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It's always a little bit risky to wake up in order to catch a sunrise when the sky is covered, especially when you have to walk/dirve an hour before reaching a good spot. However, it can worth the risk because a cloudy sunrise is generaly much more dramatic than a perfect clear one.
That's what I thought this morning (and to be honest, I think it's always worthy to wake up ;) ). I drove to the beautiful Creux-du-Van (one of my favorite place for sunrise). Unfortunatly, there was alreay a full stuffed guy (with 5Dm3, lee filters everywhere, and so one) where I planed to be ... Moreover, the sky was too cloudy and even if the sunrise was not that bad, the light itself was quite cold.
I was kind of discouraged when suddenly, I saw this young ibex lying down in the rocks : I could not believe my eyes at the first place: it was so close ! I removed my wide-angle and took a zoom very slowly in order not to frithend it. Then, I realised that I could have danced a rain dance (which could have succeeded !), it would not moved an ear. It was not wild at all and let me take as much pictures as I wanted as he wandered and ate grass here and there. So that's what I did for more than an hour. (I guess it was a kind of "Wildlife Photography for Dummies" session)
It's very impressive to see how ibex do not fear height and walk on the steep rocks as if they were flat.
So yes, it was worth waking up, but not for the reasons I expected, which is even better.
This picture was explored on the 11th of May 2016 ! Thank you for your kind comments !
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This one is a bit of processing magic. I finally found a new program that can create what I see in my mind when I look at a photo. I loved this scene, but the colors weren't as vibrant as I wanted them to be, nor was the sky interesting enough. After about an hour, voila. The fort in St. Augustine has a more lovely backdrop of clouds, and more vibrant tones in the water and sand, which makes this photo really pop. I enjoyed working on this one!
I won't be on here much this week. Thursday starts extended hours at my store for the Labor Day sale, and hopefully I will be very busy. We're also about to be hit by what should be a tropical storm in another day, packing winds of up to 65 mph and soaking rains. Worse case scenario, no work Thursday! Might have no power, AC or internet, either! Please pray for us down here in Florida, especially those on the west coast, where they are expected to get up to 15" of rain! Welcome to sunny Florida!
A bit of plodging was required to capture this composition, taken last November on the edge of buttermere. A bit of plodging was required to capture this composition, taken last November on the edge of buttermere.
One and a Bit, (Paper Negative), Forest of Bowland
Intrepid Black 4x5 Camera, 5½ inch Darlot Portrait Petzval Lens, Ilford MGRC Paper developed in ID11 @ 1+1
Youtube Short Slideshow at www.youtube.com/shorts/bU_XYIDvIHg
A bit of luck and good timing as Union Pacific's MWCNP 03 (West Colton, California - North Platte, Nebraska) manifest and ARONSR 04 (Roper, Utah - NS Kansas City, Kansas) repo auto train pull side by side into North Yard in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 4, 2016.
UP 6781 has been routed along Main Track 3, the former Rio Grande main line to Ogden, Utah.
Went for a wander in Abbeyford Woods with my friend Fran (who managed to get us lost ... which was rather amusing) ... the light wasn't great and avoiding copious amounts of dog poop meant I didn't get a great deal of interesting images ... but I love this one :D
Think I used the Takumar 55mm ... but to be honest I forget :D
I have previously posted a bit similar photo but was endlessly unhappy with the position of the wooden log. This is an improved composition to the previous one, now with the leading lines converging at the Cappella. It also reveals the chopped wood that adds so much to the sphere.
Amongst the colourful southern Tuscany countryside beside the village of Vitaleta, lies a charming little Chapel of the Madonna di Vitaleta. One of the most photographed churches in Tuscany, this mystical building used to be the home of a Renaissance statue of the Madonna sculpted by the artist, Andrea della Robbia in 1590. Built in the middle of a hill, this spectacular attraction was restored in 1184 by the architect Giuseppe Partini and was recently classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Dotted across this magnificent countryside are many peaceful holiday villas and luxury accommodation to stay in and soak in the undisturbed natural beauty of the area.
A bit of monsoonal rain on the north coast of Trinidad island, Maracas Bay lookout, nothing spectacular, but this will be my only upload from that island as photo opportunities were very rare. It's also as close as my ass will ever get to Venezuela!
Greetings from Ilopango lake, El Salvador, my last night in Central America.
A bit of history about Mission Beach, San Diego: As a result of a new official subdivision in 1914, encouraged by land sales in those next-door communities and a new wooden bridge linking Mission Beach with Ocean Beach, John D. Spreckels offered small lots for sale.As a result, Mission Beach is the most densely developed residential community in San Diego with a land use designation across the majority of its land area of 36 dwelling units per acre. It also has the smallest lots in the city, ranging from 1,250 square feet to 2,400 square feet.
HMM & Happy Valentine's Day!!
Thank you for all your comments and favs, truly appreciated!
Lots of Love!!! ❤️❤️❤️
This is the view of the top floor of the structure next to Wind Tree in the Winyard Quarter on Auckland's waterfront.
It is a strange structure but certainly has some nice lines. I watched the Matariki lights on the bridge from up here. I totally expected there to be lots of people, I was mistaken.
Bit of a blow out this morning.
Turned up, got this shot quite quickly. Then the heavens opened and it became clear very quickly that I was totally unprepared for it. Wet camera, wet lenses, wet filters and wet me.
To top the morning off as I was walking back to the car I dropped my camera on concrete. Surprisingly its mostly fine. A little dent/chip of paint lost. Certainly could have been much worse.
But anyway, at least I got one shot.
"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure." - Oprah Winfrey
Still adding album fodder, it's a big album with over eighty photo's in it.. The photo's are in the order that they was taken..
Up above Hartsop, a great place to hike.
Adding a bit of pop thanks to its yellow paint scheme, a Hiimi bound local exits the westbound portal of the Minagi Tunnels as it approaches its next station stop at Minagi.
JR Hakubi Line. JR 115 Series.
Minagi, Okayama Pref., Japan
A bit of a miracle getting so close to this species as they are extremely shy and wary. Normally they spot you and hide. However, on passage migration they appear to be much more confiding. They are usually found on desolate moorland and mountain sides but on passage migration they have been recorded on the coast and even in peoples gardens. They will stay if you have berries!
www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/b...
Slightly smaller and slimmer than a blackbird - male ring ouzels are particularly distinctive with their black plumage with a pale wing panel and striking white breast band. The ring ouzel is primarily a bird of the uplands, where it breeds mainly in steep sided valleys, crags and gullies, from near sea level in the far north of Scotland up to 1,200m in the Cairngorms.
Breeding begins in mid-April and continues through to mid-July, with two broods common, and nests are located on or close to the ground in vegetation (typically in heather), in a crevice, or rarely in a tree. The young are fed a diet consisting mainly of earthworms and beetles.
Overview
Latin name
Turdus torquatus
Family
Chats and thrushes (Turdidae)
Where to see them
Ring ouzels can be found in upland areas of Scotland, northern England, north west Wales and Dartmoor. When on spring and autumn migration they may be seen away from their breeding areas, often on the east and south coasts of the UK where they favour short grassy areas.
When to see them
Ring ouzels arrive in March and April and leave again in September.
What they eat
Insects and berries
UK Breeding:-
6,200-7,500 pairs
Conservation
22 July 2011
The first national survey in 1999 estimated the UK ring ouzel population at 6,157-7,549 pairs, with further range contractions and a likely 58 per cent decline in population size since 1988-91.
Recent studies aimed at understanding these declines suggest that low first-year, and possibly adult, survival may be the main demographic mechanisms driving the population decline. The large population decline qualifies the ring ouzel for inclusion on the red list of birds of conservation concern.
A bit of Macleod clan history: The progenitor of the Clan MacLeod was Leod, the younger son of Olaf the Black, one of the last Norse Kings of Man who died in 1265. Leod inherited the islands of Lewis and Harris as well as Sleat, Trotternish, Waternish and Snizort on Skye. By his marriage to the daughter of the Norse Seneschal of Skye (MacRald Armuial) he was granted the lands of Glenelg, Duirinish, Minginish, Bracadale, Lyndale and Dunvegan Castle which has been the home of the clan chief ever since. When Leod died in 1290, his lands were divided up between his two sons Siol Tormod and Siol Torquil who formed the two branches of the family.
This impressive castle has been occupied by the same family for 800 years. It has been open to the public since 1933.
Happy Weekend! Thanks for stopping by and for all of your kind comments, awards and faves -- I appreciate them all.
© Melissa Post 2019
For "Macro Mondays" group theme "Currency"
'thruppenny bits' are 12 sided nickel-brass coins used in Britain from 1937 until 31 August 1971 when they ceased to be legal tender. During that period they were worth 3 pence of the 240 pence that made up £1.
I stood a row of 9 coins on a mirror - all these date within the reign of our present Queen, whilst the other laid flat is older from the time of George VI - this has a representation of thrift. The coins are about 22-24mm in diameter depending where you measure them - they aren't round!
Russian Jupiter 11 f4 135mm
a figurine as our Jasper was.
and miscellaneous stuff.
Large Format 4x5 crown graphic special camera
Paper negative: Ilford MG FB
ISO 3
Shot at f/5.6 for 20ish seconds
Home developed in eco pro for 2 min
A little bit on Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin, the coachbuilder, designer and builder of the two Packard's on the left in the image above. Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin, the man behind the 1937-1942 Packard Darrin left an indelible imprint, not only on the automobile, but on the people he met in the old car movement, long after his career building and designing cars had ended. Dutch Darrin was a kind of "breakaway designer." He was crusty, hardbitten and had no reticence about expressing his opinions. He had flashing blue eyes, snowy white hair in later life, a bubbling enthusiasm for what he liked, a withering contempt for what he didn't. Interviewing and reporting on Dutch was a test of a writer's finesse: the art of balancing Darrin's fierce convictions with the opinions of others who sometimes saw matters in quite a different way.
He had an automotive curriculum vitae that put to shame most of his design contemporaries. Starting in the Teens as a Westinghouse engineer, he invented an electric gearshift for John North Willys, deciding then and there to spend his career on cars instead of electronics. When he went to France with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, he fell in love with Paris.
In 1920 he set himself up as a custom coachbuilder, initially using the Minerva chassis. He was shortly building custom bodies for the cream of European society, working on his own or in successful partnership with designer Tom Hibbard and, later, a banker named Fernandez.
His friends were people the rest of us have only read about: René Mathis of Ford-France, André Citröen, Louis Renault, the brothers Panhard, Ettore Bugatti, Sir John Siddeley, princes and potentates, presidents and polo players. To have associated with all these; to have had the incredible luck he always acknowledged; to have enjoyed a rich career, and to have had fun doing it, is surely what the philosopher meant when he talked about living life to the fullest.
In 1937, Darrin moved to California, transferring his activities from individual to semi-custom bodies, but maintaining a distinct style that branded them immediately as his own. Here he was aided by two experienced coachbuilders, Paul Erdos and Rudy Stoessel, the latter going on to found California's long-lived Coachcraft Inc. Typically, Darrin made do with little, buying a former bottling factory with a good location: Sunset Strip, Hollywood.
He styled himself "Darrin of Paris," and like Raymond Loewy he had an aristocratic French accent that he could turn on or off as the need arose. Dutch's clientele now included the New World's aristocracy, such as Errol Flynn, Constance Bennett, Clark Gable, Ann Sheridan, and Carole Lombard.
Innately talented, Dutch was always personally involved in the cars that bore his name: everything from his custom bodies of the 1920s and 1930s through his reskinned Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows in the 1970s. Unlike Raymond Loewy, he was not a stylist-become-marketing expert, who discovered and hired talented employees and took credit (as Loewy had a right to do) for what they produced. Dutch did it all -- even supervised the construction of semi-customs like the famous Packard Darrins. They might not have been paragons of craftsmanship, but by gosh they were unique, beautiful, and as dashing as all get-out.
Darrin's Packard connection stemmed from his decision to return to America from France in 1937. He realized that the age of full-custom bodies was waning, but thought the Hollywood film colony would buy rakish semi-customs. His concept, for which he deserves credit as a pioneer, was to customize production cars and produce semi-customs -- relatively inexpensive, yet distinct from mass-market stuff. Of Packard he said, "Its chassis was unimpeachable, and its classic grille was a great starting point." He had always fancied himself "a strong grille man," depending on the radiator to focus his designs, though his favorite American production car was the grilleless Cord 810/812, designed by a man Dutch considered a genius, the late Gordon Miller Buehrig.
The first 1937 Packard Darrin taught Dutch a great deal about his semi-custom concept. Built in a Los Angeles body and fender shop before Darrin moved into Sunset Strip, it was created for actor Dick Powell. The chassis was from a 1938 Eight (aka One Twenty) and the body looked splendid, with sweeping fenders and a low beltline displaying the characteristic "Darrin dip" at the doors. But Dutch had cut up a business coupe to build it, and chassis for closed cars weren't as rigid as those for open models. The car leaked like a sieve and had too much body flex.
Darrin built two more five-passenger Packard Darrins at another body shop before the move to Sunset Strip, selling one to Clark Gable. Like the first example, these had wooden cowls, which contributed most of the shake, rattle, and roll. Once "production" got rolling at Sunset Strip, clever Rudy Stoessel designed a cast aluminum cowl, which made a huge difference on the 16-18 Darrin Packards built in 1938-1939.
Among their buyers were Rosalind Russell, Chester Morris, and Al Jolson, who each paid a cool $4200-5200, probably equivalent to six figures in today's money. (That was peanuts compared to some of the esoteric specials the movie crowd was buying at the time, supporting Dutch's idea of relying heavily on production car components.) For some of these customers, Packard Darrins were simply too special. Dick Powell sold car number one after a few months because people were noticing, waving, and chasing him for autographs.
I can go on, but I think that's enough to give you a flavor of this great automobile designer and builder, Howard "Dutch" Darrin. Most of the above is from the auto editors of Consumer Guide