“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

― Frank Herbert, Dune

If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend.

Henri Nouwen

Sex'i poses - Avilio pose set

Not Found - Tomas Skin

Not Found - Tomas facial hair

Not Found - Tomas hairbase

Damaged Society - Cloak outfit paint

TMD

♫♥♫Peter Gabriel - Mother of Violence♫♥♫

More information can be found on the blog

Switzerland, May 2021

My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...

My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI

You find a selection of my 80 BEST PHOTOS (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)

ABOUT THE PHOTO:

So this photo is a bit of a novelty for me - at least here on Flickr, but it's also a journey back in time in a sense. I've always loved b/w and sepia photography; already as a very young teenager I would go out into the woods with an old Pentax Spotmatic (which I had nicked from my father) whenever it was a foggy day to shoot b/w compositions of sunbeams cutting through the ghostlike trees.

I used films with a sensitivity of at least 1600 (for those of you who remember what that means 😉 ), and the resulting photos had an incredibly fine grain which I loved; I blew them up to the size of posters and hung them on the walls of my teenage man-cave next to Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Slash.

But then I abandoned photography altogether for 20 years, and when I finally picked up a camera again, it was one of the digital kind. Now neither film nor grain played any role in my photographic endeavours - let alone b/w compositions: because the reason I fell in love with shooting pictures once more was the rare and incredibly colorful lizard species that had chosen my garden as its habitat.

It's this species - the Lacerta bilineata aka the western green lizard - that my photo website www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ and also my Flickr gallery are dedicated to, but I've since expanded that theme a bit so that it now comprises the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat, which is to say my garden and its immediate surroundings and all the flora and fauna I find in it.

I like that my gallery and the website have this clear theme, because in order to rise to the challenge of portraying all aspects of a very specific little eco system (which also happens to be my home of sorts), it forces me to constantly explore it from fresh angles, and I keep discovering fascinating new motives as my photographic journey continues.

Which brings me to the horse pasture you see in this photo. This playground for happy horsies lies just outside my garden, and it normally only interests me insofar as my green reptile friends claim parts of it as their territory, and I very much prefer it to be horseless (which it thankfully often is).

Not that the horses bother the reptiles - the lizards don't mind them one bit, and I've even seen them jump from the safety of the fly honeysuckle shrub which the pasture borders on right between the deadly looking hooves of the horses to forage for snails, without any sign of fear or even respect.

No, the reason I have a very conflicted relationship with those horses is that they are mighty cute and that there's usually also foals. The sight of those beautiful, happy animals jumping around and frolicking (it's a huge pasture and you can tell the horses really love it) is irresistible: and that inevitably attracts what in the entire universe is known as the most destructive anti-matter and ultimate undoing of any nature photographer: other humans.

Unlike with the horses, the lizards ARE indeed very much bothered by specimens of loud, unpredictable Homo sapiens sapiens - which makes those (and by extension also the horses) the cryptonite of this here reptile photographer. It's not the horses' fault, I know that, but that doesn't change a thing. I'm just telling you how it is (and some of you might have read about the traumatic events I had to endure to get a particular photo - if not, read at your own risk here: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51405389883/in/datepo... - which clearly demonstrated that even when it's entirely horseless, that pasture is still a threat for artistic endeavours).

But back to the photo. So one morning during my vacation back in May I got up quite early. It had rained all night, and now the fog was creeping up from the valley below to our village just as the sky cleared up and the morning sun started to shine through the trees.

And just as I did when I was a teenager I grabbed my camera and ran out to photograph this beautiful mood of ghostlike trees and sunbeams cutting through the mist. There had already been such a day a week earlier (which is when I took this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51543603732/in/datepo... ), but this time, the horses were also there.

Because of our slightly strained relationship I only took this one photo of them (I now wish I had taken more: talk about missed opportunities), and otherwise concentrated on the landscape. It was only later when I went through all the photos on my computer that I realized that I actually really liked those horses, even despite the whole composition being such a cliché. And I realized another thing: when I drained the photo of all the color, I liked it even better - because there was almost a bit of grain in it, like in the photos from my youth.

Since then I have experimented quite a bit with b/w and sepia compositions (some of which I will upload here eventually I guess), but this photo here is the first one that helped me rediscover my old passion. I hope you like it even though it builds quite a stark contrast with the rest of my tiny - and very colorful - gallery. But in the spirit of showing you the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat (and also in the spirit of expanding my gallery a bit beyond lizards and insects), I think it's not such a bad fit.

As always, many greetings to all of you, have a wonderful day and don't hesitate to let me know what you think 😊

"He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. "

Quote - Ralph Waldo Emerson

HFF everyone!

I have found this abandoned kitten in a bramble bush.

Its stare emphasized fear. It do not know that have found a family.

Welcome Simba!

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to contempt ... and I persecute a lot of fear in you"

moonshine

:: alcohol ilegal :: Jera Tattoo / Omega

One from the archives as I was just too lazy this week to think of something to photograph lol.

Thanks for viewing and HCT 😀

...could you please make that with whole milk but write "soy" on the cup..? People judge...yah know...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RjqqTzSJx0

NEW @ DRD

FESTIVAL BRACELETS

@ N21

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/N21/130/110/2495

Other Things

DRD - Boho Bean Coffee Shack

= REBELLION = "ORION" SHADES

.Shi : Eirene

Jeune by Rowne.Chloe Loose Tee - White.Maitreya

Rowne.Bianca Bralette Top - White.Maitreya

The title was inspired by a beautiful song by Joshua Radin.

I am looking forward to seeing him this week in concert.

If you want to listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNwC9hT8124

Explore, 7/20/2008

I fear not the dark itself, but what may lurk within it.

I had great fun last night trying to capture a wild stormy sea and failed miserably as I took a very large wave which completely drenched me and all my equipment. that was only at half tide and a massive sea was running. I couldn't get my lenses clean again after but still had a wonderful time watching the waves pounding the cliffs. Fear of Drowning is by British Sea Power and is always a reality on those days. This photo from earlier in the year is on the theme of waves, even if they are sand waves. The sand today will be totally different after last night's fury.

Like a feeling that I'm down

Deep inside my heart

Like I'm looking out through splitting blood red

Windows in my heart

From a higher up than heaven

And a harder down than stone

Shake the fear that always clawing

Pulls me clawing down alone

As I spitting, splitting, blood red

Breaking windows in my heart

And the past is taunting fear of ghosts

Is forcing me apart

And the further I get

From the things that I care about

The less I care about

How much further away I get

And the further I get

From the things that I care about

The less I care about

How much further away I get

I am lost again

With everything gone

And more alone

Than I have ever been

I expect you to understand, to feel it too

But I know that even if you will

You cannot ever help me

Nor can I ever help you

Nor can I ever help you

Never ever help you

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-j73Yeudco

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

As hard as it is to face your fears, it's even harder to surrender to them and walk in their shadows for the rest of your life.”

~ Edmond Mbiaka

#3 in my series of emotive self portraits.

If you'd like to know more about them, I have put my first SP in the series with a description in my first comment.

Get the credits here: [ Clicky Click ]

See Aria's version [ HERE ]

I am afraid, oh I am so afraid!

The cold black fear is clutching me to-night

As long ago when they would take the light

And leave the little child who would have prayed,

Frozen and sleepless at the thought of death.

My heart that beats too fast will rest too soon;

I shall not know if it be night or noon, --

Yet shall I struggle in the dark for breath?

Will no one fight the Terror for my sake,

The heavy darkness that no dawn will break?

How can they leave me in that dark alone,

Who loved the joy of light and warmth so much,

And thrilled so with the sense of sound and touch, --

How can they shut me underneath a stone?

All My Links

I was struck by how colourful this particular female Orb Weaver Bridge Spider was; taken back last Summer from under an overpass near a street lamp, which gave ample light. It's easy I suppose to be beguiled by such a beautiful specimen, especially as one is not a fly or passing bug. It's tatty web gave away that this one had been quite busy and successful in her location in concerns to attracting prey.

But still it's fascinating how such a tiny thing can instil such fear into people. I guess it's Mother Nature's way of reminding thus to treat her creations with respect, which I think we fail to do quite regularly.

Anyway, I hope everyone's week is off to a good start and so as always, thank you! :)

Okay, truth be known, the title is misleading; there were lots of fears as I walked gingerly onto this very windy and icy pier! But who said getting wintery shots was easy?

www.instagram.com/bernieduhamel61/?hl=en

“Have you ever experienced a beauty of soul, an aesthetic grace, that was so intense it made you want to cry?"

- From Central Park Song ( A Screenplay )”

― Zack Love, Stories and Scripts: an Anthology

Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcPc18SG6uA

THE SWEETEST TABOO - SADE

FEAR/TEMOR

Standing by and letting me float free

you stand so close; I can taste your breath

my heart is racing, but my soul is slow

I am running to nowhere until I hit the wall

You play to me late into the night

you listen to me singing all day long

we hold each other so distantly

both scared to run to where we can't hide

let me closer into your arms

wrap me with love and tender kisses

walk out with me; tell me all you know

and dance me to the golden hour

I don't think it at all possible

to fall in love and remain as friends

so I let you walk alone on your reconfigured journey

it's the only way this will always end

I can write and re-write every tiny detail

but it will always play out just like this

we had a good run for all this time

but it could never be ended so simply with a lover's kiss

So you walk off like a cowboy into the sunset

and I'll drive alone along parallel lines

you take the right road, it's the right road for you

and I'll take what's left of the setting sun

The power lines above us are filled with energy

I can feel the tingling in my head

but they can't raise the flatness all around us

or erase the memories of the things we said

Fear is something that I learned from the age of seven,

do you remember that day, the day I drowned

I knew then what I'll always know

when something's lost, it can never be re-found

What you've got to do is create

your own sweet reality within your pure but burgeoning mind

nothing and no-one can take this from you

so you learn to be cruel just to be kind

You'll be ok; I know you'll make it

you're not so lost you can't be found

but what love has taught me; I know that life has brought me

the imagination and strength to stand my ground

- AP – Copyright remains with the author

'copyright image please do not reproduce without permission'

My artwork is a compilation of 5 of my photographs

"In front of you are the lights of a state

Awaiting excavations

And the cages with the sleeping canaries lined up

And I who still haven't found out who I am

A tired purpose, without perspective

And you who will soon be extinguished

One of the lights, to sleep with someone who looks like me

So that the irons of the cage

To be lost for a moment, in the dark.

I fear all that will happen to me without me...

My clothes are getting old and they don't last

holes in the knees from the bows

pockets empty of coins

broken zippers, they are bankrupt

My body is bruised

with the cold as a mistake

which no one admits

it turns and asks for your warmth.

I fear all that will happen to me without me...

Your cements are new

with lacquered furniture

And white marbles

a warping sheen

and leaves you no room to stand

and only I of all in there am rotting like in an ancient tomb

Performance vessels were found there

except for me, which is a hidden secret

I'm still looking for you to resurrect me.

I fear all that will happen to me without me...

My clothes are getting old and falling out

Like bankrupt governments

I grew old in a child's pants

And the ship still hasn't been seen

I squeeze you tighter because I'm cold

my body road, where public works are carried out

Compressors open and close me

Pull the curtain a little to see me

I became a runway for military planes

And my mind, a repository for radioactive waste

They took safety measures, for my breathing

and on a multi-ethnic one-way street, my future was given in return.

I fear all that will happen to me without me...

This is how I live my past in advance

and with two bare wires for hands

I hug your high volt for a tight time.

I'm afraid..."

An earlier attempt to visualize a favorite song.

Φοβάμαι ♫

"Il coraggio non è mancanza di paura, piuttosto la consapevolezza che esiste qualcosa di più importante della paura stessa"

Of missing his bus? Of the pandemic? Of a white woman taking his picture? Of being black in a white world? Downtown Winnipeg, MB, Canada

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Joep/47/215/33

Day 19 of 20 of albums that influenced my musical tastes.

Seven - James

"Laugh at the wonder of it all

Laugh so loud you break the fall

And you see the gathering clouds

Cry at the sadness of the world

Cry so long you break its cold

And you hear the gathering sounds

Do everything you fear

In this there's power

Fear is not to be afraid of"

Thank you very much for all your kind messages and comments on my last photo. We are safe and sound. The hurricane passed a little bit farther, so it was only a lot of rain and puddles, but no wind, at least here.

Sadly, there were destruction on the coast of the beautiful Riviera Maya. Now, Delta is approaching the coast of the Louisiana, Hope no human losses are given there.

A (happy) Monochrome Bokeh Thursday for everyone!

James: youtu.be/gyjJN65cx_k

or almost twenty years later: youtu.be/YDbS5Fmk3LY

Spotted Towhee.

There is an old saying that you attract what you fear. ( OMG!!! I fear 10 Billion dollars)

misterarkham.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/fear-your-death/

When will you understand?

you are not what you fear

and fears only cover

only the mute souls

HSS 😊😊😍

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

Plato

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less.

Marie Curie

Fear, hatred, and suspicion narrow your mind – compassion opens it.

Dalai Lama

If you want to cure the world, don’t emanate fear – emanate love.

Ram Dass

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Yoda (George Lucas)

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Venice

**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**

Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, over the Cape Fear River in Wilmington NC. Spur-of-the-moment choice to take a river cruise—which turned out to be very nice—but only had my wide lens because I thought we would just be out on the street that morning.

10 July 2021; 09:30 CDT; extreme post

Image by Knut

“ Don't let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others ... “

- Stacy London

Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYqcpTYQ8I4

I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz

step out each morning spirit brave

say hello world; smile and wave

no matter what the day should bring

don't let your fears take hold

face the day with courage strong

always try to right a wrong

listen to the birds who sing

give smiles of warmth not cold

look your fears straight in the eye

kiss your worries and woes goodbye

look to the sky, the sea, the sun

the clouds and fields of burnished gold

see each day like a new book

a different, chapter, a different look

a page of velvet vellum softly

cushioning with kindness all that's told

the wind that blows a thousand times

still brings with it the chimes

of bells and angels whispering wings

that comfort you in their heavenly folds

- AP - Copyright remains with the author

'copyright image please do not reproduce without permission'

youtu.be/mrMLMV6E4CM

Credits

Ever since a child I've had a fear of worms or anything that resembles them (probably due to the fact a friend put a handful of them down the back of my shirt on a fishing trip!). When I discovered this amazing sim today I couldn't help but smile when I encountered Mr Wormlike! What an amazing place, constructed completely from scribbles, if you've never been the LM is below

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mysterious/98/146/25