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Randsburg, California.
This concludes my postings from Thursday's 8x10 adventure.
I did a Google search of images using keywords I could read on the car and bike, and I think that's a 1954 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe, and in the window is a 1964 Yamaha Santa Barbara. The Yamaha is noteworthy because it is the first production 2-stroke motorcycle to feature automatic oil injection.
I like how the deflated rear tires level the car to the building.
Randsburg is a strange place. It is a little bit ghost town, a little bit desert-rat bedroom community, a little bit living museum and a little bit off-road crowd watering hole.
Intrepid 8x10 MkII
Schneider Kreuznach G-Claron 240mm ƒ9 @ƒ45
Nikkor Y52 yellow filter
General Electric PR-1 Exposure Meter c. early 1960's
Shanghai GP3 100 @50
Rodinal 1:50 for 8 minutes @ 21.8°C
Developed as a single sheet in a Paterson 5-reel tank.
Scanned in five vertical strips on my Epson Perfection V550 Photo that were then stitched together with PanoramaStitcher for Mac.
This was my last sheet of 8x10 Shanghai GP3 100. It was offered on eBay at a bargain price. It was double notched, with the more prominent notch on the wrong side. Once I figured that out, and once I figured out to shoot it at EI 50, it yielded pretty good results. No worries though, 35 sheets of Fomapan 400 will arrive in today's post. Far from being a favorite film, but a bargain is a bargain and at EI 200 it's decent enough. With this being 8x10, the excessive grain won't be an issue.
After concluding a spirited chase of Montana Rail Link's Night Gas Local at Eddy, MT on May 12, 2022, my friend Brian and I turned around and began the portage back to to Missoula for the night. After traveling barely a mile we ran across these beautiful Bighorn Sheep walking across the rocks. It was the first time I have ever seen one. Over the course of a number of minutes, lots of pixels were burned.
This photo concludes my series from this year's Thailand visit, all of which were taken with my trusty Nikon D5100. My photos to follow from around Chicagoland were taken with my new Nikon D7500. Thanks for viewing! Your support is just "plane" awesome :)
Nikon D5100, Tamron 18-270, ISO 140, f/8.0, 18mm, 1/250s
As we concluded my final excursion into the Costa Rican rain forest, we boarded the van for the 1.5-hour drive back from the Tenorio Volcano National Park to our hotel. Without warning, I felt a bit of sadness slipping into my heart. I had been blessed in so many ways on this particular adventure that its origin confused me.
Maybe it was the lack of good quality monkey time…maybe it was the fact that I nearly died climbing up the side of Tenorio Volcano! Maybe it was the realization that my time in this special place was nearly over and that chances are that I will not return. Then God decided to grant one more prayer.
When our tour guide Steven jumped out of his seat, twisted his entire body towards the passenger window and started excitingly telling the driver in Spanish to pull over quickly. I knew he had spotted something special. Our driver did a fantastic job of whipping us the out of heavy highway traffic, placing the van in the grass at a pretty steep angle…then backing the van back down the highway several hundred yards, much more quickly than any of his passengers were comfortable with!
Our guide, with his face glued to his window signaled the driver to stop with his left hand while opening his door while still moving with his right. He jumped out of the van, slid the side door open quickly while looking right into my eyes saying “Come…come quickly my friend!”
I’m pretty sure that I just lifted my feet from the floor, did a one cheek butt twist (Only those of us who actually disco danced in the 1970’s can do this, so don’t try this at home!) and slid out of the van into the grassy highway berm below. Steven then started jogging down the highway all the while pointing to the trees just behind a house now in front of us. To my amazement, Steven had spotted a large male Thee-toed sloth moving about as if on a mission. The sadness that had crept into my heart was gone faster than if it was in a jet fighters ejection seat!
As the sloth methodically moved from one side of the tree to the next, I captured dozens and dozens of shots. I was so focused on the sloth in the trees above that I didn’t even see the home’s owner until he was about fifteen feet away from us shouting something in Spanish and waiving his arms. Steven started shouting back. I assumed his concern was with the van parked in the grass…but Steven quickly informed us that he was claiming to be a sloth sanctuary, and was demanding payment. I’m not sure exactly what was said, but it looked as if Steven called his bluff, and he eventually just went back inside.
What a show this fellow put on, hanging upside-down twice for no apparent reason, as if he wanted his picture taken, eating from some type of elongated fruit and just hanging and looking at us…as pictured here.
When it was time to go, Steven asked if I got some good photos…my response was to snatch him up and give him a *hug …a reaction that caught us both off guard.
A little over an hour later we arrived at our hotel, ten and a half hours later in the day than our departure…exhausted, sunburnt and blessed! My 10-15 minutes capturing the coveted Three-toed sloth (considered by most to be prettier that its cousin the Two-toed) was the perfect ending to my last excursion. After dinner with the Mrs. and friends, I slept like the dead.
*It was a masculine bro-hug!!
Adventure before dementia!
A replica of the Arc de Triomphe at Rockefeller Center to celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympics which conclude tomorrow. NBC which is broadcasting coverage of the games has its studios in Rockefeller Center.
A last batch to conclude this B&W series before going over the other parts, in color...
Back to my first love, black and white photography, after 25 years of loyalty and my betrayal at the beginning of last year.
Returning to B&W after a year of color is a bit like coming home after a long trip: you feel good there, but different, and you have to find your marks, again.
Welcome to this enchanted parenthesis on Istanbul, slipped between two series in color.
This is the concluding piece of my series introducing the four horsemen of Maria Theresa Memorial, Vienna, Austria. All are designed by Caspar/Kaspar von Zumbusch (1830--1915).
This one depicts Leopold Joseph von Daun (1705--1766), who was an Austrian field marshal of the Imperial Army in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War.
See Nr 1, Nr 2 and Nr 3 of the same series.
All four descriptions are closer to the idea of the equestrian than to the real enumeration of these statues -- all are cropped and thus heavily photoshopped, I have to admit.
The Tso Kar or Tsho kar, known for its size and depth, is a fluctuating salt lake situated in the Rupshu Plateau and valley in the southern part of Ladakh in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Tso Kar is connected by an inlet stream at its south-west end to a small lake, Startsapuk Tso, and together they form the 9 km2 More plains pool, which is dominated by the peaks of two mountains, Thugje (6050 m) and Gursan (6370 m). From the geology of the More Plains, it can be concluded that the Tso Kar in historical times ranged up to this high valley. Until a few years ago the lake was an important source of salt, which the Changpa nomads used to export to Tibet. The nomadic settlement of Thugje is located 3 km in the north. There is a tented camp on the west bank of the lake which provides accommodation for tourists.
Due to the high altitude, the climate is extreme in the winter; temperatures below -40 °C are not uncommon. In the summer the temperature rises above 30 °C, with extreme fluctuations during the day. Precipitation in the form of either rain or snow is extremely rare.
The pit Bindweide is a visitor's mine in Steinbach / Sieg in the administrative district Altenkirchen. The history of this pit decreases to 1837, at that time the claim of the pit field occurred. However, already about 1810 a deep tunnel was attached in the area. In 1852 the mining law were lent, and in 1864 the mining company began work.
Spavin and brown iron ore was extracted before all hematite, besides also. In 1869 the annual support amounted to 7.393 t of ore, in 1880 there were already 26.142 t of brown iron ore and hematite as well as 218 t of spavin iron stone.
Already in 1889 one reached a support of 99.491 tons of hematite and brown iron ore as well as 14.912 t of spavin iron stone. The extraction per month lay with maximum 10,000 tons. All together one promoted 5,123,810 t of iron stone. On the 30th of September, 1931 the company was concluded, but because of the rest stocks of approx. 11 million tons the pit was led as a reserve mine.
Hence, it was possible to alter the pit Bindweide in a visitor's mine. This happened from 1981, in 1986 the visitor's mine was opened. In June, 2006 300,000 visitor's borders was crossed.
The race run and won! It’s Saturday and now it’s time to celebrate.
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Whether or not you came in first second or third.. crossing the finish line of the week was good enough! Remember there is another race next week and nobody knows the outcome of that one who knows you may be the long shot !
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Multiple cameras
From multiple races
All film
Located in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, resonate invites us to ‘feel ourselves deeply embedded within the natural world’ and aims to capture ‘that ineffable feeling – a state of resonance‘.
Upon entering the exhibition, a sound reminiscent of a singing bowl flows through the garden, while the first illuminated installation rotates before viewers. Throughout the gardens, vibrant light installations work in harmony with the natural environment. The use of light and sound creates the illusion of another world. It also augments the natural flow, plant life and landscape of the Botanic Garden.
Highlights of the exhibition include Beginnings, where coordinated pillars of light dance over the garden’s lake in a hypnotic display, and Winterings, where magical, light-bearing spheres float through the atmosphere of the rainforest conservatory, beaming dancing pillars of light across the forest floor. The final display, Aliveness, includes a vibrant soundtrack as lights flare over the garden’s trees, concluding the event with an uplifting sense of hope.
This photo concludes my series of adult gulls in flight, one day I will present a similar set of immature gulls.
Rissa tridactyla (Larus tridactylus), adult
Black-legged Kittiwake
Dreizehenmöwe
Ride
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If you like my pictures please have a look at:
Wenn Ihnen meine Bilder gefallen, besuchen Sie bitte meine Homepage
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PLEASE, NO AWARDS, no Copy and Paste Comments and no group icons like "your wonderful photo was seen in group xyz". They will all be deleted as soon as I see them.
BITTE KEINE AWARDS, kopierte Kommentare oder diese Gruppen-Icons wie "Ich habe Dein wunderbares Bild in Gruppe xyz gesehen". Die lösche ich sobald ich sie sehe.
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I will be back on Flickr later today.
The last few weeks have been somewhat hectic but did conclude with a holiday in Malta where unfortunately I dropped my travel camera on the first morning. As such virtually all photos from this trip had to be taken with my iPhone. Note to self, keep a safe hold of your camera and expect limited quality results from an iPhone 13 or earlier.
The Maltese Cross is known everywhere as the symbol of the island and nation. it was introduced by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem who at the invite of the Spanish took possession of the islands in 1530, the cross has become an intrinsic part of Malta’s culture and heritage, as well as a much-cherished symbol by the Maltese.
Photographed within the five hundred year old St Annes church inside Elma Fort, Valletta.
Atatürk and Venizelos conclude a treaty friendship in 1930...
The Istanbul Pogrom, Greek: Σεπτεμβριανά (Events of September); Turkish: 6–7 Eylül Olayları (Events of September 6–7)), was a pogrom directed primarily at Istanbul's 150,000-strong... Greek minority on September 6 and 7, 1955. Jews and Armenians living in the city and their businesses were also targeted in the pogrom, which was allegedly orchestrated by the Demokrat Parti-government of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. The events were triggered by the false news that the house in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881, had been bombed the day before...
After a 53 years, I love all Greeks peoples...Another side of water... L'autre côté de l'eau...Suyun öte yakası...
We just concluded our Mt Rainier Wildflowers workshop this week. Rainier, a lady of mystery and elusion, shared her glory with us during the most jaw-dropping sunset! This is a very quick edit so please stay tuned for additional images from this workshop.
I want to express my gratitude to our wonderful clients who continue to support us and place their trust in us during this pandemic. A big thank you to my workshop co-leader Kevin Finn McNeal for his hard work and smooth dance moves!
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Exerpts by Niles Eldredge
There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year — which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis — this “Sixth Extinction” — is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed.
Extinction in the past
The major global biotic turnovers were all caused by physical events that lay outside the normal climatic and other physical disturbances which species, and entire ecosystems, experience and survive. What caused them?
The previous mass extinctions were due to natural causes.
First major extinction (c. 440 mya): Climate change (relatively severe and sudden global cooling) seems to have been at work at the first of these-the end-Ordovician mass extinction that caused such pronounced change in marine life (little or no life existed on land at that time). 25% of families lost (a family may consist of a few to thousands of species).
Second major extinction (c. 370 mya): The next such event, near the end of the Devonian Period, may or may not have been the result of global climate change. 19% of families lost.
Third major Extinction (c. 245 mya): Scenarios explaining what happened at the greatest mass extinction event of them all (so far, at least!) at the end of the Permian Period have been complex amalgams of climate change perhaps rooted in plate tectonics movements. Very recently, however, evidence suggests that a bolide impact similar to the end-Cretaceous event may have been the cause. 54% of families lost.
Fourth major extinction (c. 210 mya): The event at the end of the Triassic Period, shortly after dinosaurs and mammals had first evolved, also remains difficult to pin down in terms of precise causes. 23% of families lost.
Fifth major extinction (c. 65 mya): Most famous, perhaps, was the most recent of these events at the end-Cretaceous. It wiped out the remaining terrestrial dinosaurs and marine ammonites, as well as many other species across the phylogenetic spectrum, in all habitats sampled from the fossil record. Consensus has emerged in the past decade that this event was caused by one (possibly multiple) collisions between Earth and an extraterrestrial bolide (probably cometary). Some geologists, however, point to the great volcanic event that produced the Deccan traps of India as part of the chain of physical events that disrupted ecosystems so severely that many species on land and sea rapidly succumbed to extinction. 17% of families lost.
How is The Sixth Extinction different from previous events?
The current mass extinction is caused by humans.
At first glance, the physically caused extinction events of the past might seem to have little or nothing to tell us about the current Sixth Extinction, which is a patently human-caused event. For there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through such activities as:
-transformation of the landscape
-overexploitation of species
-pollution
-the introduction of alien species
And, because Homo sapiens is clearly a species of animal (however behaviorally and ecologically peculiar an animal), the Sixth Extinction would seem to be the first recorded global extinction event that has a biotic, rather than a physical, cause.
We are bringing about massive changes in the environment.
Yet, upon further reflection, human impact on the planet is a direct analogue of the Cretaceous cometary collision. Sixty-five million years ago that extraterrestrial impact — through its sheer explosive power, followed immediately by its injections of so much debris into the upper reaches of the atmosphere that global temperatures plummeted and, most critically, photosynthesis was severely inhibited — wreaked havoc on the living systems of Earth. That is precisely what human beings are doing to the planet right now: humans are causing vast physical changes on the planet.
What is the Sixth Extinction?
We can divide the Sixth Extinction into two discrete phases:
-Phase One began when the first modern humans began to disperse to different parts of the world about 100,000 years ago.
-Phase Two began about 10,000 years ago when humans turned to agriculture.
Humans began disrupting the environment as soon as they appeared on Earth.
The first phase began shortly after Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and the anatomically modern humans began migrating out of Africa and spreading throughout the world. Humans reached the middle east 90,000 years ago. They were in Europe starting around 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals, who had long lived in Europe, survived our arrival for less than 10,000 years, but then abruptly disappeared — victims, according to many paleoanthropologists, of our arrival through outright warfare or the more subtle, though potentially no less devastating effects, of being on the losing side of ecological competition.
Everywhere, shortly after modern humans arrived, many (especially, though by no means exclusively, the larger) native species typically became extinct. Humans were like bulls in a China shop:
-They disrupted ecosystems by overhunting game species, which never experienced contact with humans before.
-And perhaps they spread microbial disease-causing organisms as well.
The fossil record attests to human destruction of ecosystems:
-Wherever early humans migrated, other species became extinct.
-Humans arrived in large numbers in North America roughly 12,500 years ago-and sites revealing the butchering of mammoths, mastodons and extinct buffalo are well documented throughout the continent. The demise of the bulk of the La Brea tar pit Pleistocene fauna coincided with our arrival.
-The Caribbean lost several of its larger species when humans arrived some 8000 years ago.
-Extinction struck elements of the Australian megafauna much earlier-when humans arrived some 40,000 years ago. Madagascar-something of an anomaly, as humans only arrived there two thousand years ago-also fits the pattern well: the larger species (elephant birds, a species of hippo, plus larger lemurs) rapidly disappeared soon after humans arrived.
Indeed, only in places where earlier hominid species had lived (Africa, of course, but also most of Europe and Asia) did the fauna, already adapted to hominid presence, survive the first wave of the Sixth Extinction pretty much intact. The rest of the world’s species, which had never before encountered hominids in their local ecosystems, were as naively unwary as all but the most recently arrived species (such as Vermilion Flycatchers) of the Galapagos Islands remain to this day.
Why does the Sixth Extinction continue?
The invention of agriculture accelerated the pace of the Sixth Extinction.
Phase two of the Sixth Extinction began around 10,000 years ago with the invention of agriculture-perhaps first in the Natufian culture of the Middle East. Agriculture appears to have been invented several different times in various different places, and has, in the intervening years, spread around the entire globe.
Agriculture represents the single most profound ecological change in the entire 3.5 billion-year history of life. With its invention:
-Humans did not have to interact with other species for survival, and so could manipulate other species for their own use
-Humans did not have to adhere to the ecosystem’s carrying capacity, and so could overpopulate
-Humans do not live with nature but outside it.
Homo sapiens became the first species to stop living inside local ecosystems. All other species, including our ancestral hominid ancestors, all pre-agricultural humans, and remnant hunter-gatherer societies still extant exist as semi-isolated populations playing specific roles (i.e., have “niches”) in local ecosystems. This is not so with post-agricultural revolution humans, who in effect have stepped outside local ecosystems. Indeed, to develop agriculture is essentially to declare war on ecosystems - converting land to produce one or two food crops, with all other native plant species all now classified as unwanted “weeds” — and all but a few domesticated species of animals now considered as pests.
The total number of organisms within a species is limited by many factors-most crucial of which is the “carrying capacity” of the local ecosystem: given the energetic needs and energy-procuring adaptations of a given species, there are only so many squirrels, oak trees and hawks that can inhabit a given stretch of habitat. Agriculture had the effect of removing the natural local-ecosystem upper limit of the size of human populations. Though crops still fail regularly, and famine and disease still stalk the land, there is no doubt that agriculture in the main has had an enormous impact on human population size:
-Earth can’t sustain the trend in human population growth. It is reaching its limit in carrying capacity.
-Estimates vary, but range between 1 and 10 million people on earth 10,000 years ago.
-There are now over 6 billion people.
-The numbers continue to increase logarithmically — so that there will be 8 billion by 2020.
-There is presumably an upper limit to the carrying capacity of humans on earth — of the numbers that agriculture can support — and that number is usually estimated at between 13-15 billion, though some people think the ultimate numbers might be much higher.
This explosion of human population, especially in the post-Industrial Revolution years of the past two centuries, coupled with the unequal distribution and consumption of wealth on the planet, is the underlying cause of the Sixth Extinction. There is a vicious cycle:
-Overpopulation, invasive species, and overexploitation are fueling the extinction.
-More lands are cleared and more efficient production techniques (most recently engendered largely through genetic engineering) to feed the growing number of humans — and in response, the human population continues to expand.
-Higher fossil energy use is helping agriculture spread, further modifying the environment.
-Humans continue to fish (12 of the 13 major fisheries on the planet are now considered severely depleted) and harvest timber for building materials and just plain fuel, pollution, and soil erosion from agriculture creates dead zones in fisheries (as in the Gulf of Mexico)
-While the human Diaspora has meant the spread, as well, of alien species that more often than not thrive at the detriment of native species. For example, invasive species have contributed to 42% of all threatened and endangered species in the U.S.
Can conservation measures stop the Sixth Extinction?
Only 10% of the world’s species survived the third mass extinction. Will any survive this one?
The world’s ecosystems have been plunged into chaos, with some conservation biologists thinking that no system, not even the vast oceans, remains untouched by human presence. Conservation measures, sustainable development, and, ultimately, stabilization of human population numbers and consumption patterns seem to offer some hope that the Sixth Extinction will not develop to the extent of the third global extinction, some 245 mya, when 90% of the world’s species were lost.
Though it is true that life, so incredibly resilient, has always recovered (though after long lags) after major extinction spasms, it is only after whatever has caused the extinction event has dissipated. That cause, in the case of the Sixth Extinction, is ourselves — Homo sapiens. This means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part. The latter must happen before the Sixth Extinction can be declared over, and life can once again rebound.
© 2005, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact editor@actionbioscience.org for reprint permission. See reprint policy.
Paleontologist Dr. Niles Eldredge is the Curator-in-Chief of the permanent exhibition “Hall of Biodiversity” at the American Museum of Natural History and adjunct professor at the City University of New York. He has devoted his career to examining evolutionary theory through the fossil record, publishing his views in more than 160 scientific articles, reviews, and books. Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisisis his most recent book.
www.gc.cuny.edu/directories/faculty/E.htm
Articles and Resources on The Sixth Extinction
Consequences of the Sixth Extinction
The article “How Will Sixth Extinction Affect Evolution of Species?,” on our site, describes how the current loss of biodiversity will affect evolution in the long run.
www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/myers_knoll.html
BioScience Article
“Global Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.”
Habitat destruction has driven much of the current biodiversity extinction crisis, and it compromises the essential benefits, or ecosystem services that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Securing both species and ecosystem services might be accomplished with common solutions. Yet it is unknown whether these two major conservation objectives coincide broadly enough worldwide to enable global strategies for both goals to gain synergy. In this November 2007, BioScience article, Will Turner and his colleagues assess the concordance between these two objectives, explore how the concordance varies across different regions, and examine the global potential for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously. Read the abstract, or log in to purchase the full article.
caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1641/B571009
Biodiversity in the next millennium
American Museum of Natural History’s nationwide survey (undated) “reveals biodiversity crisis — the fastest mass extinction in Earth’s history.”
cbc.amnh.org/crisis/mncntnt.html
National Geographic
A 2/99 article about the Sixth Extinction, with views from several leading scientists.
www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/9902/fngm/index.html
Extinction through time
Find out about cycles of life and death and extinction patterns through time.
www.carleton.ca/Museum/extinction/tablecont.html
Is Humanity Suicidal?
Edward O. Wilson asks us why we stay on the course to our own self-destruction.
www.well.com/user/davidu/suicidal.html
A Field Guide to the Sixth Extinction
Niles Eldredge writes in 1999 about a few of the millions of plants and animals that won’t make it to the next millennium. The second link takes you to the site’s main page, entitled “Mass Extinction Underway — The World Wide Web’s most comprehensive source of information on the current mass extinction,” which provides links to numerous other resources.
www.well.com/user/davidu/fieldguide.html
www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html
Global Environment Outlook 3
The United Nations Environment Programme released this major report in May 2002. The report collated the thoughts of more than 1,000 contributors to assess the environmental impact of the last 30 years and outline policy ideas for the next three decades. It concluded that without action, the world may experience severe environmental problems within 30 years. The entire report can be read online or purchased online.
www.unep.org/geo/geo3/index.htm
Test your environmental knowledge
A 1999 survey showed that only one in three adult Americans had a passing understanding of the most pressing environmental issues. How do you measure up? Explanatory answers provided.
www.youthactionnet.org/quizzes/global_environment.cfm
World Atlas of Biodiversity — interactive map
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the firstWorld Atlas of Biodiversityin August 2002. This link takes you to their online interactive map that helps you search for data about species/land/water loss, extinction over time, and human global development. Click on the “?” for a help page that explains how to interact with this map.
stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htm
The Sixth Great Extinction: A Status Report
Earth Policy Institute’s 2004 update on the status of loss of biodiversity.
www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update35.htm
Books
» The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Countsby The American Museum of Natural History (New Press, 2001).
» The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of of Life and the Future of Humankindby Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin (Doubleday and Company, 1996).
Get Involved
The Biodiversity Project
You can choose a way to get involved in protecting biodiversity — from educational resources to community outreach.
www.biodiversityproject.org/html/resources/introduction.htm
The Nature Conservancy
Select a state from the menu and find out how you can become an environmental volunteer in that state.
Information for Action
“This website explains the environmental problems & offers solutions to fix them. There are many valuable resources available” including lobbying info, contacts database, & news updates.
Harmony
“Harmony Foundation is all about education for the environment. We offer publications and programs… ‘Building Sustainable Societies’ offers innovative training for educators and community group leaders to support local action on important environmental issues.”
Earth Talk: Environmental advocacy for professionals
This discussion community and learning network seeks to contribute to global ecological sustainability by enabling communication connections between those working on behalf of forests, water, and climate.
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Tiger Illustration by Dorothy Lathrop from
"Fierce-Face: The story of a tiger" by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1936)
The concluding image I wanted to show: Osprey starting its turn with fish in tow to find a place to eat it.
Castillo de Turégano, Segovia, España.
El primitivo Castrum celtibérico fue aprovechado por los estrategas romanos para completar el sistema de fortificaciones con COLENDA “SEPTEMPUBLICA”,”PETRARIA” y “CAUCA” envolvían el territorio segoviano y dominaban las cuencas de los ríos de Eresma, Cega y Duratón. Del Castrum sólo quedan las torres en parte desmochadas, construidas posiblemente hacia finales del siglo X y de clara tradición árabe.
De planta cuadrada, fueron ejecutadas de fábrica de gruesos de cal y canto, aparecieron traspasadas en su parte inferior por un estrecho pasadizo conocido como “el paso de ronda” y unidas entre sí por tramos realizados en tapial.
El recinto de planta cuadrangular flanqueado por torreones circulares en los ángulos y rematados por hornacinas con la imagen de San Miguel. Como característica en común a lienzos y almenas, se encuentran saeteras del tipo cruz y orbe y palo y orbe. En todo sistema de protección encontramos también, matacanes, buhoneras, acodos, recovecos, balcones amatacanados y estrechas escaleras.
El edificio central se encuentra constituido por la torre del homenaje, cuyo interior se distribuye en estancias, estrechas escaleras, que comunican las distintas salas y una escalera helicoidal que conduce a la base de la torre, donde puede contemplarse el bellísimo paisaje y se palpa el carácter defensivo del castillo. Declarado monumento nacional en 1931, su emplazamiento recuerda la función defensiva por el que fue erigido. En su construcción se han de distinguir distintos conjuntos que lo compone: El Castrum y las torres, la primitiva iglesia de San Miguel, y el traslado de la espadaña a su lugar actual. Muchos autores defendieron la teoría de haberse construido a la par que al castillo, hoy se puede afirmar que la iglesia de San Miguel, de estilo románico, fue ejecutada a finales del siglo XII y a principios del siglo XIII.
En el ala oeste encontramos tres torreones construidos con similares características, sillares de piedra rosa, rematados entre sus lienzos por parapetos, matacanes y gárgolas de una pieza.
La entrada de la iglesia, marcada encima por el escudo episcopal, está defendida por dos torres especiales, polígonas en el primer cuerpo y circulares y circulares en el segundo, corre por ellas una línea de matacanes debajo de un arco abierto que hace las veces de galería, donde puede observarse un arco de crucería.
En ella destacan dos fases constructivas, la primera comprendería las naves laterales y la torre elevada, actualmente embutida dentro del torreón central. De la segunda fase destaca la nave central construida por buena sillería y cubierta con bóveda de cañón apuntada. Las obras que dan lugar al recinto amurallado se encuentran en el siglo XV, siendo emprendidas por Arias Dávila en 1471, continuadas por Arias del Villar y concluidas por Diego Rivera siguiendo el plan por el, trazado por el Prelado Arias Dávila. La última fase de la construcción es la colocación, en 1703, de la espadaña, de estilo barroco y rematada con frontón curvo.
The primitive Celtiberian Castrum was used by the Roman strategists to complete the system of fortifications with COLENDA "SEPTEMPUBLICA", "PETRARIA" and "CAUCA" wrapped around the territory of Segovia and dominated the basins of the rivers of Eresma, Cega and Duratón. Of the Castrum there are only partially towered towers, possibly built towards the end of the 10th century and with a clear Arab tradition.
Of square plant, they were executed of factory of thicknesses of lime and song, they appeared transferred in its inferior part by a narrow passageway known like "the passage of ronda" and united to each other by stretches realized in tapial.
The enclosure of quadrangular plant flanked by circular towers in the angles and topped by niches with the image of San Miguel. As a common characteristic of canvases and battlements, there are cross and orb and arrow and orb bows. In every system of protection we also find, machicolations, buhoneras, layering, recesses, balconies amatacanados and narrow stairs.
The central building is constituted by the keep, whose interior is distributed in rooms, narrow stairs, which connect the different rooms and a helical staircase that leads to the base of the tower, where you can contemplate the beautiful landscape and feel the defensive character of the castle. Declared a national monument in 1931, its location recalls the defensive function by which it was erected. In its construction we have to distinguish different groups that make it up: The Castrum and the towers, the primitive church of San Miguel, and the transfer of the bulrush to its current place. Many authors defended the theory of having built at the same time as the castle, today it can be said that the church of San Miguel, in Romanesque style, was executed at the end of the 12th century and at the beginning of the 13th century.
In the west wing we find three towers built with similar characteristics, rose stone ashlars, topped between their canvases by parapets, machicolations and one piece gargoyles.
The entrance of the church, marked above by the episcopal shield, is defended by two special towers, polygons in the first body and circular and circular in the second, runs through them a line of machicolations under an open arch that serves as gallery, where you can see an archway.
In her they emphasize two constructive phases, first would include the lateral ships and the elevated tower, at the moment embedded within the central tower. Of the second phase highlights the central nave built by good ashlar masonry and covered with pointed barrel vault. The works that give rise to the walled enclosure are in the XV century, being undertaken by Arias Dávila in 1471, continued by Arias del Villar and concluded by Diego Rivera following the plan by him, drawn by the Prelate Arias Dávila. The last phase of construction is the placement, in 1703, of the steeple, baroque style and topped with curved pediment.
To conclude my series of Green Eyes, here one of the rarest species in my archives.
I expect the number of clicks and favs to go up like a rocket ;-))
Felis (silvestris) catus
Cat, Domestic Cat
Katze, Hauskatze
Kat, Tamkat, Norsk Skovkat
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If you like my pictures please have a look at:
Wenn Ihnen meine Bilder gefallen, besuchen Sie bitte meine Homepage
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PLEASE, NO AWARDS, no Copy and Paste Comments and no group icons like "your wonderful photo was seen in group xyz". They will be deleted as soon as I see them.
BITTE KEINE AWARDS, kopierte Kommentare oder diese Gruppen-Icons wie "Ich habe Dein wunderbares Bild in Gruppe xyz gesehen". Die lösche ich sobald ich sie sehe.
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Tornati in pianura, a Bex si conclude la nostra corsa fotografica con un’ultima fermata scelta, come sempre, chirurgicamente per meglio godere del sole. La splendida giornata frutto del lavoro di Nicolas Michel volge al termine dopo aver percorso quasi l’intera linea con ben tre differenti treni speciali.
Zurück in der Ebene, beenden wir unsere Fototour in Bex mit einem letzten Halt, der wie immer chirurgisch gewählt wurde, um die Sonne besser geniessen zu können. Die wunderbare Arbeit von Nicolas Michel geht zu Ende, dank ihm wir fast die gesamte Strecke mit nicht weniger als drei verschiedenen Sonderzügen zurückgelegt haben.
Si conclude oggi 31.08.2024 il servizio ferroviario svolto dall'Impresa a partecipazione Regionale del Veneto Sistemi Territoriali nelle tratte Rovigo - Verona, Rovigo - Chioggia (VE) e Adria (RO) - Mestre.
Fondata come Società per la gestione della tratta da Adria (RO) a Mestre, ottenne a partire dal 2009 l'affidamento di alcuni servizi passeggeri delle altre 2 tratte che diventò totale dal 2016.
Dal 01.09.2024 la gestione ritorna a Trenitalia la quale utilizzerà dei più moderni ALn501/502 (Minuetto Diesel) per lo svolgimento dei servizi nelle tratte da Verona a Chioggia (VE), nel frattempo la tratta da Adria (VE) a Mestre è chiusa per lavori di elettrificazione.
ALn668 605 di Sistemi Territoriali in servizio con il R 91513 da Verona Porta Nuova a Rovigo, in transito tra i campi di Ramodipalo frazione di Lendinara (RO).
The railway service carried out by the Veneto Regional Participation Company Sistemi Territoriali on the Rovigo - Verona, Rovigo - Chioggia (VE) and Adria (RO) - Mestre routes ends today, 31.08.2024.
Founded as a company for the management of the route from Adria (RO) to Mestre, in 2009 it obtained the assignment of some passenger services on the other 2 routes, which became total in 2016.
From 09.01.2024 the management returns to Trenitalia which will use more modern ALn501/502 (Minuetto Diesel) to carry out services on the routes from Verona to Chioggia (VE), in the meantime the route from Adria (VE) to Mestre is closed for electrification works.
ALn668 605 of Sistemi Territoriali in service with R 91513 from Verona Porta Nuova to Rovigo, in transit between the fields of Ramodipalo, a fraction of Lendinara (RO).
Concluding the Roman series with a look back at St Peters, one version from the crowded bridge, and the other from river level where there was absolutely no one around, I kinda felt scared because it was strange that nobody went down the steps, maybe it was a foolish thing to do on my part, maybe it was the lemming mentality that drives people to follow the hordes.
And this concludes our presentation of my 4 day trip to Northern California. Again I didn't have much time to take photos, but on the way to work one morning before it started to rain, I was lucky enough to get this little tree all by himself. Yes, it's a him. I think his name is Woody.
Wow, hard to believe I never made it in comedy.
It's also Testimonial Tuesday so let me know if you want a testimonial. All I need from you is a word. A single, boring object near you. ie. Styrofoam cup, hair brush, ball of belly lint, etc. I've created 90 testimonials so far, and here are my 4 from today:
to conclude this series, would like to pay tribute to my fellow photographers around, documenting these moments in history :)
I tried to document this event from different point of view: the people, the media and the enforcement officers
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3 March 2012 -- Thousands of people marched to the offices of the Hong Kong city government on Saturday, demanding that outgoing chief executive Donald Tsang stand trial following allegations of ethics violations in his dealings with businessmen.
Organizers said more than 5,000 participated in Saturday's march, but local police estimated about 2,800 turned up at Victoria Park, the site of Hong Kong's annual Tiananmen vigil and where the protest started.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 amid promises of a high degree of autonomy. But China's leaders have kept grip over political and administrative elite from behind the scenes.
The city's seven million people can elect some legislative and district council members, but have no direct vote for their top leader, who is selected by a 1,200-strong election committee comprised largely of business leaders and Beijing loyalists.
Source: Reuters
For more photos, please visit my set:
Rally Against Outgoing Leader 民陣3月3日「踢走爛攤子，還我真普選」大遊行
And so we come to the end of this chapter and close the door on the greenhouse for now. Another day and another roll of film and another camera and who knows.
February (continued and concluded)
@12monthonfilm
All images were shot using the Hasselblad 500v
Because the Hasselblad has an interchangeable back I decided to shoot two Kodak films. Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Tri X 400 all on a tripod so the framing and lighting would be identical. Light meter readings were all done using the “Viewfinder “app. More on that later
I’m traditionally a black and white kinda guy but I may be exploring a bit more color after this experiment. Each post will have both version for comparison.
Note: these posts will continue into March as I put together next months installments for the project
Hasselblad 500c
Zeiss Planar 80 mm f2.8 lens
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Tri X 400
This concludes the series. Hope you enjoyed the stroll around the gardens! To see the full essay, see the link below.
Return to Hakone Gardens, Saratoga. Shot with Fujifilm XPro2 and 18-55mm f2.8-4 lens in Acros.
PHOTO ESSAY: HAKONE
This was the shot that concluded my first experience of the Northern Lights, as seen at Hvalnes Lighthouse, Iceland.
A group of 5 of us had been on the road all day and had seen (in my opinion) one of the most amazing sunsets ever - panorama to follow. We were partly anticipating seeing the lights, but half resigned to calling it a night for some much needed sleep. Thankfully we checked outside one last time before bed.
I wasn't sure quite what to expect and to the eye, the 'lights' at first seemed like quite dull, linear white clouds. When photographed with a camera at relatively high sensitivity, the brightness and colours really popped out.
We saw the 'lights' on two more evenings, with the last evening being much brighter and more spectacular.
Shot with a Samyang 14mm (fully manual prime lens) at F/2.8
Perspective 'corrected' in Photoshop CS6 and horizon straightened manually with the liquify tool.
Greens selected and enhanced separately.
We concluded an extensive period of sunny weather (which coincided with confinement) in Denmark with some more usual freshness and even the first rain in a month. That's all it took for snails to invade the grassy grounds on the other side of the road.
I recently concluded a Trip to Amboli with a group of very enthusiastic friends. The sightings on the trip were awesome and we had some lovely photographic opportunities. If you have been to Amboli in rains, you know its almost always in clouds and there is always moisture in the atmosphere, so much that you can actually see it. In the below Image, i have tried to capture the essence of the atmosphere and the subjects thriving there. This was shot in pitch dark night, no flash was used, the only light source here is the light of small torch used behind the subject and bit to the right of it. Please do advise how this looks.
EXIF: Canon 100mm Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/50 Sec
F Stop: F/2.8
ISO: 800
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering: Spot
Having concluded their run west, the crew of Union Pacific’s LTA 41 stuffs their train into the small, backwater UP Yard in Winona, MN. Having shoved in at Tower CK the train and crew are back on home rails after running via trackage rights on Canadian Pacific since Tunnel City, WI. Once the train is put away the crew will cab back to Adams to finish out their day. During the week, a crew will switch out the cars brought in by LTA 41 and service the customers in town before LTA 42 takes the traffic east to Adams on Friday evening.
i have to conclude that i don't so much hate the mall - after all i did have fun goofing around (but if i hadn't been taking pictures i probably wouldn't have had as much) - as it's just kind of sad. i know i'm outside the target demographic now, but there's no reason for me to ever shop there. most of the products the stores and kiosks were selling were both overpriced and junky, and i'm sure i could find anything similar online. the places i liked to go when i was a kid have all been closed down long ago and replaced with obnoxious clothing stores or nothing at all. oh well.
I’ll conclude the Budapest trip with these two bronzes from the Danube riverfront in Pest, along the Jane Haining Rakpart. Pictures of other people’s art can at best be documentary or travel photograpy. But what the heck. Don’t know the artist here.
The concluding piece of my "On a Sphere" series recently uploaded.
Detail of "Centre", a work by Iván Paulikovics (1953), erected in 2005 at Budapest, Hungary.
The full series featuring sculptures, statues, public art, involving a sphere:
Nr 1, Nr 2, Nr 3, Nr 4, Nr 5, Nr 6, Nr 7, Nr 8, Nr 9, Nr 10, Nr 11, Nr 12, Nr 13, Nr 14.
Time concludes
as much as it exudes
drawn from one
as we are from
a distance of years
in sunlight relent
like tides
set to the rein of light
neither swimming
nor walking
no talking
nor sleeping
this is no eidolon
it's Spring!
pure
and simple...
by anglia24
19h10: 17/04/2007
© 2007anglia24
This concludes my first downtown outing with the x100f. This was just a small sample of what I've been doing with the camera. I have a ton of ballpark shots and have since gone downtown several more times, so I'll definitely be posting more further down the line.
For the next series we'll be staying in the downtown area, but this time I'll be shooting with the XPro2. Be prepared for lots of B&W architecture shots:)
Downtown San Jose, July 2017. Shot with Fujifilm X100f in Classic Chrome with custom color balance adjustment.
PHOTO ESSAY: DOWNTOWN
This concludes my 'Build your own' series... Hope you liked the mirror shots
This was a tricky shot. I had to catch someone walking exactly in the middle of the frame so that it would make a 'person'. It was a bonus that the lady was wearing this awesome red coat!
Shot with the Canon S95
Becoming Marni is a site-specific installation conceived as the concluding act of the whole Marni Prisma program. It consists of one hundred wooden sculptures created by Brazilian self-taught artist Véio, distributed around the cloister and inside the rooms of the Abbey, drawing an ideal landscape of organic forms. The sculptures are installed in different groups, indoors and outdoors, their presence marked by a tactile path, the color of Venice’s water, drawn on the floor: an irregular surface with translucent spots, creating continuity between the outside and the inside. A small cabinet in the cloister housed Véio’s workshop, enabling him to create artworks on site. Furthermore, as the San Gregorio Abbey is usually closed to the public, this exhibition presented an opportunity to enjoy a unique space.
Consuelo and Carolina Castiglioni discovered Véio at a collective exhibition in Paris. Through Galeria Estação, which exclusively represents him, they entered in contact with him and Carolina tracked him down to Nossa Senhora da Gloria, the small village in the north East of Brazil where he lives and works. Here Véio creates his enigmatic sculptures by giving new life to pieces of wood, clogs and branches he finds along the river. He immediately identifies a being in each piece – an animal, a resting human, a fantastic bird. By a process of artistic transformation – clipping, shaving, adding a final layer of color – he makes the same beings visible to the public, removing them from the raw material and thereby restoring to the wood a meaning that exceeds pure physicality.
This is the complete album of the photos of my visit. --- --- --- www.flickr.com/photos/136891509@N07/albums/72157661202999340
I am sure that there is a purpose and a little work undertaken whenever the inspection coach Caroline heads out onto the main line, however to the typical rail enthusiast there is a huge amount of envy directed at those on board the saloon. This working left Peterborough at 09.15 this morning, worked its way up the east coast mainline as far as Doncaster before heading off to Filey via Hull and concluding its run in York. What a fine day out that sounds.
Motive power was provided by 37418 but the service is being driven from the cab of Caroline. This photo was taken at Kirk Sandal which was the first time I had visited the location even though it is only 15 miles from home.
After the concluding prayers and the granting of plenary indulgence, the skies were brightened by a spectacular fireworks display.
This year marks our tenth year of participation in the Grand Marian Procession.
(For the past ten years of our participation in the GMP, this is, for me, the best fireworks display.)
Photo by Irene Rinoza (www.pbase.com/carinoza)
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Last week concluded the major shoreline restoration work that was needed as a result of enduring two new "century high-water marks" in the last three years. The prior one was set in 1954 when Hurricane Hazel came up the Mississippi to dump on Canada. Now, I have a much better understanding of "global warming", "Climate Change" and the resulting costs.
Painting - Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 inches
After painting a series of "Little people & Big Dogs" for my friends' newly arriving grand children, I decided to conclude this series with one for myself. This is the one.
Belmont Lake State Park, Long Island, NY. I initially ID'd this bird as a Philadelphia Vireo based largely on its song, which I heard from high up in the forest canopy. It responded to playback of a Philadelphia Vireo song from my phone's Sibley app, descending from the treetops to investigate. However, the two species' songs are somewhat familiar. A Philadelphia Vireo would be very rare on Long Island except during migration. The bird was in shadow, so its eye color cannot be confirmed. Its breast appears off-white rather than yellowish. I conclude it is actually a Red-eyed Vireo and have updated all data accordingly.
This might conclude my shots for last year Hawaii vacation. I do have more but are very similar to the ones posted or of documentation nature with little interest. Today my mind is more focused on Colorado’s fires. Do far of the Black Forest fire 92 homes destroyed and 5 partially burned and zero containment. There are lots of resources fighting this fire but the winds are what are dictating what is happening. I do have one friend that is very close to this area and no word on how they are doing. There are two other major fires in Colorado but none have the destruction of this fire.
DMIR 405 leads a reluctant five pack of Missabe power towards the Missabe Division mainline, just out of Utac's Fairlane Yard Track back on January 29, 2004. Was stupid cold for a couple of days in late January 2004, just like this year.
When work was called off this day because school buses were not starting in the extreme cold, I took the opportunity to visit the Missabe under code blue skies. Still remember the -33F my Malibu therometer read that morning when I started it without a garage in McGregor and also how cold everything sounded on the railroad that day. Back then I was so hyped and determined to shoot the Missabe's last winter, I set the alarm in the middle of the night to warm the car, making sure it started.
Consist on the above southbound was 405, 408, 414, 317, and 223, pulling a cold shortened train of 100 cars south to Proctor. I believe this train was rescuing cold, dead units from Keenan after loading and that was why I was treated these five maroons at a cold start up, representing the three models of road locos (SD40-3, SD38-type, SDM) that closed out the Missabe.
Started out the day on the Iron Range and then concluded with the afternoon chase of this guy to Proctor when the temp was "only" between -15 and -10F, just like the past few days. Was a cold couple of days of chasing, but Jan. 29-30, 2004 will go down as my best two consecutive days of Missabe shooting.