View allAll Photos Tagged ASTARTE
File name: Pagan Gods 2
Title: Pagan Gods: Astarte
Creator/Contributor: Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925 (artist); Boston Public Library (sponsor); Lanzel, Sheryl (photographer)
Genre: Paintings; Murals
Date created: 1890-1895
Physical description: 1 painting : mural, oil on canvas
Physical description notes: The artist used 'raised relief' elements - including wood, Lincrusta-Walton, metal, papier-mache, glass, and plaster to help emboss and illuminate the figures in natural light. Full 'Pagan Gods' vault measures approximately 431 x 102 inches.
Summary/Abstract: Visible in this eastern portion of the Pagan Gods arch is Astarte, the goddess of sensuality enrobed in swaths of light blue and adorned with jewels rendered in glass and metal relief. Astarte stands upon a thin crescent moon. Above her head, the pincers of a scarab beetle hold an orange orb, behind which lies the inverted face of the goddess Neith. The mother of the Universe, Neith's body forms the length of the ceiling, with her hands touching the eastern horizon, her zodiac neck plate crowning the arch, and her torso and legs extending downward to the west side of the vault.
General notes: Title from information in: Wick, Peter A. 'A handbook to the art and architecture of the Boston Public Library' and Sargent, John Singer, 'A sequence of mural decoration executed between 1895 and 1916.'; Abstract from information in: Sargent, John Singer, 'A sequence of mural decoration executed between 1895 and 1916.' and Promey, Sally M., 'John Singer Sargent's Triumph of Religion at the Boston Public Library.'
Date notes: A contract dated January 18, 1893 officially commissioned John Singer Sargent to undertake work on the Boston Public Library Murals. Canvases were completed in Sargent's studios in Morgan Hall, England and London, England and shipped over to Boston and adhered to the library walls in four installations occurring in 1895, 1903, 1916, and 1919.
Biographical/historical notes: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was born in Florence, Italy to an American family. He was educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and spent most of his life living and working in England. The artist maintained close ties to Boston and painted the Boston Public Library murals concurrently with murals at the nearby Museum of Fine Arts. Known for his aptitude as a portrait painter, Sargent was commissioned to capture many famous faces of his day. The library murals - arguably his most ambitious works - represented an opportunity to solidify his reputation as a master. He was not a highly religious man, but remained fascinated by religious imagery and iconography. 'Triumph of Religion' represented an opportunity for the mid-career artist to take on a truly ambitious theme and celebrate his study of religious visual history. His mural cycle was left incomplete, perhaps slowed by the artist's personal loss with the death of his niece in World War I, as well as by criticism received from members of the public who found his representations offensive.
Subjects: Religion; Gods; Astarte (Phoenician deity)
Collection: Mural Cycles at the Central Library in Copley Square
Location: Sargent Gallery Murals
Rights: Copyright (c) Sheryl Lanzel
Finally finished my Chapter Librarian in Terminator Armour! This was the finecast version so made sure to take my time and get in all the detail and the ornate armour. Though instead of finishing the whole armour in blue the right arm was painted in grey and shoulder in NMM gold to match the rest of the army. Thank you for looking and hope you like the model :)
The first of the Chapter's terminator squad! Basically used parts from the old Deathwing Terminator kit and created the commander. Instead of the sword went for the good old thunder hammer, just looks a little more menacing. Furthermore decided to change the colour scheme (again I know!) and went for red instead of the grey that I have been using. Due to this the current set of models are going to repainted so watch this space! As always thanks for looking and let me know what you think :)
Ostraka from Deir el Medina.
The foreign goddess Astarte, riding side-saddle on a horse and a seated cat.
The time period for these ostraka was the 19th dynasty and for the cat ostrakon was just written New Kingdom, both from Deir el-Medina.
E.GA.4290.1943 and E.GA.3859.1943
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
World Eaters Chaos Kharybdis. This model took some sweet time to complete. A lot of small convesion work adding World Eaters and Khorne iconography, sculpting the golden trims etc. Gorgeous piece of Forge World engineering.
..Το φθινόπωρο τελείται υποδειγματικά.
Ολόκληρος ο κόσμος ένα φύλλο που πέφτει και πέφτει...
Πάνος Καπετανάκης
Everlast - Astarte(www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4wMWwhpJL8)
APHRODITE:
Aphrodite[a] is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus[citation needed], which is named after the Roman goddess Venus, with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans.
The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of "sacred prostitution", an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (aphrós) produced by Uranus's genitals, which his son Cronus has severed and thrown into the sea. In Homer's Iliad, however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Plato, in his Symposium 180e, asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania (a transcendent, "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and metalworking. Despite this, Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; in the Odyssey, she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares, the god of war. In the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, she seduces the mortal shepherd Anchises. Aphrodite was also the surrogate mother and lover of the mortal shepherd Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar. Along with Athena and Hera, Aphrodite was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War and she plays a major role throughout the Iliad. Aphrodite has been featured in Western art as a symbol of female beauty and has appeared in numerous works of Western literature. She is a major deity in modern Neopagan religions, including the Church of Aphrodite, Wicca, and Hellenismos.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite
www.theoi.com/Olympios/Aphrodite.html
Perge Ancient City Photo album :
www.flickr.com/photos/feridun_f_alkaya/albums/72157688568...
Description
Each of the works exhibited in the Antalya Archeology Museum, which is considered one of the leading museums of not only Turkey, but also the world, is among the masterpieces of its kind. Undoubtedly the main source of this wealth is Antalya’s location which is one of the first places where human traces are seen in Anatolia, hosting the magnificent cities of Lycia, Roman and Byzantine civilizations and witnessing continuously the history of mankind. The Neanderthal skeleton fragments unearthed in Karain Cave, the magnificent sculptures found in Perga which is one of the sculpture production centers of the Antique Age, Elmalı coins which are called the ‘Treasure of the Century’, and the finds discovered during the excavations in the St. Nicholas Church, i.e. Santa Claus Church, are priceless. The Museum was selected as the ‘Museum of Year’ in 1988 by the European Council and received the ‘Excellence Award’ in 2016 thanks to its artifacts.
* Weary Heracles*
This piece, an AC-2nd-century copy of the sculpture made by Lysippos who is the famous sculptor of the 4th century BC, belongs to Perga ancient city, known for sculpturing. The lower part the sculpture was found during the excavations in 1980, whereas the upper part, which was illegally smuggled abroad, was brought back to its homeland in 2011 and the two parts were combined. It depicts Heracles leaning on his club after beating the Nemean lion which was impervious to all weapons. Although there are 60 copies of this sculpture, known as ‘Heracles Farnese’ from the Roman Period, the specimen exhibited in the Antalya Archaeological Museum is considered to be superior to others in terms of workmanship.
Emperors’ Hall
The sculptures of Roman emperors, all of which were found during excavations in the ancient city of Perga, are among the masterpieces of Roman art. The Dancer Sculpture, which is a symbol of Antalya Museum, is exhibited here besides the emperor sculptures. This sculpture, which was assembled after being discovered in pieces, is one of the most admired works of the Museum with its monumentality and fine details and vitality.
Sarcophagi Hall
Sarcophagi in which important and wealthy people in general were placed after death in the Antique Age are also the works that reflect their understanding of art. A few floral motifs and also some very complex figures are used in the decoration on these sarcophagi. Most of the sarcophagi that can be seen in the Sarcophagi Hall belong to the ancient city of Perga. The most popular ones are the Sarcophagus of Domitias belonging to a married couple apparently not separated after death, the Heracles Sarcophagus depicting the 12 tasks of Heracles, and the Garland Sarcophagus decorated with floral motifs.
Hall of Coin, Small Artifacts and Icons
The most significant parts of this part of the Museum are ‘Elmalı Coins’ which are called the ‘Treasure of the Century’. The most precious pieces that make this collection valuable, including coins issued by the cities comprising the union against the Persians, are monumental coins, which are very rare all over the world, issued when the Greeks defeated the Persians. In the hall, you can see the coins of all civilizations in Antalya’s rich history, finds unearthed in shipwrecks, jewelry and icons, as well as the Anatolian coin minting tradition and techniques.
Dørvogteren Romas stele viet til gudinden Astarte
Fundsted ukendt. Kalksten.
18. dynasti, ca. 1400-1365 f. Kr.
_______________________________________
The Stele of Roma the Doorkeeper Dedicated the Goddess Astarte
Findspot unknown. Limestone. 18th Dynasty, c. 1400-1365 BC.
________________________________________
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root glyphein, to carve, and theke, storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection represents the private art collection of Carl Jacobsen (1842–1914), the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries.
Primarily a sculpture museum, as indicated by the name, the focal point of the museum is antique sculpture from the ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, including Egypt, Rome and Greece, as well as more modern sculptures such as a collection of Auguste Rodin's works, considered to be the most important outside France. However, the museum is equally noted for its collection of paintings that includes an extensive collection of French impressionists and Post-impressionists as well as Danish Golden Age paintings.
The French Collection includes works by painters such as Jacques-Louis David, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas and Cézanne, as well as those by Post-impressionists such as van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Bonnard. The museum's collection includes all the bronze sculptures of Degas, including the series of dancers. Numerous works by Norwegian-Danish sculptor Stephan Sinding are featured prominently in various sections of the museum.
Source: Wikipedia
Click on the image for full resolution!
Part of the "Pagan Gods" seection on the north wall of John Singer Sargent's massive mural sequence, "The Triumph Of Religion."
Sargent resorted to a little bit of special effects wizardry. The highest sections of the mural have these gilded pieces and jewels applied to them, to help them catch the light and pop from the dim ceiling.
THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia.
Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is...
er...
the biggest plague on the planet, destroyer of all other animal species wherever possible after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility.
Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London. The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons.
They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionaly killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dippeds into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy.
Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time.
By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market.
Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.
They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials. They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire. Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him.
In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture.
The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician traditiuon and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also. Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons.
They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama. Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons. The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons.
In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogamous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives.
They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum. They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams).
No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.485+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 5th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1332113402 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,497th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty five metres at 09:11am on an overcast summer morning on Tuesday 3rd August 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult Feral or town pigeon, a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 340mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture: f/7.1 iso400 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (5040k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.25s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.54s
ALTITUDE: 55.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 47.20MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Baalbek, Lebanon.
As early as 9000 BC, Baalbek was a place for worship and became a cornerstone of ancient civilizations. Located in modern day Lebanon, the ruins stand tall as an archaeological wonder with towering monuments and impressive columns.
Up until 150 BC, the site was a temple dedicated to the Phoenician Astarte and Baal. It is not hard to imagine that the wreaths and sacrifices carried out for Astarte the goddess of fertility and war were then shifted to Venus during the Roman colonization. Subsequently, the temple was brought into the Christian era with Constantine the Great’s influence on the Roman Empire. That is up until 637 AD when Islamic rule led to the use of the site as a reinforced fortress and a Mosque was added.
Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek
The decline of these ruins began when the temple passed to the Ottoman Empire, it was abandoned and left in ruins. In addition, earthquakes, storms and natural forces continued to tear the site apart until 1898. That year marked a visit from the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who pioneered the attempt of restoring Baalbek and preserving it.
In terms of architecture the greatest temples at the site are the Temples of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. The sheer magnitude of these have created something of a puzzle for archaeologists as they continuously theorize as to how rocks of this grandeur could have been carved and assembled. For example, the temple of Jupiter is surrounded by 54 columns which stand at nearly 23 meters high and are considered some of the largest in the world. The temple of Bacchus stands out from the rest as it is so well preserved and is adorned with beautiful carvings that date back to the Roman Empire.
Baalbek, Ruins
Today, the ruins of Baalbek still stand as one of Lebanon’s most prized historical treasures. The place is always alive with music festivals and folklore-related activities. Tourists and locals alike flock for the chance of seeing the picturesque sunset behind those ancient columns. Walking through this sacred site, one can’t help but picture all the different peoples who have worshiped here at the alters of their Gods.
For video, please visit youtu.be/76bkHN7xfxQ
As a new blogger for Spellbound hair I thought I would make a post! I found Astarte, a group gift hair inside the shop, and its so cute! It has 2 clip options and you can change their color. There are 3 different color huds included too! I’m still wearing my Utilizator Venus Head and Maitreya body copy because I love it so much. Enfer Sombre makes such pretty skins! I never want to take off Altair’s strap heels or Pixicat’s Bastet dress either! TP: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raven%20Wood/122/96/23
THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia.
Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is...
er...
the biggest plague on the planet, destroyer of all other animal species wherever possible after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility.Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace.
It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London. The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons. They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionally killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dipped into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time.
By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market.
Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.
They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials. They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire. Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him.
In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture. The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician tradition and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also.
Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons. They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama. Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons. The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons. In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogomous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives. They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum. They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.415+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 11th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1323682664 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,309th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty three metres at 09:49am on a beautiful summer morning on Tuesday 8th June 2021, of a magnificent Feral or town pigeon (Columba livia), off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 420mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/8.0 iso200 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (5070k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.16s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.48s
ALTITUDE: 53.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 43.00MB
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia.
Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, and so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers, both gods like Ares, and men like Anchises. Aphrodite also became instrumental in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis' lover and his surrogate mother. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite.
Conversions based on the new Chaos Havocs box and Vrosh Tattersoul from Dark Vengeance. Thunder hammers were made with bits from AoS Skullreapers.
Conversions based on the new Chaos Havocs box and Vrosh Tattersoul from Dark Vengeance. Thunder hammers were made with bits from AoS Skullreapers.
THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia. Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is... er...
the biggest plague on the planet after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility. Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London. The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons. They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionaly killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dippeds into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time. By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market. Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image. They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials.
They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire. Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him. In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture. The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician tradition and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also. Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons. They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama.
Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons. The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons. In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogamous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives. They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum. They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.683+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 5th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1332162489 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,169th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty seven metres at 15:46pm on an overcast summer afternoon on Tuesday 3rd August 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult Feral or town pigeon, a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 340mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture: f/7.1 iso320 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4920k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.20s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.71s
ALTITUDE: 57.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 46.70MB
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Battle-Brother in Tactical Squad Arcadius, Ultramarines Third Company. Leader of Second Combat Squad.
Ivory carving possibly of Phoenician origin of a sacred prostitute, found at Nimrud in modern-day Iraq
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud_ivories
at the British Museum, London
My third Rhino. Based on the Deimos kit from Forge World and converted using green stuff and etched brass.
I was browsing through my photo archives from previous cross-dressing sessions when I came across a batch of pictures taken in February 2009. I was fifty years of age at that point and had been cross-dressing for nine years, albeit very rarely. It brought memories of my aspirations back then to try and achieve a real world female appearance. By that I mean I was very keen to pass myself off as being a woman rather than an overly glam cross-dressing look.
I don't have the smoothest skin and I have a dark beard shadow I have to disguise. I love the challenge of using make-up to try and create a female face as I want to look the part in person if I were to actually be face top face with people. To this end I approached my make-up in a more understated way. I am actually wearing a lot of make-up in this shot but it's mainly my foundation coverage. I was trying a new technique for foundation at that time. I had been chatting with a friend who is ca make-up artist and she was telling me about using spray on foundation using a compressor and airbrush applicator. Well, I simply had to try this for myself!
After covering my beard shadow in bright red lipstick I began spraying on the foundation in small circular motions to my face. The coverage was much smoother than if I used a foam applicator and panstick foundation. It actually felt really nice the way it dried and covered my skin with no streaks being visible using this technique. I loved it! My confidence truly soared within me seeing m skin with this foundation applied. I did apply some subtle false eyelashes to my upper eye and I had plucked my eyebrows earlier that day. I then used soft smudged eyeliner band applied mascara to my lashes. A subtle shading of blusher on my cheeks was next followed by lipstick which I applied with a brush. IMy top lip is slightly overdrawn to give the impression of slightly bigger lips followed by a coating of lip gloss...
By this point I was desperate to get my big on and dress in female clothing. I felt I had crossed the gender line and become close to the woman I like to free from within me. I chose a skirt suit and high heels and a tailored woman's shirt. The style back in 2009 was to wear the shirt collar on the outside of a jacket. It was a look I totally loved and still do.
I felt the next step was to work on my presentation from within. I now had the make-up on, the hair, the clothes and the shoes and after painting my nails I decided I had to project from within that I was a woman not a man dressed up. I had to become her as I felt this would make my portrayal more real. I created a wee back story for myself. I was a business woman, married with grown up children and enjoyed myself immensely doing this. It astarte off as a performance yet soon became rather more the that. I enjoyed being the woman and realised later I was actually a man and all this outward appearance was an illusion.
The experience was amazing and I admit it felt a bit odd to dress in male clothing again and not be wearing any make-up! I had preferred being female to male and felt empowered as a woman and more confident and alive. I do dream of looking feminine and wish I did not look male. I have commitments and responsibilities soothers in my male life and that takes priority over my own desires to spend time being a woman. I do feel very fortunate that at times I can express my female self and can go the whole way with shaving off my body hair, shaping my eyebrows and wear make-up and use breast forms, hip shapers and genital tuckinmg. I love the experience and commitment and escaping the male side and embracing my female persona.
To the south of the Amun Temple, is a smaller enclosure where goddess Mut, god Khonsu and goddess Astarte (an Asiatic goddess) were worshipped. The temple was built by Siamun from the 21st dynasty and Apries from the 26th dynasty. And even later it was restored by Ptolemy IV .
There was found a sacred lake at this site in 2009. It is the second sacred lake found at Tanis.