View allAll Photos Tagged Endpoint
Just barely past sunset on a spring Sunday, CTA Pink Line run 314 pulls into the Western station on the Cermak Branch, headed for Cicero and (just barely) Berwyn. Almost completely rebuilt in the early 2000s, when service here was provided by a branch of the Blue Line, this route was originally the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad's Douglas Park Branch, named for the large park it passed (and still does). Extended westward in short sections over the years, by 1924, the line reached Oak Park Avenue in Berwyn. This would only be the terminus for 28 years though, as in 1952, as part of a broader series of service "revisions" by the then-new CTA, the branch was cut back to its current endpoint at 54th & Cermak, just barely inside the village limits of Berwyn (the terminal station there was actually once known as Cicero-Berwyn).
Gamecock Cottage is an historic building located at Stony Brook in Brookhaven Town, in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. It was built in 1876 for storage of oars and sliding-seat rowboats and is the only remaining wooden beach cottage that was part of West Meadow Beach. It is located at the southernmost point of a peninsula within what is now part of the West Meadow Wetlands Reserve, as the official public beach is now restricted to the north. The Gamecock Cottage sits at the southern endpoint of West Meadow Lane, which was once called Trustees Road.
Sunset reflection over salt polygons on Lake Manly, on flooded Badwater salt flats in Death Valley National Park.
You can order a print of this photo by clicking on the shopping cart icon to the lower right of this image. Visit my Flickr Prints album to see more photos available for printing: www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/albums/721777203049...
This was one of the longest sunsets that I've ever experienced. It was also one of the most colorful and surreal. No mater how much time I spend in nature, the capacity of nature to far surpass my prior experiences and my wildest expectations never ceases to amaze me.
On this night the sunset color lasted at least an hour after the sun set. Most people left for dinner, but I was shooting a time-lapse sequence, so I stayed until the color was gone. This was taken on December 13, after Badwater Basin flooded shortly after Thanksgiving. With a follow-up storm, the water remained until early January!
The water table in Badwater Basin can be very close to the surface. That's how these polygons form: salt-laden water rises up cracks in the salt via capillary action, until it dries and deposits its minerals at the surface. The polygons re-form after winter rains, when the water table again is shallow enough to send salt to the surface.
Sadly, many visitors both enjoyed the sight and completely disregarded its fragility. Where people were hiking out to this spot, the polygons were quickly trampled and destroyed, The hike to less damaged locations became longer and longer, until the unique and incredible geologic processes were only visible as traces, lines flush with the surrounding salt flats. It got particularly busy after Los Angeles area newspapers covered the event. In an early visit there were perhaps a dozen people at sunset, even fewer at sunrise. Later, in one panorama image, I counted 212 people, many clearly oblivious to what they were stepping on, and erasing. I'm happy for whatever part of it they did appreciate, if only the reflection, or the joy of running around and splashing in the shallow water. Perhaps they'll notice more next time, and be curious to understand and value the extraordinary nature of the place, and the processes that they're seeing.
I hope that we still have wter on Badwater Salt Flats for our Decembert and January workshops! See our Death Vsalley workshop schedule at: www.JeffSullivanPhotography.com
Badwater Basin is featured on pages 111-112 of my 320-pg. guide book, "Photographing California Vol. 2 - South". Our publisher has retired, so we have the remaining stock of the book available for sale: www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/photographing-california-...
This is one of the first revisits I've made to my folder from this night, to re-adjust my results with the latest post-processing tools and with a fresh perspective. Post-processing is a process, not a destination, an endpoint. I should re-process the entire time-lapse.
In response to one of the earlier edits from this night I received the inevitable responses of "fake" and "over-processed". Personally, I'm surprised at how often I am experiencing a literally unbelievable moment in nature, one that tempts you to abandon the camera and try to soak it all in before it's gone. Some of these moments are entirely predictable, like seeing the shimmering corona of the sun during a total eclipse. Many people who experience this become addicted to the experience, pursue every possible eclipse that they can, worldwide, for the rest of their lives. Other times you're completely taken be surprise, and the sun rays that you hoped to see are are more intense than anticipated, or the quality and colors of a sunset exceed your ability to comprehend how such a sight is possible.
In these moments, I've gotten into the habit of stating out loud "No one is going to believe this,", partially to mark that moment in time in my own brain and memory when I seek to relive it in post-processing. It is important to ensure that I'm not tempted to dumb it down out of fear that some armchair quarterback on the Internet might not have enough experience in nature to know that such a place and moment existed, if only for a moment in time. This is especially critical during photography workshops, when an important part of my service to my clients must be to empower them to have the courage to resist the temptation to cave in to self-proclaimed experts on the Internet, who should calm down, grow up, and get out more.
There's a lot of life left to be experienced, for most of us, and it would be a shame if you never experienced something like this. Whenever you do, please don't destroy any rare geologic features that you're walking among.
The historic city of Savannah was a place long on my bucket list of places to visit in this country, but not really for the trains. In fact I knew almost nothing about rail operations in the city and other than a cursory glance at my rail atlas while passing through on Amtrak to Florida I never gave it much thought. So I was quite surprised to learn how astonishingly busy the terminal complex is and was amazed when I read that the port here is the third largest in the nation trailing only the Los Angeles/Long Beach complex and the Northern New Jersey/New York City area. With nearly 6 million TEUs handled in 2022 it's no surprise that railroad traffic is heavy.
Additionally Savannah sits astride CSXT's I95 corridor so sees multiple thru trains as well as hosting 8 Amtrak trains a day. While an endpoint terminal for Norfolk Southern, the city is still a major point on the road dating back to its time as the historic headquarters of the Central of Georgia Railway.
Along with two Class 1s, Genesee and Wyoming has three operations in the city including the Savannah Port Terminal Railroad which is the contract operator of the old Savannah State Docks Railroad on behalf of owner Georgia Ports Authority. Lastly, Watco also has a presence in the city with its relatively new Savannah and Old Fort Railway operating a former CSXT branch to the Seapoint Terminal downriver beyond Fort Jackson.
But my visit to the city wasn't a train trip and the full day was spent walking miles through the squares and gardens while enjoying some fabulous libations in cocktail bars, on rooftops, or just wandering the streets. The historic city is awash in Colonial, antebellum and Civil War era history seemingly everywhere you look so I was rightfully distracted. That being said, after a brunch bloody marh and catfish and grits down on River Street I had an hour to explore before striking north for the long drive to Virginia.
Without any idea what might be running we drove toward the port district where I stumbled upon this Georgia Central Railway crew shoving a long heavy train into a yard near the huge International Paper plant. IP is the current owner of the mill that has been in operation since 1936 and currently produces over 500,000 tons of paper products per year. The GC has been a subsidiary of GWRR since 2005 when the GC's then parent Rail Management Corporation was bought by Genesee and Wyoming. Once famous amongst fans for running with a fleet of vintage high hood ex Southern GE U23Bs those are alas not long gone. The GC enters Savannah on a former Seaboard Air Line route that was built in 1896 though I'm honestly not sure the heritage of the rails here or even whose property this yard is. If any local fans can provide more details I'd be grateful to learn more.
Continuing the hand me down GE tradition are GC 537 and 555 both GE B32-8s blt. Oct. and Nov. 1989 as NS 3537 and 3555 respectively. They are smoking as they shove a long line of loaded wood chip hoppers over Mary Calder Road into the big yard just south of the mill which is behind me here.
Savannah, Georgia
Wednesday March 30, 2023
The Pocahontas Division mainline of the Norfolk and Western was built west from the original mainline to Bristol, Tennessee to access the high quality bituminous coal discovered in southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Once reaching a summit of the Flattop Mountain west of Bluefield, the route west chosen to access coal reserves follows the descending path of Elkhorn Creek and the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River and eventually reaches the Ohio River. What was first justified by coal later became utilized as a route over the Alleghenies to the Midwest. N&W would eventually build to western terminals at Columbus and Cincinnati. Movement of coal dominated this route for the first 80 years of its operation. With the expansion of the N&W and later Norfolk Southern, the Pocahontas Division has also become one part of longer routes between distant endpoints for merchandise and intermodal traffic.
NS train 171 uses the Pocahontas Division mainline as part of its route from the former Pennsylvania Railroad classification yard at Conway, west of Pittsburgh, to the former Southern Railway classification yard at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Train M71 (an extra section of daily merchandise train 171) received a manned rear-end helper at Farm and climbs the ruling grade at Elkhorn, West Virginia on an early November afternoon.
An EMD vs. a Lincoln on the streets of Fayetteville. Who will win?!
With the recent news that modern day Norfolk Southern has turned over this surving piece of the original historic Norfolk Southern to RJ Corman I've been digging out some old shots from the one day I spent on part of the line. If you missed the news I'm talking about here's the link: www.railwayage.com/freight/short-lines-regionals/r-j-corm... I'm glad I shot this when I did, and I'd love to go back for some nice looking red Corman units in the street someday.
Anyway, here's the caption I wrote at the time:
Fayetteville, the seat of Cumberland County North Carolina is most widely known as the home of the US Army’s Fort Bragg. The city itself is larger than expected with a population of around 210,000 but has a reputation as kind of a tough town. It is so rough that soldiers stationed on post are advised to avoid downtown “Fayette-nam” as it’s derisively referenced. But to the visiting railfan willing to take a look around the city has a surprisingly lot to offer. And while I wouldn’t call it a particularly inviting place, I in no way felt ill at ease or unsafe photographing in town.
By far the dominant railroad in town is CSXT with their south end subdivision, the former Atlantic Coast Line main, seeing the passage of dozens of daily freight trains and four daily Amtrak trains on an 11 mile stretch of double track through the city.
The city is also served by the Norfolk Southern that arrives tri-weekly on a 43 mile branch from Fuquay-Varina that was an ORIGINAL pre-1974 Norfolk Southern.
And those roads both interchange with the famous and always independent shortline Aberdeen and Rockfish that calls Fayetteville the eastern endpoint of its 47 mile route.
CSXT also operates two branchlines out of the city, both of which are remaining stubs of the one time Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad dating from the 1880s.
This remarkable street running is made even more special by story behind it, since prior to this trip none of us even knew it existed. One evening while we were hanging out at the Salisbury depot after the big 611 celebration that had brought us to Carolina we ran into a long time regular local fan named John who was an ex original Norfolk Southern (pre-74) engineer. He told us about the street running on a surviving portion of the original NS down in Fayetteville that the modern NS still serves with tri weekly with local out of Varina. Being that Friday was our day that we planned to head off to hunt the Aberdeen and Rockfish anyway we crossed our fingers and headed out. Low and behold luck was with us, as shortly after we arrived in Fayetteville we heard NS E25 (the symbol for the branchline local) crackle on the radio and we knew we were in luck.
We were rewarded with multitude of shots of this train on the half mile long section of street running as well as working the A&R interchange. In this view the northbound return train is starting their trip home as they kick up dust down the middle of Hillsboro Street at about MP VF42.4 on the East Carolina Business Unit's Varina to Fayetteville District. Leading is NS 6784 an EMD SD60M blt. Mar. 1993 as Conrail 5537 with standard cab SD60 number 6659 blt. for the NS in Nov. 1988 trailing.
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Friday May 29, 2015.
This barn is the endpoint of my usual neighbourhood walk, so I take a lot of shot of it. Catching up on some images I meant to develop...
Hair grip.
Well Real Men don’t do a lot in the way of jewellery, do they? - Cuff links, tie pins (or clips), belt buckles and that’s it. Did you want to see my collection? No, I thought not...
So, once again a raid into hostile territory was called for. This time I ventured into the absent daughter’s room (interesting exploring and also a lot safer, and hopefully undetectable).
This is for the Macro Mondays theme Jewellery or perhaps Jewelry if you are from across the Big Water, but definitely not Jewellry.
I never know where I am going to end up when I am implementing a visual idea that has germinated in my mind (there’s a lot of compost in there, remember). It’s never where I think anyway (my mind and the endpoint :) ).
And so it was with this. This ended up altogether darker and a bit scary, which wasn’t exactly where I intended to go with the jewelly bling concept. Never mind. All is fun.
Anyway here we have some jewellery. Or is it? Well, I think I can creep in with this under the guise of “ornament worn on the body or clothes”. Let’s hope so anyway.
Oh, and it’s less than 1.5 inches wide. Yey!
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image and... er… sleep well tonight. Happy Macro Monday :)
PS Sorry about the title ;)
[Tripod mount; black gloss ceramic tile underneath and black card background.
Fiddly lighting from the front right using a LED pen light, trying to get the sparkles to … sparkle.
Delayed shutter; autofocus; VR on.
Developed in Capture One for colour range and intensity; levels to take out greys in the background and tile.
Dark vignette and a bit of tidying up spots in Affinity, and we’re done.]
Leaves.
I posted a shot for Sliders Sunday last week. It was one of a set of variations on the theme all based on one original picture.
I didn’t have time to publish the rest at the time so I’ll do it now, in case it interests anyone.
The fun for me is in creating these different endpoints and seeing which ones work and which don’t. It’s always interesting to hear which you prefer too as that often surprises me.
The original image is linked in the first comment. I did about ten variants in all but I’ll only share the ones that I like for some reason or the other.
Because the subject is all about curves and textures and shapes I thought it would work well in monochrome, and I think it does. Do you?
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the images (and don’t get too bored!)
[This one was made using Nik Silver Efex.]
This venerable SD40-2 blows out some carbon dragging 10 log loads around the curve at McKeever. Devotees of the late Copper Range Railroad will know this location as the southernmost endpoint of the CR. Their junction with the Milwaukee was just in front of the 1344.
May 22, 2017.
The reason for persevering that day, despite the weather being far worse than the forecast had forecast, was of course that it was the last day in service for the international trains from Brussels to Switzerland. While trains on this route have been operating since far back into the nineteenth century, this specific train (number 91, known under its erstwhile name Vauban) was created in 1988, connecting Brussels to Basel with through coaches to Milan. Later on, the whole rake (save for some reinforcement coaches) continued to Milan, but in the 2000s, the southern endpoint started to shift: in December 2004, the train was limited to Brig; in June 2007, it went to Interlaken instead; six months later, Zürich became the terminus; in 2012, this train (but not its counterpart, number 90) was truncated even further, to Basel; and finally, since December 2013, train 90 also starts in Basel and the train became composed of Belgian coaches once again. On this very last day, the consist was unusual, incorporating two SBB panorama coaches in front, and a SNCB Bistro coach (which does not have much work to do otherwise...). The whole thing was hauled by BB 26166, and seen passing Arzviller station, 02-04-2016.
Fayetteville, the seat of Cumberland County North Carolina is most widely known as the home of the US Army’s Fort Bragg. The city itself is larger than expected with a population of around 210,000 but has a reputation as kind of a tough town. It is so rough that soldiers stationed on post are advised to avoid downtown “Fayette-nam” as it’s derisively referenced. But to the visiting railfan willing to take a look around, the city has a surprisingly lot to offer. And while I wouldn’t call it a particularly inviting place, I in no way felt ill at ease or unsafe photographing around town.
By far the dominant railroad in Fayetteville is CSXT with their south end subdivision, the former Atlantic Coast Line main, seeing the passage of dozens of daily freight trains and four daily Amtrak trains on an 11 mile stretch of double track through the city. The city was also served by the Norfolk Southern at the time that came down tri-weekly on a 43 mile branch from Fuquay-Varina that was an ORIGINAL pre-1974 Norfolk Southern. As of the date of this post that branch survives and has just been taken over by a new R.J. Corman owned shortline.
And those roads both interchange with the famous and always independent shortline Aberdeen and Rockfish that calls Fayetteville the eastern endpoint of its 47 mile route.
CSXT also operates two branchlines out of the city, both of which are remaining stubs of the one time Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad dating from the 1880s.
Here is northbound Amtrak train 90, the Palmetto, about 5 hrs into its 16 hr and 830 mile trip from Savanna to New York City. A single P42DC leads 7 cars pulling to a stop beside the Dutch Colonial Style brick depot built by the Atlantic Coast Line in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are on Main 2 of CSXT's South End Sub at MP A209.7.
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Friday May 29, 2015
X - X marks the spot
The phrase “X marks the spot” often signifies a specific location where something can be located or found. Is your doll a pirate following a map to a hidden treasure chest full of gold? Is your doll an archaeologist who’s discovered an ancient map leading to an ancient burial ground? “X marks the spot” may also be used to signify a specific destination. Is your doll vacationing in a foreign city and following his/her visitors map to popular landmarks? Or perhaps the GPS in your doll's car shows he/she has arrived at her desired location. Aside from maps, “X marks the spot” can refer to a precise place or target to reach. Is your doll an entertainer and an X has been marked on the stage floor to show him/her where to stand? Maybe your doll is an athlete practicing archery or crossing a finish line of a race. The only requirement for this theme is that there must be a doll and a marked endpoint somewhere in your photo.
This photo:
Lilith goes under the knife and 'X marks the spot' where Eden needs to make her incision (yikes!). I'm not totally sure if Eden is exactly qualified for surgery but Lilith seems to trust her...
Eden wear scrubs from a bundle of Barbie clothes found in a thrift shop. Surgical mask made by me. I painted some regular doll hands with white watercolour paint to make (temporary) surgical gloves. Lilith wears... not very much. Props all made by me:
Operating table: floating bookshelf
Drip stand : Barbie microphone stand with ear phones attached as tubes.
Saline bag: 1/1/2th hanger and IT hands bag
Lamp: halogen bulb attached to IT doll stand.
Nymphenburg palace/park
Munich Germany
The amount of water that flows through the park, is brought from the west via the Pasing-Nymphenburg canal.
A significant portion of this water plunges over the Great Cascade cascade from the upper to the lower pool.
The cascade is the endpoint of the line of sight along the central channel, the Grand Cascade was built by Joseph Effner 1717.
taken at late afternoon
With the news just out that modern day Norfolk Southern is selling a surving piece of the original historic Norfolk Southern to RJ Corman I thought I'd share another shot from the one day I spent on part of the line. If you missed the news I'm talking about here's the link: www.railwayage.com/freight/short-lines-regionals/r-j-corm... I'm glad I shot this when I did, and I'd love to go back for some nice looking red Corman units in the street someday.
Anyway, here's the caption I wrote at the time:
Fayetteville, the seat of Cumberland County North Carolina is most widely known as the home of the US Army’s Fort Bragg. The city itself is larger than expected with a population of around 210,000 but has a reputation as kind of a tough town. It is so rough that soldiers stationed on post are advised to avoid downtown “Fayette-nam” as it’s derisively referenced. But to the visiting railfan willing to take a look around the city has a surprisingly lot to offer. And while I wouldn’t call it a particularly inviting place, I in no way felt ill at ease or unsafe photographing in town.
By far the dominant railroad in town is CSXT with their south end subdivision, the former Atlantic Coast Line main, seeing the passage of dozens of daily freight trains and four daily Amtrak trains on an 11 mile stretch of double track through the city.
The city is also served by the Norfolk Southern that arrives tri-weekly on a 43 mile branch from Fuquay-Varina that was an ORIGINAL pre-1974 Norfolk Southern.
And those roads both interchange with the famous and always independent shortline Aberdeen and Rockfish that calls Fayetteville the eastern endpoint of its 47 mile route.
CSXT also operates two branchlines out of the city, both of which are remaining stubs of the one time Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad dating from the 1880s.
This remarkable street running is made even more special by story behind it, since prior to this trip none of us even knew it existed. One evening while we were hanging out at the Salisbury depot after the big 611 celebration that had brought us to Carolina we ran into a long time regular local fan named John who was an ex original Norfolk Southern (pre-74) engineer. He told us about the street running on a surviving portion of the original NS down in Fayetteville that the modern NS still serves with tri weekly with local out of Varina. Being that Friday was our day that we planned to head off to hunt the Aberdeen and Rockfish anyway we crossed our fingers and headed out. Low and behold luck was with us, as shortly after we arrived in Fayetteville we heard NS E25 (the symbol for the branchline local) crackle on the radio and we knew we were in luck.
We were rewarded with multitude of shots of this train on the half mile long section of street running as well as working the A&R interchange. In this view the northbound return train is starting their trip home as they kick up dust down the middle of Hillsboro Street at about MP VF42.4 on the East Carolina Business Unit's Varina to Fayetteville District. Leading is NS 6784 an EMD SD60M blt. Mar. 1993 as Conrail 5537 with standard cab SD60 number 6659 blt. for the NS in Nov. 1988 trailing.
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Friday May 29, 2015.
The world is full of abandoned cars and vehicle graveyards. The short life of a car usually has a guaranteed endpoint: a trip to the scrapyard.
Seen and photographed at an auto scrapyard on the southern waterfront of San Francisco, California.
I often feel like, i am in somewhere to nowhere.
"Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future.
And time future contained in time past." _ Eliot _
Time is a dynamic unity.
In the in-between position, we flow with the present, the flow of time.
It seems logical that we tend to think about a certain point in the linear time and strive to try to predict it.
It is akin to point out the possible endpoint of the flight path of an arrow.
But as a part of the flow, the stream of time, our deeds inevitably affect those we've contacted and impart a factor which affects the possibility of the time stream.
Only if we are determined to focus on the very moment we are living now rather than evermore looking forward to the next future moment will we have the ability of staying in peace and living the moment to the fullest.
If you ignore the present, you will miss the curtain to the future.
Henceforth, watch carefully what transpires when we "await".
"逝者如斯, 而未嘗往也; 盈虛者如彼, 而卒莫消長也. 蓋將自其變者而觀之, 則天地曾不能以瞬; 自其不變者而觀之, 則物與我皆無盡也. 而又羨乎? " ---赤壁賦
*pic: a classroom in National Taiwan University
Okay, so there's a lot going on on this picture, let's break it down.
In the upper left corner in the distance there is a slight hint of the Pilis mountains, a bit closer below that the blocks of flats of Újpest are towering over the surroundings.
Focusing a bit closer, the big yard and chimney are part of the Istvántelek maintenance workshop, which used to be one of the most important base for the Hungarian State Railways. Nowadays mostly DMU-EMU carriages rest here for maintenance, and occasionally locomotives for smaller repairs.
Under the bridge you can see the usual S70 service, being a tad bit late due to the construction crew changing a junction a few stations up, only leaving one track left usable, seasoned with some railway interlocking problems.
And on the bridge ladies and gentlemen is the prototype Budapest S-Bahn, the brand new S76 service. At the moment it doesn't really serve much purpose, you could almost say it goes from nowhere to nowhere, the two endpoints being Rákos and Óbuda. In this current form it will probably remain the underdog competing with mostly crowded peaktime buses connecting Rákos to the circulation of Budapest, hopefully this is only the beginning and in the future the full potential of the so called "Ring railway" (Körvasút) will be recognized.
Anyway, for us railway fans it still serves as an interesting new gift, as apart from this service the Marcheggi bridge is only used once in a blue moon.
Long Exposure Black And White Minimalist
Technical Info :-
| D80 | f16 | 248sec. | 18mm | ND400 | Silver Efex Pro | Adobe Light Room | Adobe PS3 |
Italien / Toskana - Siena
Piazza del Campo
seen from Palazzo Comunale
gesehen vom Palazzo Comunale
Piazza del Campo is the main public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. At the northwest edge is the Fonte Gaia.
The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza. The piazza is also the finish of the annual road cycling race Strade Bianche.
History
The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San Martino and the Camollia. Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements, but it was not a considerable Roman settlement, and the campo does not lie on the site of a Roman forum, as is sometimes suggested. It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with 8 lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into 9 sections, radiating from the mouth of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. The number of divisions is held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292-1355. The Campo was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.
The palazzi signorili that line the square, housing the families of the Sansedoni, the Piccolomini and the Saracini etc., have unified rooflines, in contrast to earlier tower houses — emblems of communal strife — such as may still be seen not far from Siena at San Gimignano. In the statutes of Siena, civic and architectural decorum was ordered :"...it responds to the beauty of the city of Siena and to the satisfaction of almost all people of the same city that any edifices that are to be made anew anywhere along the public thoroughfares...proceed in line with the existent buildings and one building not stand out beyond another, but they shall be disposed and arranged equally so as to be of the greatest beauty for the city."
The unity of these Late Gothic houses is affected in part by the uniformity of the bricks of which their walls are built: brick-making was a monopoly of the commune, which saw to it that standards were maintained.
At the foot of the Palazzo Pubblico's wall is the late Gothic Chapel of the Virgin built as an ex voto by the Sienese, after the terrible Black Death of 1348 had ended.
Fonte Gaia
The Fonte Gaia ("Joyous Fountain") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre, replacing an earlier fountain completed about 1342 when the water conduits were completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. The present fountain, a center of attraction for the many tourists, is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs with the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna. The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia, whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in the Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo. The former sculptures were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarrocchi, who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia, which the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they were set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were the first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity.
(Wikipedia)
Die Piazza del Campo ist der bedeutendste Platz der toskanischen Stadt Siena, deren Zentrum er bildet.
Der Platz ist bekannt durch seine beeindruckende Architektur und seine halbrunde Form sowie durch das hier normalerweise jährlich zweimal ausgetragene Pferderennen Palio di Siena.
Geschichte
Das Zentrum der bereits in der Etruskerzeit bedeutenden Stadt lag ursprünglich im Gebiet des heutigen Castelvecchio, während „der Campo“ lediglich ein Stück Land war, das dem Abfluss des Regenwassers diente. Da aber auch die an Siena vorbeiführende Fernstraße über dieses Feld verlief und sich hier mit einer anderen Straße kreuzte, entwickelte sich bald ein Marktplatz.
Der Name „Campo“ wird zum ersten Mal schriftlich 1169 erwähnt in einer Quelle, die sich mit der gesamten Talebene befasst, zu der auch die heutige Piazza del Mercato, heute auf der anderen Seite des Palazzo Comunale, gehörte. Damals erwarb die Stadt Siena das Gelände, das von der Piazza del Mercato bis zur heutigen Logge della Mercanzia reicht. Eine Unterteilung des Geländes in die heutigen zwei Plätze wird 1193 erwähnt, sodass man davon ausgehen kann, dass in der Zwischenzeit zumindest eine Mauer erbaut wurde, die den Platz in zwei Hälften teilte; möglicherweise geschah dies, um das Wasser besser ableiten zu können.
Bis ins Jahr 1270, als die Herrschaft der Vierundzwanzig (1236–1270) zu Ende ging, wurde dann der Platz für Messen und Märkte genutzt. Zwar hatte der Platz noch nicht das heutige Aussehen, er entwickelte sich aber allmählich zum zweiten Mittelpunkt der Stadt neben dem Dom; während dort religiöse Feste im Mittelpunkt standen, dominierten auf der Piazza del Campo der Handel und weltliche Feste. Da sich auch die städtische Obrigkeit immer unabhängiger vom Bischof (und später Erzbischof) machte, kam in der Zeit der Herrschaft der Neun (1289–1355) der Bedarf nach einem eigenen Rathaus auf.
Die Piazza del Campo ist einer der eindrucksvollsten kommunalen Plätze Italiens – im Gegensatz zum Markusplatz Venedigs und zur Piazza dei Miracoli Pisas ist dies ein Platz ohne Kirche, also ein rein politisches Zentrum – und das zeigt sich auch in der Kunst in den Innenräumen des Rathauses. Das Gelände ist leicht abschüssig und der Palazzo Pubblico, der öffentliche Palast, also das Rathaus steht an der tiefsten Stelle. Diese auffallend tief liegende Position im Gegensatz zu den Gepflogenheiten anderer Städte erklärt sich aus dem Bedürfnis, eine neutrale Lage zwischen den Hügeln von Siena zu wählen. Auch hier hat also das Konkurrenzdenken innerhalb der Stadt Konsequenzen gehabt. Das hatte zur Folge, dass der Turm sehr hoch werden musste, damit er trotz seiner niedrigen Lage die Stadt überragen konnte.
Mit dem Bau des Palazzo Comunale wurden dann auch die Impulse für eine architektonische Gestaltung des Platzes gegeben. In den Jahren 1327–1349 erhielt der Platz eine Pflasterung, wobei auch heute noch die Einteilung in neun Segmente an die damalige Herrschaft der Neun erinnert. Die „Skyline“ des Platzes ist allerdings nicht spontan in einem Stück entstanden. Erst mit den Jahren sorgte die Stadtverwaltung durch entsprechende Gesetze dafür, dass die Fassadengestaltung einheitlich gehandhabt wurde. So wurde etwa eine Peter- und Paul-Kirche abgerissen; heute erinnern die Gassen Vicoli di San Pietro e di San Paolo daran.
Nach 1861 wurden, wie auch an anderen Gebäuden in der Altstadt von Siena, Gebäude an der Piazza von ihren barocken Fassaden „befreit“, um dem ursprünglichen, d. h. mittelalterlichen Erscheinungsbild wieder zur Geltung zu verhelfen.
Seit ca. 2017 gehören 15 der 20 Gebäude, die den Platz begrenzen, Igor Bidilo, einem Investor aus Kasachstan.
Fonte Gaia
Auf der höheren Seite des Campo steht der Fonte Gaia, den Jacopo della Quercia von 1409 bis 1419 geschaffen hat. ‚Brunnen der Freude’ heißt er, weil es 1342 zum ersten Mal gelungen war, mithilfe einer 25 km langen Leitung Wasser in die Stadt fließen zu lassen. Der ewige Wassermangel war in der Bergstadt Siena ein großes Problem – besonders in den Sommermonaten. Stilistisch hat della Quercia in den Figuren dieses Brunnens etwas Ähnliches erreicht wie die Sieneser Malerei, nämlich einen Ausgleich zwischen der klassischen Tradition und gotischem Schwung.
Die Figuren des Brunnens sind zwar seit 1858 durch Nachbildungen von Tito Sarrocchi ersetzt, aber trotzdem haben wir hier ein wichtiges Dokument für die Entwicklung der frühen Renaissance-Plastik vor uns. Zur damaligen Zeit, 1409, hatte man angefangen, sich zunehmend für die antike Vergangenheit zu interessieren und dabei natürlich besonders für die Geschichte Roms. Jacopo della Quercia war von der Stadt Siena deshalb beauftragt worden, in diesem Brunnen die angebliche römische Abstammung der Stadt als Gründung der Söhne des Remus und ihre darauf beruhenden Tugenden zu dokumentieren. Die Originalteile des Brunnens sind heute im Museum von Santa Maria della Scala im Raum Fienile zu betrachten.
Gebäude
Palazzo Comunale
Mit dem Bau des Gebäudes der Stadtverwaltung wurde 1297 begonnen. Ursprünglich hatte der Palazzo lediglich drei Stockwerke; später erfolgten weitere Anbauten. Vor allem aber kam im Laufe des 14. Jahrhunderts mit dem Torre del Mangia der 102 Meter hohe Turm hinzu, der das Stadtbild von Siena prägt. Der Name leitet sich von dem Spitznamen Mangiaguadagni (Gewinnfresser) des ersten Glöckners ab.
Cappella di Piazza
Vor dem Eingang zum Palazzo Pubblico wurde als Dank für die überstandene Pest 1352 – also noch in der Gotik – eine kleine Kapelle, die Cappella di Piazza, die Platzkapelle errichtet, die über 100 Jahre später (1463) mit einer Renaissance-Dekoration ihre heutige Gestalt erhielt. Beides passt aber so gut zusammen, als sei es gleichzeitig geschaffen worden. Die Dachkonstruktion stammt von Antonio Federighi und entstand in den 1460er Jahren. Die nordeuropäische Gotik wurde in Italien im 13. und besonders im 14. Jh. in stark veränderter und der italienischen Tradition angepassten Form übernommen. Und später konnte im 15. Jh. die Renaissance auf jahrhundertelange vorbereitende Phasen aufbauen. Beides widersprach sich hier in Italien nicht so wie in Frankreich oder Deutschland. Hier an dieser Kapelle ist in der Gotik also locker der alte Rundbogen verwandt worden und nicht der eigentlich typische gotische Spitzbogen. Und als in der Renaissance der Rundbogen wieder zur Norm wurde, musste hier auch gar nichts geändert werden.
Das Pferderennen
Auf dem Platz wird zweimal im Jahr, am 2. Juli und am 16. August, ein Pferderennen („Palio di Siena“) ausgetragen.
(Wikipedia)
Sometimes... a wizard walks on this lands and he loves to launch a spell over the nature around him :)
X - X marks the spot
The phrase “X marks the spot” often refers to a specific location, target, or goal. For this theme we want to see what your doll(s) is after. Is your doll a pirate following a map to a hidden treasure chest full of gold? Is your doll vacationing in a foreign city and following his/her visitors map to popular landmarks? Perhaps your doll is an entertainer and an X has been marked on the stage floor to show him/her where to stand. Or maybe your doll is an athlete practicing archery or crossing a finish line of a race. The only requirement for this theme is that there must be a doll and a marked endpoint or desired target somewhere in your photo.
Nabij Moha komt ex NMBS 4605 door als TSP speciaal op weg naar de steengroeve Carmeuse op kilometer 28 van de voormalige spoorlijn 127, die dag het eindpunt. De lijn was ooit 33,6 kilometer lang tussen Landen en Statte en van 1875 tot 1963 in gebruik. Een overweg in de N 652 d.d. 21 oktober 2000
Near Moha ex NMBS 4605 rented as a TSP rail fan special nearing the Carmeuse quarry at kilometer 28 of the former railway line 127, that day and since 1981 the endpoint. The line was once 33.6 kilometers long between Landen and Statte, from 1875 until 1963 in use . Scene at a level crossing in the road N 652 dated October 21, 2000
Mangled Mushrooms.
This is part of project inspired by Sliders Sunday which starts with the same image (I'll link it below) and sees what sorts of different endpoints I can get to.
This one is probably the most complicated - I wanted to give the impression of looking out from behind the mushrooms.
It's based on two main manipulations: firstly I converted to LAB space and then inverted the luminance channel. This changes black to white and vice versa but doesn't change the colour values in the image; secondly I used a perspective filter to give the impression of being on a ledge (the original is straight-on).
The trouble was this was a virtually monochrome image to start so it tended look like a negative. So I then added colour back using the white balance and split-toning.
The rest was tweaking the tones, and trying to get rid of the image noise (a process of effectively blurring then sharpening). So I ended up with layers for clarity, vignette, levels and unsharp mask.
Well I hope you enjoy it, or at least some of the series. Thanks very much for your patience with my foolery and of course for your visit!
Across the street from the southern endpoint of the Manhan Rail Trail, the tracks continue, but not the trail.
Took my parents to see the "Sensorio, Field of Light" in Paso Robles last night. Fiber optic threads sprouting to endpoints via octopus tentacles connected to buried bulbs - 58,000 of them planted in rolling hills amongst craggy oaks. Scrambled to get there before evening light disappeared, and barely made it. Definitely not part of the Central Coast thing growing up! Really unique experience. iPhone snaps - we'll see how the camera shots turn out later (though they ban tripods, so that was a separate challenge).
On a blustery day in spring of 2015, NS SD70 2577 is running solo, westbound with autoracks on what was the Wabash's main line between Detroit and Kansas City- still the endpoints for much of the line's traffic today. What doesn't still exist today, sadly, are these Wabash searchlights at Veech, (and many others elsewhere along the line) location of crossovers just west of Bement, where NS's Bloomington District (formerly Wabash's 7th District) joins. Also near here, Illinois Terminal's Champaign-Decatur line once swung west to parallel the Wabash main- the right-of-way can still very clearly be seen in this area.
this is what happens when you just play around with a photo and have no clue what you did to get to this endpoint LOL
Flattop Mountain Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. This sign marks an endpoint of two trails, Flattop Mountain Trail and TonaHutu Trail. Also, present is the North Inlet Trail off of the TonaHutu Trail at a distance of 0.3 miles. While reaching this sign is viewed as reaching the summit, the actual unmarked summit is at a somewhat higher location. My original plan was to also hike around 400 added feet to the top of Hallet Peak, but considering the growing cloud cover and possibility of a storm, I chose to descend back to the trailhead quickly without taking any further photos.
Thanks for your views, faves and comments!
Just another view of this job I stumbled into and a more broadside view of these squat little GE 4-motor units.
The historic city of Savannah was a place long on my bucket list of places to visit in this country, but not really for the trains. In fact I knew almost nothing about rail operations in the city and other than a cursory glance at my rail atlas while passing through on Amtrak to Florida I never gave it much thought. So I was quite surprised to learn how astonishingly busy the terminal complex is and was amazed when I read that the port here is the third largest in the nation trailing only the Los Angeles/Long Beach complex and the Northern New Jersey/New York City area. With nearly 6 million TEUs handled in 2022 it's no surprise that railroad traffic is heavy.
Additionally Savannah sits astride CSXT's I95 corridor so sees multiple thru trains as well as hosting 8 Amtrak trains a day. While an endpoint terminal for Norfolk Southern, the city is still a major point on the road dating back to its time as the historic headquarters of the Central of Georgia Railway.
Along with two Class 1s, Genesee and Wyoming has three operations in the city including the Savannah Port Terminal Railroad which is the contract operator of the old Savannah State Docks Railroad on behalf of owner Georgia Ports Authority. Lastly, Watco also has a presence in the city with its relatively new Savannah and Old Fort Railway operating a former CSXT branch to the Seapoint Terminal downriver beyond Fort Jackson.
But my visit to the city wasn't a train trip and the full day was spent walking miles through the squares and gardens while enjoying some fabulous libations in cocktail bars, on rooftops, or just wandering the streets. The historic city is awash in Colonial, antebellum and Civil War era history seemingly everywhere you look so I was rightfully distracted. That being said, after a brunch bloody marh and catfish and grits down on River Street I had an hour to explore before striking north for the long drive to Virginia.
Without any idea what might be running we drove toward the port district where I stumbled upon this Georgia Central Railway crew shoving a long heavy train into a yard near the huge International Paper plant. IP is the current owner of the mill that has been in operation since 1936 and currently produces over 500,000 tons of paper products per year. The GC has been a subsidiary of GWRR since 2005 when the GC's then parent Rail Management Corporation was bought by Genesee and Wyoming. Once famous amongst fans for running with a fleet of vintage high hood ex Southern GE U23Bs those are alas not long gone. The GC enters Savannah on a former Seaboard Air Line route that was built in 1896 though I'm honestly not sure the heritage of the rails here or even whose property this yard is. If any local fans can provide more details I'd be grateful to learn more.
Continuing the hand me down GE tradition are GC 537 and 555 both GE B32-8s blt. Oct. and Nov. 1989 as NS 3537 and 3555 respectively. They are smoking as they shove a long line of loaded wood chip hoppers over into the big yard just south of the mill which is behind me here.
Savannah, Georgia
Wednesday March 30, 2023
Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. A former 1880s seaside resort, it is now known for its Victorian era heritage and tourist industry and as one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.
Theme Description: The phrase “X marks the spot” often refers to a specific location, target, or goal. For this theme we want to see what your doll(s) is after. Is your doll a pirate following a map to a hidden treasure chest full of gold? Is your doll vacationing in a foreign city and following his/her visitors map to popular landmarks? Perhaps your doll is an entertainer and an X has been marked on the stage floor to show him/her where to stand. Or maybe your doll is an athlete practicing archery or crossing a finish line of a race. The only requirement for this theme is that there must be a doll and a marked endpoint or desired target somewhere in your photo.
This Photo: See Spot mark a puppy pad? ;)
Elizabeth, ever the friendly neighbor, offers to help Craig train his dog, Pokey, how to use a puppy pad for his bathroom business so that he can stay indoors while Craig and girlfriend Gracie go to work each day. The strategy: Keeping the dog on the leash, command the dog to "go potty," and if on the pad, reward with food.
15 minutes later...
Craig: "Are you sure this works?"
[Pokey continues licking his lips, waiting for Elizabeth to hand him a doggie treat.]
Elizabeth: "It worked for Squeaky's dog, Ollie. We used food as positive reinforcement."
Craig: "That may be the problem. Did I mention Pokey is stubborn and on a diet? I think he wants to skip over the positive behavior part and go directly to the food part!"
This object was directly inspired by Lasdary's photograph and uses exactly the same number of cubes. It took perhaps ten hours of folding spread out over a week to make the ring. The final, pink cube was especially annoying to attach.
The ring is fairly flexible; I estimate that you could probably remove up to four cubes from it and still be able to attach the endpoints.
Færderseilasen, also called Færder'n, is a regatta that held on the second weekend in June by the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club.
The regatta starts in Oslo for ordinary sailboats and in Son for old yachts. The fastest of the sailboats reach Færder Lighthouse. The endpoint is in Horten.[1] Smaller boats turn around at Hollenderbåen or Medfjordbåen. The regatta is open for any member of the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS), and boats are placed in classes according to their sailing potential. The trip from Oslo to Færder to Horten is about 83 nm long. (Wikipedia)
Best viewed on black.
be unruly even if under good emperors
music:
youtu.be/TmDkzVvherk?si=eC1eY3LbPaqYqHOZ
Portishead - Only You
youtu.be/wyUSfuL9dxY?si=CxSvJx7W6LzY1Z4r
Forest Swords - Panic (Official Video)
.
youtu.be/YD-yg0bpF7A?si=YQOlgrzeDuKMeN4F
Twilight of American Democracy: Mapping A Democratic Breakdown in the USA, with Bernard E. Harcourt
youtu.be/i6TaQD_4pfY?si=rmjTgFU7NoTOlbzA
Hegel and the Heritage Foundation: Family Resemblance and New Beginnings [Full Intro to Hegel 13/13]
Hegelian self-consciousness through the master-slave dialectic
Hegelian self-consciousness is the state where a being recognizes itself as a distinct, independent entity through its interaction with and acknowledgment by another self-conscious being. It is a dynamic process of self-reflection mediated by the "other" (another person or an object). For Hegel, a purely isolated consciousness cannot achieve true self-consciousness; recognition from another is necessary for one's existence to be affirmed, leading to the development of a unified, self-aware self.
Hegel's Master-Slave dialectic describes how self-consciousness develops through a life-or-death struggle for recognition between two individuals, leading to a reversal where the slave, through labor and engagement with the world, achieves a more profound and independent sense of self than the master, who remains dependent and dependent on the servant for sustenance and affirmation.
youtu.be/Da6cbuAfnbA?si=cDtz3SFrBZri_s4f
I, CLAUDIUS - 'Lost your stutter, too, I see' ( + ̂ )
youtu.be/bKz-HtOPvjE?si=3RoK3jCCflelHB_r
Hegel: the master-servant dialectic
youtu.be/9Dqyq-UjoVA?si=shtyiOKOfR3gCcxr
Hegel: Philosophy of world history and spirit
How do freedom, reason, passion, the state, and ethical life fit into the world-historical process?
youtu.be/EpFFyQ7rv8Q?si=VjFoh2I-oq5HQgmr
Mary Beard and Why America Isn’t Rome (And Why That Matters) | The David Frum Show
youtu.be/5i5mDO6ai_c?si=9He2nMD7lhDsyP_f
Rulers and Power | Mary Beard and David Mitchell
self-consciousness
unruly
I hope Americans never get to have a good emperor
forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
perhaps even these things will be good to remember one day
Vincit qui se vincit
Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano
what have the romans ever done for us?
they believed in the republic... that's why they were killed
youtu.be/FeCTilEwRmY?si=oAHndul3fLoE3P-8
Claudius gets some valuable advice.
.
.
photo:
Portrait of Trajan
Venice, National Archaeological Museum
Inv. N. 5
Marble, 57 cm
Roman Imperial period
legate of Domenico Grimani, 1523
www.meravigliedivenezia.it/en/virtual-objects/MAN_128.html
National Archaeological Museum of Venice
Ritratto di Traiano
Venezia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Inv. N. 5
Marmo, h cm 57
Epoca romana imperiale
Legato di Domenico Grimani, 1523
www.meravigliedivenezia.it/it/oggetti-virtuali/MAN_128.html
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia
Do we need a master to self-actualize?
No, you do not need a "master" to self-actualize; it is an individual journey to realize one's full potential, and a master can be an unnecessary intermediary. Maslow's theory views self-actualization as an innate desire to become the best version of oneself, a process achievable by anyone through personal growth, self-acceptance, and engaging in fulfilling work that aligns with their aptitudes.
Understanding Self-Actualization
An inherent need: Self-actualization is a fundamental drive to fulfill one's potential.
An individual journey: The path to self-actualization is unique for each person and is not defined by external success, fame, or status.
A process, not an endpoint: It's a continuous journey of personal growth, not a final state of perfection.
What is Required for Self-Actualization?
Instead of a master, the focus should be on personal development:
Self-awareness and acceptance: Understanding and accepting yourself is a crucial first step.
Personal growth: This involves continuous learning, developing skills, and working on relationships.
Fulfillment: Engaging in activities that align with your intrinsic values and aptitudes brings a sense of fulfillment.
Mindfulness and presence: Living in the moment and letting go of self-doubt can foster progress.
Purpose and authenticity: Living a life aligned with your inner truth and purpose is key to self-actualization.
Čertovica pass, Slovakia
Čertovica (Hungarian: Ördöglakodalma-hágó) is a mountain pass in the Low Tatras mountain range in Slovakia. It connects regions of Liptov and Horehronie. With 1,232 metres (4,042 ft) AMSL, it is the highest paved mountain pass in Slovakia. It is open all year round, however it can be rarely closed during the winter because of the severe weather conditions. The pass was daily crossed by more than 2000 vehicles as of 2005. On the pass is also situated a minor ski resort and a chalet offering accommodation. The pass is also an important starting or endpoint for many hiking trips because it lies in the middle of the range and is close to some of the range's popular summits as the highest Ďumbier and third highest Chopok.
"This art dedicated to those who have lived and died on the Mother Road."
Inscription on the Bottle Tree Ranch at Elmer's Place along the old Route 66 Hwy between Barstow and Victorville, California.
U.S. Route 66, (also known as Route 66, The Main Street of America, The Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway[1]) was a highway in the U.S. Highway system. One of the original federal routes, US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, though signs did not go up until the following year.[2] It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles for a total of 2,448 miles[3] (3,939 km).
Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime that changed its overall length. One of these realignments moved the western endpoint from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Contrary to common belief, Route 66 never ran to the ocean; it terminated onto what was at the time US-101 ALT, at what is today the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard (a segment of California State Route 1). It never went to the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, even though there is a plaque dedicating Route 66 as the Will Rogers Highway there.[4]
Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of the new Interstate Highway System.
US 66 was officially decommissioned (that is, officially removed from the United States Highway System) on June 27, 1985[5] after it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66". It has begun to return to maps in this form. (Wikipedia)
Esfera de Chumbo de 1t suspensa por cabos.
#Flickr21Challenge #Planet #Planeta #Arte #Ar #PontoFinal #EndPoint #SESC #SESC24
Slate wall.
The Downing site is one of the two main city-centre sites for the University of Cambridge, housing predominantly biomedical science departments. I went there earlier in the year to attend one of over 400 free public lectures given as part of the University’s Science Festival.
The lecture, on "Playing Games like a Mathematician" was brilliant fun and given by Katie Steckles, a mad mathematician from Manchester University.
Did you know the record for completing Rubik’s cube from memory, one-handed, while blindfolded, is one minute 16 seconds? Well, feel your ignorance evapourate!
But I’m drifting as usual. The modern pedestrian entrance to the Downing site from the East is a staircase up from the lower street below. I noticed it had a curious and rather beautiful slate wall made of grey slates with thin layers of mortar between.
It strikes me as being a wildly inefficient way of making a wall. I can only assume it was done for architectural aesthetic reasons or perhaps as a way of reusing materials recovered from the buildings that occupied the site previously as a poignant memory of what went before - architects and planners like doing that in the UK it seems.
I had my trusty phone with me and I worked out that if I angled the lens in the right way I could get an image, not of flat layers, but of a star-burst of rays from one corner.
Hah! I thought. Such is the stuff... the making of a Sliders Sunday series.
And thus we have it…. This is the Sliders Sunday version. I’ll post the original in-camera image in the first comment, so you can see how far we came.
I’ve used the picture in various ways to make a short series of endpoints again, so you can see which you prefer (if any lol). I’m always interested to hear what other folk think.
I’ll also publish a black and white version done in Nik Silver Efex Pro as a straight rendition of the image.
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy Sliders Sunday!
[Handheld in daylight.
Processed as a black and white in Affinity Photo.
Taken into Topaz studio and used one of the AI Remix settings to create the colour and stripes.
Back into Photo and a simple single mirror in the distortion Mirror filter, playing about with different input and output angles and dragging the cursor around the image to find an interesting perspective.
Hues shifted a little using an HSL layer.
Sharpened using Unsharp Mask with that adjustment blended using Linear Light at reduced opacity.
Lighting filter with white light from top right and some texturing as well.
Frame formed by expanding the size of the canvas and having a dark blue fill layer underneath, then using Layer Fx to add a narrow white outline… then we are done.]
Čertovica pass, Slovakia
Čertovica (Hungarian: Ördöglakodalma-hágó) is a mountain pass in the Low Tatras mountain range in Slovakia. It connects regions of Liptov and Horehronie. With 1,232 metres (4,042 ft) AMSL, it is the highest paved mountain pass in Slovakia. It is open all year round, however it can be rarely closed during the winter because of the severe weather conditions. The pass was daily crossed by more than 2000 vehicles as of 2005. On the pass is also situated a minor ski resort and a chalet offering accommodation. The pass is also an important starting or endpoint for many hiking trips because it lies in the middle of the range and is close to some of the range's popular summits as the highest Ďumbier and third highest Chopok.
While walking in the neighborhoods, one comes across these structures sprouting in the roadside gardens... take a book leave a book, it says...
From this one, I picked up a hardcover, John Updike Poetry book, called Endpoint
also Littlefreelibrary.org
some of these structures are dedicated to poetry, I have a posting from years ago, which I like a lot..
please see large...
★Rear Perspective Shot Version★
Biblical Korean JetLi nearing endpoint from Balanga
Genesis Transport Service, Inc. | 818595 | SR Daewoobus BV115 fleet by CMANC/Santarosa Motor Works, Inc. (SRWMI - Philippines)
🚏 Original / Authorized Franchise Route: Mariveles, Bataan - Avenida, Manila
🚏 Modified Route Currently Served in Balanga, Bataan - Avenida, Manila
🕚 Date Taken on January 2023
📍 Photo Shot Location @ Doroteo Jose St. cor. Tomas Mapua St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
🚍 Landmark: LRT 1 Doroteo Jose Station, Manila Grand Opera, Amaia Skies Avenida, Puregold Doroteo Jose
Biblical Korean JetLi nearing endpoint from Balanga
Genesis Transport Service, Inc. | 818595 | SR Daewoobus BV115 fleet by CMANC/Santarosa Motor Works, Inc. (SRWMI - Philippines)
🚏 Original / Authorized Franchise Route: Mariveles, Bataan - Avenida, Manila
🚏 Modified Route Currently Served in Balanga, Bataan - Avenida, Manila
🕚 Date Taken on January 2023
📍 Photo Shot Location @ Doroteo Jose St. cor. Tomas Mapua St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
🚍 Landmark: LRT 1 Doroteo Jose Station, Manila Grand Opera, Amaia Skies Avenida, Puregold Doroteo Jose
This isn't an objectively great photo, but I like it because it tells a bit of a story of you know what you're looking at...a story that seems to beget more questions than it answers.
On a hot hazy spring day in southeastern Florida a Florida East Coast switcher goes about its duties on the north end of the compact Fort Pierce yard near MP 241.7 on the Flagler Sub mainline. 414 is a GP40-2 blt. new for the railroad in Nov. 1972 and has spent its entire life plying the rails of the Sunshine State and is seen here in a telephoto view from the Citrus Avenue overpass.
The FEC is truly anachronistic in the modern era of PSR driven mega freights mixed with intermodal, autos, and manifest. The FEC carries on the tradition of short fast trains running on strict timed schedules and seems to be quite successful doing so. While the old rule of thumb is that anything under a 500 mile haul should be left to truckers (and frankly very few Class 1s anymore seem to have any intermodal lanes even that short) the FEC thrives on much less. The entire railroad is only about 360 miles long and not only do they offer intermodal service with ramps at the roads endpoints in Jacksonville and Miami but they also have several intermodal ramps at intermediate points such as the compact one seen here. Amazingly the railroad offers five day a week pick ups on train 335 to Miami only 120 miles south and six days a week on train 230 going north about 230 miles to the ramp in Jacksonville (and connections beyond via NS or CSXT. And take a look at those trailers loaded up down there? If the FEC can meet the demands of the worlds largest retailer, Wal-Mart, they must be doing something right!
Now why can't other roads pull of this same feat? The markets exist...the trucks are on our highways. Time for railroad's to step back up, don't you agree?
Fort Pierce, Florida
Monday April 25, 2016