View allAll Photos Tagged Reality
Long summer days in Antarctica mean almost 24 hours of sunlight each day, a debt that must be repaid when the Antarctic winter returns…along with almost 24 hours of darkness each day!
"Reconocer la realidad como forma de ilusión, y la ilusión como forma de realidad, es igualmente necesario e igualmente inútil."
Fernando Pessoa
The Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail features 40 sculptures along the way as well as the renowned Gray Rock historical site, the wonder of Horsetailer’s Gorge, the mystical Healing Circle and the glorious Lake Dunn. More sculptures are being added each year so keep your eyes out for new additions.
The Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail is a circuit starting in Aramac but is also accessible from Jericho. You can travel the loop either way and it covers a distance of approximately 200km.
Before you leave Aramac, take the time to find the giant scrap metal Red Roo that is situated at the town’s roo works.
How did the sculptures get there? Ask a local and you may be told an interesting story about a sheila with a few roos loose in the top paddock. In reality, the sculptures are the works of a local sculptor, Milynda Rogers, who did reside on a grazing property along the trail and decided she needed a platform to display her work. The result is one of the biggest, permanent, outdoor sculpture exhibitions in the world. She has combined her love of sculpture and incredible ability to turn junk into art to fulfil her wish to put a smile on the faces of the people who travel through one of the most beautiful and historical parts of Queensland.
Source: Barcaldine Regional Council.
My nails done long, my makeup just so, I thought I could push the envelope, extra short skirt and cute white heels. Upon exiting the clothing store, strutting along back to my car thinking I look my best, two men in a vehicle were beckoning each woman as they they passed. I had to pass them also so I did what any self-respecting lady would do, I ignored them.
"Ma'am, excuse me ma'am, may I ask you a question?"
Well as I ignored them they got irritated and I suppose looked at me with a more discriminating eye and then I heard behind me, "Sir, may I ask you a question".
As I blushed and smiled over this incident, I pondered. Am I able to do this only because I live in a polite and civil society? Is a little bit of brutal honesty occasionally helpful, letting me know how I am coming across? I think I value this as a way of helping me determine my limitations.
Digital double exposure: a hand + residential highrise, shot in Germany on 16/07/2018 at 07:02 pm.
About the Series (to which the Photo above belongs)
First, I want to drop the F-bomb. Very unnecessary and far too often: Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, fuck you reality! Fuck you reality, fuck you so very very much! Why am I looking at photos? Why ARE YOU looking at my photos? Why do we visit Flickr? Realize it reality, certainly not to meet an asshole like you!
I made some digital double exposures and overlays. Nothing special, I guess. It distracted me. Of meaningful and meaningless activities. Hopefully it distracted you too, my dear unknown flickr-user.
Fuck, fuck, fuck your reality, I want to be cheated! Do you feel the same? I hope so.
About the post-processing
I won't tell shit.
Visitors taken aback by the realities of gas warfare as soberly presented by the Imperial War Museum. As with other parts of the museum, the presentation is commendably objective in what it displays.
However, for whatever reason, many of the darker realities of British military history are not mentioned either here or elsewhere. Although I can't be sure whether I might have missed anything, I didn't notice any mention of the following
1) Almost two years after end of the First World War, and despite knowing its horrific effects, Churchill supported the use of poison gas against rebels fighting for freedom in Mesopotamia and elsewhere across the British Empire
On 18 June 1920, as Secretary of State for War, Churchill circulated to Cabinet ministers the comments of the chief of the imperial general staff, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson. The Field Marshal hated any interference in military matters by mistrustful politicians he derided as ‘Frocks’ and he had been incensed on learning of a memorandum submitted to ministers a few days earlier, cautioning against the use of poison gas and written by the president of the board of education, Herbert Fisher.
Six weeks earlier, Wilson had presented a proposal to the Cabinet, supported by Churchill, that Britain should continue to use gas as a weapon so it could ensure a technological edge over "recalcitrant tribes" across the Empire. Fisher now warned that its use would be expensive, politically counter-productive to winning over hearts and minds and unethical when ‘used against an uncivilised enemy possessing little or no medical equipment.’
Churchill was not prepared to allow such sentimental idealism go unanswered. Nor was Wilson. He dismissed Fisher’s skepticism, countering that poison gas was in fact an economical method of counterinsurgency ‘with at least two or three times the casualty producing power of ordinary shell,’ that it was a grave mistake to make chivalrous considerations towards enemies, who ‘before killing our wounded perpetrate such horrors as it is unnecessary to dwell on here’ and reminded ministers that his opinions were shared by the General Staff, who considered the use of poison gas as ‘necessary to safeguard, as far as is humanly possible, the safety of the Empire.’
2) The British used poison gas against the Turks during the First World War even though the Turks themselves had never resorted to such barbaric measures.
On 19 January 1917, the War Cabinet considered the request of General Sir Archibald Murray, commanding the British expeditionary force in Egypt, to be able to deploy poison gas against Turkish troops. Until then, it had been accepted that poison gas would not be used in the campaign unless the Turks used it first. However, according to the Cabinet minutes, ministers had ‘no hesitation’ in approving Murray’s request, despite the Turks not having resorted to first use. The Cabinet concluded that it was unnecessary to spare Turkish troops from chemical warfare because of Turkish ‘atrocities perpetrated on subject races’ and ‘their maltreatment of Allied prisoners.’
3) During the First World War, the British press was euphoric about the deadly effects of gas.
On 26 September 1918, the British army began an offensive to break through the German ‘Hindenburg line’ in France, by firing 10,000 mustard gas shells at the enemy trenches. Another 22,000 gas shells exploded among the German lines over the next three days. Mustard gas was the most feared of the poison gasses deployed on the Western front, resulting in agonising injuries and death.
The British press was jubilant at the news. The London Daily News reported that ‘one reason for the large strides at the front is that we are using a mustard gas which shifts the Hun,’ after ‘the Hun soaked our front with mustard gas and caused our gallant men unspeakable torture.’ It added gleefully that following ‘a year of experiment, the Ministry of Munitions has produced a mustard gas, that permeates the enemy’s gas masks, clothes and boots. This gas is delivered to the Boche in shell form, and he is getting it in handsome quantities.’ The Western Morning News was equally euphoric, reporting under the headline ‘”Medicine” for the Huns,’ that ‘this mustard gas penetrates the gas masks and the clothes of the Boche; nothing will keep it out,’ explaining that the ‘shortage of rubber has prevented the enemy getting the best protective devices,’ and adding triumphantly that ‘this is not the only surprise the Allies have up their sleeves.’
4) Less than a year before the end of the Second World War, and when complete victory over Nazi Germany was already clearly in sight, Churchill urged that German cities and towns be drenched in poison gas during massive bombing raids. Had the Chiefs of Staff conceded to his request, it's likely that thousands of innocent civilians would have suffered an agonising death.
Writing a memo to General Sir Hastings Ismay on 6 July 1944, Winston Churchill urged the Chiefs of Staff to urgently consider the use of poison gas against German towns and cities. The memo came one month after British and American soldiers had landed in France and as Germany clearly faced imminent defeat, with the rapid retreat of its forces on all fronts.
Churchill asked the Chiefs of Staff to consider ‘very seriously’ a plan ‘to drench Germany with poison gas,’ informing them that ‘I want the matter studied in cold blood by sensible people and not by… psalm singing uniformed defeatists.’ He ridiculed the concern over civilian casualties, claiming that ‘it is absurd to consider mortality on this topic… in the last war the bombing of open cities was regarded as forbidden. Now everybody does it as a matter of course. It is simply a question of fashion changing as she does between long and short skirts of women.’
When the Chiefs of Staff expressed their reluctance, not on principle, but because it might provoke German retaliation, Churchill fired off another memo declaring himself ‘not at all convinced’ by their opposition. In the end, the only obstacle which prevented Churchill from insisting on the implementation of the plan was that the weapons ordered from the United States were not ready in sufficient quantity for another year, by which time the war in Europe was over.
Two out of Three photos for my Alternate Realities assignment at course
Last minute reshoot
And a very last minute manipulation idea.
A panorama from my show that opened today. Picture by my husband, www.flickr.com/photos/sweron, used with his permission.
Oregon Trip 2009 #40
Howdy folks!!!
How about a unrealistic HDR of the Albany Oregon Amtrak station, everybody say YEAH!!! :-)
If you are interested in HDR, check out this discussion at ...-Winks Place-...
Geo-tagged (Map) the approximate location the shot was taken.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM/SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
All my public photos are FREE for PERSONAL use
We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.
E. B. White
[...] Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned [...]
-- Quote by Emile Durkheim
Nikon D200, Samyang 8mm, f/3.5 fisheye, 8mm - f/10 - 1/40s HDR 5xp +2/-2EV
Bled, Slovenia (March, 2017)
Jan and I crashed the set of a reality TV show on our nearby lake -- TLC's "Best Funeral Ever." The "grieving relatives" were happy to pose.