The XX Intro HQ

I followed a Julieanne Kost tutorial the other day and somehow I must have missed a step because it wasn't supposed to be quite like this. One day I will start again but in the meantime I thought I'd keep this anyway, I quite liked it.

These are 10 images of mine, severely cropped after applying 2 blur filters.

Just few dried leaves, seeds an a feather can't hide this painted turtle.

There are places where you simply stand out without being aware, hiding is a challenge :).

↳ Post 188 // My blog for more details in bio.

➥ thiagovoxel.blogspot.com

Body Tattoo: John Tattoo - CACTUS

Available at Mainstore

Pose: OBLIVION POSES - TRAUME

included in pack 3 statick poses(no included skate)

Available at Mainstore

I can confirm most tourist disappear with a 30 second exposure but some just linger on :)

Eastern Dwarf Frog (Litoria Falax).

She wants to imitate the lady painted on the wall. It is not very successful.

The wind blew down my perfect reflection shot expectation

Branch line train Sahriin Gol - Darkhan, Mongolia 🇲🇳

©2022

Dear RAILFANS!!!

We are taking "early-bird" bookings for the 10 days summer group tour! Only for 8 pax!!!

*** Date: 18 - 28 JUNE 2023! ***

Also, we'll always be ready to organize If you want to make your "single-private or own group tour in May, June and August 2023! Join our fantastic photo tours and welcome to the Trans-Mongolian Railway!

MONRAILPIC TOURS

Enquire: monrailpic@gmail.com

Today is leapday and the sun made an attempt to rise, but was imediately caught in a cloudbank.

So much for that leap.

blog: talisyaensland.wixsite.com/mysite/post/i-want-my-cake-and...

CSX train M416-05 was at Harper's Ferry crossing the Potomac River and exiting Maryland.

Landfall is made and the westbound is now in West Virginia. This daily manifest runs between Rocky Mount, North Carolina and terminates in Cumberland, Maryland.

The good stuff (EMDs) were of course trailing the GE.

Esta tormenta la vi de lejos, mirando incrédula como una parte del cielo adquiría un contundente dramatismo azulado. Mientras el sol se erguía tranquilo desde el este, en el sureste la tormenta amenazaba con descargar su pasión, su fuerza y su magia. El ojo de la tormenta parecía mirar a la ciudad de soslayo y los minúsculos aviones corrían hacia el aeropuerto del Prat a buscar cobijo. El hotel W se contagió del cielo, se tiñó de mar, creó un puente azul entre diferentes mundos, una conexión casi eléctrica. Luego, rápidamente todo se desvaneció y el sábado siguió como sigue un día con verbena de San Juan.

-Pepe, hoy no podía fallarte: "Haberla hayla solo había que publicarla"😉😊

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I saw this storm from a distance, looking incredulous as a part of the sky acquired a blunt blue drama. While the sun was rising calmly from the east, in the southeast the storm threatened to release its passion, its strength and its magic. The eye of the storm seemed to look at the city sideways and the tiny planes ran to the Prat airport to find shelter. Hotel W got spread from the sky, it was dyed by sea, it created a blue bridge between different worlds, an almost electric connection. Then, suddenly it all vanished and Saturday followed as follows a day with "Verbena de San Juan"

- Pepe, today I could not fail you: "I had it I just had to publish it"😉😊

Taken at Whimberly.

Credits: classyaddict.wordpress.com/2017/10/18/exorcism-failed/

I took this photo almost 3 years ago in the beautiful " alpine " village of Betws-y-Coed in North Wales. I was only learning photography at that stage so forgive me the mistakes in the pic.I love the power of the water and the partly hidden cottage in the trees though. There`s a small hotel just across the road from here, where Ive often stayed overnight on my tooings and frowings between Ireland and England. The landlord knows me quite well now and he always tries to give me a room where I can here the "music of the river" as he calls it, from my bedroom window through the night Its very beautiful and I just drift off almost instantly. Ive had a few weekends there too as its right on the edge of Snowdonia National park which is a haven for naturalists and hillwakers and outdoor people like me.. I will be there in the spring next year without fail so Ill meet you there in the Rainbow Cafe or in the old station Railway Carriage Cafe. Now wouldnt that be something!!! Trevor Howard and Greer Garson { "Brief Encounter" } eat yer heart out!!! lol!

Ill be leaving here tomorrow after 11 years so Im a bit emotional at the moment but I suppose Im lucky to feel that way. Do keep your fingers crossed for me!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betws-y-Coed

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"The Four Roads "

" One country road, leads me to the school house by the river,

And one country road, to the graveyard where my Mam and Daddy lie,

One country road where I strayed with a loved one in the shadows,

And one dusty road that leads me on my journey far away "

Hugs, P@t.

DRONE: Butanik83 - Puffer Flight Unit

MECH: BALACLAVA!! CARRiE [10 Laundry] RARE

dear agnony

I had a one-way ticket to a place where all the demons go

Where the wind don't change

And nothing in the ground can ever grow

No hope, just lies

And you're taught to cry into your pillow

But I survived

Music

Credits

theslfashionista.blogspot.com/2018/11/bakers-fail.html

77/366

You literally cannot fail to take a decent image here!

Pescadero State Beach, between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, California. My favorite place on the coast.

From my Stuff in the Sand collection.

We both kind of startled each other. And then I failed to get its tail in the frame. :-/

Fear

I Feared …

I feared being alone

Until I learned to like Myself.

I feared failure

Until I realized that I only Fail when I don't try.

I feared success

Until I realized that I had to try in order to be happy with myself.

I feared people's opinions

Until I learned that people would have opinions about me anyway.

I feared rejection

Until I learned to have faith in myself.

I feared pain

Until I learned that it's necessary for growth

I feared the truth

Until I saw the ugliness in lies.

I feared life

Until I experienced its beauty .

I feared death

Until I realized that it's not an end, but a beginning.

I feared my destiny,

Until I realized that I had the power to change my life.

I feared hate

Until I saw that it was nothing more than ignorance.

I feared love

Until it touched my heart, making the darkness fade into endless sunny days.

Until I learned how to laugh at myself.

I feared growing old

Until I realized that I gained wisdom every day.

I feared the future

Until I realized that Life just kept getting better.

I feared the past

Until I realized that It could no longer hurt me.

I feared the dark

Until I saw the beauty of the starlight.

I feared the light

Until I learned that the Truth would give me Strength.

I feared change,

Until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly had to undergo a Metamorphosis before it could fly.

- Unknown

Kathy Toth || Toronto Graffiti Archive || Instagram

Strange & creepy community with a giant inactive church.

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”

-Frank Lloyd Wright

What a difference a month can make, especially in Alaska! I was blessed to visit the region surrounding the city of Nome in both July of 2024 and August of 2025.

Six major differences were noted between these two trips.

This year:

The salmon run was all but over. Remnants from this year’s run were noticeable by both sight and smell. The cycle of the Alaskan salmon’s life was starting anew.

The muskox was in full rut. The females were a bit more concerned with my being there while the males couldn’t care any less. They had been anxiously waiting, fighting off other males for months for the right to reproduce. An old fat Italian guy with a clicking camera certainly wasn’t going to ruin his mood!

The weather was very different as I experienced frozen morning windshields and only one day above 50 degrees. When most all of your weather comes across Siberia and the Bering Sea, unpredictability is the norm.

Flocks had assembled and were much more noticeable. For most species, some ducks and loons excluded, where I found 2-3 last year, once found this year there may have been between 20-100. In 2024 I did not see a single owl in an area with easily multiple miles of visibility. This year they were seen on three different days in three different areas as they began to flock (Parliament) together to travel south for the winter.

The locals, mostly the native Inuit people were out in family units collecting berries. I was told that these berries would become a vital part of their subsistence living over the winter. Not just berries, but hunting season for the Inuit people had started. Last year I was blessed with both brown bear with cubs and moose. This year, the bear, moose and caribou had already moved out further into the valleys as far away from humans as possible. Sadly…airplanes and quad runners now make impossible for them to move far enough out to be hunted.

Lastly, the white winter plumage of the ptarmigan was in full display (as photographed here) as it creeps up from bottom to top. Hundreds of ptarmigans were seen on both trips. No white feathers were noted in 2024 just a month earlier. All seen this year openly displayed that (a personal favorite cowboy saying) “Winter is a coming” appearance.

I usually setup 2 lights with shoot through umbrellas for our tight little interior shooting area. The lights are triggered with radios, specifically Pocket Wizards. But, let's say you occasionally run into a problem with one, or more, and they don't work, usually a fluke though. Pocket Wizard's are top of the line radio triggers, but even they can fail from time to time. In the above photo the main light on the left didn't fire. Usually, the image would be a "throw away." But, in this case, I kinda' liked the the result and decided to do the edit. It is proof that even one off camera light could yield some interesting results.

try

fail

try again

fail better

@ Kinak Lagoon, Katmai NP, Alaska. On Flickr Explore Aug 8, 2022 #312.

After flapping and running along the water for a bit and not getting airborne it gave up and dove under the surface. Must have been embarrassed with a boat load of people watching.

Malachite ( Siproeta stelenes)

Raised and nurtured in captivity at St. Louis Zoo

St. Louis, Missouri

Blogged for Saber @ Matova. The Lewellyn Rugby set is available at available at The Arcade Gatcha Event

I tried but failed to persuade them to get equidistant to my lens.

[polski opis niżej]

One of the latest electrification projects in Poland, before the communism finally collapsed, was that of the line between Piła and Krzyż, in fact a fragment of famous Ostbahn line. I suppose further plans would enhance the electrification to Gorzów and finally Kostrzyn at the German border, but let's focus on this very part, that would logically close another electrificated parallel connection East - West.

The concept not only materialized on drawing boards, but first works started, and soon ended as the situation in Poland changed rapidly after 1989 and all that remained were these poles installed for catenary, just outside of Piła in direction of Krzyż. Anyway, they were there for several years, as I don't know whether they're sill there.

It's not the end of the story, as the idea comes every couple of years. Actually there're some design works and it's said that thanks to EU funds the electrification, at least from Piła to Krzyż, would take place in the second half of 2020s.

And the picture: SU45-221 with evening regional passenger train no. 3322 from Kostrzyn to Piła Główna, before reaching the terminus. It passes precisely Powodowo Prefabet junction (the switch is just after the last wagon). May 1, 2003.

Photo by Jarek / Chester

Jeden z ostatnich jeszcze komunistycznych projektów elektryfikacyjnych dotyczył odcinka Ostbahny między Piłą i Krzyżem, co sensownie uzupełniałoby zelektryfikowany ciąg Kutno - Toruń - Bydgoszcz - Piła - Krzyż i otwierałoby dalsze możliwości nad kontynuacją do Gorzowa i w końcu Kostrzyna.

Projekt wyszedł nawet z fazy projektowej, bowiem znakiem pierwszych prac elektryfikacyjnych są te słupy, widoczne na fotce. Na zdjęciu co prawda widzimy tylko dwa - ostatnie, ale jest ich dużo więcej w kierunku Piły. Jest, albo było, bowiem zdjęcie z 1 maja 2003 roku, a po tym czasie tematu nie zglębiałem, więc może w końcu słupy zdemontowano.

Temat elektryfikacji tego odcinka jest wciąż żywy, aktualnie trwają kolejne fazy projektowe i mówi się, że drut zawiśnie na tym odcinku Ostbahnu jeszcze w drugiej połowie lat 2020.

Na fotce SU45-221 z pociągiem osobowym 3322 z Kostrzyna do Piły Głównej, tuż przed końcem podróży. Pociąg właśnie minął posterunek bocznicowy szlakowy Powodowo Prefabet (rozjazd ledwie widoczny za ostatnim wagonem).

Fot. Jarek / Chester

I had high hopes for this Monarch larva to make it to the next stage of metamorphosis, but alas, it ran out of gas I guess and failed to complete the pupa construction. It's a very sad image and I thought hard about posting it, but in the end I guess I wanted to show exactly how challenging, fragile and dear the full life cycle from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly really is. If you need orientation, it's hanging by the butt end. There are still a number of larvae chomping away, and a few have headed up the garage wall to hang in the eves. Honestly, I'll be thrilled if my perfect pupa I posted yesterday makes it.

... from now on only with cable release it seems ...

CN 120 passes under the Highbury signal bridge on its way east on the Dundas Subdivision. As of now this is one of my last photos of a CN cowl in service, unfortunately it was trailing but at least facing forward.

Train: CN Q120 with CN 5732 (SD75I) and CN 2436 (C40-8M).

CN Dundas Subdivision

London, ON

@ Kinak Lagoon, Katmai NP, Alaska