View allAll Photos Tagged Congested
farmland on the outskirts of Yangshuo in Guangxi province, China. The countryside is best explored on a bicycle although I didn't enjoy cycling in the congested town!
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM At F/11 Shutter speed 6 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
All rights reserved ©
This is our boy Enzo Furrari, the younger brother of camera hog, Duke Hotti (Ducati, get it?). We lost our special boy on September 2nd after a short battle with kidney disease, which took him back in three weeks. Enzo was a trooper, having battled congestive heart disease for over two years, and was keeping it at bay. Enzo was a cool personality and he knew it. Petting took place on his terms and in designated locations, like his box in his pet window or in bed, but always on the outside edge of the bed. Enzo loved boxes and baskets, and would always find a way to contort into the smallest box you could imagine. But don’t try to give him pets unless he is in his designated pet box sitters in the pet window. Enzo was the master of “drive byes”, sauntering past with his tail in his signature question mark curl, with the ever so pronounced twitch of just the very end of his tail, enticing you to come with him to a designated petting zone! There were jokes so many unique personality traits he had and not enough space here to describe them or the hurt in our hearts with the loss of such a unique and loving animal.
June 13th, 2021
My mom is immunocompromised and my dad works with food so Penelope the pineapple was the only other available cuddle partner while feeing sick. Piper doesn’t count cuz she’s a freak.
I woke up feeling a little better, not as TIGHTLY congested. I probably shouldn’t have gone grocery shopping bc I kept getting really tired if I exerted too much energy, but I didn’t last week so I was in dire need. SO many people were maskless it was weird. I’ll be wearing mine for a while regardless, but especially today since I’m not feeling well.
My dad asked me my plans today and I was like “bed, all day.” And thats what I did! Well, the couch.
I wanted some soup tonight (that I didn’t have to make) and apparently Panera closes at 3 on Sundays? Incredibly inconsiderate and rude honesty.
Then I came home and spent a good 40 minutes in the hottest shower of my life and it helped a lot! Still don’t feel 100% but a big improvement. Which like, thank god bc this is the LAST thing I need rn. I just started my job and have no health insurance. But the universe is funny that way isn’t it??? (lbr I got sick bc of how stressed and worn down I was)
Melbournians have a love-hate relationship with MAMIL's. Riders come out in force on the city's congested roads in great numbers for the enjoyment of the exercise and scenery. My youngest son rides a mountain bike and a motorbike and casts many negative comments on car drivers. This lot obviously are serious riders and were going quite fast down the narrow street. In Fitzroy with the FFF+
A single BNSF Dash 9 is the power for UP train YKC78 moving east down Main Track 1 on the UP KC Metro Sub at St. Louis Ave. with cars going from KCS's Knoche Yard to UP's Neff Yard.
This train is actually the previous morning's YKC49, which is the normal transfer from KCS's Knoche Yard to UP's Neff Yard. Apparently, Neff was too congested to take the train yesterday, so the train went west on the UP KC Metro Sub towards Armourdale Yard and Armstrong Yard and tied down. Once Neff was ready to take the train, the YKC78 crew got on, wyed the power, and then ran the power to other end of the train to take it east into Neff. 3/21/17.
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sigma 19mm F/2.8 DG DN Art. At F/11 Shutter speed 4 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. Which this series showcases.. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
All rights reserved ©
We photographers want everything to be perfect - perfect lighting, perfect composition, perfect focus. Even candid photos have their rules. Sometimes, a photo breaks those rules, yet deserves to be shared. That is how I feel about my portrait of George and Charlie. (note: although "candid," I received permission to post it).
Our return from Vancouver island via the Coho (car) Ferry is never routine. It is one of the best places to people-watch.
When we arrived at the Victoria ferry terminal yard where cars are queued for boarding, we found ourselves parked behind a gentleman accompanied by his grey and white dog. I was so taken by the affection that was apparent between the man and his furry companion, although seen only as shadows through his car's rear window, I remarked to my husband it was a "Travels with Charlie" moment. Little did I know!
Before boarding, all car passengers have to walk over to the customs shed to have our passports checked. As I passed, I glanced into the car in front and saw that the entire rear seat was a mass of blankets and pillows making a soft nest for the adorable dog, and making me even more intrigued by these fellow travelers.
Once we boarded the ferry, leaving our car on the lower deck, we made our way up to seats with a view to the exterior promenade. Coincidentally (no such thing), this same gentleman and his dog took up a seat on the walkway directly outside our view window. I could not help myself, and despite the window being smeared with sea salt, and having only my iPhone camera with me, I caught a couple of shots of him looking lovingly down at his pup. That's when I decided I just HAD to talk with him.
My sole aim at that moment was to show him the photo. His eyes seemed to tear up, but I initially thought it was just the sea wind. After hearing their story, however, I learned the real reason for the tears.
His name is George and his pup's name is Charlie. Another coincidence? Not! Charlie is a 10-year-old Havanese in his final days as he is suffering from congestive heart failure and is on multiple medications. George explained that they had just spent 9 weeks at their cabin on Quadra Island and were returning to their home in California. Charlie's mom had flown home ahead of them. I did not ask his dad, but surmised Charlie's condition precluded traveling on airplanes.
George told me Charlie had chased a deer at their cabin and collapsed. He thought that was the end, but Charlie rallied. George felt it was a miracle Charlie was still here and knew it was only a matter of days.
George really liked the photos I had taken of them through the window, so I offered to email them to him. He immediately said, "yes," and gave me his email address. It was only then that I told him about the Human Family and 100 Strangers projects, though it had, of course, nipped around the corners of my mind. He readily agreed to another, more composed photo (it is obvious which of the photos I chose to post).
Asking any further questions was impossible as we were both holding back tears. I promised to email him the photos and he promised to let me know how the remaining travels with Charlie went. I have held up my part of it, but have yet to hear back.
See my growing, Human Family/100 Strangers album
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
To view more street portraits and stories from The Human Family, visit The Human Family Flickr Group.
Blue sky over Madrid's historic centre at dusk on a winter evening, with Cibeles' fountain in the foreground and Alcala and Gran Via streets congested with traffic in the background.
A busy session at Kingsbury, the Eurostar scrap is backed into the yard, where two shunters wait (one right at the far end, the other can just be seen against the near end of the line of containers. There are four Eurostar cars on rails and another five off the rails, from previous deliveries. A Felixstowe - Birch Coppice enters the branch, and the tug waits for the Humber tanks to be discharged.
For those concerned about drone legality, I know Kingsbury village and the active area of the scrapyard are 'congested areas' and require 150 rather than the usual 50 metres clearance. I am above an empty field and am more than 150 metres away from the congestion. It's quite a big crop from the original image, which is why I look closer. Also, just outside B'ham airport cat D airspace.
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM At F/11 Shutter speed 6 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
All rights reserved ©
Jockeying for portion are some trucks and trains on a busy Sunday morning in this old Central Vermont headquarters town. At left is 4400 horsepower CN 3020 (GE ET44AC blt 2015) that led a monster CN train 324 down from Montreal and at right 56 years her senior is 1750 horsepower NECR 1750 (EMD SD9 blt 1959). The 1750 is rather ugly with its chopped nose, but sure is cool as the only operating example of this classic model in New England. None of the traditional New England roads ever purchased any SD9s, preferring instead the 4-axle GP9 model which were quite common. The 1750 was an original Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway unit were it served for 39 years as their number 161 before being sold to Railtex in 1998 and transferred to the Georgia Southwestern. It was around that time that its original high short hood was cut down and was renumbered 1900. It was transferred by then parent RailAmerica around 2005 to the Connecticut Southern and then came to the NECR around 2009. For the past dozen years she has been a stalwart switcher though her sibling, NECR 1901 (ex DMIR 168), that came at the same time has since been retired.
To read more about this day check out the caption with the earlier photo: flic.kr/p/2kvzFap
St. Albans, Vermont
Sunday January 17, 2021
Wow, the Tram replacement was really fun. Some parts were really congested, but the journey through Ampere Way and Therapia Lane Industrial Area gave some really nice views, unique for a double decker too. Lots of old, exotic types are out and about so I would definitely recommend having a ride before the service ceases.
Christmas market, on the left, the roller coaster for little children, in the middle, the alley with all the wooden little houses, view from behind since the alley is completely congested.
Marché de Noël, à gauche l'installation de montagnes russes pour les petits, avec le traineau du Père Noël. Au milieu, la longue allée de petits chalets montés pour l'occasion sur l'esplanade, vues de dos car entre les allées c'est l'embouteillage !!.
COLLAPSE OF HIGHWAY 580 OVERPASS IN THE MACARTHUR MAZE, Oakland, CA -- Early this morning a massive chunk of a 580 Eastbound overpass collapsed. The collapse was caused by an oil tanker truck that exploded underneath the 580 overpass. The heat from the truck weakened the 580 Overpass causing the overpass to collapse down crushing the truck.
The driver of the truck reportedly was not killed but was taken to the hospital. It is estimated that this disaster will affect East Bay and Bay Bridge traffic, an already extremely congested area, for months.
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM At F/11 Shutter speed 6 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
All rights reserved ©
The Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy is a former royal residence that was built in the 18th century. It is the largest royal residence in the world.
Constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples, the Palace covers an area of about 235,000 m. The architect of this magnificent palace was Luigi Vanvitelli.
The whole architectural complex at Caserta was primarily designed to give the kingdom a new capital.
The King wanted a new royal court and administrative center for the kingdom, in a location protected from sea attack, and distant from the revolt-prone and congested city of Naples.
Wow, air traffic control sure had them coming in tight on this day. ;)
I’m trying to work on my Photoshop skills so this image is kind of a test on that. It’s several stacked photos of a plane landing at Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA). The sequence had more shots than this, but I took out every other one so that the planes did not overlap. It’s kind of a fun picture. I’ve got more like this that I need to process, from that same outing.
traffic many times
stalls for an hour......................
Dhaka is so polluted and congested.
The air is filled with a layer of soot.
Having been there 6 times
i know that the air is greyish...........
500,000 rural folks come into DHAKA each year.
Many live on the streets.............
Photography’s new conscience
I believe I prefer this B&W version better ;) I think it's more effective for this scene.
Here's a recent addition to my Korean apartment series. This one is mind numbing to look at. A congested dizzying vibe, so uncomfortably confined, unable to escape the sensation of.....claustrophobia!
View this larger on black
We took our three younger grandchildren down to Swanage, Dorset for the day.
Swanage isn’t the easiest place to get to. It’s very popular which means that the roads that take you to it are often pretty congested. But when you do eventually get there it’s worth it. Even more so on a nice sunny day!
The picture was taken on our walk down from parking on a side street about a mile away from the seafront, and then as we walked along the promenade towards the cliffs.
We had lunch in Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip shop, though none of us had fish! It’s not the cheapest for food but it was pretty good.
The children in the picture are Eowyn, Willow and Wulf.
We were there from around lunchtime until about 4 O’Clock. The rest of the day was sitting in a car trying to get there and back again!
265 flies through the once small town of Taylors SC, which has now become a congested suburb of the ever expanding city of Greenville. Leading the train on this overcast evening is a BNSF Fakebonnet, a term given to anything painted in the Warbonnet scheme after the merger. Some people hate them, but in my opinion it’s always a treat to see one out here.
A peek into what the captain called the 50's "old school" flight deck. And while this particular aircraft does lack FMS units, Head-Up Displays and lots of glass on the main panel, its capabilities are nevertheless in the same general league as its contemporaries - the 200 series ATR-42/72 and the 300 series Dash 8 - and allow it to fly into some of Europe's most congested airports alongside the best of them.
A Polish minister came to PURI
decades ago and
established housing
and schools for the children of victims of LEPROSY!
He is deceased but he is considered a MOTHER THERESA to these people.
The church is now taking care of 1000's.
Many folks with LEPROSY
beg at holy sites
and congested areas in cities
they are repelled by society
yet they survive
as they lose body parts
they survive
as they lose their sight
they survive
with the help of others
they survive
www.youtube.com/watch?v=du1k6LR6Gl0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6grLG3UUKNk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P74S3gfVuxA&t=195s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMipejEY7s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t38TiOFaMQ
Photography’s new conscience
A private place…
These people had chosen to set up facing the estuary. It’s not exactly private, but it was less congested than the main beach.
P107-9902 Taken at: Irvine beach, Ayrshire
Photo taken by Robert Samweber, slide kindly provided for scanning by Florian Weiß.
München-Riem
1991-05-27 (27 May 1991)
A phantastic aerial overview of Munich-Riem airport taken on 27 May 1991, almost precisely one year before the airport was closed on 16 May 1992. It’s evident how congested it had become. The view is roughly west-to-east. I have marked points of interest in the picture itself.
Scan from Kodachrome slide.
Volvo B7RLE / Wright Urban Eclipse number 153 (SN57 DCU) is meandering through Stockbrdge and Canonmills on Service 36, in Henderson Row, bound for Ocean Terminal. The view to the rear features the gardens that were used in the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with Dame Maggie Smith.
Since this service was extended to Craiglockhart, and then further to the Gyle Centre, passenger numbers seem to have mushroomed and full loads are frequent, especially in the morning and evening rush hours, and often on Saturday mornings to when a half-hour service is in place. Keeping to time though is tricky and the 36 often runs very late with bus bunching, followed by withdrawals and long waits in the street for the passengers, especially at weekends. The congested areas between the Shore and Dean Bridge don't make time keeping easy on this service!
June 15th, 2021
One of the perks of being in the call center is I can wear whatever I want, including Britney Spears tshirts!
I’d say I’m 90% better. Still slightly congested but I have my energy back. Not that I had much to begin with!
I desperately need a haircut but it still looks great in pictures so do I really? (Yes)
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 64. Photo: Columbia CEIAD.
American film star Lizabeth Scott (1922-2015) starred as the bad girl — or the good girl gone bad - in hard-boiled Film Noirs like The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck, Dead Reckoning (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, and I Walk Alone (1948) opposite Burt Lancaster. With her blonde hair, smouldering eyes and her deep smoky voice, she was a sultry femme fatale in a world of crime, tough talk and dark secrets. Of her 22 feature films, she was the leading lady in all but one. In addition to stage and radio, she appeared on television from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.
Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in 1922, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where her parents, John Matzo and Mary (nee Pennock), had a grocery store. Despite her parents’ opposition to an acting career, she went to the Alviene Master School of the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts in New York in her late teens. Here she adopted the stage name of Elizabeth Scott. She landed a small role in a touring company of the hit stage comedy Hellzapoppin'. Back in New York, unable to get an acting job, she landed work as a fashion model with Harper’s Bazaar at $25 an hour. In 1942, she got a small part in the original Broadway production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. Scott also understudied Tallulah Bankhead, who played the lead role. The tempestuous Bankhead, who did not get along with Scott, stubbornly never missed a performance. In Boston Scott finally got to play the lead role, taking over from Miriam Hopkins. She decided to remove the 'E' from Elizabeth Scott to be more distinctive. It would be either this performance or a four-picture spread in an issue of Harper’s Bazaar (the sources differ about this) that led to a long-term Hollywood contract with Hal Wallis, who had his own producing organisation through Paramount Studios. Scott": It was off-season on Broadway and since I wasn’t able to find a job there, I thought it might be a good experience to come to Hollywood and find out what it was all about.” Wallis introduced his 22-year-old discovery as “beautiful, blonde, aloof and alluring”. Scott's film debut was the comedy-drama You Came Along (John Farrow, 1945) opposite Robert Cummings. In her second film, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946), she played a young woman wrongly jailed, opposite Barbara Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas and Van Heflin. She made more of an impression in Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1947) as a gangster’s wife, almost luring Humphrey Bogart into her corruptive trap. Her mysterious character was shot in oblique angles and low-key lighting. Stylishly dressed by Edith Head, she played the good girl gone bad becoming good again in the melodrama Desert Fury (Lewis Allen, 1947). Billed as “the blonde with the brown voice”, Scott played a nightclub singer in I Walk Alone (Byron Haskin, 1948), also starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. She was more decadent than ever in Too Late for Tears (Byron Haskin, 1949), having killed two husbands because she wanted “to move out of the ranks of the middle-class poor”. Scott was her own woman in the world of hard-boiled film crime. Ronald Bergan at The Observer: "Scott was strong and sultry, her heavy dark eyebrows contrasting with her blonde hair. Like [Lauren] Bacall, she had a low and husky voice, but she was far harder; in fact, she was able to suggest hidden depths of depravity – the ideal femme fatale of the 1940s."
In her films, Lizabeth Scott made some memorable quotes. In Pitfall (André De Toth, 1948), she described herself to Dick Powell as "a girl whose first engagement ring was bought by a man stupid enough to embezzle and stupid enough to get caught." In The Racket (John Cromwell, 1951), she asked Robert Mitchum: "Who said I was an honest citizen, and where would it get me if I was?" In another Film Noir, Dark City (William Dieterle, 1950), she is a nightclub singer again who drifts on the edges of a shadowy criminal world, though her love for a gambler (Charlton Heston in his Hollywood debut ) is uplifting. Heston and Scott were reunited for Bad for Each Other (Irving Rapper, 1953). She played several similar roles of a woman willing to change her louche ways but doomed to find a worthwhile man to love her only when she had already passed the point of redemption. After several years of making one Film Noir after another — sometimes at a pace of two or three in a year — Scott was ready for a change. She got it in the comedy Scared Stiff (George Marshall, 1953), starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In September 1954, a front-page story in the magazine Confidential claimed that Scott was a lesbian and was linked to “the little black books kept by Hollywood prostitutes”. It was also said that on a trip to Paris she had taken up with Frédérique 'Frédé' Baulé, manager of Carroll's, an upper-class, cabaret-type nightclub in Paris. One of the owners was Marlene Dietrich. Two months before the issue's printed publication, her lawyer had instituted a $ 2.5m suit against Confidential, accusing the magazine of “holding the plaintiff up to contempt and ridicule and implying in the eyes of every reader indecent, unnatural and illegal conduct in her private and public life”. Scott lost her suit on a technicality, however, and, given the witch-hunting atmosphere of the times, the case certainly harmed her. Compounding her plight was her rebellious nature, having never paid conventional homage to the film establishment and to gossip columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. In 1955, Scott went to Great Britain to film The Weapon (Val Guest, 1957). As with other European films of the 1950s- 1970s period aimed at a US audience, Scott starred with another American actor, Steve Cochran, who played US Army CID officer Mark Andrews. Scott also played a publicity woman in the Elvis Presley vehicle Loving You (Hal Kanter, 1957). In 1957, she also released an album of torch songs and romantic ballads titled 'Lizabeth'. She had a few TV roles in the 1960s. Her last credited movie appearance was as a man-eating cougar in Pulp (Mike Hodges, 1972), a sendup of the Film Noir starring Michael Caine. One of her ex-husbands in the film is played by Mickey Rooney. Scott lived quietly in Hollywood, sometimes accepting invitations to attend film festivals and other events. In a 1996 interview with documentary filmmaker Carole Langer, Scott said she had liked the grittiness of Film Noir and didn't lament the fact that she wasn't cast in studio blockbusters: "The films that I had seen growing up were always, boy meets girl, the boy ends up marrying girl, they go off into the sunset," Scott said. After the war, films got more in touch with "the psychological, emotional things that people feel and people do. It was a new realm, and it was very exciting because suddenly you were coming closer and closer to reality." Lizabeth Scott died in 2015 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 92. The cause was congestive heart failure, said her long-time friend Mary Goodstein. Scott's survivors include her brother Gus Matzo and sister Justine Birdsall.
Sources David Colker (Los Angeles Times), Ronald Bergan (The Observer), Mike Barnes (Hollywood Reporter), Variety, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
A driver in one of Iran's ubiquitous white taxis is stuck in traffic on the edge of Valiasr Square. Photo taken on September 15, 2015 in Tehran, Iran.
Lyttelton Port
Lyttelton has long been the main port of the Canterbury / Christchurch area, having been opened in 1877 by the Lyttelton Harbour Board, later becoming the Lyttelton Port Company with the introduction of the Port Companies Act in 1988.
Between 1958 and 1967 the port saw such prosperity that Kaiapoi, on the coast north of Christchurch, briefly reopened its closed port facilities for a decade, to allow smaller ships to bypass the congested Lyttelton wharves.
In the 1970s the port was chosen as one of the main ports in the South Island to be dredged and upgraded for containerisation, with the container facility opening in 1977, the centenary of the initial opening.
Substantial quantities of South Island coal have been shipped from this port for the past 100 years. The port facilities have provided for LP gas and petrol for the past 50 years. In essence the port could be viewed (based on quantities of materials shipped in or out) as the primary port for energy shipments in the South Island.
Clyde has been very ill for the last 6 months. He passed away on 1/13/16 (10 days ago... I just couldn't work the pic for a while), at the age of four and a half. FOUR AND A HALF!!!!
I am heartbroken over the unfairness of death. This dog did not deserve to go so young. He was the sweetest thing on the planet and my all time favorite photographic subject, since I started watching him at three months old.
What did he die of, you ask.... congestive heart failure. He put up a brave fight as did his "Peeps". They had the fluid in his lungs cleaned out just about every week or so. They are crushed by this loss.
Clyde was beyond special. You can witness that through all the pics I posted of him, here on flickr. Just put his name in the search button.
This is the last picture I took of him three weeks before his passing.
Hope to see you again someday, Clyde... You will be greatly missed...
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM At F/11 Shutter speed 6 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
All rights reserved ©
NS Northbound Freight Train 342 pulls up to 20th Street in Irondale, AL. to crew swap with the Interstate Heritage ES44AC NS 8105 leading the way, this particular 342 went to Chattanooga, TN. instead of terminating at Norris Yard in Irondale, AL. as it usually does, sometimes yards get too congested & trains are sent to other yards for the trains to be reclassified.
Before the ms Westerdam entered Limon Bay on the east side of the Panama Canal the Panama Canal Authority dispatched a Marine Pilot to guide the ship into and throughout the canal passage.
Wikipedia:
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Pilots are expert shiphandlers who possess detailed knowledge of local waterways.
The ms Westerdam Captain has full responsibility for safe navigation of his vessel, even if a pilot is on board. If he has clear grounds that the pilot may jeopardise the safety of navigation, he can relieve him from his duties and ask for another pilot or, if not compulsory to have a pilot on board, navigate the vessel without one. Only in transit of the Panama Canal does the pilot have the full responsibility for the navigation of the vessel.
Lothian's new tri-axle buses measure up at massive 13.4 metres and can carry a total of 129 passengers. Their Euro 6 status represents 'environmentally friendly' emission control systems and the welcome return of dual doors will cut down standing time (which can be between 1.5 and 3 minutes) at busy stops. It's a brilliant project achieved, and another accolade for Managing Director Richard Hall who says.....
"Buses are of course part of the solution to congestion but they can sometimes be accused of adding to the problem, especially on congested city centre corridors. By carrying the same number of passengers with fewer vehicles, the Enviro400XLB can reduce the contribution that buses make to congestion and save money too. One vehicle can be removed for every three of these vehicles that enter service".
Volvo B8L / Enviro 400XLB number 1101 (SJ19 OXU) lays-over at the Newhaven terminus.
Looks like the city is getting congested with new developments still on the way...
Image Theft is a CRIME. Please REPORT IT like I do.
The Mekong Expedition (1866-1868)
By the mid-1800s, the British controlled foreign trade along China's coast, and French merchants sought a commercial toehold in Asia. Napoleon III's navy, eager for colonial glory, set its sights on Vietnam and captured Saigon in 1861. A young naval officer, Francis Garnier, enthusiastically advocated exploring the Mekong as a potential route to tap the fabled riches of China. In 1864, he presented his plan to the colony's governor, Admiral La Grandiere, and the "Mekong Expedition Commission" was soon approved. La Grandiere placed Commander Ernest Doudart de Lagree in charge with Garnier as second-in-command, and the crew of 20 set sail aboard two steamers on 5 June 1866.
De Lagree knew about "Khone Falls", but had never seen the so-called impassable rapids around the 4,000 Islands, and assumed he could easily surmount the obstacle. The expedition landed in northeastern Cambodia's Kratie on 7 July, and transferred to canoes to tackle the Sambor rapids. The rainy season current slowed progress, forcing the expedition to hug the eastern bank and push their boats with poles. Gamier thought a strong steamer could overpower the torrent, but as the ride turned rougher, his journal entry states "navigating the Mekong to China seemed gravely compromised." They reached calmer waters just below Stung Treng, but as they continued upriver, Garnier became extremely ill and lost consciousness, only to recover in time to face Khone Falls, where the river rushed through rocky cataracts, with drop-offs reaching 20 meters. The expedition realized that this wide, turbulent stretch of the Mekong was nearly insurmountable by steamer. They travelled along the fall's bank past DonHang Khone to Hua Don Khong and calmer waters. The expedition reached Vientiane on 2 April 1867, Luang Prabang on 28 April, and Yunnan on 7 October. De Lagree died from severe dysentery in early 1868, after they passed Kunming on the way to Dail via land, where the now Gamier-led expedition arrived on 1 March. However, the locals refused them passage, leaving a boat ride down the Yangtze to Shanghai as their only way out.
Claiming Strategic Don Khone
During the 1 870s, the French were concerned that the British were eyeing the Mekong in northeastern Laos from their Burmese colony while increasing their influence in China and Siam with its disputed border with Laos.
Meanwhile, France's only solid Asian claim was southern Vietnam, (Cochinchina) and a "protectorate" over Cambodia. They wanted to continue the Mekong Expedition's legacy by linking to inner China via the Mekong through Laos, which they needed to control.
In the 1880s, France moved to dominate Vietnam's central (Annam) and northern (Tonkin) regions. They also firmed up their Cambodian position by seizing power from King Norodom with a show of gunboat force, which piqued further interest in the Mekong and overcoming Khone falls.
French Navy Lieutenant Campion first powered a small steamer up Cambodia's Sambor rapids in 1884, and Captain Paul Reveillère guided a steamboat to Don Khone's western shores, anchoring in what he named "Marguerite's Bay" in 1887. Onboard was a representative of Messageries Fluvial de Cochinchine, which held the Mekong navigation concession in Cambodia and Vietnam.
That same year, a French businessman, Camille Gauthier, set off from Luang Prabang by raft and managed to survive Khone Falls to reach Phnom Penh in January 1888. The efforts of both Gauthier and Reveillère led to the same conclusion; forget beating the rapids by boat.
Meanwhile, the French continued negotiating with Siam over the disputed Mekong borders, the failure of which prompted a French blockade of the Chao Praya River below Bangkok in July 1893. The Siamese relented and signed a treaty on 3rd October renouncing any claims on the Mekong's east bank. To hold the river, the French urgently needed gunboats above Khone Falls.
Steaming Ahead
From 1890-1892, Dr Mougeot tried to find a hidden passage around Khone Falls with the French steamboat, Argus, but he failed. The 1893 treaty in which Siam relinquished the Mekong's east bank urgently required gunboats above Don Khone, and the Gouverneur General de l'Indochine sought a new approach. Naval Lieutenant Georges Simon was tasked with the "mission hydrographique du haut Mekong" to take two gunboats up the Mekong to Don Khone, disassemble them, cross the island, then re-assemble and launch the boats in calmer upriver waters.
In March 1893, the gunboats were ordered from France. Each weighed 22 tons, measured 26 meters, and could be dismantled into five pieces. La Grandiere and Massie arrived in Saigon on 30 July, where they were assembled, armed, and then cast off on 22 August. Meanwhile, Lt Simon contracted Messagieres Fluviales de Cochinchine in Saigon to quickly supply rail tracks and a carriage capable of hauling 35 tons, in the hope of moving the boats in one piece. He completed the 3-km line from Marguerite Bay to Ban Khone in August. La Grandiere and Massie suffered significant damage in the lower Mekong, but reached Marguerite Bay, and on 12 September, Lt Simon tried and failed to hoist the Massie ashore. He then selected Hang Khone as the landing site and began rerouting the tracks. He also replaced the out-of-order La Grandiere with the heavier Ham Luong, a boat in local service that needed to be disassembled into two pieces for rail shipment. Using manpower to move the train, the boats reached Ban Khone in late October and were re-floated on 1 November in Hou Behanzin Channel separating Don Khone and Don Det. A repaired La Grandiere completed the rail trip on 5 September 1894, and continued to Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and the Tang Ho rapids near China, the final point for Mekong steamboat navigation. On 15 July 1920, La Grandiere and its valuable cargo sank near Ban Thadeua, some 80 km south of Luang Prabang. Expeditions as recently as 2002 have tried salvage its remains.
The Railway's Rise and Fall
By early 1894, Lt Simon and hundreds of Vietnamese workers completed and improved Don Khone's rail line from Hang Khone to Ban Khone, and upgraded the boat ramps, and their foundations and walls. After the successful three-hour transfer of La Grandiere to Ban Khone Tai in early September, Messageries Fluviales de Cochinchine was contracted on 25 September "for the postal service of the connecting rivers of the upper Mekong," which included rail transport on Don Khone. They then ordered three 60-ton steamboats: the Garcerie, Colombert, and Trentinian.
This required further upgrades to the tracks and piers, which were undertaken from August-October 1896, and the three boats were launched in Ban Khone on 25 October.
Looking to meet growing commercial demand, Messageries Fluviales renewed its Mekong contract in July 1897 and adapted the tracks for steam locomotives, the first of which, the Paul Doumer, was purchased that year. Within a decade, couriers, cargo, and tourists began arriving in Hang Khone, trained to Ban Khone Tai, and transferred to steamers bound for Savannakhet and onward to Vientiane and Luang Prabang. The increased traffic at the beginning the century prompted Messageries Fluviales to extend the railway 2 km to Ban Don Det on northern Don Det Island in 1910. This required the construction of a 13-arch, 158-meter-long, reinforced concrete bridge across Hou Behanzin and improvements to the Hang Khone and Ban Don Det piers. To meet anticipated future demand for passengers and freight, Messageries Fluviales purchased more locomotives. The Ban Khone pavilion's locomotive was Ordered and delivered in 1,929 during the rail line's peak. However, demand never materialized, with dry season (December-May) traffic mostly servicing couriers and passengers, while rainy season brought floods. The construction of a 22-km road bypassing Khone Falls, and the 1937 integration of the road into Colonial Route 13 from Saigon to Luang Prabang dealt the death blow. During World War II, the Japanese controlled Don •Khone, and seem to have used the train for military purposes: When the Japanese left, the jungle moved in, engulfing the locomotives in plant growth and relegating the train tracks to recyclable junk.
The Birth of a Railway
The Don Khone-Don Det railway was born of French colonial necessity, opening the door to Mekong River transport by bypassing the impenetrable "Khone Falls". Until 1893, the Khone Falls' rocky rapids blocked French steamboat navigation up the Mekong from Saigon to inner China, thus hindering its Indochinese ambitions. Tensions were also mounting between France and Siam over disputed land on the Mekong's eastern bank. An 1893 naval blockade of Bangkok led to a border treaty favouring France, and an urgent need to move gunboats abo e Khone Falls to control the Mekong.
Earlier that year, France's "Mission Hydrographique du haut Mekong" ordered a pair of 26-meter-long steam gunboats, La Grandière and Massie, from France, which could be disassembled into five pieces for overland transport past the rapids via Don Khone Island.
Leading the mission was Naval Lt Georges Simon, who wanted to transfer the vessels in one piece along a 3-km railway from the island's western Marguerite Bay to Ban Khone. He ordered 1-meter-wide railway tracks and a 14-wheel carriage with a cradle formed to fit the two boats from Saigon-based Messageries Fluviales rather than prefabricated Decauville narrow tracks from France, due to cost, delivery time, and heavy load requirements. Lt Simon and some 500 Vietnamese workers, many of whom died due to the harsh conditions, spent from June to August 1893 clearing the jungle, building embankments, laying the tracks, and constructing boat ramps at Marguerite Bay and Ban Khone.
The gunboats arrived in Marguerite Bay in early September but attempts to hoist the 22-ton Massie ashore failed. Lt Simon dismantled the tracks and extended the line south to Hang Khone, where the Massie and the heavier Ham Luong, a two-piece replacement for La Grandiere, could be pulled to land. As the Vietnamese manhandled the boat-laden carriage towards Ban Khone, their workmates dismantled the southern tracks and scurried to complete the northern end. The vessels finally reached Hou Behanzin Channel at Ban Khone and were launched on 1 November 1893.
Hang Khone's Heyday
Hang Khone was not France's first choice for landing two gunboats on Don Khone Island in its attempt to bypass "Khone Falls" and transport them to calmer upriver waters. In 1893, French Naval It Georges Simon laid railway tracks from Don Khone's Marguerite Bay to Ban Khone for transferring the 22-ton La Grandiere and Massie.
Hoisting the Massie ashore proved fruitless, and It Simon rerouted the tracks south to Hang Khone, where his Vietnamese workforce pulled the Massie and two-piece Ham Luong—a heavier replacement for the damaged La Grandiere — to the waiting rail carriage and over the island to be launched near Ban Khone.
Lt Simon ordered more materials and the Vietnamese completed a track and embankment upgrade by early 1894. On 5 September, they transported La Grandiere along the Hang Khone-Ban Khone railway in just three hours. That same year, France contracted Messageries Fluviales de Cochinchine to oversee transport on the Mekong's Lao stretch including Don Khone's railway and ports. The company added three 60-ton steamboats, and to accommodate the larger vessels, which were dismantled at Hang Khone for the move, Lt Simon enlarged the pier's ramps from August-October 1896. Upon renewing its contract in 1897, Messageries Fluviales bought its first steam locomotive; installed reinforced concrete piers, storage depots, and cranes; and improved the river bank to facilitate docking boats in low water. This transformed Hang Khone into the sole gateway for cargo and passengers heading up the Mekong into Laos.
According to villagers' accounts, the pavilion's train engine was originally a French model refurbished by the Japanese during WWII. The structure above the pier housed an engine that drew underground cables through still-visible pulleys up the low-water ramp. Cranes on rails lifted cargo during high waters, and though the track is gone, its position can still be seen, as can the reservoir on the hill.
Conquering Khone Falls
The first of very few steamers to ever conquer Khone Falls was a feat performed by Norwegian Peter Hauff. Born in 1873, Hauff landed a job in 1894 with a large commercial trading firm in Saigon, where he immersed himself in the culture and language, which gained the respect of locals. In 1898, Hauff took a passenger steamer to Hang Khone, hopped on the new locomotive to Ban Khone, and boarded a steamboat to Bassac (Champasak). With trade on the rise with the upper Mekong, Hauff ordered a 16-meter freighter from the experienced Niger River Company in 1902.
Hauff and his 11-man crew received the dismantled vessel, Si-thanh, in Saigon, assembled it and set off to Phnom Penh with an Annamese pilot. During the slow 10-day trip, Hauff fell ill, they lost their way, and the firewood got wet. Hauff hired a Cambodian pilot for the Don Khone voyage, where the French railway would transport Si-thanh. However, Messageries Fluviales, which controlled the island's railway, wanted an "impossible price", and refused to sell him oil or firewood. Hauff declined the exorbitant offer, though he knew about the failed attempts to navigate the falls. Undaunted, he headed to nearby Don Sadam, where an elder suggested he try Hou Sadam Channel, which separated Don Sadam and Don Phapheng islands. With the river level starting to recede, Hauff had little time. He ordered his men to buy coconut oil for lubricant and collect dry wood. They departed the next morning, and fought a strong current, relying on tying ropes to trees to progress one mile. Tree chopping and an anchor chain and winch shortened the second day to some 150 meters. An easy Day 3 preceded a stretch of shallow water that required building a dam of trees behind the boat to move ahead.
Hauff, his crew, and Si-thanh arrived in North Don Khone on their fifth day, and received a hero's welcome at the French government shop. Hauff had accomplished the impossible.
The Railway Reaches Its Peak
After the successful transfer of La Grandière in early September 1894, Messageries Fluviales received the concession for Mekong transport in Laos, including the Don Khone railway. The company decided to upgrade its fleet, adding massive 60-ton steamboats — Garcerie, Colombert and Trentinian. This required rectifying the 1-meter tracks, improving the embankments, and enlarging the piers' ramps from August-October 1896, with the boats launched in Ban Khone on 25 October.
This kicked off a commercial era on Don Khone, as the railway terminals became mandatory transit points for goods and passengers traveling up the Mekong into Lao, while the island's strategic significance remained high.
Eyeing Don Khone's economic potential, Messageries Fluviales renewed its contract in July 1897, and adapted narrower 0.6 meter-wide tracks needed for Decauville locomotives into the line, rather than relying on manpower, and purchased its first steam engine, the Paul Downer. The train now transported cardamom, hides, ivory, precious wood, and benzoin gold from Laos to downriver steamers, while hauling Cambodian and European fabric as well as Western household utensils, tools, and glassware to Don Khone's upriver port. The rising traffic congested the Ban Khone terminal, prompting Messageries Fluviales in 1910 to construct a 13-arch, 158-meter-long, reinforced concrete bridge across the Hou Behanzin Channel to Don Det Island and extend the railway 2 km to Ban Don Det. They also built reinforced concrete piers, low-water docking facilities, storage depots, and gantry cranes, while firming up older tracks for the increase in traffic. Hang Khone's bright future soon dimmed as annual traffic never reached expectations and started declining in 1930. Further, the Mekong's shallow waters (December-May) limited traffic, and rainy season flooding interrupted service. Then in 1937, Colonial Route 13 bypassing Don Khone sealed the train's fate. Local people used some of the old rails for building bridges and other structures. However, remnants of Hang Khone and Ban Don Det's port infrastructure still stand.
Sitting in Ban Khone Tai's railroad yard, where repairs took place, is a locomotive produced for the wider 1-meter track, and dates to 1929 during the railway's glory years. The Japanese modified Hang Khone's engine for military purposes during World War II, after taking control of Don Khone. When the Japanese left, the jungle moved in, engulfing the locomotives in plant growth and relegating the train tracks to recyclable junk.
Primary Source: "Laos, le Chemin de fer des canonnieres" by Jean-Michel Strobino, la Vie du Rail, issue 2329, 23-29 January 1992.
Text from information around the remains of the trains
Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sigma 19mm F/2.8 DG DN Art. At F/11 Shutter speed 4 seconds ISO 100.
It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. Which this series showcases.. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.
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I put a black and white version up of this as I think they suit B & W but I thought again that the colour version is worthy of posting.
What becomes more obvious here is the Green of the IFS switch panel, the white of the box diagram and just what a lovely rich mellow tone the slide frame has after 100 years or so of daily use.
Also bottom left the red glow of the electric heater, not a pot bellied stove but a lot less fuss and it does give a warm cosy glow and kicks out a good chunk of heat.
It's one of my favourite boxes to work, 100% freight, nothing happens in a hurry but it can get very congested very quickly.
Currently it's very steady as post the coal levy kicking in in April no coal is loading from the reception or NCB sidings.
Immingham Reception Sidings Signal Box.
Early Hours (01.50), Wednesday 6th May 2015