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All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness. -
Eckhart Tolle
© John Phillips, USA. All rights reserved.
A little over 30 miles to the south of Silver City, New Mexico is an area of large, sculpted rock formations known as City of Rocks. The rocks are about 40 feet tall and cluster in groups.
Alyth is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
The Burn of Alyth runs through the town with footbridges criss-crossing it.
so I'm sitting in a brewery... (why do all my stories start with that?!)
and I'm facing this. I'd been hiking all day and the camera was stowed in the car for the day. I'm not getting up, I'm not getting up..... Dang it, I gotta get up!!
the house itself had fantastic lines and angles that were screaming at me and then the setting sun hit that wonderful out of place tree, so here it is, hope you like it as much as I do.
One lovely aspect of lockdown was the opportunity to connect with nature in my own garden.
Now the youngsters have fledged we are regularly invaded by six or seven of these busy beauties
Long tailed tit - Aegithalos caudatus
My Garden
Many thanks as always to everyone who passes by to view my photos and particularly to those who take the time to comment on or fave them. It is very much appreciated and welcome.
DSC_4297
Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one's head.”
~Mark Twain
Therefore I have to return each time
The wind through my hair
My footsteps in the sand
and than whistling of joy ..
View also in large and Black
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and all of the invites!
The response to this photo has been way more than I expected....thank you!
Within, you hold a tiny piece of eternity, a fraction of life, a mirror of the universe.
Vironika Tugaleva
I found this patch of Aspen trees in Colorado with some romantic gestures of love as couples carved their initials and the date of their visit.
Aspen trees can live up to 100 years so these marks could quite possibly be there for sometime. I wouldn’t have thought twice about the effects on doing this years ago but I decided to look it up before I posted it the image.
I did find this when researching about tree carvings, "cutting into trees can lead to disturbing of the tree’s flow of nutrients that it needs to survive. Below the layer of bark there are cells in the tree that help the tree grow and stay healthy, and destruction of those cells could harm the tree.”
How do you feel on carving into trees?
As always thank you for viewing my work and taking the time to comment or like it.
Mike D.
Game of Thrones's location for the Tower of Joy in Castillo de Zafra (Spain). Birthplace of you know who...
Lugar de rodaje de Juego de Tronos para la Torre de la Alegría en el Castillo de Zafra (Guadalajara, España) El lugar donde nació ya sabéis quien...
My tulips are just about to burst open. They are fantastic fotomodels in every stage though. You might see some more of these over the next days :-)
I felt if he could speak to us or sing to us he would be singing " Oh what a beautiful morning " The beautiful male green crowned brilliant was on a nearby branch and I could not help but capture a few!! Such awesome beauty and Costa Rica has beauty at every turn . We will be heading back with Nature's Tapestry Photo Adventure Tours next November 2018 and April 2019 . If you would like further details please email us and we will be happy to send you more info. Also we will be leading a trip to Ecuador in August and the Patanal, Brazil the end of September 2018.
Wishing you a beautiful and blessed Thursday !!!!!!!
“Small unexpected acts of kindness are the building blocks of greatness. Start your day with a smile and see where it takes you ...”
― Edwin Lionel Flynn
Season's Greetings
❤ BLOG: Credits & Slurls & More ❥
sllorinovo.blogspot.ca/2014/12/seasons-greetings.html
Metallica - Carol of the Bells
• Founded in 1693, the town of Matanzas is the capital of the province of the same name. Matanzas is located 90 kilometres east of Havana, on the nothwestern coast of Cuba. Matanzas is known for its poets, culture, Afro-Cuban folklore and is the birthplace of the music and traditional dances danzón (cuban national dance) and rumba. It is also called ‘The City of Bridges’ with its nineteen bridges that cross three rivers.
• Fondée en 1693, la ville de Matanzas est la capitale de la province du même nom. Matanzas est située à 90 kilomètres à l'est de La Havane, sur la côte nord-ouest de Cuba. Matanzas est connue pour ses poètes, la culture, le folklore afro-cubain et est le berceau de la musique et des danses traditionnelles danzón (danse nationale cubaine) et rumba. Matanzas est aussi appelée « La ville des ponts » avec ses dix-neuf ponts qui traversent trois rivières.
• Fundada en 1693, la ciudad de Matanzas es la capital de la provincia del mismo nombre. Matanzas se encuentra a 90 kilómetros al este de La Habana, en la costa noroeste de Cuba. Matanzas es conocida por sus poetas, cultura, folklore afrocubano y es la cuna de la música y los bailes tradicionales danzón (baile nacional cubano) y la rumba. Matanzas también se llama " La Ciudad de los Puentes ", con sus diecinueve puentes que cruzan tres ríos.
St. Canute's Cathedral / Odense / Funen / Denmark
Album of Denmark: www.flickr.com/photos/tabliniumcarlson/albums/72157712208...
Album of High-key photos: www.flickr.com/photos/tabliniumcarlson/albums/72157718851...
Group Cover \o/
Group Location: www.flickr.com/groups/art-of-emotions/
Original Pix: www.flickr.com/photos/57752611@N04/46459275905/in/photost...
On one of our last hiking tours we passed this beautiful house in Bad Berleburg, Germany. Very cute and inviting. What I ask myself all the time is why does someone put a tray with slices of bread on the bench in front of the house? Should they be dried in the sun or is it a gesture for hikers who come along the way or, or, or ....
To this day it remains an unsolved mystery to me!
Does somebody has any idea?
Another photo of my new character of D&D, this time with women's clothing and in her natural environment :3
General view of the amazing stairs of the bookstore Lello & Irmão, in Porto, Portugal.
One of the oldest bookstore of the country, it is frequently rated among the top bookstores in the world.
It is difficult to do this photo because it is a small and a crowdy place.
This day, I was the first one to came in, literaly ran to the first floor to this point of view, and shot 6 or 7 pictures like this with my wide angle lense. People were already climbing the stairs at this moment. I then merged the pictures into Photoshop and erased the visitors, giving that impression there was nobody into the bookstore.
It was a great challenge for me, as I only had one chance to do this, and I am quite happy with the result.
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On the east side of Detroit is a piece of history in ruin. in 1903 this massive 3,500,000 square feet facility was known as the most modern automotive manufacturing plant in the world. Here, the luxury auto brand know as the Packard rolled off the assembly line. The company later became the Studebake-Packard Corporation. The plant closed in 1958 and was used by small companies and as a storage facility until 1990. Today the 40 acre location sits empty riddled with graffiti, vandalism, and other suspicious activity. I got to noticed what appeared to be 3 drug deals while I carefully explored.
Chain of Hearts leaves.
This one grows in a pot and the hearts cascade down the sides of the pot .
It has a weird and wonderful flower.
I have a photo of that too.
Ceropegia woodii
These plants are one of the hardiest succulents. They can be grown indoors or outdoors. The long tendrils can grow up to a metre in a season and fill pots very fast. They look very effective in hanging baskets inside your home or outside in a sunny or shady position. The Chain of Hearts do not need frequent watering. Allow to dry out inbetween waterings.
Have a lovely day
This was an idea of my Flickr friend Jim Hill. I already posted two of those images separately and he proposed that it could make a nice triptych if I included a third one with a modern digital look. He saw more in this triptych as well as he noted that the amount of people in the images could stand for the growing accessibility of photography. Kudos to you, Jim!
If you like this triptych, head over to Jim's page and leave him a few likes. If not, head over there all the more and find something you like. His night images from Chicago stand out and are among the most interesting work here on Flickr.
This also concludes my series of images from Corfu. Tomorrow, a series in Frankfurt will start.
The then silent night had given way to the screams of pain, terror and the sinister and spiteful laughs of the vampire.
Their swords created through their own blood, with extreme speed fall on their victims dismembering them and decapitating. They didn't even have a chance to fight him with dignity, as they could only feel a sudden strong wind, see a brief figure and then, their bodies were sliced up with such force that their armor felt like paper.
In the sky, the moon shone like a huge, glittering silver scythe, a somewhat apt shape for this night, when he was a reaper and didn't make a point of leaving any poor devil alive. Everyone would pay for standing against him. With grace and extreme savagery their swords continued to fall on those who could no longer flee, who due to such fear, were paralyzed. It was a slaughter. He didn't care, he wouldn't be forgiving or pious tonight, he would be brutal and he insisted on demonstrating all his power, so that no mortal, vampire, or werewolf would ever make a point of rising up against him again. He would allow only the women and children to survive this night, to tell everyone about the horror that had befallen their city. When the animals controlled by a demon invaded the city gates, as if lashed by its invisible whip, and when finally the devil himself descended on them, always almost invisible, like a wind of death, at first tearing with its beastly claws the terrified people of the city, then impaling them, with spears created through their own blood, setting the city ablaze with flames that seemed to arise from hell itself or from your heart aflame with hate. When then the two swords set to fall on them, cutting flesh, amputating limbs and beheading heads.
The city of Khaldheim would be an example to everyone. The fire flickered in the burning houses, like huge insatiable demons wanting to feed on more and more, turning the once majestic houses to ashes. Like the flames, his swords were not content with the pile of dismembered bodies left in his path, like a scarlet wind, he continued to claim lives and as he did, he laughed with delight, for few things gave him more pleasure than wanton killing. His laughter echoed through the air, chilling the blood of those who were still alive even more, announcing that it wouldn't be for long.
TGIF right? Still not 100% sure what to do for a weekend, but I certainly hope that we get to have fun like for the last one! This image was shot in Grand Haven, MI and the weather was amazing. What is more amazing was the sheer amount of people walking back and forth to the lighthouse! I decided to try my luck from the other side and I think it was right thing to do. What do you think?
Sunrises of the summer, what may be more beautiful and more romantic. Another photo from the morning park in my city.
Thank you for all the comments and faves, my dear friends.
One of the last YN2 EMDs on the CSX Roster, SD40-2 8484, leads maintenance of way tie train A038 south on the Jesup Subdivision at Fort Mudge, GA.
The train would begin dropping ties just north of the Racepond siding and continue to do so south of there. This made for quite the surprise at the time and it's easily one of my top catches from 2020. The only other mainline appearance this unit made before becoming a full time Waycross Trim Unit was on A794 on January 4th, 2020.
Thousands of years ago ...
He lay ...
but not sleep dear ..
His face is staring ...
and his frozen smile as if to say ...
"we are at war ...
we're fighting against the sun ...
For proof that we once existed ... and are on this earth ... "
It's been thousands of years ...
he is lying ..
but not sleep dear ..
a hole in his chest was still burning, like his spirit ...
His face is staring at the sky ...
and his frozen smile seemed to say
"I'm still so young ..."
That day is a day without a hero ...
a day that no one can help him ...
and he made a story
for this world ...
______________________rant 73, July 22.2019
Off to the left of this American bullfrog was a Green heron, daring the heron, come eat me...Happy to report froggy survived! Wildwood Lake, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
... oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre!
One of the most fantastic sunsets I have ever seen. Taken at the Mull of Kintyre on Saturday evening. The islands are, I think, in the front Rathlin Island, and behind that Northern Ireland.
This image was pretty much straight out of the camera (I just lightened the shadows a tiny notch, and added a tiny bit of tonal contrast). I had a bit of a job deciding whether the horizon was straight though---feel free to tilt your screen if not :D
We're in the midst of a snowy, white wonderland here once again, today. Any hopes for seeing anything green are purely in our dreams! Happy 'Dreaming of Green' Fence Friday, my friends, have a wonderful weekend! :)
'You ask, why Carhenge? Creator Jim Reinders responds to that question simply with one of his own: “Why Not?”'
Thank you for taken your time to visit me, comments or faves are always much appreciated!
Wide-angle view of vibrant Tokyo skyline at dusk - one of the few clear nights we have had over recent weeks.
Images may not be copied, printed or otherwise disseminated without express written permission. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of these images and materials without written permission is prohibited.
All images are low resolution. Please contact me if you wish to use high resolution images.
Copyright © 2016 Duane Walker. All Rights Reserved.
:: " A book can also be where one finds oneself; and when a reader is grasped by and held by a book, reading does not feel like an escape from life so much as it feels like an urgent, crucial dimension of life itself." ::
{Rebecca Mead - My Life in Middlemarch}
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
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...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
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. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
... the bokeh is so in love with the flower
in royal blue that it forms a heart :-)
Happy Monday everyone!
Looking close... on Friday! theme: Shades of Purple
Thank you everyone for your visits, faves, and kind comments
"I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We will walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold"
"You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold"
Digital scan made from a 35mm colour transparency using a Dimage Dual Scan and processed with PhotoShop CS2