View allAll Photos Tagged PERCEPTIVE
"Lately I have been frequenting bad houses
Places no respectable man would be seen"
(Big Black, "Bad Houses")
"Whatever I see I swallow immediately"
(Sylvia Plath, "Mirror")
Kinky Vintage Mirror by No Beans!
Another one for Peach Boucher, the woman who sees my hips don’t lie. Which is mighty perceptive, darling. 👓🔥
Reflections: Big Black - Bad Houses
On the day of the Super Tuesday Primaries in February, I posted a different version of this shot, taken at the Telfair Museum in Savannah. I was intrigued by the image and felt that it said something on a symbolic level, but I was not sure what. I had just joined Flickr at the time, and only a handful of people saw this, but I was struck by the following perceptive comment from a contact in California:
“This is an intriguing image that I think is open to a number of interpretations. I am assuming that the little seated dolls/statues are part of an art installation, and this mom and kids are visiting....
I'm trying to avoid the cynical and pretty obvious, and unfortunately real-life, interpretation of the many babies of color are at the bottom of the stair, and the Caucasian babies are in smaller numbers at the "top of the heap"....
Instead, given that this is super Tuesday, I'll try to read into this my hope that we can all join together "in the family of man" to bring this country together and move into the future with more unity (while retaining the diversity that makes us strong) and more strength of purpose to improve the world....”
What do you think?
Pets make such an impact on our lives. Both of these are gone now. Tigger, on the top, and Squeegee, were two of my all time favorite pets.
Tigger was a bit of a mystery. He had lived at Sugar Mill Gardens for many years before I "met" him. I went there to see him, not the gardens, because a friend here on Flickr had told me about him. I didn't know it, but that fist encounter on New Year's Day 2008 would be the start of an almost 5 year relationship with this precious cat.
Tigger was the unofficial mascot of the gardens for years. As the story goes, his owner, an elderly lady, passed away and left him to her very young grand daughter. I was told that they had scattered her ashes in the gardens. Tigger began escaping from his home down the street every day, and eventually, when the family moved, they decided to leave him in the care of the volunteers, thinking that's where he wanted to be.
For years Tigger ruled the roost, and greeted everyone who came in. He was known by many names, and people would affectionately call him what they felt was appropriate. His original name had been Jack! The staff dubbed him Tigger, so that's what I called him.
After 8 months, I brought Tigger home to live with me, and cared for him until shortly after this photo was taken, when he had to be put down because of lymphoma on Dec. 24, 2012. My friend, Susan, who had told me about him, and loved him dearly but couldn't have him due to severe cat allergies, was with me when Tig breathed his last. We both cried bitterly.
Squeegee was my oldest kitty. I'd had him for about 17 years when he went down, which would have made him about 18 years old. He was my special pet, ever vigilant to alert me to impending migraines, or problems with the other cats. Squeeks was the most perceptive, intuitive animal I'd ever known. He would talk to me, and answer back! Tig did the same, but not quite as much. Squeeks was put down when he began to completely succumb to kidney failure on Oct. 19, 2015.
Both of these kitties were special to me. They rate on the top of my list of special pet loved ones. I miss them as if they were human. It is nice being able to look at them in pics like this. It's almost like they're there. These two were friends, and hung out quite close. In this pic, Squeegee was definitely sensing something wrong, and he remained near Tigger. That day, Tig looked out the window a lot. It was as if he was taking it in one last time. I thought this was the day before he died, but the camera's info is saying 2 days. In either case, it was close to the end, and he knew it. I bugged him getting these last shots. He wasn't a cuddler, so this was my way of coping.
Now, both Tigger, Squeegee, and my other old kitty, Barrymore are gone. They left a huge void, but I have two twins, Ragnar and Freja, who have livened up my household and keep me busy! Rags is a lap cat, and Freja is talky but not cuddly. They're orange kitties, too, and adorable! it's about time for more pics of them!
Quasi -Paradoxical Attitudes Towards Morbid Inhalants.
Paradis de rosée de miel visions merveilleuses ébauches détaillées descriptions incroyables comptes hallucinateurs compréhension compréhension croissante des langues éveillées augmentent,
darnau llafar ynganu mythau gwych wybodaeth plastigrwydd gofod ehangu llenyddiaeth seicedelig ddychymyg diddorol chwilfrydedd mawr,
Bruciando le notti afrodisiache le luci squisite le espressioni armoniose della soddisfazione che deriva la dissociazione spezzato le strane sorprese di stupore,
Wahnsinn Lachen Fantasie wünscht intensive Stimulanzien voluptuary moralische Intoxikation nervöse Energie wunderbare Erfahrungen, die übertriebene Träume wiedererobern,
Stramme utviklinger kontinuerlig ettersyn perceptual perceptive reaksjoner fengslet scenario edelt synd natt mareritt truende stemmer skrikende spekulasjoner,
類似性を分離する疑わしい性質続く物語奇妙な並行する未知の方法煎じ薬の麻酔の達成感覚的な好奇心の意識奇妙な.
Steve.D.Hammond.
Developed originally to serve as a fast light armor asset for quick hit and run tactics as well as integrated reconnaissance fire-support, the Harasser quickly became popular as an all-encompassing multi-role 'mech. Variants ranged from basic front-line squad based units to domestic police law enforcement.
Channeled some Red Spacecat decal goodness and gave printing my own waterslides a try. Worked out reasonably well, although the perceptive will notice some bubbles. As always, fits a fig in a cockpit with a functioning hatch that I forgot to photograph.
Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing video game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Story is set in the 31st century, in a world where humans have regressed to primitive tribal societies as a result of some unknown calamity. Their technologically advanced predecessors are vaguely remembered as the "Old Ones." Large robotic creatures known merely as "machines" now dominate the Earth. For the most part, they peacefully coexist with humans, who occasionally hunt them for parts. However, a phenomenon known as the "Derangement" has caused machines to become more aggressive towards humans, and larger and deadlier machines have begun to appear. There are three tribes that are prominently featured: the Nora, the Carja, and the Oseram. The Nora are fierce hunter-gatherers who live in the mountains and worship nature as the "All-Mother." The Carja are desert-dwelling city builders who worship the Sun. The Oseram are tinkerers known for their metalworking, brewing, and arguing. Aloy was cast out from the Nora tribe at birth, raised by an outcast named Rost (JB Blanc). As a child, she obtained a Focus, a small augmented reality device that gives her special perceptive abilities. After coming of age, Aloy (Ashly Burch) enters a competition called the Proving to win the right to become a Nora Brave, and by extension, a member of the Nora tribe. Aloy wins the competition, but the Nora are suddenly attacked by cultists. Aloy is almost killed by their leader Helis (Crispin Freeman), but is saved by Rost, who sacrifices himself to save Aloy from a bomb. When Aloy awakes, a Matriarch explains that the cultists had gained control of corrupted machines. Aloy also learns that as an infant, she was found at the foot of a sealed door. An Oseram foreigner called Olin (Chook Sibtain) informs Aloy that the cultists are part of a group calling themselves the Eclipse. Olin indicates that the reason Aloy was targeted by the Eclipse was due to her resemblance to an Old World scientist named Dr. Elisabet Sobeck (also voiced by Burch).
thunderstorm builds over the palisade region, kings canyon national park, california
© 2014 All Rights Reserved
'I am suddenly close to something very great and very large, something containing me and all this around me, something I only dimly perceive, and understand not at all. Perhaps if I am here, aware, and perceptive, long enough I will.'
~ Randy Morgenson, McClure Meadow logbook, 1973, Kings Canyon National Park
First off:
OMG ITS BEEN SO LONG!!??
Ya, so in case you haven't noticed lately I've been super inactive on here. And I'm sorry, I really do want to upload in here but I just hardly have the time to make figures anymore let alone upload pictures of them. But I'm going to try to be way more on top of things now, but finding the time is just really hard. Anyways.
Telltales second episode here was umm really awesome. I honestly had so much fun being like a member of the "pact" I really enjoyed this episode and I'm so excited for the next.
So I know a lot of people don't like this adaptation of Harley Quinn but I really do, I've heard a lot of complaints about the way telltale is doing things and it not being faithful to the source material but I disagree. I really enjoy it, it makes things fresh and interesting but also still Batman.
L-R:
John Doe: I love John, like straight up if there's an option to romance John in the future I will take it. I'm such a big fan of him here. Every time we interact with him I'm on the edge of my seat. Like what is he gonna do. Anyway big fan of John. The figure is nothing interesting.
Mr. Freeze: He didn't have a lot to do in this episode but I'm excited to see his role grow bigger in future episodes.
Ideal head would be LBM Freeze but I don't have that. Ultron piece, handcuff gauntlet to show his glove, Freeze torso and War Machine legs.
Bruce Wayne: I love Telltale's Bruce Wayne, I like how real of a person he is, Bruce isn't just a mask for Batman which I like.
Owen grady torso, Superboy head and legs and the hat is the best I could find.
Bane: I'm not the biggest fan of this Bane but I still like him. I think starting off the episode with him was a smart choice showing the true danger of the Pact.
Bane head, Lego movie moustache, handcuff gauntlets, reversed Lex Luthor torso, CMF Dino hunter legs.
Harley Quinn: Definitely the highlight of the episode for me. I loved her, at first I thought the accent seemed kinda forced but it grew on me. The car drive was probably my favorite scene because of her. I loved how smart she was, We all know Harley Quinn is very smart and how perceptive she is. But that doesn't always show in other renditions of her. While I know some will disagree with me here I found it very interesting how Telltale has reversed the Joker-Harley relationship and I'm excited to see how it progresses.
Custom cape jacket thing, LBM Mayor hair, Jokerland torso and head, Superboy arms, 2012 leg, LBM hips, Hawkeye leg, and she's wielding her gun and sledgehammer.
Let me know what you guys thought of the Pact, and the figures. So glad to be back!
Shiva
--------
Shiva (pronounced /ˈʃiːvə/; Sanskrit: शिव Śiva, meaning "auspicious one";) is a major Hindu deity, and the Destroyer or transformer of the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is regarded as one of the five primary forms of God.
Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit Śaiva). Shaivism, along with Vaiṣṇava traditions that focus on Vishnu and Śākta traditions that focus on the goddess Shakti are three of the most influential denominations in Hinduism.
Shiva is usually worshipped in the abstract form of Shiva linga. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava upon Apasmara Purusha, the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the lord of the dance. He is also the father of Ganesha, Murugan, and Ayyappa.
The Sanskrit word Shiva (Devanagari: शिव, śiva) is an adjective meaning "auspicious, kind, gracious". As a proper name it means "The Auspicious One", used as a name for Rudra. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. The adjective śiva, meaning "auspicious", is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra, but of several other Vedic deities.
The Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the god Shiva", and this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism.
Adi Sankara, in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", or "the One who is not affected by three Gunas of Prakrti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)" or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name." Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu sahasranama, further elaborates on that verse: Shiva means "the One who is eternally pure" or "the One who can never have any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas".
Shiva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great God"; mahā = Great + deva = God), Maheśhvara ("Great Lord"; mahā = Great + īśhvara = Lord), and Parameśhvara ("Supreme Lord").
There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva. The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition.[18] Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.
Gupta Art
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The Gupta Empire was known for one of the largest political and military empires in the history of ancient India. It was ruled by the Gupta dynasty during the period of around 240 to 550 CE. The area covered by the rulers was comprised of most of the part of northern India, current Pakistan and Bangladesh. The period of the Gupta Empire is marked as Golden age to Indians specially in the field of art. Various subjects covering science, astronomy, religion, and philosophy had reached to the level of excellence during this period. The peace and prosperity were existing in the empire under leadership of Guptas enabled artist to deliver their best. The decimal numeral system, showing the presence of zero was invented in India during the reign of the Guptas. Certainly, to a large extent the Gupta Empire was considered a great power.
This Gupta period is truly marked as the Golden age of Indian culture and art. The examples showing the excellence of their cultural creativity are magnificent through the creative architecture, sculpture, and painting.
The Gupta era was also a golden age for Buddhist art. Uniform artistic standards were set in this period resulted in creation of sculptures at Mathura and Sarnath. Mathura and Sarnath have produced some of the finest specimen of Buddhist art during the Gupta period. Gupta style of art featuring a finished mastery in execution and a majestic serenity in expression was spread to other countries and mainly responsible for influencing Buddhist art in all over Asia.
The period of Gupta dynasty seems to have been a time of relative religious tolerance. This can be pointed out as though the main religion of the Guptas was Hinduism, Buddhism received royal patronage and Jainism appears to have prospered as well.
The sculptures & wall paintings at the Ajanta cave are marvelous example of the greatest and most powerful works of Guptas. The themes of sculptures and paintings from the Ajanta dominate the influence of Buddha. Various art pieces of this place depict about various lives of the Buddha, but apart from it, these are the best source of studying the daily life of in India at the time. Sculptors from Guptas period had carved out of the rock to create these sculptures between 460 and 480 CE. And most of the part is filled with Buddhist sculptures.
The colorful and vibrant art pieces at Ajanta are famous not only for observing details of nature and the urban landscape, but the architecture and furnishing, elegant attire and alluring ornaments on the images are marked with importance. These sculptures carry importance for showing perceptive delineations of a variety of human characters, expressions and moods through its appearance. The most well known work from the Ajanta caves is the "Bodhisattva Padmapani." The colorful image portrays the Buddha in Bodhisattva holding a lotus flower.
The creation of monumental temples during the Gupta period remains as architectural wonders. The cave temples of Elephanta and structural temples of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu are enduring legacy Gupta rulers.
An another masterpiece of Guptas art is the rock temple at Elephanta near Bombay. The temple structure contains a powerful, eighteen-foot statue of the three-headed Shiva, known as Trimurthi. Each head of statue represents one of the roles of Shiva: that of creating, that of preserving, and that of destroying. The Gupta period also saw dynamic building of Hindu temples too. All of these temples followed the tradition of having architecture that comprising of a hall and a tower.
All the sculptures produced throughout the Gupta Empire can be marked for having the appearance of relatively uniform "classic" style. The style was spread in other parts of India and in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. The Gupta style in sculpturing has greatly influenced the art of north Indian kingdoms in later period after the end of the Gupta dynasty. There were two main artistic centers for sculpture production: At Sarnath, the images of Buddha with clinging drapery are produced while at Mathura the image following the pattern of string folds in the drapery are created.
Unfortunately, very few monuments built during Gupta reign are able to survive today. Some more examples of presentation of Gupta architecture are found in the Vaishnavite Tigawa temple at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which is built in 415 CE and another temple at Deogarhnear Jhansi, which is built in 510 CE. Similarly, at Bhita in Uttar Pradesh has a number of ancient Gupta temples, most of them are in ruins.
This is a photo of Rapid Creek in Darwin and then converted to sepia tones.
I did this with a few clicks of the mouse.
In the 'olden days' it was a bit more complex.
It was actually quite dark in here at the time I shot this. This is a 13 second exposure with a bit of light painting of the foreground with a L.E.D torch.
Sepia Toning. The word “sepia” comes from the taxonomy of a Cephalopod, a group of creatures that include the Cuttlefish! Now, any guesses as to why a fish’ name would be used to signify the tone of a photographic image? Maybe you’ve already guessed! Originally, the process of sepia toning an image involved adding a pigment made from the inky secretions of a cuttlefish during print development. Later, artificially developed toners replaced this purely organic (and underwater) pigment.
In sepia toning, chemicals are used to convert the metallic silver in the print to a sulfide compound called silver sulfide (Ag2S), which is 50% more stable than silver, making it more resistant to environmental pollutants. Therefore, people in the olden days originally processed/developed their images in sepia to make them last longer.
I guess our forefathers were smarter and more perceptive than we are today, or perhaps they just cared about ensuring that things were made to last!
Info courtesy of www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-are-photographs-from-th...
Vigilante: Vol. 1 Issue #0
Left Hand Free
’Thoughts’
Location/Time
“Speech (Greg)”
“Speech (Others)”
15 Years Ago - Cheyenne, Wyoming, 2001
My father enters my bedroom. I should’ve been asleep 30 minutes ago.
“Gregory, what are you still doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep Dad. I’m worried about going back to school again tomorrow.”
“You’ll be fine Greg. Your mother was a tough cookie, and so are you.”
“Couldn’t you tell me another one of the stories of your great grandfather again?”
125 Years Ago - Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1881
Gregory Sanders, the 1st, sniffs the air. The smallest hint of cherry perfume catches his nostrils.
“I’m still gainin’ on theyr trail. That girl ain’t gon last much longar.”
He re-mounts his noble steed Abraham and shoots off further into the arid wasteland.
The Next Day...
Having followed the gang for 3 days and 3 nights, Gregory was somewhat relieved what he spotted an abandoned town. The perfumes sweet scent was getting stronger with every yard. He stopped 200 feet outside the town’s perimeter to check his weapons. 6 bullets in each of his Colt Single Action Army’s and his trusty whip by his side, he marched through the village gates.
“Give up the girl Jason! I dun’t wanna have t’ kill y’all right here right now.”
His perceptive ears pick up on several guns chamber spins, a few get pulled from the holsters and the clicks of the hammers. Hence, he draws his own and stays alert, aiming the barrels of his dual pistols in the general direction he detected their guns.
“Jason, let ‘er go ‘nd I may f’rget this ever happ’ned.”
“You know that ain’t gon’ happ’n! You gon’ kill uz anyway. You the Vigilante, ain’t no lawman!”
Greg, now in the centre of the town, buildings formed in a circle around him. He took a knee.
’Well, he’s got a damn good point there.’
“Gud’bye Jason.”
He stands up fast and pulls his pistols, aiming them straight out from each side of his body and… BANG BANG! Two of Jason’s gang hiding inside the buildings flop dead to the floor, bullets in their skulls, shot though the small cracks they were peering though.
“Open fire!”
With quick succession, Greg kills the other 5 members of Jason’s Gang, The Grizzly Pillagers.
Greg makes his way to the abandoned Sheriff’s Office, where he can tell Jason was keeping the girl, again by her pretty perfume.
“I... I... Is he dead?! Fellaz?!”
Greg slowly pushed open the door
“No Jason, it’s they’m that’s dead.”
Jason fires out 3 shots in a panic, all easily dodged by Greg.
“I am the Vigilante. I am takin’ the girl and you ‘re gon die for doin’ it”
“AAAAAAAaaahhh...” BANG!
125 Years Later - Cheyenne, Wyoming, 2001
“And then your great, great grandfather Greg took the girl Anna back to this very city. Hey, wanna know what I found out just today? ”
“Yeah Dad! What is it?”
“I found out that Anna’s great-granddaughter goes to your school. How about this, her name is Elizabeth Belle and you can tell her that very story about your great, great grandfather and her great grandmother tomorrow. How ‘bout that? ”
“Sure thing. I want to be just like Vigilante when I grow up Dad. Just like him.”
“Well when you’re old enough, you’re gonna join the police academy, learn to fight crime the right way. Goodnight Greg, sweet dreams.”
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Interestingly, both of the Boston area Banksy pieces are on Essex St:
• F̶O̶L̶L̶O̶W̶ ̶Y̶O̶U̶R̶ ̶D̶R̶E̶A̶M̶S̶ CANCELLED (aka chimney sweep) in Chinatown, Boston
• NO LOITRIN in Central Square, Cambridge.
Does that mean anything? It looks like he favors Essex named streets & roads when he can. In 2008, he did another notable Essex work in London, for example, and posters on the Banksy Forums picked up & discussed on the Essex link as well.
Is there an Essex Street in any of the other nearby towns? It looks like there are several: Brookline, Charlestown, Chelsea, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Medford, Melrose, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Somerville, Swampscott, and Waltham. Most of these seem improbable to me, other than maybe Brookline, or maybe Somerville or Charlestown. But they start getting pretty suburban after that.
But, again, why "Essex"? In a comment on this photo, Birbeck helps clarify:
I can only surmise that he's having a 'dig' at Essex UK, especially with the misspelling of 'Loitering'. Here, the general view of the urban districts in Essex: working class but with right wing views; that they're not the most intellectual bunch; rather obsessed with fashion (well, their idea of it); their place of worship is the shopping mall; enjoy rowdy nights out; girls are thought of as being dumb, fake blonde hair/tans and promiscuous; and guys are good at the 'chit chat', and swagger around showing off their dosh (money).
It was also the region that once had Europe's largest Ford motor factory. In its heyday, 1 in 3 British cars were made in Dagenham, Essex. Pay was good for such unskilled labour, generations worked mind-numbing routines on assembly lines for 80 years. In 2002 the recession ended the dream.
• • • • •
This photo appeared on Grafitti - A arte das ruas on Yahoo Meme. Yes, Yahoo has a Tumblr/Posterous-esque "Meme" service now -- I was as surprised as you are.
• • • • •
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banksy
• Birth name
Unknown
• Born
1974 or 1975 (1974 or 1975), Bristol, UK[1]
• Nationality
• Field
• Movement
Anti-Totalitarianism
Anti-War
• Works
Naked Man Image
One Nation Under CCTV
Anarchist Rat
Ozone's Angel
Pulp Fiction
Banksy is a pseudonymous[2][3][4] British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol[2] and to have been born in 1974,[5] but his identity is unknown.[6] According to Tristan Manco[who?], Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."[7] His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.[8] Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti.[9] Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[10]
Banksy's first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[11] The film was released in the UK on March 5.[12]
Contents
• 1 Career
•• 1.1 2000
•• 1.2 2002
•• 1.3 2003
•• 1.4 2004
•• 1.5 2005
•• 1.6 2006
•• 1.7 2007
•• 1.8 2008
•• 1.9 2009
•• 1.10 2010
Career
Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992–1994[14] as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), with Kato and Tes.[15] He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene. From the start he used stencils as elements of his freehand pieces, too.[14] By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a piece. He claims he changed to stencilling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stencilled serial number[16] and by employing this technique, he soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.[16]
Stencil on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat in central Bristol - (wider view). The image of Death is based on a 19th century etching illustrating the pestilence of The Great Stink.[17]
Banksy's stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects often include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.
In late 2001, on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, he met up with the Gen-X pastellist, visual activist, and recluse James DeWeaver in Byron Bay[clarification needed], where he stencilled a parachuting rat with a clothes peg on its nose above a toilet at the Arts Factory Lodge. This stencil can no longer be located. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phone-box), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.
2000
The album cover for Monk & Canatella's Do Community Service was conceived and illustrated by Banksy, based on his contribution to the "Walls on fire" event in Bristol 1998.[18][citation needed]
2002
On 19 July 2002, Banksy's first Los Angeles exhibition debuted at 33 1/3 Gallery, a small Silverlake venue owned by Frank Sosa. The exhibition, entitled Existencilism, was curated by 33 1/3 Gallery, Malathion, Funk Lazy Promotions, and B+.[19]
2003
In 2003 in an exhibition called Turf War, held in a warehouse, Banksy painted on animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[20] He later moved on to producing subverted paintings; one example is Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley floating in its reflective waters; another is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at a British football hooligan, dressed only in his Union Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These oil paintings were shown at a twelve-day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.[21]
2004
In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Princess Diana's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England." Someone threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some recipients then tried to spend in local shops. These notes were also given with invitations to a Santa's Ghetto exhibition by Pictures on Walls. The individual notes have since been selling on eBay for about £200 each. A wad of the notes were also thrown over a fence and into the crowd near the NME signing tent at The Reading Festival. A limited run of 50 signed posters containing ten uncut notes were also produced and sold by Pictures on Walls for £100 each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. One of these sold in October 2007 at Bonhams auction house in London for £24,000.
2005
In August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier. He reportedly said "The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin Wall and will eventually run for over 700km—the distance from London to Zurich. "[22]
2006
• Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, on the weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.[23]
• After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for £25,000,[24] on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in Sotheby's London for £50,400, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the model painted in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold for five times their estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same auction.[25]
• In December, journalist Max Foster coined the phrase, "the Banksy Effect", to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy's success.[26]
2007
• On 21 February 2007, Sotheby's auction house in London auctioned three works, reaching the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction: over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti works, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively, which were well above their estimated prices.[27] The following day's auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices: Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached £96,000; Glory sold for £72,000; Untitled (2004) sold for £33,600; all significantly above estimated values.[28] To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, "I Can't Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit."[6]
• In February 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.[29]
• In April 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy's iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Although the image was very popular, Transport for London claimed that the "graffiti" created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime" and their staff are "professional cleaners not professional art critics".[30] Banksy tagged the same site again (pictured at right). This time the actors were portrayed as holding real guns instead of bananas, but they were adorned with banana costumes. Banksy made a tribute art piece over this second Pulp Fiction piece. The tribute was for 19-year-old British graffiti artist Ozone, who was hit by an underground train in Barking, East London, along with fellow artist Wants, on 12 January 2007.[31] The piece was of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull. He also wrote a note on his website, saying:
The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic. Ozone - rest in peace.[citation needed]
Ozone's Angel
• On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work Space Girl & Bird fetching £288,000 (US$576,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.[32]
• On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.
• On 4 June 2007, it was reported that Banksy's The Drinker had been stolen.[33][34]
• In October 2007, most of his works offered for sale at Bonhams auction house in London sold for more than twice their reserve price.[35]
• Banksy has published a "manifesto" on his website.[36] The text of the manifesto is credited as the diary entry of one Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, DSO, which is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. It describes how a shipment of lipstick to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp immediately after its liberation at the end of World War II helped the internees regain their humanity. However, as of 18 January 2008, Banksy's Manifesto has been substituted with Graffiti Heroes #03 that describes Peter Chappell's graffiti quest of the 1970s that worked to free George Davis of his imprisonment.[37] By 12 August 2009 he was relying on Emo Phillips' "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness."
• A small number of Banksy's works can be seen in the movie Children of Men, including a stenciled image of two policemen kissing and another stencil of a child looking down a shop.
• In the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up starring Clive Owen, Banksy's tag can be seen on a dumpster in the film's credits.
• Banksy, who deals mostly with Lazarides Gallery in London, claims that the exhibition at Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York (his first major exhibition in that city) is unauthorised. The exhibition featured 62 of his paintings and prints.[38]
2008
• In March, a stencilled graffiti work appeared on Thames Water tower in the middle of the Holland Park roundabout, and it was widely attributed to Banksy. It was of a child painting the tag "Take this Society" in bright orange. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham spokesman, Councillor Greg Smith branded the art as vandalism, and ordered its immediate removal, which was carried out by H&F council workmen within three days.[39]
• Over the weekend 3–5 May in London, Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival. It was situated on Leake Street, a road tunnel formerly used by Eurostar underneath London Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn't cover anyone else's.[40] Artists included Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, C215, Cartrain, Dolk, Dotmasters, J.Glover, Eine, Eelus, Hero, Pure evil, Jef Aérosol, Mr Brainwash, Tom Civil and Roadsworth.[citation needed]
• In late August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster.[41]
• A stencil painting attributed to Banksy appeared at a vacant petrol station in the Ensley neighbourhood of Birmingham, Alabama on 29 August as Hurricane Gustav approached the New Orleans area. The painting depicting a hooded member of the Ku Klux Klan hanging from a noose was quickly covered with black spray paint and later removed altogether.[42]
• His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened 5 October 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror.[43]
• The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy "has no more right to paint graffiti than a child". Robert Davis, the chairman of the council planning committee told The Times newspaper: "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art". [44] The work was painted over in April 2009.
• In December 2008, The Little Diver, a Banksy image of a diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne Australia was vandalised. The image was protected by a sheet of clear perspex, however silver paint was poured behind the protective sheet and later tagged with the words "Banksy woz ere". The image was almost completely destroyed.[45].
2009
• May 2009, parts company with agent Steve Lazarides. Announces Pest Control [46] the handling service who act on his behalf will be the only point of sale for new works.
• On 13 June 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, including animatronics and installations; it is his largest exhibition yet, featuring 78 new works.[47][48] Reaction to the show was positive, with over 8,500 visitors to the show on the first weekend.[49] Over the course of the twelve weeks, the exhibition has been visited over 300,000 times.[50]
• In September 2009, a Banksy work parodying the Royal Family was partially destroyed by Hackney Council after they served an enforcement notice for graffiti removal to the former address of the property owner. The mural had been commissioned for the 2003 Blur single "Crazy Beat" and the property owner, who had allowed the piece to be painted, was reported to have been in tears when she saw it was being painted over.[51]
• In December 2009, Banksy marked the end of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference by painting four murals on global warming. One included "I don't believe in global warming" which was submerged in water.[52]
2010
• The world premiere of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop occurred at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on 24 January. He created 10 street pieces around Park City and Salt Lake City to tie in with the screening.[53]
• In February, The Whitehouse public house in Liverpool, England, is sold for £114,000 at auction.[54] The side of the building has an image of a giant rat by Banksy.[55]
• In April 2010, Melbourne City Council in Australia reported that they had inadvertently ordered private contractors to paint over the last remaining Banksy art in the city. The image was of a rat descending in a parachute adorning the wall of an old council building behind the Forum Theatre. In 2008 Vandals had poured paint over a stencil of an old-fashioned diver wearing a trenchcoat. A council spokeswoman has said they would now rush through retrospective permits to protect other “famous or significant artworks” in the city.[56]
• In April 2010 to coincide with the premier of Exit through the Gift Shop in San Francisco, 5 of his pieces appeared in various parts of the city.[57] Banksy reportedly paid a Chinatown building owner $50 for the use of their wall for one of his stencils.[58]
• In May 2010 to coincide with the release of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Chicago, one piece appeared in the city.
Notable art pieces
In addition to his artwork, Banksy has claimed responsibility for a number of high profile art pieces, including the following:
• At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in seven foot high letters.[59]
• At Bristol Zoo, he left the message 'I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.' in the elephant enclosure.[60]
• In March 2005, he placed subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[61]
• He put up a subverted painting in London's Tate Britain gallery.
• In May 2005 Banksy's version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection.[62]
Near Bethlehem - 2005
• Banksy has sprayed "This is not a photo opportunity" on certain photograph spots.
• In August 2005, Banksy painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall.[22][63][64][65]
See also: Other Banksy works on the Israeli West Bank barrier
• In April 2006, Banksy created a sculpture based on a crumpled red phone box with a pickaxe in its side, apparently bleeding, and placed it in a street in Soho, London. It was later removed by Westminster Council. BT released a press release, which said: "This is a stunning visual comment on BT's transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider."[66]
• In June 2006, Banksy created an image of a naked man hanging out of a bedroom window on a wall visible from Park Street in central Bristol. The image sparked some controversy, with the Bristol City Council leaving it up to the public to decide whether it should stay or go.[67] After an internet discussion in which 97% (all but 6 people) supported the stencil, the city council decided it would be left on the building.[67] The mural was later defaced with paint.[67]
• In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". Several copies of the CD were purchased by the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites such as eBay. The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog's head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption "90% of success is just showing up".[68][69][70]
• In September 2006, Banksy dressed an inflatable doll in the manner of a Guantanamo Bay detainment camp prisoner (orange jumpsuit, black hood, and handcuffs) and then placed the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.[71][72]
Technique
Asked about his technique, Banksy said:
“I use whatever it takes. Sometimes that just means drawing a moustache on a girl's face on some billboard, sometimes that means sweating for days over an intricate drawing. Efficiency is the key.[73]”
Stencils are traditionally hand drawn or printed onto sheets of acetate or card, before being cut out by hand. Because of the secretive nature of Banksy's work and identity, it is uncertain what techniques he uses to generate the images in his stencils, though it is assumed he uses computers for some images due to the photocopy nature of much of his work.
He mentions in his book, Wall and Piece, that as he was starting to do graffiti, he was always too slow and was either caught or could never finish the art in the one sitting. So he devised a series of intricate stencils to minimise time and overlapping of the colour.
Identity
Banksy's real name has been widely reported to be Robert or Robin Banks.[74][75][76] His year of birth has been given as 1974.[62]
Simon Hattenstone from Guardian Unlimited is one of the very few people to have interviewed him face-to-face. Hattenstone describes him as "a cross of Jimmy Nail and British rapper Mike Skinner" and "a 28 year old male who showed up wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a silver tooth, silver chain, and one silver earring".[77] In the same interview, Banksy revealed that his parents think their son is a painter and decorator.[77]
In May 2007, an extensive article written by Lauren Collins of the New Yorker re-opened the Banksy-identity controversy citing a 2004 photograph of the artist that was taken in Jamaica during the Two-Culture Clash project and later published in the Evening Standard in 2004.[6]
In October 2007, a story on the BBC website featured a photo allegedly taken by a passer-by in Bethnal Green, London, purporting to show Banksy at work with an assistant, scaffolding and a truck. The story confirms that Tower Hamlets Council in London has decided to treat all Banksy works as vandalism and remove them.[78]
In July 2008, it was claimed by The Mail on Sunday that Banksy's real name is Robin Gunningham.[3][79] His agent has refused to confirm or deny these reports.
In May 2009, the Mail on Sunday once again speculated about Gunningham being Banksy after a "self-portrait" of a rat holding a sign with the word "Gunningham" shot on it was photographed in East London.[80] This "new Banksy rat" story was also picked up by The Times[81] and the Evening Standard.
Banksy, himself, states on his website:
“I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.[82]”
Controversy
In 2004, Banksy walked into the Louvre in Paris and hung on a wall a picture he had painted resembling the Mona Lisa but with a yellow smiley face. Though the painting was hurriedly removed by the museum staff, it and its counterpart, temporarily on unknown display at the Tate Britain, were described by Banksy as "shortcuts". He is quoted as saying:
“To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up.[83]”
Peter Gibson, a spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy, asserts that Banksy's work is simple vandalism,[84] and Diane Shakespeare, an official for the same organization, was quoted as saying: "We are concerned that Banksy's street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism".[6]
In June 2007 Banksy created a circle of plastic portable toilets, said to resemble Stonehenge at the Glastonbury Festival. As this was in the same field as the "sacred circle" it was felt by many to be inappropriate and his installation was itself vandalized before the festival even opened. However, the intention had always been for people to climb on and interact with it.[citation needed] The installation was nicknamed "Portaloo Sunset" and "Bog Henge" by Festival goers. Michael Eavis admitted he wasn't fond of it, and the portaloos were removed before the 2008 festival.
In 2010, an artistic feud developed between Banksy and his rival King Robbo after Banksy painted over a 24-year old Robbo piece on the banks of London's Regent Canal. In retaliation several Banksy pieces in London have been painted over by 'Team Robbo'.[85][86]
Also in 2010, government workers accidentally painted over a Banksy art piece, a famed "parachuting-rat" stencil, in Australia's Melbourne CBD. [87]
Bibliography
Banksy has self-published several books that contain photographs of his work in various countries as well as some of his canvas work and exhibitions, accompanied by his own writings:
• Banksy, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall (2001) ISBN 978-0-95417040-0
• Banksy, Existencilism (2002) ISBN 978-0-95417041-7
• Banksy, Cut it Out (2004) ISBN 978-0-95449600-5
• Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005) ISBN 978-1-84413786-2
• Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005) ISBN 978-0-95519460-3
Random House published Wall and Piece in 2005. It contains a combination of images from his three previous books, as well as some new material.[16]
Two books authored by others on his work were published in 2006 & 2007:
• Martin Bull, Banksy Locations and Tours: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London (2006 - with new editions in 2007 and 2008) ISBN 978-0-95547120-9.
• Steve Wright, Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home (2007) ISBN 978-1906477004
External links
A sense of scale - a cosmic perceptive.
A wide-field mosaic of Messier 24 (M24), also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud. M24 is a large Milky Way star cloud in the constellation Sagittarius.
The Sagittarius Star Cloud lies at an approximate distance of 10,000 light-years from Earth. It has the designation IC 4715 in the Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars. M24 is about 600 light-years wide and lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (the next inner spiral arm from the Orion Arm that our Solar System is located in). It occupies an area 90 arc minutes in apparent diameter and contains different types of objects, including stars and clusters that lie at a distance of 10,000 to 16,000 light years from Earth (which gives the cloud a significant depth). In the night sky, the star cloud appears about nine times larger than the full Moon.
About the Milky Way, and Earth's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets and moons. Our sun is a middle-aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It’s a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars (the latest estimates are substantially higher).
A Billion Trillion Stars:
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Image Acquisition:
Sequence Generator Pro with the Mosaic and Framing Wizard.
Plate Solving:
Astrometry.net ANSVR Solver via SGP.
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop
Astrometry Info:
Annotated Sky Chart for this image.
RA, Dec center: 274.976540124, -18.8147939343 degrees
Orientation: 2.26265021784 deg E of N
Pixel scale: 8.50037285998 arcsec/pixel
View this image in World Wide Telescope.
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Martin
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Like Henry David Thoreau, who had gone to the woods because he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles, I recurrently come to this place to see if I have become as perceptive of nature as I have hoped. "To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself."
My first non-portrait experiments with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, set here at f/8. In fact this was a kind of back to basics, a classic bright 50mm lens with auto-focus turned off and mostly hand held, except for some contextual portraits. More than trying to come out with many images to choose a couple I tried to do things like if I had just one shot left.
"Nature is alive!"
Such thoughts should fill us with joy, as if fairies were discovered in our backyard. The natural world is a place of beauty, vitality, and excitement, yet even this amazing world is but the material shell surrounding the even more dazzling inner beauty of the Living Nature. Contact with this inwardly alive presence lights up the spirit. It is like a return home from exile.
A perceptive eye and heart will notice that within this living world every hill, stone, tree, plant, and animal has a lesson that it can convey to the onlooker. We conscious humans are the ones who can experience, love, and learn from the world around us, but right now we are trapped in an isolated, cold, dark place. If we were to look and see, open ourselves and feel, we could learn innumerable beautiful lessons of both heart and mind. The Mother of All is a highly articulated and developed in content world, or even an entire civilization.
When we come in contact with the Living Nature we know that there is a spiritual world and we are a citizen. Our lives become more authentic while our decisions are based increasingly on the greater good. Best of all, real magic is restored to our lives, and I do not mean the magic of creative visualization or parlor tricks, but the wonder in which children live because the next moment is alive and unpredictable.
* * * This picture is #017 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at 100 Strangers project
Story: Meet Jae. She’s originally from the Inland Empire (California) and now resides in Los Angeles where she is into her third year in Architecture.
I originally walked by her as I was headed somewhere else. But as I walked away, I thought to myself, "there's a young woman that seems to have it together". She gave me this impression because she looked quite calm and composed standing by herself not seeming to be doing anything in particular (few people can be so at ease when they are alone).
As that thought crossed my mind, I realized that she would make a great "stranger" for my project, so I doubled back and invited her to participate. Jae was a good sport and agreed. As I usually do, I did a mini-interview of her and then took a few shots.
One of the questions I asked her regarded her sartorial aesthetic sense; she was smartly dressed. Interestingly enough, the way that she was dressed at that moment was not her usual way of dressing. She only dressed in that fashion because she had to wear the designs of the place where she was employed. She actually prefers dressing in a different manner. If I understood her correctly, she likes to frequent vintage clothing stores. Besides listening to music by Animal Collective, she also likes photography. It comes as no surprise that architectural structures are among her favorite subjects.
Although I took several shots of Jae, I posted this one because her gaze here reflects that perceptive way of looking at reality that architects have a unique way of doing. I'm glad that I asked her to take off her sunglasses!
Jae, thanks for participating in my 100 strangers project. I hope that you like the photograph. Cheers!
FRONT PAGE EXPLORE-D (16 July 2012)
are you awake?
no.
you must be. you answered.
very perceptive of you.
you wanna do something?
I am.
what?
trying to sleep.
am I disturbing you?
you really want me to answer that?
I didn't hear you. I'm sleeping.
me too.
n.*Neige:
French word for snow which is defined by frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes.The concept that no two snowflakes are alike is incorrect; it is entirely possible, but unlikely, that a pair of snowflakes may be visually identical if their environments were similar enough, either because they grew very near one another, or simply by chance.
Sunlit Forest, Lorraine, Quebec, Canada.
PixQuote:
"Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world around you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: "Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream?"
-Ansel Adams,
A perceptive lady saw me walking to the bus station of Naha, Okinawa, in the sudden downpour early this morning and at the next traffic light had caught up with me to give me an umbrella. So kind, the people here on Okinawa!
At the bus station I was met with skepticism. I made it understood that I wanted to go to the Motubu Peninsula in North Okinawa. The 'counter man' hurried me across the street to a tour company. There an English-speaking, fine guide - Carol Lim - and a driver took me to a touring bus as the only passenger. But with a dire warning in the ever increasing rain and wind: we may have to turn back because the Typhoon Aere will be upon us at the end of the day.
We had quite a day. Not unpleasant at all in the warm rain but very wet. Traipsing through ruined castles, along rain and salt-spray wetted coasts, through pineapple groves...
But then I escaped the pretyphonic weather and went deep into the dry depths of the majestic Churaumi Aquarium.
What a place! I understand it's the largest salt-water Aquarium in the world. The central tank is absolutely stupendous. It holds scores of interesting large Denizens of the Deep among which Manta Rays. But in particular three enormous Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus), the largest living fish species. Moreover, they're not at all dangerous to humans and can even be 'cuddly', allowing divers to ride on them! and look at the pilot fish! This is Jinta, male, almost 9 metres long and weighing about 5.5 tons. A mind-boggling sight for anyone to behold. Awesome... not only the pointing lady in the photo clearly and expressively thinks so but doubtless everyone there!
Awesome, too, that storm. We made it back to Naha though without being forced. It's kind of blowy now on the other side of my rain-splattered window...
Osiris Toe Tip and Nail End Freshly Fallen from Isis’s Collection in Glasgow on a trip to a Parking Meter and Back NEVER ask please without recourse to an endless Stellar Shimmering Summer Night from Dusk to Dawn and Some Startling Stark Hours of Winter Solstice Celebration of Dawn to Dusk in a Cromlech, please unless as stipulated it is less traumatic to never ask.
There is an overdose of 11 pictures presented here. Few will see them all and fewer still read this description humbly exhorting you to see some pictures from each of the differing sections as detailed thusly,
2 Distinct Groupings distinctly discovery finely found to be 11 in Total.
5 Toe Pix, 1 in Much Millennia#d Mould-O-visioN.
6 Prettier Pix for your Perceptive Peepers Relief after Toe Trauma.
Of which 6 there being 4 Flowering Formations above The Toe and 2 Perfumery Pictorial Pix revealing the tiny magical elixir that may have triggered The Toe interaction so acting as below images in timeline and in causely effect.
These are not my usual sort of out spurting, well I think not and then I remember that there is some yes to answer along with the no and so also I state that these feature nicely in with some of my edited extravagances.
This both a normal day and as well at the same time not the normal that seems a life away til it returns.
© PHH Sykes 2025
phhsykes@gmail.com
...Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighbourhood. It sits conspicuously on the intersection of a congested commercial corner; a good and sensible place for a restaurant to be. Walk-in traffic must be numerous as it is the only restaurant in a walkable neighborhood. But despite this, the building does manage to successfully stand out and then surprise. Marlow’s tarantula on a slice of angel-food cake comes to mind; the business catches the eye because of the extravagant colours found on its exterior; a tangerine-yellow awning emerging from a contrasting purple affair complete with faux-billows that informs the potential customer what delights from the perfumed East (and I don’t mean Hoboken) may be found within. This frontage is not only informative, but it also provides the passerby with a stunning representation of mid-century American culinary-signage kitsch. Who could not patronize such a place?
Despite these aesthetic advantages, I many times over the years drove by the establishment and kept on going. This is embarrassing to confess: in all that long stretch of time, never once did I stop in to order “take away”. The lettering preserved from a different time inscribed on the extravagant amber of the plastic awning made for a magnificent incongruity. Yet these ornamentations were not enough to get me to pull over and give the place a try. Why is this? A suburban shyness, perhaps, but more accurately (the truth reluctantly comes out) it was culinary bigotry that kept me away. A mis-guided affection for trendier places closer to home urged me to drive on by. Wasn't this place, so my misguided thinking went, an artifact from a past epoch; when I love Lucy was in prime time and Ed Sullivan was the cultural arbitrator of our nation’s musical taste? Aren’t we better than that now? Haven’t we moved on to the authentic; to what is real and true? Are we not modern people? Such were the questions, born out of prejudice and ignorance, that kept me away from the Pacific Orient Express.
Let Ed, Lucy, and fried rice into history melt (so ran my ill-composed interior soliloquy) my forage and gathering will never stray far from Oakland Avenue in Shorewood. This is my space.
What an idiot.
At first blush then, and even the second one, everything about this restaurant, like that crime scene in a story by Chesterton, seemed wrong. The Pacific Ocean couldn’t be further away, at least in spirit and ambiance, from this dry and fatigued intersection. The stately pleasure domes and Alph the sacred river of Xanadu were as distant from it as a voluptuous opiate dream is from an insurance adjuster in Oshkosh.
Two days ago, as I was driving down 51st, the recent recommendation of a friend came to mind. He is a “regular” at the counter of this restaurant; his artistic judgments never fail to be both perceptive and wise. His verdict was that the “Singapore Noodles” at the Express are tasty beyond the ability of mere words to describe. It was time to see if he was right. Recalling his effusive praise, and realizing my proximity to those very noodles, I made the stop that I should have made in 1975. Casting aside the arrogant trepidation that is so much weaved into a warped personality, I went in there to find an unexpected scene. There were no chairs. In front of the counter was an object routinely not seen in the lobby of a restaurant: a traffic cone with a top grotesquely disfigured perhaps by the flame of a welding iron. Looking up from this remarkable object I realized that I would need to place my order in tones molto fortissimo. This is because the order-taker and customer are separated by an impressively thick pane of glass. My conjecture is that the partition is “bullet proof.” This theory may well have been a dramatic fantasy bred from the workings of an over-sensitive, if not fevered, suburban imagination. Next time I go to the Pacific Orient, I will ask about the glass.
And, in case you are doubtful, I will go back. Posthaste.
I soon learned that the litany of the restaurant’s cosmetic wrongs turned into irrelevancies and dust when the fried rice and “Singapore Noodles” were brought home and put on the table. Everything about these dishes was right. The noodles were of a perfect gentle doneness. Most fell away from each other into myriad strands infused with a faint and sweet adumbration of anise flavour; sometimes the pasta would gather itself together into miniature caramelised globes; delightful ornaments surrounded by their slender and single neighbours in a curried sea. Abundant with fresh vegetables as well, the dish was memorable for the disparities it offered and the divisions of flavours it contained. It was G. F. Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith Variations turned vigorously in a wok and then dumped, with a spirit of splendid chaos, into a ceramic bowl.
As for the rice, it was superb. But it was more than that. For many years I have been searching for a reputable version of the fried rice I grew up with in the mid 60’s at the long-gone New China Cafe on Colfax Avenue and Clarkson Street in Denver. The splendid and local YICK INN, previously mentioned enthusiastically on this page offers such an example: jonathanbrodie.substack.com/p/yicks-inn. Now found here on Burleigh Street, praise be to Saint Cecilia (patron saint not only of music, but also, I believe, of happy tummies) was another source of the rare recipe. It took only the first forkful of this dish to know that I had returned to the green glades of my childhood; to "The New China" and a convivial visit with its amiable proprietor, Mr. Herbert Wong For me, it is only in the clearings of those long and vague grasses that that restaurant can be found; along with the velveteen and tasseled menus that seemed, to my ten-year-old eyes, to be ancient documents lining the bottom of Marco Polo’s luggage. The physical manifestation of that structure was torn down in the 70’s and replaced by a liquor store. Mr. Wong is gone as well; lovingly carried off by a parliament of those same soft, red funerary menus to where Marco Polo is. Yet somehow, there the shrine is again; astonishingly reconstructed not on a fancy avenue, not on Colfax and Clarkson in Denver, but to a place close to where I am now.
51st and Burleigh in Sherman Park.
“Anyone can shoot chaos. But the most perceptive photographers can make compelling pictures out of uninteresting moments.” – Alex Tehrani
Hoi An is located on the coast of the South China Sea in central Vietnam. It was an important Vietnamese trading center in the 16th and 17th centuries and as a result it is has a mixture of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and French architecture. In 1999 the old town was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
I took this portrait of this street vendor along the riverfront in the glow of the late afternoon light.
I hope you enjoy this “slice of life” in Hoi An, Vietnam.
Check back for more of my adventures in Vietnam!
Happy Travels!
Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography
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Seriously sleep deprived again so don't expect too much sense from me today, starting with the title of this one :)
Best to just let the clouds do the talking again...
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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.
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abandoned radio factory. boxes from popular soviet filterless cigarettes glued on the wall by worker from the past.
the first digital attempt. shot in spring 2012 with friend's panasonic DMC-FZ20, when my film camera was already unfunctional. this model didn't have option of shooting raw and the image quality was quite unsatisfying. converting to b&w and desizing helped a bit.
from the description of the workshop:
"Vilnius Sound Locations is a site specific workshop which deals with phenomenon of spatial memory of the place.
As in many cultures believed, each activity including thought resonates in space leaving a trace. Some traces sustain for seconds other for longer time and some seem never to leave a place. These strong spatial resonances play significant role in how we act in particular places. They also shape phisical architecture of spaces. By acting with open mind, deep concentration on presence and awareness of surrounding we are exposing ourselves to the flow of spatial memory, thus becoming both mediums of the past actions and true actors of the real moment.
A group of participants in given time explored indoor spaces using a set of simple tools like mallets, bows or anything found on location to discover sounds of the place. Listening and playing builds up personal relation to location and group. These acts of sound making manifest conscious presence and involvement into particular moment of timespace. There were no certain rules or premises on what and how should be done. All ideas arised exectly on sites. Buildings that house in space with its memories as a large instruments sounded for themselves.
This workshop practice is not intended to develop any form of postmodern art. It has to be visioned rather as meditation that opens perceptive capacities and blends inner and outer spaces into one, with care as deep as each one devotes."
some sounds from those four days are used in this recording:
soundcloud.com/user-antirealist/antireality-beekeeping-gh...
King Kong enjoying the high points of New York. Demonstrating the crude but effective selfie device of the time.
After considering the artistic merits of AI produced art, I decided to give it a try myself. These were produced with a artificial intelligence program called Dall-e 2. I won't bore anyone with the details. I will say there is some creative elements here. Certainly I had to have an idea, then I had to figure out how to instruct the AI engine. It is not difficult, you can generate a lot of similar results or tweak the model to get different effects. You do not have complete control over the outcomes. It feels like taking digital pictures to some degree.
These are the "originals" I have not done any other post production. Emotionally, ethically, these feel like "mine" my work, but that work is almost entirely mental and linguistic rather than physically and perceptive.
During the Jazz Age:
Ever since Myrtle Wilson became a zompire [combination zombie and vampire], her sensory perceptions of life had changed in dramatic ways.
In some ways, she felt that her awareness was far more perceptive than it had been before socialite Daisy Buchanan, the wife of Myrtle's boyfriend, ran over her while driving a luxurious car that Myrtle herself could never afford, and sped off, leaving her for dead.
Since she entered the realm of the undead, Myrtle's main focus was planning revenge against Daisy; yet,, she also realized that she was now free of aspects of life that had contracted her awareness to her relative poverty, her being visibly on "the wrong side of the tracks," and feeling forever shut out of the world of the rich, whose images mesmerized her in magazines. Deep down, she knew that to her wealthy--married--boyfriend--she was simply a scintillating secret, sensuously thrilling but not viewed as a person of any significant value...
Now, being undead, these concerns no longer consumed her nor blinded her to the world around her. Ironically, with her senses more alive than during 'life,'she noticed sounds, smells, sights that she had ignored in the past.
Some of these things seemed miraculous...
One miracle she witnessed was a flight of a flock of wubbas. She had always thought of wubbas as a pesky, dusty, nuisance, anchored to the dirt, more akin to rats than birds.
Yet, here they were, a bright, clear yellow in the sky. Myrtle looked on in wonder.
Had she simply overlooked this before?
Or was this a true miracle?
No matter what the answer, to Myrtle, the sight was astonishing... .
To all my flickr friends and contacts - an enjoyable festive season providing nourishment for both, your imaginative minds and expressive bodies! :-)
Thank you all for your continued interest and support, and for the all the perceptive and encouraging comments you've made. It has been a feast!
Osiris Toe Tip and Nail End Freshly Fallen from Isis’s Collection in Glasgow on a trip to a Parking Meter and Back NEVER ask please without recourse to an endless Stellar Shimmering Summer Night from Dusk to Dawn and Some Startling Stark Hours of Winter Solstice Celebration of Dawn to Dusk in a Cromlech, please unless as stipulated it is less traumatic to never ask.
There is an overdose of 11 pictures presented here. Few will see them all and fewer still read this description humbly exhorting you to see some pictures from each of the differing sections as detailed thusly,
2 Distinct Groupings distinctly discovery finely found to be 11 in Total.
5 Toe Pix, 1 in Much Millennia#d Mould-O-visioN.
6 Prettier Pix for your Perceptive Peepers Relief after Toe Trauma.
Of which 6 there being 4 Flowering Formations above The Toe and 2 Perfumery Pictorial Pix revealing the tiny magical elixir that may have triggered The Toe interaction so acting as below images in timeline and in causely effect.
These are not my usual sort of out spurting, well I think not and then I remember that there is some yes to answer along with the no and so also I state that these feature nicely in with some of my edited extravagances.
This both a normal day and as well at the same time not the normal that seems a life away til it returns.
© PHH Sykes 2025
phhsykes@gmail.com
My grandma is Wishka's favorite person, and she's not doing so well, so our little Wishes isn't doing so well either. She's feeling blue.
Pets have such a strong sense of family. Very perceptive.
Apparently Yuba didn't appreciate being awakened by me (I'd rather have taken his picture when he was sleeping, but he's too perceptive to sneak up on) and gave me an evil eye...
Mizoram is a picturesque destination for the perceptive visitor with its wide display of dances & festivals, handlooms and handicrafts, flora and fauna, breathtaking natural beauty and temperate climate. The general belief is that the Mizos migrated from China about three hundred years ago, in search of new territory and settled in these remote hills which were earlier known as Lushai Hills.
The term ‘Mizo’ is deriving from two words- ‘Mi’ means man and ‘Zo’ means hills. Today Mizoram consist of a population of over five Lakh who identify themselves as ‘Mizo’.
The Mizos are friendly and hospitable.
The people are simple, happy, carefree, contented, generous and freedom-loving.
Music plays a key role in uniting and strengthening the bond between the Mizo people. The joyful enthusiasm and companionable spirits of the common people have truly made them the real songbirds of this exotic hill station.
মিজোরাম : প্রাচ্যের নাচের গানের পাখিদের আবাস :) মিজোরাম নাচ এবং উত্সব, তাঁত এবং হস্তশিল্প, উদ্ভিদ ও প্রাণীজগত, শ্বাসরুদ্ধকর প্রাকৃতিক সৌন্দর্য এবং নাতিশীতোষ্ণ জলবায়ুর বিস্তৃত প্রদর্শন সহ উপলব্ধিশীল দর্শনার্থীদের জন্য একটি মনোরম গন্তব্য। সাধারণ বিশ্বাস হল মিজোরা প্রায় তিনশত বছর আগে নতুন ভূখণ্ডের সন্ধানে চীন থেকে চলে আসে এবং এই দুর্গম পাহাড়ে বসতি স্থাপন করে যা আগে লুসাই পাহাড় নামে পরিচিত ছিল।'মিজো' শব্দটি দুটি শব্দ থেকে এসেছে- 'মি' মানে মানুষ এবং 'জো' মানে পাহাড়। আজ মিজোরামের জনসংখ্যা পাঁচ লাখের বেশি যারা নিজেদেরকে 'মিজো' বলে পরিচয় দেয়।
মিজোরা বন্ধুত্বপূর্ণ এবং অতিথিপরায়ণ। জনগণ সরল, সুখী, উদাসীন, সন্তুষ্ট, উদার ও স্বাধীনতাকামী। মিজো জনগণের মধ্যে বন্ধনকে একত্রিত ও শক্তিশালী করতে সঙ্গীত একটি মুখ্য ভূমিকা পালন করে। সাধারণ মানুষের আনন্দময় উদ্দীপনা এবং সহানুভূতিশীল আত্মা তাদের সত্যিকার অর্থেই এই বিচিত্র হিল স্টেশনের প্রকৃত গানের পাখিতে পরিণত করেছে।
"Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: "Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print - my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey - from the subject before me?" Ansel Adams
This is one of three magnificent pedestrian bridges traversing the lake in the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens.
© Lawrence Goldman 2010, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.
Lots of great things to see in Pula. Pula was founded between 47 and 44 BC. It is pretty famous for its amphitheater which is an amazing structure.
But, there are a good number of other roman structures and really nice old architecture to keep you busy for a day or two. Highly recommend it and Croatia in general.
While traveling we would get going early in the morning for a pre-breakfast walk around the city or town.
You get a whole different perceptive on a place when its waking up.
This image was captured with an Olympus E-M10, Oct.2014. It is as it came out of the camera, only edit was to put a black border around it.
The Bride-to-Be at the Grooms Dinner is Surrounded by empty glasses! A rare capture of a young lady who would be non-stop surrounded instead by people for the next many days at her wedding and following celebrations!
Developed originally to serve as a fast light armor asset for quick hit and run tactics as well as integrated reconnaissance fire-support, the Harasser quickly became popular as an all-encompassing multi-role 'mech. Variants ranged from basic front-line squad based units to domestic police law enforcement.
Channeled some Red Spacecat decal goodness and gave printing my own waterslides a try. Worked out reasonably well, although the perceptive will notice some bubbles. As always, fits a fig in a cockpit with a functioning hatch that I forgot to photograph.
Renaterra = my term - did not know how else to classify these photos. I am basically trying to recreate landscape using household items. This is the second image in the planned series. What you see is a photo corrugulated paper and aluminium foil, with a sun? created entirely in Photoshop.
Renatum = reborn
Terra = land in Latin
My plan for the next while is to use camera as a brush. As a (mostly) landscape photographer, I felt imprisoned by the fact that I could only capture and modify what nature (sometimes with human help) served me. Painters are free to let their imagination roam and create their own reality. The recent photos (and perhaps this one more that than the others) is an attempt to create my own reality. Renaterra photos deliberately use (mostly) household items to "emulate nature".
Why emulate nature if we can capture the real thing? Several reasons. One is the the desire to "mess with viewer's perceptions", as Brook so perceptively noted when commenting on the first image in the series. I am hoping to initiate a ping-pong in viewer's head, where the viewer looks at the photo as a landscape in one moment and the next moment flips to corrugulated paper and aluminum foil (the sun? is strictly a Photoshop creation).
Another reason is a desire to get a better understanding of landscape photography. By adding, subtracting and modifying the image, I get a better understanding what makes photos work or not.
To be honest I've come to the point where I look and and act as if I have always been Jojo and people hardly notice anything strange. But in the early days I'm sure a lot of people sniggered and said "Silly sod" or worse things like "wierdo" about me. Still not only has everything gone right for me I wonder how many of you must wish you could join me and take the plunge and follow the dream. It's like anything else, you can just play at it which is fine but to go further it takes self-belief and determination. I remember chatting to a guy at the Northwich Sauna who said he got turned on by the idea of becoming transgendered but was perceptive enough to realise it was only when he was feeling randy and in that instance I'm sure he did the right thing to dismiss it. I feel the same way about having implants as they might be fun to have for being sexy but they would be there getting in the way the rest of day and would be something else to worry about. To be fair I wouldn't relly know how nice they could make me feel unless I had them but a big turn off would be the cost to mention the thought of that painful surgery. As for having things removed I don't even go there! Of course I must be biassed too about boobs as for me having natural breasts to support my nipples regardless of how small they might be is a wonderful thing and brings a reassuring feeling of genuine femininty to being transgendered which silicone never could.
In this painting, thought to be by Louis, one of the three Le Nain Brothers, his approach is unusually stark. Instead of a landscape background, there is a two-storey house belonging to the peasants, whose relative prosperity is indicated by the glass in the windows (all over Europe at this time many of the poorer classes lived in conditions far more primitive than that recorded here by the artist).
This unassuming picture is one of the most perceptive paintings to be produced in the 1640s. The treatment of the low-life subject is given a totally unexpected dignity. The boy on the right and the old man next to him stare through us into space, and together they counterbalance the large area of pale stone of the house behind them. Into their expressions the artist has distilled a timelessness as far removed from anecdote as possible. Louis and his brothers were indeed untypical of artists of their time.
This painting was photographed on display at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in Lincoln Park, San Francisco