business Park - Chalk Farm, Morrisons
Departed Bishop's Bridge Road / Westbourne Terrace (M), towards Paddington Station (H)
Route 10 was withdrawn on 24 November 2018. The 23 intends to replace it between Marble Arch and Hammersmith, but no longer serves the West End which leaves Edgware Road with no direct link to Regent Street when only a short while ago, the 6, 23 and 15 then 159 did.
The withdrawal of the 10 allows London United to push its Scania buses out of service: by ousting the otherwise redundant LT149-171, 174 onto route 27, the batch dominoes ADH23-51 onto the Scania-allocated route E3. The update is not complete, but three LTs kicked it off on the day of the service change, as LT162 demonstrates.
©London Bus Breh 2018.
So this photo has a story. This is southbound Reading and Northern train NRFF (North Reading Fast Freight) on its way back south from Pittston. Leading the way is drab SD40-2 3059 still in its NS black (EMD blt. May 1979 as high hood SOU 3327) while sharp looking SD50 5018 acquired from CSXT (EMD blt. Mar. 1984 as SBD 8550) trails. They are at MP 120.9 on the RBMN mainline crossing the new bridge (opened Feb. 2020) that connects two former CNJ lines that never connected from north to the west. To read more about the bridge project check out this link: www.railwayage.com/mw/rn-opens-new-bridge/ They are about to pass over the hand throw switch at Jim Thorpe Jct. (that connects with the three mile long Jim Thorpe branch in foreground that extends to Packerton Jct.) and pass the division post indicating the start of RBMN's Reading Division.
So now that you know the technical this is not the shot I wanted. In fact when we left home around 11 AM my intention was to drive straight to White Haven for the northbound run in perfect light with 5018 leading. Alas Connecticut traffic was nothing short of horrifying and it was impossible to find a way across the Hudson River. So a when we left RI Google said I'd arrive at 3:45 PM, then quickly it said 4:15 then 5...but I thought I'd still make the train...but by the time maps said 6 PM I gave up and realized I'd get nothing. Instead it was 7 PM...twice as long as planned, when we finally made it to Jim Thorpe.
I wanted to at least say I saw and shot something....so I cranked up the ISO and settled for monochrome which was appropriate given the leader anyway. They curled across the Lehigh River almost exactly at sunset, but the sun was gone about 15 min earlier thanks to the rolling hills even on this evening two days shy of the longest day of the year. Oh, and to add to the adventure...not 10 min before getting this shot I heard my gf scream 'Dave!' and when I came running I saw a big old fat black bear ambling about in the woods no more than two car lengths from us!
Definitely a day I won't soon forget...and all I've got to show for it is this shot...appropriately dark given my angry and frustrated mood while shooting it...but hey, at least we saw a bear...and it didn't eat us!
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Friday June 18, 2021
Ms. Stacey Savage's Hellfire Story Intro
Strip Tease in the VIP Flashback [Scene 01 & 02]
I mean, my story started a WHILE back. Just like any other stripper, yeah, I started in the club and wanted out after a while. The same repetitive thing gets boring for me honestly. Am I ashamed of it? Definitely not. I used to feel like I had super powers. The art of seduction. What a thing. If you master it correctly, you could get almost anything you wanted. Being in the VIP room with the most influential men in the country; their eyes gawking at my slim curves as I merely twirled around the pole, acting as if I were alone. It was so easy. As if they were silly putty in my hands. You know what that silly putty looked like to me? Dollar signs. Tons of them. But honestly what I won't forget was the moment my life would change forever. So corny to say, but it's the truth. It was like a dream. I mean if you ever told me I would leave the club and have been so in love to the point of marriage with a billionaire with millions of secrets as baggage, I would have laughed in your face. Because that doesn't sound like me at all. Commitment? Please... I mean yeah I would have been set for life, so who wouldn't jump at the opportunity, but I could never think about love. At least I never did until I met him... Let's call him, Endless.
I remember that night in the room as if it happened yesterday. Just felt like any other night at first. Doing the same old routines for my regulars. Seeing the same faces whistle and drool over the girls on main stage. At least the night felt the same up until one of the other strippers came over to me while I was on my smoke break. She said a client requested to have me up in the VIP room.
"Auuhh, I literally was just going to dance main stage for another 15 then take my shit and call it a night, honestly." I said to her as I took a drag of my joint.
"Girl, just do this last dance. I heard this guy got moneeeeeeeeeeeeeyy. Not them dusty ass ones we get from our regulars." She takes the joint from me as she finishes her sentence, takes a pull and hands it back.
"Those dusty ass ones pays for my rent and my expensive taste" I flash the new YSL earrings I got recently from NOVEMBER to her as I take back the joint. "I am sure he will be throwing the same ones that comes up to the same amount that we usually get from all the other high roller clients." I take a toke and exhale slow.
"Oh no girl, I heard this guy, the lowest he will ever throw are BENJAMINS. Shit, if he wasn't so hell bent on having your ass in there then I wouldn't be here telling you to go. I need me some YSL too." She opens back the club door and as she heads inside she says "I mean just check it out, the worst that can happen is that you make more money. He's already up in VIP waiting."
"Yeah, yeah I'm going." I out my joint, dropped it into my tube and headed back inside towards the VIP room.
As I approached the VIP, I felt this sudden nervousness but honestly at that time I thought it was just the fact I was so high and tired. I was one of the clubs most popular girls so it was safe to say I was there majority of my days and nights. I needed guap and with having so much debt once upon a time, stripping at any time I could, helped. Especially since most of my clients were high rollers that prefered VIP.
When I entered the room, I gave a sultry smile over to Endless. I scanned him while I started my routine. Gazing slightly at him every twirl I did around the pole. Walking slowly like a lioness gearing up to pounce on its prey.
As I was about to start a pole climb he says "Come here and get comfortable on the floor."
Confused, I waltz over and slowly crawl to the spot he was pointing at."Are we playing Simon Says now?" I said cheekily with a smirk.
He smiles and says "You've got a little humor in you, I like that." He lifted his arm and caressed my face as he traced my lips with his fingers. "Yes, that's what we'll play. Just Endless Says.. Every time you do as I say, I will throw $5,000 in 100s. For anything. Can just be if I tell you to look at me. I may ask many things though. Hope you can keep up."
Wow, JACKPOT, I kept thinking. WWHHHHEWW YES! FINALLY A REALLLLL HIGH ROLLER. No $5,000 cap tonight! "I think I can handle that." I smile while responding, trying to contain my excitement.
"Great, because this night is special.." he says as he buzzes for one of our attendees to bring a large briefcase.
"What makes it so special?" I asked.
He looks up at me as I ease into the splits while idle, eagerly waiting on his first command.
He leans over from the couch towards my face and places his index finger under my chin to raise my face up to look him in the eye as he whispers.. "You."
Main Features:
Carol's Store- Melissa Sweater
Available at Dubai Event November 20 to December 15. Then it will be at Mainstore maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Horizon%20Beach/117/64/2001
Sizes: Lara V5, X and Petite X, Legacy, Kupra, Khara, Reborn, Erika, LoveMomma, Belleza Gen.X Classic & Curvy
Tastic-Strapped Beanie Hat
Tastic-Elise Jeggings
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Town%20Center/43/94/47
Sizes: Reborn, Legacy, Erika, Kupra, Maitreya, Peach, Gen X Classic & Curvy
Style Card:
-Belleza- Gen.X Classic
LeLUTKA Xia 3.1
Velour Ipanema Body for Belleza X - Curvy in Rose Kiss
[avarosea] Polly Skin - Rosekiss
Moonwaii - Anime Cuteness
Pr!tty - Meka Girl Highlights - EVOX - :BOM
LeLUTKA EvoX Hairbase 058 (f)
Stealthic - Bangs Set
MONOMANIA - In The Mood - Sneakers
-Extra- Lighthearted
Location The Farm
Polaroid Polachrome 35mm instant slide film (rated ISO 10) taken on a Canon EOS 35mm camera with flash (bounced) - f1.8 @ 1/15 - then transferred to Fuji 100c instant pack film via a Daylab slide printer (30 Cyan and 10 Yellow filtration added).
Getting the firehose treatment while taxiing to depart rwy 10.
Reregistered N679JB 16-Jan-15,
then F-HXRG 17-Jul-15.
8 shots, camera mounted on slider + tripod.
From back to front moving the slider in 2mm steps.
Fujinon 55-200mm lens added the extension tube MCEX16 (16mm).
Ligthing: Yongnuo Macro LED Ring Flash MR58 set to full Power.
LR: exposure +3.10, presence +35, sharpness +70 - radius 1,4 - details +15
Then I synchronize all shots and export the files as PSD.
In PS (CS6): Photomerge + Auto- Blend
Dodge and burn + Level correction.
Finally sharpening in 2 steps: Frequency separation + High-pass.
This photo shows the 1st XV-15 tilt rotor flight for NASA/Dryden at the Army contingent at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, October 1980. The former XB-70 hangar can be seen to the lower right. The two smaller cutouts on each side of the tail section slot were extra modifications for the large twin-tailed plane.
The development of the XV-15 Tiltrotor research aircraft was initiated in 1973 with joint Army/NASA funding as a "proof of concept", or "technology demonstrator" program, with two aircraft being built by Bell Helicopter Textron (BHT) in 1977.
The aircraft are powered by twin Lycoming T-53 turboshaft engines that are connected by a cross-shaft and drive three-bladed, 25 ft diameter metal rotors (the size extensively tested in a wind tunnel). The engines and main transmissions are located in wingtip nacelles to minimize the operational loads on the cross-shaft system and, with the rotors, tilt as a single unit.
For takeoff, the proprotors and their engines are used in the straight-up position where the thrust is directed downward. The XV-15 then climbs vertically into the air like a helicopter. In this VTOL mode, the vehicle can lift off and hover for approximately one hour.
Once off the ground, the XV-15 has the ability to fly in one of two different modes. It can fly as a helicopter, in the partially converted airplane mode. The XV-15 can also then convert from the helicopter mode to the airplane mode. This is accomplished by continuous rotation of the proprotors from the helicopter rotor position to the conventional airplane propeller position. During the ten to fifteen second conversion period, the aircraft speed increases and lift is transferred from the rotors to the wing. To land, the proprotors are rotated up to the helicopter rotor position and flown as a helicopter to a vertical landing.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: ECN-13850
Date: October 19, 1980
Photoshopped and painted with Corel Painter 15 - then a touch of Topaz Impression just for good measure
In Edinburgh the present service 15 hardly bears much resemblance to that which used to serve the city. The route goes back to the 1920's when tram service 15 worked between Portobello and Fairmilehead, the bus service which took over in 1954 extended east to Joppa. In 1965 it worked a full 7 day timetable requiring 11 buses - 10 from Marine and a further part-day duty from Tollcross. It provided a useful direct link from Portobello to the south west of Edinburgh - now missing as the present day service no longer serves the seaside suburb. And this is particularly felt today as Lothian service 26 struggles to cope with full loads in summer.
Leyland Titan 541 is seen in 1971 on south St Andrew Street; its driver known as 'The Milkman' like many others then was long-service; note the detailed 6-point information given - much more than any other city outside of London. However, as the 15 then deviated from Bruntsfield Place to serve Gillespie's and Strathearn. I do recall suggesting 'Whitehouse Loan' be inserted to replace 'Piershill' as I considered that not necessary. Note coming alongside is an Eastern Scottish Bristol 'Lodekka' en-route to Rosewell.
Debbie and I have been visiting a few Stately Homes over the last few weeks and today we visited Woburn Abbey.
It has to be said, I've not been hugely impressed with the houses I've visited recently (with the exception of Hatfield House).
One of my pet peeves about these is the fact that you pay your money...but you are forced into the building via the tradesmans entrance round the back...and there is no access to view the front of the house (and even when you can see the front of the house some clown has parked a car right across the front of it!). Now I know people live here - but if you want my £15, then I want to see the front of the house as well as the back (even if it is as impressive as Woburn's rear).
This was one of the best I could get of the front of Woburn...I have a slightly closer shot (from an angle) but I prefer this one for the reflections in the lake...the deer were very impressive, by the way.
This bus was new to now defunct operator Armchair in January of 2003. It was then passed to Metroline, and later withdrawn.
The 172 came up for tender, and Abellio won the contract with existing buses, which was fine, except they didn't have spare buses to use. So they acquired this bus along with 14 of its sisters, refurbished them, and then used them on the 172, from March of 2011 until about this time last year.
But what if Abellio had never won the 172? What if London Central had retained it at New Cross with existing buses? This is something I've often thought about. The Y reg PVLs, being 10 years old and Euro 2, probably wouldn't have fit the bill. But Go-Ahead did have a number of spare buses, some of which were leased, that they could've used.
If we stick with PVLs, going over the numbers: '273-280 would've been available after the loss of the 35 and 40, so that's 8. Then out of '260-271, 9 would've been available, which would've covered the needed 7 (I think) for a total of 15. Then the older PVLs, including its former allocation, could've acted as refurbishment cover across the network.
There's also the possibility that '356-361 could've been retained in some way for the contract, though that's only 6 buses.
Then I suppose that allocation of 02 reg PVLs would've lasted until 2016, assuming no 2-year contract extension, and the route most likely would've been retained or lost with hybrids, depending on how TfL was feeling.
The bus in the photo is former 9833, and now with Pimp My Tour London. In case it isn't obvious, it has an open top now. I got a really nice shot of this as it was pulling out at the perfect angle. Unfortunately it was spoiled by a passing car.
Waiting around to do my track walk. Cold and with a stuffy nose and itchy throat. The tungsten lighting didn't exactly warm me up.
"Well – we can tick off Regulation 14 and 15 then, eh?"
I always hate that bit where I have to cross the posi and running rail in one stride, as it is a bit of a step for a short person. Still, I do it, and the job's a good'un. A Protection Master did show me once how to cross it so I have one foot between the posi and running rail, but it's a bit of a tripping hazard, plus my old trainer wasn't exactly passing off a look of approval at the PM when he'd seen him show me on live track.
Well.... the year 2008 seems to have just zipped past...and presto! its already 2009!!
So many things have happened that it may be hard for many of us to just brush aside this past year.... however, as fleeting life is..time doesn't wait for anyone.
Why, it seems only yesterday that I bought my first jeans....guess I was 14 or 15 then... :-)
Here is wishing you all a Happy New Year !! The year gone by was when I started doing some serious amateur photography and though it seems I have learnt some, but its still miles to go....In days to come I really hope to learn a lot more with the help of my dear old and new friends here....and quickly!! :-)
Cheero!
Photo by AMPt member Brad Puet
(IG: bradpuet)
Description:
John T. Williams (JTW), a 50-year-old seventh generation Nitinaht carver of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, was shot four times by a Seattle police officer on August 30, 2010. He died at the scene. His only crime appears to have been walking across the street carrying a carving knife and a chunk of cedar.
Sunday February 26, 2012, marked history in Seattle as the JTW Memorial Totem Pole was raised. I had been following the JTW murder since it happened and so was sure to be present as the totem was raised. I will also be posting a blog post about the story on the Juxt blog as well as sharing stories on my own IG and EyeEm feeds.
Process:
Shot with native camera app. Brought into Color Splash to isolate the Elder. Brought into Snapseed for tune image/ ambiance 50%/ contrast 15%, then used grunge #291/ lowered texture to 20% then detail/ sharpened to 10%.
Signalbox diagram from Stratford Southern Junction on the North Woolwich branch. This is how it would have appeared in 1982 with Absolute Block to Abbey Mills Lower Junction (at the site of the current West Ham LU station) where there was a former chord onto the Fenchurch Street line. The goods lines were however reduced to siding status beyond there by this stage, with little traffic to the docks other than serving a scrap yard. In September 82, the diagram altered slightly when a small panel was installed to control the entire line to North Woolwich and the route drastically simplified to a 'basic railway'. The box itself finally closed shortly after in 84 when the junction was simplified and control passed to Stratford panel. 3rd rail electrification was also installed to allow Broad Street trains to be diverted to North Woolwich from Dalston Junction.
This is a faithful recreation of the original diagram based on photos of the inside of the box. I have used a 1974 scheme plan to number the features and deduce distances and text. Photos from inside the box were then used to fill in the blanks with an educated steer.
Both of the gantries used to have four dolls. Dolls 2 and 3 contained splitting distants for the main route associated with 9 or 15. Then doll 4 contained a home and distant for the now-removed east curve diverging just before the low level platforms. See: www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stratford_market/index4.shtml for the gantry and www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stratford_low_level/ for a photo of the junction immediately after removal. This is also an intersting photo www.flickr.com/photos/64215236@N03/6676070217/
Today the box is preserved at Dereham. The site is entirely unrecognisable with the LU Jubilee line occupying the goods lines alignment and the DLR that of the mains with a further DLR branch terminating on the GE main line end of the west curve.
Bernard Kavanagh, Volvo B11R, 161-D-9260 in National Express livery was photographed on Clontarf Street, Cork on the 19 June 2018 departing the Bus Eireann, Parnell Place Bus Station exactly on schedule at 16:00 while operating the Bus Eireann/Eurolines operated route 890, (Cork to London).
The cross channel route first travels through Midleton, Youghal, Dungarvan with an arrival time of 18:10 in Waterford, then to New Ross, Wexford and Rosslare for the 20:00 sailing to Pembroke, Wales arriving there at 01:15 then off to Cardiff, Bristol, Reading and London Victoria Coach Station by 08:15.
A lovely machine I snapped on an away day with work yesterday down at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground near Leicester.
I had to get out of bed at 03.15 then catch 3 trains and 1 bus to get there and catch 1 bus and 2 trains back - it was a good day and well worth the time.
Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 03-Apr-23.
Who remembers V-Bird? They only lasted just over a year, from Sep-03 to Oct-04. Not a bad livery though!
In the early days of Airbus, they didn't use the F-WWxx test registrations when aircraft were destined for a French company. This one was originally built as an A320-211 and first flown as F-GJVV in Feb-95.
The aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to Air Inter in Mar-95. Air Inter was renamed Air Inter Europe in Jan-96 and the company was merged into Air France in Sep-97. In Oct-97 the aircraft was upgraded to A320-212 standard and sub-leased to Skyservice Airlines (Canada) as C-GTDB.
It was wet-leased to Airtours International Airlines during many European summer seasons, between Apr/Oct-99, Apr/Oct-00, Apr/Nov-01. Airtours was renamed MyTravel Airways at the end of Apr-02 and the summer lease continued between Apr/Oct-02. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Oct-03.
The following day it was leased to Dutchbird as PH-VAD and sub-leased to V-Bird Airlines. The lease was transferred to V-Bird in Mar-04. Sadly, they didn't last and the aircraft was repossessed in early Oct-04 when V-Bird ceased operations.
It was re-registered N601LF and stored at Winnipeg, MB, Canada. In Feb-05 the aircraft was leased to Germanwings as D-AKNX and returned to the lessor in Apr-08. A few days later it was leased to Rossiya - Russian Airlines as EI-DXY.
The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-14 and stored at Tallin, Estonia. This is where it gets messy! It was sold to DART Ukrainian Airlines as UR-CNU in Mar-15, then wet-leased to Cham Wings Airlines (Syria) in Apr-15. In Oct-15 DART sold the aircraft to Khors Aircompany (Ukraine). The lease to Cham Wings continued with the aircraft being re-registered YK-BAA in Nov-15.
The aircraft appears to have been sold to Meraj Arlines (Iran) in Feb-21 as EP-AJJ. Now 29.5 years old it continues in service. Updated 11-Sep-24.
A CG effect/filter experiment... the original pic (and other) can be seen in my photostream/"other mecha" set.
This is a Dougram Desertgunner, released in 1985 or 1986 by Revell under their hodgepodge Robotech label as "Sand Stalker" - and this one is STILL alive, even though it sees it third(!) build now. Tough piece...
The first time I built it it was OOB in the Revell livery, but you can imagine how it looked like when I tinkered it together enthusiatically at the age of about 15... Then, in the wake of improvement, I re-did the kit in a winter livery several years later, hiding the worst building flaws under fake snow.
I recently "found" the kit again, in pieces but complete, together with two Dougram Goliaths, and spontaneously decided to revive this bizarre and retro-looking mecha. The Desertgunner is a favorite of mine - I have tried to find a NIB Takara or Revell kit for some years, but they seem to have become really rare in 1:72 scale, so you have to use what you have at hand with as little loss as possible. True antique restoration!
For its third life on stage, I decided to renovate the personal snow livery status. Firstly I think it looks more interesting than the bleak ochre desert look, maybe with some signs of wear and lots of dust, then there are still flaws (and some repair) to hide, so the snow cover is a neat option.
As a first step, the old fake snow cover was scrubbed off - as well as the coat of dust the kit caught during the past 15 years. Revamping was done sparsely. I removed some parts I added years ago (e. g. additional rocket launchers), so that the kit was back to basics again. The only changes I made then are scratch-built equipment racks alongside the middle turret section, with some stuff from the junk box inside, plus some details like ladders and steps all around the hull, an IR searchlight next to the gun, the anti-aircraft machine gun on top, and some new and more delcate antennae. I also added two new figures because the orginal ones got unfortunately lost - they show how huge the whole F44D actually would be (and how ridiculously lousy its armament for its size is...)!
For camouflage I just re-used the last paining I did almost 20 years ago: a dark olive green with white zig-zag patterns, which look like improvised in the field. Here and there I used some lighter very dark slate grey and some brown shimmers through, for a ratty and worn look. Decals are few, just the yellow "8" on the side panels and a sqaudron emblem, that's all. Some sparse detail painting with sienna and umbra acryllic paint simulates rust and oil.
Finally, the kit received some camouflage nets made from gauze bandages, dipped in a mix of water, white acryllic paint and white glue - they not only break up the F44D's shape, but also cover the huge "empty" hull areas, making the kit look more interesting? Then, a new, light snow coat with fine, white joint mortar (plaster is too grayish and becomes yellow over time, as it absorbs up humidity!), rinsed through a fine mesh onto the kit which was sprayed with water. Some hair spray helped fixing the snow, and a matte varnish coat seals everything in place.
For display, I decided build a small simple 30x20cm winter landscape diorama for it - a small rigde which allow the F44D - better called "Snowgunner" now - to show its high mobility, even as a kit!
Considering that it is not a newly-build kit, rather a kind of youth heritage, I am quite happy with the result. True nostalgia!
Wanting a 'Barnack-style' camera of the earliest style that was affordable, I got myself a FED-1F. As I take 135 film infrequently, the need to trim the film leader for use in a bottom-loader was not a deterrent.
I took a few test shots on a 12-frame cassette of expired Fuji Superia 200.
Shown here are two of a building site scene, one with the FED f/3.5 50mm of the FED-1F, and one with my f/6 28mm ORION-15.
Then a street scene with the Orion-15.
(The Orion can be seen to vignette significantly).
These three were taken at f/8 1/200s.
The fourth, with the f/3.5 50mm, was to check the focus close-up at ~1 metre (~3 feet); focus was set to be on the open daffodils. Here I dropped the exposure to the minimum (1/500s) and opened the aperture to f/6.3.
It can be seen that the film was not correctly aligned across the film gate - to be investigated ...
Seldom does a foreground subject give such a sense of place--so we hurried up and snapped. This corner store has since been taken over by music and game dealer The Exchange. And since we bring up the "sense of place," this is as good a shot as any to discuss the "place."
Spanish-style building with terra cotta exterior at southwest corner of Coventry and Lancashire Roads dates back to 1927, and was initially owned by John P. Burke (listed Cleveland Blue Book of 1931 as living at 11118 St. Clair Ave.). He named the building after his six-year-old daughter, Betty. One of the more distinctive commercial buildings in Cleveland Heights, it is an informal "landmark" that we hope will someday become an official landmark. It was designed by Ontario-born, Cleveland-raised architect, engineer and inventor William Stanley Ferguson. General contractor was the R. Hansen Construction Company, and the build cost $230,000.00. According to co-photographer Christopher Busta-Peck, whose Cleveland Heights work is all over Flickr, terra cotta was fabricated by the South Amboy Terra Cotta Co.; the exterior has changed very little throughout history, except possibly for some frost or ice damage. The original corner tenant was Ivanhoe Savings Co., which opened January 14, 1928. Aside from storefronts, the interior housed the Coventry Recreation Co., a bowling alley, in the early 1960s, and until 2009, the Dobama Playhouse.
Coventry Village is an anomaly in Northeast Ohio. It is a north-south several blocks-long commercial district built around a streetcar route beginning in the 1910s, though the street itself dates back to at least 1852. What is now Cleveland Heights
was an outpost of Connecticut settlers known as the Western Reserve. Ezra H. Lacy began quarrying next to what later became Rock Court 300' to the east of what is now Coventry Road, in 1834. Coventry Road was the mostly due north route connecting the North Shaker Union Settlement (the western part of what is now Shaker Lakes) to Mayfield Road before it was ever dedicated as a public street; it never seems to have gone through any one person's land. Once the streetcar was in, the idea was this: drop off your laundry/mending, get a cup of coffee and take the streetcar to work. When the streetcar drops you off, pick up the prescription, pick up the dry cleaning, and buy fresh dairy, meat and produce before heading home. Most of the construction took place in the 1910s and 1920s; the immediate area began to attract Jewish neighbors and business owners around 1926, according to literature provided by the City. They were served by synagogues Anshe Emeth (Mayfield Road just east of Lee) and later by Anshe Marmaresher (Lancashire Road). But the Coventry neighborhood for decades has linked a rough area northeast of Mayfield Road, and a relatively affluent area a block to the south of Euclid Heights Boulevard. Northwest of Coventry lie the Lake View (nondenominational) and Mayfield Cemeteries (Jewish). The nicer areas are the Euclid Heights subdivision (southwest) and the Forest Hills Allotment (to the southeast), with Coventry Road being the dividing line.
When we began spending a great deal of time here, both fun and working (1981 through 1984), those of us who lived and worked here were collecting material for novels that would never be written. None of us imagined ourselves as the source material we were. In the 1980s, for example, we called Coventry a "sea of madness."
An epicenter of culture of Cleveland was the Arabica coffeehouse in Coventryard Mall at 2785 Euclid Heights Boulevard. The walls showed framed artwork over rough cream stucco, the ceilings exposed ductwork, over disgusting but highly-durable brown indoor-outdoor carpeting. The ambience was 1980s bohemian, club kid and goth. We attributed the "sea of madness" to the small but influential contingent of creatively- and chaotic-minded teenagers and young and middle-aged adult exhibitionists and others absorbed in cliques based on age and how they looked and dressed, and living out gossip about a range of behavior from personal upheavals to petty dramas. On the positive side, socially, there was no local color or flavor like it; with a heavily artistic mindset, it was a proving ground for the talents of those of us who lived and worked here or frequently visited. Deborah Harry, though describing colleagues in New York City, describes young people of the day who were like us as "living art." (Ms. Harry, too, has visited the area, and like many contemporaries, signed a wall at Record Revolution. Janet Macoska took several photos of her at locations at and near Coventry Road in 1978.)
There was also substance abuse and experimentation. When the legal beer age was 18 (and, in the 1980s, 19), Coventry Beverage and Pizza was notorious for underage sales of tobacco and alcohol. Irv's Deli had the same reputation; the City curtailed their alcohol privileges as Irv's management found it impossible, or simply did not bother, to keep order. The police department, though normally leaving us alone, reportedly maintained surveillance through the window of an apartment across Euclid Heights Boulevard. Surely marijuana was transacted but--perhaps to minimize trouble--these transactions were discreet, or at least not out in the open. Curfew in the City was 10:30 p.m. through age 15, then midnight for ages 16 and 17, which at the time was generous. Even in midsummer, 10:30 p.m. is well more than an hour after dark.
Middle-aged, mostly well-educated (or well-read) white men nursing a cup of coffee and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, day in, day out, playing chess in the rear of Arabica looked like the collection of patients in the day room in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." There was a well-used and well-hidden brass-faced cigarette machine at the rear, which nurtured the burgeoning nicotine habit of many a 15- and 16-year old hipster sneaking back "to use the restroom." Tobacco use was not demonized then as it is now. You could smoke almost anywhere until about 1990: in elevators, at work, and certainly in Arabica. But the men in the back, along with Arabica employees, were the "core," very much their own all-male clique, and they had no shortage of intellect, if challenged in life skills. The fashion of the day? Thrift store frumpy. The coffeehouse rank and file employees were hipsters and--no surprise--thrift store chic. They ran the gamut of musicians, club rats, and fine arts and liberal arts students. We presume that many of the unemployed or underemployed "core" chess-players lived with and off of family, or were receiving social security disability. They took the game seriously enough to bring timers. One of them, Calvin Blocker was, in his youth, a massively gifted prodigy, and who as a young adult earned the status of international chess master. Requiring stamina for his many tournaments, Blocker was uniquely a well-kempt health nut. There was no indication that any of the rear denizens of Arabica were independently wealthy, though many appeared not to work (or were not employable) and, though obviously middle-aged, were also well below retirement age. We'll ballpark the number of "core" members at two dozen. They were basically holdovers from when Coventry was once a thriving area of Jewish store owners and neighborhood residents transitioning, in the 1950s and 1960s, into a center of east side bohemianism and youth culture. This was a unique group of men, and without them, Coventry would not have been Coventry. (This is to say that both the social tolerance and the questioning mindset for which Jewish culture in the West is renowned made this possible.) It is doubtful that any of these men--middle-aged and elderly 30 years ago--survive. Well, perhaps one of them does. (See above photo.)
One of the more colorful men of the group, Sid Gold, passed away around 1998. In 2000, his brother, author Herbert Gold, penned a story about Sid, continually returning to the theme of Sid's lifelong, desultory work on his own "novel:" "The King of the Cleveland Beatniks" (excerpt at link): www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/THE-KING-OF-THE-CLEVELAND.... The "novel," in fact, was Sid's real life. At least we think that was the point. We saw Sid everywhere on Coventry--he was always good for a smile and nod or "hello"-- but only met him once, and he was self-assured, mild-mannered, and outgoing, with an intensity to him underneath--ready with a word. He was an Arabica and Irv's Deli denizen, and was also a familiar face in old Harvey Pekar "American Splendor" comics (including the cover of the first issue). From Dr. Joy Marshall, an acquaintance: "Sid was an old-time, socialist Coventry figure. He was a really interesting intellectual." www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/index.ssf/2012/12/dr_joy_ma.... Sid's brother writes that Sid told a newcomer to his table (presumably at Arabica) that he was "semi-retired," and while Herbert wondered, Semi from what? one of his friends called him sharply to order: "Sid! Your novel! You're working on it." Another acquaintance, Ted Paliobeis, a conservative who knew him well, sat through one of Sid's collectivist tirades. Throwing up his hands, Ted retorted: "But Sid...you own stock!"
As local writer Bert Stratton described him: "Sid was a Coventry cowboy — a regular in Harvey Pekar’s comic books. Sid didn’t have a job and played a lot of chess."
A local figure who befriended us was Jim Murray. Not a chess player, Jimmy was a singer/songwriter, a witty storyteller, and huge Beatles and country rock fan. He grew up in Euclid, clashed with his conservative folks about his hair length, and started hanging out on Coventry in the mid-1960s when "every night was like Friday night." He played and got two of his songs on a Human Beinz album--unfortunately not the one with "Nobody But Me" on it--a huge national hit--having met some of the band members in a music store. Jim also headed local country-rock outfit Natchez Trace, who on May 29-31, 1969 opened for Neil Young at La Cave at 10615 Euclid Avenue. Natchez Trace, scheduled only to open Young's show, already knew all of Young's songs, forward and backwards. So in addition to opening, they played and sang Young's backing band Crazy Horse's parts through Young's shows over three nights. Crazy Horse, though appearing on the bill, for some unknown reason, did not back Young on the La Cave dates. (Natchez Trace's original lineup was Bob Kruck (g), Bruce Kentner (b), Ben Cavell (d) and Murray (g).) Jim told us that he had similarly accompanied Steve Miller. Jim left the Trace and was among a number of other Cleveland-area musicians who moved to the Los Feliz/Silverlake area of Los Angeles to try to get "discovered." He told us that while in California, he encountered some of the young female followers of the homicidal cult, the Family, and he tried to talk sense to them but, as Jim ruefully recalled their chat, "they had murder in their hearts." This was during the 1970-71 trial of four of them. Success eluded Jim in L.A., though, and he returned home, playing coffeehouses and taverns into his sixties--just him and his black Gibson acoustic--and unfortunately never reaped financial rewards. Jim was a major league talent and in spite of his mostly sunny exterior, he felt unappreciated and was bitter about how his career turned out. We admired him for his purism and devotion to his craft--he was a total pro--but he dismissed us as naive (in so many words, and with good intentions), and advised us not to follow his path.
Just as likable and equally talented as Jim Murray, though not as well known by us, was the late John Bassette, whose own career saw the same predicament. He, too, held and played a guitar as if he was born with it. Bassette did release several albums, received airplay on WMMS, and became better known than Jim, but only locally.
Of more prominent note, the late Camille Satullo told the story that waking up after spending the night at a friend's apartment on Coventry Road, she heard the singing of Mama Cass first thing in the morning. Cass had the most distinctive voice in popular music, heard all over the radio and television as a beloved singer in The Mamas and the Papas. To Camille's shock, she was hearing Mama Cass singing in person (presumably through the window of a neighboring unit). As a member of the Triumvirate, Cass had also played at the Euclid Avenue club, La Cave, in 1963. She returned for other shows years later, after the Mamas and Papas had peaked. "That was Coventry," Ms. Satullo explained.
The stereotype of Coventry has for decades been hippies and ex-hippies, but neither were prevalent by the 1980s. The Coventry-Lancashire street sign on the edge of the photo--rendered in psychedelic colors-shows that the local merchants and City try to perpetuate this image. More common were teenagers emulating siblings or aunts and uncles who themselves had since grown out of hippiedom, believing that they were visiting a mini-"Greenwich Village" (keeping with the east coast flavor of the area) or "Haight-Ashbury of the Midwest." Atop the Arabica "core" were: the heavily-costumed and made up creative class of high school and college students plus others, such as us, in less intense and attention-grabbing gradations of "offbeat;" college and professional radio people and members of local bands; more mainstream students (mostly Heights and Shaker) who came to people-watch; mostly liberal neighborhood residents; elderly Jewish people from when the shops and immediate neighborhood were largely Jewish; college professors and teachers; and other professionals who dealt in information such as journalists, physicians, lawyers and architects, plus and gays and lesbians in these and other walks of life who blended in well. Much of the staff of the then-revered radio station WMMS lived within walking distance of Coventry Road in the 1970s and 80s, for example, according to its former program director John Gorman. This was the assembled crowd on weekends and busy weekday summer nights. There were relatively few black people in the crowd (very few Asians or Latinos), but Coventry was highly racially and gay and lesbian tolerant, if not welcoming. Nearly any form of intolerance was unthinkable except, truth be told, intolerance of a lack of hipness.
The costumes the characters wear in Eighties John Hughes films such as "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "Pretty in Pink" (1986) or in "Valley Girl" (1983) (dir. Martha Coolidge) were dead on to how young people hanging out on Coventry looked and dressed, especially the more offbeat characters. The hardcore punk look through the Eighties is best shown elsewhere, such as in the documentary, "Another State of Mind" (1982). Many were surly and emulated the London "street punk" (which is to say, unemployable) look seen in 1980s London souvenir postcards.
Coventry in the 1980s was loosely similar to the campus area as might be found in Columbus or Ann Arbor, but without the "bratty privileged" students/"townies" division, and was not in any sense limited to college students and professors. Most people involved in Coventry Village--working there, shopping, or just hanging out--were neither. There were very few social divisions except age and interests. The Pick-and-Pay employees, for example, unionized with UFCW Local 880 at the time, were typically ethnic white blue collar high school graduates, often Catholic school products, not artistic, and were more likely to be found drinking shots and beers at The Saloon at Coventry and Mayfield. (We worked at Russo's Stop n' Shop on Cedar Hill, and later at The Record Exchange. The timing wasn't right for Pick 'n Pay. It was a challenge to find any entry-level work.) The Saloon was also full of mechanics, body men and the like who ran the garages in the auto dealerships a half-mile east on Mayfield Road. The Turkey Ridge Tavern was more offbeat and eccentric than The Saloon. Before our era, it was Chez Moi, Chester's (and briefly "Diane's"); after we left town, it became the Winking Lizard. A great many families in the area were blue collar whites who moved to Cleveland Heights to be in a good school district. Coventry counts as close neighbors Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and John Carroll University; occasionally we would meet people from Kent State or Baldwin-Wallace. On breaks from college, we worked and also spent a lot of time here.
There was also an outlaw past. Chief Edward Gaffney formed a bureau of four plainclothes detectives dedicated to stopping drug dealing, and they made frequent raids on the apartments in and around Coventry Road in the early 1970s. This was the first suburban narcotics unit in the nation. They were middle-aged WWII and Korean War vets and not undercover. In retrospect they were fearless, because they had dangerous people gunning for them. Certainly few young people on Coventry appreciated the police, to say the least. But the bikers and dealers "gunning" for the police were Sunday school kids compared to Nazis in Battle of the Bulge. Chief Martin Lentz eventually disbanded the squad. Bikers roaring up and down Euclid Heights Blvd and up and down Coventry Road frequented the C-Saw Cafe' (at different times, Coventry Audio and Video, Big Fun and most recently Jimmy John's), and The Saloon (formerly The Pepper Pot Lounge and Bar). C-Saw's manager (William Sobo) shot a young customer in 1975 (Brian Hacker), who died almost immediately, and he was not prosecuted because circumstances showed likely self-defense.
Rock Court connected Hampshire Road to Euclid Heights Boulevard from at least the turn of the twentieth century until about 1979. It was, as mentioned, an old quarry 300' to the east of and parallel to Coventry Road. A wall of the former Dean Dairy garage still retains the hill of soil and quarried rock formations, plus what remains of the roadway itself. Rock Court contained about a dozen plain, Victorian frame houses, probably built for construction workers when Coventry was first developed, In the decade before demolition, the houses were rented by offbeat and artistic tenants and by then this housing stock was well-past its better days. I noticed a bunch of found objects arranged on the ground and in trees, in particular a toilet functioning as a planter, and a vacuum hose hanging high in a tall, old oak. This was obviously some kind of art, but as a preteen, the meaning of it went over my head (and still does). In hindsight it was a poor man's dadaist art installation (with artists on drugs).
Evictions and tear downs of the Rock Court houses began to make room for the expanded Pick and Pay (later Medic Drug, later Marc's) parking lot. The tenants protested for months, which made the news. The owners of Pick and Pay had been purchasing these houses over the years, and with the city not opposing demolition, there was nothing the tenants could do once their leases ran out, especially after the landlords evicted and cut off water service. These tenants, once they figured out that the adjoining grocery store owner was everyone's landlord, frankly should not have been surprised at all. Two houses not part of the old Pick and Pay assemblage remain (if there appear to be more than two, they have Hampshire Road addresses) and Rock Court is now a hundred-foot-long unpaved dead-end street off Hampshire Road that is used by these two homeowners.
But back to the photo: In the 1970s, this corner shop was a clothing store, Generation Gap, then HQ for the Ted Kennedy presidential campaign of 1980, then Vidstar Systems from about 1983 until 2010. At last visit, it was "The Exchange," an outgrowth of since-closed CD/Game Exchange (Record Exchange) two blocks north at 1780. A link to a photo from about 1971 (Generation Gap) follows: images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clevehts/id/2008
What appears to have been the land where the Burke residence used to stand, on the south side of St. Clair Avenue, is now a pediatric hospital.
Because the magnificent work on this building should never be lost to history, we pass on the names of subcontractors, at least for the bank buildout, included George Huberty Co. (fixtures), Kilroy Structural Steel Co., Van Dorn Iron Works (vault equipment and steel cabinets), York Safe & Lock Co. (vault door) John Hanlon (plumbing), Ohio Window Glass Co., Empire Sheet Metal Works (signage) and W.H. Splete Co. (painting and decoration).
All apparently pooled their resources for a newspaper ad for the bank placed around the time of opening.
Significant credit for the architectural, ownership. tenant and buildout information belongs to David H. Nadzam, and also to author and historian Marian J. Morton. Gratitude also to the late Camille Satullo for sharing her story, and also to Phillip S. Turner for his recollections of Neil Young's shows at La Cave.
Can you say... vintage? This kit is like a cat: it seems to have several lives! It is a Dougram Desertgunner, released in 1985 or 1986 by Revell under their hodgepodge Robotech label as "Sand Stalker" - and this one is STILL alive, even though it sees it third(!) build now. Tough piece...
The first time I built it it was OOB in the Revell livery, but you can imagine how it looked like when I tinkered it together enthusiatically at the age of about 15... Then, in the wake of improvement, I re-did the kit in a winter livery several years later, hiding the worst building flaws under fake snow.
I recently "found" the kit again, in pieces but complete, together with two Dougram Goliaths, and spontaneously decided to revive this bizarre and retro-looking mecha. The Desertgunner is a favorite of mine - I have tried to find a NIB Takara or Revell kit for some years, but they seem to have become really rare in 1:72 scale, so you have to use what you have at hand with as little loss as possible. True antique restoration!
For its third life on stage, I decided to renovate the personal snow livery status. Firstly I think it looks more interesting than the bleak ochre desert look, maybe with some signs of wear and lots of dust, then there are still flaws (and some repair) to hide, so the snow cover is a neat option.
As a first step, the old fake snow cover was scrubbed off - as well as the coat of dust the kit caught during the past 15 years. Revamping was done sparsely. I removed some parts I added years ago (e. g. additional rocket launchers), so that the kit was back to basics again. The only changes I made then are scratch-built equipment racks alongside the middle turret section, with some stuff from the junk box inside, plus some details like ladders and steps all around the hull, an IR searchlight next to the gun, the anti-aircraft machine gun on top, and some new and more delcate antennae. I also added two new figures because the orginal ones got unfortunately lost - they show how huge the whole F44D actually would be (and how ridiculously lousy its armament for its size is...)!
For camouflage I just re-used the last paining I did almost 20 years ago: a dark olive green with white zig-zag patterns, which look like improvised in the field. Here and there I used some lighter very dark slate grey and some brown shimmers through, for a ratty and worn look. Decals are few, just the yellow "8" on the side panels and a sqaudron emblem, that's all. Some sparse detail painting with sienna and umbra acryllic paint simulates rust and oil.
Finally, the kit received some camouflage nets made from gauze bandages, dipped in a mix of water, white acryllic paint and white glue - they not only break up the F44D's shape, but also cover the huge "empty" hull areas, making the kit look more interesting? Then, a new, light snow coat with fine, white joint mortar (plaster is too grayish and becomes yellow over time, as it absorbs up humidity!), rinsed through a fine mesh onto the kit which was sprayed with water. Some hair spray helped fixing the snow, and a matte varnish coat seals everything in place.
For display, I decided build a small simple 30x20cm winter landscape diorama for it - a small rigde which allow the F44D - better called "Snowgunner" now - to show its high mobility, even as a kit!
Considering that it is not a newly-build kit, rather a kind of youth heritage, I am quite happy with the result. True nostalgia!
NOTE: This is a second account that I will be using for photos depicting the cities, beaches, mountains, and nature of the Southeast outside of my home state of Florida. Please see my original Humble Christ Follower account for photos that showcase Florida: www.flickr.com/photos/humblechristfollower/albums
BIBLICAL CONTEXT: James 1:13-18 NIV
(from biblegateway.com)
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
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5 MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
1. Like it or not, we are ALL sinners: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT)
2. The punishment for sin is death: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12 NLT)
3. Jesus is our only hope: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)
4. SALVATION is by GRACE through FAITH in JESUS: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)
5. Accept Jesus and receive eternal life: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT) And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NLT)
Read the Bible for yourself. Allow the Lord to speak to you through his Word. YOUR ETERNITY IS AT STAKE!
To view more of my landscapes and the rest of The Holy Bible series then go here... www.steffanmacmillan.com
The Flood Subsides
1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained;
3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.
4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;
7 and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.
8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;
9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.
10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark.
11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth.
12 Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.
13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.
14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
17 “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.
Text borrowed from The Holy Bible - Genesis 8:11
"Silence is Golden" on the left., "Kocham Wolność" – "I Love Freedom". On the neck TDK – "Tylko Dla Kata" – "For Executioner Only".
When I saw Mr. Rysiek on the market I just catch a glimpse of ink visible from under the sleeve of his shirt, I wasn't sure to talk - he was with a rather large group of bums / ex-cons and the younger guys can easily be aggressive but obviously in five minutes I ended up in the bushes alone with him. Long prison & tattoo story, started at the correctional facility for young offenders at the age of 15, then an extended tour trough polish prisons: ZK Mielęcin, ZK Iława, ZK Sieradz, ZK Sztum (4 times), ZK Łowicz (4 times), ZK Łęczyca and classic Warsaw's units: AŚ Białołęka, AŚ Rakowiecka i AŚ Służewiec. Rysiek got his first tattoo in 1987 and the story is still on for him. Part of his tattoos is self-made with the help of a mirror. He uses Perełka or rotring ink and needles. What strike me is the fact that he is particularly handsome – sort of 20's/30's cinema face – I documented over 200 guys by now – they have strong features, often with a lot of character, but that is the first time I photographed a Handsome Criminal. Mr. Rysiek has no front teeth – he lost them in prison – beaten by a guard. Born in 1973 – he is four years younger than me.
Warsaw, August 2013
Skye Bikini - Available in sizes LaraX, Petite X, Legacy, Lara 5.3, Khara, Reborn, Erika, Love Momma. Kupra, & Belleza Gen X Classic & Curvy
At the DUBAI event until March 15, then it will be at Mainstore Taxi to Dubai: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Horizon%20Beach/112/113/22
I was just cozying in, enjoying a perfect cup of tea and a partially sunny, peaceful early morning at 6:15...............then I looked up and there was a rainbow front and center, in my window. No rain, no threatening clouds. I've never seen a rainbow so early in the morning. With a start like this, I better make this a good day.
We are enjoying 3 seasons at the same time around here. I still have plants that are just shaking off a cool, rainy spring and thinking about putting out some robust summer growth. I have plants that are in full summer mode. And then there is the goldenrod starting to bloom at the refuge and this maple in my photo that says it's autumn!
In other words, if the Universe ended last Monday (12/28/15) then we've been without it ever since but never even noticed...
Well guys... this is it - the very last picture that I will ever take in this whole 365 project. Ever.
I've so many things to say yet don't really know where to start, so I guess I'll type it as the train of thoughts circulate in my head.
Back in December 2009, I had just received my first lighting equipment and couldn't wait to try it out. It was quite snowing outside and pretty cold, so I decided to stick in my basement and try out some tests with my lights/flash. Silly tests.
So on December 21st 2009, I unwrapped my newly received softbox and started some off-camera lighting just for fun. This is what came out:
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You didn't know how excited I was to get such amazing results back then. So I decided to make a little Merry Xmas picture on December 24th for people to see, and "show off" my lighting "skills".
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After those quick basement testings, I became so motivated that I started planning to take those things outside for some shots.
On December 27th is when I took my equipment outside for the first time for a drive, at the outdoor parking lot at the Place Vertu mall. This was also the first time I broke my lighting umbrella due to the high winds outside. Talk about luck. Nevertheless, some cute stuff came out:
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The day right after, I told myself "Let's do this again, that was pretty fun!"
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And this is when the first idea of doing a 365 popped in my head. Just because I wanted to take so many creative/funny pictures in my own way, day after day, and show it to people. Entertain them. Entertain myself, and enjoying every single moment of thinking a concept, going to the planned location, taking the picture, rushing back home and editing it. But I still wasn't exactly sure.
On January 1st, 2010, I decided to throw a little photoshoot outdoors with a few friends since I started getting the hang of it. Nothing too creative, just some candid shooting for fun on new year. Came back home, and was VERY hesitating to start a 365. I've heard so many stories on how time sucking this project was, so much that people had to sacrifice so many things temporarily in their lives, and many even gave up midway because of the challenge it poses. So I decided... I wouldn't do it.
January 2nd, no shots. I'm not doing it.
January 3rd, no shots either. Regret comes slowly, and I'm hesitating again. People started their 2010 365 already, and I may have felt a bit dragged behind because of my constant hesitation.
January 4th. Screw this, I don't wanna wait for a whole year to start my project. What if something happens to me next year and I won't be able to anymore? Besides, I just wasn't that patient enough to wait. I'm doing it - and this is precisely why I'm missing Day 2 and 3. Blame it on the late decision.
The start of my project made me realize how fun everything was. Everyday thinking, shaping, creating, enjoying, showing, entertaining. I was SO motivated, that I would think a day ahead of the shot I was gonna take. Plan my location, my props, my concept. Giggle quietly in my corner, prepare everything, and get a good night's sleep for the epic shot tomorrow.
Everything was fun. People were enjoying my silly shots, giving encouragements, and I was alreay feeling accomplished to have started it strongly. Feeling accomplished.... really? Yes, and oh boy was I wrong to feel that way. But after a while, things started to change.
As many other things started coming in my life, they directly affected my mood, my activities, my daily schedule, causing a direct effect on my pictures - motivation-wise and time-wise. This is when I started realizing that this was no easy task to keep everything up and running for a year long. A YEAR. You don't really feel that it's too long, but it is. Just try counting down 365 days, daily.
I was getting fed up. Fed up because I was running out of ideas, fed up because I had to give up on an outing, give up on games time (lol), give up on sleeping time, give up on a lot of other things. And when my pictures turned out crappier than others, I would just bring myself down and try to find a good reason to keep doing the project. "The reward. Think of the reward.", I told myself. What reward? A mind reward. The REAL feeling of having accomplished the task at the end, and NOT at the beginning.
But I fought. I battled, I yelled, I got angry. I kept on taking pictures, whether good or bad, rinsing and repeating. Who cares, I just want to get everything over with. That project was REALLY becoming a hassle in my life. For example, my piano suffered from it. Back then, I used to practice about an hour daily, but ever since I started this... the last time I practiced probably goes back to half a year ago. Even more, maybe 9-10 months ago.
But as the time progressed and as I was accumulating pictures after pictures, I looked back at my album for fun, and at the not-so-past pictures I've taken. "Oh, I remember what I did on that day, haha." Then, this project suddently become like a diary. A story of my life. Not just meaningless captures that make people laugh, but captures that trigger back a set of memories in my head, partially reminiscing what happened on that day. Aren't pictures like a diary anyway? Yes they are. They're a visual diary of your life. They capture your memories. Looking back at them, you'll laugh, cry, feel uneasy. Remember. And let out a sigh. That's what happens when I look back at all the pictures I've taken during 2010. I keep sighing, because sometimes I can't let go of the past, though I know it's not good. I sigh because I miss what happened on that day, which will never come back. Every day we spend is lost, and can only remain in our memory. There'll never be a January 1st 2010 anymore. It's spent and buried. The pictures give me a warm feeling. And I just like it.
Putting all the mushiness aside, I've learned tons of stuff - not only about photography, but also about life. You have NO idea how much I learned, and HOW I did - which can be pretty funny if I list everything. I got kicked out so many times by some random security guards when trying to get some pictures. I've been stared at by so many bystanders who thought I was gonna shoot somebody with my "gun" camera. I broke so many equipment because the wind would always decide to blow strong when I would least expect it. I've annoyed so many people, asking them to help me with my daily shot. "How long will it take? Sighs..." to which I would answer "Don't worry dude, just 5 minutes!". 5 minutes which would become 15. Then 20. Then 30. I would feel so bad that I would treat them to a little something. Even when asking people to be part of my shots, some would complain. But they don't understand that they would be "engraved" in this project for life. And if they did and still complained, then I guess I didn't ask the right people. Lol.
Now that this project's over, I'm having mixed feelings. Sad because I'll miss everything I used to do. Happy because now I'll have much more time to spend on other things I've missed. Regret? Not a single one. Accomplished? You bet. Before starting this project, I wanted to offer the most creative shots I could offer. I wanted to make you all laugh. Look at pictures that you wouldn't find anywhere else. Concepts that would illustrate funny things in life that many of us wouldn't dare talking about. But I started getting tired of it. Shouldn't photography also be a way to express ourselves? It was. And that's what I did. At times, I spoke through my pictures. I couldn't really write how I felt, so I composed, then I snapped. I wrote my caption, and a little text along with it. A project 365 means different to whoever does it. To me, it's an accomplishment, a path to success, a way to entertain people, a way to express myself. A way to add some spice in people's lives - not only for you viewers, but for whoever were in my pictures as well, or simply helped me. If ever I have made you happier, made you look at things in different ways thanks to myself acting like a dork in many pictures, or simply writing statements of life.... then you make my heart warm.
I can't help but stress more how this project was such a hard task to finish. Anyone with a camera can do it. With any camera. It doesn't matter if you have a Hasselblad, a full-frame DSLR, a micro 4/3 or a crappy point and shoot. Your pictures are your expressions. You just have to create and model along your visions. Make a diary of your life daily. These pictures may not mean much now, but they gain so much value with time. Take a picture today of yourself, with your friends, family or lover. It won't mean much tomorrow. Nor will it the day after tomorrow. Next week? Maybe a bit more. Fast forward to 5 years, or 10 years after, then look back at the picture. You'll know what I mean.
I feel like I'm writing too much, lol. It reminds me of the old days when I had a Xanga. That's how I used to write. Thoughts spilling out and fingers typing away to my heart's content.
There's so many people I want to thank for either their constant support, encouragement or help.
Maisie, you helped me with so many pictures, supported me like no one else did, and made my life wonderful.
Ray, you're my right-hand. Always there when I need you, always willing to help and listen during tough times. I wish you the best of luck in your own 365 starting tomorrow!
Kris, the famous "Carter" guy in most of my Rush Hour shots. Thanks for also all the help and support, the philosophical talk and the endless starcraft 2 nights, lol.
My sister, who also helped me a lot in many of my shots when I needed (including the final shot), even if she's complaining.
Thai and Pascal, my 2 coworkers who got me into photography. Thanks for opening this world to me.
I might add some more text later on. If anyone ever got this far after reading everything above... you're quite the person.
Thanks to everyone else who I might have forgotten - I hope you guys enjoyed this project with all your heart, because I did. I might occasionally do some 365-ish shots next year, just not regularly. Maybe once a while - I'm NOT giving up on photography, so don't worry =)
Thanks again everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wish you all the best to your family and your loved ones!
-Jeremy-
Maker: Albert Hautecoeur
Born: France
Active: France
Medium: albumen print
Size: 3 1/2 in x 7 in
Location: France
Object No. 2020.320
Shelf: E-14-PARIS
Publication:
Other Collections:
Provenance: 48151
Rank: 6
Notes: A. Hautecoeur was a publisher and seller of photographs and prints located at 172 rue de Rivoli. The firm was originally founded by Aaron Martinet as Ancienne Maison Martinet. After his marraige to Martinet's daughter in 1822, Hermenégilde Hautecoeur took over running the firm in 1824. In later years the firm was run by the next generation, Eugène (1822-1870) and Alfred Hautecoeur (1824-1882), and the name Martinet was dropped. Prior to joining the firm Eugene and Alfred worked together from 1843 to 1867 under the name "Hautecoeur Brothers". From 1868, Alfred directs the publishing house at 172 rue de Rivoli, under the name "Ancienne maison Martinet" and Eugene at Boulevard des Capucines, under the name "Maison Martinet"
Locations of the shops are as follows: 1829: 13, 15 rue Coq-Saint-Honoré (until demolished by Hausmann). 1832: rue du Coq St. Honoré, No. 13 et 15 1830 (circa): rue du Coq (Hautcoeur[sic]-Martinet) 1848-1852 (circa): 15 rue du Coq 1848-1852 (circa): (Maison Martinet), rue du Coq 1848-1852 (circa): Maison Martinet, rue Vivienne, 41, et rue du Coq, 15 Then 1855: 146 rue de Rivoli, from 1862 no. 172 (known as Ancienne Maison Martinet). 41 rue Vivienne, later Boulevard des Capucines (known as Maison Martinet)
The shop still functioned in the rue de Rivoli, no.172, in 1991, selling modern reproductions, posters and a few old maps.
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