The Michigan City coaling tower was built in 1923 by the Michigan Central Railroad. Constructed of reinforced concrete, the entire structure was poured in one piece. Amtrak deemed it structurally unsound and proposed to have it demolished in 2010. However, nearing its 100th birthday in 2023, it still remains standing with an uncertain future.

Demolition has finally commenced as of September 15, 2025.

Angel's birthday is actually tomorrow however I know for you it is already tomorrow. What a strange world we live in..what is time anyway?

When I posted this photo over a decade ago, it got in Explore but over the years I've really felt like I needed to re-edit it so I deleted that one and worked on it all over again. Considering Explore works in a way that you only have one photo that gets on it typically from the same photo stream once every 2 1/2-3 weeks weeks so I've noticed, it probably won't make it to Explore again but I still like this version better as an artist.

I've also thought a lot about Explore and how it encourages a whole group of people to not really be a part of a community because they don't really look and leave thoughtful comments. "Congratulations on Explore" is so blahhhhh. It really irritates me. I think of these people as "Explore hags" because they only look at photos on Explore as if the others are never worth looking at. This is something so interesting to me because I only check photos from the people I follow or who leave meaningful comments and I never actually check Explore-I only know when a photo has "made it" based on the Explore comment.

My goal is not to be popular or famous as much as it is to connect with people all over the world. That is what Flickr is at its best. If you're just checking the Explore page, you're wasting your time on Earth.

Angel Olsen is one of my favorite musicians of all time so I hope you can take a moment to listen. She has such an incredible voice and also a great sense of humor, too. Her covers in addition to her original songs are spectacular.

angelolsen.bandcamp.com/music

I hope she has an amazing day filled with music and also ice cream and pickles. If she lived next door, I'd bring her over some.

**All photos are copyrighted**

The weather is so so, however we are determined to take my new camera for a test drive! LOL

We wait for the evening light, less people, although we do know ‘THE’ places!

Above Otley, a small beautiful Market town in Wharfedale, the ridges of the hills on both sides are great places for spectacular views and skies.

Of course, the higher you go in this landscape the bleaker it gets, that is where you will find the heather and bracken (a widespread, weedy fern) on the Moors, no other vegetation.

If you like solitude and 'a feeling of space', that's where you'll find it.

This winding road, I was on, ends at a place called the Blubberhouses, just a few old houses and an ancient little church.

Such lovely names and I'm sure all with a history!

The Heather is in bloom! It is an evergreen shrub with twiggy stems, that covers our open moorland. Usually lots of heather plants grow together, forming a thick, bushy carpet, sometimes up to half a metre tall. This helps the plant to survive strong winds.

It takes a special kind of plant to thrive in moorland areas, where the weather is often cold, wet and windy.

Hill Sheep eat heather; in summer, as food of second choice if there is no suitable grass available; in the winter because there is no fresh grass so heather shoots are then both palatable and digestible.

Sheep can eat up to 20 percent of a season’s new growth of heather shoots with no detriment to the health of the heather.

Here you clearly sea the boundaries between the cultivated, lower land and the arid Moors! Where hardly anything grows.

I love it when the sun and clouds play peekaboo, it makes for some magic lightly on the land, just be patient, another great virtue of the photographer!

Thanks for viewing, M, (*_*)

For more of my other work visit here: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

The waves in Long Island sound are small and lifeless... they dont make for much drama in the long exposure department. However, they do allow for some cool geometric shots and they do allow for the texture of the sand to show through, so I tried to capitalize on that. I like the color contrast with the water and the pier. I used a circular polarizer to get the ripples in the sand to show through the water to nice effect. Overall, I am actually quite pleased with the shot.

Let me know what you think. Enjoy :)

St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear

As you can see sunrise on this particular morning was pretty much a no show. However I decided to stay out to see if I could make anything of the dull conditions. I came across these colourful orange veins in the rocks, which I thought would contrast well with the blue tones within the scene whilst complementing the light on St Mary's.

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Wall Art & Image Licensing Sales

I started today again at a waterfall. This time, however, it wasn't Erawan, but Huay Mae Khamin in Khuean Srinagarindra National Park, as my girlfriend Jerapa (who you'll also see in some of my photos, especially if you continue to follow me after my emigration) warmly recommended a visit. In her opinion, this waterfall is the more beautiful of the two. However, I should form my own opinion.

After my visit, I can now partially confirm her statement. The waterfall here is indeed more beautiful because it is more natural (although Erawan is more photogenic in some places simply because of the turquoise-blue color of the water). I think the reason for the naturalness is that the Huay Mae Khamin waterfalls are a bit more remote and therefore less visited. So, almost the entire time here was just me and nature (and a grey-bellied squirrel, which I unfortunately couldn't photograph due to its speed). I'm not counting flies and mosquitoes.

Den heutigen Tag habe ich erneut an einem Wasserfall begonnen. Doch dieses Mal war es nicht der von Erawan sondern der Huay Mae Khamin im Nationalpark von Khuean Srinagarindra, da mir meine Freundin Jerapa (die Ihr perspektifisch auch in einigen meiner Foto sehen werden. vor allem wenn Ihr mir nach meiner Auswanderung weiter folgt) einen Besuch hier wärmstens empfohlen hat. Denn ihrer Meinung nach ist dieser Wasserfall der schöndere der beiden. Ich solle mir jedoch mein eigenes Urteil bilden.

Nach meinem Besuch kann ich ihre Aussage nun eingeschränkt bestätigen. Der Wasserfall hier ist wirklich schöner, da er natürlicher ist (auch wenn Erawan an einigen Stellen schon allein wegen der türkis blauen Färbung des Wassers fotogener ist). Ich denke der Grund für die natürlichkeit ist, dass die Huay Mae Khamin Wasserfälle etwas abgelegener und somit weniger besucht sind. So war hier heute nahazu die gesamte Zeit allein mit mir und der Natur (und einem Graubauchhörnchen, welches ich auf Grund seiner Geschwindigkeit leider nicht fotografieren konnte). Fliegen und Mosquitos zähle ich hier mal nicht mit.

We are back in Streckenwald in the bohemian Ore Mountains and take a closer look at one of the "enchanted" trees.

These sprawling branches covered in moss fascinated me from the first moment and I really wanted a close-up.

However, finding an appealing composition here was quite a challenging task. Because either the tree wasn't really visible (because it was too far away or only a small section was visible) or the branch that I wanted to use as an "entrance" (for the same reasons). Or the photo just wasn't in balance (if you know what I mean).

And so I spent probably 20 minutes circling around this tree with the camera in my hand to theoretically go through the various variations. Only when I had decided on a version did I get my tripod and then take this shot.

In my early days as a photographer, I would probably have taken 100 photos here and in the end I would only have liked very few of them. So it turned out to be exactly one that I'm quite happy with. With the positive side effect that my attention was completely devoted to this work of art of nature the entire time and then I almost built up something like a connection with the tree.

Wir sind wieder zurück in Streckenwald im böhmischen Erzgebirge und sehen uns einen der "verwunschenen" Bäume einmal aus der Nähe an.

Diese weit ausladenden von Moos überzogenen Äste haben mich vom ersten Moment an fasziniert und ich wollte unbedingt eine Nahaufnahme haben.

Hier eine ansprechende Komposition zu finden war jedoch eine recht anspruchsvolle Aufgabe. Denn entweder kam der Baum nicht richtig zur Geltung (weil der zu weit weg war oder nur ein kleiner Ausschnitt zu sehen war) oder der Ast, den ich als "Einstieg benutzen wollte (aus den selben Gründen). Oder aber das Foto war einfach nicht in Balance (wenn Ihr wisst, was ich meine).

Und so habe ich bestimmt 20 Minuten damit verbracht mit der Kamera in der Hand um diesen Baum hier zu kreisen um die unterschiedlichstenVarianten theoretisch durchzuspielen. Erst, als ich mich für eine Version entschieden hatte, habe ich mein Stativ dazu geholt und dann diese Aufnahme gemacht.

In meiner Anfangszeit als Fotofraf hätte ich hier wahrscheinlich 100 Fotos gemacht von denen mir am Ende nur sehr wenige richtig gefallen hätten. So ist es genau eins geworden, mit dem ich jedoch recht zufrieden bin.Mit dem positiven Nebeneffekt, dass meine Aufmersamkeit die ganze Zeit voll und ganz diesem Kunstwerk der Natur gewidmet habe und danach fast so etwas wie eine Verbindung zu dem Baum aufgebaut hatte.

more of this on my website at: www.shoot-to-catch.de

(Aegotheles cristatus)

Monarto woodlands - Murray River - South Australia

Austrália

I remember exchanging a few emails with John about some interesting species we could possibly photograph. However, time passed, and as our departure for Australia drew closer, I contacted some professional guides to fill a free day we had in Melbourne. All of them suggested night spotlighting to observe the Powerful Owl and this particular species. Since owling wasn’t part of our plans due to the exhaustion from traveling, I convinced myself that I wouldn’t see this species.

However, the day after meeting John and Leoni in person, they took us to this woodland area to show us an incredible technique that they use when want to photograph passerines. It involves attracting them to a water puddle. Unfortunately, it had rained the night before, and while we waited by the puddle, hoping some bird would feel an irresistible thirst, John started wandering through the woods. I didn’t understand why and didn’t ask. After some time, he rejoined us by the puddle, and after a while, he suddenly exclaimed with great enthusiasm: “Oh, there it is!”

It took me a moment to realize what he was pointing at, but following John’s direction, I finally noticed the bird, right in front of us, on the other side of the puddle, just looking at us with its eyes half-closed.

At first, I thought it was a nightjar, but John quickly corrected me, it was something much better.

My very first photo of this species, genus, family (Aegothelidae), and order (Aegotheliformes).

It was there whole time, but sometimes, it just go down inside of the hole.

Thank you very, very much, jfmfennell and Leoni, for a great day and for being such wonderful and kind people.

==================***==================

All my photos are now organized into sets by the country where they were taken, by taxonomic order, by family, by species (often with just one photo for the rarer ones), and by the date they were taken.

So, you may find:

- All the photos for this trip Austrália (2024) (309)

- All the photos for this order AEGOTHELIFORMES (4)

- All the photos for this family Aegothelidae (Egotelídeos) (4)

- All the photos for this species Aegotheles cristatus (3)

- All the photos taken this day 2024/11/07 (18)

==================***==================

This Bird with its all white primaries looked good for Iceland Gull .However the small size similar to Black headed Gull ruled this out. The general opinion is a Leucistic Common Gull.

This was shot 2 years ago since there are puddles only after heavy rain. However, I found it became vanished because it is under construction now. Well, beauty is not always there. Shoot what you want as soon as possible.

這幾天台北還是陰陰的，昨天與兩位朋友一起在信義區拍夜景，猛然，發現這塊空地已經圍上圍籬，即將動工，此景已成絕響，只能在照片中追憶。

PS. 標題出自宋代，劉兼的「偶有下殤，因而自遣」。

~新光三越信義店A11旁停車場, 信義區, 台北市

Parking Lot of Shinkuan Shinyi Department Store A11, Taipei, Taiwan

- ISO 100, F9, 25 sec, 16 mm

- Canon 5D MarkIII with EF 16-35 mm L lens and CPL

- Sunset @ 6.15 pm (280º) / Shot @ 6.40pm

- Visibility 15km @ 5.45pm

Opening party is set for Wednesday 11 August at 12 PM SLT (is 21 hrs Amsterdam time)

However, right now the walls are not empty:

in the main hall the exhibition 'Baptism of Fire' by Mihailsk

&

miu miu miu's STAMP @ dido's part of Nitroglobus.

Here's your taxi: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/22...

Genisteae is a tribe of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae. It includes a number of well-known plants including broom, lupine (lupin), gorse and laburnum.

The tribe's greatest diversity is in the Mediterranean, and most genera are native to Europe, Africa, the Canary Islands, India and southwest Asia. However, the largest genus, Lupinus, is most diverse in North and South America. Anarthrophytum and Sellocharis are also South American and Aryrolobium ranges into India. Source Wikipedia.

Went for a rather dark treatment for this shot. Just trying something different :) However if you think it is too dark, pls do let me know. I think I have changed the way I used to look at colours... just not sure how good or bad it is now

--------------------------------------

About

Osorno Volcano From Llanquihue Lake, Los Lagos Region, Patagonia, Chile, South America

The Shot

1 exposure shot (0 EV) in RAW with tripod

Camera :: Canon 5D Mark III

Lens :: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Photoshop

- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'curves' for selective contrast

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (yellows & reds) to lighten the snow

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (reds) to desaturate the low clouds

- Applied high pass sharpening

--------------------------------------

Having been ill for the last couple of days and basically bed bound it was nice to get out in the sun again, however it was probably not a wise move as my illness soon caught up again later that afternoon.

I was here today primarily for the Royal Scotsman heading south shortly after noon, however upon arriving at Gretna I saw that 6M37 was around the Ecclefechan area so I absolutely legged it to Quintinshill loops, getting covered arse deep in mud and cow shit running across the field as it was in section. Thankfully I just got the camera set as it was coming under the bridge, although I would've liked to have been stood further back in the next gap. However, this was the only sunny shot of the morning with the cloud rolling in for the day around 30 seconds after this passed unfortunately.

This is 70815 with the 6M37 Ravenstruther-Carlisle ballast running around an hour and a half early.

At least the decorations are up. However, the older I get the more I ask whether Christmas is ready for me. Do I really fit into this public-private religious-commercial spectacle? But then I am going to give in to "tradition". It is just a major festival, one that supplies our life with a rhythm and interrupts what we have learned to accept as normality. Happy Christmas to all of us! Fuji X-E2 plus Pergear fisheye lens 5.6/10 (ignore the exif data).

In English, "pretty" can mean not only "beautiful" but also "quite a lot" (of something). Here, I decided on "Pretty Peeled" as a caption for its double meaning.

FWIW - Why this image? What caught my eye was the 3-D look of the peeling paint, due to the shadows created by bright, overhead sunlight. However, the paint needed a counterpoint within the image. A knot in the wood was there to do the job.

Location: Partial view of an old window shutter, Ville de Sierentz, Alsace FR.

In my album: Dan's Miscellany.

In der schönsten goldgelben Herbstfärbung steht dieser Ginkgobaum (Ginkgo biloba) im Park des Juliusspitals Würzburg. Allerdings wird in wenigen Tagen diese Pracht vom Wind verweht sein.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo

This ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) in the park of the Juliusspital in Würzburg shows its most beautiful golden yellow autumn colours. However, in a few days this splendour will be blown away by the wind.

However, loking west, till the Drangshlidarfjall, there were some green lights, but very weak.

The sky was blue due to the full moon.

One of my 2024 favourite railway pictures:

To the beginnig of our autumn hobby trip we visited the “Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya” (FGC) in the Barcelona area, where five modern Stadler bimodal engines took over the freight trains in the last year. The FGC class 257 engines are relatives to the famous “Euro Dual” type, but metre gauge and originally based on the SALi class delivered to Bolivia by Stadler in 2019.

FGC 257.05 is seen with a potash train from the Súria mine to the Barcelona harbour in Pineda de Bages at a former junction. However the straight line to Salient was abandoned some years ago. In exchange the traffic on the Súria branch has increased and the FGC 257s with their impressive trains can be seen several times a day.

Joint trip with Thomas Kabisch - and many thanks to Oliver Heckmann for the current timetables!

Wishing everybody the best for 2025!

A bird’s feathers regenerate. It will lose feathers throughout its lifetime, but regrow new feathers in their place. However, the feather that grows back may have different coloration than the feather it replaced.

Rabbits are some of the most adored and benevolent creatures to grace our back yards and meadows. Their long, pink ears, powerful hind legs, black button noses, and cotton tails give them their distinctive, cuddly appearance and have made them the subject of childhood fables over the course of several centuries.

During warmer seasons, rabbits will eat weeds, grasses, clover, wildflowers, and flower and vegetable plants. When the weather turns cold, rabbits will munch on twigs, buds, bark, conifer needles, and any remaining green plants.

Rabbits are famous for their ability to reproduce. They can have several litters of four to seven kits a year. However, rabbits will naturally have fewer litters or will have litters with fewer kits when food or water is scarce. Wild rabbits have relatively short life spans (typically, less than two years), but they mature quickly and have short (30-day) gestation periods. Their mortality is based on food availability, predator presence, and weather stability.

Rabbits are born hairless, blind, and helpless. Mother rabbits leave newborns in their nests, visiting them only at dusk and at dawn to avoid drawing the attention of predators.

Sin embargo, no todas las personas aman las flores.

“However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

— Stanley Kubrick

However I tried my best to get a fairly nice shot under difficult light conditions

Brass is an alloy composed of copper and zinc, usually for sheet metal, and casting in the proportion of seven parts of the former to three of the latter. Such a combination secures a good, brilliant colour. There are, however, varieties of tone ranging from a pale lemon colour to a deep golden brown, which depends upon a smaller or greater amount of zinc. In early times this metal seems to have been sparingly employed, but from the Middle Ages onward the industry in brass was a very important one, carried out on a vast scale and applied in widely different directions. Source Wikipedia.

The Egyptian Knowledge of Metallurgy and Metalworking

The Egyptians learned how to work metals from an early period, and all agree that 5,000 years ago, the Ancient Egyptians had already developed the techniques of mining, refining, and metalworking.

Ancient Egypt did not have several kinds of mineral ores, such as silver, copper, tin, lead, etc., even though they produced large quantities of electrum (an alloy of gold and silver), copper, and bronze alloys. The Ancient Egyptians used their expertise to explore for mineral ores in Egypt and in other countries. Ancient Egypt had the means and knowledge to explore for needed mineral ores, establish mining processes, and transport heavy loads for long distances by land and sea.

Because it being was largest and richest population in the ancient world, Egypt imported huge quantities of raw materials; and in return exported large quantities of finished goods. The Ancient Egyptians’ finished metallic and non-metallic products are found in tombs throughout the Mediterranean Basin, European, Asiatic and African countries.

The Egyptians possessed considerable knowledge of chemistry and the use of metallic oxides, as manifested in their ability to produce glass and porcelain in a variety of natural colours. The Ancient Egyptians also produced beautiful colours from copper, which reflects their knowledge of the composition of various metals, and the knowledge of the effects produced on different substances by the Earth’s salts. This concurs with our “modern” definition of the subjects of chemistry and metallurgy.

egypt-tehuti.org/vibrant-ancient-egyptian-economy/egyptia...

TD : Agfapan 100 Professional 35mm film, developed in D-76 1+1 for 7 minutes. Exposure ISO 100 @35mm lens, natural daylight. Scanned with Alpha 6000 edited in ACR, inverted in CS6.

Detail of the external pentice stair (reconstructed) of the historic (1590s) Riddles Court in the Old Town of central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

About Riddle's Court

Located at the top of the Royal Mile, and only a short walk from Edinburgh Castle, the history of Riddle’s Court extends back into the Medieval Era. However, the building as we understand it today was amalgamated and rebuilt by Baillie John McMorran in the 1590s. Its purpose was to be a high-status, multiple-occupancy dwelling, providing its residents with privacy as well as the convenience of a central location.

Its grandeur when first built is evidenced by the fact that it was the town residence of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and later Lord Chancellor of Scotland, Alexander Seton and in 1598 played host to a grand banquet attended by King James VI and his wife Anne of Denmark. It became known as Riddle’s Court after 1726, when George Riddell purchased and reconstructed the part of the site facing the Lawnmarket.

Like many other properties in the Old Town, the status of Riddle’s Court declined during the late 18th century when its wealthy residents moved to the newly-built and more spacious New Town. In the 1830s, the southern-most parts of the building were demolished and its façade reconstructed to bring it in-line with the new Victoria Terrace, commissioned as part of the 1827 Edinburgh Improvement Act.

Further parts of the building were demolished in the 1890s by Patrick Geddes. Geddes was a true polymath – a biologist and sociologist as well as a philanthropist, educator and town planner. His work at Riddle’s Court was motivated by his principle of ‘conservative surgery’, which aimed to preserve the most historically significant parts of Old Town buildings by demolishing the more dilapidated parts, making what remained more hygienic and suitable for modern living. Patrick Geddes converted the main part of Riddle’s Court into one of Edinburgh’s first student halls of residence. His motto ‘Vivendo Discimus’, ‘By Living We Learn’, remains carved over the entrance to the inner courtyard, a sign of how his educational philosophy continues to influence the use of the building and SHBT’s wider approach to learning.

Geddes’s attempts to rejuvenate Riddle’s Court were short-lived, and during the early 20th century the building reverted to its use as small, private dwellings. In 1946, the site was purchased by City of Edinburgh Council who oversaw its renovation in the 1960s and discovered the medieval painted ceiling in the north block. From 1951, Riddle’s Court became a regular venue of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in 1973, the headquarters of the Workers Educational Association.

In 2005, as the building once again fell into disrepair, the WEA sought to raise awareness of its plight and historical importance. Their call was answered by SHBT, who in 2008 completed a Feasibility Study for the building and were subsequently granted a 99-year lease by City of Edinburgh Council in order to restore the building and oversee its subsequent use.

However, I do not know how that fish shed came to be on the rocks at that jaunty angle. The main door on the opposite side is open to the weather, so I don't imagine this will be in place for many more years. Lots of hard weather up there on Fogo Island, Newfoundland.

The old, hand constructed boat, on the other hand, looks to be in good shape and appears to be getting regular coats of paint. I suspect it is only there for tourists to see, but it is a little off the main road, so easily missed.

Normally I do not post photos of persons, but as this is a while ago, I hope to get away with it. However, should you recognize yourself and you are not happy with this photo being shown here, just drop me a line and I will remove it.

... And here it is another shot from my archives (Summer 2016). I had thought to process it so many times, but I was deterred by some blown out highlights in the sky. Not worth the effort. However I have made up my mind at last and, after recovering what was recoverable, I have decided to accept some blown out highlights instead of give up forever.

What I like in this scene is how the two twin, arching series of low waves create a kind of (frozen) dance. They are trying to touch each other and dance together, but a minimal rise of the sand in between prevents them from embracing. Not for long however, since the tide was quietly rising and the sea was taking its little secrets back again in its womb. We can be sure that soon they have been able to reunite.

It was my second sunrise session at Rosolina mare - not really as good as the first one, to be sure (here it is an example): the sky was overcast, the light was hard, and a high-altitude sheet of clouds gave uniform highlights where the sun was. I was a bit tired - more on the morale side than physically, since I had walked some 23 km only to take a mere handful of second-rate photos. As I was returning to the "civilised" part of the beach, at last the sky started turning into something really interesting. Lots of clouds of different shapes and sizes, and piercing sunbeams at leisure. I took some photos, but my discouraged outlook resulted in self-defeating choices - no tripod, no exposure bracketings, no real concentration on framing and exposure. While processing this shot with Darktable I created a "virtual" exposure bracketing from a single RAW, and this helped a lot to get a decent result (including some details gained in the blown-out areas).

I have obtained this picture by blending a "virtual" exposure bracketing [-1.3/0/+1.3 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal exposure" shot), then I added some final touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4. RAW files processed with Darktable. Denoising with Dfine. Smart resize (stretched to 16:9 format) with Chasys Draw IES Artist.

I used the inverted RGB blue channel technique described by Boris Hajdukovic as a final contribution to the processing of the lighter parts. While this technique (which, its imposing name notwith standing, is pretty simple to implement) often holds interesting results in full daylight landscapes, its effects on a low-light capture (e.g. a sunrise) are utterly unpredictable, so at the end of my workflow I often give it a try to ascertain its possibilities.

Camera: Rollei 35

Lens: Tessar f/3.5 40 mm

Film: Fuji Acros II 100, rated @ ISO 100

Exposure: 1/30 sec and f/3.5, hand-held

Film developed and scanned by Foto Brell, Bonn

Edited under Adobe Lightroom

Photographically, the result was initially unsatisfactory, as the fine detail in the bark is missing. The camera was loaded with a film unsuitable for the scene and lighting conditions: too high in contrast and too low in sensitivity for the harsh backlight in the dark forest. Leaning against a tree allowed for an exposure of 1/30 second with the aperture wide open. However, the shape of the tree trunks against the illuminated background was brought out, which was what I was actually after.

It's always sad to see and hear of surrounding fires however if you can put a silver lining to it, the atmosphere it creates produces beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain; However, the royal family does not live there, but rather in the Zarzuela Palace, which is why it is used for state ceremonies and solemn events.

With an area of ​​135,000 m² and 3,418 rooms (almost double that of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Versailles, it is the largest royal palace in Western Europe and one of the largest in the world. It houses a valuable historical heritage- artistic, highlighting the set of musical instruments known as the Stradivarius Palatinos, and very relevant collections of other disciplines such as painting, sculpture and tapestry. The State rooms and artistic ,collections are open to visits as long as there are no official events.

The palace was built by order of King Philip V, on the site left by the Royal Alcázar, almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1734. Both the foundations of the old fortress and some of its structures were used for the construction of the new palace. The fire episode served to justify the replacement of the old building with a palace in accordance with the taste of the time. Its construction began in 1738, according to plans by the architect Filippo Juvara, who proposed a larger palace, but in a different location. When Juvara died, the project was entrusted to his disciple Juan Bautista Sachetti, who was required to adapt Juvara's plans to the site of the old Alcázar. Other distinguished Spanish architects such as Ventura Rodríguez participated and were trained in the quarry of the new palace; the configuration of the Royal Chapel is due to him. Francesco Sabatini was in charge of the completion of the building, as well as secondary renovation, expansion and decoration works. Charles III was the first monarch to continuously inhabit the palace.

The young husky was swimming selflessly in the snow. However, when I turned the camera to him, the husky straighten up and began to pose positively. But he forgot to shake the snow off the tip of his nose... ;-) Such a serious attitude to the art of photography caused a smile from the spectators who saw this scene, but the husky remained unperturbed ;-)

#BogKY #Husky #Dog #New_Year #Western_Siberia #Smile

Tech.details-brief: Sony Alpha 7 / ILCE-7 (APS-C mode)(ISO200), Sony SEL-55210(210mm f/6.3), 1/1000s; RAW

Rus.: Хаски новогодний ;-)

Обычная фотка, даже без стилизации (почти;-) - заполучил этот портрет молоденького хаски во время гонок ездовых собак в Птичьей гавани.

Малыш самозабвенно купался в снегу, но, когда обнаружил устремлённый на него фотоаппарат, немедленно выпрямился и посмотрел прямо в объектив, заправски позируя. Вот только снежинку с кончика носа забыл слизнуть ;-)

Такое серьёзное отношение к фотографии немало потешило увидевших эту сцену зрителей, но хаски оставался невозмутим ;-)

(Aldous Huxley)

(The Looking Glass)

Our Tourguide + Bart & Hanna

Historic Village of Shirakawa-gō ( a UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Shirakawa-go (Shirakawa Village) is a Japanese mountain settlement in what was once considered a wild and unexplored region. Because of the area’s natural environment, with high mountains and heavy snowfall, interaction with neighboring regions was limited. However, this also created the conditions for the development of unique cultural practices and lifestyles. Now registered as a World Cultural Heritage site.

The heat and humidity have returned, however, it's still better than the cold of winter...lol

Happy Saturday to you all!

However, according to the weather forecast, it will snow tomorrow. 2024.3.17

早春の花の一つ、福寿草。でも天気予報によると明日は雪です。。。

My bird identification skills are slowly improving, however although I did believe that this is a Whitethroat I am now advised that this is a rarer Reed Warbler. Thank you for putting me right Robin M’s.

Assuming that this is a whitethroat I am surprised that I don't readily recognise it. It is a common migration bird but in my defence it tends ti live in amongst reeds and the bushes that a surround them. I have only just started to explore such landscapes. Photo taken on the edge of some reed beds at St Aidans the other day.

356 Yongjia Rd., Shanghai

She is the owner of the three terriers, however the teddy on the right is not hers.

In 2023, I made my semi-annual trip to Michigan. This year, however, I had decided to bring my camera along. My goal was to shoot three things while I was there, the first was Marquette Rail, which was a success... not really. I found a train, chased for two miles, and it tied down. The second was Michigan Shore, which failed as I had no idea what the schedule was, and to this day I'm still not 100% sure, but I think I kind of know. Having spent a lot of time in Muskegon throughout my life, which is where MS is based out of, I would think I would've figured it out by now. Lastly was the CSX Plymouth Subdivision, which was the only one that actually worked out. While I only had plans to shoot two specific trains on the Plymouth, I had actually gotten more than what I had hoped for.

A few days prior to the shot above, some of my friends in the Detroit area and I were trying to make an attempt to meet up and shoot L305. Unfortunately, this did not work as planned, as everyone's schedule ended up only being able to go out other days, but since I didn't have that kind of time I went anyways. The reason L305 was of interest was because it had an SD40-2 and SD50 for power at the time, combine that with Pere Marquette searchlights, it's obvious as to why anyone would want photos of that. That same day, I would also catch the CN OCS going under the old Grand Trunk coal tower in Lansing. So my first goal for the Plymouth Sub was checked off.

Two days later, I stayed more local to the part of Michigan I was familiar with, Grand Rapids and Muskegon. I wanted a couple shots of L303, the Grand Rapids to Detroit "local", and had two shots in mind. The first was the bridge over the Thornapple River, the second was the Lake Odessa searchlights. After getting to the bridge, I waited for a bit, then the rumble of a train could be heard. Unexpectedly, Y106 came through with a GP40-2 leading long hood forward. Skip another 40 minutes, I had been watching boats just barely clear the narrow gap under the bridge when I heard L303. After getting the shot, it was off to Lake Odessa. A few minutes after showing up, the headlights came over the hill into town, and then the train went down into the dip east of town. I was on the other side of the dip, shot ready, lighting was decent, then right as I was about to start taking photos, cloud coverage and atrocious light. I was pissed at the time, but now with most of the Plymouth Sub searchlights gone or soon to be, I'm just glad to have photos of them. Besides, I'm happy with my photos I got of L305 with three different sets of searchlights.

On an unrelated note, sort of, 50 years ago today a tragedy happened in Lake Superior. On 11/10/1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was traveling through Lake Superior with the SS Arthur M. Anderson traveling with them. The two kept in contact over radar and radio, with the forecast saying that a November Gale storm was going to hit part of the lake. The ships decided to go north for protection from the winds. However, the forecast shifted, the entire lake would be hit. The ships went into the storm, and throughout the day of November 10 they would be hit with hurricane-like conditions. Whitefish Point's lighthouse was out of service due to the weather being to much, it started snowing hard in the afternoon, the two ships had to work very close to get through this storm. However, the entire afternoon the Fitzgerald was getting beat by the storm, losing vent covers, a fence rail, taking water, and started to list. Eventually, the Anderson lost the Fitzgerald on radar. Around 7:10, the last ever message from the Fitzgerald was heard, "We are Holding our own," then nothing.

The captain of the Anderson, Captain Cooper, made multiple attempts to call the Coast Guard, other ships, and was very concerned about the Fitzgerald. After realizing nobody could see the ship on radar nor could contact the ship, the Coast Guard sent a boat from Duluth. There was one problem, that was going to take a long time to arrive, so the USCG told the Anderson to turn around and become the search vessel. Soon after, all other ships in the area were told to do the same. It was far to late though, and all that was found was debris and lifeboats, the ship sunk. All 29 crew members on the Fitzgerald passed, but through the work of Gordon Lightfoot this tragedy has not been forgotten. The wreck became famous, and a reminder of the unforgiving conditions of nature.

Being the anniversary of this tragedy, the 50th at that, I only thought it would be appropriate to post one of my last Michigan photos I haven't uploaded. Even though I have better shots I could've posted from more recent expeditions, I wanted to post something that would make sense on a day like this.

The pond in the park had a section of open water. However, the rest of the park was still snow-covered.

This event lasted for 10 years.

I have attended every time.

However, this will be the last time this event will be held.

I am very attached to it, so this time I tried to make it gorgeous by using motifs that are special to me.

I hope you enjoy it. :))

------------New Event-------------------------------------　

Japonica 2024

Event Opens: JPT 2024/12/26 0:00 (PST 05:00AM)

Event Closes: 2025/01/19 JPT24:00(PST 05:00AM)

official Web

baroquedevent.wixsite.com/japonica

Japonice Flickr Group

www.flickr.com/groups/japonica-wamonoichi/

Event SURL

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BAROQUED/128/14/30

----New Item----

*:..Silvery K..:*Kimono Mesh(TUBAKI2)

　●100%original mesh.

　●I sell kimono for Maitreya LaraX Mesh Body and Legacy and REBORN.

　● included HUD and Camellia corsage and alpha layer.

　●There are 8 colours.

　●Copy OK./Modify NG./Transfer NG.

-------------

*:..Silvery K..:*Main store　SURL

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Silvery%20K/98/140/34

Blog

silveryk.blogspot.com/

The camera’s eye combines how we see with whatever there is to be seen. What it has in mind for us may not at all be what we have in mind for ourselves :-)

Wright Morris

HFF! Truth Matters!

hybrid tea rose, 'Milestone', little theater rose garden, raleigh, north carolina

Dragonfly identification can be tricky at times. However, this one appears to be a Great Blue Skimmer. True, it’s not blue looking but that’s typical for females of the species. The give-away is the white face. It’s the only dragonfly species that has one.

Dragonflies eat insects. Hundreds each day. They use their long legs to catch prey in mid-air. As the Great Blue Skimmer is the largest dragonfly in my coastal Carolina area, perhaps it’s also the one with the biggest appetite.

Middleton Place, near Charleston, South Carolina

This was taken from Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in the far south-east of Cornwall. On this side of the River Tamar is the tiny village of Cremyll where there has been a ferry since the eleventh century. It was a link in the main southern route into Cornwall until the 1830s. The current ferry (with the yellow funnel) takes foot passengers across the Tamar to Stonehouse, which is part of Plymouth. From here Plymouth is nine miles by road or half a mile by ferry.

The Cornish side of Plymouth Sound was not always Cornish. It was incorporated into Anglo-Saxon territory in 705 AD in order to secure both banks of the estuary against, mainly Viking, raids. An area of the Rame peninsula (up to Kingsand) remained as part of Devon until 1844 when it was made part of Cornwall. Today, however, Mount Edgcumbe and the waterfront settlement of Cremyll are emphatically Cornish. They stand on the most easterly extension of the Rame Peninsula, known with ironic pride by local people as the 'Forgotten Corner'.

Sat for 3 hours in what I thought were near perfect conditions for the kingfishers, however the male only showed up once for about 10 seconds. Just goes to show, you can't take anything for granted in wildlife photography!

However many matches he lit, he couldn't set fire to the ice on the ice rink.

Does anyone else see the face of a Polar Bear wearing sunglasses on the match in focus?

This is one of three goslings I saw this morning; the first ones of this year. I love how cute, fuzzy and soft they look, however, they don't look cute for long.

To recap, on 25 Oct. 2024, I joined a small caving party to explore a world famous cave system, situated in Mulu, Sarawak, Borneo; with an excellent guide from Sarawak's last remaining nomadic tribe, the Penan.