LENS ITSELF - PLATINUM (Level 4)
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Understand and enjoy the fact that photography is a unique medium. Respect and work within photography’s limitations, you will go much further.
Donovan Wylie
What advice would you give young photographers?
No one is above the law! Indict Trump!
cosmos, little theater garden, raleigh, north carolina
Shanghai's main tourist trap revisited. The Yu Yuan area is Shanghai's "China cliche" area. Beautifully illuminated real (and many fake) historic buildings. Crowded at all times....
"Tourist Trap": This area around the historic Yu Garden (豫园 Yu Yuan) and the City God Temple (城隍庙 Chenghuangmiao) is made up as a souvenir shopping district especially for tourists.
Apart from the 450 years old Yu Garden itself and the City God Temple the 3 main attractions are the Hu Xin Ting Teahouse (湖心亭), the Nine Bends Bridge (九曲桥 Jiuqu Qiao) and the Lü Bo Lang Restaurant (绿波廊, remark: you can get really excellent fried snake there...😋) - the latter also serves as venue for state dinners, e.g. during the 2001 APEC summit Bill Clinton was invited there.
The Hu Xin Ting Teahouse (left center, with the staircase towards the lake) is located in the center of a small lake and can only be reached via the Nine Bends Bridge - the name of the Teahouse means (literally translated): "Lake Heart Pavillion".
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved Luigi Alesi
Friendly robin helping me and itself to the grubs I was digging up! It kept going back to sit on top of the hedge and watch me. I laid the camera on top of the hedge in advance hoping for a shot or two!
La institución Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia tiene dos edificios en los que hoy se encuentran los becarios. El edificio principal es la propia Villa Concordia barroca, que el secretario de la corte Ignaz Tobias Böttinger encargó entre 1716 y 1722 y que probablemente fue construida por el arquitecto Johann Dientzenhofer.
Además de la administración de la institución, la villa contiene estudios, una extensión de vidrio con departamentos y un salón con capacidad para casi doscientos visitantes y se utiliza para conciertos, inauguraciones de exposiciones y lecturas relacionadas con los becarios.
The Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia institution has two buildings in which the scholars are today. The main building is the baroque Villa Concordia itself, commissioned by court clerk Ignaz Tobias Böttinger between 1716 and 1722 and which was probably built by the architect Johann Dientzenhofer.
In addition to the administration of the institution, the village contains studios, a glass extension with apartments, and a hall that can accommodate almost two hundred visitors and is used for concerts, exhibition openings, and scholarship-related readings.
Amsterdam - Motorwal
Copyright - All images are copyright © protected. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
Florence (Firenze) is a city on the Arno River, at the foot of the Apennines, is the capital of Tuscany.
From 1115 the city gained the status of an independent city, and in 1183 Florence declared itself a municipal council. In 1252, the minting of gold coins - florins, which quickly became the main coin of Europe. At the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it was one of the largest cities in Europe with over 100 000. residents.
From 1434 the city was ruled by the Medici family, who led the city to the greatest economic and cultural power. The city was enriched with a large number of great works of art and numerous buildings. Their rule, with slight interruptions, lasted until 1737.
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Florencja (Firenze) to miasto nadrzeką Arno, u stóp Apeninów, jest stolicą Toskanii.
Od 1115 miasto uzyskało status niezależnego miasta, a w 1183 Florencja ogłosiła się komuną miejską. W 1252 rozpoczęto bicie złotych monet – florenów, które szybko stały się główną monetą Europy. Na przełomie XIII i XIV wieku było to jedno z największych miast Europy z ponad 100 tys. mieszkańców.
Od 1434 miastem zaczął rządzić ród Medyceuszów, który doprowadził miasto do największej potęgi gospodarczej i kulturalnej. Miasto wzbogaciło się o znaczną liczbę wielkich dzieł sztuki oraz liczne budowle. Ich rządy, z niewielkimi przerwami, trwały do 1737 roku.
Ticino
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
ABOUT THE PHOTO:
The photo above was taken this past May and shows parts of my garden and the surrounding hills just as the sun was setting after a heavy thunderstorm, which is when the light and the colors are at their most intense, most magical; it was one of those rare moments that usually only last for a few minutes (sometimes not even that), and you have to be quick to capture them.
The reason I like the photo quite a bit is that it shows a side of my country that is far less known to the people abroad than our snowy mountains and green meadows with friendly cows or the glitz of St. Moritz, Zermatt and Zurich: it shows you "my" tropical Switzerland 😊.
And the thing is, the spot in Ticino where I'm fortunate enough to own a vacation home - a tiny, 400-year old stone building only 70 meters from the Italian border - doesn't just look like it lies in the tropics: it actually sort of does, at least during the summer months.
With temperatures frequently in the mid 30s (Celsius) and a level of humidity that is high enough to make you break out in a sweat the second you leave the house, the micro-climate is not that dissimilar from what you might find in a rain forest.
The air can grow so heavy that people unaccustomed to it might feel like they have a hard time breathing (when friends of mine who originally are from Brazil visited me for a couple of days during a particularly hot period, even they struggled and told me they felt as if they were inhaling steam).
On the plus-side, this tropical micro-climate allows the people in our village to grow lemons, peaches, figs and kiwi fruits in addition to the more traditional apricots, grapes apples and cherries, and even palm trees like the one in this photo are a very common sight throughout the region.
Luckily our houses are traditionally built in a way to keep out the heat even during the hottest months, so the few remaining permanent residents of the village (around 40 people most of whom are over the age of sixty), find soothing cool as soon as they enter the thick stone walls of their homes.
The village itself is built on a rock that is surrounded by dense chestnut forest on all sides that stretches on until the horizon, only interrupted every now and then by a village, a vineyard or a small stream in a valley with a few fields.
So it's hardly a surprise that this tiny tropical paradise is a place where a great variety of beautiful insects, snakes and colorful lizards (that most people probably wouldn't immediately associate with typical Swiss fauna either) feel very much at home, and I feel incredibly blessed that I need only step outside and enter my garden to capture it with my camera 😊.
In case people are interested I might upload a photo that shows a bit more of our village one day, but for now I'll continue to stick with my beloved "creepy crawlies" (as some of my friends here jokingly refer to them) and continue to concentrate on nature, wildlife and landscape photos. 😉
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. This is probably going to be my last upload in 2022, so HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!! 🎄💕🎉😃!!
Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, and the name “Porto” itself influenced the name of the country “Portugal”. Established by the Celts on the mouth of the Douro River, it was occupied by the Romans during the fourth century, transforming it into an influential commercial port and renaming it “Portus Cale”. Porto is best known for two things: its river, the Douro, an evermore popular choice for river cruises, and its port. ... One of the oldest cities in Europe, its maze of steep and narrow cobbled streets is home to beautiful plazas, churches and houses with colourfully tiled façades.
(english follow)
Rivage mystique
« L’incompréhensible semble bien nous faire signe du fond des paysages. C’est le noyau de l’expérience de la beauté du monde. » Alexandre Lacroix, philosophe
Ce paysage chaotique m’hypnotisait
Comme si je l’avais toujours connu,
Mais, pourtant, jamais vu.
Il était ni beau ou charmant,
Ni laid ou terrifiant
Plutôt terriblement inhumain,
Antérieur à la vie elle-même,
Dont on voyait des traces éparses
Accrochées aux rugosités des rochers.
Je pouvais le voir, le toucher, le ressentir sous mes pieds
Sentir l’air salin
Regarder danser des nuages improbables
Entendre les chants de la Terre
Jouer les harmoniques élémentaires.
Et pourtant, je ne trouvais pas les mots
Pour expliquer l’attirance étrange que ce paysage avait sur moi.
Un peu comme un savoir qui se cherche
Dans des origines impénétrables, lointaines et indicibles,
Dont nous portons des traces.
L’orage approchait, menaçant
Et le mystère m’enveloppa.
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques du Monde de Poësia
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Mystics Shores
“The incomprehensible seems to beckon us from the background of the landscapes. It is the core of the experience of the beauty of the world” - Alexandre Lacroix, philosopher
This chaotic landscape hypnotized me
As if I had always known it,
But, yet, never seen.
It was neither beautiful or charming,
Neither ugly or terrifying
Rather terribly inhuman,
Anterior to life itself,
Of which we saw scattered traces
Clinging to the roughness of the rocks.
I could see it, touch it, feel it under my feet
Smell the salty air
Watch unlikely clouds dance
Hear the songs of the Earth
Play the elementary harmonics.
And yet I couldn't find the words
To explain the strange attraction that this landscape had on me.
A bit like a knowledge that seeks itself
In impenetrable, distant and unspeakable origins,
Of which we bear traces.
The storm was approaching, threatening
And mystery enveloped me.
Patrice photographer, Chronicles of the Lands of Poësia
One more of that fabulous place, just because this one was so different being all by itself.
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Thank you all so much for your views, faves and comments.
I appreciate each one!
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Steichen took over 1,000 exposures of a single white teacup and saucer against a graduated scale of tones from pure white to black velvet. While this redundancy may seem obscure, in A life in Photography, Steichen stated that "the experiment was to a photographer what finger exercises were to a pianist."
Edward Steichen
HFF! this confused magnolia blossom normally blooms early spring
Loebner magnolia, 'Leonard Messel', sarah p duke gardens, duke university, durham, north carolina
On the road to the Air Force Base, this isolated tree was not only all by itself, covered in frost it was also stunningly beautiful.
Tachinni - Avery Dress available @ ✈️ UBER
“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says: ‘I’m possible!'” —Audrey Hepburn
things that sometimes because the hustle and the monotony of life itself we fail to appreciate. And then I return to these scenarios along with my tools and I start to create :-)
Enrique Bueno
HFF! Justice Matters!
dahlia, j c raulston arboetum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina
“Zen professes itself to be the spirit of Buddhism, but in fact it is the spirit of all religions and philosophies. When Zen is thoroughly understood, absolute peace of mind is attained, and a man lives as he ought to live.”
Quote ― D.T. Suzuki
This Buddha face is an older origami design. I folded it from a small piece (12x12cm) of gold foil. Final size: 6cm height, 5cm width. Would make a nice brooch too ;-))
Model: origami Buddha
Design: Eric Kenneway
Diagrams in BOS Magazine #100
"To understand water is to understand the cosmos, the marvels of nature, and life itself."...Masaru Emoto
“Form itself, even if completely abstract ... has its own inner sound.”
― Wassily Kandinsky
a bit of sliding on an installation of color glass cubes
at the Portland Art Museum.
hope everyone is doing well, take care my friends,
happy sliderssunday!
♥
This Datura reseeds itself even in Pots and patio joints,
Some states its illegal to grow them.
They bloom all summer long till the end of September.
A moment full of magic, when the new day is freeing itself from the darkness. After only three hours of sleep I hit the trail, alone through the dark forest of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, to end here on top of mt. Kleiner Winterberg waiting for the sun to rise. And then, when you have focused to the horizon for a felt eternity, watching the play of the colours and than you can see the sun for the first time, that’s smashing. Every single second of this journey was a gift, I'm infinitely grateful for.
Ein Moment voller Magie, wenn sich der neue Tag aus der Dunkelheit befreit. Nach nur drei Stunden Schlaf habe ich mich auf den Weg gemacht, allein durch den dunklen Wald des Elbsandsteingebirges, um dann hier, auf dem kleinen Winterberg auf den Sonnenaufgang zu warten. Und wenn du dann eine gefühlte Ewigkeit den Horizont fixiert und das Farbenspiel beobachtet hast, und dann das erste mal die Sonne zu sehen ist, das ist umwerfend. Jede einzelne Sekunde dieser Tour war ein Geschenk, für das ich unendlich dankbar bin.
I was alone at our old country house. It was completely dark, and I brought the oil lamp outside to find a good motif for my new secondhand Nikon camera. Ice and a tiny bit of snow on the ground, and the only photo I produced, was of the lamp itself.
“Those who find beauty in all of nature
will find themselves at one
with the secrets of life itself.”
L. Wolfe Gilbert
La forme la plus déplaisante de la peur se traduit par l'agressivité...
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The most unpleasant form of fear manifests itself in aggression...
it seems very likely that St Anthony's Chapel was closely associated with Holyrood Abbey, which stood just a few hundred yards away to the north-west. The two were linked by a well-made stone track (now heavily worn) with prominent kerbstones that can in places still be seen, and about three quarters of the way along this track up to the chapel is the spring and carved stone bowl known as St Anthony's Well.
It's tempting to think of St Anthony's Chapel as an outlying chapel for Holyrood Abbey, perhaps constructed as a means of getting pilgrims out from under the feet of the monks in the abbey. It has also been suggested that the chapel served as a sort of religious beacon, designed to be clearly visible to sea-borne pilgrims coming to Holyrood Abbey as they sailed up the River Forth.
As for dating, there are references to a grant paid for repairs to St Anthony's Chapel by the Pope in 1426, suggesting the building could date back into the 1300s or beyond. Details of its demise are equally unclear, but presumably, like Holyrood Abbey itself, St Anthony's Chapel fell into disuse and disrepair after the Reformation in 1560.
Today, all that remains of the chapel are parts of the north wall plus remnants of another building a little to the south-west, which has sometimes been called a hermitage but was probably just a store room. The remaining chapel wall shows signs of vaulting, and it is thought that when complete the building would have comprised a small three-bay chapel, with a three-storey tower at its west end. This odd shape, almost as tall as it was long, supports the idea that the chapel was designed as much to ensure distant visibility as to accommodate worshippers.
Taken from the cog rail of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. This was during fall and there are varied fall colours on the mountains. Mount washington by itself has very little color to display. On a side not, it is officially the worst weather in the world.
A few days ago I took a break from packing for the move. Took a trip to De Leon Springs, a Florida State Park. This spring flows a whopping 19 million gallons of water a day... and the river that flows from it is gorgeous. The Spring itself is 99.9% pure, and is 72 degrees year round. This is taken from a boat ride on the river. The wildlife is wonderful along with the beautiful scenery. The pool over the spring is fabulous to swim in with it's crystal clear, pure water.
Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!
Thank you for your visit and support!
The current moon phase for yesterday is the Waxing Gibbous phase. On this day, the moon is 8.45 days old and 67.24% illuminated with a tilt of -32.741°. The approximate distance from Earth to the moon is 373,176.77 km and the moon sign is Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere, the right side will be illuminated, and in the Southern hemisphere it'll be the left side that is illuminated. The Waxing Gibbous phase, like all moon phases, will last for just over 7 days. The actual length will vary because of the elliptical shaped orbit of the moon. During this Waxing Gibbous phase the moon will rise in the east in the mid- to late-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset.
Craters on the Moon are caused by asteroids and meteorites colliding with the lunar surface. The Moon's surface is covered with thousands of craters. Why does the Moon have so many craters compared to the Earth? Unlike the Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere to protect itself from impacting bodies. R_1754
font: Stylistic SF
textures and effects by Remember Remember
See more in my Winter set Here
Jo Bell
Frozen In
You wake, and know.
The boat is still as bones
and you, its red heart beating.
The canal was taken in its sleep
and paved with cold. The chilled air
gathers round your feet.
The ice, disgruntled, shifts itself
and chews a little on the hull,
sets itself to set again.
Beneath the glaze fish flicker
like grey flames,
silent, watchful.
Inside, you go on with the business
of making tea,
waiting for crocuses.
HSS 😊😊😍
Universal Mind -"...there is one all uniting, universal Mind, one all-pervading Intelligence...these are no totally separate minds...waves in an ocean - a wave cannot separate itself...bucket of water poured into a pool - affects every other particle of water within the pool, whether it knows it or not.
Jampolsky, Gerold G. M.D. (1983) Teach Only Love
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️