View allAll Photos Tagged Negation
بوده بودی؟
در وحلهای از آن لحظات حضوری به هم رسانده بودی
انگار کمابیش
چگونه و از کجا؟
چینی بر سطح دریا
گویی ذرهای غبار که در نبود ما
بیصدا
چنان فرود آمدی که نظم جریان هیچ تغیر نبیند
چگونه و کی میزیسته بودی؟
استقامتت را به چه تعبیر کنم؟
Mom dies
The whole week last week she died
What do I say
What lunacy
She snatched off the words
Breath
Air from the lungs
Was she not gone thus far
Anon
How does silence leave
Stillness break
Fog melt
An absence negating presence
This water droplet image is symbolic for me in a number of ways: it’s my first new image here in Bulgaria and it’s been created with a sample of a new lens just announced today. I love being on the cutting edge of things no matter where I am in the world. :)
First, the image. It was taken with a few dandelion seeds harvested from our front yard before mowing the lawn (which was in a rather wild state when we arrived). Gerbera daisies are thankfully well stocked by local florists in central Varna, in a spot that we walk and drive by frequently. Garden centers have ample supplies of spray bottles. All of the ingredients were easy to assemble to make this image come to life – and I brought my various flashlights, clamps and tripods with me.
(Brief aside: my friends at Platypod, which offer most of the lighting and staging equipment I use, have a pretty awesome sale on right now. I get nothing if you use the code DONKOM20, but you get 20% off anything not already bundled. I highly recommend getting a handful of their mini super clamps if nothing else: www.platypod.com/products/mini-super-clamp )
Setting up a water droplet refraction image is almost second nature to me. I recorded a video on the topic here, which is about as good as I could ever describe the process in such a short-form tutorial: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuMK1NZJQLE – give that a watch to see how all of these ingredients come together.
Next, the lens. I am pleased to have been shooting with the new Laowa 85mm F/5.6 2x macro lens designed for mirrorless full-frame cameras. They don’t make a native L-mount version, but I happily adapted the Leica M-Mount version to the L-mount for my Lumix cameras. The lens is absolutely tiny, robust, and performs well. Venus Optics has been doing some great things with macro lenses lately, and this little guy is no exception. The fun part is that it has a maximum aperture of F/5.6 – in almost all scenarios, I never use a standard macro lens wide open at F/2.8 or F/4, and eliminating these two stops can greatly reduce the size of the lens without compromising on quality. 2x maximum magnification is also very helpful!
For this image, I did not use the maximum magnification, but rather depended on the “high resolution” mode of the Lumix S1R to generate an extremely high-res image (187MP) from which I cropped to create the resulting image. Shot at F/11 to avoid issues with diffraction, this is something a “threading the needle” approach which requires a balance between depth of field and resolving power. A sub-optimal lens would also have resolving issues, but nothing bad was seen with this new lens. It’s slightly less contrasty than other lenses I have used in the past, but no complaints that cannot be solved in post-processing. You can check the lens out here: www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-85mm-f-5-6-2x-ultra-macro...
Finally, Bulgaria. We departed Canada exactly one month ago. In that time, we have purchased a house full of furniture and appliances, danced through numerous bureaucratic processes, bought a car, and effectively restarted our lives here. Last week, I received a National ID card that states that I am a permanent resident, and my daughter has been granted citizenship as well. Our home is better than we could have imagined, ripe with possibilities and the foundation for a peaceful life.
There is still more to do to get back up and running at full speed, but we are making progress. It’ll probably be spring time before things start to feel “normal”, but that doesn’t negate many creative opportunities between now and then.
Oh, and in a couple days, expect to see some new snowflake images. ;)
Aftermath
Name: Peter Renshaw
Location: Kinglake West.
Date: 2009MAR26
Description:
First time in the back paddock. The plants you see in the foreground are what is left of a 1acre paddock of exotic Camellias and Rhododendrons. They are bending in the direction of the fire path.
The text below is a talk I gave on how we (brother, sister, myself and mates) organised and executed plans to get immediate power & water at my Dads house. Authorities simply didn't react fast enough.
==================
Final draft for talk at Trampoline
update latest news
Now published at seldomlogical.com/gsd.html.
A quick intro to the fire is here www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157615800278371/. Be aware this is a draft & I'll be posting later a linked & more polished version at seldomlogical and my wp site. For the purposes of the talk on the day I subtitled the talk Kick-starting Volunteers to not only make the title shorter but to put the talk in a bigger context. The ideas here can be applied to situations like Black Saturday but could just as easily be applied to Volunteers, even Startups. They all face the same types of problems.
Hello, my name is Peter. My talk is called "Getting stuff
done with nothing". Before I begin I'll tell you something
about myself. My first computer was a ZX-80. I don't get
out much and I haven't been to a meeting for a long time.
I'm one of those Gen-X slackers, I went to school for 20
or so years and I've worked mostly in Startups and
software. So you could say I'm a bit of an expert on the
topic. Well at least one.
Getting stuff done with nothing
Why is it that some individuals adapt to change faster than
others? How is it that people with no authority, few
resources can make such a difference? The ideas I want to
explore has its roots in the slow decline of volunteering,
the unfolding financial crisis and the 7th February 2009.
A day we now know as Black Saturday.
How do you avoid sabotaging yourself trying to help?
How do you get stuff done, with nothing?
Black Saturday
It was 46 degrees that day. I'd thought about going to Dads
about 70 kilometers from where I live. But with a total
fire ban and hot conditions I chose the pool instead
staying close to home. It wasn't till I got home about six
o'clock that evening that I got a call from a distressed
sister saying Dad was fighting off fires at his property at
Kinglake West and his phone was going flat. Later I got
another call at around 8 o'clock to say the house had
survived but he was still fighting. [0]
I was 70 kilometers away, it was getting dark so I drove to
the nearest place I could see the range, snapped a few
shots and uploaded them to Flickr. My brother and sister
who lived closer shot up to Whittlesea trying to get into
the fire-zone to help. Foolish maybe, but it was to have
positive implications later. [1] I knew that if Dad
survived the first two hours with house intact - as long
as he kept his wits about him, he would survive. So I
started planing, writing and collecting any information
I could to see if I could help out further down the line.
49 days later
It's now forty nine days since the fire and work is
still going on. A casual comment by a CFA volunteer on my
Flickr account [2] suggesting that for the next major fire
a similar site might do exactly what I was doing -
collecting information and acting as a clearing house.
This was going to be initial idea for my talk. "How to
apply technology and apply it to solve the communications
and logistic problems" I encountered with the fires. Maybe
it could be applied to other relief efforts. What about
the recession? Could it help people who loose their jobs
to re-train? Get new skills?
But thinking about it more, it turned out to be the wrong
question to ask. I don't think technology is the problem.
[3] I think the real problem is much more fundamental. I
think it's people and how they tackle obstacles. I don't
want to get bogged down in theory. What I want concentrate
on something practical. How to apply some quick hacks that
anyone can master in times of need.
Personal qualities not technology
To get things done you have to overcome hurdles. Some
are personal and internal. Others are external and totally
out of your control. When I started thinking about what
personal qualities might be important, I was struck by the
fact you might need to experiment and apply various
combinations to achieve a result. So I have tried to narrow
the list, to what I think are the 10 qualities that make a
difference.
1) Controlling emotion
Emotions effect the way we make decisions. Emotions come in
many forms as we react to stress. Each person reacts
slightly differently. Limiting your emotional reaction, lets
you move forward to make decisions. It's a trait that only
you can control. Some sort of control is an advantage over
none. No control over you emotions can let fear control
you. Fear is by far the most damaging emotion I can think
of. Fear paralyses you into in-action. In-action is not
only counter productive but it's also the fastest way to
sabotage yourself. Fear is also contagious. If you are
fearful, it has a nasty habit of rubbing-off onto others.
I don't know the solution to avoiding or controlling fear
but I do know you should be aware it exists. You should try
to negate it's side effects. The better control you have
over fear, the more effective you can be. [4]
2) Listening
How well you listen greatly effects any outcome to try to
achieve. Not listening is one of the quickest ways to fail
when you encounter external hurdles. Not listening you miss
details. Details that could mean the difference between
knowing what is required or taking a risk and guessing. A
requirement achieved is a form of measurable success.
Guessing simply wastes time. If in doubt ask someone "on
the ground". They know things you don't. Listen now and
you save time and effort later.
3) Mindset
If you have a rigid mindset. If you cannot adapt quickly
enough. You risk not only failing to achieve the things you
set out to do. You will be susceptible to blunder. A
blunder is when the action you take, results in a worse
situation than when you start. Blunders have many causes.
But the most likely culprit is a fixed or rigid mindset.
Mindset is the combined effect of "how you react
emotionally to current events" and "the decisions you make
as a result". So ask yourself. "Are you undermining
yourself because you have a rigid mindset?"
4) Empathy & imagination
Can you walk in the shoes of another person? Can you
identify their problems and solve them? Empathy and
imagination are an effective antidote to blunders, rigid
mindsets and cognitive traps in thinking. [5] Don't just
try and blunder your way through a solution. First put
yourself into situation you are trying to improve and
use your mind to to project, how you might make the
current situation into a better or best situation. [6]
5) Communication not Info-mania
An info-maniac is someone who misuses information. If you
hold onto information, shun or avoid the source or nature
of information. You are self sabotaging yourself. You need
to collect enough of the right type of relevant
information. Don't worry about the having too much
information. You will be surprised what people might be
looking for or find. [7] Working as a team has its own
challenges. When communicating to more than one person
make sure they have the right mindset and ensure they are
communicating together to get the job done.
6) Thrift and resources
Up till now, the focus has primarily been on the how.
Little thought has been given to cost. If you have few
resources and need them quickly it is up to you to work out
how important they are. Weigh the costs of buying verses
loaning. Don't buy if you can help it. The time honoured
"Beg, borrow and ask" works, well some of the time. A simple
solution is to hack what you already have and see if it can
fit the purpose. A roll of fencing wire and duct tape may
work wonders but not miracles.
This is where you have to get creative. A good resource can
be friends or people you know. It may even be complete
strangers. In some cases you will have to pay cash. Before
you do check with people on the ground if they really need
this item. If you pay cash it might be better to accept a
higher price for a receipt instead of trying to negotiate
a discount. This avoids disputes. Pay a bit more to avoid
potential conflict. [8]
7) Speed
We are often told to do things "fast". But saying and
doing are two different things. Where do you start? Well
start at the basics. The basics of life are 'food', 'water'
and shelter. So for a given situation concentrate first on
the basics. Be able to say with certainty you have
reliability. Day in, day out. Every day. Speed is also
about getting real results without wasting unnecessary time
and resources. Any lack of the above qualities will hinder
your efforts. So I think the measure of speed is about
delivering the basics. Then using a combination of
listening, empathy and imagination you can move your way
forward.
But speed alone isn't good enough.
It's a constant. What you really want is acceleration.
What forces can you use to increase the accelerate the rate
you do things? Well the answer to this and a potential
road-block is probably a combination of and Info-mania.
Collect enough information on problem at hand and you get a
data glut and as long as the relevance of the information
is high someone can probably find the right information.
The trick is then to get the right people to take notice.
We got "feet on the ground" to Dad in less than 48 hours.
Delivering a delivering a generator and essentials. Yet I
was shocked that it took another 48 hours for support teams to
touch base in Flowerdale a mere 26 kilometers further
north. [9] This changed quickly when Pete William started
writing the "helpflowerdale" blog. Things sped up when the
information flow sped up. [10]
8) Search for simplicity
KISS or Keep it Simple Stupid. Easy to say, much harder to
do in practice. The advantage of simplicity is it helps
keeps you focused on what is achievable. Focusing on simple
outcomes is also cost and time effective. Complex things
consume resources. How do you find simple solutions in
real-life complexity?
I have no real answers. But I did get a few valuable
insights trying to work out how to solve the problem of
water. After the fires, I knew delivering the basics was
going to be a big problem. And the most important basic is
water. But how do you source, deliver and maintain a clean
water supply 70 kilometers away?
How did I simplify the problem? Well first I had the right
mindset. I knew in the middle of summer in remote areas
that damaged water tanks, no pumps and when the power is
down there will be no reliable water. I also knew speed was
of the essence. The simplicity hack I applied was knowing
that water being a basic was required quickly. I confirmed
by ringing up people on the ground that water storage was a
problem. Then spread the news around this is what was
required. It just so happened that other people where
already thinking along the same lines pre-warned because of
the information I spread, "empathised" and offered help.
The actual situation itself is complicated and I couldn't
tackle this problem myself but I got a call from a good
friend who is an expert in logistics and just happened to
have a water solution in the form of a Shutz. By chance I
also got access to various forms of transport.
Is this a case of good luck or searching for a simpler way?
I'm not sure. I do know that by knowing this was a priority
and using resources I secured the water containers and got
them delivered. [11], [12]
9) Follow through, re-evaluate
What you start you finish. Don't leave loose threads. Then
quickly re-evaluate. Do you really need to continue?
Communicate together. Is someone else doing this? Check
with someone on the ground again. Then continue. If you
promise to do something, do it. No one else is going to do
it. It is up to you.
Are you going to let your mates down?
10) Motivation, "the mongrel factor"
The final personal quality is how much of the "mongrel
factor" you have. No, it has nothing to do with "Blue
Heelers" (the TV show) [13] but the mongrel breed of dog.
How hard do you "snap" and "snarl" [14] to extract that
last 5 percent effort required to complete a task? The
difference between those who give up and those who succeed
can partially be explained to how hard they are willing to
push themselves. [15]
The future of Volunteers
I don't think technology alone can solve the types of
problems. You need intelligent application of technology.
Instead we should look at how we as individuals respond
using technology to amplify results. I also saw a complete
change in community attitudes to 'volunteering'. Before the
fire, volunteering was a dirty word. After the fire people
felt guilty not helping.
The fires may be over. But your chance to make a difference
begins now. Black Saturday might be the fractal training
run for the current recession. Lots of people, young people
especially are now going find themselves without the
opportunities to work and no path to improve themselves.
What are YOU! going to do? Are you! (point to individual)
going to let your mates down?
Reference
[0] Bootload, flickr, "You can read a summary and view
pictures of the fires first hours here",
[Accessed Thursday, 26th March, 2009]
flickr.com/photos/bootload/3260244634
[1] We (my brother, sister, her bloke, myself and a good
mate) undertook two distinct operations. Operation Genny:
objective to deliver power in the form of a generator.
Operation Shutz: objective to deliver clean water supply
tanks up to 3000 litres with 1 tank capable of being put on
a ute. We completed both. We had feet on the ground within
48 hours of the fire occurring for the generator. The water
supply following some 2 weeks later.
None of this would have been possible if emotional sister
and determined brother used speed to the fire zone within
couple of hours. The reward, a pass to move through the
police road blocks. Had it not been for this quick
thinking. Nothing we planned would have come to fruition.
[2] miniopterus, Flickr, "I should have said, good job
tracking the events. I imagine that next time we have fires,
we might see something similar to your Flickr diary.",
flickr.com/photos/bootload/3298613958
[Accessed Thursday, 26th March, 2009]
[3] To technologists who forge and yield hammers every
problem can appear to be a nail. In this case I don't think
a technology solution is applicable as tackling how people
deal with decision making. You need intelligent application
of technology. Instead we should look at how we as
individuals respond using technology to amplify results.
[4] Fear is there for a reason. Men may perceive women to
be inferior when it comes to emotion. But like the second
law of thermodynamics, all that built up emotion is going
to leak out some time in the future. So in the long run,
I think women have an edge over men dealing with emotion.
But in the short term it is men who edge women out with
self control. There is a downside here. Apply too much
control and you might emotionally overheat and become
brittle when you cool down leaving yourself open to
cracking. Hard objects become brittle and crack under
stress.
[6] google, "enter 'from: kinglake west to: Flowerdale
VIC, Australia' and view the maps tab. This reveals the
distance from Kinglake West."
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[5] Zachary Shore, "Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad
Decisions, Blunder Intro, P5."
www.zacharyshore.com/static/content/blunder_intro.pdf
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[6] CVS2BVS: Current View of Situation to Best View of
Situation is a quick hack to make you think of moving
forward. What is you current view? What is your best
view? How do you get there? You have to ask the question
before you can find a solution.
[7] ITConversations, Tech Nation, Zachary Shore, "Why
Smart People Make Bad Decisions: Professor, Naval
Postgraduate School"
itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4007.html
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[8] Sourcing the Shutz (ruggised 1000 Lt, portable water
container) I negotiated a price by quoting a friends name
in cash. Then I get a phone call asking for more money. A
quick call back to my referring mate sorted this out. But
had I got a receipt I could have avoided this. In the end
it worked out. But the risk was there. You can read more
about sourcing the Shutz here:
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178152108/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[9] google, "To find the distance from Kinglake West to
Flowerdale enter 'from: Kinglake West to: Flowerdale VIC,
Australia' into google and click the maps tab.
[10] Pete Williams, blogspot, "Flowerdale - Survivor
Spirit", "A cry for help from the forgotten people of
Flowerdale"
"... The final straw for my sister in law came at 6.00am
today (12/02/09) when those left fought to save one of the
remaining houses that caught on fire overnight. They fought
with no water, no fire trucks and no support from the Army
that was in the area. They lost the fight. ..."
helpflowerdalenow.blogspot.com/2009/02/cry-for-help-from-...
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[11] bootload, flickr, "flickr set: 'Shutz IBC 1000L' where
I order and collect the Shutz water tank"
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178152108/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[12] bootload, "flickr set: 'Eltham to Kinglake West'
where we deliver the tanks"
www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157614178001242/
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[13] IMDb, "Blue Heelers, The Mongrel Factor"
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[14] Australian Sports Commission, "Participating in Sport:
Predicting sports suitability", "... Coaches who observe
such testing sessions are assessing the ‘mongrel factor’
which athletes show a doggedness to continue when the test
becomes hard?"
www.ausport.gov.au/participating/got_talent/overview/pred...
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
[15] Simon Britton, "Mongrel Nation",
culturenow.com/site/item.cfm?item=24814
[Accessed Friday, 27th March, 2009]
To Andy, James, Kev, Mum and Trace. They know how to get
things done with nothing. Thanks Trace, Colin for reading
the article.
Waaaay better than the last time I did this
1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 - Post it with this text in the "caption"
I'm not tagging anyone. I just wanted something to do before I even finished my first cup of coffee today.
Additionally, I think my band is an ironic hipster experiment, shunned by all because they just tried too damn hard, and their CD smacked of production values and effort.
The real reason they broke up though, is that two of them wore the same cowboy shirt two sizes too small one day, and were unable to get past the fact that they had found the same thrift store full of deadstock, thus negating how obscure the other was.
It was early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawn~
The words of Rick Davies rang true for the occasion, waking up around 0600 in preparation for the first full day of train-chasing on a lengthy 11-day roadtrip between northern Florida and southern Georgia. I didn’t particularly enjoy forcing myself out of comfort of my bed in the city’s trackside Hyatt House, however, the allure of documenting the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway negated any sort of fuss out of me. The rising sun would greet me upon my arrival to FGAR’s Tallahassee Yard on that frigid October morning, providing what little light there was available to observe what stood within the yard. Not much was visible, unfortunately, only catching a poorly lit glimpse of reds, whites, and blues.
While the sun pulled away from the horizon into the sky, I’d set up camp at Cascades Park outside of Tallahassee’s Central District, overlooking the mainline from the Capital Cascades Trail. Going on-duty at 07:00, the days’ subject train would be FGAR’s TA-EAST. Operating Monday through Friday, it shuttles eastbound traffic out of Tallahassee towards Lee, FL, where the train is handed off to LC-WEST to take towards Lake City, with TA-EAST taking westbound traffic back towards the capital city. The railroad employs their six-axle road power for these trains, either their SD40-2, SD70M’s, or SD70M-2’s.
The resounding wail of a K5LLA reverberates off the downtown buildings at 08:44. If one was dozing off, you’d think you were napping along the Florida East Coast mainline in the mid-2000’s; in this day and age, it’s the closest one can get to re-experiencing that era. In a scene kissed by golden morning sunlight, a pair of former FEC/RailAmerica SD70M-2’s take charge of Thursday’s 19-car TA-EAST, well, east out of Tallahassee, sharing the limelight with the Central District’s assorted buildings dotting the background. #FGAR107, perfectly paired with #FGAR106 back to back, look their best amongst the greenery around them, with the crew going easy on the horn as to not cause too much of a commotion for the trackside neighbors. Who knows, maybe they’re someone’s alarm clock.
Elliot, Liam and I wouldn’t stick around to see the bottom of TA-EAST, as they soon accelerated further upon swinging north through the curve behind the camera’s point of view. Departing east out of Tallahassee, trains can reach speeds of up to 40 MPH; with EAST’s short train, and only one stop to serve Mayo Fertilizer before reaching the swap point of Lee, the chase was shaping up to be one those requiring hasty driving skills, precise timing, and some split second decision-making. In no time, we’d be on the all-too-familiar US-27 highballing east for Chaires, FL for a video-only shoot of the train.
•
Tallahassee, FL
FGAR Tallahassee Subdivision
Date: 10/24/2024 | 08:44
ID: TA-EAST [-24]
Type: Local
Direction: Eastbound
Car Count: 19
1. FGAR SD70M-2 #107
2. FGAR SD70M-2 #106
•
© Vicente Alonso 2024
A nearby family was kind enough to offer us the fire in the bbq after they were done cooking and so we gathered around its warmth. The strong winds soon negated any benefits so we went back into the tent but not before I got this shot as a particuarly heavy gust blew sparks around.
I *very* rarely use my lunch hour to go railfanning. Time, and the lack of interesting trains on the Dayton District over the past year or so have negated the need. This day's train was a worthy exception.
Leading NS 60P through Springfield, OH was CP 7015, painted in its snazzy, retro Canadian Pacific scheme with block lettering on the long hood. Trailing it was a train of potash bound for the Indiana and Ohio Railway for eventual delivery to a fertilizer plant in South Charleston.
The Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe is a church in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, consecrated on 9 May 549 by the bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe.
An important monument of Byzantine art, in 1996 it was inscribed with seven other nearby monuments in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which described it as "an outstanding example of the early Christian basilica in its purity and simplicity of its design and use of space and in the sumptuous nature of its decoration".
Work on Sant'Apollinare in Classe started at the beginning of 6th century by order of Bishop Ursicinus, using money from the Roman banker Iulianus Argentarius. It was certainly located next to a Christian cemetery, and quite possibly on top of a pre-existing pagan one, as some of the ancient tombstones were re-used in its construction.
At that time, Classe was located on the shore and was the ancient home port of the Roman fleet which gave its name to the town. Due to the accumulation of silt, the coastline has since moved 9 kilometres to the east.
The imposing brick structure was consecrated on 9 May 549 by Bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris. The Basilica is thus contemporary with the Basilica of San Vitale of Ravenna. The relics of Saint Apollinaris are today in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe.
In the 15th century, Sigismondo Malatesta stripped the church of the marble covering the walls of the side aisles, to use it for the construction of the Tempio Malatestiano of San Francesco in Rimini.
The exterior has a large facade with two simple uprights and one mullioned window with three openings. The narthex and building to the right of the entry are later additions, as is the fine 9th century round bell tower with mullioned windows.
Ravenna’s tallest campanile was added to the church in the late 10th century.
The church has a central nave with two side aisles, a standard basilica design. An ancient altar in the mid of the nave covers the place of the saint's martyrdom. The church ends with a polygonal apse, sided by two chapels with apses.
The nave contains 24 columns of Italian marble. The carved capitals of the columns depict acanthus leaves, but unlike most such carvings the leaves appear twisted as if being buffeted by the wind. The faded frescos depict some of the archbishops of Ravenna, and date to the 18th century. The lateral walls are bare, but were certainly once covered with gorgeous mosaics. These were likely demolished by the Venetians in 1449, although they left the mosaic decoration in the apse and on the triumphal arch, the church's most striking features.
The upper section of the triumphal arch depicts, inside a medallion, Christ. At the sides, within a sea of clouds, are the winged symbols of the four Evangelists: the Eagle (John), the Winged Man (Matthew), the Lion (Mark), the Calf (Luke). The lower section has, at its two edges, the walls showing precious gems from which twelve lambs (symbols of the Twelve Apostles) exit. The sides of the arch show two palms which, in the Bible's symbolism, represent justice; under them are the archangels Michael and Gabriel, with the bust of St. Matthew and another unidentified saint.
The decoration of the apse date to the 6th century, and can be divided into two parts:
in the upper one, a large disc encloses a starry sky in which is a cross with gems. Over the cross is a hand protruding from the clouds, the theme of the Hand of God. At the side of the disc are the figures of Elijah and Moses. The three lambs in the lower sector symbolize the saints Peter, James and John, alluding the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor.
in the lower one is a green valley with rocks, bush, plants and birds. In the middle is the figure of Saint Apollinaris, portrayed in the act of praying God to give grace to his faithful, symbolized by twelve white lambs.
The choice of the subject is closely linked to the fight against Arianism, as it restates both the divine and human nature of Christ, the former negated by the Arians. In addition, the representation of Apollinaris among the apostles was a legitimization of Maximian as the first bishop of the diocese.
In the spaces between the windows are the four bishops who founded the main basilicas in Ravenna: Urscinus, Ursus, Severus and Ecclesius, all with a book in a hand. At the sides of the apse are two 7th-century panels: the left one, which has largely been restored, portrays the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV granting privileges to an envoy of the Ravenna's archbishop. In the right panel are Abraham, Abel and Melchisedek around an altar, on which they offer a sacrifice to God.
The Basilica's walls are lined by numerous sarcophagi from different centuries. They attest the changes of style from the 5th to the 8th centuries: from reliefs with human figures of the Roman sarcophagi, to Byzantine symbolism, to the increasing abstraction and simplification of these symbologies.
🔸◾️ A U T U M N - R U N ◾️🔸
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Cardinham Woods treated me to a splash of autumn colour and a thin veil of mist - which really helped to add depth and separation to the woodland scene.
Unlike my usual style, almost all the shots I took on this trip included a path - something I consciously try to avoid as I like my images to look more wild I guess. But the path is where the mist was - lit up with sunlight diffused by a cloudy sky.
As I composed the image with a 1/2 second shutter speed (quick enough to negate wind shake on the leaves but with a low ISO for image quality), a runner entered the frame. I thought "What the heck..." and fired off a shot. I knew he'd be blurred - but I kind of like it. What do you think?
Canon 6D MkII | 24-105mm lens at 87mm | ƒ/8 | 1/2 sec | ISO 200 | Tripod | Polarising filter | Taken 07-11-2020 at Cardinham Woods
Copyright Andrew Hocking 2020
**Contact me or head over to my website for prints**
Bismillâhir Rahmânir Rahîm
1. Andolsun o incire, o zeytine,
2. Sinin (Sina) dağına
3. ve bu güvenli beldeye ki,
4. Biz insanı en güzel biçimde yarattık.
5. Sonra da çevirdik aşağıların aşağısına kaktık.
6. Ancak iman edip yararlı işler yapan kimseler başka; onlar için kesilmez bir mükafat vardır.
7. O halde artık sana dini ne yalanlatabilir?
8. Allah hakimlerin hakimi değil mi?
-Tin Suresi-
-------------------------------------------------
1. CONSIDER the fig and the olive,
2. and Mount Sinai,
3. and this land secure!(1)
(1) - The "fig" and the "olive" symbolize, in this context, the lands in which these trees predominate: i.e., the countries bordering on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, especially Palestine and Syria. As it was in these lands that most of the Abrahamic prophets mentioned in the Qur?an lived and preached, these two species of tree may be taken as metonyms for the religious teachings voiced by the long line of those God-inspired men, culminating in the person of the last Judaic prophet, Jesus. "Mount Sinai", on the other hand, stresses specifically the apostleship of Moses, inasmuch as the religious law valid before, and up to, the advent of Muhammad - and in its essentials binding on Jesus as well - was revealed to Moses on a mountain of the Sinai Desert. Finally, "this land secure" signifies undoubtedly (as is evident from 2:126) Mecca, where Muhammad, the Last Prophet, was born and received his divine call. Thus, verses 1-3 draw our attention to the fundamental ethical unity underlying the teachings - the genuine teachings - of all the three historic phases of monotheistic religion, metonymically personified by Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. The specific truth to be considered here is referred to in the next three verses.
4. Verily, We create man in the best conformation; (2)
(2) - I.e., endowed with all the positive qualities, physical as well as mental, corresponding to the functions which this particular creature is meant to perform. The concept of "the best conformation" is related to the Qur?anic statement that everything which God creates, including the human being or self (nafs), is "formed in accordance with what it is meant to be" (see 91:7 and the corresponding note 5, as well as in a more general sense - 87:2 and note 1). This statement does not in any way imply that all human beings have the same "best conformation" in respect of their bodily or mental endowments: it implies simply that irrespective of his natural advantages or disadvantages, each human being is endowed with the ability to make the, for him, best possible use of his inborn qualities and of the environment to which he is exposed. (See in this connection 30:30 and the corresponding notes, especially 27 and 28.)
5. and thereafter We reduce him to the lowest of low (3)
(3) - This "reduction to the lowest of low" is a consequence of man's betrayal - in another word, corruption - of his original, positive disposition: that is to say, a consequence of man's own doings and omissions. Regarding the attribution, by God, of this "reduction" to His Own doing, see note 7 on 2:7.
6. excepting only such as attain to faith and do good works: and theirs shall be a reward unending!
7. What, then, [O man,] could henceforth cause thee to give the lie to this moral law? (4)
(4) - I.e., to the validity of the moral law - which, to my mind, is the meaning of the term din in this context - outlined in the preceding three verses. (For this specific significance of the concept of din, see note 3 on 109:6.) The above rhetorical question has this implication: Since the moral law referred to here has been stressed in the teachings of all monotheistic religions (cf. verses 1-3 and note 1 above), its truth ought to be self-evident to any unprejudiced person; its negation, moreover, amounts to a negation of all freedom of moral choice on man's part and, hence, of justice on the part of God, who, as the next verse points out, is - by definition - "the most just of judges".
8. Is not God the most just of judges?
-At Tin-
-------------------------------------------------
1- Nefs-i Emmare
2- Nefs-i Levvame
3- Nefs-i Mülhime
4- Nefs-i Mutmainne
5- Nefs-i Radiye
6- Nefs-i Mardiyye
7- Nefs-i Safiye
-------------------------------------------------
DERMAN ARARDIM
Derman arardım derdime derdim bana derman imiş
Burhan arardım aslıma aslım bana burhan imiş
Sağ u solum gözler idim dost yüzünü görsem deyu
Ben taşrada arar idim ol can içinde can imiş
Öyle sanırdım ayriyem,dost gayridir ben gayriyem
Benden görüp işideni bildim ki ol canan imiş
Savm u salat u haccile sanma biter zahid işin
İnsan-ı Kamil olmağa lazım olan irfan imiş
Kanden gelir yolun senin ya kande varır menzilin
Nerden gelip gittiğini anlamayan hayvan imiş
Mürşid gerektir bildire Hakkı sana hakkel-yakin
Mürşidi olmayanların bildikleri güman imiş
Her mürşide dil verme kim yolunu sarpa oğratır
Mürşidi kamil olanın gayet yolu asan imiş
Anla heman bir söz dürür yokuş değildir düz dürür
Alem kamu bir yüz dürür gören anı hayran imiş
İşit Niyazi'nin sözün bir nesne örtmez Hak yüzün
Hak'tan ayan bir nesne yok gözsüzlere pünhan imiş
-Niyazi Mısri-
EXPLORE ,26 sept. 2011 # 163
Thanks you all for your visits and your comments!!!!
__________________
* In the unconscious psychic processes are not identical to those known in the conscious mental life, but enjoy certain freedoms that are denied to them
Sigmund Freud
*Nell'inconscio i processi psichici non sono affatto identici a quelli noti nella vita psichica conscia, ma godono di certe libertà che a questi ultimi sono negate
Sigmund Freud
___________________
for a few coins
from your miserly pockets
she sits and waits
Muslim community
builds houses of gods
madrsas ..
she a demolished
house without gates
oh to see them begging
everyone hates
in silence her pain
of being a Muslim
destitute she narrates
while the jihad continues
killing of innocent people
in the name of Islam
wont abate
eunuch silence
just diatribe and debate
a suicide bomber
on the soul of humanity
has sealed his fate
virgins in paradise
as his soul mate
the mullah frowns
hesitates
a question mark
that time negates
another pawn
checkmate
hate only
more hate
creates
Despite our dreams of grandeur, infinite growth in a finite world is not going to work. No matter how much we negate the obvious, no matter how high we aim, reality will remind us its existence at some point. I am worried, I really am.
At first, when observing our species from outer space, an alien would perhaps find the situation amusing. After all, when a kid asks for a gigantic mountain of ice cream as a dessert, it may sound adorable, and bring some smiles. But the time of innocence and play is long gone. Now, as a globalized society, we keep expanding our territory, regardless of other forms of life, we keep burning forests, we keep extracting more and more energy, destroying and killing in the process. We even modeled a system in which a few select ones feel no shame exploiting the rest of the human beings, so to keep money flowing into their own pockets.
Don't get me wrong: ambition is fine, it is even necessary. But I don't see how it could act as a foundation for the negation of life itself. When I hear some world leaders saying seriously that money is much more important than life... yeah... money, that arbitrarily concept we invented ourselves, as an exchange tool, for the sake of a better... life.
Everything here is created out of my own photos, as per usual. Thanks for watching!
(IN THIS CASE THE SECOND ISSUE)
UNDECIDED WRITINGS
What is Sugo?
Sugo is not just a new magazine: above all it's a new magazine and for this reason, maybe, it's easier to define it by negation.
It is not a magazine dedicated to a specific subject or to a unique discipline; it doesn't cover only one field of expression or one culture. The name itself, Sugo (sauce) represents well the spirit of the magazine: a balanced mix of various ingredients, each of them with their own characteristics that, all together, will make an inviting magazine, always different, surprising and which speaks about something necessary, interesting, fresh and new.
Sugo goes through all the different expressions of visual arts - namely graphic-design, web design, photography, illustration, contemporary art, video, industrial design but also, why not? music, writing and cookery - with a special eye to the emerging trends. In a period in which visual communication is playing an increasing role in all the fields of our daily life and the borders among the different disciplines are going to disappear, Sugo represents a unique project in the Italian editorial panorama and reflects the evolution of the contemporary culture.
In this issue:
åbäke. Elisabeth Arkhipoff. Chris Barrett. Jason Bitner.Bruno Ceschel. Paola Bonini. Serena Brugolo. David Campay. Carlos Casas. Buckley Cassaranda. Matali Crasset. Designwork. Elliott Earls. Ecal. Jason Evans. Laurent Fetis. Amy Franceschini.Offumac. Peter Girardi. Jesse Hardman. Jamie Hayon. Steven Heller. Ichiro Higashiizumi. Maria Kalman. Margot Quan Knight. Reed Kram. Francesco Meneghini. Rick Meyerowitz. Dylan Nelson. Olaf Nicolai. Polly Noonan. Hans Ulrich Obrist. Mauro Panzeri. Davide Paolini. Sergio Polano. Lorenzo Ricciarelli. Tom Ridgway. Stefan Sagmeister. Alberto Savinio. Julie Shapiro. Alissa Shipp. Joshua Ray Stephens. Trenz. Matteo Vianello. Tyler Whisnand. Charlie White. Why Style.
Editor-in-chief
Giorgio Camuffo
Coordination
Massimo De Luca
Creative director
Sebastiano Girardi
Managing editor
Michela Miracapillo
Better when L is pressed
One more view into the Fraughn Rock Glen from the upper slopes of Benleagh. I remember why I like this corner of Wicklow so much now...
Nearly all of my shots are handheld simply because I do not want to lug a tripod around with me on top of camera, lenses, filters, water, food and various other bits and pieces. However the wind in these places negates any advantage in using a tripod.
Underwater camera
self. i wish i could've taken this photo as well as been in it. it's so perfect but that seems to be negated cos i wasn't behind the camera
© Laura Matesky. Please do not use this or any of my images without my permission.
Both chairs fighting for the same location. One loses the effect of the other as a great art piece by both fighting for the same location instead of working together to create. Silly chairs.
The roof of the maat in Lisbon/Portugal is accessable. The whole architecture of the maat is impressive. Look at these two: They are complete negating each other :)
Uploaded on December 11 2018
Are things getting serious, and are people playing for keeps? Or is it all just child's play?
Have you noticed all the calls for unity recently? But surely, a synonym for unity might be the absence of opposition, the negation of (even) the possibility of having a point of view divergent from the status quo. Those who fear competition might not be able to thrive in such an environment.
Hello there. Relevant comments welcome but please do NOT post any link(s). All my images are my own original work, under my copyright, with all rights reserved. You need my permission to use any image for ANY purpose.
Copyright infringement is theft.
"An "unemployed" existence is a worse negation of life than death itself."
~ José Ortega y Gasset
© All Rights Reserved - Erik Symes Photography
C-GFBR, an Antonov An-2PD-5, several minutes after it crashed at Greenbank Airport (CNP8) at Uxbridge, Ontario.
Soon after taking off at 0940 local, the aircraft experienced a serious oil leak that coated the cockpit windows and negated visibility. Thankfully, the sliding side windows in the cockpit were operable and allowed the highly skilled pilot to return the airplane to the 2,700-foot-long grass strip.
Upon landing at 0953, the aircraft slid uncontrollably (thanks to oil coated tires and wet grass) off the runway and into a culvert before slamming against the embankment.
The 1,000 horsepower radial engine was separated from the big biplane's firewall.
Details about the accident are available here:
With one draincock appearing to be stuck open, Stanier 'Princess Coronation' 4-6-2 no.46233 'Duchess of Sutherland' takes the climb past Sherriffs Brow in her stride. She Is hauling the RYTC's Norwich-Carlisle "Hadrian". The high temperature (25º) may have negated any steam exhaust, but this was probably a bonus, as the strong tail-end breeze was blowing straight down the line and could have cause me an issue.
My thanks to the local farmer for granting me permission to access his land and also to Simon Lathlane (www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/) for his help with this location.
The Himalayas are the highest mountain chain in the world and its
great height and complex geologic structure has a history that is most
amazing.
They were formed about 55 million years ago as a result of
plate-tectonic forces ( leakage of magma from the core of the earth
and its build up that makes land masses move) when the current
landmass of India moved from well below the south of the equator and
collided with the Eurasian land mass and the impact led to the
formation of these massive structures as the India plate got subsumed
under the Eurasian plate near the impact zone
The Himalayas are not merely a geographical feature, a range of
mountains; they epitomize a
people’s civilisational identity that goes back to the dawn of
history. For the whole of India and its Hindu ethos the mountains are
what is life for they provide the glacial melt and water that decide
the weather and climate of the whole land mass. All Gods reside in the
Himalayas and it is there that a Hindu must go to meet the maker.
In fact new theories suggest that the event 55 million years ago may
have also set the global climate change into motion.
Global climate began to cool around 55 million years ago, and
scientists theorize that this may have been driven by weathering
reactions in the Himalaya that removed carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, decreasing the greenhouse effect and cooling Earth.
Now we are seeing a change at the other extreme with global warming
taking place thanks mainly to the years of sustained pollution coming
in from the developed countries and fresh accreations from the
developing ones. When Africa starts contributing to it then I guess
the birth of Himalayas may get its negation.
In this shot a river is born in the Himalayas.
Don't miss to View On Black
“I’m now the most miserable man living.”
~Abraham Lincoln, 1841
Back in his days, it was absolutely commonplace to talk about one’s mental state as Abby does in the quote above. Sadly, as a society since then, we have regressed in our willingness to talk openly about the state of our minds. We are now advised by our peers and parents to not reveal our weaknesses. 'Suck it up', they say. But now, a virus from our worst nightmares has frozen the world over into a gigantic pause, proselytizing energetic lives into mental messes. If there was ever a need to openly talk about mental health, it is now.
Unsurprisingly, in the past few weeks, calls to mental health hotlines have doubled. A recent survey in April by San Diego State University revealed eight times higher prevalence of severe mental health issues compared to similar surveys two years ago. Healthcare professionals are quitting... their jobs, and in some sad instances, their lives. Loss of commonplace jobs like waitressing and Uber-driving has plunged young women and men into abysses of uncertainties. A generation of students are missing out on joys bored out of social activities, while their parents are juggling child care with work from home (no, one can’t sneeze and sip tea at the same time, if you are wondering). Senior and older members of our societies are facing ruthless isolation, likes of which have previously been dealt out only to lepers. While many of us find safety and peace in our homes, some of us are not that lucky to have a safe home. Even for the luckier ones, staying within those four walls for weeks is in complete disagreement with our deep instincts to go out and get things done. All of us are feeling abnormal. Utterly abnormal.
There, I said it. Abnormal. Psychologists formally refer to this same feeling as anticipatory grief. Unpack that slowly: Grief… Pain… Loss... from uncertain future. Loss of control. Helplessness. Depression. Dark thoughts. And like any other grief, as my friend Kirk so kindly pointed out the other week in a personal email, anticipatory grief also has those same Kübler-Ross stages that I have been storytelling you for a while with Keats, Emma and Nigel. While I intend to finish that narrative in days to come, a direct monologue with you feels like the order of the day. I am sensing the wall creeping up too close for some of my dear flickr friends, while others are likely following their trained societal instincts and refusing to talk about it. So, please allow the lunatic to break the ice. Let’s talk about the snow and then the thaw.
First and foremost, whatever you are experiencing is normal under our current circumstances. We have all lost our normal lives and – in one way or another – are tip-toeing at a precipice where uncertainties of the future are swirling like dark clouds below. Some are denying (and protesting), some are angry (and protesting or not), others are depressed, while a handful have accepted these circumstances – few of the classic Kübler-Ross stages of grief, you see. The way out from this shamble is actually not that hard: accept the situation for what it is and focus on something that one has total control over – gaining back the sense of control (on anything) is the ticket to feeling somewhat normal. No wonder, so many people have taken to baking breads, gardening, revisiting old books or learning about the virus from authentic sources (excellent thing to do as knowledge negates fear and anxiety), and – as in my case – telling stories. We have all been pushed into this predicament together, so it is fair to hope that we will all come out of it together too. Mourn not, but sing your hymns. Recite your poems. Bake your artisan sourdough. And believe with all your heart, as I do… this haboob too will blow away. When all this is over, everyone of us will have a big role to play in healing wounded minds with our beautiful heartfelt photos. Till then, my friend, hang in tight.
PS: If needed, I’ll gladly talk to you over the phone. Drop me a flickrmail.
Nikon d5500
38 x 8 seconds
50mm + Hoya filter
f/2.2
ISO 4000
Stitched in PTGui
This is another shot of the Milky Way over Two Rocks, this time it's the bigger of the two limestone formations, right next to the very well lit harbour! The light pollution kills a lot of the detail and colour in the core but with the Hoya filter it negates that just a bit........at least it lights up the big rock. The blue sky is also a result of the nearby light pollution.
Well, it's Monday morning again and many of you have your eye (reluctantly) on the week ahead of you. Well, this red-shouldered hawk has it's eye on something as well ... dinner!
Even when there's not too much going on in the Everglades, red-shouldered hawks are almost always out and about. On this particular day, it was very gloomy ... not much for photography, though it does negate the effect of the harsh sunlight, so it's not all bad. It was also very windy and rain was threatening. As usual, the mosquitoes were fierce, so there was a lot of "car-based scouting" going on.
We spotted this beautiful red-shouldered hawk perched in a tree. It didn't seem to mind that I wanted to photograph it, even letting me position myself to shoot it against the isolated sky. While it was aware of my presence, it never lost sight on its dinner spotted on the ground. After grabbing a few images, I thanked it for its time and patience, and let it go back to business. :-)
Have a wonderful week everyone! Thanks for stopping by to view.
© 2017 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
Stillness`is not the absence or negation of energy, life or movement. Stillness is dynamic. It is unconflicted movement, life in harmony with itself, skill in action.
this piece was exhibited in my exhibition called "Rite Of Death", during the "making art" event at Minshar for Arts, Tel Aviv, Israel. september 2009.
i exhibited sculture, installation, graphic art, and video art.
This design by Shuzo Fujimoto is an early example of an iso-area tessellation, i.e. one which looks the same on both sides, apart from possibly rotations and translations. The way I arranged the molecules on the sheet results in a straight margin on the model and slightly different shapes formed by the molecules: a rotated square on one side and a rounded shape on the other. This does not negate the tessellation being iso-area since that notion applies to the tessellation understood as an infinite pattern covering the complete plane. When a finite number of molecules are folded on a finite sheet, certain anomalies arise near the margins, and can be used for aesthetic effect.
The Crease Pattern for this model can be found in Shuzo Fujimoto’s books:
* Introduction to creative playing with origami, page 158
* Solid origami, page 96
If you know how to fold the standard square twist tessellation, you should be able to find out how to make the iso-area version by trial and error. Start by making a single square twist on one side of the model. For this design, I start from just the grid and don’t precrease the diagonally rotated small squares. In next step, turn over to the other side and make a square twist on the other side using one of the pleats that exit the back side of the molecule you made previously. The twists’ central squares on one side coincide with the X-shaped slits on the other. The only difficult part is finding out which part of which pleat to use once you have more than a few molecules already folded.
Full description and more pictures: origami.kosmulski.org/models/iso-area-square-twists-cfw-66
During the early days of the colonisation efforts on Hibernia, it became apparent that the drones used to colonise previous planets were too fragile to survive the ferocious Hibernian blizzards, and their mass-produced AI were unable to keep up with the constant readjustments and cross-calculations required to traverse the ever-changing landscape.
And thus, there was a need for both pilots of prodigious skill, and for long-range, heavy duty aircraft for them to fly.
Existing planes were too unwieldy to do the job, and the exposed rotors on helicopters were too easily damaged by the sheer quantity of solid ice moving around in the ice storms that ravaged the skies of the exoplanet, rendering them completely useless.
Again, the procurement crew had to turn to ex-military aircraft. The heavy duty, Rolls Royce shielded-intake drives of the Boxer AP30 were perfectly suited to survive the harsh weather and powerful enough to be able to lug cargo the long distances required. The forward engines were designed for vertical take-off and landing, negating the need for expensive and time-consuming runways.
The cargo gantry allowed for multiple containers to be loaded and unloaded easily by a small team on the ground, once again minimising the cost and increasing the efficiency of the whole process. A smaller hold located next to the crew habitat inside the fuselage could be packed with more sensitive supplies like rations and expensive technology.
What’s more, the cargo gantry could be refitted in minutes to carry smaller mining vehicles, and the heavy drives and pressurised hull allow it to undertake shortrange suborbital travel, allowing the Boxer to also undertake transport duties from the huge orbital colonisation ships to the exo planet’s surface.
As for crew, a pilot, copilot and navigator were all that was needed to operate the AP30. Volunteer crew, some military or colonial veterans, and others fresh-faced recruits from colonial worlds, formed the backbone of the colonial air service, and only the best and most reliable were handpicked to handle these beasts of burden.
On Hibernia, practicality is everything. The wide range of uses offered by this sturdy platform make it an indispensable cog in the colonial machine.
-
Built for the Hibernia world-building collaboration.
There’s a long story behind this build. The cockpit has been built for years now and it’s just sat on my desk, with different engine concepts coming and going but nothing ever sticking. When I joined the Hibernia group I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to finish this while I was feeling inspired.
I had a massive amount of fun making this boxy, ugly old dog of an aircraft. It took a while to get the whole thing to be stable but it’s now perfectly swooshable! It’s heavily inspired by some of the epic stuff that Andreas, Nick and Tayasuune made back in the old days.
I liked the idea of it being part spaceship part aircraft which was why I mixed the front VTOL engines with the more X-Wing style engines at the tail, and I like how it looks with that combination.
The whole thing is chunky and ugly but I made the gantry a little skinny so that it has a slightly agile look to it. The midsection behind the cockpit has loads of room and I could easily have added an interior, but I decided to pack it out with technic bricks to give the whole thing a bit more structural stability.
Huge thanks again to Toby for his help getting this bad boy to look right.
I threw in the Sprinter truck because why not, it looks sick!
This is another preview photo of my upcoming MOC, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to review United Bricks' first kit, the sIG 33.
The model itself is very nice and features an excellent level of detail, the image on the box doesn't do it justice. The packaging itself is sturdy too, however the side on view of the model has the wrong gun barrel. Also, the instructions are easy to follow too! For a model like this, the price is very reasonable (especially compared to, some other custom kit companies) at 7.99 which negates one of the main reasons why I generally don't buy custom kits.
Overall, the model is very cool and good value!
The upward, wide-angle interior view gives a good impression of the Pisan Romanesque architectural style and negates the tourists scurrying like ants on the marble church floor.
Pisa Cathedral
Tuscany, Italy
"Pisa Cathedral (Italian: Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Pisa) is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the three structures in the plaza followed by the Pisa Baptistry and the Campanile known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The cathedral is a notable example of Romanesque architecture, in particular the style known as Pisan Romanesque. Consecrated in 1118, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Pisa. Construction began in 1063 and was completed in 1092. Additional enlargements and a new facade were built in the 12th century and the roof was replaced after damage from a fire in 1595. [...]
The interior, subdivided at the front into a central nave flanked by two side aisles on either side and with the transept and apse in three naves, is covered with white and black marble, with monolithic grey marble columns having corinthian capitals. It has a wooden 17th-century coffered ceiling, painted and decorated with gold leaf, made by Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati; it bears the Medici coat of arms. Presumably the earlier ceiling was a structure with wooden trusses. [...]"
(Wikipedia)
Shooting butterflies indoors in natural light (due to flash use being prohibited) makes getting sharp and clear shots more difficult.
Shooting with a tripod (I use a Benro A2970T w/ a Giottos MH1301 head) negates some of these issues however and when the butterfly allows you to come in as close as this Achilles blue morpho (Morpho achilles) did on an mid-January visit to the Haga Ocean Butterfly House in Solna, Sweden, well then you can capture pretty darn nice details with the longer shutter speeds becoming available with the tripod - this is at .5 seconds.
This was taken in 60 mph wind gusts. I had to bump up the ISO to get a shutter speed fast enough to negate the winds. A storm is moving in, but so far all that's happened is it blocked out the sun. Hoping to get some drama before I leave/
Two coupled Southeastern Class 395 Javelins, having just left Strood Station, approach Rochester (Railway) Bridge. It's next stop will be Rochester, across the River Medway, the other side of the bridge. Shot from the top of the Keep of Rochester Castle.
Visually impressive, the Class 395 Javelins have always been a bit of an anomaly on the British Railway Network. They were Hitachi Rails big break into the European market. A fleet of very reliable Highspeed trains built for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now known as High Speed 1) that were part of the 2012 Olympics Transport Strategy (hence the name 'Javelin' and with many units named after British Olympians.) The High Speed Section of HS1, as far as the Southeastern 395 services go, however, only stretches as far as Ashford from London St Pancras. So of limited use to actual day to day commuters. Though it's now a journey that takes 45 minutes less than previous services. With the prestige of the Olympics over though, Southeastern seemingly had to find other uses for them and put them to work on other 'secondary' Southeastern Kentish routes on the third rail, massively negating their 140mph capability on the overhead wire. This came at a detriment to other cheaper Southeastern services which were either cut from the timetables or slowed down to accommodate the 'High Speed' 395 services!
Really liked this perspective of the ever popular, well preserved historical street of Kyoto.
It was late afternoon and the sun was blazing at a low angle illuminating the 2nd floor of the ancient buildings along one side of the street.
I think this looks great in Black & White due to the juxtaposition of light and shadow coupled with the feeling of nostalgia along this ancient street. No burnt highlights or high ISO grainy noise in this shot.
This street is also free of the overhead power lines that mar the rest of Kyoto thus enhancing and evoking the nostalgic feel.
The girl stopping for a sip, the man digging his ear, frozen in time along a street that’s frozen in time.
I’ve been checking up on the Ricoh GRiii as replacement. I once told a Flickr buddy that I shoot both FF and m4/3 formats and hence have no place for APS-C cameras. Well, my Ricoh GR is in fact APS-C but it’s such a special camera to me that I’ve never considered it in terms of sensor size. The Ricoh GR defies classification as it’s in a class of its own. Personally the Ricoh GR is my essential kit, if only it was built better it would be perfect!
There are some rumblings of the current GRiii heating up in use, mostly due to its IBIS which is new in the GRiii. IBIS is totally useless for street shots such as this, a built-in flash would have been more useful in general but unfortunately they removed this in the latest version. Marketeers masquerading as reviewers tell us that with IBIS, we can handhold at slower shutter speeds and hence negating the need for a built-in flash. Fact is, flash and IBIS are not quite fungible, the IBIS can never provide fill-in flash effects for instance.
The IBIS implementation on the GRiii is really poor, it should have been made to activate only on half press of the shutter so that it won’t stay on all the time causing the camera to heat up. In addition, the IBIS should be automatically deactivated if we are shooting it at shutterspeeds above 3x focal length.
"Affirmation"
I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self-esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye
I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye
I believe forgiveness is the key to your own happiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye
Give him a penny not just for him but for yourself too. And may that penny aid him as much as it would negate the sins you have done.
Taken with iPhone 4 and edited using camera+ and blurFX.
deer from deviant art. have the file, not the link! oops :[ search deer antlers in stock and you'll see it. i actually negated the antlers to be white.
had a good day today. felt happy to be myself and with myself. and now i will treat all my hard work today with an hour session of hardcore new moon readings.
The Limehouse Cut is a largely straight, broad canal in the East End of London, which links the lower reaches of the Lea Navigation to the River Thames. Opened in 1770, and widened for two-way traffic by 1777, it is the oldest canal in the London area. The canal allows boats to avoid negotiating the tortuous bends on the lower reaches of Bow Creek (the tidal section of the River Lea), and also negates the need to traverse the large bend in the River Thames around the Isle of Dogs
Well, this is it, Brexit day. Not celebrating, never wanted it, voted against it, but here it is finally (kind of, with 11 months of negation s#&t to endure). Much prefer to be in than out, there I’ve said it in true Remoaner style!
This is a very scenic area in the rural back country of San Diego County. It is near Lake Henshaw and Warner springs. I drove out here to go storm chasing a few weeks ago and I caught up with a big thunderstorm. That was a lot of fun. The scenery was fantastic.
But, one thing that gets me: It seems I could spend hours tweeking the colors and adjustments on a photo, but then when I load it on flickr, it comes out darker or with some very significant change in quality that seems to negate all the endless tweaking I did. Does that happen to anyone else sometimes?
As it’s a lunar eclipse with a blood moon in the UK tonight (though it’ll be partway through by moonrise), I thought it would be appropriate to share this image for Sliders Sunday.
It’s one I mangled some time ago now but never published. The subject is a Shasta daisy from my garden. They make good images for working with white petals and a large central yellow area full of twiddly bits. They look symmetric, but like a lot of flowers, they aren’t quite regular (and nor are we). I’ll post the in-camera original in the first comment.
The mangling was done in Affinity and relies on blend modes. As usual, I’ll try and give you an inkling of how it was done in the hope you might be tempted to have a bit of fun for yourself (you can always use my original image to get you started).
After the basic development of the raw file, I duplicated the image layer and blended it with Linear Burn, which strengthened the colours. I then used a Minimum Blur filter (also available in Photoshop, I think), which made the blocky chunks of colour. At this stage, we were still safely in the white/yellow colour scheme.
Next came a Posterise adjustment (in this case set at 24 levels), which gave the banding. But the main effect was achieved by using the Negation blend mode on this adjustment layer to invert the colours. I bled back a bit of the original image by setting the opacity to 95%; this was to make the effect less harsh.
Next up, I used a maximum blur filter but the blur was minimal in reality. The main effect was achieved by switching the blend mode on this filter to Multiply which zaps the contrast and reduces much of the image to black. A few more tweaks and there we are.
It’s not that I know what I am doing when I fiddle like this. My technique, such as it is, is to try this and that and see what looks interesting (to me at least!) and take it from there until I run out of time or achieve a result I want to record (or get bored ;) ).
Thanks for taking the time to look. And if you read the blurb, give yourself a glass of red wine quickly… Happy Sliders Sunday :)
My barber’s ’57 Chevy. The guy, in color, standing behind his car is my barber. Dominic has been my barber for 13 years (but if he doesn’t appreciate the artwork I am doing for his car, he might not be my barber for long)………… ha,ha.
The car, as indicated is about 95% show room stock. It’s powered by the original 283 cu V-8. The transmission is the GM 3-speed Powerglide. The car is impeccably clean and well maintained.
The coloring seen in this picture is control by Photoshop’s “Hue & Saturation” Adjustment slider (The user, “me” controls the slider………..) At this point I have made a selection of the car and ‘might be’ using a different front tire & wheel in the artwork version. My plan is to try and create a retro advertisment, using Dominic’s ’57 Chevy in place of the 1957 Chevy illustration in the ad. A rather “adventurous” project so not sure if I can pull it off. I have downloaded some original 1957 Chevy ads that I am hoping I can use as a backdrop but the “perfect” image doesn’t seem to exist. It upsets me that I apparently tossed out a collection of original 50’s, 60’s and 70’s car brochures that were cluttering my closet. I think but not sure I had a 1957 Chevy brochure in the collection.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens………..or doesn’t!
*** Note rear wheel rim. Lacks color. A goof up. I probably neglected to paint with black in that area on the Hue & Saturation Mask. The Hue & Saturation was adjusted to "de-saturate" the hues of cyan, green and blues. Since the color of the car contains hues of these colors, the subject car became de-saturate along with elements in the background. I needed to negate the effects of the Hue & Saturation by painting with black on the Layer mask. I did so for the car but obviously I missed this one small area. Follow? If this confuses anyone or if anyone would like further explanation just let me know.