View allAll Photos Tagged Actually
Actually this was just a snapshot, while I was using my tripod for the first time. But I like the atmosphere of the picture, with its warm colors.
I think this actually showed up a bit prettier as a photo than in real life - in real life, the light on the foreground was too dim to be that interesting, but it actually looks pleasant and peaceful in a photograph. Still prefer the clouds in black and white, though.
This was another of my focus blending tests, where in one set of brackets, I focused on the section of the fence closest to me, and in the other set, focused on the barn (again, this is due to my noticing that my shots at f/22 just aren't sharp enough and I need to shoot landscapes at a wider aperture if I can maintain the DOF). Then I used Photoshop's AutoBlend Layers tool to merge them. The verdict? The trees in the very, very far background toward the mountains are slightly sharper in the set where I focused on the barn rather than the fence. But so slightly that you'd barely notice. I don't think this focus blending is worth the hassle unless I'm including something a foot from the camera in my shot and can't back up. But I did try!
We made our annual trip to London in November. We travel down by coach from Slaithwaite and stay at The Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch. It’s actually a weekend ladies shopping trip that is run as a fundraiser for Slaithwaite Brass Band – I’m the only bloke that goes every year! We decided ( the two of us) to stay down in London until Thursday this time as we wanted to see weekday London and be able to explore a bit further afield on foot. We covered up to 16 miles a day, which is tough going on crowded pavements with hundreds of busy roads to cross. I photographed anything that looked interesting but I bent a contact in the CF card slot, fortunately I had quite a few SD cards with me and the 5D has dual slots so I was able to carry on using it. It’s currently at Lehmann’s getting fixed.
With it being close to Christmas the decorations are up everywhere so there was plenty of colour at night. In Hyde Park the Winter Wonderland was in full swing, we’ve never bothered going to it before but I went twice at night this time. It is massive this year, I couldn’t get over how big it is and the quality of some of the attractions. The cost and effort involved must be phenomenal – it was quite expensive though. It was very difficult to photograph, with extremes of light (LED’s) and darkness and fast moving rides into the bargain. I think I have some decent usable stuff but at the time of writing I am only part way through the editing process so I don’t know for sure.
We set off at around 8.15 am every day and stayed out for at least 12 hours. The weather was poor for a day and a half with drizzle and very dull grey conditions, fortunately we had some pleasant weather (and light) along the way as well. Being based at the end of Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street – meant that I did quite a bit of night shooting on there. Although I carried a tripod everywhere I only used it once and that was during the day! Because there is always a moving element in almost every shot it seemed pointless using a tripod. I would have got some shots free of movement – or I could have gone for ultra-long exposures to eliminate people and traffic but it would have been problematic I felt. In the end I wound the ISO up and hand held – fingers crossed.
We walked out to Camden Market and Locks but it had been raining and we were a bit early as many were only just setting up for the day. We tried to follow routes that we hadn’t used before and visit new places. We paid a fortune to get in St Pauls but you can’t use cameras. This something that I fail to see the point of, ban flash if you want but if you are going to encourage tourism why ban cameras when there is nothing in particular happening in there. It’s a rule that seems to be applied arbitrarily in cities around the world. Fortunately we could take photos from the outside of the dome, which was real reason for visiting, and we had some great light. Expensive compared with a couple of euros in some famous cathedrals. I’ve wanted to walk to Canary Wharf for a number of years and this year we did. We crisscrossed the Thames a few times and tried to follow the Thames path at other times. We covered around ten miles but it was an interesting day. It was also very quiet for the last four or five miles. We got there about 12.00 and managed to get a sandwich in a café in the shopping centre at the foot of the high rise office blocks before tens of thousands of office workers descended from above. It was mayhem, packed, with snaking queues for anywhere that sold food. We crossed to the other side of The Isle of Dogs and looked across to the O2 Arena and the cable car, unfortunately there isn’t a way across for pedestrians and it was around 3.00 pm. With darkness falling at around 4.30 we decide it was too late to bother. We made our way back to the Thames Clipper pier to check the sailing times. They sail every twenty minutes so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a rest before catching the Clipper. Sailing on the Thames was a first in 15 trips to London. The Clipper is fast and smooth, the lights had come on in the city and there was a fantastic moon rise. It was nigh on impossible to get good shots at the speed we were traveling though and there were times that I wished I could be suspended motionless above the boat. Again, hopefully I will have some usable shots.
We felt that the shopping streets were a little quieter, following the Paris massacre it was to be expected, I might be wrong as we were out and about at later times than previous trips. I think I have heard that footfall is down though. It was good to get into some of the quieter backstreets and conversely to be stuck in the city business district – The Square Mile- at home time. A mass exodus of people running and speed walking to bus stops and the rail and tube stations. It was difficult to move against or across the flow of bodies rushing home.
Whilst the Northern(manufacturing) economy is collapsing, London is a giant development site, it must be the tower crane capital of Europe at the moment. It was difficult to take a shot of any landmark free of cranes, it was easier to make the cranes a feature of the photo. It’s easy to see where the wealth is concentrated – not that there was ever any doubt about it. The morons with too much money are still driving their Lambo’s and Ferraris etc. like clowns in streets that are packed with cars , cyclists and pedestrians, accelerating viciously and noisily for 50 yards. They are just sad attention seekers. From Battersea to Canary Wharf we walked the Thames Embankment, the difference between high and low tide on the river is massive, but the water was the colour of mud – brown! Not very attractive in colour. We caught a Virgin Train from Kings Cross for £14.00 each – a bargain!. We had quite a bit of time to kill around midday at Kings Cross so I checked with security that I was OK to wander around taking photos, without fear of getting jumped by armed security, and set off to photograph the station and St Pancras International Station across the road. I haven’t even looked at the results as I type this but I’ll find out if they are any good shortly. Talking of security, following Paris, there was certainly plenty of private security at most attractions, I don’t know if it was terrorism related though, I can’t say I noticed an increased police presence on the streets. It took us three hours and five minutes from Kings Cross to being back home, not bad for a journey of 200 miles. I can’t imagine that spending countless billions on HS2 or HS3 is going to make a meaningful (cost effective) difference to our journey. Improving what we have, a little faster, would be good. There are some bumpy bits along the route for a mainline and Wakefield to Huddersfield is the equivalent of a cart track – and takes over 30 minutes – it’s only a stone’s throw. Time to get back to editing.
Actually, they aren't all that different in size, the wooden vessel to the right is actually further down the slipway and is in the process of being taken out of the water. This shot taken at Macduff slipway.
Actually, taken at Brazilian Academy of Circus, São Paulo, SP
Tirada na Academia Brasileira de Circo, São Paulo, SP
so here's me, chillin' in my classroom. i actually split my time between 2 elementary buildings. here i'm standing in front of my wooden storage cabinet that the kids add paint to every year. my principal walked in one day and said "what are you doing!?" she wasn't too pleased, but how can she NOT like it now!? haha. the kids love it and so do i.
Actually, no, bluebottle jellyfish won't kill you - they'll just give you a nasty sting if you swim through one. But when they're dead, and washed up on the beach like this, they make a satisfying "pop" when you step on them.
Actually, Conner loves all gadgets, and he doesn't much care if they work or not. Lanark County, Ontario, Canada.
Well, actually it's just a desk lamp ;-)
This one inspired me to create the set Usual Things Unusual
By the way: also quite nice large and on black
Actually it seems that at some point they ran out of "steep ascent ahead signs" so they just took a "steep descent ahead" sign and installed it 90 degrees turned. In reality, the climb wasn't that steep...
Actually a Dozen Ducks! Another catch from my photo op in early November at the what I now call the "Duck Pond"
this role of film was unintentionally left in the car during the whole summer and this is what i got... after cooking it, boiling, baking and steaming, i think it turned out pretty cool! :)
Actually, Vidalia loves absolutely everyone unconditionally. If anyone could teach someone to turn the other cheek, it is Vidalia. She simply does not hold a grudge (unlike Miss Raven, but that is a different story entirely). Vidalia is a peacemaker. For instance, when Mr. Grigsby is giving Ariel a look while I prepare their meal, Vidalia steps in and keeps Mr. Grigsby from tormenting Ariel. I think Vidalia simply doesn't like tension. Oh, on occasion she contributes to the feline antics that the younger cats (Curio and Grigsby) pull, but she often limits her chasing and wrestling to Curio and Mr. Grigsby.
BTW, for those of you who are relatively new to my stream, Vidalia's nickname is Momma. I first met Vidalia when she set off my feral trap on the back porch as a very pregnant adolescent feline. Her belly practically dragged on the ground! Seeking homes for Vidalia's brood led me to photography as a hobby. After all, one of the best ways to find a home for a kitten is to get someone to fall in love with that kitten through photos. . . all six of Vidalia's kittens are in fabulous forever homes, and our beloved Vidalia remains a part of our brood. What an utter treasure she is. . .
[SOOC, f/1.4, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/4000]
Pictured south of Dolwyddelan station on the scenic Conwy Valley line, a Swindon-built two-car Class 120 DMU coasts downhill whilst forming the 13.30 Blaenau Ffestiniog-Llandudno working. Despite the line's name, Dolwyddelan is actually in the Lledr Valley.
Actually quite a decent representation of a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon despite the deliberate cost cutting evident in all RMZ City Junior castings. Part of a 20 vehicle set found recently in a Spanish El Corte Ingles department store. Mint and boxed.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
Actually, the only thing special about the sunrise up here is that this is the first point of land in the continental US to feel the new rays of the rising sun.
Digital watercolor.
Also called Texas Indian Paintbrush, Entireleaf Indian Paintbrush, Texas Paintbrush, Indian Paintbrush and Scarlet Paintbrush this is a common wildflower in eastern Texas in the Spring and often occurs with bluebonnets and fields of assorted wildflowers. It usually has several unbranched stems that form clumps topped by bright-red, paintbrush-like spikes. The flowers are actually inconspicuous and greenish, but are subtended by showy, red-tipped bracts. They sometimes produce a light yellow or pure white variation mixed in with the reds. Together, the flowers and bracts form 3-8 in. spikes.
One unusal thing about the pretty plant is that it is a parasite. The roots of this plant will grow until they touch the roots of other plants, frequently grasses, penetrating these host roots to obtain a portion of their nutrients. The scientific term for such a plants are hemiparasites
.This flower was blooming along US 290 near the Brazos River at the Washington County Line Stone Sign.
T-boy decided this should be called "Society." He noticed before I did that the hands and legs were shackled down, and that there was a tiny figure in the hand. Society? Makes me wonder what is going on at school! Further research reveals this is titled "Gulliver." Read more here: www.wmich.edu/art/exhibitions/sculpturetour/archive/gulli...
Notice especially "Otterness employs his quintessential cartoon figures to establish a lighthearted approach to address vexing cultural and social issues of the day." Perhaps the 10yo is on to something!
T-boy and I went to Western Michigan for the taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. We got there early, so walked around a bit and admired some of their sculpture (mostly me) and/or dreamed of skateboarding on the rails and such (t-boy).
Actually it's apple on iPad... Which is now broken... so it's a 600 dollar reflective glass surface... (don't get me started).
I'm still mourning Steve so I forgive them.. I guess.
Actually they are both Canadair CL-13B Sabre 6, the Canadian built version of our F-86 Sabre. N186PJ on the left and N80FS on the right.
*Composite*
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) in the morning skies over the Apache Trail in Arizona's Superstition Mountains. This was a "just for fun" composite, as this particular alignment would not be possible. Sky shot was taken on the morning of 7/7.
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was discovered on March 27th, 2020.
The NEOWISE mission (Near Earth Object survey using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer space telecope) is where the comet's name came from.
Comets are basically "dirty snowballs" made of an aggregate of dust, ice, and (as the sun warms them) gases. Comets originate in the outer reaches of the Solar System, in a region known as the Oort Cloud. They can have orbits that take them around the sun in a short period or long one. For example, Halley's Comet visits the inner Solar System once every 76 years. Comet NEOWISE is a long period comet, and will not return for another 6,700 years.
Astronomers have discovered faint comets with greater frequency as imaging technologies have improved markedly in recent years. Every time a new comet is discovered inbound, astronomers are keen to calculate its orbit, potential brightness, rough size, composition, and speculation about whether or not it may become bright enough to put on a celestial show visible to those without telescopes.
As a comet approaches its closest point to the sun (perihelion), the sun's radiation warms it, causing the comet to shed material into space and grow the appearance of a double tail. The whitish tail is made of dust, while the bluish and straighter tail is ionized gases reacting to the solar wind. The nucleus of the comet is surrounded by the coma, a halo of greenish ionized gas.
The tail will always face away from the sun, so when the comet is inbound, the tail will be behind it. When the comet is outbound, the tail is actually in front of it! So, in this photo, the comet is actually traveling in the same direction as its tail!
When a comet comes through perihelion and gets far enough away from the sun, it may rarely get bright enough to put on a naked eye spectacle for viewers on Earth. Naked eye comet viewing is easier in the southern hemisphere due to the angle of the plane of the ecliptic, so those of us in the north have missed a few extremely bright comets in the past 25 years such as McNaught and Lovejoy.
There have been several promising comets in recent years, including the famous "fizzle" of Comet ISON in 2013 when it broke up just after perihelion, and the last bright comet visible in the northern hemisphere was Hale-Bopp in 1997; Neowise didn't get quite as bright as Hale-Bopp did, but it still outperformed most expectations and was visible for almost the entire month of July. See you in 6,700 years!
Even though it was before my time, the life and assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy interests me. I love biographies and so, it is natural for me.
I love to look at photos of him, Jackie, and their children when they were young with innocent faces untouched by the marks and horrors of their future lives.
We inherited all the magazines and newspapers of JFK’s presidency, the assassination, and the aftermath. The other day, I was thumbing through them, after reading they are going to re-examine JFK’s remains, and found this photograph of John Kennedy, which is now my favorite.
For some reason, it made me cry deeply. I actually sobbed. It made me feel as if what awaited him is written in small print in some corner of this photo. His destiny had already been set. Even the direction of his hair is blowing where he got shot the second time from the 2nd gunman, Oswald. Spooky, oui?
He looks so carefree, young and handsome walking along the dunes…something I used to love to do when I was little and we had a summer home on Cape Cod. My parents, I know were watching me, but I used to pretend I was alone, just walking, wandering, imagining, and thinking thoughts of this or that while smelling the ocean and feeling the breeze blow through my hair. I loved the cloudy days best.
When I look at this photo, I like to think John Kennedy is doing the same thing. If he was, well, then, despite the years, we have something in common.
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