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A fallen tree at the Dutch nature reserve Loonse & Drunense duinen on a fog covered day.
Technical details: Cambo Wide with super-angulon 8,0 90mm MC lens, orange filter.
See my website www.frankbunnik.zenfolio.com for more photos.
TreeOfLifeAtDAK
The Tree of Life is a sculpted 14-story (145-foot tall), 50-foot wide tree, is the centerpiece and icon in Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park since it opened on April 22, 1998.
Paths known as Discovery Island Trails weave around and through this homage to nature. About 325 carved animals make up the surface of the tree and its trunk, with the Discovery Island Trails allowing guests the opportunity to explore and see them all as well as numerous animal exhibits scattered around the roots.
A theater is housed in the Tree of Life root system where the It's Tough to be a Bug! show is performed. This 8-minute, 3D movie and multimedia show features Flik, everybody's favorite ant, and his grasshopper friend, Hopper, from the Disney Pixar film A Bug's Life—along with a supporting cast of insects and arachnids who provide a surprising look into the animal kingdom.
Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree
The tree grows to 60–70 m (200–230 ft) tall and has a very substantial trunk up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter with buttresses.
One of many HUGE Kapok trees are growing here.
Brownsberg nature park, Suriname
Our Canadian friend is a "scale"!
The sunlight was catching the needles so nicely!! Well, a girl has to do something while the old man has a golf lesson....
Incredibly, this is one of many ancient trees in the grounds of Croft Castle (NT). Try as I may, I didn't take a photograph to really do any of them justice - I will just have to go back.
This past weekend I found several trees that were in full bloom. I stood under one and took 211 photos and every single one of them looks wonderful - not because of the photography but because they all fill my screen with soft color.
I found this rare tree with its unusual fruit near the Esplanade Lagoon in Cairns. This is what the Torresian Imperial Pigeon in the preceding shot probably had its eye on!
The Old Summer Palace, known in Chinese as Yuanming Yuan (圆明å›; "Gardens of Perfect Brightness"), and originally called the Imperial Gardens (御å›), was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. It is located 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) northwest of the walls of the former Imperial City section of Beijing. Constructed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Old Summer Palace where the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors resided and handled state affairs; the Forbidden City was used for formal ceremonies. The Old Summer Palace was known for its extensive collection of garden and building architecture and other works of art. It was also called the "Garden of Gardens" (万å›ä¹‹å›) in its heyday.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War, as the Anglo-French expedition force relentlessly approached Beijing, two British envoys, a journalist for The Times and a small escort of British and Indian troopers were sent to meet Prince Yi under a flag of truce to negotiate a Qing surrender. Meanwhile, the French and British troops reached the palace and conducted extensive looting and destruction. Later on, as news emerged that the negotiation delegation had been imprisoned and tortured, resulting in 20 deaths, the British High Commissioner to China, Lord Elgin, retaliated by ordering the complete destruction of the palace, which was then carried out by British troops.
The Imperial Gardens at the Old Summer Palace were made up of three gardens:
Garden of Perfect Brightness proper (圆明å›)
Garden of Eternal Spring (长春å›)
Elegant Spring Garden (绮春å›)
Together, they covered an area of 3.5 square kilometers (860 acres), almost five times the size of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of the Vatican City. Hundreds of structures, such as halls, pavilions, temples, galleries, gardens, lakes and bridges, stood on the grounds.
In addition, hundreds of examples of Chinese artwork and antiquities were stored in the halls, along with unique copies of literary works and compilations. Several famous landscapes of southern China had been reproduced in the Imperial Gardens.
Western Mansions
Main article: Xiyang Lou
The most visible architectural remains of the Old Summer Palace can be found in the Western mansions (Xiyang Lou) section of 18th century European-style palaces, fountains and formal gardens. These structures, built partly of stone but mainly with a Chinese infrastructure of timber columns, colored tiles and brick walls, were planned and designed by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione with Michel Benoist responsible for the fountains and waterwork. Qianlong Emperor became interested in the architectural project after seeing an engraving of a European fountain, and employed Castiglione and Benoist to carry out the work to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects.
Western-style palaces, pavilion, aviaries, a maze, fountains, basins, and waterworks as well as perspective paintings organized as an outdoor theater stage were constructed. A striking clock fountain was placed in front of the largest palace, the Haiyan Tang. The fountain had twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac that spouted water in turn every 2 hours, but all spouting water in concert at noon. These European-style buildings however only occupied an area along the back of the Garden of Eternal Spring that was small compared to the overall area of the gardens. More than 95% of the Imperial Gardens were made up of Chinese-style buildings. There were also a few buildings in Tibetan and Mongol styles, reflecting the diversity of the Qing Empire.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and French expeditionary forces, having marched inland from the coast at Tianjin (Tientsin), arrived in Beijing (Peking).
In mid-September, two envoys, Henry Loch and Harry Parkes went ahead of the main force under a flag of truce to negotiate with Prince Yi and representatives of the Qing Empire at Tongzhou (Tungchow). After a day of talks, they and their small escort of British and Indian troopers (including two British envoys and Thomas William Bowlby, a journalist for The Times) were taken prisoner by the Qing general Sengge Rinchen. They were taken to the Ministry of Justice (or Board of Punishments) in Beijing, where they were confined and tortured. Parkes and Loch were returned after two weeks, with 14 other survivors. 20 British, French and Indian captives died. Their bodies were barely recognizable.
On the night of 5 October, French units diverted from the main attack force towards the Old Summer Palace. At the time, the palace was occupied by only some eunuchs and palace maids; the Xianfeng Emperor and his entourage had already fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei. Although the French commander Charles Cousin-Montauban assured his British counterpart, James Hope Grant, that "nothing had been touched", there was extensive looting by French and British soldiers. There was no significant resistance to the looting, even though many Qing soldiers were in the vicinity.
On October 18, Lord Elgin, the British High Commissioner to China, retaliated against the torture and executions by ordering the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. Destroying the Old Summer Palace was also thought to be a way of discouraging the Qing Empire from using kidnapping as a bargaining tool. It took 3,500 British troops to set the entire place ablaze, and the massive fire lasted for three days. Unknown to the troops, some 300 remaining eunuchs and palace maids, who concealed themselves from the intruders in locked rooms, perished with the burnt palace buildings. Only 13 buildings survived intact, most of them in the remote areas or by the lakeside. The palace was again sacked and completely destroyed in 1900 when the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing.
British and French looters preferred porcelain (much of which still graces British and French country houses) while neglecting bronze vessels prized locally for cooking and burial in tombs. Many such treasures dated back to the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties and were up to 3,600 years old. A specific exception was the looting of the Haiyantang Zodiac fountain with its twelve bronze animal heads. Some of the most notable treasures ended up at the Chinese Museum in the Palace of Fontainebleau, which Empress Eugénie specifically set up in 1867 to house these newly acquired collections.
Once the Old Summer Palace had been reduced to ruins, a sign was raised with an inscription in Chinese stating, "This is the reward for perfidy and cruelty". The burning of the palace was the last act of the war.
According to Professor Wang Daocheng of the Renmin University of China, not all of the palace was destroyed in the original burning. Instead, some historical records indicate that 16 of the garden scenes survived the destruction in 1860. Wang identifies the Republican era and the Cultural Revolution as two significant periods that contributed further to the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. Photographic evidence and eye witness accounts make it clear that (although the palace complex was initially protected by the Qing emperors)it was during the Boxer Rebellion and in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the dynasty when most of the surviving structures were destroyed. Further, the Imperial household itself sold off the magnificent trees in the garden for revenue during the 1890s and after 1900 the palace was used as a veritable builder's yard for anyone who wanted construction materials. Entire buildings were built of materials taken from the Yuanming Yuan and smart Peking houses were adorned with sculptures and architectural elements plundered from the site.
Like the Forbidden City, no commoner had ever been allowed into the Old Summer Palace, as it was used exclusively by the imperial family of the Qing Empire. The burning of the Old Summer Palace is still a very sensitive issue in China today. The destruction of the palace has been perceived as barbaric and criminal by many Chinese, as well as by external observers. In his "Expédition de Chine", Victor Hugo described the looting as, "Two robbers breaking into a museum. One has looted, the other has burnt. one of the two conquerors filled its pockets, seeing that, the other filled its safes; and they came back to Europe laughing hand-in-hand. Before history, one of the bandits will be called France and the other England." In his letter, Hugo hoped that one day France would feel guilty and return what it had plundered from China.
Mauricio Percara, journalist and Argentine writer who works at China Radio International, talks about the apology through the literature by Victor Hugo and mentioned in his story entitled redemption the bust of the French writer located in the old Summer Palace: "at the site where their French peers ever posed his destructive feet today a radiant bust of the great Victor Hugo rises. From the old Summer Palace, the gardens of perfect brightness, a righteous French poses her look of stone in the snow falling obediently on the worn floor of the capital of the North
Following the sacking of the Old Summer Palace, the Qing imperial court relocated to the Forbidden City.
In 1873, the teenage Tongzhi Emperor attempted to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, on the pretext of turning it into a place of retirement for his two former regents, the empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi. However, the imperial court lacked the financial resources to rebuild the palace, and at the urging of the court, the emperor finally agreed to stop the project in 1874. During the 1880s, an adjacent imperial gardens, the Gardens of Clear Ripples (the present-day Summer Palace) was restored for the use of Empress Dowager Cixi as a new summer resort, albeit on a smaller scale.
In the present day, the ruins of the European-style palaces are the most prominent building remnants on the site. This has misled some visitors to believe wrongly that the Old Summer Palace was made up only of European-style buildings.
A few Chinese-style buildings in the outlying Elegant Spring Garden also survived the fire. Some of these buildings were restored by the Tongzhi Emperor before the project was abandoned. In 1900, many of the buildings that had survived or had been restored were burnt for good by the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Most of the site was left abandoned and used by local farmers as agricultural land. Only in the 1980s was the site reclaimed by the government and turned into a historical site. The Yuanmingyuan Artists Colony became famous for germinating a new wave of painters such as Fang Lijun and musicians such as Fa Zi on the site before it was shut down by the government and many artists relocated to the Songzhuang area outside of Beijing. Debates in the 1990s arose regarding restoration and development issues and a more recent environmental controversy brought a new political life to the park as it became a symbol of China's "national wound".
from Wikipedia
cindyh-photography.blogspot.com/
These apples are still on the tree. We spent Saturday driving backroads to the orchards in Gay Mills. We had to alter our normal route do to a washed out gravel road with a tree across it. The orchards are up on the ridge top, so are free from flood damage. I'm not sure how it affected this year's crops, though.
Update: July, 2009:
This photo is consistently at the top of my views each day. If it's being used, I love to see links to it.
Update: September, 2010:
This photo remains at the top of my view many days of the year. I appreciate it being used, please include attribution or a link to this page, as requested by the Creative Commons license. At least leave the Watermark in place, that counts in my opinion.
I have seen this photo used twice by various online greenhouses/farmer's markets selling apple
trees that this photo does not represent.
Email/flickr mail me for permission if you are seeking to use this photo without attribution.
Nikon D7000
Tamron 17-50mm f2.8
Exposure - 1/640
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 17 mm
ISO Speed - 400
An old dying tree near Llanegryn on the west coast of Wales, UK. Unfortunately not the best time of day for shooting landscapes but as I was working last night, about the only chance I got to get out for a few hours. Will definitely call back here again :)
All pictures in my photostream are copyright © 2001-2012 Howie Mudge all rights reserved.
They may not be used or reproduced in any way without my permission. If you'd like to use one of my images for any reason or interested in getting a print of one of my photos, please contact me at howiemudge@hotmail.co.uk
Italien / Südtirol - Ultental
Ultimo Farm Trail
Ultner Höfeweg
The Ulten Valley (German: Ultental or Ulten, Italian: Val d'Ultimo) is a 40 km long mountain valley in the western part of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.
It is the valley of the stream Falschauer, a right tributary of the Adige. Its orientation is southwest to northeast, parallel to the lower Vinschgau, and it is located south of Meran. The valley ends in the commune of Lana. A small road leading south connects the valley with Proveis and the Val di Non in Trentino.
The municipality Ulten covers most of the Ulten valley. The lower part of the valley is in the municipality of St. Pankraz. The population of the Ulten valley is predominantly German-speaking (more than 98% according to 2001 census). The westernmost, highest part of the valley is part of the Stelvio National Park.
(Wikipedia)
The Ultimo Farm Trail - "Via dei Masi" in Italian, "Ultner Höfeweg" in German - is one of the best ways to get to know the valley and its beautiful old mountain farms. Starting in Pracupola (Kuppelwies), we follow the trail on the sunny side of the valley until Santa Geltrude (St. Gertraud) and hike back on its shady side. The trail is 18 km long and can be done in one or two days. Today, we decide to do the longer of the two parts of the Ultimo Farm Trail. Starting at the Ultimo Valley Museum (Ultner Talmuseum) in San Nicolò (St. Nikolaus), we pass the church and hike upwards, following the signpost "Ultner Höfeweg". First, the trail leads up the valley into the forest.
We see and smell the first signs of spring. Up and down the valley, across some small bridges and passing several beautiful mountain farms with typical shingle roofs, we follow the trail through forest and meadows. The trail is very well marked and maintained. After about 3 km, we reach the highest point of this hiking tour at 1,468 m a.s.l. Getting closer to the top of the valley, the trail leads gently downwards until we reach Santa Geltrude.
After a short rest we start our way back on the other side of the Valsura river. After about 20 minutes from Santa Geltrude, we pass the huge ancient larch trees before we finally reach San Nicolò, the starting point of the Ultimo Farm Trail, which unites culture, way of life, history and nature in a very beautiful and unique way. This tour is particularly recommendable from late spring (when also the shady side of the valley is empty of snow) until autumn.
(suedtirolerland.it)
Das Ultental, auch einfach Ulten genannt (italienisch Val d'Ultimo), ist das 40 km lange Tal der Falschauer in den Ortler-Alpen in Südtirol. Es verläuft parallel zum nördlich gelegenen Vinschgau und mündet bei Lana ins Etschtal. Der größte Teil des Ultentals gehört zu den Gemeinden Ulten und St. Pankraz, der Taleingangsbereich zur Gemeinde Lana. Die obersten Talabschnitte befinden sich im Nationalpark Stilfser Joch.
Die Ortschaften im Ultental, in talauswärts gerichteter Reihenfolge, sind
St. Gertraud (1501 m, ca. 300 Einwohner)
St. Nikolaus (1256 m, ca. 300 Einwohner)
Kuppelwies (1153 m, ca. 150 Einwohner)
St. Walburg (1190 m, ca. 2200 Einwohner)
St. Pankraz (735 m, ca. 1568 Einwohner)
Zwischen St. Walburg und St. Pankraz zweigt nach Süden die Straße über das Hofmahdjoch ins Nonstal ab.
In der Nähe von St. Gertraud befinden sich die drei Ultner Urlärchen, die auf ein Alter von 850 Jahren taxiert werden.
Der Ort St. Walburg weist mit dem latènezeitlichen Brandopferplatz am Kirchhügel eine im Alpenraum herausragende archäologische Fundstelle auf.
In der Mitte des Ultentals befindet sich das Skigebiet Schwemmalm. Des Weiteren gibt es eine Langlaufloipe von St. Nikolaus nach St. Gertraud.
Das Ultental bietet auch viele Tourenmöglichkeiten für Bergwanderer. Angefangen von gekennzeichneten Wanderwegen bis hin zu hochalpinen Tourstrecken. Der höchste der Ultner Berge ist die Hintere Eggenspitze mit 3443 m.
Im 19. und Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts hielten sich besonders im Badeort Mitterbad bei St. Pankraz viele berühmte Persönlichkeiten auf, so etwa Kaiserin Elisabeth v. Österreich, Bismarck, Franz Defregger, Hermann Sudermann, Franz Kafka, Hermione v. Preuschen, Domherr Graf zur Lippe, Thomas Mann und Heinrich Mann. Viele kamen wegen des bekannten Arztes und Philosophen Dr. Christoph Hartung von Hartungen, der in Riva am Gardasee das Sanatorium von Hartungen betrieb und im hinteren Ultental, bei St. Nikolaus, seine Sommervilla Hartungshausen besaß.
Die Wasserkraftwerke im Ultental sind eine Reihe von Speicherkraftwerken, welche die Wasserkraft der Falschauer und ihrer Nebenflüsse und -bäche mit Hilfe von sechs Stauseen zur Gewinnung von Energie nützen.
(Wikipedia)
Der Ultner Höfeweg eignet sich besonders gut, um einen Eindruck vom Ultental zu bekommen und die urigen Höfe, die das Tal so besonders machen, aus nächster Nähe zu erkunden. Der Höfeweg startet in Kuppelwies und führt auf der Sonnenseite taleinwärts bis nach St. Gertraud, talauswärts verläuft er auf der Schattenseite - insgesamt ist er etwa 18 km lang und kann in einer Tageswanderung als auch in zwei Teil-Etappen zurückgelegt werden. Wir entscheiden uns heute für den längeren der zwei Teilabschnitte. Wir starten am Ultner Talmuseum in St. Nikolaus und wandern an der Kirche vorbei aufwärts, der Markierung "Höfeweg" folgend.
Der Weg führt taleinwärts und in einer Steigung in den Wald hinein. Der Frühling liegt in der Luft und die ersten Boten sind auch hier schon zu sehen. In ständigem Auf und Ab, über Brücklein und vorbei an hübschen Paarhöfen - natürlich mit typischen Schindeldächern - im Wald und über Wiesen. Der Weg ist stets gut ausgeschildert, die Orientierung ist einfach. Den höchsten Punkt der Wanderung (1.468 m ü.d.M.) erreichen wir nach etwas mehr als 3 km. Nähert man sich dem Talschluss, geht es allmählich bergab, bis man im Dorf St. Gertraud ankommt. Nach einer kleinen Rast machen wir uns auf den Rückweg, der entlang der anderen Seite der Falschauer verläuft.
Dieser Abschnitt ist schattiger und erst im späten Frühling schneefrei. Nach etwa 20 Minuten ab St. Gertraud gelangen wir zu den Ultner Urlärchen. Deren Umfang ist wahrlich erstaunlich! Blickt man auf die gegenüberliegende Talseite, staunt man über die Lage mancher Höfe. Allmählich nähern wir uns wieder St. Nikolaus, wo unsere Wanderung am Ultner Höfeweg endet. Kultur, Lebensweise, Geschichte und Natur sind entlang dieses Weges in einzigartiger Weise vereint. Empfehlenswert vom späten Frühling (Schattenseite oft erst spät schneefrei) bis Herbst.
(suedtirolerland.it)
Just the scent of Autumn
See my most interesting pics at: www.fluidr.com/photos/vainsang/interesting
Neopan 100 Acros, 1953 Six-20 Brownie Model C. www.brownie-camera.com/71.shtml
Image as scanned.
620 film supplied, developed and scanned by the extremely helpful Photo Supplies UK - www.photosupplies.co.uk/wpc/
When Jacqui bought this camera years ago from a Car Boot Sale I wondered why she was wasting her money on an old piece of junk, but recently I figured it wouldn't hurt to run a roll of film through it. It was amusing cycling around with what is effectively a tin can in my Crumpler bag.
I wasn't going to post any pics for a while as I have some catching up to do, but these negs and scans came back today and I was quite excited by their arrival.
One of the first elements you come across from the parking lot is this tree next to a (now frozen) pond. The sun was setting so I set it up as a silhouette. Not much activity in the park since snow fall as the smoothe snow would attest to.
I instantly fell in love with this tree...the minute I laid eyes on it, I knew there was art in there...I had to do something more with it than just show it's beauty, as in the picture below!
I mirrored it and then joined it to create this fairytale image...
I have many more to come and I have been thinking of putting them in a slide show (if I can find the time), like last time so that I don't bore you with a thousand photos of trees...artistic though this tree is!
I hope you can appreciate this tree as much as I do!
Happy Wednesday everyone!
With love
Nat :)