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Mural entitled "Angry Zebra 2.0" by Ben Watson (EVOLUTION) aka @evolution_816 and background by Sike Style Industries aka @sikestyle, seen at 320 Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri.
Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
From my set entitled “Amsterdam”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157602418470116/
In my collection entitled “Rhine Main Danube”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760702...
In my photostream
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/
Just over a year ago, Karen and I cruised the Rhine-Main-Danube System. The tour covered the following countries: Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The cities we visited included Amsterdam, Xanten, Cologne, Koblenz, Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nuremburg, Regensburg, Passau, Vienna and Budapest. It was a lovely trip, and I came home with over 2000 photos, most of which I posted between October, 2007 and May, 2008.
The following articles deal with our ship, The MS Casanova, operated by Peter Deilmann Reederei
Reproduced from Deilmann Casanova Review
By Durant and Cheryl Imboden
www.riverdiscounts.com/5496294_14881.htm
Peter Deilmann Reederei has operated cruise vessels on European rivers since 1983, when the Donauprinzessin joined the line's existing fleet of ocean ships. Today, the company has 10 ships on the rivers of Western and Central Europe, together with two luxurious ocean vessels: the MS Deutschland and the sailing yacht Lili Marleen.
In fall, 2004, my son and I spent a week aboard the MS Casanova, a five-star river vessel that moved from Northern Italy to the Rhine, Danube, Moselle, and Rhine-Main Canal for the 2005 season and beyond. This illustrated review describes the ship, the service and amenities onboard, and the distinctly European style of river cruising that Peter Deilmann offers to cosmopolitan travelers.
MS Casanova: the ship
Casanova was built in 2001 for cruises on Italy's Po River, where ships must be able to cruise under low bridges and fit comfortably in narrow, shallow canals. As a result, it's smaller than many ships that cruise Central European waters, with a length of 338 feet and a beam of 32 feet, or 103 m by 9,70 m. The ship could be described as a "boutique vessel," since it accommodates only 96 passengers.
Most public rooms are on the Verdi deck, or main deck, which also has 26 of the the ship's 48 passenger cabins. A staircase leads down to the Rialto Deck, where a foyer separates the restaurant from the 22 lower-deck staterooms. The Sundeck, an open area on the top of the ship, offers deck chairs, tables, and plenty of space along the railings for sightseeing and picture-taking.
Passengers enter and leave the ship via the reception area, located amidships on the Verdi deck, which acts as a buffer between the public rooms and cabins. A doorway on the starboard side of Casanova leads past a boutique/hairdresser into the large and well-appointed lounge, which has a bar, a library corner, a small dance floor, and a piano for entertainment.
Audience and ambience
Like other Peter Deilmann river vessels, Casanova serves a multinational audience. This makes it different from its leading competitors on the European river-cruising circuit, which operate separate vessels for the U.S. and Canadian market (Viking) or cater only to North American travelers (Avalon Waterways, Uniworld, Vantage, etc.).
The bulk of Deilmann's guests come from German-speaking countries, but a substantial minority are from the U.S., Canada, and Britain. On our cruise, about a third of the passengers were American or Canadian, with one British couple on board. Most of our fellow guests were in their 60s or older (a fairly typical age range for European river cruises).
The ship's ambience has a strong German flavor, but don't go looking for stereotypes from yesteryear: The waiters, stewardesses, and reception staff are more friendly than formal, and the dress code on most evenings is "smart casual." You'll notice the Teutonic influence mostly when you turn on the TV--where German channels predominate--or if you request water in the restaurant, when you'll be asked if you want bottled mineral water or American-style ice water. (After the first meal or two, your beverage stewardess will remember your preferences.)
All ship's announcements are in both German and English, and separate versions of the daily newsletter are published for Deutsch- and English-speaking guests.
Overall, Casanova and Peter Deilmann Cruises offer a more cosmopolitan atmosphere than you'd find on a vessel that caters primarily to U.S. and Canadian travelers. With Deilmann, you feel that you're in Europe when you're aboard the ship, not just when you go ashore. Whether that's good or bad depends on your tastes and whether you prefer mingling with the locals or sticking with fellow foreigners.
Casanova's staterooms come in three flavors:
Queen cabins. In these 16 staterooms, the queen-size beds have separate mattresses, each with its own duvet when the stewardess removes the bedspread at night. This means you can snuggle or maintain separation, depending on whom you're traveling with.
Twin cabins. These 30 cabins have twin beds on opposite walls. One berth converts into a sofa during the day.
Junior suites. There are just two junior suites, both on the lower or Rialto deck. They have queen-size beds and are slightly larger than the standard queen and twin cabins.
Rooms on the Verdi or upper deck have cleverly designed French doors overlooking the water. Open the left half, and you have a floor-to-ceiling screen to keep bugs at bay. Open the right side, and you can lean out to take pictures, check the passing landscape in more detail, or get a feel for the weather.
Cabins on the Rialto or lower deck have fixed picture windows.
All staterooms are attractively decorated with generous expanses of wood paneling, drapes, pictures on the walls, etc. Casanova's designers gave a lot of attention to details, as the inset photo of a ceiling light will show. The gold-trim motif is also used on the custom cabin furniture, which includes built-in closets, nightstands with storage space, and a desk with minibar. (I did notice one small oversight: Casanova's duvets are filled with a thin polyester batting instead of down.)
The bathrooms are extremely well-designed, with luxury touches such as glass shower enclosures, marble and ceramic walls, wooden toilet seats, brass faucets, and sinks that have marble countertops in a beautiful brown-red marble above a wooden storage cabinet and shelves. There's a retractable clothesline in the shower stall, and you'll find plenty of racks and hooks for towels and dressing gowns. (Your stewardess will supply bathrobes on request.)
Finally, the TV in each cabin has a good assortment of channels--mostly in German, but with BBC World and CNN to keep you in touch with what's happening back home. Casanova also has closed-circuit movies several times a day in both German and English.
Dining
Germans have a reputation for taking their food seriously, and the quality of hotel and restaurant food in Germany tends to be much better than in the United States or Britain. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Peter Deilmann's Casanova lives up to its five-star ambitions in the dining room.
Breakfast consists of a buffet with fresh fruit, cereals, rolls, dark German breads, croissants and other pastries, cheeses, cold cuts, herring, smoked salmon, etc. Waiters are on hand to serve beverages, whisk away dirty plates, and take orders for fresh-cooked eggs or daily specials. Mineral water and sparkling wine, which you pay for at lunch or dinner, are free at breakfast. (Nicole, our beverage stewardess, told us that some guests like a glass of Prosecco to wake up in the morning. I tried a quarter-glass as a test but decided to stick with coffee. My son was pleased by the hot chocolate, which was excellent.)
Lunch is a choose-your-own-adventure affair where you can fill up a plate from the buffet or have a full meal served course by course. On most days, I grabbed a few salad and fish items from the buffet and skipped directly to the main course or requested pasta as an entrée.
At dinner, the menu typically features an appetizer, two soups, a fish or pasta course, a choice of entrées, and dessert. (On gala nights, a sorbet precedes the main course.) The restaurant's wood-and-marble buffet table is laid with a salad bar (with the term "salad" encompassing such luxuries as shrimp and fish), which is replaced by a selection of cheeses and fruit at the end of the meal.
Deilmann doesn't skimp on ingredients: High-quality fish is on the menu at nearly every midday or evening meal, and we were served lobster, large shrimp, lamb, veal, and duck at various times during the cruise. Baked goods are also excellent--most notably the cakes and other desserts, which are baked on board by a full-time pastry chef.
If sightseeing leaves you hungry for more than three square meals a day, you can top up your tummy with boullion at 11 a.m., finger sandwiches and cakes at afternoon tea, or the late-night snack in the lounge at 10:30 p.m. (On our voyage, Jozef--the Casanova's excellent pianst and vocalist--offered musical accompaniment during afternoon tea, the 6:30 p.m. cocktail hour, and the evening snack.)
About beverages:
Coffee, tea, ice water, and fruit juices are free. Other drinks cost extra at lunch and dinner, although complimentary sparkling wine and Kir Royale are served (and replenished generously) on gala nights. If you order a bottle of wine or mineral water in the dining room, your waiter will mark the bottle and save it for future meals.
Drink prices are in line with what you might expect on a European luxury vessel: On our cruise, a glass of German draft beer cost €2,80, a bar-size bottle of soft drink was €2,50, a 5-cl glass of vermouth cost €2,90, grappa was €3,80, and whiskies or cocktails were in the €5,50 to €6,90 range. Featured wines on the dinner menu typically cost €20 to €25, and a quarter-liter of the house white or red was less expensive than a glass of wine in a typical U.S. restaurant.
Service
Casanova has an unusually large staff for a river ship that carries only 96 passengers. Peter Deilmann claims a passenger-to-crew ratio of 2.5:1, or "about the best crew to passenger ratio of any river vessel." There's even a physician on board.
The multilingual restaurant, bar, housekeeping, and reception staff were a hardworking bunch during our cruise, and they were also highly-trained professionals. Our waiter, Mladen Tomljanovic, was a nine-year veteran of cruise ships, and our beverage stewardess, Nicole Hoppe, had three years of professional education and apprenticeship before joining Peter Deilmann Cruises. Mladen, Nicole, and other members of the restaurant and beverage staff worked together as an efficient team, delivering service on a par with what you'd expect on a luxury cruise line or a five-star hotel.
I was also impressed by the crew's warmth, friendliness, and overall good cheer. One evening, the younger staff were kind enough to invite my 18-year-old son to join them at a nightclub that was popular with riverboat crews. (I resisted the urge to play chaperone, spending the evening with a Donna Leon mystery instead.)
Tipping suggestions:
The Casanova's newsletter recommended dividing gratuities of €6,50 to €7,50 per passenger per day among the service staff, and passengers were encouraged to make additional contributions to a tips box at the reception desk for other members of the crew. I thought the recommended figures were a bit low for staff who worked 15 hours or more per day, so I gave €50 each (for two passengers) to our waiter, beverage stewardess, and cabin stewardess, plus another €50 for the crew box.
(Note: Tips for bar purchases should be made at the time of service, since the person who serves you a drink may not be your regular beverage stewardess or waiter.)
From Professional Travel Guide
www.professionaltravelguide.com/Cruise/Cruise-Lines/Peter...
This German-built river boat from Peter Deilmann Cruises launched in 2001 and was refitted in 2006. She sails with up to 96 passengers on a wide variety of itineraries along the Rhine, Moselle, Main and Danube rivers from mid-March to early November. This slim, trim triple-decker is an all-white 338-ft beauty with red trim. She has a width of 32 ft and a draft of 4 ft and shows a classical profile.
Peter Deilmann founded this German company a quarter century ago, first with oceangoing cruise ships and then riverboats. His two daughters carry on the tradition from the company headquarters at Neustadt in Holsetin, Germany operating eight high-end riverboats and the cruise ship Deutschland.
North American and German speakers come aboard in varying numbers depending on the itinerary and departure. Most are 50 and older. Very few children are found aboard, and there are no special facilities for them. The riverboat crew is fully bilingual, so there are no language problems. Suggested per diem tipping rates are US$9 for waitstaff and US$5 for the cabin attendant.
The Casanova used to sail on the River Po in northern Italy, and now she is found plying many different itineraries lasting from 7 to 14 days. She may be based at Amsterdam, The Netherlands, for cruises on the Dutch and Belgian waterways or along the Rhine and Main in Germany. She sails with the Mozart on 7-day Danube River trips based at Passau, Germany.
Her most ambitious cruise is a pair of sailings between Amsterdam and Budapest, Hungary, via the Rhine, Main, Danube and connecting canal. Some shore excursions are included in cruise-tours but not for cruise-only fares. A money-saving tour package can be bought for most itineraries. Depending on the numbers, the buses may be separate for each language or bilingual, and the same goes for the guided walks.
The panoramic restaurant has a stately Italian Provincial elegance with classic highback chairs and cherry accents, a circular compass rose of yellow glass on the ceiling and a buffet station. The room can accommodate all passengers at a single sitting. No one has time to get hungry, with breakfast, morning bouillon, lunch, tea, dinner and midnight snacks. Excellent multicourse luncheons and dinners feature Continental fare and wines of many countries. Evening meals can feature nine courses on some nights, so expect to spend a lot of time at the table.
English-speaking passengers are seated together at reserved tables and single sitting. Evening wear often sees men in jacket and tie. The tastefully furnished lounge brings passengers together several times a day, with its plump sofas and armchairs, panoramic views, well-stocked bar, and nightly entertainment and dancing. Announcements, menus, and daily programs are all provided in English and German.
The sun deck topside has plenty of deck chairs and blankets, and a doctor is onboard. Standard cabins are 140 sq ft, with two minisuites of 160 sq ft, all beautifully appointed with desks, TVs, phones, radios, closets, and baths with showers, hair dryers and robes. Beds are twins and queen-sized, and the upper deck cabins have French doors. Bedding is European-style with duvets and feather pillows, but synthetic materials are available upon request.
As of 2008, there is no smoking inside any Deilmann vessels. Smoking is only allowed on deck.
Post processing:
PhotoShop Elements 5: increased midtones, sharpened, posterized, canvas filter
Venus | Waist Pack Money come in 5 vibrant colors and 6 graphic fatpack [ Available @ #Men&Women’sJail 7/10 ]
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zen%20Soul/24/230/25
Havoc Unlocked | Sleek Sunnies & Basketball Gym Bag @ The Men & Women Jail Event!
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Blue Benjamins | Mob Tattoo [Male] @ #HOUSTONEVENT
YUTH | AGW* BUCKET HAT @ Mainstore
Entitled by Rich Levine
I want to be the wind, in a poetic way.
As a little breeze, dancing to the sound of drizzle ...
As a bright shade, which is separated from the body it inhabits.
My Deep Biophilia
Our secret language
Project "The Traveler"
"The Traveler" Photo Book/Store
www.blurb.com/b/6600290-the-traveler-skin-soul
Instagram Projects:
www.instagram.com/skin_soul_projects/
FB.
Mural entitled "The Creation of Adam" by Cameron Moberg aka @camer1sf, seen at 216 West Washington Street in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
From my set entitled “Steve and Marg’s Farm”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157608031549391/
In my collection entitled
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760074...
In my photostream
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/
My brother, Stephen Pallett, has farmed near the south shore of Lake Simcoe for close to fifty years: poultry, pigs, beef and an assortment of field crops. Over the years he has served as an area councillor and was on the board of the conservation authority. Currently, he is vice president of the Red Barn Theatre in Jackson's Point, and also serves as chair for the committee of adjustment for the Town of Georgina. Another of his activities has been the annual bird count.
Reproduced from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_(tool)
In agriculture, a set of harrows is an implement for cultivating the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, which is used for deeper cultivation. They are commonly called harrows (plural) as they are used as a set. There are nominally three types of harrows; disc (disk), tine and chain.
Harrows were originally horse-drawn. In modern practice they are almost always tractor-mounted implements, drawn after the tractor, either trailed or mounted on the three-point linkage.
Harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by ploughing operations. The purpose of this harrowing is generally to break up clods and lumps of soil and to provide a finer finish, a good tilth or soil structure that is suitable for seeding and planting operations. Such coarser harrowing may also be used to remove weeds and to cover seed after sowing.
In cooler climates the most common types are the disc harrow, the chain harrow, the tine harrow or spike harrow and the spring tine harrow. Chain harrows are often used for lighter work such as levelling the tilth or covering seed, while disc harrows are typically used for heavy work, such as following ploughing to break up the sod. In addition, there are various types of power harrow, in which the cultivators are power-driven from the tractor rather than depending on its forward motion.
Tine harrows are used to refine seed-bed condition before planting, to remove small weeds in growing crops and to loosen the inter-row soils to allow for water to soak into the subsoil.
Chain harrowing may be used on pasture land to spread out dung, and to break up dead material (thatch) in the sward, and similarly in sports-ground maintenance a light chain harrowing is often used to level off the ground after heavy use, to remove and smooth out boot marks and indentations. When used on tilled land in combination with the other two types, chain harrowing rolls the remaining larger clumps of soil to the surface where the weather will break them down and prevent interference with seed germination.
All three harrow types can be used in one pass to prepare the soil for seeding. It is also common to used any combination of two harrows for a variety of tilling processes. Where harrowing provides a very fine tilth, or the soil is very light so that it might easily be wind-blown, a roller is often added as the last of the set.
Harrows may be of several types and weights, depending on the intended purpose. They almost always consist of a rigid frame to which are attached discs, teeth, linked chains or other means of cultivation, but tine and chain harrows are often only supported by a rigid towing-bar at the front of the set.
In the southern hemisphere the so-called giant discs are a specialised kind of disc harrows that can stand in for a plough in very rough country where a mouldboard plough will not handle the tree-stumps and rocks, and a disc-plough is too slow (because of its limited number of discs). Giant discs are scalloped-edged discs operated in a set, or frame, that is often weighted with concrete or steel blocks to improve penetration of the cutting edges. This sort of cultivation is normally immediately followed by broadcast fertilisation and seeding, rather than drilled or row seeding.
A drag is a heavy harrow.
In Europe, harrows were first used in the early Middle Ages.
The following text is taken from the Household Cyclopedia of 1881:
"When employed to reduce a strong obdurate soil, not more than two harrows should be yoked together, because they are apt to ride and tumble upon each other, and thus impede the work, and execute it imperfectly. On rough soils, harrows ought to be driven as fast as the horses can walk; because their effect is in the direct proportion to the degree of velocity with which they are driven. In ordinary cases, and in every case where harrowing is meant for covering the seed, three harrows are the best yoke, because they fill up the ground more effectually and leave fewer vacancies, than when a smaller number is employed. The harrowman's attention, at the seed process, should be constantly directed to prevent these implements from riding upon each other, and to keep them clear of every impediment from stones, lumps of earth, or clods, and quickens or grass roots; for any of these prevents the implement from working with perfection, and causes a mark or trail upon the surface, always unpleasing to the eye, and generally detrimental to the vegetation of the seed. Harrowing is usually given in different directions, first in length, then across, and finally in length as at first. Careful husbandmen study, in the finishing part of the process, to have the harrows drawn in a straight line, without suffering the horses to go in a zigzag manner, and are also attentive that the horses enter fairly upon the ridge, without making a curve at the outset. In some instances, an excess of harrowing has been found very prejudicial to the succeeding crop; but it is always necessary to give so much as to break the furrow, and level the surface, otherwise the operation is imperfectly performed."
Post processing:
Topaz: detail (HDR)
PhotoShop Elements 5: straighten, light balance, multiply, posterization, ink outlines
Mural entitled "Shining Tulips" by Congo Art aka @congo.art, Htown Ink aka @htownink, and Kevin Burdick aka @kev_scraps14, seen at 175 East 19th Street in Holland, Michigan.
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
This is a bronze artwork entitled "Ikaro fallen" (...or loosely translated as Fallen Angel) created by the Polish contemporary artist Igor Mitoraj. It is displayed at the foot of the even more famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, as part of the exhibition ANGELS, among the events celebrating the 950th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Cathedral of Pisa. It's the first time a contemporary artist is hosted in the Square of Miracles.
The exhibition "ANGELS" (May 17, 2014 - April 12, 2015) includes about a hundred pieces of work: monumental works, bronzes, iron casts and marble sculptures, as well as fifty plaster casts and some paintings, a lesser known side of the artist’s production, created in recent years.
This angel sculpture was facing the Leaning Tower, and it was somewhat challenging for me to get both the angel and the Leaning Tower into one single image, without sacrificing some of the important details. Eventually I decided to skip the Tower and instead took this photo of the front of this angel, which shows the exquisite details of Igor's artwork.
Taken next to the Leaning Tower at The Square of Miracles, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, as part of a series of shore excursions during my Mediterranean cruise in 2014
Mural entitled "El Sembrador" by Ivan Roque aka @ivanroque and El Changuri aka @el_chan_guri, seen at 318 NW 23rd Street in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
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Mural entitled "Walkin' This Road by Myself" by Ryan Stalsby aka @ryan_stalsby_art for 42 murals, seen at 2642 Main Street in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas Texas.
Photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
A haiku entitled "Rendezvous" (after Shiki), by Philip Appleman:
Once more as I wait
for you, night and icy wind
melt into cold rain.
The person he waits for must have warmth—she can transform night and icy wind into cold rain. You may be thinking cold rain isn't exactly a warm transformation, and you'd be right. But a rendezvous is a rendezvous, and the expectation warms him. Not a bad way to think of it.
(for Poetography, Theme 151—Cold; Literary Reference in Pictures)
Mural entitled "Freedom" by Karel Garcia aka @karelgarcia.fineartist, seen at 3041 7th Avenue South in St Petersburg, Florida.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Or I could entitle this image making an HDR image from a single RAW image. As my comment for the image title indicates, there were really two things on my mind with this image. The first was just composing this image, using some of the ridges and valley to kind of funnel the view to that one mountain peak of the Eldorado Massif off in the distance. I felt funneling the view best highlighted the setting with the clouds seemingly surrounding and hugging the mountainside. The second part was the large dynamic range when capturing this image and metering it properly with the highlighted areas in the clouds caught in the morning sunlight and the more shadowed in midtone areas across the mountainside off in the distance as well as the valley below. As initially processed the image the RAW image, I was kind of disappointed in trying to bring out the dynamic range captured. It was then I remembered how Aurora HDR Pro could use one single RAW image and bring out an HDR one that I could then export as a TIFF image. I then finished the final processing in Capture NX2
Turret Arch at dawn, with the sun already up, but still behind the crest of the La Sals, Arches National Park, Utah. The clouds racing in the half light ended up bringing significant snow fall that evening and all the next day.
To me, the conundrum of the desert is how to love it and protect it simultaneously. Ed Abbey pondered the same thing as he wandered Arches during the summers of 1956 and 1957. I particularly like his chapter of Desert Solitaire entitled 'Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks.' Part of Abbey's vision was for the Park Service to build minimal roads, maximal trails, and force private automobiles to park at the Park perimeter, with entrance only being gained on foot, by bicycle, or by government shuttle. This model served early Yellowstone National Park, and currently is employed to great effect in the Pirineos in Spain; however, here in the modern U.S., the automobile has been catered to for many years. Witness, for example, the relative ease with which I drove to within ⅓ of a mile of The Windows in Arches in order to make this image.
Explored 2016-01-07
Mural entitled "Abiding Light" by Taylor "Dreamweaver" Smith aka @dream.weavin, seen at 696 1st Avenue North in St Petersburg, Florida.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
The Salton Sea's Sunken City is just simply astonishing. I obviously enjoy alliteration.
I hope this makes all of you as cozy as I feel right now, as I lumber off to bed at this ridiculous hour. I will be giving a talk at barcamp today entitled 'Seeking America', addressing all the phototrekking I have been doing, and largely just sharing my work as well as stories from my travels. Also, trying to encourage others to spend more time exploring more of their country, and finding magic in the seemingly mundane, or unexpected. I'm nervous. I hope I get a decent attendance.
Listen As I Lay Me Down - Sophie B. Hawkins
Sophie Ballantine Hawkins (born November 1, 1967, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S.) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and painter. Her biggest hits are "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover," "Right Beside You," and "As I Lay Me Down." Her debut album, Tongues and Tails, was released in 1992. It achieved both worldwide commercial success and critical acclaim, earning her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1993. The single "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles' chart in the USA. Whaler, her second album, was released in 1994. It also contained a Top 10 hit, the song "As I Lay Me Down." A 1998 documentary by Gigi Gaston, entitled The Cream Will Rise, follows her during one of her tours and captures her struggle to deal with past trouble with her family, including her mother and brother. Music and riffs by Hawkins are included throughout the film. Timbre was re-released in 2001 on her own label, Trumpet Swan Productions. It was bundled with a bonus disc containing new songs, demos, remixes, and videos. Her first independently recorded and released album, Wilderness, was released in 2004. In August 2007, Hawkins headlined the first Los Angeles Women's Music Festival in support of the festival's dual agenda of supporting animal rescue groups and promoting and supporting female musicians. Hawkins is a vegan and a long-time supporter of animal rights. In February 2008, Hawkins re-recorded her hit "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" as Damn We Wish You Were President in support of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Hawkins wrote, "Hillary Clinton's achievements come from her heart. She has initiated so much positive change for families, children, victims of crime and the environment in her struggle for the forward movement of America and the working people of this nation"
La Costa Brava, el agreste litoral de la provincia de Girona, cuenta con una villa medieval a pocos kilómetros de su perfil marítimo. Su centro histórico se levanta sobre una colina rodeada de llanuras, que en su origen fue zona pantanosa. Hay que remontarse al siglo IX para encontrar los primeros documentos escritos que hablan de esta población, época a la que pertenece su castillo. Continuos enfrentamientos bélicos hicieron que durante siglos sólo se conservase la Torre del Homenaje de esta construcción defensiva. Se trata de una torre románica de planta circular levantada entre los siglos XI y XIII. Sus 15 metros de altura se asientan sobre una plataforma de roca natural, en la que también se encuentran numerosas tumbas visigóticas. Durante el siglo XV fue empleada como campanario, por lo que se la conoce como la Torre de las Horas. En la actualidad, el solar del castillo lo ocupa la casa de la familia Pi i Figueras, promotor de la restauración del Recinto Gótico de Pals. De factura moderna, esta casa mantiene los mismos rasgos arquitectónicos que el resto de la urbe. Calles empedradas interrumpidas por arcos de medio punto, fachadas con ventanas ojivales y balcones de piedra son los signos distintivos de Pals. La muralla es otro de los lugares que transportan al viajero a la Edad Media. Cuatro torres de planta cuadrada se mantienen aún en pie, a pesar de que datan del siglo XII. Torres con nombre propio como Ramonet, Rom, Xinel·lo y Hospital. Otros puntos de interés son el mirador Josep Pla, la Plaza Mayor, las sepulturas de la calle Mayor y la iglesia de Sant Pere. El escritor palafrugellense da nombre a una de las atalayas naturales, desde donde se divisan los campos del Ampurdán y las islas Medes. Arcos góticos y sepulturas medievales son los otros hitos que encontramos en el camino. Parte de los sillares de piedra del castillo fueron empleados en el siglo X para edificar la iglesia de Sant Pere. En su estructura final se distinguen la base románica, el ábside y nave gótica, y el pórtico y campanario barrocos. La mejor manera de recorrer Pals es perderse por su calles medievales, pero antes de esto merece la pena acercarse a una casa fortificada del siglo XV, sede del Museo de Arqueología Submarina. Entre otras curiosidades, podemos conocer la historia de los vinos y cavas de Cataluña, gracias la exposición permanente que exhibe. A las afueras de la villa se extiende otra parte del municipio de Pals, los Masos de Pals, antiguo conjunto de masías (casas de campo catalanas) que actualmente acogen a un nutrido núcleo urbano. Y en la costa, la playa de Pals. Más de cuatro kilómetros de aguas transparentes donde el viajero podrá disfrutar del benigno clima mediterráneo y de todas las oportunidades de ocio que la Costa Brava ofrece. Campos de golf, deportes náuticos y visitas al Parque Natural Illes Medes son sólo algunas de ellas. Pals también se convierte en una excelente oportunidad para acercarnos a la gastronomía del Baix Ampordà, que aúna productos del mar y la tierra. Las habas y los guisantes de la huerta aparecen junto a esqueixadas (ensalada de bacalao), escalivadas (asado de berenjena, cebolla y pimientos) o guisos de pollo o conejo con marisco. Por su parte, gambas, lubinas y doradas se preparan de multitud de maneras. Entre los postres, las frutas tienen una gran importancia (fresas, melocotones, melones, sandías, naranjas...), y se convierten en verano en helados y sorbetes.
In Wordpress In Blogger photo.net/photos/Reinante/ In Onexposure
Mural entitled "Anatomy of Enemies" by Taqi Spateen, seen at 130 High Street, Penge, Bromley, London, England.
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "The Birds Always Come Back" by Emily Ding aka @_emilyding and Helena Martin aka @helenapaints for Hue Fest 2017, seen at 1230 Maury Street in Houston, Texas.
Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
(Continuation of story which begins with the first upload entitled Portugal)
We took the ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar and when we entered the city of Tangiers, a whole new exotic world opened before our eyes. I had first seen Moorish architecture in the Algarve. In the beginning, this landscape can appear foreboding and menacing. Later it becomes mysterious and welcoming.
The street signs were all in French and Arabic. Not really a surprise, but I was once again reminded of my poor language skills. Helping Marvin navigate would be difficult for me, but I conjured up some bold confidence that worked for a short while.
It was still early in the afternoon so we decided to press on to Fez and spend the night there. Soon we were in the middle of an open road with no towns in sight. That was a rather welcome sight. Navigation was easier I thought but then remembered that we had no local currency. I mentioned this to Marvin and he brushed off the fact saying that surely a town would appear soon where we could exchange money.
The day went along and no towns appeared on the horizon. The sun was quickly going down in the sky. The arrow of the fuel gauge had also dipped dangerously low. In the age of no international credit cards this was a very serious problem as we had read that the Moroccans would only do business in dirhams.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man on a motorcycle pull up along side our car. He was smiling and waving. He began to speak and when he did his first question was, “Are the two of you Americans?” I was dumbfounded. We were in a Volkswagen with Portuguese license plates. We had been away from America so long we had almost forgotten that we were Americans. How did he know?
He continued to yell and screamed that he loved Americans because his brother had gone to school in America and we were very kind to him. He asked where we were staying and we shook our heads. I then blurted out that we had failed to get dirhams and that we were low on gas.
He screamed back to follow him and he would help us. Soon we were pulling into a gas station and we could talk in a normal tone. His brother owned the gas station but our new friend would pay for our tank to be filled up. We could repay him the following morning after we exchanged currency. We then followed him to a lovely hotel and said good-bye until the morning. It was our first of many warm experiences with Muslim hospitality.
The image is of the oldest medina in the world at Fez. It was named a United Nations World Heritage site just before we visited there.
A mural entitled "The Collector" painted by artist Josh Keyes in 2015 for the "Forest For The Trees" project.
Mural entitled "The Ascension" by Candy Kuo aka @itscandykuo for Paint Memphis 2021, seen at 660 South B.B. King Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee.
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
This the best rendition of the painting I have at this time even with hours of photoshopping. If I get a better image, I'll update this. Here are the Emails we exchanged:
I received this Email 051609
Dear Mr. Strain,
My name is Elizabeth R. My mother had one of your paintings entitled "There Is A Boy Who Loves Me". When she passed away in 1996, the painting was given to her sister who lives in Dallas, Texas. She has the painting hanging in her den and I told her I would do some research regarding the artist. And I looked you up on the internet.
The painting was done in 1968. You have signed it on the front and there is a letter attached to the back of the painting. I think my mother may have purchased this piece of art while she was living in Corpus. She had it on an easel for as long as I can remember. She lived in Victoria, Texas and that is where I was born. She loved the painting and I can just see it right now.
I thought maybe you could tell me something about the painting. My aunt is 85 years old and is not able to remove it from the wall unless she has help.
I would like to know if the painting is an original or a print? there is not a number in the right hand corner of the painting; just your signature.
I will do more research on the painting but if you could email me any more information regarding this piece of art, I would surely appreciate it.
Thank you so very much. I surely did enjoy enjoy reading your biography. I am presently living near LG, Texas.
Elizabeth R.
The same day, I got another Email from Elizabeth:
Dear Strain,
I just spoke with my aunt and she did tell me the contents of the letter that came with the watercolor and ink painting.
It says that you came upon a young lady in the road and all she said was that there is a boy who loves me. She is wearing a white dress and she is barefoot and she has long hair and there is a house in the background.. I am sure you will remember this painting and maybe give me more information.
Thank you again.
Elizabeth R.
The same day, I sent this response to Elizabeth:
Hi Elizabeth ... I just don't remember the picture. I do remember the title. I traveled a lot into Mexico when I was working in the Rio Grande Valley and I was much intrigued with the responses of the more primitive poverty stricken people of La Frontera. I do remember a little girl saying that to me in Spanish. I smiled and thought she didn't know what to say to a stranger, so she just said the most important thing in her life that day. I did a number of versions as I recall. The actual incident took place as I was driving south from Mier toward Reynosa on the Mexican side. The little girl (grade school, perhaps third grade) was standing on the school ground of a most unusually shaped school building. I stopped to sketch and she came up to watch. That was the only thing she said, although I tried to talk to her. Later I used her as a person standing in front of an unusual home I sketched in Falfurrias, Tx.
I think if I could see even a poor grade photograph of the watercolor, I'd be able to tell you all about it. What your aunt has is an original, because I never went into the print business. If it's the watercolor I did of the little girl in front of the original school where I met her, I think it's one of my better watercolors and your mother paid a whopping price for those years probably as much as $60 to $75 ... LOL ... If I could get a good resolution photograph of it, I'd love to put it on my sebsite.
I'm doing almost entirely computer art now and having a ball. As you probably know, my website is www.billstrain.com and my main thing going now is the first selection on that site with the word Flickr in it. That's where I do a daily blog of art, humor and narrative. I have as many of my old originals on the Flickrsite as anywhere under the set name of "Blasts from the Past."
I look forward to hearing from you. You might want to change my Email to bill.strain@yahoo.com. That's where I get most of my mail. This address is the old original one that we set up with the old website. Thanks for you inquiry and ..
Best wishes from Sherry and Bill in Kerrville
Still on the 16th, this Email from Elizabeth:
Hi Bill,
Thank you so much for your reply. I read your email to my aunt, who does not own a computer and never will, and she gave me a more detailed description of the painting. there is a one story house in the background and to the left of the house appears some black crosses maybe 5; look like crosses. then the little girl is standing on some stones and there appears to be more stones that could have been from a stone wall. She says the colors are magnificent!!! she just loves the painting.
She has a friend who will be returning to town around the 25th and he will come over and take a picture of it digitally and he can email you a picture. Then perhaps you will remember the painting. She is thrilled that I heard from you and will be glad to have her friend take a picture. I am thrilled that it is an original.
My aunt had it put into a different frame and she sees it every day all day when she is in her den. She acquired the painting about 11 years ago.
Thank you so much for the information and you will be hearing from me when her friend can send you the photo.
Have a great weekend.
Elizabeth R.
Then this Email came from Paul, actually 3 Emails each with a different JPEG of the watercolor. It was from these three JPEGs I got the image posted. I'll keep this updated until we get the best results we're going to. So another magic "BLAST FROM THE PAST" ... lol
From Paul: Sorry for the reflection. I couldn't see it until I got home and downloaded them onto my computer.
I'm sending the three best. Will try again, but am traveling till next week.... Have Jean remind me when I get back.
Sending them separately.
Paul
Here's my Email to Elizabeth after I saw the painting and was able to remember it:
Hi Elizabeth,
I got three photographs from Paul and he will try for more quality when he returns from a business trip. I worked a couple of hours trying to restore the color and detail, but the reflections were too strong.
That IS the primary painting I remember. I conisder it one of the top twenty paintings I've ever done. And that's the school I told you about and a caricature of the young gangly girl I talked to that day. I felt pretty special that she had shared with me something she probably didn't even share with her parents ... LOL ... for fear they'd cut off the possibility of a friendship with the boy.
I have an 13 x 18 inch scanner and could scan that watercolor without taking it out of the frame, if anyone is ever in the Kerrville area. I can't remember the size of the actualy painting, but I could do it in two or three scans and then patch it together and provide you with a CD and the potential for having prints made for the family or anyone you wanted to give them to.
If Paul is able to get a better quality photograph, I'll put it on my Flickrsite and add it to the "Blasts from the past" set and that one really is a blast from the past. On my website with my conventional art I have a publication "Nueces District Clerk's Journal" or something to that effect and a similar composition is in black and white on the cover. Also from the same era is one I called "Coronado's Child" of a little boy sitting on the edge of where a sidewalk ends in front of an abaondoned old church in Mier, Mexico. During those years I did a lot of sketching up and down the Rio Grande, Camargo, Mier, Rio Grande City, Roma, San Ignacio and even up to Laredo.
Well, it's been a hoot and I thank you for making it possible...grin. I'll wait for Paul's next effort and we'll talk some more.
Best wishes and ...
Love from Sherry and Bill
A very, very long time ago I posted a shot entitled Emergence (flic.kr/p/2hWPoqh). In it I gave a brief overview of the South Chicago and Indiana Harbor Railway. I haven't paid hardly any attention to the Short Line since then, inflicted with yet another case of "don't pay attention to what's in my backyard" syndrome. But recently I've been realizing how much I've missed out on by not paying much attention to the railroad.
Flash forward to about a month ago, I heard the strangest claim that these guys had stored all their power with little chance of taking them out, which led me to investigate them around the same time I started looking for B09, another recent way-late-to-the-party instance.
Thankfully, it didn't take very long to realize that my assumption was correct in this certainly NOT being the case.
These guys are the absolute last thing I'd expect to see moving around on a Saturday morning, but to prove me wrong, here is the railroad's own #31 dropping down to street level with three coil cars for eventual forwarding to the BRC right across the NS from here. It goes without saying that the lead pictured here, which heads west into the railroad's dinky yard and shops in the East Side neighborhood of South Chicago, has become quite jungly as of late.
With all of that being said, I've began looking for these guys as much as I humanly can with daylight rapidly dwindling day to day. Expect much much more of them, along with some very long descriptions of the history and operations of this fascinating railroad.
Bathing in the morning light. Frothy bubbles, steam, soothing, calming. Ready for another day.
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.
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Colour film.
Part of a project I have just finished for uni entitled "The way I see it".
I like to pursue the experience of seeing Horsetail Fall each year. A client of ours not long ago dismissed it as something to the effect of "everyone pursuing the same shot". That's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it got me wondering why I disagree, and what has driven me to pursue the event maybe 80-90 times over the past couple of decades. It's never the same twice, but it's more than that. A lot more.
A lot of people pursue the sight of Horsetail Fall each year. The phenomenon requires a lot of variables to line up, so it may only be dramatic on one or two nights each year. Sometimes there's only a wet spot on the rock illuminated with sunset light, other times there's a small amount of water, but it only gets a weak glow of color as the sun fades behind thin haze as it sets.
On the best of nights there's a strong flow cascading over the lip or El Capitan, and the full force of the sun lights up the water through clear skies to the west. The waterfall becomes a shining beacon of sunlight, shimmering as it cascades down the granite surface. It looks white hot at first, difficult to look at when the water catches and transmits enough of the sun. Then there's an increasing amount of color, as the sun sets through thickening atmosphere and blue light is scattered, leaving warmer tones. Yet as the coloration starts, the intensity is still very high, like vigorously splashing molten copper. Water splashes as it cascades, and the droplets create a scintillating effect of liquid molten sunlight. This is the part that's utterly spectacular, leaving witnesses with jaws agape, oohs and ahhs coming from the spectators below. The effect is most analogous to the shimmering corona present for a few minutes during a total solar eclipse, something that many people travel the world over and over to see and experience again. On one hand seeing the sun's corona revealed is a combination of coincidence and physics, but it can trigger awe with a healthy dose of dopamine, endorphins, and who knows what else, an intense natural high that may be unmatched in the viewer's prior life experience. So it's little wonder that many people with the means pursue that experience over and over again. At its best and most intense, Horsetail Fall, if you're in the right place to get the full force of intense transmitted sunlight, produces that effect.
The next phase is when the color peaks in Horsetail Fall, the sun is in its final orange phase, and the water resembles hot lava in color. If someone unmasked you in that spot in exactly that moment, you could be convinced that it IS hot lava, the eruption spewing droplets of red hot Pele's tears as it falls. It's awesome, but if you were waiting for color and didn't pay attention to the prior phase because your neighbor was chatty, you missed the main event. Clever photographers will go to great lengths to try to get an unusual angle on the waterfall, to capture a unique composition. If you're standing at a right angle to the light going through the waterfall, getting some reflected color but not the scintillating light coming through small droplets, sure, you may have captured a pretty picture, but sorry, if it happened at all, you may have missed the most intense part of the experience.
The final phase is when the color starts to fade, and the setting sun might cast a more magenta to red tone on the water. In some years, especially when there's low water flow, this is the best that it gets in five nights of trying.
In later dates in February, the sunlight will have a shadow creeping up from below, leaving intense light mainly on the upper portion of the waterfall.
The event typically ends in the spectators cheering and clapping, a release of energy they accumulated during the various phases of the spectacle.
There are probably multiple reasons why someone might not get why Horsetail Fall is something to experience. One category is people who chased it and either it didn't happen, or it wasn't that great. Fair enough, sorry you missed it. It's a bit like chasing a solar eclipse that ends up impeded by clouds. It could feel like a waste of time, and you may wonder why people put themselves through the hassle.
Another category of unimpressed people may be photographers who flit around the country or world like butterflies, collecting places but never stopping to truly experience them. Lori and I traveled to Turkey in 2010, but we spent over 3 weeks there and spent a lot of time driving around the countryside staying with locals. We wanted to experience the country and meet the people, not just blow through it collecting postcard shots. Our favorite experiences are from when we left a hole in our itinerary and had locals recommend where we should go. And the time when no one spoke English while our rental car broke down for several hours. Travelling the country and photographing/seeing many sites was great, the people and experiences were priceless.
Similarly for many of the most spectacular moments we experience, often with little warning, it's most compelling to remember to experience the full impact, not just photograph the pretty colors or the unusual weather. Often we run into conditions that boggle the mind, and contain a range of light that the photographic process, without the full intensity of the sun, will never fully contain or convey. Moments that we never could have possibly anticipated, when nature is just showing off how it can exceed what we've experienced before. The first thing I do in these circumstances is to observe, "No one will ever believe this!" Because it's true. And I point out the when they're post-processing the images, if they upload an image and at least some people don't reply with "fake", "over-processed", "oversaturated", or now "AI", then they've failed to convey even a fraction of what they've seen. We also try to encourage people to learn how to automate their exposures with an interval timer, so they can experience the moment as well. Or take lots of different compositions at various times as conditions evolve, but also pause, look up, and notice, and experience the awe.
For me that's the draw. The experiences. The photographs are just a way to share some small fraction of what we experienced.
Back to Horsetail Fall... one of the biggest challenges is trying to post-process the results to reflect the full range of light, to try to include as much of the extreme contrast as possible, without washing out the intense color. I'll probably have to take several passes at the images, and gradually improve them over time. And they probably won't have an appropriate impact without a searing light source, a very bright and high contrast display, or a massively bright light shining directly on a metal print (does someone print on copper?). It'll never match the original event. You can't contain the sun, and re-emit it on command. But perhaps some fraction of the awe can be communicated, and even if not, we'll always have the experiences. And that's what I'm in this for... the doing, the experiencing, and sharing what I can to people who perhaps can't get out as often as we do and see as much of the ridiculous beauty that occurs, whether there's anyone there to see and record it or not.
See you in 5-6 weeks, Horsetail Fall!
Painting entitled "My Lebanon" at an exhibition in Cambridge earlier this year. The note by the artist said, "The woman is crying 'Lebanon, my beloved country'. Her hair is the colour of the national flag -- green, white and red. And her tear is the word word Lebanon in Arabic". Very smart work, I thought.
Mural entitled "Gilded Lady" by Tristan Eaton aka @tristaneaton seen at 27th and Fifth Avenue in New York, New York.
Flickr member Trish Mayo has an interesting insight into the subject of this mural. See www.flickr.com/photos/obsessivephotography/52778363320
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
From my set entitled “Boats and Ships”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia
In my collection entitled “Transportation”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215761271...
In my photostream
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/
Reproduced from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The city, which had a population of 747,290 on 1 January 2008, comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the 6th-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of around 6.7 million.
Its name is derived from Amstel dam, indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel where the Dam Square is today. Settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During this time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were formed.
The city is the financial and cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and 7 of the world's top 500 companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, part of Euronext, is located in the city centre. Amsterdam's main attractions, including its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, its red-light district and its many cannabis coffee shops, draw 4.2 million tourists annually.
Yet another entry in my imaginary album entitled "why we have no nice things". Model Jill proposed this pond session several months ago at a point when the water was still freezing cold. Nothing we could do at the time, but the creative seed was firmly planted. Months later and the end of summer is at hand. The days are hot and the pond water warm. Our moment had finally arrived. Jill donned an old dress from a thrift store and gamely waded into the water. Rural ponds seem idyllic in theory, but are actually quite unsettling when one contemplates actually entering one. The water is a slimy shade of opaque yellow-green. It immediately discolors anything it touches with little chance of said thing every coming clean again. And then there's the ooze of muck at the bottom. Jill said her feet sank ankle deep into this morass before finding something of a stable base layer. Insects buzzed about and there was the constant fear of snapping turtles, leaches and water snakes. The concept was a fashion shoot of sorts, trending more toward dark glamour. Jill somehow maintained her composure as we worked, looking outwardly serene as if standing in a pond was an everyday occurrence. We achieved some wonderful shots in the process. But I kept thinking about the darker aspects of ponds, and became intrigued watching the change in Jill's demeanor between takes. She would take a few cautious steps in one direction or another so we could change the background or lighting. In these moments I could see her anxiety rising as each step resulted in a near fall. For me these unguarded (and quite unanticipated) moments seemed far more compelling than what we had set out to do. I played up on the backlighting that caused the water to appear black. The effect put me in mind of the La Brea tar pits. Or that weird transformative effect when food coloring is added to a bowl of water.
Mural entitled "Winter in Utah" by D A A S aka @daas, seen in the mid-concourse tunnel at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
Momma fox taking a bit of a break from her kits...
To see other fox photos please check out my album entitled "foxes" at www.flickr.com/photos/black_cat_photography/albums/721577...
All comments regarding this picture, subject, composition, etc are welcome and appreciated. TIA.
AIM IM with Chris .
11:28 PM
(ty) hey bra' got a sec
(chris) sure, homestyle
what do you think of this idear ok - im thinkin of a group. small, invite only,
ok
where each week the moderator posts an image file and the members each photoshop it their own style
and then folks can discuss how they get certain effects and such
yeah, I remember us talking about that
I think it sounds great
see how many interpretations of the same image you can get
i want to call it
the Chris Owens Experience
you mind?
lol not at all
thanks i know your name is trademarked
hell yeah it is
I have pending lawsuits against many people
lol
lol
do you own chrisowens.com?
votechrisowens is gone
that was a guy running for senate
that was priceless
no, I don't own chrisowens.com
some photographer does
i do want to make a group dedicated to spamming spammers
on flickr
ahh sweet
everytime you get the same invite from the same ass, you send him an invite to this group
HAHA
you only get invited if youre a spam bloated ass
that could be its motto
nice
mebbe call it Spamaholics Anonymous
LOL
and then when they join
kick them out
so i can resend them invites
right
mebbe i could use my secret account
cool
and have people nominate the spammer of the week. sidebar, you use 1001 for flickring?
nah
really?
I would if my main machine were a Mac
dang
I have it loaded
its the shit
but I don't do photos on my powerbook
i should make a set called 'everyone hates you' and just put dark evil shit in there
sweet
I love your dark stuff
i want to be happy
i really do
too bad
but ive seen too much
attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, for example
... I miss childhood sometimes
Seen in my set entitled "Mississauga"
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157600987373042/
I've often mentioned that I work at RONA, which is a Canadian competitor to Home Depot and Lowes.
When I was growing up, our family business (Pleasant View Farms) was engaged in the wholesale and retail sales of farm and landscaping/nursery supplies: hardware, fencing, pesticides, plants, hay/straw for bedding, containers, firewood, seed, clothing, paint and on and on.
In 2002, after many years in various endeavours (museums, teaching English, marketing, I was accepted in the seasonal department at RONA, where I employed the skills and knowledge that I had garnered so many years before at Pleasant View Farms.
If you visit while I'm at RONA, you'll likely find me in the greenhouse and/or garden centre. I also spend a good deal of time on the seasonal hardware floor.
It's just part-time... a day or two a week, but it suits nicely.
About RONA
wrightreports.ecnext.com/coms2/reportdesc_COMPANY_C1248L300
Rona Inc. The Group's principal activity is to retail and distribute hardware, home improvement and gardening products in Canada. The Group operates in two segments namely Corporate and Franchised Stores and Distribution. The Corporate and Franchised stores segment relates to the retail operations of corporate stores and the Group's share of the retail operations of the franchised stores in which the Group has an interest. The Distribution segment relates to the supply activities to affiliated, franchised and corporate stores. As of 19-Feb-2008, the Group had 77 Big-Box stores, 327 Proximity stores and 235 Specialized stores and 40 specialized ICI.
RONA.ca Information
www.rona.ca/content/investor-relations
General Links:
www.mssociety.ca/en/events/biketour/default.htm
RONA History
1982 - Ro-Na purchased the assets of Botanix.
1984 - Ro-Na created a purchasing alliance with Ontario-based Home Hardware Stores Ltd. through Alliance RONA Home Inc.
1988 - Ro-Na merged with Dismat, another building materials company, to create Ro-Na Dismat Group Inc.
1990 - Ro-Na formed an alliance with Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1997 - ITM Entreprises S.A., a France-based group, invests $30 million in the Ro-Na Dismat Group Inc. ITM becomes a shareholder and forms a purchasing alliance with Ro-Na.
1998 - Ro-Na eliminates the Le Quincailleur and Dismat names and introduces RONA L'express, RONA L'express Matériaux and RONA Le Rénovateur Régional. It also changes its name from Ro-Na Dismat Group Inc. to RONA Inc.
1999 - RONA opens a new warehouse adjacent to its headquarters, measuring 654,000 square feet (61,000 m²), doubling its warehousing capacity and achieving considerable cost savings.
2000 - RONA acquires Cashway Building Centres, with 66 stores. It permanently opens its online store on the rona.ca website.
2001 - RONA acquires 51 Revy, Revelstoke and Lansing stores and thus owning many more stores in the Greater Toronto Area.
2002 - RONA closes a public offering consisting of a total offering of $150.1 million of Common Shares. RONA's Common Shares are then traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "RON".
2003 - RONA acquires Réno-Dépôt Inc. from British Kingfisher plc, including The Building Box stores. RONA also opens its third large distribution center in Calgary, Alberta.
2004 - RONA acquires Totem Building Supplies Ltd., an Alberta company. RONA Dream Home airs on Global. RONA also joins the AIR MILES Reward Program.
2005 - RONA Dream Home 2 airs on Global.
2006 - RONA acquires a majority (51%) stake in Matériaux Coupal Inc..
2006 - RONA acquires Curtis Lumber Building Supplies
2007 - RONA acquires Burnaby, BC based Dick's Lumber
2007 - RONA acquires Nova Scotia based Castle Cash & Carry
Post Processing:
PhotoShop Elements 5: crop, balance, posterization, rough pastels, sandstone
Mural entitled "Pillars II" by Oscar Joyo aka @oscar.joyo, seen at 1415 Lincoln Way West in South Bend, Indiana.
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "Electric Paradise" by Nate Dee aka @miaminate, seen at 2200 NW 1st Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "'Til Death Do Us Part" by DFace aka @dface_official, seen at 26 Crowndale Road, St Pancras, Camden, London, England.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "Tres Reinas" by Lola Goce aka @lulagoce for Blkout Walls 2023, seen at at 2501 Cass Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.
Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
Mural entitled "Mr. Manly" by Naomi Haverland aka @naomihaverland, seen at 2890 South Main Street in South Salt Lake, Utah.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "Ta Tanka" by Wes Abarca aka @wes7svn, seen at 7662 South Main Street in Midvale, Utah.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "Little Boy Blew" by Egypt Hagen aka @graffitiegypt, seen at 2435 South State Streetin South Salt Lake, Utah.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Mural entitled "Here or There" by Erick Dominguez aka @tutodartist, seen at the RC Cola Bottling Plant at 2308 NW 5th Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.
Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee
Statue entitled ‘Kanklininkas’ near the castle in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city, of a man playing the kanklės, a traditional Lithuanian plucked string musical instrument, of the zither family. It was sculpted by Robertas Antinis. I cannot find a date of completion.
From my set entitled ‘Sumac”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607186471302/
In my collection entitled “The Garden”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sumac (also spelled sumach) is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried berries of some species are ground to produce a tangy purple spice often used in juice.
Sumacs grow in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, especially in North America.
Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1-10 meters. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs.
Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.
The drupes of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat; in the Turkish cuisine e.g. added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.
Species including the fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), the littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla), the skunkbush sumac (R. trilobata), the smooth sumac and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild types or as cultivars.
The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegetable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.
Dried sumac wood is fluorescent under long-wave UV light. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.
At times Rhus has held over 250 species. Recent molecular phylogeny research suggests breaking Rhus sensu lata into Actinocheita, Baronia, Cotinus, Malosma, Searsia, Toxicodendron, and Rhus sensu stricta. If this is done, about 35 species would remain in Rhus. However, the data is not yet clear enough to settle the proper placement of all species into these genera.
What’s with this recent entitlement-culture and dilution of artist recognition across social media?⠀
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I can attest to the effort, time and hardship invested by photographers to capture the images they do. It’s not a bad thing, we do it because we love it and because it challenges us but the images we share don’t come easy. This is why it’s hard for us when we see our carefully shot and carefully finished image somehow becoming someone else’s image. To re-edit and use however they choose.⠀
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Finding a photo online, dropping it in a bucket of saturation then warming up your keyboard ready to thank everyone for admiring your ‘new image’ isn’t photography and it’s not ok.⠀
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“I’m a skilled connoisseur and I’m just as entitled to use the photo as you are”. I’m sorry but, no. You’re not.⠀
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Let’s shift the culture back to what’s right, stop supporting the cheaters and go back to encouraging talented artists to continue creating amazing work for the rest of us to enjoy. ⠀
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#Photography⠀