: photos on Flickr

Carnaby Street - London, UK

Traffic - Piccadilly Circus, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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Traffic - Piccadilly Circus, London, UK

The proud llama by Michel Renouleau

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With his litlle pompon, he crosses the road quietly, without worrying about the traffic, the air of nothing, as if to say to us: "I'm just passing by, do not pay attention to me"!

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Le lama fier

Avec son petit pompon, Il traverse tranquilement la route, sans se soucier de la circulation, l'air de rien, comme pour nous dire : "je ne fais que passer , ne faites pas attention à moi" !

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Route de La Paz à Ununi - Bolivie / La Paz to Uyuni road - Bolivia

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

City Hall, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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City Hall, London, UK

The Valley of the Moon by Michel Renouleau

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At the gates of La Paz, the Valley of the Moon is a sort of desert of rocks sculpted by the elements, with lots of fairy chimneys.

The site is well laid out with trails on which we can discover this geological curiosity.

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La Vallée de la Lune

Aux portes de la Paz, la Vallée de la Lune constitue une sorte de désert de rochers sculpté par les éléments, avec plein de cheminée de fées.

Le site est bien aménagé avec des sentiers sur lesquels on peut découvrir cette curiosité géologique.

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La Paz - Bolivie / La Paz - Bolivia

by Chris-Creations

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20 Fenchurch Street - London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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20 Fenchurch Street - London, UK

Indian village on Lake Titicaca by Michel Renouleau

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Tonight, we sleep in an Indian community on Lake Titicaca, we are at 3812 m (12507 ft) altitude .

A change of scenery guaranteed !

The comfort was rustic, and there was no heating to overcome the cold of the night at this altitude. But fortunately, big wool blankets locally made kept us warm.

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Village indien au bord du lac Titicaca

Ce soir , nous dormons dans une communauté indienne au bord du lac Titicaca, on est à 3812 m d'altitude. Un dépaysement garanti !

Le confort était rustique, et il n'y avait pas de chauffage pour pallier au froid vif de la nuit à cette altitude.

Mais heureusement, de grosses couverture en laine faites sur place nous ont tenu bien chaud.

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Lac Titicaca - Pérou / Lake Titicaca - Peru

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

Morning postcard of Machu Picchu by Michel Renouleau

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Carte postale matinale du Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu - Pérou / Machu Picchu - Peru

Light on Machu Picchu by Michel Renouleau

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An incredible light bathed Machu Picchu as we went down to the site. It illuminated and enhanced the unbelievable architecture of this outstanding Inca city, like a huge stone vessel on the mountain.

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Lumière sur le Machu Picchu

Une lumière incroyable baignait le Machu Picchu alors que nous descendions sur le site. Elle illuminait et mettait en valeur l'invraisemblable architecture de cette cité Inca hors du commun, comme un immense vaisseau de pierre posé sur la montagne.

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Machu Picchu - Chemin de l'Inca - Pérou / Machu Picchu - Inca trail - Peru

An amphitheater in the heart of the mountains by Michel Renouleau

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The Wiñay Wayna site is in an extraordinary setting.

The terraces of the city are gorgeous and form a huge amphitheater in front of a breathtaking view.

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Un amphithéatre au coeur des montagnes

Le site de Wiñay Wayna est dans un décor extraordinaire.

Les terrasses de la cité sont de toute beauté et forment un immense amphithéatre devant une vue à couper le souffle.

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Wiñay Wayna - Chemin de l'Inca - Pérou / Wiñay Wayna - Inca trail - Peru

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

Steel Stacks by paul blake

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SteelStacks - Bethlehem, PA

Blast furnaces are used to convert iron ore into pigs iron. An elevator loads the furnace with alternating layers of limestone and a mixture of iron ore and coke. The basic chemistry is the reaction of CO (carbon monoxide) and Fe2O3 (iron oxide) to create Fe (iron) and CO2 (carbon dioxide). Although the process generates large quantities of CO2, there is currently no economically reasonable substitute. Pigs iron is further processed to reduce it's carbon content, producing various grades of steel.

Bethlehem Iron was originally established as the Saucona Iron Company in 1857. In order to increase profitability, Bethlehem Steel Company was formed in 1899 under shared ownership (Bethlehem Iron) . After the sale of the Bethlehem Steel, to Charles M. Schwab, they became one company - Bethlehem Steel.

By the mid-1980's, foreign competition, failure to modernize and rising pension costs resulted in lost profitability - and site closure in 1995.

Currently, the site is a ten-acre campus dedicated to arts and culture know as SteelStacks. Over 1000 concerts and many festivals are held there every year.

iPhone, HDR mode - clouds appear clipped.

Affinity photo - image processing and removal of trapezoidal distortion.

50% resolution - cropped

IMG_6216_t15l25-3-dis_50r.jpg

Thank you for 250M views! by Chris-Creations

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

Mei in China by Chris-Creations

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

by Chris-Creations

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Reflect - Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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Reflect - Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, UK

20060730_043 by Chris-Creations

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

Edinburgh / Balmoral Clock / View from Calton Hill by Pantchoa

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Edinburgh / Calton Hill / Dugald Stewart Monument by Pantchoa

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Edinburgh / View from Calton Hill by Pantchoa

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We see bottom right of the photo :

Rock House

Built in the 1750s, Rock House is reputed to be one of the oldest houses in Edinburgh’s new town. It came to worldwide fame as the home of David Octavius Hill, the artist and pioneering photographer who in 1843 together with Robert Adamson developed the calotype process at Rock House.

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[ Raising dust ] by Marcos Jerlich

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In my previous photo I was face to face with this herd of cattle, and really after our curiosity they went away, rest after a long day.

I have been an absentee for personal reasons, but I love being here sharing my works and admiring, also, the works of my friends.

* I'm grateful for the visit, faves and comments of my photo.

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Thanks for visiting! Most photos are of Mei, my wife and muse.

Stair Maze (II) - Dorset Estate - George Loveless House, Bethnal Green, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

In a light concert by Michel Renouleau

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The most beautiful illuminations are those of nature. The beautiful Romanesque vessel of the 12th century stands out at sunset in its green setting.

Saint Magdalene church - 12th century - Charnay les Macon - South Burgundy - France

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Dans un concert de lumière

Les plus belles illuminations sont celles de la nature. Le beau vaisseau roman du 12ème siècle se détache au soleil couchant dans son écrin de verdure.

Eglise Sainte Madeleine - 12ème siècle - Charnay-Lès-Mâcon - Bourgogne du sud

Orb-Beat by Silke

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Light painting with Sabine.R as the "grand finale" of a photowalk at the Zitadelle Spandau / Spandau Citadel. As before, Sabine painted the orb while I was operating our cameras. This time I managed to capture the whole orb (the one before taken at a previous photowalk had been only half an orb, because I had made a mistake with the exposure on my camera; please see first comment). This orb still isn't perfectly captured, because I was a little too late with stopping the long exposure on my camera, but I actually like the colourful, rhythmic "afterglow" of Sabine's multicolour light painting flashlight, because it reminds me of a heartbeat as seen on a medical monitor. The vital signs look good, don't you agree?

Light Painting mit Sabine.R als krönender Abschluss eines Besuchs der (ansonsten fotografisch nicht so ergiebigen) Spandauer Zitadelle. Wie schon zuvor hatte hier wieder Sabine das Zepter bzw. die Taschenlampe geschwungen, während ich unsere Kameras bedient hatte. Hier habe ich den Orb aber erstmalig ganz auf's Bild bekommen (beim ersten Orb im Dezember '18 hatte ich bei mir die Belichtung ja versehentlich zu früh abgebrochen und so nur einen halben Orb aufs Bild bekommen; siehe ersten Kommentar). Zwar war ich hier dieses Mal sogar ein Tickchen zu spät mit dem Beenden meiner Belichtung, aber das "Nachleuchten" von Sabines Taschenlampe mit Farbwechsel, als sie diese schon wegpackte, erinnert mich an eine Herzlinie wie auf dem Monitor - und die Vitalparameter sehen doch gut aus, oder?

Impressive Norway by Frank van Dongen

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Lindesnes - Nearby the most southern lighthouse of Norway

More info: www.lindesnesfyr.no/en/

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www.tierpark-berlin.de/en/animals/details/white-handed-gi...

Stair Maze (II) - Dorset Estate - George Loveless House, Bethnal Green, London, UK

Just hanging around :) by Silke

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I think it's about time that I start to post some of the photos I took way back in July '18 at the Tierpark Berlin during a very nice photowalk with Sabine.R and marionrosengarten.

The gibbon has been voted "Zootier des Jahres 2019" (zoo animal of the year 2019) in Germany. Unknown to most of us, gibbons, who are hominids / family Hylobatidae (I didn't know that), are the most threatened species of smaller apes in the world. Especially significant habitat loss, excessive trade with gibbons as extravagant "articles of food" or "medicine" pose huge problems to the "singing climbers", plus the fact that baby gibbons are often sold as pets (after their mothers have been killed). The species protection campaign "Zootier des Jahres" supports two important gibbon protection programmes, one in Laos ("Project Anoulak"), and one in Vietnam.

For more info on gibbons, please check the Tierpark website (English):

And Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon

Light conditions on that day weren't good, it was a cloudy day with very diffuse and scattered "light", so the three of us struggled to get sharp and crisp captures, and this, while "OK sharp", though not sharp all over, was also rather grainy, especially the background, which is why I applied a soft glow effect to it, but masked the gibbon and his climbing frame out for better details.

Happy (Sliders) Sunday, Everyone, and have a relaxed new week ahead :-)

Einfach mal abhängen :-)

Es wird Zeit, dass ich Euch mal ein paar Fotos vom Berliner Tierpark zeige. Im Juli des vergangenen Jahres war ich dort zusammen mit Sabine.R und marionrosengarten. Für mich der erste Besuch des Tierparks. Im Bild seht Ihr einen Weißhandgibbon. Gibbons sind zum "Zootier des Jahres 2019" gewählt worden (den Link findet Ihr am Ende der Beschreibung). Die kleinen, in Asien beheimateten Menschenaffen, die ihr Revier durch Gesang markieren, sind insbesondere durch Verlust des Lebensraums und Jagd (sie werden als exotische "Delikatessen" oder "Medizin" verkauft, Baby-Gibbons werden auch als Haustiere verkauft, nachdem man ihre Mütter getötet hat) stark bedroht. Die (Spenden-)Kampagne Zootier des Jahres unterstützt zwei Projekte zum Schutz (nicht nur) der Gibbons, eines in Laos (Projekt "Anoulak") und eines in Vietnam.

Bei all den sonnigen, heißen Tagen des vergangenen Sommers hatten wir just den bewölkten Regentag für unseren Tierpark-Besuch erwischt; wegen des sehr diffusen "Lichts" (nennen wir es mal so) war es unglaublich schwierig, überhaupt richtig scharfe Fotos zu bekommen. Dieses ist "OK scharf", gerade so ;-) ; da insbesondere der Hintergrund auch recht körnig war, habe ich dafür per Maskierung einen "Glow"-Effekt angewendet.

Hier die Links:

zootierdesjahres.de/

www.tierpark-berlin.de/de/tiere/details/weisshand-gibbon

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbons

Ich wünsche Euch einen schönen (Rest-)Sonntag und eine entspannte neue Woche, liebe Flickr-Freunde!

Warp TV by Silke

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Here is the promised "non-Christmassy" version of the Berlin TV Tower framed by the Ferris wheel (please see first comment). Taken with the m.zuiko 25mm F/1.8. Another weird format, neither 1:1, nor any of the usual formats. I wanted to crop it to 1:1, but that took away too much of the night sky (which I think is needed as a balance) or would have left the TV Tower in an odd position. In the original 4:3 format the tower was sort of centered, but not quite, and there was a big metal strut of the Ferris wheel's construction in the left corner of the frame which I found distracting. Photoshop's content-based healing tool produced surprisingly good results when I tried to remove the strut, but it still looked unnatural, the motion-blurred circled light trails looked kind of topsy-turvy where precision work would have been necessary, and I couldn't get it right with the cloning brush, either, so all I could do was to crop it. I decided to go strictly for the rule of thirds as far as the TV tower is concerned which yielded this weird format :-)

Soundtrack, if you like:

Rush, The Big Wheel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtjLMQFTnhI

The Who, Circles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FeVTBLvPv8

Photowalk with Sabine.R, who has a similar capture in her stream.

Hier nun die versprochene "Weihnachts-freie" Version des Berliner Fernsehturms eingerahmt vom Riesenrad (siehe 1. Kommentar). Aufgenommen mit dem m.zuiko 25mm F/1.8. Wieder mal ein unübliches Format, nicht ganz 1:1 und auch sonst keins der gängigen Formate. Im 4:3-Original war der Fernsehturm fast in der Bildmitte, aber nur fast, und am linken Bildrand war eine der dicken Metallstreben der Riesenrad-Konstruktion zu sehen, die ich als störend empfand. Photoshops inhaltsbasiertes Korrekturwerkzeug (das Pflastersymbol) hat zwar erstaunlich gute Arbeit geleistet beim Versuch, das Metallteil wegzuretuschieren, aber die sehr exakten Rundungen der Lichtspuren waren einfach nicht hinzubekommen, auch nicht mit dem Klonstempel, also blieb mir nur, das Bild zu beschneiden. Ich habe mich hier, was die Position des Fernsehturms angeht, strikt an die Drittel-Regel gehalten; 1:1 hat mir, bei exakt platziertem Turm, zu viel vom Nachthimmel weggenommen, mit Nachthimmel wäre der Turm wieder seltsam platziert gewesen. Da blieb mir nur der Beschnitt auf dieses seltsame Format :-)

Begleitmusik, wenn Ihr mögt:

Rush, The Big Wheel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtjLMQFTnhI

The Who, Circles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FeVTBLvPv8

Fotowalk mit Sabine.R, die ein ganz ähnliches Foto in ihrem Stream hat :-)

Saint Mathieu by Frank van Dongen

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The pointe Saint-Mathieu (Lok Mazé in Breton) is a headland located near Le Conquet in the territory of the commune of Plougonvelin in France, flanked by 20m high cliffs.

The point also has a 56m high lighthouse, built in 1835.

The abbey held many privileges - right to rushes, right to furnaces, rights to a twelfth of jet, right to markets, right to fairs (Henry IV of France had instituted, in 1602, 5 annual fairs and a weekly market), right to measure wheat and wine, etc...

In 1157 Hervé de Léon accorded the abbey the right of flotsam and jetsam on wrecks in all his fiefdoms; in 1390 the abbey received the right to take 10% of the hull, cargo and rigging of wrecked ships. To this right were added the right of remains, confirmed in 1602 by royal letters patent. He accorded this right to the monks for "all those who perish in the sea, and on the coasts at Saint Mathieu, Plougonvelin and le Conquet".

Today abandoned, the Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre, was said to have held the skull of the apostle Matthew, now lost in the ocean off the point. Its ruins served as a set for the summer TV saga Dolmen.

More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_Saint-Mathieu

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THANK YOU ALL FOR REACHING 25 M VIEWS 👍👍👍

Bedankt / Thank you / Danke / Merci / Obrigado/ Grazie / Tak / Gracias ! / спасибо, ありがとう！ευχαριστώ 謝謝 Shukriya / شكرا / teşekkür / благодаря / kiitos / Multumesc / trugarez / Hvala / Շնորհակալություն / Terima kasih

Thank you also for your comments, faves and inspirational ideas which coming up looking at your pictures!

Topless | Oben ohne by Silke

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Crazy Tuesday: #NEW

Laowa C-Dreamer 7.5 F/2 | Photowalk with Sabine.R

Not taken this week, but I didn't get around to go out on a photowalk (ghastly weather, grey days, too) with my brand NEW ultra wide-angle lens, the Laowa C-Dreamer 7,5mm F/2. However, this one was taken with that new lens, so I hope it qualifies; I promise that I will take the capture in the week after a new theme will be announced the next time I participate :-)

Now for the title: You might wonder why I chose "Topless" as a title. Well, if you take a look at my capture of the Berliner Fernsehturm (Berlin TV Tower) taken from the platform of the Park Inn Hotel (please see first comment), and you take a closer look at the TV Tower's base in that capture, you will get an idea what this building is - yes, right: it's the TV Tower's base building complex which is used as an exhibition center ("Body Worlds", "Little BIG City"), it also houses restaurants and shops; the building on the right is the city hall of Berlin, known as Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). But where is the TV Tower? I seriously debated with myself whether I could actually dare to remove it from the capture or not. In the end I decided to upload the retouched version, as it gives the building a lighter, aerier look, almost that of a spaceship that has just landed. With the TV Tower (which you would normally see on the left upper corner behind the base building) it looked like a building on a stick from this point of view, and you wouldn't have seen much of the tower anyway. Please forgive my little Photoshop shenanigan :-) After all, photos don't lie, do they ;-) ?

And because two are always better than one, I would like to wish you all a very Happy 2019 once again, and a relaxed first week of January as well :-)

Oben ohne

Laowa C-Dreamer 7.5 F/2 | Fotowalk mit Sabine.R

Die Nicht-Berliner unter Euch werden sich vielleicht fragen, warum ich dieses Foto "Oben ohne" betitelt habe. Wenn Ihr Euch noch einmal mein Foto vom Berliner Fernsehturm anschaut, das ich von der Aussichtsplattform des Park Inns aufgenommen habe (im ersten Kommentar zu finden) und Euch dort einmal den Sockelbereich des Fernsehturms anschaut, könnt Ihr sehen, was dieses Gebäude ist - richtig: der Sockelkomplex des Berliner Fernsehturms. Der Komplex wird für Ausstellungen genutzt (u. a. "Körperwelten" und "Little BIG City"), er beherbergt außerdem Gastronomie und Läden; rechts vom Sockel ist das Berliner Rote Rathaus zu sehen. Aber wo ist der Turm? Eigentlich würdet Ihr ihn links hinter dem Sockelkomplex sehen. Ich habe lange darüber nachgedacht, ob ich ihn tatsächlich wegretouschieren soll oder nicht. Am Ende habe ich mich dafür entschieden. Aus dieser Perspektive sieht das Gebäude mit (ein ganz klein wenig) Turm wie ein Gebäude an einem Stock aus. Ohne den Turm wirkt es leichter, luftiger, fast wie ein Raumschiff, das gerade gelandet ist. Verzeiht mir meine kleine Photoshop-Schummelei. Fotos lügen doch nicht, oder ;-) ?

Und weil doppelt besser hält, möchte ich Euch an dieser Stelle auch noch einmal ein schönes neues Jahr und eine entspannte erste Januarwoche wünschen :-)

Starry (II) - Strand, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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Starry (II) - Strand, London, UK

Starry - Strand, London, UK by @davidgutierrez.co.uk

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