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Drifter; development 2008 to 2016, realization 2017
In addition to early designs, the exhibition features new, previously unseen work by the Dutch duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta – the founders of Studio Drift. Specially for the presentation at the Stedelijk, Studio Drift will create the largest-ever installation of Fragile Future. At the core of the installation will be Fragile Future Chandelier 3.5 (2012) acquired by the museum in 2015. Another highlight is Drifter, a floating concrete monolith measuring four by two by two meters. After making its world première at New York’s Armory Show in 2017, this magical installation will be on display in the IMC Gallery at the Stedelijk. The film Drifters (2016) and the installation Materialism (2018) go on view for the first time. In total, the presentation comprises eight of Studio Drift’s room-filling installations, together with a selection of films.
The work of Studio Drift occupies a unique place at the interface between tech art, performance, and biodesign. As a museum that has always placed great importance on both art and design, and performance, the Stedelijk Museum is the perfect venue to display this transdisciplinary work. Gordijn and Nauta engage with contemporary topics such as sustainability, the meaning of natural processes for today’s environment, and issues raised by the use of augmented reality. Their work focuses attention on a society in flux, shaped by the impact of fast-paced innovations, without judging.
Hello Everyone!
I had a realization today. I go on this website almost everyday, sometimes multiple times, and have interactions with all these different photographers, yet I know almost nothing about them. The same goes the other way, many of you do not know me, and I want to reach out and share something of myself with you. I appreciate every comment and the people who regularly view my work and want to write something more personal today. So, here is a list of ten things about me.
1. This photo was taken in my bedroom. I think one's bedroom is a very personal place which is why I chose it as the setting. Here I am, passed out on all the pillows, which is very similar to how I awoke this morning.
2. I am a vivid and regular dreamer. I actually keep a dream journal because I dream so regularly and usually have crazy dreams. I typically dream of people I know but with a fantastical twist. I decided to express these crazy dreams of mine through the clouds hovering above me.
3. I am very close with my family. My mom is one of my best friends.
4. I love waking up in the morning and drinking a cup of warm coffee.
5. I have always been an artist. I actually started my creative journey as a painter and recently discovered photography. I loved painting, but I believe photography is my true passion.
6. I am in college. Next semester I will be traveling to Rome with one of my close friends, Helen. She is lenimiss on flickr :) Check out her photos they are wonderful!
7. Music is another one of my artistic outlets. I love to sing and play guitar.
8. I am an introvert, but I am not shy. I can actually be extremely talkative!
9. I love physical activity and run often. I used to do gymnastics and wish I could be a dancer. I find dancing so inspiring and liberating. I appreciate everyone with that special talent!
10. Lastly, I love to learn, and that is one of the reasons I am so drawn to photography. I am continuing to learn and grow with every shoot and that process is incredible.
Wooo that was a long post! Feel free to share something about yourself as I would love to get to know you better. What would you like to share about yourself that helps define who you are?
Lifting light vague
-This tale is a fairly reasonably accurate description of a true event that occurred during a Welsh wedding reception some time ago...
-Mention must be made that the expensive looking attire worn by this particular young lady may have helped falsely enhance her jewelry’s appeal as a tempting target.
-Regardless of whether the nicking had been done to tease, or for a hoped for profit !
-Which leads us to the story below: the tone of which is deliberately ambiguous.
It is a retelling: either from the viewpoint of one sibling playing a trick upon another sibling, or the viewpoint of a scoundrel who seeks out profitable opportunities at fancy dress- up affairs.
It is for you, the reader, to guess out....
Title :
Perils of a Living Doll
She was certainly that, a living doll, scurrying about in her fluidly flowing,shiny in the lights, fancy party attire:
An eye catching ensemble made up of a rather glistening emerald green button up back thicke satin blouse with a high ruffled neckline with long sleeves ending in matching ruffles. A long flowing pleated black satin skirt quite nicely completed the darling ensemble.
But very few dolls ever wore jewelry like her’s:
A surprisingly full complement of gleaming white pearls dangle deliciously along her lithe, youthfully curved figure, with her long flowing hair, and a wide eyed doe like curiosity of living life glowing from her pretty face.
Though I had other more pressing business to attend, I kept an eye out on her, relishing each time I caught her in view.
Those baiting pearls kept popping up in my mind when she was out of my sight, making it hard to concentrate fully on anything else!
It was quite in the realm of possibility that those smooth pearls of Her’s were as valuable as they were pretty!
Also knowing the fact that the female in possession of them was quite youthfully gullible, added up to make for an all to tempting target to easily be subtracted from her lustrous possessions !
Being a tad bit assured that somebody else may do the math, and might actually happen to make that subtraction was the reason I waited,with baited breath, to again catch a lingering look to see that she still was in possession of all of them !
Then at the end of another successful work day, as I slipped away, I caught an unexpected final sighting of the girl.
The poor thing had exhausted herself from the busy agendas of her long day looking like a princess,and all that doing so will entail!
Dead Asleep now, peacefully snuggled in on a couch corner, quite isolate, however, not quite alone!
For a girl whom I knew to be her cousin, sat dozing next her.
A girl her age incredibly pretty in a long sleek peach gown, enchantingly wearing what looked like rhinestones, earrings and bracelet, (surprisingly no necklace)! She had now opened her eyes and was looking around incredibly bored.
As I watched she rubbed her eyes, then tugged at the sleeping Lass who did not budge. She rose with a visible sigh and skipping off , her pretty peach colored gown winningly fluttering along her eye catching figure!
Failing to notice me standing nearby in the shadows as she swished past still rubbing her eyes!
Silently I thanked her for being so quite accommodating in leaving her sleeping cousin , and her delectably appealing pearls, quite behind !
It was prime time for that mathematical subtracting I had mentioned earlier!
But then subtracting had always been my best subject, something I was rather keen at doing!
Again on the hunt, I stalked up behind my prey!
I crouched down looked her over from behind.
Her reflection showing up Clearly enough in the polished glass vase on the coffee table in front of her as I silently had treaded in from behind!
Amazingly it appeared, she had made it though the gauntlets of the day with all her pearls in place.
Even when she and her cousin , the girl in peach satin, had startlingly snuck outside to swing on a nearbye schools playground, they had fortunately come back in unscathed!
Untouched by the rather dark lurking elements that sometimes will creep in from societies shadowy outer fringe to feed upon the richly dressed unwary!
Since I won’t deny my desires probably made me a loosely connected part of that rather unconventional brotherhood at times, I still took a personal interest in making sure she came to no distress .
And so I had taken the time to lecture them for taking on such perils , whilst secretly harboring a desire to lift away the very pearls I was scolding her for taking a risk on losing by playing outside!
I now, of course gently sat down on the opposite end of the couch, watching her and the surroundings, planning my strategy.
For this type of subtracting, the distraction for the victim was her sleep.
I only had to make sure my moves along her figure were as nimble as can be and used the lest amount of pressure to work off what I was after!
Also a rule was to keep an eye on any subtle changes in her breathing or movement as I worked!
This would tip me off that it was time to leave with what jewels of hers I had in hand , regrettably leaving the rest perched in place as she was waking!
I saw her cousin quite aways off, she did not appear to be concerned or coming back anytime soon, leaving me a window opened for opportunity!
So I gently, with growing anticipation, slowly inched closer, my earlier desires now sharply reawakening!
Finally Reaching her sleep warmed figure, I ventured in to gently caress her arm, tingling encased in her emerald satin sleeve with its daintily ruffled end.
The young darling did not stir at my cool fingers touch as I eyeballed her wrists bracelet and ringed fingers!
Normally I would have gone for her necklace first, followed by her earrings, since in that order they are usually the most valuable of the jewels a lady would wear!
A procedure I had observed a thief carry out on two different ladies at the same venue! It was watching his moves that had effectively whetted my appetite for this game!
But , in this one’s case, I had an inkling that her bracelets and rings(especially the diamond one on her left pinky) that as a whole, may be the more advantageous route to proceed in case I had to face an early retreat !
I moved my fingers tingling down the sleeve of her right arm that lay upon her lap, carefully peeling back the ruffles to reach the pearled bracelet.
I then moved that bracelet up over her sleeve before lifting it, than delicately slipping it around until the diamond studded clasp was exposed.
Licking my lips I snapped it open, leaving the ends dangle as I moved my hand away and sat looking at her from the corner of my eye!
She kept on breathing heavily with no tell tale signs of waking up soon!
No one was paying our little corner any heed!
I reached over and taking up the bracelets end used the smoothness of her sleeve and her satin skirt between which it was sandwiched, and easily peeled it away !
I Let it lay on her lap, drooling over the pretty thing !
Then I reached down in again, curling my fingers around hers. Ever so delicately, one by one, slowly slipped off her shimmering rings from along each nuckle, feeling my heart beating with exhlileration, until they each were worked free ,laying them one by one on her black pleated satin clad lap till they all lay in a glittery group together!
Her left arm was at her side, and I gingerly grasped it and lifted it limply onto her lap to join her other.
I sat back for a minute, she wasn’t stirring, the cousin was still a distance away.
I went back to work.
Carefully I slipped off her other bracelet, laying it over my growing take. Then I lifted her pinky, where a glittery ring set with 3 dainty diamonds had been sparkling merrily as she had scurried about!
I easily worked it off , having it join in with the collection I had already neatly slipped off from her.
I took a deep exhale of breath of the air I had been holding, then reaching in, scooped them all up from her downy soft lap inside my cupped hand in one fluid motion.
As I pocketed them I watched her necklace do it’s dangly dance.
A fine double strand of glistening perfection laying their ever so elegantly up against the sheer front of her lush emerald green satin blouse.
Both strands dripping down from beneath her blouses’ elegantly ruffled neckline !
The matched strands dangled together just below her heaving chest. Held together by a round diamond set pin about halfway up on the right side.
The rich material of her form fitted blouse pleasurably outlined her petite young curves, with the enticingly baiting pearls adding a very nice accent to the overall picture.
It almost was a shame to relive her neck of the richly gleaming burden.
Almost....
Before making my move I delicately reached over and slipping my fingers underneath the strands, feeling her chest rise up and down in its gently moving heaves, lifted them up for the second time that day , I again drooled over them a bit before making my move...
I slid in daringly closer, placing my arm so it lay on the couch around behind her back.
As I watched around us from the front my fingers worked hidden from behind, locating the jeweled clasp , then prying it open, looking down at her I let the loose ends slither down along her shoulders. The pearls slipped away with an almost silent swish down the front of her slick blouse where they curled up in a dainty nestling pile upon her sleepy shiny lap.
I froze, ready to exit, but she did not stir from her dreams!
Far too exhausted to be awakened by my practiced subtle extraction of her jewelry !
I studied the piled up pearls for a few satisfying seconds,congratulating me on a job well done, well half done actually!
Then I reached in and neatly plucked the gleaming double strand free from where they lay nestled in to finish it!
As I was doing so I now felt something sharply hard inside her skirt against the back of my hand.
I looked it over as I pocketed her pearls and spied a pocket of her own in the side of her skirt, hidden in the pleats .
Wondering what it held, I eagerly pried it open and reached inside and surprisingly came away with a glittery rhinestone necklace !
“Whats this then luv?” I thought silently questioning her as I admire the pretty sparklers.
A necklace as pretty as this belonged around the throat of a girl dressed up fancy, like the one wearing the luxurious peach gown who had been sitting next to her !
Looking up at her angelic face I wondered what games of her own this pretty miss had been up to as I pondered vexingly whether to keep or return her sparkling trophy?
As I made my decision I saw her earrings peeping out .
That was all that was left to take, her pearled earrings with the diamond clasp ! Fortunately her delicate ears were not pierced, which may have been more of a sticky wicket encumbering their removal!
But still this might be tricky enough, her long silky soft hair held them for the most part safely inside.
I looked around then got up and went behind her and put the mirrored vase to use.
Picking up a strand of her hair I watched as I tickled her nose with it. She stirred, and without really waking, pulled her hair back away from her ears Nicely exposing her beautiful twin pearled earrings for an easy lift.
With a touch as delicate as any surgeon’s I reached around and gently pulled as I slipped off each one in turn.
Amazed at how easily they freely slipped off each slightly sweat glistened earlobe!
I cheerfully pocketed them.
Then spent some time watching her figure in my safe haven behind her, making good use of the mirror to assure myself nothing of value had been missed or overlooked !
Her tightly fitting attire still was glistening shiny, but starkly bear naked now that her gleaming jewels had been all been nicked clean away.
This had been almost too easy, not that I was complaining, for it had been a most enjoyably scintillating , guiltily pleasurable, game of it!
I looked around, planning my exit.
Then I spied something glittering in a far corner!
I recognized it as the diamond bracelet being regally worn by her errant cousin! I decided on following in to capture a better last look at the satin peach clad vixen!
Perhaps I may have to ‘bump’ into her and take the ‘opportunity’ to, with feeling, compliment her on her fetchingly pretty attire!
Toodles I endearingly said in silence to the sleeping doll’s shimmery figure still snuggled into the couch,biding her a fond adieu as I walked away, feeling my pockets nicely weighted down with her still warm purloined pearls!
Still finding amazement over the quantity and apparent quality of the jewelry that my victim had been allowed to wear out daringly alone this particular evening !
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Not much later the girl did stir, stretching and yawning. Then laid her hands back onto her Lap, covered as it was in her midnight black pleated satin skirt.
She flexed her fingers along its luxurious length, relishing in the skirts satiny feel.
She looked around. Something was not quite right. Where was her cousin?
As she thought this she reached up to rub her eyes, than gasped...
She was looking at her hands, shocked , her bracelets were gone, and her rings, including her small one set with diamonds!
In her bewilderment she still was feeling cobwebbed from sleep as she, with a puzzled frown, reached up and ran her fingers through her long hair...
Hold on, where are my bloody earrings. Then she felt at her throat! Her necklace of pearls were no longer there, she felt down the front of her shiny blouse to confirm that the strands we’re no longer dangling down!
With a sinking feeling she realized that her pearls, all of them were gone!
And she had a pretty good idea of who had the Gaul to have spirited them away like this
The wanker she hissed under her breath as she mentally pictured her twin brother who liked to play lifting games and picking off items from her, like her jewelry.
He has been up to no good again, even though he had promised he would be in best behaviors after she caught him earlier!
For he had already lifted the rhinestone necklace of thier similarly aged girl cousin wearing a pretty gown of peach satin.
Taking it as he had danced with her!
She had seen him, and demanded he had hand it back to her!
Sulking over being caught and scolded out, he had given it to his twin and tasked her to be the one to somehow sneak it back to their cousin!
Which she had forgotten to do and her hand darted inside her silky skirts pocket to feel for the rhinestone necklace.
Nope it was still there, so she still had that job to do also!!!
She actually did not mind his games , rather the opposite actually! Just had felt a bit jealous he had danced with their cousin over her first !
And now she believed he had lifted her pearls in retaliation for her scolding him!
Of all the bloody Cheek!
That her brother had his eyes her pearls, and the downy softness of her sleekly pretty party outfit was no mystery!
She knew this because he had kept teasingly prodding her, touching at her pearls, on the long drive here as both had been sitting wedged in the back seat of papa’s small sports car.
Though she had also been an antagonist herself, intentionally giving him reasons to grasp her As she squirmed away, knowing full well it was triggering the desires to lift her jewelry that he was trying so hard to suppress with their parents seated up front!
Mum had only to tell them once to settle down, turning around to scold them, the diamonds in her earrings glittering as madly as she was only pretending to be at her children!
Those earrings were very pretty, too pretty to be kept at home. Papa had to go to a bank to get them, along with my pearls!
Thinking the word “bank” made her jump to her feet, as suddenly a cold realization swept over her!
The razor thin feelings that divided between the delicious chills of guilty pleasure that her pearls had been nicked and the cold stark reality of the punishment she would get for losing them if the parents saw her first before she got them back!
No matter how they had been lost!
Now fully wide awake, with a straightening of her glittering long shiny midnight black pleated skirt, she hurried off to call him out !
Or at least that is what she down deep hoped that was all she had to do to get them from him!
For an unsettling inkling was now forming queasily in her gut that it just conceivably may not have been her brother who had lifted her pearls.
For her mum had not really been happy with her insisting to wear them out this evening.
Thinking she may be a bit too young to be wearing them without her parents presence!
For mum and papa were a part of the bridal party and would not be able to keep close eyes themselves on her and her brother!
And it was only with her brothers suspiciously eager promise to keep an eye on her, that she was given permission!
Her mum also had not known about the small diamond ring she had smuggled out of the house to put her on finger once when her parents were finally not around!
She had been lectured to take great care of her fine jewelry, which of course she hadn’t , playing around like she was back at home and not attending a posh reception!
Then she had snuck off to the playground with their cousin, without her brothers knowledge !
And her brother had lectured her when she had admitted to him where she had disappeared off too. Probably mad because he would have like to have been included in!
And then....
Speaking of being scolded...!
She suddenly remember the icy stern lady in a red silk dress , whom she had not recognized, but apparently had seen the girls sneaking off outside to play!
Chillingly she recalled the penetrating look she her and her girl cousin had receive from that strange lady with severe hair and eyes who had caught them sneaking back in after being outside at the playground!
She had admonished them for going off alone dressed like they were!
As she scolded she pawed at the slick fabrics of the girls fancy dress attire caressing them over with clammy fingers, then had lifted my pearl necklace up like she was going to take it for safe keeping.
She doesn’t of course, but it had been a very unsettling experience for both of the startled doe eyed young girls !
But that lady had so unnervingly acted like my pearls belonged with her, she remembered with unsettling clarity!
But of course she was being silly, only men would have a desire to take a girl’s jewels, right!?
That’s the way it appeared on the telle show they had watched once!
But there had been plenty of men there, strangers who had stopped what they were doing and look them over as she and her cousin darted in and out amongst them
In the crowded ballroom.
Most had commented how pretty the pair looked, others just turned away with thoughtful looks on their smug mugs.
Now with a fast growing bit of nagging anxiety , pensively still feeling her still naked ears and the chillingly bare neckline of her ultra-soft satin blouse for still peskily non existent pearls , she urgently sought out her twin brother.
Needing to be assured that he had been indeed up to his tricks and would reunite her with them.
And in doing so, to be relived of her new concerns over the worrisome idea someone else may actually have been responsible for her missing bank vault worthy pearls!
Some unknown individual whose intentional reasons for nimbly lifting them off as she had slept would probably not involve giving them back to her!!
With these uncomfortable swirling thoughts she looked with suspicion through the crowd of handsomely attired guests!
Spotting the peach satin gown her cousin was wearing, she quickly swished to catch up and enlist her help!
“””””””””””””””””
As she did so, the one who had a small cache of guests jewels hidden away in a deep pocket, was watching , with a secret grin, this recent victim’s shiny green and black attired figure’s worried progress from her couch, while standing a reassuringly safe distance away!
Watching with a wicked smirk as she was reaching the equally prettily attired young girl clad so elegantly in peach satin .
The one who had deserted her cousin from the couch leaving her unguarded as she slept.
The one who had turned away blushing,so winningly as the person had so eloquently complimented her while holding her arm to give added meaning to a false sincerity !
The one who in a matter of minutes was probably about to realize that her cousin was not the only one to have had several of her jewels mysteriously taken from her elegantly clad person!
Smirking at these thoughts, with a rather proud cockiness over this evenings accomplishments, shown in a happily haughty demeanor!
The person standing in the shadows slowly moved in , mulling over that in addition to subtracting, there was nothin like a good old fashion game of cat and mouse!
Fini
Now, not everyone likes an open ending to a story...
So If anyone would like to know what the real life solution was to the mystery of who took her jewelry, and whether she got it back , please ask in the comments section and I will privately email the answer
The Ed’s...
Miss England 2017 for the realization of the challenge: "MOON ROCK" has decided to create a unique look from the shades of black, making a mix and match of 3 designers.
An eccentric outfits, very special and original, which recalls the futuristic rock style.
For the realization of this challenge to miss decided to take inspiration admiring the various collections of the great Italian designer, who became famous worldwide, Roberto Cavalli.
Style card:
Legging: Gizza: Leather Legging Black By Giz Seorn
Bodysuit: Legal Insanity: Gia Bodysuit By Lucious Lyon (datrip.blackbart)
Jacket: Diram: Juliana Black By djod Karu
Shoes: Renegade: Serafina Black By Sasha Heart (alexandra0666)
Hair: .Shi: Juxka Blonde By Joy . החמְשִׂ 石毓文 (joy.laperriere)
Glasses: Minimal: Clark Cream By Ørs (ors.quan)
Bracelet: Forte: The Diore By Grant V. Heather (grant.valeska)
Riing set: Kibitz: Skelly Gold By Kathya Szczepanski
thoughts, confessions, realizations & quite a few pictures around our home shared here ~
have a wonderful rest of the week everyone :)
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Today is my little sister J's birthday, Happy Birthday J!! xx
It's also the 3rd anniversary of the Amish school killings*. Below is an op-ed piece I wrote a week after this heinous crime originally happened. I thought it fitting to republish it here today, lest we forget...
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I have done some terrible things in my life. Things that haunt me. But the worst is the fact that for the longest time I could not forgive. I carried my hurts like badges of honor, when in essence they were the most shameful part of me.
For the past week, I have been trying to live my life, but I can't seem to get the Amish schoolhouse slaughtering out of my head.
With all the talk of the religious right, what people forget is that to be a Christian is to set yourself apart from the world.
The Amish truly set themselves apart. And maybe that’s why they did something so shocking, it rocked me and so much of the outside world to the core.
They instantly forgave Charles Roberts IV, a man who crashed their insulated life, murdered their innocents and changed their world forever.
I read about the mothers preparing their own precious girls for burial, dressing them in snow-white dresses they made – to symbolize the purity of heaven.
I remembered my own loss of loved ones and how paralyzed I was each time, only realizing months after, what I could have, should have, done. But these women sewed dresses and laid their hands on their little ones who had been shattered by bullets. They didn’t pay someone thousands of dollars to prepare them so that in the end, their own family would not recognize them.
Raised a Catholic, I remember my first Holy Communion, Confirmation and Wedding… days when I dressed in snow white. I had been taught it was to symbolize my purity – but the Amish admit to being sinners and fix their eyes on heaven. They say of their children’s murderer, “We must forgive him. If we don’t forgive him and reach out to his family, how will God forgive us?”
I remember when I decided to forgive everyone in my life who had hurt me. What prompted it was the realization of my hurting others, of breaking a covenant that I had had with God since I was a little girl. A lesson, that for all my worldliness, I had to learn the hard way, when breathing became difficult.
Watch the news on any given day and you’ll see victims’ families having their say when the accused becomes the convicted and is sentenced. Some say, “Justice has been served. I can finally sleep.” Others say, “I don’t think the punishment was severe enough.” And still others, dancing around a vague, out of reach feeling… “I thought there would be closure but there isn’t.”
I don’t know what I would feel or say in their shoes, but I do know closure is highly overrated. Why would you want to get over a loss of someone you love? Yes, yes. You want to stop hurting and later, rather than sooner, you do. But you never want to let go of the loved ones, and life is nothing if not a series of losses, and how we deal with them is what makes us who we are. On the other hand, assigning blame and holding onto hurt only creates a bleeding wound inside you. A wound that leaves an ugly scar, a loss of faith, hope and openness to love. Hurts fade. Wounds heal. But, scars? Forever.
Maybe the Amish don’t know it, but it seems to me that their public display of forgiveness hurled them into our world and made our entire society look shabby and powerless in comparison to their plain clothes and no-tech world.
Even our grandiose move to compassion seems inadequate. With the outpouring of more than a million dollars in donations, the Amish have insisted that a fund also be established for the Roberts Family.
We should follow the Amish example.
Forgive Charles Roberts. Pray for his family. And remember these angels, especially the next time someone hurts you…
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12
Marian Fisher, 13
Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7
Mary Liz Miller, 8,
Lena Miller, 7
*Amish school shooting refers to an attack that occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the date of October 2, 2006.Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and eventually shot and killed five girls (aged 6–13) before committing suicide in the schoolhouse. (wiki)
Realization washed over her in alternating waves of pain and numbness.
"If we don't end war, war will end us." - Words by H.G. Wells
For The People of Ukraine
Millions of people around the world want to find practical ways to show solidarity with Ukraine.
Here is a list of organisations you can donate to and help people affected by the terrible crisis. Every little helps. 'Thank You'.
Help for Ukrainians in Poland. Important addresses and telephone numbers.
P.C.P.M. - PILNE: Pomoc Dla Ukrainy - URGENT: Aid for Ukraine
The U.N. Children’s Fund in Ukraine
Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal with Adrian Lester
for Flickriver - Sophie Shapiro
I would like to thank everyone who takes an interest in my work. I am truly grateful. Please take good care of yourselves in these uncertain times. Keep well, safe & inspired.
Kind regards,
Sophie
.
Everyday my dreams come true
In every moment I feel it new
I see those dreams right begin
For every step I run
How persisting can these dreams be?
And how persistent can be the motivation
That every incident in my present life
Brings me nearer to the realization
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www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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Beach holidays were born in the 1700s in Great Britain, this social phenomenon was born in which bathers for the first time go to the beaches, certainly not as sunny as those bathed by the Mediterranean Sea, they are fully dressed; this "new fashion" is also encouraged by the belief of English doctors since the beginning of the eighteenth century (starting around 1720), that breathing the brackish sea air and bathing in cold sea water is healthy, invigorates the body and cure lung diseases (conviction even more strengthened by the discovery of oxygen by Antoine Lavoisier in 1778, which led to the greater diffusion and conviction of the theories on the health benefits of sea air, which was thought to be more oxygenated and pure), these theories push many people from Northern Europe suffering from severe lung diseases to spend long periods in southern Europe, often in the south of Italy, this explains why characters with extraordinary qualities come to Taormina to cure their tuberculosis. The photographer baron Wilhelm von Gloeden and the English lady Florence Trevelyan Trevelyan had the seawater brought with their mules from Isola Bella, but while W. Von Gloeden heated the sea water, the English noblewoman Lady Trevelian did not heat it, mindful of the teachings of the English medical school, this will cause her death from bronchopneumonia on 4 October 1907 (see my previous "photographic stories" about Taormina). In fact, "thalassotherapy" was born in Great Britain, together with the social and cultural phenomenon of frequenting bathing beaches (before the beginning of the 18th century, the sea and its beaches were lived, except for reasons of trade and fishing, in a dark and negative way, from the sea often came very serious dangers such as the sudden landings of ferocious pirates, or foreigners carrying very serious diseases could land). Thus the fashion of spending holidays by the sea was born in the English aristocracy and high bourgeoisie of the time, subsequently the habit of going to the sea spread to all levels of society, the railways that were built throughout Great Britain to 'beginning of the nineteenth century, made travel to the ocean accessible even to the lower classes, they too will frequent the seaside resorts, Blackpool becomes the first seaside resort in Great Britain completely frequented by the working classes thanks to the presence of low-cost bathing establishments; the great and definitive boom in seaside tourism will then take place in the 1950s and 1960s. This being the case, it should not be surprising to know that in Great Britain the beaches are more frequented than one might instinctively think due to a climate very different from the Mediterranean one, and that this socio-cultural phenomenon has been investigated at the photographic by photographers of the same Great Britain, of these I mention four names. An important photographer, who probably inspired subsequent photographers, was Tony Ray-Jones, who died prematurely in 1972, at the young age of 30, who was trying to create a “photographic memory” of the stereotypes of the English people; the famous photojournalist Martin Parr, who, although inspired by the previous one, differs from it for his way of doing “social satire” with his goal; finally, I would like to mention David Hurn and Simon Roberts, the latter with wider-ranging photographs, with photographs more detached from the individual. In Italy there are numerous photographers (I will mention only a few) who have made in their long career images captured in seaside resorts (generally we speaking of "beach photography" similar to "street photography"), photographs that are often unique in their style, such as that adopted by Franco Fontana, I mention Mimmo Jodice, Ferdinando Scianna (of whom I am honored to have known him personally), and Massimo Vitali, famous photographer (understood by some as "the photographer of the beaches"), especially for his beautiful photographs taken on the beaches (but not only), thanks to the presence of elevated fixed structures as a kind of mezzanine, built specifically in the bathing beaches for the realization of his photographs. This is my incipit, to introduce the theme I tackled, that of "beach photography", with a series of photographs taken on the beaches of Eastern Sicily, most of which are located near Taormina.
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Le vacanze al mare nascono nel ‘700 in Gran Bretagna, nasce questo fenomeno sociale nel quale i bagnanti per la prima volta si recano sulle spiagge, non certo assolate come quelle bagnate dal mar Mediterraneo, sono completamente vestiti; questa “nuova moda” è anche incoraggiata dalla convinzione dei medici inglesi fin dall’inizio del ‘700 (a partire dal 1720 circa), che respirare l’aria salmastra del mare e fare il bagno nell’acqua marina fredda sia salutare, rinvigorisca il corpo e curi le malattie polmonari (convinzione ancor più rafforzata dalla scoperta dell’ossigeno da parte di Antoine Lavoisier nel 1778, che portò alla maggiore diffusione e convinzione delle teorie sui benefici per la salute dell’aria di mare, che si pensava essere più ossigenata e pura), queste teorie spingono molte persone del Nord Europa affette da gravi malattie polmonari a trascorrere dei lunghi periodi nel sud Europa, spesso nel meridione d’Italia, questo spiega perché a Taormina giungono personaggi dalle qualità straordinarie per curare il proprio “mal sottile”, il barone fotografo Wilhelm von Gloeden e la lady inglese Florence Trevelyan Trevelyan si facevano portare coi muli l’acqua di mare proveniente dall’Isola Bella, però mentre W. Von Gloeden riscaldava l’acqua marina, la nobildonna inglese lady Trevelian non la riscaldava, memore degli insegnamenti della scuola medica inglese, questo causerà la sua morte per broncopolmonite il 4 ottobre del 1907 (vedi i miei precedenti “racconti fotografici” su Taormina). Infatti la “talassoterapia” nasce in Gran Bretagna, insieme al fenomeno sociale e culturale della frequentazione dei lidi balneari (prima dell’inizio del ‘700, il mare e le sue spiagge erano vissuti, tranne che per motivi di commercio e di pesca, in maniera oscura e negativa, dal mare spesso provenivano gravissimi pericoli come gli sbarchi improvvisi di feroci pirati, oppure potevano sbarcare stranieri portatori di gravissime malattie). Nell’aristocrazia e nell’alta borghesia inglese di allora nasce così la moda di trascorrere le vacanze al mare, successivamente l’abitudine di andare al mare si diffonde a tutti i livelli della società, le ferrovie che furono costruite in tutta la Gran Bretagna all’inizio dell’Ottocento, resero i viaggi verso l’oceano accessibili anche per i ceti più bassi, quelli più popolari e meno agiati, anch’essi frequenteranno le località balneari, Blackpool diviene la prima località balneare della Gran Bretagna completamente frequentata dalle classi popolari grazie alla presenza di stabilimenti balneari a basso costo; il grande e definitivo boom del turismo balneare si avrà poi negli anni ’50 e ’60. Stando così le cose, non ci si deve meravigliare nel sapere che in Gran Bretagna le spiagge sono più frequentate di quanto istintivamente si possa pensare a causa di un clima ben diverso da quello Mediterraneo, e che questo fenomeno socio-culturale sia stato indagato a livello fotografico da parte di fotografi della stessa Gran Bretagna, di questi cito quattro nomi. Un importante fotografo, che probabilmente ispirò i successivi fotografi, fu Tony Ray-Jones, scomparso prematuramente nel 1972, alla giovane età di 30 anni, il quale cercava di realizzare una “memoria fotografica” degli stereotipi del popolo inglese; il famoso fotoreporter Martin Parr, il quale pur ispirandosi al precedente, se ne differenzia per il suo modo di fare “satira sociale” col suo obiettivo; infine desidero menzionare David Hurn e Simon Roberts, quest’ultimo con fotografie di più ampio respiro, con fotografie più distaccate dal singolo individuo. In Italia numerosi sono i fotografi (ne cito solo qualcuno) che hanno realizzato nella loro lunga carriera immagini colte in località balneari (genericamente si parla di “beach photography” affine alla “street photography”), fotografie spesso uniche nel loro stile, come quello adottato da Franco Fontana, menziono Mimmo Jodice, Ferdinando Scianna (del quale mi onoro di averlo conosciuto personalmente), e Massimo Vitali, famoso fotografo (da alcuni inteso come “il fotografo delle spiagge”), soprattutto per le sue bellissime fotografie realizzate sui lidi (ma non solo), grazie alla presenza di strutture fisse sopraelevate a mò di soppalco, costruite appositamente nei lidi balneari per la realizzazione delle sue fotografie. Questo mio incipit, per introdurre il tema da me affrontato, quello della “beach photography”, con una serie di fotografie realizzate nelle spiagge della Sicilia Orientale, la maggior parte delle quali si trovano nei pressi di Taormina.
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"n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk."
© Daniela Hartmann, flickr.com
In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.
(Quote by Albert Einstein)
The letter "S" of my keyboard is striking. It tell_ me _omething of _elf-realization. That'_ fine by me. Now, I am _itting here without that letter ^^. I will try to _olve that problem before the peaceful revolution will expand. Hopefully your keyboard i_ o.k. and no letter i_ di_cu__ing the meaning of life with you.
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Um ein tadelloses Mitglied einer Schafherde sein zu können, muss man vor allem ein Schaf sein.“
(Zitat von Albert Einstein)
Der Buchstabe "S" meiner Tastatur streikt gerade.
Erzählt mir wa_ von _elb_tverwirklichung. Na, wunderbar, da kann ja jeder kommen, wo kommen wir da bloß hin? Ich ver_uche die friedliche Revolution irgendwie einzudämmen, bevor eine_ Tage_ auch einer Deiner Buch_taben Dich mit einer Blume begrüßt und ander_ _ein will al_ die anderen Buch_taben....
Ich habe dem "S" aus Draht Füße gebastelt und eine kleine Stoffblume angeklebt. Mit Sekundenkleber bleibt dann auch die ganze Konstruktion auf der "Alt"-Taste stehen. Weil die Tastatur doch ein wenig langweilig aussieht, hat das Foto in Photoshop noch einen blauen Anstrich bekommen.
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If you intend to use any of my pictures for non-commercial usage, you have to sign them with © Daniela Hartmann, flickr.com. Please write a comment if you have used it and for what purpose. I would be very happy about it. I am curious about the context in which the image is used.
If you have any commercial usage, you need to contact me always first. USE WITHOUT PERMISSION IS ILLEGAL.
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My name there is "alles-schlumpf".
Besting Damian was the easy part. The more difficult task was convincing Jim to allow me to detain him in the cave, fortunately whilst he may want to even the score with Damian the realization that Damian knows that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one in the same was enough to make him agree. Nice to see he still has faith in what I claim to stand for. It’s seeing people like him believe in me that keeps me going.
Tim was able to successfully rescue his father unharmed much to my relief and it appears as though he’s managed to patch things up with Miss Brown…..or the Spoiler as she seems to be going by these days. At first I chose to withhold who the Crimson Knight claimed to be. I couldn’t be certain without another DNA test to be sure. Sadly the results came back positive. All this time. The man who has been fighting me for control of Gotham has been my son. My own flesh and blood, trying to kill me. Certainly not how I expected this to go. I was certain that it was going to be Ra’s or even the man who led the Pêna Duro prison revolt.
I want to linger on this discovery. Learn what it is that Ra’s did to Damian to make him into this monster. But deep down I know that time is against me. The last thing I can do is stand still. He’ll be coming for me, and I need to be ready.
”I know I hoped for you to one day have a child of your own Master Bruce, but I was rather hoping you wouldn’t do so until you finally chose to hang up your cape and settle down.”
”It’s as much a shock to you as it is to me Alfred.”
”I can only imagine sir.”
”It’s just…..my own flesh and blood…..fighting against me…..trying to kill me…..”
”It’s painful, isn’t it Master Bruce? The sense of betrayal, the feeling of failure that you weren’t able to stop them from making that bad decision.”
”You still think about what happened to Julius?”
At the height of the cold war Alfred and his brother both operated in the Soviet Union, gathering intel for MI6. One night the KGB paid them a visit and abducted Alfred, but left his brother unharmed. It turned out Julius had agreed to sell Alfred out in exchange for being granted asylum with the Union. They executed him two days later for spying. It was only after a prisoner exchange organised through the United States government that Alfred was released. I dread to think what he was put through during his time in captivity, but it was enough to make Alfred consider leaving the service. Were it not for the intervention of the head of MI6, Alfred would have left the service there then. Instead it would be the events of the Santa Prisca revolts that would lead him to retire from the service. It’s after his retirement that Alfred met my Father.
In a way, were it not for the events of Santa Prisca I wouldn’t have Alfred today and that’s something I dread to think of.
”Yes. May he rest in peace.”
Alfred never likes to talk about Julius. He prefers to remember the good times rather than what his final act was.
”I’m sorry that I’m bringing up those memories again Alfred.”
”It’s alright Master Bruce. I just hope you can do for that young man what I couldn’t for Julius.”
”Let’s hope so Alfred. Let’s hope so.”
”How long do you think it will take for him to get here?”
”He’ll be coming with the full force of the League. At best I’d say we have two weeks.”
”You think he’ll come for the boy?”
”I’m certain of it. We need to be ready.”
”Shall I send work to Master Dick?”
”No. The last thing I need is him worrying before it happens. He’ll just get in the way. Have we heard anything from Jason?”
”Nothing. I suspect his comms have been destroyed though. I sent a feedback signal and got nothing back from them.”
”We can only hope.”
”Shall I dispatch the Batwing to Greene’s house sir?”
”No. We need to consolidate our forces. If Jason’s out there, he’ll make it here by himself.”
”Bruce……….”
”It appears your son wants a word with you.”
”So it would seem. Where’s Tim?”
”Last I heard he said he was going to visit his father.”
”Glad to hear. Keep trying to reach Jason on his comms. If he doesn’t respond we’ll have to begin preparing a contingency plan.”
”Brucie……..”
”I’ll deal with our guest.”
”Very good Master Bruce.”
I raise my cowl over my face and walk down to the brig. There in the middle cell stands Damian without his armoured suit and with a smug look across his face. He’s had that look on his face ever since he regained consciousness in the cell much to my annoyance, all because he knows that he holds the advantage. Ra’s will be coming for him and he’ll bring the entire League of Assassins with him. Even with all our allies, we’ll be outnumbered.
But numbers aren’t everything.
”How long do you think it’ll be before he comes then Father? I reckon it will take him ten days to assemble all the League’s forces and bring them to Gotham.”
”Ra’s won’t make a move until his agents are in place throughout Gotham. Fourteen days is the best case scenario.”
”So……you’ve accepted the truth. I take it you ran another DNA test then?”
I nod for a brief moment or two.
”I’ve accepted the truth of where you come from. That doesn’t make you my son.”
”What I being taken in due to pity does?”
”All three of them are more like sons to me than you.”
”I’ll enjoy ramming my sword through you heart when this is all over. Gotham will soon be known as the City of the Demon.”
”Not whilst I still draw breath.”
“That, I intend to remedy once I’m free of this cage. You know this won’t hold me Bruce.”
”No. It won’t. But it will give me extra time. Enough time for me to turn the tide in my favour.”
”You keep telling yourself that Father. It’ll make it all the more glorious when you fall.”
”I’m sorry Damian. If I had known, I would have tried to save you. Instead I seem to have damned you to life of servitude.”
”I serve no-one!”
”I think Ra’s disagrees.”
With that I begin to walk up back to the batcomputer where Alfred’s desperately trying to reach Jason.
”Sound proof the cells Alfred.”
”Are you sure you really want to do that Master Bruce?”
”No. But I have no choice. It’s clear where Damian’s loyalties lie. I can’t have him knowing of our preparations.”
”So this is it?”
”I’ve known that was only a matter of time till he came for me.”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. For a brief moment I’m at peace with my thoughts. Batman’s fight for survival may be over. But Bruce Wayne’s is about to begin.
”We’d better start making preparations for the Endgame protocol.”
”Yes Master Bruce.”
Two weeks. Two weeks to be ready. I just hope that’s enough time.
Kendall Katwalk, part one - from Hikes of 2024.
This was a really fun hike. I'd been looking forward to the "Katwalk" for some time, and I believe I had in fact wanted to do it the year before, but conditions and timing didn't pan out. This hike didn't disappoint, and I did keep going beyond the Katwalk to see Gravel and Ridge Lakes.
It was during this particular hike, in fact, when I realized my Nikon was no longer functioning, which is why you won't see any 35mm photos for the rest of last year's hikes.
Image made with my Innova 6x9 Pinhole.
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It's a strange realization, how white a white home isn't in the winter. With the contrast of snow, every bit of yellowed wear and bare wood beneath shows through. It's such an unlikely beauty, the utter lack of purity, the pretty improbability. There's a misery overhanging, a looming blueprint to the blues, like a meandering story no one thought to edit. You can always make a new addition, but should you? Someone has to say too much, build too far, overdo it. How would you know the difference if everyone was restrained? I think of this structure like a Tower of Babel, someone went overboard between here and Noah's Ark. It's all just fables now, dereliction and dilapidation, slowly slipping to the place called beyond repair. Don't stare too long, you just might turn to rot.
The Self-Realization Fellowship Encinitas Retreat, Hermitage, and Meditation Gardens is a spiritual retreat, monastic ashram, and meditation gardens in Encinitas, California, United States. Its famous golden lotus towers rise above the white wall along Highway 101 near Swami's Seaside Park.
52 Weeks of 2015
Week No: 5
Theme: From this spot (Season 1) (to be followed with three additional shots from this spot spaced over the year)
Category: ConceptualOur Daily
Challenge: In the Distance
Thank you so much for your views, comments and favs. I really do appreciate every one!
My images are posted here for your enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. Please contact me through flickr if you are interested in using one of my images for any reason.
System of coordinates
Every person has a conviction in a certain arrangement and order of things in the world. These convictions form the carcass - a personal core. Convictions define vital aspirations of a human being, the sense of his existence, help to feel well-grounded and finally give sense of commitment. I suppose it is suitable to call it a belief.
A distinctive feature of any belief is hidden in the idea that it doesn't demand the answer to the question 'Why?'. You believe, because you start feeling yourself complete and valuable. You believe, because you feel it is right. In short, you believe, because you believe.
There is no people with convictions. To have no conviction is impossible. It doesn't even matter if a person is a nehilist. He, himself, believes that all moral claims are void of any truth value. And that is again his purest conviction and belief.
The one that considers career to be the greatest value in his life lives in the different system of coordinates compared to the one who believes that family is the most important. Of course, one will try to disagree with me paying my attention to the fact that everything should be in combination: family, career, self-realization, etc., but when we stop becoming so idealistic and transfer ourselves to real life, it becomes obvious that our life is limited to time resources and everyone defines what he finds of the highest importance, defines where his efforts should go, and, in this respect, other aspects become supplementing.
No matter how you slice it, efforts are directed mostly to one goal, other goals are subordinated to the main one.
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Well... i bet you haven't seen any photo similar to this yet, hoho ;)
Nothing new, just my realization of the eye-shot.
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Referring to the previous shot (#200): I found some photos to delete... but i probably can't go on like that forever ^^
9th February 2013: Animals make for the best of friends at least they are loyal. Sorry for not having been around, still under shock. We deal with life's blows with the weight of time. It's funny how guilt and shame affect even the innocent.
Name: Urban Entertainment Centre
City: Almere
Architect(s): William Alsop (UK)
Realization: 2004
The Urban Entertainment Centre in Almere comprises of 16,000sqm of new buildings containing shopping, pop concert hall, disco, hotel, bicycle park and associated leisure, cafe and restaurant facilities. These elements are grouped together beside a new sunken square and form an edge to the southern limit of the existing town centre.
The 'polder city' of Almere, close to Amsterdam, has grown up as a low-rise development along the lines of the English garden cities. Although the residential areas of Almere are attractive, the settlement lacks a real 'heart' and the lack of local amenities encourages people to commute to Amsterdam for entertainment. Almere has, however, something of a tradition of encouraging bold and innovative architecture and this has underpinned moves to transform the central area.
In line with the development masterplan for Almere, which envisages a process of 'intensification' for the city centre, Alsop designed a 16,000sqm waterfront entertainment centre. The Centre consists of a family of buildings grouped around a new square and elevated four metres on a unifying podium, which covers a parking area. Varied in form, the buildings use a variety of materials to create a rich new urban landscape.
At the heart of the development is the Pop Zaal, its reinforced concrete structure clad in pre-weathered zinc and steel mesh. The scale of the structure is not apparent at first sight and cloaks the various internal functions of auditorium, disco, bar and ancillary spaces in a continuous metal skin.
The Almere Hotel is a 120 room 4-star hotel clad in cedar boarding. The hotel has a raised 'sleeping block' approximately 4,000sqm, that is lifted eight metres above street level. Below the ground plain is the car park with a direct connection to the lobby.
The 400sqm two-level entrance building is organic in shape and clad with brass. It houses the lobby, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a bar, offices, and storage spaces. Two elevators, a staircase and a services shaft connect the entrance bubble with the main accommodation component.
The square itself is a lively place, with cafes and restaurants, attractive in all seasons.
text: www.alsoparchitects.com
Location: Germany, Sachsen-Anhalt, Nebra
Type: Museum, Planetarium, Watch-tower
Architect: Holzer Kobler Architekturen
Investor: Burgenlandkreis, Kreisverwaltung
Realization: 2007
Jamie.
After a short break from taking stranger portraits, I've come to a certain realization. During this time I reassessed my initial motivation to start this project. One of the guidelines of the project is that photographers are encouraged to share their experience while taking portraits. While this description of individual experience is supposed to make portraits more personable, it somehow had an opposite effect on me. It is difficult to exactly put in words, but let's just say that the descriptions of my portraits made me feel that the attention was being divided between the person in the portrait and the text that accompanied it. One might argue that the descriptions complement the portraits and I can understand how that would work. But I want you to enjoy the portrait, without judgment, without knowledge of who the person is or where she comes from. I want you to be drawn to the person in the portrait, just like I get drawn to them before I take their photograph, without knowing anything about them.
That is the reason why my future portraits will not have any descriptions about the person (except, perhaps the name). I know that a lot of you enjoy reading my experiences and I deeply appreciate that. But in order for me to be convinced that all credit goes to the person in the portrait, I have to keep my words to a minimum. Quite an ironic thing to say after having written so much already!
In any case, I hope you all continue enjoying my portraits just as much as I enjoy taking them. I hope you appreciate the beauty that I see (and even more) in a person without knowing a thing about them.
This is Portrait #36 in my 100 Strangers project. Please visit the 100strangers group page on Flickr www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/ and check out some amazing portraits by some very talented photographers.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
Due to the restrictions of the Versailles treaties, the Reichswehr was already dealing with the increasing mobilization and motorization of the army after the end of the First World War. The realization that the speed of the troop units required appropriate equipment was available early on. However, the Reichswehr suffered from financial constraints and during the Weimar Republic the industry only had limited capacity for series production of larger, armored vehicles.
Nevertheless, at that time the Sd.Kfz. 3 (unarmored half-track transport vehicle/1927), the ARW (eight-wheel car/1928) and the ZRW (ten-wheel car/1928) provided fundamental experience. The findings of these tests and the troop testing with the Sd.Kfz. 3 enabled a more precise specification of the new vehicles to be developed. The "heavy" armored cars were primarily intended for the reconnaissance units of the new armored forces.
The incipient rearmament could only start with a "cheap" solution, though. A three-part armored structure for the chassis of commercially available off-road trucks was developed by the Army Weapons Office, Dept. WaTest 6, in cooperation with the company Deutsche Eisenwerke AG. The typical truck chassis featured front-wheel steering and a driven bogie at the rear (4x6 layout). In June 1929, the companies Magirus, Daimler-Benz and Büssing-NAG were commissioned to develop the desired armored car from it. If you consider that this truck class was developed for a payload of 1.5t, you can already conclude from this that the vehicles, which are now equipped with a significantly heavy armored structure, had little off-road mobility. Even if the appearance of the vehicles supplied by the different manufacturers was similar, there were external distinguishing features by which the manufacturer could be identified. The vehicles were tested in the Reichswehr from 1932 and introduced later.
One of the four crew members (driver, commander, gunner, radio-operator) was used as a reverse driver: with the narrow streets of the time and a turning circle of between 13 and 16m, this function was essential for a truck-sized heavy reconnaissance vehicle. The chassis had the excellent ladder-type configuration, able to withstand the stress of rough rides at high speed. The scout car was 5570 mm long, 1820 mm wide, 2250 mm high and weighed 5.35, 5.7 or 6 tons, depending on the manufacturer. The hull was made of welded steel armor, 5 to 14.5 mm (0.2-0.57 in) thick depending on the angle (bottom to front) with well-sloped plates. The armament consisted of a 2 cm KwK 30 with 200 rounds and a MG 13 with 1300 rounds in a manually operated turret. The fuel supply was 90, 105 or 110 liters, but with a consumption of about 35 or 40 liters per 100 km, this resulted in a completely inadequate range for a scout car.
Having no true alternatives at hand, the armored 4x6 car was accepted and became known as the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-wheel), and it was subsequently developed into two more vehicles. Up until 1937, 123 vehicles were built as Sd.Kfz. 231 reconnaissance cars and Sd.Kfz. 232 radio trucks. A further 28 were manufactured as Sd.Kfz. 263 (Panzerfunkwagen) command vehicles.
As early as 1932, after testing the pilot series, it was clear that the interim solution of "cheap" 6-wheel vehicles would not meet the future requirements of the armored divisions now planned. It was planned that from 1935/36 at least 18 vehicles of a new type that would meet the requirements for off-road mobility and high road speeds should be produced annually. Büssing-NAG had obviously made a good impression with the ARW and was now commissioned to make the revised vehicle ready for series production, which would become the SdKfz. 231 (8-Rad). The overall concept was completed between 1934 and 1935 and already showed all the features of the future type: all 8 wheels driven and steered, the same speed forwards and backwards, ability to change direction in less than 10 seconds, and a turning circle of "only" 10.5m. The vehicle layout was changed, too: the engine bay was relocated to the rear, the crew compartment was placed at the front end. This improved weight distribution, handling, and the field of view for the main forward driver.
The purpose of the new vehicles was identical to that of the earlier heavy 6-wheel vehicles, they were used on the same sites and so the same ordnance inventory designation was adopted, despite the vehicle’s many modifications. The so-called Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) was armed, corresponding to its 6-Rad counterpart, with a 2cm KwK 30 and the MG 13 (later MG 34) in a rotating turret. Likewise, the Sd.Kfz. 232 (8-Rad) carried a large, curved bow antenna, and there was a Sd.Kfz. 263 (8-Rad) command vehicle, too.
Nevertheless, the Army Weapons Office demanded a short-term solution for a vehicle based on the 4x6 chassis that offered better off-road performance and armament, namely a 37 mm anti-tank gun, with at least comparable range and armor protection. This interim vehicle was supposed to be ready for service in early 1934. Magirus accepted the challenge and proposed the Sd.Kfz. 241, a 4x8 vehicle. It retained the old overall 6-Rad layout with the front engine under a long bonnet, but it had a fourth steered axle added to lower ground pressure and improve the vehicle’s trench bridging capabilities. The powered two rear axles retained the 6-Rad’s twin wheels, so that the vehicle stood on a total of twelve tires with a relatively large footprint. The armored hull was very similar to the Sd.Kfz. 231 6-Rad, but carried a new, bigger turret with a 3.7 cm KwK 30 L/45 gun and an axis-parallel 7.92 mm MG 34 light machine gun.
The box-shaped turret exploited the hull’s width to the maximum and had a maximum armor of 15 mm, no base and the seat of the commander was attached to the tower wall. The commander sat elevated under a raised cupola in the rear section of the turret, just behind the main gun. He had five viewing slits protected by glass blocks and steel slides for all-round visibility. The gunner/loader, standing to the left of the main gun, had to constantly follow the movement of the turret, which was done by hand. In order to support the gunner when slewing the turret, the commander had an additional handle on the right side. The two crew members also had a turret position indicator.
The cannon was fired electrically via a trigger, the machine gun was operated mechanically with a pedal. To aim and view the outside, the gunner had a gun sight to the left of the gun with an opening in the gun mantlet. Standard access to the vehicle was through low double-doors in the vehicle’ flank, but side exit openings in the turret with two flaps each were also frequently used to board it. Another entry was through the commander cupola’s lid.
With all this extra hardware, the Sd.Kfz. 241’s overall weight rose considerably from the late Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) nearly 6 tons to 7.5 tons. As a consequence, the chassis had to be reinforced and a more powerful engine was used, a 6-cylinder Maybach HL 42 TRKM w carburetor gasoline engine with 4170 cc capacity and 100 hp (74 kW) output at 3000 rpm.
As expected, the Sd.Kfz. 241 was not a success. Even though the first vehicles were delivered in time in mid-1934, its operational value was rather limited. Off-road capability was, due to the extra weight, the raised center of gravity and the lack of all-wheel drive, just as bad as the 6-Rad vehicles, and the more powerful engine’s higher fuel consumption allowed neither higher range, despite bigger fuel tanks, nor a better street performance. The only real progress was the new 3.7 cm KwK 30’s firepower, which was appreciated by the crews, even though the weapon was only effective against armored targets at close range. At 100 m, 64 mm of vertical armor could be penetrated, but at 500 m this already dropped to 31 mm, any angle in the armor weakened its hitting power even further. The weapon’s maximum range was 5.000m, though, and with HE rounds the Sd.Kfz. 241 could provide indirect fire support. Another factor that limited the vehicle’s effectiveness was that the gun had to be operated by a single crew member who had to load and aim at the same time – there was simply not enough space for a separate loader who would also have increased the gun’s rate of fire from six to maybe twelve rounds per minute. The vehicle’s armor was also inadequate and only gave protection against light firearms, but not against machine guns or heavier weapons. On the other side, the cupola on top of the turret offered the commander in his elevated position a very good all-round field of view, even when under full protection – but this progressive detail was not adopted for the following armored reconnaissance vehicles and remained exclusive to German battle tanks.
Only a total of fifty-five Sd.Kfz. 241s were completed by Magirus in Cologne until 1936, when production of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) vehicle family started and soon replaced the Sd.Kfz. 241, which was primarily operated at the Eastern Front in Poland and Czechoslovakia. By 1940, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left in any frontline army unit, but a few survivors were grouped together and handed over to police units. Their main gun was either completely deleted or sometimes replaced with a second machine gun, and they were used for urban patrols and riot control duties. However, by 1942, no Sd.Kfz. 241 was left over.
Specifications:
Crew: Four (commander, gunner, driver, radio operator/rear driver)
Weight: 7.5 tons (11.450 lb)
Length: 5,85 metres (19 ft 2 in)
Width: 2,20 metres (7 ft 2 ½ in)
Height: 2,78 metres (9 ft 1 in)
Ground clearance: 28.5 cm (10 in)
Suspension: Torsion bar and leaf springs
Fuel capacity: 150 litres (33 imp gal; 40 US gal)
Armor:
8–15 mm (0.31 – 0.6 in)
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 70 km/h (43.5 mph)
52 km/h (32.3 mph) backwards
Operational range: 250 km (155 miles)
Power/weight: 13 PS/ton
Engine:
Maybach HL42 TRKM water-cooled straight 6-cylinder petrol engine with 100 hp (74 kW),
driving the rear pair of axles
Transmission:
Maybach gearbox with 5-speed forward and 4-speed reverse
Armament:
1× 37 mm KwK 30 L/45 cannon with 70 rounds
1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun mounted co-axially with 1.300 rounds
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional armored car was inspired by a leftover rear axles from an Italeri Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) model that I converted into a fictional half-track variant some time ago. I wondered if the set could be transplanted under an 8-Rad chassis, to create a kind of missing link to the 8x8 successors of the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad) with a total of twelve tires on four axles.
The basis became a First to Fight 1:72 Sd.Kfz. 231 (8-Rad) kit – a rather simple and robust affair, apparently primarily intended for tabletop purposes. But the overall impression is good, and it would be modified, anyway, even though the plastic turned out to be rather soft/waxy and the parts’ sprue attachment points a bit wacky.
The hull was “turned around” to drive backwards, so that its rear engine ended up in the front. I eventually only used the rear twin wheels from the Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-Rad), but not its single axles and laminated springs. Instead, I first cut the OOB mudguards in two halves, removed their side skirts and glued them onto the lower hull in reversed order, so that the exhausts and their muffler boxes would end up at the rear of the front fenders. With these in place I checked the axles’ position from the OOB ladder chassis, which is a single, integral part, and found that the rear axles’ position had to be moved by 2mm backwards. Cutting the original piece and re-arranging it was easier to scratch a new rear suspension, and the rocker bars had to be shortened to accept the wider twin wheels.
The original small turret with the 20 mm autocannon was deleted and replaced with core elements from a Panzer III turret, left over from previous conversion projects. Wider than any original turret of the Sd.Kfz. 231/232 family, it had to be narrowed by roughly 5mm – I had to cut a respective plug from the turret’s and the mantlet’s middle section, the deformed hatch was covered under a Panzer III commander cupola. To mate the re-arranged turret with the OOB adapter plate to mount it onto the hull, and to add overall stability to the construction, I filled the interior with 2C putty.
The typical storage bin at the turret’s rear was omitted, though, it would have made it too large for the compact truck chassis. The shape was a perfect stylistic match, even though, with the longer gun barrel, the vehicle reminds a lot of the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car?
Most small details like the bumpers and the headlights were taken OOB, I added a whip antenna base at the rear and mounted two spare wheels at the back, one of them covered with a tarpaulin (made from paper tissue drenched with white glue, this was also used to create the gun mantlet seals).
Painting and markings:
Typical for German vehicles from the early WWII stages the Sd.Kfz. 241 was painted Panzergrau (RAL 7021; I used Humbrol 67, which is authentic, but mixed it with some 125 to create a slightly lighter shade of grey) overall - quite dull, but realistic. To make the vehicle look more interesting, though, I added authentic contemporary camouflage in the form of low-contrast blotches with RAL 8017, a very dark reddish brown, mixed from Humbrol 160 and some 98. Better, but IMHO still not enough.
After the model received a washing with highly thinned red-brown acrylic artist paint I applied the few decals and gave the parts an overall dry-brushing treatment with grey and dark earth. Everything was sealed with matt acrylic varnish. For even more “excitement”, I decided to add a coat of snow.
For the simulated “frosting” I used white tile grout – which has the benefits of being water-soluble, quite sturdy to touch and the material does not yellow over time like gypsum.
First, the wheels, the chassis and the inside of the wheel arches received a separate treatment with relatively dryly mixed tile grout, simulating snow and dirt clusters. Once thoroughly dried, the wheels were mounted. Then the model was sprayed with low surface tension water and loose tile grout was drizzled over hull and turret, creating a flaky coat of fake snow. Once dry again, everything received another coat of matt acrylic varnish to protect and fixate everything further.
A relatively quick build, done in a few days. The First to Fight kit is very simple and went together well, but I’d use something else the next time due to the odd material it was molded with. The outcome of an 4x8 scout car looks quite plausible, though, like the missing link between the Sd.Kfz. 231 and 232 – the unintended similarity with the Soviet BA-10 heavy armored car was a bit surprising, though. And the snow on the model eventually makes it look a bit more interesting, the stunt was worth the effort.
His job often brings him to the most despicable places. The very places where you expect to find the scum and villainy he is payed to capture: dirty, ugly and dark.
Today the landscape is different.
The day’s last rays of sun bathe his armor as he walks across the remains of the old mining facility.
He can see the sea, just few kilometers away from his current location.
The target is even closer, rummaging the abandoned facility for some valuable item.
This is going to be a quick, after all. He draws his blaster and unsheathes his vibrosword.
It can end only in two ways and he gets paid in both cases…
The amazing, badass Samurai Boba Fett is back in action in the first outdoor photo I ever took of him :)
The action figure is made by Bandai and its full “designation” is Tamashii Nations Movie Realization Ronin Boba Fett.
I hope you like this photo :)
May the Force be with You :)
“A Red Realization” 2019 from the #BurdensOfAWhiteDressProject.
When you wake up, you finally understand that you can never go back to the way things were.
And waking up to the truth of our reality can be the most frightening thing we’ve ever done.
I was 19 when I first told my little sister I wanted to leave the cult we had been raised in. She winced as though I had slapped her across her face. She had been out for a year already, and had weathered incredible amounts of abuse as she fought for her freedom and in the aftermath.
Saying those words out loud to another person was the scariest thing I had ever done. Although my siblings and I had been raised to “report” on each other, it wasn’t that I was afraid of her sharing my secret. It was that I was afraid of my own desire to leave.
It would take me three years from that point. I was sent to multiple re-indoctrination camps, one almost immediately after my confession (and not through any fault of my sisters). I lost my way multiple times. But it was never as scary as that first moment of realization.
And yet I am infinitely grateful for it as well.
What about you? Have you ever woken up to a reality or decision that you hadn’t wanted to face but knew it was the path you needed to take?
Big thank you to @ben_e_photography For naming the photo and for his assistance during the shoot!