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Outside of my comfort zone - Caught red handed.
This is not the sort of shot that I would normally take or post, but if we don't try new things our skills and interests stagnate. It was put together using a t-shirt and storage boxes for the background and a plant with stunning red flowers. I took it and processed it a while ago. There is lots that I think could be improved on but overall I like the look and idea. Maybe I'll do something similar again.
Württemberg occupied the town in 1802, to compensate the loss of its possessions east of the Rhine to France. Schwäbisch Hall lost thereby its independence and became a Württembergian administrative district capital (Oberamtsstadt). The early 19th century was a period of stagnation and decline. Industrialisation came only haltingly. Many people from Hall left their hometown therefore and emigrated either overseas, mostly into the USA, or into German conurbations.
The saltwork, nationalised by Württemberg in 1804 and relocated out of the old town, lost its commercial relevance in the late 19th century and was shut down in 1924. When a connection with the railroad network was established in 1862, the town received an impetus as a bathing and health resort; the conditions for the settling and developing of industrial companies improved as well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQWhenQgXo8&list=RDfQWhenQgXo...
Ed Sheeran - Photograph • Me Before You
Ocultamos nuestro amor en una fotografía,
edificamos grandes y pequeños recuerdos para nosotros mismos,
donde nuestros sentidos nunca se apagan,
y esas vivencias se estancan y se hielan para siempre.
We hide our love in a photograph,
we build great and small memories for ourselves,
Where our senses never fade
and those experiences stagnate and freeze forever.
On cache notre amour sur une photo,
nous construisons de grands et petits souvenirs pour nous-mêmes,
Où nos sens ne se fanent jamais
et ces expériences stagnent et se figent pour toujours.
Nascondiamo il nostro amore in una fotografia,
costruiamo grandi e piccoli ricordi per noi stessi,
Dove i nostri sensi non svaniscono mai
e quelle esperienze ristagnano e si congelano per sempre.
María
Nikon F3, Nikkor 35/2.8 AI-s, Arista EDU 100@800, push +3 development, HC-110/dil. B, 15 min. Digitized with Nikon D700, AF Micro-Nikkor 60/2.8 D, ES-2, CS-LITE
Zum Bild im Hintergrund (about the background image)
Commissar Demikovsky nannte der in der Ukraine geborene Maler Jules Olitski sein fast monochrom wirkendes Bild. Die Farbe Rot dominiert – lediglich am Rand bricht an einigen Stellen die Komplementärfarbe Grün durch. Dem von Olitski gewählten Titel nach zu urteilen, ist das Bild seinem Vater gewidmet. Dieser wurde während des russischen Bürgerkrieges und wenige Monate vor der Geburt seines Sohnes im Jahr 1922 als Bolschewik hingerichtet. Die Mutter emigrierte kurze Zeit später mit ihrem Sohn nach Amerika. Olitski erhielt seine künstlerische Ausbildung in New York und Paris. In den 1960er-Jahren begann er, Sprühflaschen für den Farbauftrag zu verwenden. Wie im Bild Commissar Demikovsky erzielte er damit Oberflächenstrukturen, die mit ihrer Zurücknahme der subjektiven Handschrift an die Programmatik der Minimal Art anschließen. Olitski gehörte zu den zentralen Vertretern der frühen Farbfeldmalerei im Kontext der sogenannten Post-Painterly Abstraction – einer Malerei, die sich gegen die gestische Malweise des Abstrakten Expressionismus richtet. 1966 wurde Jules Olitski als erstem lebendem Künstler eine Einzelausstellung im New Yorker Metropolitan Museum gewidmet. Auch wenn Olitskis in den 1960er-Jahren einsetzende Karriere bald stagnieren sollte, bezeichnete ihn der Kunstkritiker Clement Greenberg als „größten lebenden Künstler“.
Commissar Demikovsky is the title Ukraine-born painter Jules Olitski gave to this almost completely monochrome picture. The color red dominates, and some complementary green breaks through on the margins. Judging by the title Olitski chose, the picture is dedicated to his father, who was executed as a Bolshevik during the Russian civil war a few months before the birth of his son in the year 1922. A short time later he and his mother emigrated to the United States. Olitski received his art education in New York and Paris. In the 1960s he began to use spray cans to apply paint. As in the painting Commissar Demikovsky, he creates surface structures in which the subjective signature is so reduced that the work can be seen in the context of minimal art. Olitski is one of the main representatives of color-field painting in context of “post-painterly abstraction,” a style of painting that was directed against the gestural approach of abstract expressionism. In 1966 Jules Olitski was one of the first living artists to be given a show at the New York Metropolitan Museum. Even if Olitski’s career, which began in the 1960s, soon began to stagnate, art critic Clement Greenberg still called him the “greatest living artist.”
Source:
www.mumok.at/onlinesammlung/detail/commissar-demikovsky-5357
(legacy name: pattyjess dagger)
Give me the wind...
I am at my best with the wind in my face.
When overcoming the challenge, with pace.
The pace that requires more effort, more strength.
Bur once gained momentum, endures with great length.
It's easy to sit back, placid in and calm
Comfort is only a relative balm.
It seems an advantage, better than strife
But i dulled by stagnation, stifling life.
Progress needs movement, energy, drive.
No chance for improvement if you do not strive.
Nothing's for nothing: cause and effect.
That which you work for, you've more change to get.
So give me the wind, let it blow in my face
The more confront, the more strength I'll embrace
Steps are not mounted, nor challenge overcome
Without certain courage or effort be done.
This album's name is dedicated to my favourite game of all time Elder Scrolls Online and race of all time, The Argonians (reptile humanoids). There's a story for you to read below about some of them towards the bottom.
What does Ku Vastei mean? Read below
By Lights-the-Way, Mystic of the Mages Guild
It is hard to describe the culture of my people. Often my tongue stumbles as I try to explain, but it is my hope that ink and quill will give me time enough to gather my thoughts. And perhaps, though such writing, I will finally connect the parts of me that now feel so divided; my homeland of Murkmire and my new life within the Mages Guild.
These journals are to become my ku-vastei. And, as I write that, I can think of no better topic to begin with.
Ku-vastei roughly translates to "the catalyst of needed change," though such a direct translation in no way does justice to the original meaning. Another translation could be "that which creates the needed pathway for change to occur" or even "the spark which ignites the flame which must come into being."
Perhaps a more direct analysis should be first presented. Ku-vastei is a noun, a thing or person. Vastei directly translates to change, an important part of my culture. Ku is harder to speak of. It is that which leads to change, though not that which creates change. An important role, as stagnation is a fate worse than death.
Take a boulder which sits atop a cliff, teetering in place. It must fall eventually. The ku-vastei does not push the boulder off the cliff; rather, it picks the pebble which holds the rock in place. And so it falls, not by a push, but by a pathway cleared.
Ku-vastei is revered, just as change itself is revered, for to look back at what was means to stumble as you move forward. Sometimes, a little push in the right direction is all someone needs to remember such wisdom. Other times, they may need to be shoved.
-------------------------------------
The Gee-Rusleel Tribe
by Emmanubeth Hurrent, the Wayfarers' Society of Wayrest
I've had the privilege to speak to two different Miredancer elders now, and I've learned a great deal from both of these conversations. The "Gee-Rusleel," as they call themselves, are among the most introspective Argonians I've met in my travels. They also tend to be the most pleasant. For all their reclusiveness and wariness, I've never met a people more willing to share a meal or a game of Shells and Stones. They are skilled crafters, with a particular knack for working with Hist amber and egg shells. They are also peerless navigators, guiding their flat-bottom boats effortlessly through the swamp, master weavers, and skilled cartographers.
The most defining characteristic of the Miredancer tribe, however, is piety. This deep reverence for the Hist has earned them the right to name a "Sap-Speaker" for countless generations.
According to the elders I spoke with, the Sap-Speaker is the Hist's direct intermediary. (This is, of course, subject to debate. Many tribes boast unique methods of communion with the Hist. But as far as I have seen, the Miredancers make the most compelling case for the methods they use.) Sap-Speakers often go into seclusion for days or even weeks on end, venturing either down into the roots or high into the canopy of leaves in the uppermost branches. Here, they commune with the Hist. Indeed, the word that one of the elders used was "journey."
These journeys into the Hist tax the Sap-Speakers, but are thoroughly private affairs. After days by themselves, the Sap-Speakers emerge to hide away with old books, scrolls, and tablets. I asked after the purpose of these periods of seclusion, and this is what the elders told me. "The Sap-Speaker enters the embrace of the Hist to learn from the great tree," one elder said. "While in close contact with the roots and branches, the Sap-Speaker receives visions and other forms of communication that neither you nor I would understand."
The other elder continued. "Even the Sap-Speaker finds some of what is shown to be mystifying and confusing. I have heard that a Sap-Speaker is treated to ancient metaphors, arcane secrets, and visions that make little sense to creatures so far removed from sap and pulp." Apparently, the second period of seclusion allows the Sap-Speaker time to reflect on what he or she was shown, as well as time to consult with the ancient writings of Sap-Speakers who came before. After a suitable period of study and reflection, the Sap-Speaker emerges to reveal the Hist's will to the tribe.
I attempted to get more information about what happens while the Sap-Speaker meditates among the roots or branches, but I'm not sure the elders knew much more. They did tell me that the only nourishment the Sap-Speaker receives during these periods of seclusion is provided by the Hist itself in the form of sap, leaves, and the otherwise forbidden fruit of the tree.
There is a price to pay for the gift of Hist communion, however. Ingesting large quantities of Hist sap is a dangerous affair, even for Argonians. Sap-Speakers routinely suffer the effects of sap-poisoning, including "gold tongue" (permanent change of mouth pigmentation to a golden hue), unbidden hallucinations, "bark-scale" (thickening and darkening of surface scales), and other maladies they were reticent to talk about. The current Sap-Speaker, Thumarz, was in seclusion during my visit to the tribal village. I hope to meet him someday. If he's half as wise as the elders I interacted with, I'd no doubt learn a great deal from him.
Despite their deeply religious nature, the Miredancers also seem to have an obsession with games of all types. They are particularly fond of the games Nine-Shells and Shells and Stones, as well as sports such as the popular "teeba-hatsei" (also known as "hip and tail ball.") In addition to lovingly explaining their own games, they wanted to know everything I could tell them about the games we play back in Wayrest. I must admit, their enthusiasm was quite infectious! And I found it highly amusing to watch them try to re-create Deceiver's Bones from the vague description I provided.
The Miredancers are also inveterate gamblers, but they often forget to collect their winnings. Unlike the games of men and mer, Miredancer competitions appear to be completely devoid of malice or injured pride. Victory and defeat seem more like afterthoughts than objectives, due in no small part to their phlegmatic disposition. As in most things, their focus is strictly on the moment—the now. It pains me to leave their village, but I still have many more tribes to study. I doubt any of them will be as fascinating or as friendly as the Miredancers.
["the tribe is not currently in the game but in the world of the game"]
the morning sun casts clear rays over the city of arts and sciences, capturing the grace of modern architecture in its tranquil waters. each structure, designed with sweeping curves that defy the stagnation of traditional designs, is mirrored perfectly. this stillness belies the bustling city nearby, offering a snapshot into a world where human ingenuity and natural light converge, crafting scenes of serene beauty and unspoken dialogues between man and his ambitious creations.^
A small colorful bird that looks 90% similar to the common Tickell's blue flycatcher, but is very uncommon and reported rare in our region. The only differentiation is the throat color which is dark blue for this bird, orange for the Tickell's. The calls too are almost similar between the birds.
I had this view that bird is a migrant from Northern India, Pakistan / Himalayan ranges and migrates to South India during winters. But I suspect there is a resident population in the state in the forests in the northern parts where we can see during summer. I don't remember anyone sighting a nest yet, if that is sighted, it would confirm that it a resident.
This flycatcher is found in thick wooded regions and forests and tends stick to thick canopy areas and dense undergrowth near wet areas. We sighted this in a forest on the side of a hill overlooking a temple. There was a broken water pipe that had small drops rolling down the slope into the undergrowth. And that place had like 5-6 flycatchers and around 15+ birds in total - all close to the ground. The water pooled and stagnated resulting in a lot of flies / insects and thats what attracted the flycatchers I suppose.
Many thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
Showing one of the stagnation chair sits from Hotdog at the Warehouse sale. (right hand slightly posed)
www.flickr.com/photos/haydenaragon/50975780662/in/datepos...
Through the gates of arts
Leave the beaten phats and you will discover worlds you have never seen before.
"Because beaten phats lead to stagnation and resignation where change is hardly possible anymore; they only lead back
in a brutal way to a romanticized past (trad-life) in which the same wars and conflicts repeat themselves over and over again."
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
I stand and try to look past myself in order to avoid stagnation in my image making. As Winogrand said; "My pictures may not be pretty, but they are hard to look away from."
I admire my Flickr friends who keep striving for new visions and push themselves onward making pictures.
Hundreds of BNSF locomotive's, mostly SD70MACs, sit stored along the Big Horn Subdivision near Rozet, Wyoming.
I am going to try a couple of projects to see if I can get back into my hobby for 2019. I never really stopped shooting but I feel I have stagnated as a learner and that is one of the best feelings in photography for me; studying, applying, practicing, and stretching my mind to understand how light is manipulated to form photos. Isn't it truly remarkable that we have this technology? This is my first manipulation in a long time.
Edit: I wasn't completely happy with the version I uploaded earlier so I tweaked it a bit more and replaced the first version.
1:119 Let's get underway
ODC: End, ending, or endings...
“The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man.” ~William Beene~ Salt water marshland near Brunswick, Georgia as seen from the window of our RV driving down I-95...
A year ago I took this photo and I felt at the time 2018 had been full of Photographic highlights. This year I feel I have stagnated it’s not been a great year. My trips to the Lakes and one trip to Scotland produced no keepers, maybe by the end of 2020 I will look back to 2019 with more fondness if I haven’t deleted most of my library by then. This frustration has led to me questioning my gear. I’ve been juggling 3 systems, Canon, Fujifilm and Olympus. Of course it has nothing to do with the gear but it doesn’t help lumping in gear decisions when planning a photo trip. So Ill box up my Olympus and sell on, use my Canon gear for local coastal and the Fujifilm for backpacking trips. I get out more and take fewer photographs on those outings. AND RELAX IN MY PHOTOGRAPHY!!!
17-August-2024: Vipava river, Primorska, Slovenija.
The hottest summer ever (considering that the temperatures were always accompanied by high humidity), with the hottest Mediterranean water ever, especially as regards the eastern Adriatic sea and inland catchment (and much of the Danubian one), with both July and August completely characterized by oppressive sultry heat and atmospheric stagnation, pushes one to look for a bit of coolness towards freshwater courses and better between night and dawn where it is more peaceful.
In August people are everywhere and I do not like much contact with people I do not know, neither noisy tourists, nor rough locals, given that it must be said that a part of the Slovenians (in rural areas) are wary of those who are not from their village/country, starting out prejudiced and relying on many false clichés.
I prefer to avoid everyone and be at peace with myself: alone and happy.
It's been almost 10 months since I last tripped the shutter on a DSLR or DJI product. Call it boredom, call it stagnation, whatever the case may be I decided to focus my efforts to something other than railfanning.
A recent trip to south western British Columbia to do some mountain biking (one of those "other" things) also allowed for me to finally get trackside. CPKC surprisingly provided some interesting movements, one of which leads me to this image and following story.
On the wet afternoon of July 10th 2023, CP 6304 East rolled along the Cranbrook Subdivision with a healthy train of loaded ballast hoppers. The crew informed the RTC (dispatcher for you Southern folks) that they were having a tough time climbing the grades west of Sparwood.
A decision was made to have the crew continue on to Crowsnest where they would end their long day. Four miles east of Sparwood is where I met up with the 6304 East, making a blistering 8 miles an hour in a driving rain.
A few miles east, the crew informed the RTC that the would soon have to stop their train as the traction motors on the pair of SD60's were running in the red for too long.
After stopping the train and letting the traction motors cool for a required 20 minutes, the engineer made valiant but futile attempt to get the train to move up the grade.
Yet another decision was made to have a crew from Sparwood run a set of light power east to tie onto the rear of the 6304 East and shove the train up the hill to Crowsnest. At this point, darkness had moved into the valley and with the crew of the 6304 getting short on hours, I left the scene.
Final Score Mountain 1,Management 0
After spending 2 hours trying to get a sight of the Blue-throated flycatcher, we walked around 100 meters to another area where the Rusty tailed flycatcher was seen. The area was wet with quite a bit of dirty smelling water on the ground with hundreds of flies and smelling of stagnation. We immediately recognized that area as a magnet for flycatchers.
But we saw 3 Blue Robins, 2 Tickell's Thrushes, 2 Orange Headed Thrushes, Sykes Warbler, 2 Rusty Tailed Flycatchers above us - the area was terribly busy. I had seen this bird few times, but never was able to get shot.
This is a resident bird of the country found in thick dense forests. The bird is quite shy, but with a bit of patience can be seen in wooded areas. Its an insectivorous bird, but eats worms, fruits and even insects.
This one is a subspecies found in Central and South India, also known as White Throated Thrush.
Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
Of a small settlement to the Ee in the 10th century it developed into an important city, where trade, industry and fishery thrived. By growing prosperity and look to the commonalty of Zierikzee on March 11th 1248 municipal right was granted king. After the medieval flowering period calamity emergency with fires, shipping disasters, epidemics and floods followed.
The 17th century characterised himself by second flowering of the trade and fishery. Then the number of inhabitants stepped very drastic in the course of the 18th century stagnation and decreased. The large industrial developments went to Zierikzee past for the greater part. In contrast to other cities old buildings remained saved. The wealth to monuments is mainly considered as a precious possession and in 1970s has been discovered by the tourists.
Nowadays Zierikzee is, with wide 10,000 inhabitants, the administrative seat of the new and has in this a centre function. In the historical town centre with a lot of shops and sociable pavements it is for both the tourist and inhabitant well stays.
In “Respiro”, I will be reaching out beyond geopolitics to a more expansive context of a million plus years, going back to the creation of the universe and the beginning of time, back to the first-ever rainbow – the very first magical breaking point of light. Instead of binding ourselves to specific instances within the histories of politics, religion, philosophy and the arts, we will be embracing contemporaneity of both the present and the distant past in our continued attempt to defy stagnation. (Sarkis, 20015)
In Switzerland, it is the mountains that play the role of trigger. Their slope breeze systems induce increased convergence of air flows above ridges and summits. When precipitation occurs, it is often the cold air which takes over in a second phase the role of trigger: it slips under the hot air which stagnates and actively lifts it. Similar uplift processes occur on a large scale at fronts or, more rarely, under the influence of upper tropospheric phenomena. With us they occur on a smaller scale at the level of breeze systems between the land and large bodies of water.
The Marble Boat (Chinese: 石舫), also known as the ‘Boat of Purity and Ease’, is a lakeside pavilion on the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing. The pavilion is 36 meters (118 feet) long and stands on the northwestern shore of Kunming Lake, near the western end of the Long Corridor.
It was first erected in 1755 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The original pavilion was made from a base of large stone blocks which supported a wooden superstructure done in a traditional Chinese design.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the pavilion was burnt on the orders of Lord Elgin. It was restored in 1893 on order of Empress Dowager Cixi. In this restoration, a new two-story superstructure was designed which incorporated elements of European architecture. Like its predecessor, the new superstructure is made out of wood but it was painted to imitate marble. Imitation paddlewheels on each side of the pavilion make it look like a paddle steamer. T
The boat design of the pavilion may relate to a quote attributed to Wei Zheng, a Tang dynasty chancellor. He is said to have told Emperor Taizong that "the waters that float the boat can also capsize it", implying that the Chinese people can not only support an emperor, but can also topple him. With this in mind, the Qianlong Emperor might have chosen to construct the Marble Bat as an auspicious symbol of a stable reign.
The Marble Boat is often seen as an ironic commentary on the fact that the money used to restore the Summer Palace largely came from funds originally earmarked for building up a new imperial navy. The controller of the Admiralty, Prince Chun, owed much of his social standing as well as his appointment to Empress Dowager Cixi, who had adopted his eldest son, Zaitian, who was enthroned as the Guangxu Emperor. Because of this, he probably saw no other choice than to condone the embezzlement.
The Summer Palace is the best place to explore both the finery of China’s Golden Age and its rapid decay in the 19th Century. The Summer Palace isn’t just one palace, but in fact a vast complex covering more than a square mile, containing more than 3,000 buildings, and the famous Seventeen Hole Bridge as iconic a symbol of Beijing as the Palace of Westminster is of London.
Beijing was booming in the 1700s, with the population growing rapidly and along with it much light industry. Around 1749, the Qianlong Emperor decided to build a palace eight miles from the smoky downtown, on a beautiful site overlooking a lake that was being used for stables, to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother, Empress Dowager Chongqing. He had the lake dredged and expanded to create what is now Kunming Lake, and the earth excavated to do so was used to raise the height of what is now Longevity Hill. What would become the Summer Palace was still called the Gardens of Clear Ripples.
Designed in the style of the gardens of South China, and drawing on motifs from Chinese mythology, the hill was soon graced by the Great Temple of Gratitude and Longevity, later renamed the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, which was overlooked by the Tower of Buddhist Incense, and graced by other wonderfully named buildings like Hall of Benevolence and Longevity the Hall for Listening to Orioles.
Encapsulating China’s Qianglong Golden age, it also encapsulates its subsequent disastrous decline. While the Qianlong Emperor lavished support on the arts and expanded China’s borders to their greatest ever extent, years of exhausting campaigns weakened the military, while in the Empire’s prosperous core, decadence set in, with endemic corruption, wastefulness at the court and a stagnating civil society. These problems would accelerate after the Qianlong Emperor died in 1799. In the heyday of intercontinental sailing ships, Chinese had already successfully managed direct trading relations with Europe for several centuries by this point, exporting porcelain to Europe and the Americas at scale. So when some arrogantly uncouth emissaries arrived at court in the 1830s from an upstart country named Britain, they were initially dismissed as a particularly unpleasant of self-deluding barbarians.
But a sign of the rotten state of the Chinese Empire as the 19th Century wore on was the increasingly dilapidated state of the Summer Palace. During the Second Opium War, British and French forces sacked and burned the Summer Palace as part of an invasion of Northern China which forced the Qing government to sign a trade treaty on unwelcome terms. The Place was further damaged in 1900, by an alliance of Western and Japanese troops who were putting down the Boxer Rebellion. Yet the Chinese Imperial system which stretched unbroken back to Qin ended in 1912, when Puyi, the last Emperor abdicated. Two years later, the Summer Palace was turned into a public park, and so it has remained ever since, barring a few years after the Communist takeover of 1949, when it briefly housed the Central Party School.
Restoration work has taken place at some pace since the 1980s, and continues to the present day.
This magnificent site can be very crowded, especially if you visit, as I did, on the second day of China’s weeklong early October holiday. More than ten million visitors come here every year, averaging nearly 30,000 per day. You can see why. Despite the crowds, this is one of the world’s great historic sights.
The Summer Palace is a half-hour ride on a new subway line from the city centre. The surrounding are suburbs are wealthy, and house Xi Jinping and most of the party bigwigs – but they don’t take the subway!
This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.
This album's name is dedicated to my favourite game of all time Elder Scrolls Online and race of all time, The Argonians (reptile humanoids). There's a story for you to read below about some of them towards the bottom.
What does Ku Vastei mean? Read below
By Lights-the-Way, Mystic of the Mages Guild
It is hard to describe the culture of my people. Often my tongue stumbles as I try to explain, but it is my hope that ink and quill will give me time enough to gather my thoughts. And perhaps, though such writing, I will finally connect the parts of me that now feel so divided; my homeland of Murkmire and my new life within the Mages Guild.
These journals are to become my ku-vastei. And, as I write that, I can think of no better topic to begin with.
Ku-vastei roughly translates to "the catalyst of needed change," though such a direct translation in no way does justice to the original meaning. Another translation could be "that which creates the needed pathway for change to occur" or even "the spark which ignites the flame which must come into being."
Perhaps a more direct analysis should be first presented. Ku-vastei is a noun, a thing or person. Vastei directly translates to change, an important part of my culture. Ku is harder to speak of. It is that which leads to change, though not that which creates change. An important role, as stagnation is a fate worse than death.
Take a boulder which sits atop a cliff, teetering in place. It must fall eventually. The ku-vastei does not push the boulder off the cliff; rather, it picks the pebble which holds the rock in place. And so it falls, not by a push, but by a pathway cleared.
Ku-vastei is revered, just as change itself is revered, for to look back at what was means to stumble as you move forward. Sometimes, a little push in the right direction is all someone needs to remember such wisdom. Other times, they may need to be shoved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naka Desh Tribe
by Emmanubeth Hurrent, the Wayfarers' Society of Wayrest
My guide, Names-the-Orchids, took me deep into the swamp to meet a little-known tribe called the Naka-Desh, or Riverbacks. Few Imperials venture far enough into Black Marsh to meet the People of the River, and the Naka-Desh see little benefit in traveling beyond the boundaries of their Hist's roots. For that reason, most perceive them as a secretive and mysterious tribe. This misconception is made all the more amusing by the Riverbacks' boundless hospitality.
We approached the Riverbacks' territory via ferry boats. Our expedition encountered tribal sentries almost immediately. They floated to the surface of the water like turtles or crocodiles. I was struck by the wideness of their faces, the largeness of their eyes, and the broad webs adorning their forearms and throats. The Hist clearly provided the "right skin" for the locale. Riverback territory is more water than land—a drowned marsh navigable by small rafts, canoes, and little else.
Names-the-Orchids greeted them with a series of low croaks. They cheerfully repeated the sound before lifting themselves onto our boat. Neither of the sentries seemed familiar with Cyrodilic, so our guide had to interpret. She told us that the Riverbacks demanded tribute in the form of a riddle before they would grant passage. I detected no threat behind the demand. It seemed like more of an invitation than an order. I've no talent for wordplay, but I shared a children's riddle about doorknobs that practically every Imperial knows. As soon as Names-the-Orchids translated it, the two sentries clapped their hands. One of them pressed his forehead to mine, croaked twice, then both vanished into the water as suddenly as they appeared.
We spent four days among the Riverbacks—all but one of them on rafts fishing. Riverback fishing resembles traditional fishing in name only. Rather than hook and line, the Naka-Desh use large river fish called osheeja gars. Each osheeja is secured by a strange harness and bridle. When the Argonians find an abundant fishing spot, they release the predatory gars and let them snatch up the fish. As soon as an osheeja bites a fish, the Argonians pull their pets to the side of the boat and claim the fish for themselves. I asked Names-the-Orchids how it works. Apparently, the bridle prevents the gar from swallowing. She assured me that the osheejas are well-cared for, though. Until they grow too old, of course, whereupon they too are eaten.
Our time with the Riverbacks was not without frustration. Of all the Argonians I have met, the Naka-Desh were by far the least curious. Other than riddles, they had no appetite for anything we brought. They refused our food, took no particular interest in our tales, and did not even ask for our names. This disinterest combined with their boundless hospitality made most of the expedition uncomfortable. Names-the-Orchids chided us for thinking kindness demands reciprocity. As always, even these small disappointments teach us valuable lessons.
["the tribe is not currently in the game but in the world of the game"]
In “Respiro”, I will be reaching out beyond geopolitics to a more expansive context of a million plus years, going back to the creation of the universe and the beginning of time, back to the first-ever rainbow – the very first magical breaking point of light. Instead of binding ourselves to specific instances within the histories of politics, religion, philosophy and the arts, we will be embracing contemporaneity of both the present and the distant past in our continued attempt to defy stagnation. (Sarkis, 20015)
I do feel my photography journey has stagnated of late. I’m blaming this on my bad back and the weather not thrilling me. But the truth is it’s more about my state of mind and motivation. I have recently got rid of my old Honda CRV, reasoning that we did not need two cars and long trips to my children are done in the Kia. I did not think I would miss a car but I don’t think that is strictly true. Over the last 11 years we went on many adventure together, sleeping under its roof on numerous occasions. Its basic rugged format gave me confidence to plonk it in any off road parking spot throw my sack on and go for a wander, the Kia does not have the same appeal. Anyway here’s to you old friend, fond memories.
Yesterday I posted a photo from my first outing with my Canon 6d mkII some two and a bit years ago. This photo is from my last outing with that camera back in January.
27-October-2024
Petelinjsko jezero and the nearby Palško jezero are part of the karst system of groundwater called "Presihajoča Jezera Zgornje Pivke" (Pivka high flysch-lakes-basin part), which, after heavy and repeated rains, overflows into these two partially impermeable basins with springs/sinkholes, as well as filling dozen smaller ones.
These are "ghost lakes" in the full sense of the term as they appear only for short periods, devoid of aquatic fauna and flora, to give way to vast karst meadows in periods with normal or below-average rainfall.
The most impressive example of a karst lake is Cerkniško Jezero/Lake Cerknica ( www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/53352553406/in/datepos... ), located less than twenty kilometers away in a north-east direction (on the other side of the Dinaric-Karst mountain group called "Javornikì", in the direction of the photo, where the southwestern offshoots are visible), which at its maximum size reaches 40 km2 and becomes (by far) the largest freshwater body in all Slovenija, but, unlike the previous ones, it is equipped with aquatic fauna and flora as there are areas (in addition to a small banked part) where the water stagnates perennially, or almost perennially: in the summer of 2022, after almost a year of general drought, it remained completely dry (except for the banked part where several fish were saved) for the first time in its long history:
www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/52310711365/in/photost...
From June 2021 to September 2022 the basins that host the temporary lakes "Petelinjsko" and "Palško" remained dry all the time.
In case of prolonged flooding rains, the level of this temporary lake can be higher than that in the photo by about 15-18 meters, submerging part of the Scots Pine (Pinus silvestris) forest that surrounds it.
Of a small settlement to the Ee in the 10th century it developed into an important city, where trade, industry and fishery thrived. By growing prosperity and look to the commonalty of Zierikzee on March 11th 1248 municipal right was granted king. After the medieval flowering period calamity emergency with fires, shipping disasters, epidemics and floods followed.
The 17th century characterised himself by second flowering of the trade and fishery. Then the number of inhabitants stepped very drastic in the course of the 18th century stagnation and decreased. The large industrial developments went to Zierikzee past for the greater part. In contrast to other cities old buildings remained saved. The wealth to monuments is mainly considered as a precious possession and in 1970s has been discovered by the tourists.
Nowadays Zierikzee is, with wide 10,000 inhabitants, the administrative seat of the new and has in this a centre function. In the historical town centre with a lot of shops and sociable pavements it is for both the tourist and inhabitant well stays.
i know i woke up and that i am still sleeping.
my ancient body,
battered from living,
... tells me it's still very early...
i feel febrile from far off.
i am grieving but i don't know why...
in a lucid, heavily incorporeal torpor, i stagnate, between dream and wakefulness,
in a dream that is a shadow of dreaming. my attention floats between two worlds
and blindly sees the depths of heaven; and these depths interpenetrate, mix together,
and i don't know where i am or what i'm dreaming.
pessoa
15-November-2024
Sunny peaks with mild and dry air, shady valley with frosty, humid and cold air: it is a classic of some alpine valleys, plains and basins in conditions of high pressure and calm wind during the late autumn and winter period.
The valley hoar frost (produced by freezing fog that then dissolved) makes this air column reversal gradient evident.
The cold air, heavier, stagnates towards the bottom while the warm, lighter, air slides above it, so every long night with clear skies the air in the valley becomes colder and more humid.
It is an orographic/microclimatic self-produced cold, due to the loss of heat from soil towards space which occurs mainly during the late autumn (and winter) long clear nights but which also persists during the day, due to the weak and low sun on the horizon, with greater evidence in the shaded areas.
I have been away from Flickr for a while. There are many reasons for this, but the most important is a feeling of stagnation as a photographer, leading to a lack of the joy of photography. I go through this periodically, feeling a gap between what I strive to achieve and the results I get. I still take pictures that are decent, but when that is all that can be said about them, I realise that the best course of action is to focus on development rather than presenting mediocre photos.
When it comes to landscape composition, you are usually told to put an interesting feature in the foreground and/or have some kind of leading lines to capture the eye of the beholder and drive it to the focus of the scene. But then, sometimes you feel that you simply must overrule those sacred rules... ;-)*
So here it is a new scene to enrich my Rosolina sunrise series: a unique sky bathed in a unique light, endowed with a rich tapestry of clouds of varied kinds and funny shapes... I received a beautiful gift that morning and there is something more to tell about it (for the future, folks...), partially compensating for the fact that I have not been taking photographs for about 5 months. Yes, this is it. I would like to say that this regrettable situation is due to lack of time and opportunities, but there is more than that... Lack of motivation. Perpetual exhaustion. Stagnation. Maybe midlife crisis - which, curiously, I have always believed to be Someone Else's Problem, if it existed at all (please concede me this small tribute to Douglas Adams). However I have somehow processed this exposure bracketing where that incredible sky is the main and only character at the center of the stage, trying as hard as I could to offer you this gift of quintessential beauty.
I have obtained this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-1.3/0/+1.3 EV] by luminosity masks in the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal exposure" shot), then I added some final touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4
* I feel it could be worth stressing that the picture is not cropped: I have purposely captured it at 55 mm, as EXIF data testify :-)
15-November-2024
The Raccolana valley descends rapidly and narrowly from Sella Nevea resort (that's on the mountain saddle between the Canin and Montasio main ranges, dividing the wide Rio del Lago valley from this narrower and lower valley) towards the western Julian Alps.
The thermal inversion of the valleys and basins is caused by the persistence of a dynamic high pressure with warm air at high altitude, which favors the accumulation and stagnation of progressively colder and more humid air in their lower layers.
The center of a dynamic HP increases the gravitational attraction favoring an adiabatic push downwards where the cold air, which is denser and heavier than the warm air, stagnates in areas without local and orographic winds and/or strong night breezes.
Partly this cold air arrived earlier, but a greater part was formed on site due to the long nights with loss of heat from the ground towards space (HP clear sky) and the perennial shadow during the day.
The warm air of sub-tropical origin that "inflates" the dynamic anticyclone slides above and so there is an inverse gradient in the lower layers of the air column with frost on the ground of the flat areas and mildness on the sloping areas and mountains peaks.
Frost, of whatever type, is not dew that freezes (which would form glassy or black ice and not white crystals, which form only in saturated air, in clouds and fogs), although the meteorological conditions of formation are very similar, but, with temperatures below freezing point and saturated air there is direct sublimation of the vapor into crystals, only on meadows (rime) if the inversion is limited to a few dozen centimeters from the ground, even on vertical structures up to tens of meters high (hoar frost) if the inversion is thicker with the presence of freezing fogs, especially at night.
On 2 January 1492, the last Muslim ruler in Iberia, Emir Muhammad XII, known as "Boabdil" to the Spanish, surrendered complete control of the Emirate of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile), after the last episode of the Granada War.
The 1492 capitulation of the Kingdom of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs is one of the most significant events in Granada's history. It brought the demise of the last Muslim-controlled polity in the Iberian Peninsula.
The terms of the surrender, expressed in the Alhambra Decree treaty, explicitly allowed the Muslim inhabitants, known as mudéjares, to continue unmolested in the practice of their faith and customs. By 1499, however, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros grew frustrated with the slow pace of the efforts of the first archbishop of Granada, Hernando de Talavera, to convert non-Christians and undertook a program of forced baptisms, creating the converso (convert) class for Muslims and Jews. Cisneros's new strategy, which was a direct violation of the terms of the treaty, provoked the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) centered in the rural Alpujarras region southeast of the city.
16th-century view of the city, as depicted in the Civitates orbis terrarum.
The rebellion lasted Until 1500, 9 years after the conquest, the city did not formally establish its own town council, instead, merging the "Old Christians", and the converted morisco elites, a decision that resulted in strong factionalism from 1508 onwards.
The new period also saw the creation of a number of other new institutions such as the Cathedral Cabildo, the Captaincy–General [es], the Royal Chapel and the Royal Chancellery.
For the rest of the 16th century the Granadan ruling oligarchy featured roughly a 40% of (Jewish) conversos and about a 31% of hidalgos.
Responding to the rebellion of 1501, the Crown of Castile rescinded the Alhambra Decree treaty, and mandated that Granada's Muslims convert or emigrate. Under the 1492 Alhambra Decree, Spain's Jewish population, unlike the Muslims, had already been forced to convert (the so-called conversos) under threat of expulsion or even execution. Many of the elite Muslim class subsequently emigrated to North Africa.
The majority of the Granada's mudéjares converted (becoming the so-called moriscos or Moorish) so that they could stay. Both populations of converts were subject to persecution, execution, or exile, and each had cells that practiced their original religion in secrecy (the so-called marranos in the case of the conversos accused of the charge of crypto-Judaism).
Over the course of the 16th century, Granada took on an ever more Catholic and Castilian character,[citation needed] as immigrants came to the city from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
The city's mosques were converted to Christian churches or completely destroyed.[citation needed] After the 1492 Alhambra decree, which resulted in the majority of Granada's Jewish population being expelled, the Jewish quarter (ghetto) was demolished to make way for new Catholic and Castilian institutions and uses.
During the 17th century, despite the importance of immigration, the population of the city stagnated at about 55,000, contrary to the trend of population increase experienced in the rural areas of the Kingdom of Granada, where the hammer of depopulation caused by the expulsion of the moriscos had taken a far greater toll in the previous century. The 17th-century demographic stagnation in the city and overall steady population increase in the wider kingdom contrasted with the demographic disaster experienced throughout the century in the rest of the Crown of Castile. wikipedia
From indoors, I saw her flutter past, and although highly doubtful that I saw what I thought it was, did the mad scramble anyway.
( Scramble = limp, hobble.. well, I got out there as best I could.. )
Quiiick ! Is it still there?
Oh, please, let it still be on this side of the fence !
Well, blessings to the start of my day, this lovely took a liking to the jacaranda, and a further blessing for a second surge of blossoms from all the summer storms, and so she gave me ample time and pauses to get quite a few snaps in focus.
In fact, she was still hanging around enjoying herself when I was plumb tuckered out and went back inside.
And so, with all the frustrations and stagnations that bog down my present time, all the many things I can no longer do or get finished, there are still blessings to be had if the eyes are open to see them come by ..
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The Orchard Swallowtail, Papilio aegeus, my first sighting ever !
www.climatewatch.org.au/species/insects/orchard-swallowta...
www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_butters/Orch_butt.htm
Here, you can see the different markings of male and female, and why I think mine was a girl.
Oh, and btw, ours don't have those tails..
Hand held on zoom, no ed's..
May you all have blessings to your day xxx
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#182 on Explore, 15th dec 2016.
A blessing from the Bot as well, I s'pose… ;)
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Europe, Portugal, Algarve, Sotaveno, Tavira, Rua de S Pedro, Industry building, Deconstruction, Worker, Blow torch (slightly cut from all sides)
A former modernist industry building where metal and aluminium frames for windows, facades and doors were constructed is being deconstructed. A worker is using a blowtorch to remove the metal support structure of the roof.
Two other captures of the demolition scene are here and here.
'Squeezing out sparks' is a pivotal album of Graham Parker and the Rumour. Together with the American and UK punk albums it turned out to be the way out of the stagnation and complacency of rock music of the 2nd half of the 70s (think symphonic and prog rock).
The soundtrack: Graham Parker-Mercury poisining, a track from the Squeezing out sparks album. A life version (35 years later) is here.
This is number 91 of the Gloriously dilapidated album and 93 of Tavira.
Photo By: Cate Infinity
📍Location: Drone Haven
David Lynch
1946-2025
"Fix your Hearts or Die"
The phrase “Fix your hearts or die,” attributed to David Lynch, resonates with profound themes of emotional healing and the imperative to confront our inner turmoil. In the surreal landscape of Lynch's storytelling, this mantra emerges as a haunting echo—a call to awaken from the slumber of unresolved pain. In Lynch's universe, the act of facing one’s feelings is not just a choice; it’s a necessity. His films vibrate with the intensity of human struggles, revealing that failure to address our emotional wounds can trap us in a cycle of stagnation, leaving our spirits in decline. To "fix" one's heart suggests a journey—a pilgrimage of self-discovery where self-reflection, creative expression, and connection with others weave a tapestry of resilience. This path leads not merely to survival but to a vibrant existence that pulses with life. Lynch’s philosophy transcends boundaries, intricately entwining with the narratives he crafts. His work implores us to dive deep into the shadows of our emotions, to confront the truths we often fear. It is within this brave engagement that we find true vitality, where darkness and light coexist, shaping our humanity. In the end, “Fix your hearts or die” transforms from a stark warning into a transformative invitation—an exploration of what it means to be fully alive in a world that challenges us constantly.
Crafted with care by Jay Pockets, this stunning statue pays tribute to the visionary filmmaker, David Lynch, at Drone Haven. Explore more about Jay Pocket's intricate craftsmanship at his shop, BroRO: www.flickr.com/photos/199444636@N04/
The poignant phrase “Fix Your Hearts or Die,” selected by Dia G., encapsulates Lynch’s profound philosophy on emotional healing and the human experience.
This high-status timber-framed building was constructed around 1634 and seems to have been one of the few in the area that survived the devastating 'The Great Fire of Warwick' of 1694 after which much of the town center was rebuilt in brick in the new Georgian style.
It stands at the southeast entrance to the marketplace at the corner of New Street and Swan Street.
Warwick may be the county town of Warwickshire, and its magnificent castle was in its day home to some of the most powerful men of medieval England, but history had other plans for it.
After its rebuilding in the early 18th century after most of the town was destroyed by fire, Warwick became the centre of fashionable society and power in the region, but then came the industrial revolution and Warwick became a backwater.
To the north of the county, Birmingham, and Coventry mushroomed and became the great industrial cities of the West Midlands, but Warwick stagnated and has remained a small rather sleepy town ever since, although the proximity of upmarket, expensive, Royal Leamington Spa may have added to that.
The armies of visitors to the castle barely trouble the town (the mass entrance and car parks of the castle are thankfully well away from the town) and Warwick's atmosphere always reminds me of an English Sunday in the 70's when everything felt a little 'dead'.
Cambrai, France.
Battlefield 1
“Trump’s election is an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn’t working for most people. It is one that has delivered escalating inequality and stagnating or falling living standards for the majority, both in the US and Britain.
This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.
But some of Trump’s answers to the big questions facing America, and the divisive rhetoric around them, are clearly wrong.
I have no doubt, however, that the decency and common sense of the American people will prevail, and we send our solidarity to a nation of migrants, innovators and democrats.
After this latest global wake up call, the need for a real alternative to a failed economic and political system could not be clearer. "
That alternative must be based on working together, social justice and economic renewal, rather than sowing fear and division. And the solutions we offer have to improve the lives of everyone, not pit one group of people against another.
Americans have made their choice. The urgent necessity is now for us all to work across continents to tackle our common global challenges: to secure peace, take action on climate change and deliver economic prosperity and justice.”
- Jeremy Corbyn