Martial Arts Achiever and Combat Sports
View allAll Photos Tagged Achieved
RKO_3803. How extraordinary is it to watch these beautiful and colorful little birds doing their diving act!
This male Common Kingfisher achieved its goal and had a wonderful, though relatively small, meal!
It was a challenge (and objective) to get some nice shots of the diving Kingfisher and I guess I too achieved my objectives.
Copyright: Robert Kok. All rights reserved!
More of my work and activities can be seen on my website: robertkokphotography.com
Please do not use my photos on websites, blogs or in any other media without my explicit permission.
Thanks for visiting, commenting and faving my photos. Its very much appreciated!
Don't limit yourself.
Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do.
You can go as far as your mind lets you.
What you believe, remember, you can achieve.
~ Mary Kay Ash ~
No I'm not an elephant... ☺
but this is Based on THIS PICTURE
Taken on the beautiful Elvion
My least favourite type of weather, is an overcast sheet of white across the entire sky, featureless, boring and annoying, plus seemingly it lasts forever! So, one thing I know when I have perused other photos against such a backdrop, is that they can look like watercolour paintings. This is what I wanted to achieve in this shot.
However, much to my luck, a Bumblebee flew into the shot just as I hit the shutter down and thus, this is the result, I couldn't be happier. The slightly out of focus Bee accentuates to the image I wanted to create, a water painting without heavy software manipulation; sometimes in photography you can just get lucky!
I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you!
Click on Image to Enlarge !!!
The composition of this image was achieved IN CAMERA using an Apple iPhone 4S. Post capture processing was indeed done, but only involving the treatment of light and colour. By "breaking the rules" of the iPhone's panoramic function, the image can be skewed, splintered or fragmented into a multi-planarity that could, perhaps be called a form of "Millennial Cubism".
Please see the Flickr group "PANO-Vision" to view a gallery of images created by 20 artists ( and counting ) who are deliberately working in this mode of image creation.
© Richard S Warner ( Visionheart ) - 2015. All Rights Reserved. This image is not for use in any form without explicit, express, written permission.
... cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Topaz Studio
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Use without permission is illegal.
Please, don't fave and run, you will get yourself blocked.
MY Anthurium Bicolor
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~ Helen Keller.
if you don't, you have achieved half your failure :-)
David Ambrose
HFF!!
rose, 'Dream Come True', little theater rose garden. raleigh, north carolina
Quechee, VT
10-15-2019
Photographed from the covered bridge over the river right as the three balloons from Quechee Balloon Rides begin their ascent.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).
Probably the most quoted verse in all the Bible, but how many will heed His call? How many will turn from their sin, and trust Jesus Christ to save them? This is the most important decision you could ever make. Won't you do it today? If you should have any questions, please feel free to text me on my Flickrmail today. I would be more than happy to help you.
"Go sound the horn; strike up the choir; a sinner is saved--saved from the fire; no more in darkness--He's received my Son; all Heaven's rejoicing!; that's the value of one!"
Rose Garden
Point Defiance Park
Tacoma, Washington
071020
© Copyright 2025 MEA Images, Merle E. Arbeen, All Rights Reserved. If you would like a copy of this, please feel free to contact me through my FlickrMail, Facebook, or Yahoo email account. Thank you.
***************
This photograph has achieved the following highest awards:
DSLR Autofocus, Hall of Fame (10)
DSLR Autofocus, MASTER of Photography (15)
DSLR Autofocus, GRANDMASTER of Photography (7)
Sieben kecke Schnirkelschnecken
saßen einst auf einem Stecken,
machten dort auf ihrem Sitze
kecke Schnirkelschneckenwitze.
Lachten alle so:
"Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!"
Doch vor lauter Ho-ho-Lachen,
Schnirkelschneckenwitze-Machen,
fielen sie von ihrem Stecken:
alle sieben Schnirkelschnecken.
Liegen alle da.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Josef Guggenmoos
Thank you very much for all your nice visits, comments and favourites! ❤
1955 Nash Ambassador Country Club.
After Nash rolled out its Airflyte body style, Ambassador sales enjoyed a significant gain by selling just four- and two-door sedans in the 1949-1951 marketplace. They were manufactured at the Nash Factory (Kenosha, WI), and the Nash Factory (El Segundo, CA).
Airflyte styling entered its final season with the heavily facelifted 1955 versions, created under the direction of Edmund E. Anderson. "Scenaramic" wrap-around windshields accompanied an entirely new front-end treatment with a new oval grille incorporating the headlights. The front fenders featured raised front wheel arches that showed more of the front wheel and tire than Nash had revealed since the 1949 models debuted.
Ambassadors were now available with a V8 engine for the first time. The engine was supplied by Packard as part of George W. Mason's vision to have Packard join AMC to help achieve the economies of scale of the domestic Big Three automakers. The 320 cu in (5.2 L) V8 produced 120 hp (89 kW; 122 PS) and mated to Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission.
Never stop achieving your goals... even if others try to modify your essence...
BODY TATTOO
Landgraff - Sirius Cyberware Tattoo
TOKYO ZERO- Goth Round / OPEN MAR 10TH 8:00 AM SLT
❤Sponsor Vulnus store.❤
(For the link to work, copy the address and paste it into the address bar of your browser without @.)
➡ Vulnus
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Embrace%20the%20Ocean/253/64/22
👪Group: secondlife:///app/group/6579ceff-4576-a764-7e76-daf2a0534752/about
👲Owner/Creator: www.flickr.com/photos/192036763@N05
In game: 2876aaa2-a0e6-47fb-a14a-fc50317894f9 Vᴜʟɴᴜs (vulnuscouture)
HEAD:
Hair: Exile:: Shiloh www.flickr.com/photos/kavarcleanslate/51856866663/in/date...
Creator: dc9e7c01-9cd9-44ca-ae5f-f27c6a7968d3 Kavar Cleanslate www.flickr.com/photos/54832439@N03/
BODY:
❗Top/pants: from Vulnus Naris Set ( Size for: Legacy, LaraX, Maitreya, Waifu, Reborn, PetiteX, Perky ) Shown on Legacy. www.flickr.com/photos/192036763@N05/53511357124/in/datepo...
(❗❗❗ATTENTION❗❗❗ You can find these clothes at Swank Events 98a319d0-f551-4f88-136f-e4d7ff47e185 @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Swank%20Events/127/126/38 186b4733-dba8-4222-973b-31032d344eb9 SEBiz2015 www.flickr.com/groups/swank_events_sl_catalogue/ www.flickr.com/groups/swank_sl/pool/ :)
CP 7018 and UP 6310 guide Canadian Pacific train 286 South passed all the Milwaukee artifacts at Rondout Tower. Two heritage units from different era's.
Rondout, IL
2020.08.15
Kerala - at the time of Sunrise.
IN FLICKR EXPLORE ON 02-09-2014.
www.flickr.com/photos/59670248@N05/14933495387/in/explore...
______________________________________________________________________ _______________
Copyright © learning.photography.
All rights reserved. All images contained in this Photostream remain the property of learning.photography and is protected by applicable Copyright Law. Any images from this Photostream may not be reproduced, copied, or used in any way without my written permission.
Thanks for your Visit, Comments, Favs and Awards !
Where Rank is specified underneath any Explored Photo, that means that is the highest Rank achieved in Explore.
No private group or multiple group invites please !
Those who have not uploaded any photograph yet, or have uploaded a very few photographs, should not mark me Contacts or comment on my photo. I may block them.
______________________________________________________________________ _______________
Taken on November 6, 2016.
NEA MAKRI - ΝΕΑ ΜΑΚΡΗ.
Nea Makri is located in the northeastern part of Attica, Greece.
It is a small, picturesque coastal resort town about 32 km from Athens, and exactly 10 km from Marathon (the starting point of the classic Marathon run).
Thanassis Fournarakos - Θανάσης Φουρναράκος
Professional Photographer, Athens, Greece
(retired in 2011, born in 1946).
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
None of my images may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, manipulated or used on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission. THANK YOU!
This photograph has achieved the following highest awards:
* GALAXY HALL OF FAME
On one of our outtings earlier this year, Jannie was encouraged to "go find a stick" in the nearby woods. This is what he found...
Taken in April 2007.
This Brown Pelican was seen at Malibu Lagoon State Beach. It took a while to achieve take-off, but it was worth it.
*Working Towards a Better World
Peace is the marriage of the people and the planet, with all attendant vows. - Anonymous
Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are. - Hafsat Abiola
In some ways, the challenges are even more daunting than they were at the peak of the cold war. Not only do we continue to face grave nuclear threats, but those threats are being compounded by new weapons developments, new violence within States and new challenges to the rule of law. -
Kofi Annan
There is no time left for anything but to make peacework a dimension of our every waking activity. - Elise Boulding
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! xo💜💜
Nombre común: El nictibio urutaú, ave bruja, acudo, nictibio, guajojó, potoo, perosna, urutaú común, guaiguîgué, pájaro fantasma, pájaro bruja, kakuy, cacuy, pericoligero, pájaro estaca menor, ayaymama, bien parado, estaquero común.
Nombre cientifico: Nyctibius griseus
Nombre en ingles: Common Potoo
Nombre en alemán: Urutau Tagschläfer
Nombre en francés: Ibijau gris
Lugar de la Foto: El Rosario Condominio, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia.
This beauty of a species, considered in the past as the "bird of ill omen", is today the complete opposite. We will make this known in the text that is being edited, called MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF BIRDS, The new paradigm, which will be available to bird lovers very soon.
We have achieved the photograph thanks to the invitation to their home, made by our friend Antonio Upegui and his wife. For them, my public recognition and thank you very much.
Esta belleza de especie, considerada en el pasado como el “pájaro de mal agüero”, es hoy todo lo contrario. Esto lo daremos a conocer en el texto que se está editando, llamado MITOS Y LEYENDAS DE LAS AVES, El nuevo paradigma, que muy pronto estará disponible para los amantes de las aves.
La fotografía la hemos conseguido gracias a la invitación a su casa, realizada por nuestro amigo Antonio Upegui y su esposa. Para ellos mi reconocimiento público y muchas gracias.
I have finally finished my course and would like to share my final submissions with you. This is the first inspired by Andy Warhol.
1.Fifteen.
“In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.”
(Andy Warhol)
In today’s world of social media platforms, people are searching for their 15 minutes of fame. Celebrities seem to be the new gods. They are lauded and applauded. They are made larger than life and are given the gloss of perfection.
I chose to create a pop art photo of a singer song writer who could have achieved his 15 minutes of fame. I thought that by using vibrant colours and the same image, on vibrantly coloured backgrounds and applying different blendes, I could create a shot suggestive of the exaltation given to celebrities.
After months of working out, I’ve definitely achieved my summer athletic body for Rio de Janeiro! Huge thanks to my coach and personal trainer, Fizz Savira, for helping me reach this goal!😄
Join the PRIMA Wave! Stand Out! Be Unique!
Body: *PRIMA* Femme Elite v1.6 (New Materials for PRIMA Elite - using Athletic Sweat + Oil)
Skin: [theSkinnery] Antonia (LeLutkaEvoX) toffee and [theSkinnery] Luna BodySkin for Prima
Nails: *PRIMA* Fierce claw nails
Head: LeLUTKA EvoX AVALON
I wonder how people think the World's biggest problems will be solved if we can't get people to stop littering.
It's quite easy. Don't drop litter. Yet it cannot be achieved.
Hello there. Relevant comments welcome but please do NOT post any link(s). All my images are my own original work, under my copyright, with all rights reserved. You need my permission to use any image for ANY purpose.
Copyright infringement is theft.
To view more of my images, taken at Fowey, in Cornwall, please click "here" !
From very deep in the Achieves!
Please, do not insert images, and or group invites; thank you!
Bodinnick (meaning fortified dwelling) is a riverside village in south-east Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. According to the Post Office the population of the 2011 Census was included in the civil parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey. It is a fishing village situated on the east bank of the River Fowey opposite the town of Fowey, also on the banks of the Fowey River. The ferry crossing is from Fowey to Bodinnick and the "Old Ferry Inn" is located on its bank glorified as "in the heart of Du Maurier country". This ferry terminal is said to have existed since the 13th century.
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. At the time of the 2001 census, it had a population of 2,273.This had increased slightly at the 2011 census to 2,395 The Fowey electoral ward had a population of 4,690 in 2011. The Domesday Book survey at the end of the 11th century records manors at Penventinue and Trenant, and a priory was soon established nearby at Tywardreath. Circa 1300 the prior granted a charter to people living in Fowey itself. This medieval town ran from a north gate near Boddinick Passage to a south gate at what is now Lostwithiel Street; the town extended a little way up the hillside and was bounded on the other side by the river where merchants had their houses backing onto the waterfront. The natural harbour allowed trade to develop with Europe and local ship owners often hired their vessels to the king to support various wars, although the town also developed a reputation for piracy, as did many others at this time. A group of privateers known as the 'Fowey Gallants' were given licence to seize French vessels during the Hundred Years' War. In the 14th century the harbour was defended by 160 archers; after these were withdrawn, two blockhouses were built on either side of the harbour entrance. Despite these defences the town was attacked by French forces in 1457. Place House, by the church, was successfully defended against the French but subsequently strengthened. This building still exists, but much remodelled. A small castle was built on St Catherine’s Point, the western side of the harbour entrance, around 1540. The defences proved their worth when a Dutch attack was beaten off in 1667. The people of Fowey generally sided with the Royalists during the English Civil War, but in 1644 the Earl of Essex brought a Parliamentarian army to Lostwithiel and occupied the peninsula around Fowey. In August, a Royalist army surrounded Essex’s troops and King Charles I himself viewed Fowey from Hall Walk above Polruan, where he came close to being killed by a musket shot. On 31 August, the Parliamentarian cavalry forced their way through the Royalist lines and retreated towards Saltash, leaving the foot soldiers to be evacuated by sea from Fowey. Essex and some officers did indeed escape, but the majority of the force surrendered a few days later near Golant and were then marched to Poole, but most died before reaching there. The fortunes of the harbour became much reduced, with trade going to Plymouth and elsewhere instead. Fishing became more important, but local merchants were often appointed as privateers and did some smuggling on the side. Tin, copper and iron mines, along with quarries and china clay pits became important industries in the area which lead to improvements at rival harbours. West Polmear beach was dug out to become Charlestown harbour circa 1800, as was Pentewan in 1826 Joseph Austen shipped copper from Caffa Mill Pill above Fowey for a while before starting work on the new Par harbour in 1829. Fowey had to wait another forty years before it saw equivalent development, but its natural deep-water anchorage and a rail link soon gave it an advantage over the shallow artificial harbours nearer to the mines and china clay works. Meanwhile, a beacon tower was erected on the Gribben Head by Trinity House to improve navigation into Fowey and around Par bay. The Fowey Harbour Commissioners were established by an Act of Parliament in 1869, to develop and improve the harbour. On 1 June in that year, the 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway was opened to new jetties situated above Carne Point, and in 1873, the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) opened a line from Newquay and Par to further jetties between Caffa Mill Pill and Carne Point. Both of these railways initially carried just goods, but on 20 June 1876, a passenger station was opened on the CMR on land reclaimed from Caffa Mill Pill. The Lostwithiel line closed at the end of 1879 but was reopened by the CMR as a standard gauge line in 1895, and the short gap between the two lines at Carne Point was eliminated. Passenger trains from Par were withdrawn after 1934 and from Lostwithiel in 1965. The Par line was subsequently converted to a dedicated roadway for lorries bringing china clay from Par after which all trains had to run via Lostwithiel.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.
.
.
Follow me on FACEBOOK
.
.
.
WEBSITE .......: www.jeansurprenant.com
.
.
.
BUY or LICENCE IT HERE
.
.
.
My GETTY IMAGES work
.
.
.
Thanks for the visits, comments, awards, invitations and favorites. Please don't use my images on websites, blogs or others medias without my explicit permission.
Thanks!
© All rights reserved
My technique is alway the same:
Three exposures -2EV, 0, +2EV and then temperature adjustement using Lightroom and layering with luminosity mask using photoshop. Removal of distracting stuff with the stamp tool or patch tool. High pass filter to enhance details. Then saturation, contrast selectively control, dodge and burn where need...
DRI stand for Dynamic Range Increase. Three RAW files are used to achieve this. Rather than using a software like Photomatix for instance, I simply use mask to blend, my own way, the light, dark and normal shot with Photoshop and Lightroom.. To me, It looks more natural than the usual HDR treatment that I would normally applied.
Merci pour les visites, commentaires, récompenses, invitations et favoris. S.V.P. n'utilisez pas mes images sur des sites web, blogs ou autres médias sans ma permission.
Merci!
© Tous droits réservés
Ma technique est toujours la même:
Trois prises de vue -2EV, 0, +2EV. Ensuite ajustement de la température de couleur avec Lightroom et usage de calques et masques de luminosités avec Photoshop. Retrait d'éléments de distraction avec l'outil tampon. Filtre High pass pour le rehaussement des détails. Ensuite saturation et contraste ajustés de façon sélectives et locales. Dodge and burn là où requis...
DRI vient de l'anglais Dynmic Range Increase, qui pourrait se traduire par étendue dynamique améliorée. Les même 3 fichiers RAW entrent dans la composition d'un DRI. Plutôt que de se servir d'un logiciel comme Photomatix qui fait tout le travail, je me sers plutôt de masques pour filtrer l'éclairage dans photoshop et Lightroom. De mon point de vue, cette façon de faire donne une image plus naturel que le traitement HDR que j'employais auparavant.
.
.
.
Follow me on FACEBOOK
.
.
.
WEBSITE .......: www.jeansurprenant.com
.
.
.
BUY or LICENCE IT HERE
.
.
.
My GETTY IMAGES work
Now for something completely different. There are 3 ways to achieve vortex star trails though all require some sort of composite because otherwise the foreground is distorted.
1) In camera, yes it can be done. This requires that you build a device attached to a motor and gears to grab the zoom ring and make tiny changes to the zoom through a sequence of star field shots. Nobody sells such a device so only DIY. For me, no way, my mechanical abilities are zilch.
2) Take a sequence of star trail images over an hour or two and then in software shrink the image as each layer is added to duplicate the in camera zooming using either Photoshop actions or a script.
3) Take one image of a star field and again use software to duplicate and shrink to get the effect. For this image I went for number 3 using a Photoshop Script which can be downloaded free from liketheocean.com/night-photography/scripts-to-make-your-s...
To get my star field I used a single image taken for a standard star trails shot in nearby Arundel a few years ago. As there were not enough stars for the best effect I used copy of selections to a new image and cloning to get a denser star field and leave out the foreground. The script was run after selecting vortex. The foreground was taken in Lanzarote on a coach tour round the National Park where no other vehicles are allowed. The area shown in the image is appropriately enough called Tranquillity valley. The foreground was layered onto the star trails and combined using a layer mask and brush and a selection for precision
For my Photography books Understand Your Camera and Compose Better Pictures see My Author Page USA or My Author Page UK
Please visit my │ Facebook Page
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography
Photoreportage: La renarde a par la suite étouffé sa victime. The fox choked the goose nose to achieve the kill.
Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center
West Hills, California
042216
© Copyright 2016 MEA Images, Merle E. Arbeen, All Rights Reserved. If you would like a copy of this, please feel free to contact me through my FlickrMail, Facebook, or Yahoo email account. Thank you.
***************
This photograph has achieved the following highest awards:
DSLR Autofocus, Hall of Fame (11)
DSLR Autofocus, MASTER of Photography (10)
DSLR Autofocus, GRANDMASTER of Photography (12)
Separation is a conflicting word. In this photograph it was a positive outcome as I edged left and right to achieve the desired result ensure trunk shapes of note had could be distinguished, especially in the centre trees. The word is currently common in my google searches as I research separation anxiety in puppies as we are going through some trying times with our new puppy. Missy seems to me to be more needy than our other dogs in the passed always aways needing to be close. From the start we have crate trained her so we could leave the house for a couple of hours and we have always returned to a peaceful puppy. At first we had the create in the bedroom at night which may have been a bad idea as now we have started to crate her downstairs at night and we have experienced a few distressing nights although last night she only cried for twenty minutes and then settled down for the full night. It’s probably a puppy thing and we have been doing the right things but it still doesn’t stop me googling separation anxiety and worry about a problem that we haven’t got. This image was taken last October of a group of trees in Royston I have been eying up for the right conditions for about 5 years.
~Attire:
::GB:: Gabriel - Leather Asymmetric Coat, Bustier & Skirt
~Shoes:
::HH:: Hucci - Hollis Boots
~Hair:
Mina - Hattie Hair
~Accessories:
-MONCADA PARIS - Kylie Eyewear
.::Nanika::. - Lisa Earrings
MAJESTY - Lucite Circle Bag
+Half-Deer+ Pomeranian Walking Companion (RARE)
home alone 48...make of it what you will ;-)
This weeks message is "Go With the Flow"
A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."
I had a different plan for this weeks photo, and it did not work out. I had this idea last night, and it also did not come out as planned. I became so frustrated with the details of the photo, and my inability to achieve the results I wanted, that i don't even remember what point i was trying to make. So, I begrudgingly accepted what I had and posted it. After sleeping on it the message became clear.
We cannot always control the events of our lives. even the little details tend to go awry. A zipper breaks, the road is closed, they are out of your flavor of ice cream, or you photo is not what you wanted. It is by accepting what comes our way, and going with it, that we will reach our destination.
So, I am not thrilled with the photo, but I get the message, and that is good.
Lesson 2
When all else fails, laugh at yourself!
From their website:
Estate of the Art
Can a winery elevate the craft of winemaking to a fine art? Of course it can. Can a winery dedicate itself as a temple to works of fine art? Why not? But can a winery that does one also achieve the other? Good question. Now, if you were to put that question to Bacchus, god of wine, mischief-maker and generally acknowledged originator of the practice of horsing around, we know just where he'd send you: straight to the horse's mouth.
And not just any horse. He'd send you to Pegasus, the winged horse of ancient myth whose hooves brushed against the earth, unleashing the sacred spring of the muses. Lucky earth. That spring gave life to grapevines, and the wine that flowed from them inspired poetry and art in all who drank it.
In that spirit, a couple of millennia later, we set out to create a place where the wellspring of wine and the muses of art could live together -- a sort of temple to wine and art. Not a museum or a sacred shrine way up in the clouds, but a haven here on earth. The kind of place we know Bacchus would approve of, where art and vines seem to spring from the same fertile soil, where smiling is encouraged, and pleasure and serendipity are all around you.
And in tribute to those fateful hoofbeats that started it all, we called that place Clos Pegase. Clos being the French word for an enclosed vineyard -- an estate winery, where every wine is made from that vineyard's own grapes. Which is what we are. And Pegase being the French word for "Pegasus." Which sounded nicer with clos.
Can wine and art come together to create an experience as lofty as Olympus and as lusty as the rascal Bacchus? We think so. Here's our story.
The Making of a Winemaker
Now, if you were to ask the wise-acre, Bacchus, "how do you make a small fortune in the wine business?" chances are he'd reply: "start with a large fortune."
In the case of Clos Pegase, that large fortune came from -- of all places -- the Japanese publishing industry. In 1955, our founder, Jan Shrem, who was studying for his Master's degree at UCLA, took what he thought was going to be a little vacation in Japan. He fell in love with the place -- and with a woman named Mitsuko -- and he decided to stick around. For the next thirteen years.
To support himself, Jan began importing English-language reference and technical books to a market hungry for all things Western. He was in the right place at the right time. Building on his success, he began translating and publishing books in Japan as well, and, by the time he sold his company in 1968 to elope with Mitsuko to Europe, it had grown to some 50 offices and nearly 2,000 employees.
In 1980, after 25 years in the publishing business, Jan found himself at a crossroads. He had built a publishing empire. And, in the meantime, Mitsuko had introduced him to the mysteries and pleasures of wine -- an interest that had quickly turned into a consuming passion. He decided the time had come to listen to his "inner Bacchus" and devote his life to winemaking.
Jan enrolled in the enology program at the University of Bordeaux, where he soon became fascinated with the idea of combining ancient winemaking practices with emerging technologies. Nowhere was this combination more vital and exciting than in California, so, armed with the Napa Valley address of the dean of American winemakers, Andre Tchelistcheff, Jan headed west.
With Tchelistcheff's help, Jan eventually created a unique wine estate -- and an equally distinctive style of winemaking. He began by purchasing a 50-acre vineyard in Calistoga in 1983. Later, he would add more than 400 additional acres in the northern and southern ends of the Napa Valley.
A Temple Among the Vines
By the mid-1980s, it became clear that Jan's new wine estate would need an anchor -- a building to serve as its base of operations. But Jan was thinking bigger than a mere roof and walls. He envisioned a place designed to showcase his extensive art collection in a way that made it accessible to everyone; a focal point that could match the majesty of the rocky knoll that rises above the valley from the center of the vineyard; a place of celebration, education and pleasure; and a visible, visit-able symbol of his winemaking philosophy.
Working with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Jan sponsored an architects' competition. From a field of 96 entrants, the judges selected renowned Princeton architect, Michael Graves. He was commissioned to build a "temple to wine and art" at the base of the knoll and a home for Jan and Mitsuko at its summit, with sweeping views of the Napa Valley below. Within the knoll itself, 20,000 feet of aging caves would be excavated, including the breathtaking Cave Theater, a dramatic setting for celebrations, presentations and special events.
Construction was completed in 1987. The spectacular structures Graves created -- and the surrounding sculpture garden that includes some of the world's greatest twentieth-century works of art -- have won international awards and generated great excitement in the wine industry. The national press has been generous in its praise as well, describing Clos Pegase as "a place of pilgrimage" and "America's first monument to wine and art."
And, just as Jan had hoped, the stately symmetry of the building reflects his own winemaking ethos. "In architecture, as in our wines," he says "I believe we have achieved balance, harmony and symmetry in the classical Greek sense, avoiding the baroque concepts of high oak, high alcohol and high extract to create food-friendly wines of quiet elegance. These are the hallmarks of what has come to be known as the 'Clos Pegase style.'"
The Clos Pegase Style. It's there as you walk through the grounds. It's there in the cool stillness of the caves. You find it when you round a corner in the vineyard and come face to face with a sculpture that's both beautiful and as disarmingly irreverent as Bacchus himself. And it's there on our label, in Jan's favorite painting from his collection. There, depicted by the great 19th-Century French artist Odilon Redon, is the winged horse, Pegasus, his front hooves rearing toward the heavens, his back hooves firmly planted right here on earth.
I watched this colt and its sibling walk with their parents looking for food in Beluga Slough. When the parent would find food it would share the food with the colt as though still training them as to what was edible. Rather raggedy looking, I think of this colt as more of a teenager who has lost that cute look of the fairly young but hasn't achieved the full feathers of an adult.
Taken 29 July 2018 at Beluga Slough, Homer, Alaska.
Thanks to everyone that views and comments on my images - very much appreciated.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. On all my images, Use without permission is illegal.
Sony ILCE-7RM5
I just love the name! :). The brown ones are females, black with colourful beaks are males. I had to post this together with the following sitting shots as it shows the progressive stages of take off of these birds. It's awkward and they struggle to get lift off. They use their feet to run on top of the water until they are airborne. Note the front one is airborne. The ones immediately to the left and right are in running modes - water walking lightly on the top of the water. I like the technique of the one of the right - practiced perfection. The two males in the back are clumsy and slow, feet dragging, but eventually they achieve lift off. A fun thing to watch. I only wish I had taken a video at some point. I keep forgetting I have video mode on this camera.
No Autumn colours here! -3 early on a November morning.
The gardens were designed by Henry Hoare II and laid out between 1741 and 1780 in a classical 18th-century design set around a large lake, achieved by damming a small stream. The inspiration behind their creation were the painters Claude Lorrain, Poussin and, in particular, Gaspar Dughet, who painted Utopian-type views of Italian landscapes. It is similar in style to the landscape gardens at Stowe
Included in the garden are a number of temples designed to show off the Hoare family's education and wealth. On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk and King Alfred's Tower (a 50-metre-tall, brick folly designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1772); on another hill the temple of Apollo provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent rhododendrons, water, cascades and temples. Amongst the woodland surrounding the site there are also two Iron Age hill forts: Whitesheet Hill and Park Hill Camp. The gardens are home to a large collection of trees and shrubs from around the world.
Richard Colt Hoare, the grandson of Henry Hoare II, inherited Stourhead in 1785. He added the library wing to the mansion and in the garden was responsible for the building of the boathouse and the removal of several features that were not in keeping with the general classical and gothic styles (including a Turkish Tent). He also considerably enhanced the planting - the Temple of Apollo rises from a wooded slope, that was planted in Colt Hoare's time. With the antiquarian passion of the times, he had 400 ancient burial mounds dug up in order to inform his pioneering History of Ancient Wiltshire
Explore 23.03.08 - #149