SamsungGalaxyS7Edge photos on Flickr

Dogwood 52 Week Photography Challenge. The Week 28 Challenge is Portrait: Family. Whether it’s the family you are born with or the one you choose, show the world what family is to you.

Unfortunately I couldn't get my family together for a shot this week due to the older children having work and family commitments. So I decided to use a shot from the boy's basketball team taken with my phone. The way these boys fight for and support each other against older and bigger kids could be a lesson to some family units.

It's true that families come in all forms, shapes and sizes but to the boys in this team. Their basketball club is their 'other' family. They don't win often but they stick together and support, encourage and lift each other at every training session and in every game.

These boys are making each other better on and off the court which is more than just being part of a team.....they are a part of their club, which is a big extended family in itself.

The Week 29 Challenge is as follows: Landscape: Waterscape Ocean, lake, river, pond, or puddle. Make water the primary subject of this landscape.

#dogwood52 #dogwoodweek28

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge samples by Răzvan Băltărețu

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Photos taken with Samsung Galaxy S7 edge - 12MP, f/1,7, fast autofocus

The Girl And The Monas by Farhan Perdana (Blek)

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The National Monument, Monumen Nasional, abbreviated Monas, is a 132 m tower in the centre of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta, symbolizing the fight for Indonesia. It is the national monument of the Republic of Indonesia, built to commemorate the struggle for Indonesian independence. Construction began in 1961 under the direction of President Soekarno. Monas was opened to the public in 1975. It is topped by a flame covered with gold foil.

The monument and the museum are open daily from 08.00 until 16.00 Western Indonesia Time throughout the week except for the Mondays when the monument is closed. Since April 2016, the monument also open during nighttime, from 19.00 until 22.00 in Tuesday to Friday, and from 19.00 until 00.00 in Saturday and Sunday.

The towering monument encapsulates the philosophy of Lingga and Yoni. Lingga resembles an alu rice pestle and Yoni resembles a lesung rice mortar, two important traditional Indonesian tools. Lingga and Yoni also symbolize harmony, balance, fertility and eternal life with the lingga phallic symbol, representing masculinity, positive elements, and daytime and the Yoni the female organs symbol, representing femininity, negative elements, and night.

It also resembles the bloom of the famous Amorphophallus titanum, native to Indonesia. Indeed, fiberglass Amorphophallus and Rafflesia sculptures are installed around the monument. The monument consists of a 117.7m obelisk on a 45m square platform at a height of 17m, the goblet yard. The obelisk itself is clad with Italian marble.

The northern pond measuring 25×25 m was designed to cool water for the air conditioning system of Monas as well as to enhance the beauty of the surrounding area. To the north, there is a statue of Indonesia national hero Prince Diponegoro by Italian sculptor Cobertaldo.

After the Indonesian government returned to Jakarta from Yogyakarta in 1950 following the Dutch recognition of Indonesian independence, President Sukarno began to contemplate the construction of a national monument comparable to the Eiffel Tower on the square in front of the Presidential Palace.

On 17 August 1954, a National Monument Committee was established and a design competition was held in 1955. This attracted 51 entries, but only one design, by Frederich Silaban, met any of the criteria determined by the committee, which included reflecting the character of Indonesia in a building capable of lasting for centuries. A repeat competition was held in 1960, but once again, none of the 136 entries met the criteria.

The chairman of the jury team then asked Silaban to show his design to Sukarno. However, Sukarno did not like the design as he wanted the monument to be in the form of a linga and yoni. Silaban was asked to design such a monument, but his design was for a monument so large that it would have been unaffordable given the economic conditions at the time.

Silaban refused to design a smaller monument, suggesting that construction be delayed until the Indonesian economy improved. Sukarno then asked the architect R.M. Soedarsono to continue with the design. Soedarsono incorporated the numbers 17, 8 and 45, representing the 17 August 1945 Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, in the dimensions of the monument.

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge by TechStage

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