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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 7th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/538516052 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,903rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This photograph was taken an altitude of Seven hundred and forty eight metres, at 17:02pm on Friday May 13th 2016 between Bennett and Conrad, on the shoreline of Tutshi Lake off Klondike Highway 2 (which joins and shares part of the Alaska Highway), in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
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Nikon D800 32mm 1/125s f/16.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF Fine tune on (+9).
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 59d 55m 46.21s
LONGITUDE: W 134d 46m 5.38s
ALTITUDE: 748.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 29.19MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 45.340+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on December 16th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1082409700 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,887th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and ninety metres at 13:39pm on Thursday 8th November 2018, off Biskupstungnabraut 35 at Gullfoss (Golden falls) waterfall, on the Ölfusá river in the South-west of iceland.
It is located in the canyon of the Hvítá (white river) which begins at the Hvítárvatn glacier lake on the Langjökull glacier in the highlands of Iceland.
This tiered cataract waterfall has two drops of around eleven and twenty one metres, falling into a crevice thirty two metres deep and flows at a rate of between eighty and one hundred and forty cubic metres per second depending on the season.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 55mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/13s Aperture f/10.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 64d 19m 37.70s
LONGITUDE: W 20d 7m 17.40s
ALTITUDE: 190.0m
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 45.00MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.588+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 29th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1072392264 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,980th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and forty one metres at 15:20pm on Thursday 8th November 2018, off Þingvallavegur 36 in the Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir National Park) in Iceland. Situated East of Reykjavik, this is the location where the Alþing (Althing) parliamentary general assembly met between 930 CE and 1798.
It has been home to a church for over One thousand years.
The park sits in a rift valley caused by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates with cliffs and fissures such as the Almannagjá fault.
Here we are looking over a body of water known as Þingvallavatn (Þingvallavatn lake). The lake has a surface area of 84 km² and a depth of 114m and lies partially with the national park.The only outflow from lake Þingvallavatn is the river Sog.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 27mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/15s Aperture f/13.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 64d 15m 19.20s
LONGITUDE: W 21d 7m 43.30s
ALTITUDE: 141.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.30MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.246+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 12th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1301729290 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,782nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty eight metres at 11:33am on Tuesday 9th February 2021, on a cold winter morning with snow blizzards rolling in from the continent of a group of ten Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) fighting for a chance to bath in a stone birdbath off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
The common starling or European starling, also known simply as the starling in the British Isles, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year.
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Nikon D850 Hand held Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/2000s Aperture f/6.3 iso4000 EV compensation set to +0.7EV Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-Area mode: 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points. Exposure mode: Manual mode. Matrix metering. White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fibre geared tripod. Neewer Gimbal tripod head with Arca Swiss quick release plate.055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.85s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.63s
ALTITUDE: 43.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 53.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Despite the dark background I took this image in evening civil twilight, as by the time it was truly dark Saturn was already too far round to the West to see from my observatory. It is a combination of the best 50% of frames from two infrared and two RGB video sequences over a 22 minute period.
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Equipment used:
Basler Ace mono USB3 CCD camera, 2.5x PowerMate, Ir Pass and RGB filters, 300mm f/10 SCT, EQ8 mount.
Photograph taken at 16:45pm on September 8th 2012 at an altitude of Eighty seven metres off Borrowdale Road B5289 and Lake Road on the shoreline of Strandshag Bay on Derwentwater near to the Lakeland market town of Keswick, one of the Northern most in the Lake District, Cumbria, England.
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Nikon D7000 270mm 1/320s f/14.0 iso200 Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled. Manual exposure mode. Matrix metering. Single point focus. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G. Jessops 67mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D11 battery grip. Hoodman H-EYEN22S Hood eye eye cup. My memory 32GB class 10 20MB/s SDHC. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit
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LATITUDE: N 54d 35m 23.01s
LONGITUDE: W 3d 8m 14.62s
ALTITUDE: 87.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 39.10MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 10.97MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 8th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/537851988 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,939th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at 13:26pm an altitude of Nine metres, on Thursday 5th May 2016 off Beach Drive close to Kitty Islet in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
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Nikon D800 70mm 1/250s f/13.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Handheld . Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.Nikon AF fine tune enabled (+9).
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter.Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 24m 37.91s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 18m 26.02s
ALTITUDE: 9.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.75MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 33.928+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 21st 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1181862461 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,806th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Four metres, at 12:12pm on Thursday 3rd September 2019 off Island View Road and Homathko Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Island View Beach.
This beautiful stretch of golden sandy beach is located on the Eastern shore of the Saanich Peninsula, near to Victoria and beautiful Sidney by the sea, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Here we look over towards the East end of James Island with Sidney Island behind, two of the Southern Gulf Islands in British Columbia.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 105mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso640 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 35m 3.16s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 22m 18.02s
ALTITUDE: 4.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.90MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.898+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 11th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1264810305 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,715th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty three metres at 08:07am on Sunday 9th August 2020, of an adult male European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch(Carduelis carduelis), off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
A small passerine bird of the finch family, they are native to Europe, North Africa and Western and Central Asia. This female has brought up three babies close to my garden. Males have larger red patches on the head, extending past the eye at the top and base.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization set to normal position. Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/320s Aperture f/6.3 iso64 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.58s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.19s
ALTITUDE: 63.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 18.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 44.367+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Tuesday 13th December 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1441343402 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,764th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken in the Golden hour around sunrise at an altitude of Six metres, at 07:17am on Sunday 1st September 2019 off Beacon Avenue and Bevan Avenue in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Sidney is situated on the traditional territory of W̱SÁNEĆ first nations people, and in their language, SENĆOŦEN, the land which the Town of Sidney sits on is called SET,TINES, meaning "chest sticking out," in reference to the way the land juts out into the water.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 85mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/8.0 iso80 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter ring. Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 31.10MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 42.249+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 16th May 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1397011679 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,572nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Twelve metres at 12:03pm on Thursday May 12th 2022 off the Mall and Horse Guards Road within the grounds of St James's Park in Central London, one of the Royal parks of London situated in South West London.
Here we see a pair of adult male Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina), large diving ducks with a name derived from the Greek 'Netta' or duck and Latin 'Rufina' or Golden red or ruddy. These two males were foraging and diving for bits of algae. The females are a pale brown and a stark contrast to the males.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/320s Aperture f/9.0 ISO500 Hand held with Tamron VR Vibration reduction enabled on setting 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). (14 bit uncompressed file) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled AF-Area mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (5310K). Colour space: RGB. High ISO NR: ON (Low) Active D-Lighting: Auto Vignette control: Normal Picture control: (SD) Standard with sharpening +3 and clarity +1.00
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 4.45s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 8m 21.60s
ALTITUDE: 12.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 46.10MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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This three seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Eight metres, at 06:14am on Friday 3rd September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, close to Glass beach in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
In the distance we see Mt Baker in Washington State, USA, an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades. Standing 3,286 metres tall, she was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.
The four Salishan language speaking First Nation bands nearest to Mount Baker know her by different names. Known to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, Kwelshán (wounded by a shot) to the Lummi,Teqwúbe7 (snow-capped peak) to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River, and to the Nooksack language, the ice- and snow-covered top is Kweq’ Smánit (white mountain) while the high meadows around the peak are Kwelshán (shooting place)”.
There are also unsubstanciated references to Mt Baker as Komo Kulshan (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, though Koma or Komo Kulshan is not a native name for the mountain in any of the twenty three collective Salishan languages.
The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792.
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 175mm Shutter speed: One point six seconds long exposure Aperture: f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Full frame Focus mode: Manual focus AF-Area mode: Normal-area AF Exposure mode: Aperture priority exposure Nikon Back button focusing enabled Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Natural light auto, 0, 0 Colour space: Adobe RGB Nikon Distortion control: On Picture control: (SD) Standard Sharpening +3.00 Clarity +1.00 High ISO NR: On (Normal) Vignette control: Normal Active D-lighting: Auto
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) Reverse Neutral density Graduated glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 51.90s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 29.50s
ALTITUDE: 8.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 48.70MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
By Paul Williams
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia. Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is...
er...
the biggest plague on the planet, destroyer of all other animal species wherever possible after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility.
Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London.
The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons.
They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionally killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dipped into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy.
Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time.
By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market.
Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.
They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials. They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire.
Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him. In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture.
The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician tradition and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also. Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons.
They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama. Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons.
The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons. In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogamous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives. They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum.
They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 44.899+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Wednesday 11th January 2023
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1444091772 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,813th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty five metres at 10:13am on a cloudy summer morning on Tuesday 10th August 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult Feral or town pigeon, a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 380mm Shutter speed: 1/1000s Aperture: f/7.1 iso320 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical stabilization control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4950k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS (Firmware version 1.00 05/11/2019). Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Black Rapid curve breathe sport shoulder strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Jessops Tripod bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.24s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.56s
ALTITUDE: 65.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 38.30MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.021+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 11th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1186864560 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,836th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at 12:28am on Sunday 10th November 2019, a beautifully sunny Autumn morning close to the Swale on the Isle of Sheppey, across the Kingsferry Bridge in Kent, England.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 60mm Shutter speed 1/1000s Aperture f/14.0 iso800 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Sigma OS Optical stabilization enabled . Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Exposure mode - Shutter priority mode. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Manually set. Active D-lighting on Automatic. Picture control: Standard with Sharpening A+3.00 and clarity +1.00
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS (Firmware version 1.00 05/11/2019). Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.0MB NEF: 94.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 50.80MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.135+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 13th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1295939116 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,757th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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This Two seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Twenty three metres at 04:33am on Thursday 5th July 2018, in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 04:50am),off Rectory Lane in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England.
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 24mm Shutter speed: Two seconds long exposure (Electronic front-curtain) Aperture: f/6.3 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Area mode single. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm F4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDHC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Manfrotto 055Xprob Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections. Manfrotto 327RC2 Magnesium Ball Head. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 32.45s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 48.60s
ALTITUDE: 23.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 93.1MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 33.762+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 9th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1179755159 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,737th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres, at 06:40am on Wednesday 1st September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, bewteen the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Here we look over to Sidney Island, one of the Southern Gulf islands between the southwest coast of BC. It has an elevation of seventy seven metres above sea level at it's highest point. Ferry trips from Sidney to Sidney spit on Sidney Island operate for certain parts of the year.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 90mm Shutter speed 1/40s Aperture f/14.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee Filters ND9RG 0.9 Reverse Grad Nd Filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.5MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
'' If I had one power, just one time, it would be the power of free flight just like the birds ''
Ten years into my enjoyable time here on Flickr, I wanted to take a short trip down memory lane and revisit a few of the photographs that have been important to me over the years. They might be commercial successes, personal favourites or simply images that evoke powerful memories, all with a few words on each behind the capture of the frame.
(15) ECHOES OF REVERIE
Low light photography, luck and leaving a £1,000 carbon fibre tripod on a beach!
This photograph is important to me for so many reasons. Firstly the location. My wife's sister and brother in law lived from 1998 to 2020 in Bradford Avenue in Sidney on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. A lovely little old fashioned town that I have known and loved now for twenty four years. We moved my Mother in law out here for a better quality of life and four generations of our family have enjoyed being here. At sunrise the West coast offers the most amazing colours and it's one of the most incredible things to experience. I like to shoot at glass beach, beside the pier and boat jetty and further down as well.
On this occasion I was up early, showered and in the SUV, parking at an altitude of Eight metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:41am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014. I was located off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. From here we are looking across the Salish Sea to the distant beauty that dominates views here, Mt Baker in Washington State, USA.
Our family are lucky enough to see the mountain regularly, and she dominates views from all over the Island. On one trip we even drove to the top of Mt Baker and visit Mt Shuksan and Picture Lake, calling one of our relatives to tell them to look at the mount now as we were waving from the top! Known to the Lummi First nation people (Lhaq'temish) as Kwelshán, and ('Shooting place' in Nooksack), to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River as Teqwúbe7 meaning “snow-capped peak'', to the Nooksack language as Kweq’ Smánit (“white mountain'') and also known as Koma Kulshan, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.
The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792. I love the mountains connections to the First nations people and the stories and legends they tell of her over the centuries.
On this particular stretch of water the Canada geese (Branta canadensis) sweep in during the evening and sleep on the water, departing around sunrise every morning from East to West towards Moresby passage. The light was still quite minimal and my eyes could still only see the main sunlight as the sun began to rise, but everything lower was in virtual darkness. I had the Nikon D800, a sensational ground breaking camera mounted on a Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs) and the strongest tripod ever manufactured by the company. On top was a Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs) on a Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.
That set up gives you a rock steady platform on any terrain and in any weather conditions, though naturally the penalty is a lot of weight if you are trekking. I used my old faithful Nikon MC-CD2 remote shutter release connected through the port from the Nikon GP-1 module and a Nikon MD-12 battery grip which extends battery life, speeds up the frame rate with the optional batteries and end piece and sits better in my ape like hands when shooting hand held. I could hear the geese stirring in the darkness to my right. I figured if I one third of the way into the frame I had a chance of catching the birds if they flew across the scene, but knew I needed as much speed as I could to capture their motion, whilst not compromising too much in the way of ISO which always has noise as a trade off.
I have always been a photographer who prefers to try and shoot at the lowest ISO I possibly can for clarity and low noise, and so I adjust aperture and shutter speed around that if I can. In this set of images I settled of the f/2.8 aperture that allowed light into the Nikon 24-70mm, a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second and an ISO of 100. Just then the first skein of Canada geese flew in formation, honking across the scene and I began shooting. As they progressed across, the sound of air moving beneath large wings seemed to get closer and closer, it was still actually much darker to my eyes than the sensor captured, and I knew at least some geese were coming up just in front, over or behind me, such was the noise and force of wingbeats.
suddenly a second skein of eight geese emerged into the frame. There was no time to adjust focus on them so I managed a few frames before both skeins had left the frame. With time on our sides, we can prepare and capture everything perfectly, but as any photographer knows, that's a rare thing as life happens quickly most of the time. This was a little of a compromise, with the foremost skein not in pin sharp focus, but I still liked the end result and the motion captured within.
The image also reminds me that this was the trip during which I left that expensive £1000 carbon fibre tripod and tripod head on a beach and drove home! We were at Coals Bay and I began tripod mounted on a deserted beach with the tide starting to come in. Then I stood the tripod on the rocks and reverted to hand held, moving about the beach on a beautiful afternoon. The shoot finished and we packed up when we got a call from my sister in law to say she was in the car park to pick us up. I threw myself and my gear into the side sliding doors of the van and only realized as we arrived at Jean's house in Bradford Avenue that I had a tripod bag and no tripod. I went numb and cold, the most expensive tripod I have ever bought left on the rocks with the tide coming in.
I jumped into the driving seat and headed back to the Bay, absolutely devastated, knowing that it would have been gathered up by some toe rag and sold on Ebay for low dollars or used by some tyke for their own camera gear. As I headed to the beach I passed a family and asked if they had seen the tripod and to my utter surprise they had. Some very kind Canadian had seen the fully extended tripod and, knowing the tide was returning, folded it up and placed it against the rocks highest up to the left to protect it. Amazed to be reunited, a couple of hours after first losing it, I had my precious Manfrotto back in my grubby little mitts! I'll never know who the kind and honest person was, but I am so grateful to them.
This photograph appeared in one of my published books and was published by Getty Images on March 3rd 2015 in the Moment open Collection. It appeared in a photographic exhibition, has been published in online articles and others from the two shoots on different days where I managed to capture the geese have gone on to various successes and publications all over the world.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eight metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:41am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Nikon D800 Focal length: 70mm Shutter speed: 1/1000s Aperture: f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Size L Focus mode: Manual focus Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto white balance Colour space: Adobe RGB
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.77s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.84s
ALTITUDE: 8.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 13.49MB
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Processing power:
Nikon D800
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 24th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/509698256 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,755th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Three hundred and twenty five metres at 09:13am on Sunday 17th May 2015 on the shoreline of Loch Morlich, nestled in the Glenmore Forest Park in Glenmore, Scotland.
Loch Morlich (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Mhùrlaig), is a freshwater loch in the Badenoch and Strathspey area of Highland, Scotland near Aviemore. The loch is home to a watersports center with kayaking, sailing and windsurfing among the activities available.
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Nikon D800 24mm 1/250s f/10.0 iso100 Hand held. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Centre weighted metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 57d 10m 4.07s
LONGITUDE: W 3d 42m 0.31s
ALTITUDE: 325.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 47.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.936+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 30th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1314786730 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,196th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty two metres at 13:30pm on Tuesday 27th April 2021, of a group of three adult Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris)taking turns to immerse themselves in a stone birdbath off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 340mm Shutter speed: 1/1600s Aperture f/8.0 iso1000 Tamron VC Vibration Control enabled on setting 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504) (14 bit uncompressed) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point. Exposure mode: Manual mode. Metering Mode: Spot metering. White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fibre geared tripod. Neewer Gimbal tripod head with Arca Swiss quick release plate.055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid sport quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.95s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.50s
ALTITUDE: 52.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.6MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 32.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.20 (14/01/2021) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.058+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 31st 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1184385344 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,857th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirteen metres, at 19:46pm on Monday 6th September 2019 around sunset from the wooden jetty off the beach at Harrison Lake in the village of Harrison Hot springs.
In the distance we see Mount Breakenridge situated in the Lilloet ranges of Southwestern British Columbia. The mountain stands 2,395 metres tall, and takes it's name from Sapper Archibald T. Breakenridge,making a reconnaissance survey in 1859
Harrison is a small community at the Southern end of Harrison Lake where Harrison River flows inwards in the Fraser valley of British Columbia in Canada. Known for it's hot springs, it has a population of around fifteen hundred people and was named after Benjamin Harrison, who formerly worked as Deputy governor for the Hudson's Bay Company.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 82mm Shutter speed 1/80s Aperture f/16.0 iso6400 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration Reduction enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR.Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 49d 18m 14.26s
LONGITUDE: W 121d 47m 7.74s
ALTITUDE: 13.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 20.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty five metres at 16:09pm on an beautiful summer morning on Friday 16th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult female Carrion crow (Corvus corone) feeding one of her three offspring, reared with her partner over the past weeks in and around my garden., the smallest of three reared by a resident pair, learning to forage for garden scraps. The juveniles have a more pronounced blueish tinge to their plumage which darkens with maturity, and smaller, more skeletal heads. A passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Raven (Higher classification: Corvus), which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia, they can grow to twenty inches in length with a wingspan of up to thirty nine inches.
Unashamedly I will shout it from the rooftops.
I LOVE CARRION CROW.
There, I've said it. Words I use to describe these amazing birds would include stunning, beautiful, bold, magnificent, intelligent and fantastic, loving, tender, victimized...... oh yes, and sometimes they can be brutal (Let's face it, Mother nature often is).
Recently I had a resident pair of Carrion crows who decided that my garden was theirs, playing a game of cat and mouse with a pair of cheeky Magpies (Pica pica) for dominance and food rights. The male crow actually flew in and 'winged' the magpies to make them leave, an incredible sight to witness. It was an honour and a privilege to be able to win their trust and they have given me so much pleasure this year being able to get within a few feet of them, and their three youngsters, to photograph and feed them, and they have reinforced my already deep admiration for a bird that is brimming with beauty, intelligence, confidence and also surrounded by myths, legend and prejudice.
So let's begin with a look back over history.
LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY
Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.
In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.
In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.
The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.
Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.
In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.
In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.
The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug
In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.
In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.
In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:
1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.
2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.
3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.
4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.
5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.
6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!
7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.
8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events
Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....
There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.
The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.
Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.
Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone
Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm.
They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!
They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.
Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.
A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans.
Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.
Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.
Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!
Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.
Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!
They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.
In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN
Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.
Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the frames as the mirror slapped back and forth.
The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....
I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....
On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.
A final observation came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever.
Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!
Paul Williams June 4th 2021
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 460mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture: f/8.0 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4500k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.78s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.33s
ALTITUDE: 55.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 43.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eighteen metres at 12:08pm on Sunday 24th January 2021,during the first snow flurries of the year off New Road and B213 in Abbey Wood open space, Belvedere in Kent, England.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Otical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 86mm Shutter speed: 1/125s Aperture f/4.8 iso800 Image area 1.2X L (6880 x 4584). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. Single point: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Aperture Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 64). White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Blackrapid sport quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 14.88s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 38.56s
ALTITUDE: 22.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 66.00MB NEF: 90.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 39.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.20 (14/01/2021) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 42.315+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 23rd May 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1397042739 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,581st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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This photograph was taken at an altitude of Four hundred and nine metres, at 15:21pm on Tuesday 10th May 2016 between Prophet River and Muskwa off Alaska Highway route 97 in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
This is a juvenile American Black Bear (Ursus Americanus), a medium sized bear native to North America, and found in abundance in the Yukon territory and Alaska. Black bears have a small tail, up to nine inches long foot length and males can weigh up to 250kgs. On my trip I encountered several bears and, although it is strongly recommended that you do not leave your vehicle to photograph these beautiful wild animals, needless to say, with care and caution I did just that to capture my photographs.
Nikon D800 210mm 1/200s f/5.6 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6G ED VR. Jessops 95mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
LATITUDE: N 58d 42m 30.00s
LONGITUDE: W 122d 42m 38.00s
ALTITUDE: 409.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 13.66MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.758+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 11th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1295236483 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,933rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at 10:25am on Thursday 12th September 2013 at an altitude of one hundred and thirty two metres, off the A84 on a tiny single track road winding adjacent to Loch Voil, a small freshwater loch approximately 5 km (3½ miles) in length, and separated from Loch doine by the River Larig. Loch Voil is drained at its northern end by the River Balvaig at Balquhidder.
This road leads from Kingshouse towards Cragmhor Bed and breakfast, and onwards towards Balquhidder itself. Rob Roy's grave is just a stonethrow from this spot at 2 Druimbeag, Kirkton, Lochearnhead.
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Nikon D800 Focal length: 82mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture: f/14.0 iso200 RAW (14Bit) Handheld with Nikkor VR Vibration reduction enabled. RAW 14-Bit file. Size L (7360 x 4912) FX. Focus mode: AF-S. AF-Area mode: Single point. Exposure mode: Manual. Matrix metering. White balance: Auto. Colour space: Adobe RGB. High ISO noise reduction enabled. Active D-lighting: Auto. Vignette control: Normal. Distortion control: On.
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. 77mm Jessops UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 56d 21m 19.26s
LONGITUDE: W 4d 22m 22.51s
ALTITUDE: 141.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 40.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.042+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 5th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1184798599 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,849th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, at 06:55am on Wednesday 18th September 2019 in the magic of the golden hour around sunrise off Gowlland point road on the shoreline of Bedwell Harbour at Poets Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 27mm Shutter speed: Three seconds long exposure. Aperture f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter lens adapter. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 44m 48.94s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 13m 38.75s
ALTITUDE: 1.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 5th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/568506547
MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 949th frame to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'Moment' collection, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at 12:22pm on Friday 13th September 2013 at an altitude of Seven hundred and forty seven metres from the Glen Coe Ski Resort (also known as 'Glencoe mountain' and White Corries ski centre', located on Meall a' Bhuiridh, a mountain on the edge of Rannoch Moor in the highlands of Scotland, close in proximity to Glen Coe and Glen Etive. The mountain is One thousand, One hundred and eight metres tall (3,635ft), ranked 36th in the UK with a prominence of 795 metres and the name in Gaelic means 'Hill of the bellowing'.
The River Coe runs through the valley and the views from the mountain include The Three Sisters, Meall Mor, Aonach Dubh and Bidean Nam Bian, the highest point in the former county of Argyll. Stob Coire Sgreamhach is designated as a separate Munro (a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 ft (914.4 m). Of course, there is always Ben Nevis to admire as well.
There are seven lifts on Meall a' Bhuiridh and nineteen ski runs. The Glen Coe ski resort lies on it's Northern slopes, and the cafe at the base serves the finest hot chocolate smothered with whipped cream and lashings of scrumptious marshmallows that I have ever tasted.
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Nikon D800 34mm 1/160s f/18.0 iso200 Handheld. Single point auto focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.Auto Active D-lighting.
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. 77mm Jessops UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Nikon DK-17M magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 56d 37m 41.74s
LONGITUDE: W 4d 50m 34.45s
ALTITUDE: 747.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 36.58MB
PROCESSING POWER:
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HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at 11:14pm on Friday 13th September 2013 at an altitude of Seven hundred and forty eight metres from the Glen Coe Ski Resort (also known as 'Glencoe mountain' and White Corries ski centre', located on Meall a' Bhuiridh, a mountain on the edge of Rannoch Moor in the highlands of Scotland, close in proximity to Glen Coe and Glen Etive. The mountain is One thousand, One hundred and eight metres tall (3,635ft), ranked 36th in the UK with a prominence of 795 metres and the name in Gaelic means 'Hill of the bellowing'.
The River Coe runs through the valley and the views from the mountain include The Three Sisters, Meall Mor, Aonach Dubh and Bidean Nam Bian, the highest point in the former county of Argyll. Stob Coire Sgreamhach is designated as a separate Munro (a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 ft (914.4 m). Of course, there is always Ben Nevis to admire as well.
There are seven lifts on Meall a' Bhuiridh and nineteen ski runs. The Glen Coe ski resort lies on it's Northern slopes, and the cafe at the base serves the finest hot chocolate smothered with whipped cream and lashings of scrumptious marshmallows that I have ever tasted
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Nikon D7000 Focal length: 35mm Shutter speed: 1/320s Aperture: f/13.0 iso400 Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction enabled on normal setting JPeg (8-bit) Fine Size Large (4928 x 3264) DX Focus mode: AF-A AF-Area mode: Auto manual exposure. matrix metering. Auto white balance. Exposure: Manual Colour space: Adobe RGB White balance: Auto 1 Active D-Lighting: Auto Auto distortion control: On
Nikkor AF-S 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 56d 37m 39.37s
LONGITUDE: W 4d 50m 31.67s
ALTITUDE: 749.0m
RAW (FINE) FILE: 46.10MB NEF FILE SIZE: 19.10MB
PROCESSED FILE: 17.80MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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This photograph was published online in an article in ''TREEHUGGER - Sustainability for all'' entitled '' 14 Incredible Duck Species'' by Jaymi Heimbuch on December 28th 2020.
With over 100 expert writers, ''Treehugger'' has over 120 million worldwide readers, and focuses on sustainability, eco-savvy issues and green living. Based at 1500 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, it is headed up by CEO Neil Vogel.
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This photogreaph was Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 7th 2020,CREATIVE RF gty.im/1204186112 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION, my 4,323rd photograph to be selected.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two metres, at 10:14am on Tuesday June 4th 2019, on a an overcast and drizzle filled morning off Birdcage Walk and Horse Guards Road in the grounds of St James's Park.
Situated in the City Of Westminster, the Park spans twenty three Hectares and is the oldest of the Royal Parks of London, with a variety of visiting and nesting birds that include Ducks, Canada Geese and Pelicans.
Here we see a beautiful Male Smew (Mergellus Albellus) relaxing beside the lake in St James's Park. Strangely this male is still in his winter plumage , and is the smallest of the sawbilled ducks. The smew is a species of duck, and is the only living member of the genus Mergellus
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Nikon D850 Focal length 210mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/5.6 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 6880 x 4584 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration (Normal) selected . Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. AF Area mode single. Exposure mode - Manual exposure. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. Auto 1 white balance. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal. Active D-lighting on Automatic. High ISO Noise Reduction: On. Picture control: Auto with Sharpening A+1.00.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E.Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 11.90s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 7m 56.10s
ALTITUDE: 2.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 90.40MB NEF: 62.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.01MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 10th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/543400324 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,964th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This photograph was taken at 11:42am on Friday 20th May 2016 off the Caribou Highway 97 outside Cache Creek, three hundred and fifty four kilometres Northeast of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.
The spectacular hills here are sporadically coloured like Nature's own watercolour by Iron and other minerals in the soil.
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Nikon D800 98mm 1/80s f/11.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held with Nikon VR vibration reduction on. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag.
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RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 37.58MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.218+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Friday 28th January 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1367126291 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,451st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres at 13:12pm on a cold winters morning on Wednesday 26th January 2022 in minster on sea in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, across the Kingsferry Bridge in Kent, England.
Here we see a heavily pregnant Romney ewe (formerly the Romney Marsh), referred to by farmers as the 'Kent', a sheep with it's origins in England and recognized by 1800. They are excellent forage converters, adaptable to a variety of environments and give easy lambing and a high wool value from their thick fleeces. With a low depreciation, they are highly maternal.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 450mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/13.0 iso320 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX Hand held with Sigma OS Optical stabilization enabled on setting 1 Nikon Back button focusing enabled Focus mode: AF-C focus AF-Area mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto 1. 0, 0 (4350K) Active D-lighting: Low Picture control: (NL) Neutral Base: (NL) Neutral Sharpening: +2.00
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS (Firmware version 1.00 05/11/2019). Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Black Rapid Curve Breathe sport neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 21.39s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 47m 42.06s
ALTITUDE: 7.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.0MB NEF: 91.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 50.30MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.142+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 17th January 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1362682959 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,436th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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This Two and a half seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of One metres, in the golden hour around sunrise at 06:47am on Sunday 1st September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, between the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Here we look over towards the Southern Gulf Islands of BC, parts of James Island and Sidney Island.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 300mm Shutter speed: 1/25s Aperture f/16.0 iso125 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.90MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.
These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, a Nikon D850 FX Pro body as my trusted companion, I travel light with less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 31.774+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 21st 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1069482798 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,572nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eight metres at 11:32am on Friday 9th November 2018, off Reynishverfisegur 215 and bjodvegur at Reynisfjara black sand beach and Reynisdranger Basalt columns on the south coast of Iceland, close to the fishing village of Vík í Mýrdal.
Reynisfjara boasts several enormous basalt stacks and powerful, roaring waves off the Atlantic Ocean, and was voted as one of the top ten non-tropical beaches to visit on the planet by National Geographic.
The Reynisdranger basalt stacks are named Langsamur, Landdrangur and Skessudranger or Háidrangur.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 75mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/50s Aperture f/11.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 63d 24m 8.30s
LONGITUDE: W 19d 2m 28.90s
ALTITUDE: 8.0m
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 26.80MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB DATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 49.088+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 19th February 2024
CREATIVE RF gty.im/2022065242 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 6,867th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres at 11:47am on Saturday 27th January 2024, off the Mall and Horse Guards Road within the grounds of St James's Park in Central London, one of the Royal parks of London situated in South West London.
Here we see, Sciurus Carolinensis (Eastern Gray Squirrel or Grey Squirrel), a tree squirrel native to North America and first introduced to the UK in the 1870's. Though it was largely responsible for the decimation of our own native red squirrel population, those are now on the increase and found in certain parts of the UK including Scotland. The Greys are still an ecologically essential natural forester regenerator.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/500s (Mechanical shutter) Aperture f/6.3 ISO: Auto ISO500 Hand held with Tamron VR Vibration reduction enabled on setting 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). (14 bit uncompressed file) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled AF-Area mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Natural light Auto, 0, 0 Colour space: RGB. Picture control: Standard (SD) (Sharpening +3.00/Clarity +1.00) Active D-Lighting: Normal High ISO NR: On (Normal)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 6.90s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 8m 17.30s
ALTITUDE: 7.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.6MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 35.80MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 45.154+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Wednesday 11th January 2023
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1443811290 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,851st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty metres at 07:53am on Thursday 8th May 2022, of a juvenile Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and it's mother taking food from a garden off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Several times the Vixen angrily put the youngster in it's place, and it cowered down, ears pinned back in full submissive mode until she allowed it to move again.
The largest of the true foxes (a genus of the sub-family Caninae which form a proper clade or monophyletic or natural group). Red foxes are the largest of the worldwide foxes, and also the most commonly widespread across the Northern hemisphere, Europe and North Africa.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 380mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture f/8.0 iso800 Hand held with Tamron Vibration Control set to position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504) NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering Active D-Lighting: low White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4670k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.30s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.44s
ALTITUDE: 60.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 21.60MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at 09:22am on Wednesday April 19th 2017, in the Piazza Della Rotonda,Roma Italy, within the Pantheon, a former Roman temple, now a church on the site originally commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus 27 BC to 14 AD).
Situated in Region IX Circus Flaminius, as designated by Augustus in 7BC when Rome was divided into fourteen administrative regions, and built during a ten year period from 118-128 AD by Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus (he also built Hadrian's Wall, the Pantheon boasts the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome.
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Nikon D7200 10mm 1/30s f/3.5 iso250 RAW (14Bit) Size L (6000x4000), Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled. Auto focus AF-C with 3D-tracking enabled. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.Auto Active D-lighting.
Nikkor AF-S 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED. Phot-R 77mm UV filter.Nikon MB-D15 Battery grip pack. Nikon EN-EL battery (2). Hoodman H-EYEN22S soft rubber eyecup. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDHC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 69.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 27.74MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D7200 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 1.02 (9/3/17) L 2.015 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, at 09:45am on Thursday 5th September 2019 off Cordova Bay road on the shoreline of Mt Douglas Beach in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 24mm Shutter speed 1/80s Aperture f/16.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 29m 47.46s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 19m 56.14s
ALTITUDE: 3.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.118+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 28th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1183090898 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,562nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eleven metres, at 15:17pm on Friday 17th September 2019 off Gowlland point road on the shoreline at Poets Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Here we look towards the edge of the shoreline forest, part of Tseycum First Nation land within Pender Island 8 Indian Reserve. Tseycum indigenous people were signatories to the Douglas treateis in the 1850's and now hold First Nations government on Vancouver Island. In the Sencoten langauge Tseycum is spelled Wsikem and means Land of Clay.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 120mm Shutter speed 1/80s Aperture f/16.0 iso6400 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR.Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 44m 49.49s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 13m 38.53s
ALTITUDE: 11.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 30.30MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 44.715+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Wednesday 11th January 2023
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1444077054 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,803rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Five metres, at 11:23am on Tuesday 24th September 2019 off Whiffin Spit Road at Whiffin Spit, situated between the Sooke Harbour and Juan de Fuca Strait. It is a natural breakwater and part of the Quimper Park with views across Juan de Fuca and the Sooke Basin, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
The beach, trails and breakwater are all situated on T'sou-ke First Nations land in T'sou-ke 2 (Sooke 2) land.
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 24mm Shutter speed: 1/80s Aperture: f/16.0 iso200 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration Reduction enabled Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D- tracking Exposure mode: Aperture priority exposure Nikon Back button focusing enabled Metering mode: Matrix metering ISO Sensitivity: Auto White balance: Natural light auto 0, 0 Colour space: Adobe RGB Nikon Distortion control: on (Normal) Picture control: Auto High ISO NR: on(Normal) Vignette control: normal Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
LATITUDE: N 48d 21m 25.16s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 43m 19.00s
ALTITUDE: 5.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 47.20MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.698+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 14th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1255907139 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,412th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty metres at 12:29pm on Monday 13th July 2020 off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see, Sciurus Carolinensis (Eastern Gray Squirrel or Grey Squirrel), a tree squirrel native to North America and first introduced to the UK in the 1870's. Though it was largely resonsible for the decimation of our own native red squirrel population, those are now on the increase and found in certain parts of the UK including Scotland. The Greys are still an ecologically essential natural forester regenerator.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization set to normal Focal length 480mm Shutter speed: 1/250s Aperture f/6.3 iso80 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.22s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.41s
ALTITUDE: 60.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 39.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
'' I welcome change in my life so long as nothing is altered or different in any way! ''
After ten years of enjoyable times on Flickr I wanted to take a moment to reminisce on some of the photographs that have meant the most to me along the way. They may be magic memories, commercial successes or personal favourites, each with a bit of background to the frame and how it came to be captured.
(12) MAGNIFICENT AND MISUNDERSTOOD - FEMALE CARRION CORONE (CORVUS CORONE)
Covid-19 forces a change of direction, a change of heart towards third party lenses and life with the Nikon D850.
Returning from a month long vacation in Canada in September 2019, I already had plans to travel again, this time opting for a return to the Highlands of Scotland and the town of Callander which I'd previously visited four years earlier. Little did any of us in the world know what was around the corner and the impact a never before heard of virus would have on our lives. By late January 2020 there were news bulletins, quarantined ships and many tragic deaths and suddenly it felt surreal, politicians and world experts warning us of the probable dangers unless drastic actions were quickly taken. Ironically the 2011 Steven Soerbergh directed film 'Contagon' was shown on UK TV about the time that we first received warnings not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
With just days to go until our vacation, we made the difficult but obvious decision to cancel our Highlands trip, and like so many photographers, suddenly with our liberty taken from us, the world became a different, dangerous and frightening place in which we could no longer even travel locally to parks or lakes. During this time I began taking an interest in the wildlife in my own garden, and was amazed by the plethora of birds, insects, bugs and mammals that regularly visited, and thus I began to photograph those to keep my shutter finger from forgetting it's purpose.
I really began to enjoy capturing the wildlife on film, and was amazed when not only did some of those photographs gain publication on Getty Images, but they also began to sell worldwide, becoming some of my most popular images to date. Up until this point my passion for wildlife had been Bears, Wolves and Eagles in America and Canada, so this was something I had not really given much consideration to previously.
Things became even more enjoyable for me in early May 2021 when, unusually for my garden, a lone adult Carrion crow (Corvus corone) began to appear. Things moved on and I began to win her trust, leaving food for her, and soon her larger partner appeared on a regular basis. As everyone does, I named the female Cheryl crow and the male Russell Crow, and eventually Cheryl trusted me enough to come down and take food and drink from the bird bath with me lying on the ground just a few feet away taking photographs.
The pair then raised three youngsters and I was there to watch Cheryl giving them flying lessons, bring them down to eat and drink, and defend their territory against predators and troublesome Magpies. This photograph along with many others means a great deal to me, now almost four months on, still watching the adults and the last of their three young bond and interact. This image was published by Getty Images and has sold several times to magazines and books, and remains one of my favourites of Cheryl, the beautiful, powerful, caring and feisty female who has given me so much enjoyment watching her antics over the last difficult months of Covid fallout. Many of the photographs taken in my garden have sold including Crows, Magpies, Starlings, Blackcaps, Wrens and Robins, House Sparrows, Herring gulls and butterflies, Round back slugs and bees, and the experience has taught me to enjoy being adaptable with my subject matter.
A changed experience with Third Party lenses
I have been a Nikon man all my life and my earlier experimentation with third party lenses was at best unremarkable. The early Tamron SP AF10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II LD Aspherical [IF] was cheap and cheerful and the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM, frankly bloody awful compared to my Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Another Sigma 20mm that was manual focus also failed to impress me for the money I paid and a later Tamron zoom lens also. I bought the Sigma 50-500 mm F4-6.3 APO DG HSM (known s BIGMA) after reading fantastic reviews and absolutely hated the lens. It was beautifully built and a dream to use and yet completely inconsistent in terms of accurate sharpness and focus. Preparing for an Alaskan trip, I opted for the Nikkor AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR which was a lovely lens but suffered a frustrating focal range (needed to be at worst a 150mm to 500mm to be really useful), and softness from 400mm onwards. The reason the Nikkor was superior to those third party lenses was that it was consistent, accurate and didn't miss so many shots through lack of focus or sharpness. If an image failed, it was you and not the lens at fault! With those early Tamrons and Sigma's, even when I did everything right the results would often be terrible.
The Sigma 150–600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM (Sports) received nothing but fantastic review upon release and many photographers that I admired were raving about it's capabilities. With such an amazing focal range it could possibly be a great tool for trips and all day shooting covering everything from portrait to landscape and wildlife. Beautifully made, weather sealed and weighing as much as a small family car, I bought mine on November 4th 2019 at Park Cameras in London and it's been with me ever since. It obviously needs light, and still has certain inconsistencies with focus and sharpness, but has great versatility and when it nails the shot, it can yield wonderful results.
I also bought the Sigma Tap in console to update the lens firmware and make changes to settings, and got a free extended three year warranty, nice. I would never say that the Sigma delivers as sharp results nor is as reliable or consistent as the Nikkor lenses that I use, but something about the lens makes me love it and I shoot more frames to compensate for the ones that fail. It was also a revelation to me when my agents started publishing shots taken with the Sigma, then they sold multiple times and then became some of my most successful shots. For wildlife it's a good lens to have and in all honesty I wish I had this lens on my Alaska trip for the extra versatility it had over my Nikon 200-500mm.... Now that's a compliment!
I started my photographic journey in 1971 aged seven and have progressed through the years with a variety of Nikon 35mm bodies up to the F series and then logically onto the Nikon D1 which came out in 1999, their first toe dip into the digital world at just 2.7MP. Back then those images were perfectly acceptable for printing and use in National newspapers. On through the D80, D90, D300,D300s,D3000, D3100, D3200, D7000, D7100 and D7200, as well as the D700, D800 I moved at times. The Nikon D850 came out in late 2017, a 45.7MP BSI CMOS sensor offering 7fps (9fs with options), bluetooth connectivity and a 153 point AF system, and a host of extras.
I bought my Nikon D850 in 2018 and have to say that it is the finest camera I have ever owned or used. An absolute joy to use, full of features and 45 megapixel quality and the ability to shoot in various crop modes, it was a natural progression from the Nikon D800 and D810's and for sure set the benchmark for other DSLR's to be judged by. I shoot in 14 Bit RAW with my NEF files at 130MB, big files full of detail that can yield finished processed JPegs of up to 60MB. My far from new computer system and simple USB 2.0 SD card readers handle the transfers with ease, far from the scares that reviewers first warned of. Everything is ergonomically where I want it and I honestly need nothing more from a camera, thus the temptation to jump ship to mirrorless and the Nikon Z7II has not even crossed my mind. If it ain't broke.... as the saying goes!
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty eight metres at 11:03am on a beautiful morning on Saturday 29th May 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 450mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/7.1 iso250 Tripod mounted with Gimbal head. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (4128 x 2752). JPeg basic (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4660k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fiber Geared tripod 3 sections. Neewer Carbon Fiber Gimble tripod head 10088736 with Arca Swiss standard quick release plate. Neewer 9996 Arca Swiss release plate P860 x2.Jessops Tripod bag. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.09s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.49s
ALTITUDE: 58.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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This photograph was taken on the banks of the River Cray at an altitude of Seventeen metres at 04:32am on Monday 19th April 2018, in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 05:58am),off Rectory Lane in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England.
A beautiful and ethereal dawn with rolling mist across the lake, and the company of solitude and bats buzzing around me, simply a delight to experience.
Nikon D850 Focal Length: 24mm Shutter speed: 1/6s Aperture: f/4.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX Full Frame Focus Mode: AF-C Area Mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure Mode: Manual exposure Metering Mode: Matrix metering White Balance: Auto0, 0, 0 ()6960K) Colour space: Adobe RGB Nikon Distortion control: On Vignette control: Normal Picture Control: (A) Auto
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Manfrotto 055Xprob Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections. Manfrotto 327RC2 Magnesium Ball Head. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 33.40s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 40.60s
ALTITUDE: 18.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEFF FILE: 89.1MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 26.40MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Twelve metres at 19:50pm on Thursday 28th May 2015 from the top of the stone pier leading away from the harbout towards the lighthouse in Whitby Bay, looking up to the ruins of Whitby Abbey, and The Church of Saint Mary, in the civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
We had walked out along the pier to the very end and noticed a huge rain cloud crossing the sea towards us. Everyone began to head away, and suddenly the skies unleashed a biblical rain shower that pased by very quickly, leaving behind this wonderful Secondary rainbow.
Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and are centered on the sun itself. They are about 127° (violet) to 130° (red) wide. Since this is more than 90°, they are seen on the same side of the sky as the primary rainbow, about 10° above it at apparent angles of 50–53°. As a result of the "inside" of the secondary bow being "up" to the observer, the colors appear reversed compared to the primary bow.
The secondary rainbow is fainter than the primary because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one and because the rainbow itself is spread over a greater area of the sky. Each rainbow reflects white light inside its colored bands, but that is "down" for the primary and "up" for the secondary. The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called 'Alexander's band', after Alexander of Aphrodisias who first described it
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Nikon D800 70mm 1/100s f/11.0 iso100 RAW (14-bit) Size L (7360 x 4912) FX. Handheld. AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Centre weighted metering. Auto white balance. Auto active D-lighting. Adobe RGB. Auto distortion control enabled.
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Optech Tripod Strap. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 54d 29m 34.44s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 36m 46.36s
ALTITUDE: 12.0m
RAW (FINE) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 35.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 33.853+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 17th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1181571980 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,759th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This Eight seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Six metres at 06:10am on Friday 6th September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, bewteen the Sidney Spit boat jetty and the famous old fish market in Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Here we look out towards Moresby Passage and Coal Island, Moresby Island and Portland Island.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 120mm Shutter speed: 1/1.6s (Electronic front-curtain) Aperture f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR.Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.3 (1 stop) ND Grad soft resin.Lee SW150 0.9 reverse neutral grad. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 57.46s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.37s
ALTITUDE: 6.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 25th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/ MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 757th frame to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'Moment' collection, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and thirty nine metres at 13:09pm on Sunday 17th May 2015 off the A95 at Drumuillie, then a single track road to the shoreline of Loch Garten.
Loch Garten is a large Highland freshwater loch near Boat of Garten, in the Strathspey area of the Cairngorms National Park, in Scotland
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Nikon D800 14mm 1/2500s f/2.8 iso100 Hand held. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Centre weighted metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Optech Tripod Strap. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 57d 14m 35.44s
LONGITUDE: W 3d 42m 28.02s
ALTITUDE: 239.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 21.58MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.285+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 6th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/ 1049270798 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,912th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This photograph of a Mother Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae), and her calf, was taken an altitude of Five hundred and sixty six metres, at 14:08pm on Wednesday May 11th 2016 past Muncho Lake Provincial Park and heading towards Liard River Hot springs at Mile 475 on the Alaska Highway 97,British Columbia, Canada.
Often referred to incorrectly as Buffalo, the Bull Wood Bison roams the plains along the Alaska Highway, and I was fortunate to have a few encounters with these huge,majestic beauties, having several of the herd pass close by me at one point. These are the largest native terrestrial Mammals in North America and are commonly referred to as the American Bison. At six years, a mature Bull can exceed 2 metres at the shoulder and weigh 900kgs.
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Nikon D800 300mm 1/320s f/10.0 iso320 RAW (14Bit) Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration rfeduction enabled. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF Fine tune on (+10).
Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6G ED VR. Power up 95mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 59d 21m 25.68s
LONGITUDE: W 125d 57m 34.37s
ALTITUDE: 566.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 27.81MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.095+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1297021030 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,747th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty four metres at 12:01am on Monday January 18th 2021 off Hurst Lane and New Road in the grounds of Abbey Wood in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Abbey wood joins to Lesnes abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.
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Nikon D850 Hand held. Focal length 14mm Shutter speed: 1/250s Aperture f/13.0 iso64 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max Iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Lee filters Nikon 14-24mm SW150 holder kit. Lee filters Circular Polariser Glass filter. Lee filters SW150 filters field pouch. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe camera sling. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 13.04s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 51.56s
ALTITUDE: 34.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 53.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Twenty two metres at 11:11am on an overcast but very warm summer morning on Wednesday 11th August 2021 off Kings Road A259, on the shoreline in Brighton, East Sussex.
Here we look out across the pebbled beach towards the remnants of the old original Victorian Brighton West Pier designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866.Closed in 1975, the pier became increasingly more derelict until all that remained in 2021 were the metal structural pieces see in this photograph. Some other metal pieces have been used in the shoreline public amenities as standing sculptures of decaying rust. The shot was taken within the original West Pier ticket office that is now a marvellous tea room offering cakes and refreshments and a marvellous view out over the beach.
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 55mm Shutter speed: 1/100s Aperture: f/13.0 iso64 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration reduction set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (5440k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Nikkor AF-S VR 24-120mm f/4G ED. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.3 (1 Stop) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 50d 49m 15.73s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 9m 2.64s
ALTITUDE: 22.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 32.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.982+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 20th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1266918682 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,522nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, in the golden hour around sunrise at 07:21am on Wednesday 25th September 2019 around sunrise between Beacon Avenue and Bevan Avenue,looking towards the Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in Sidney, and Work commenced on the pier in 1993 with Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 70mm Shutter speed: 1/5s Aperture f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) soft ND Grad filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.91s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 35.91s
ALTITUDE: 1.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.90MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
A Sun scenery on Chromosphere This is a picture taken with a Day Star Quark H-alpha filter - Chromosphere model, on Feb 14, 2015. I used a Sky Watcher ED 120 telescope and a FLIR USB3 Grasshopper mono camera at 1/160 seconds exposure for each frame. The wavelength of H-alpha frequency is of 6562,81 Angstroms , being included by the visible red part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The used filter has a pass-band which select the width of the band, which is o.5 Angstroms for this type of filter. This width of band is suitable for the Chromosphere details, revealing all types of elements which can appear on the disk: filaments, spots, flares or pladges.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.478+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 30th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1282826758 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,633rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty nine metres at 14:25pm on Friday 9th November 2018, off Þjóðvegur 1 (Hringvegur) the ring road which connects most of Iceland, and runs for 1,322kms, at Seljalandsfoss foss, suðvestanlands.
Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall on the South Coast of Iceland part of the river Seljalandsá with it's origins underneath the glacier Eyjafjallajökull (the Volcano which erupted in 2010).
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Nikon D850 Focal length 31mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/25s Aperture f/4.5 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 63d 36m 56.83s
LONGITUDE: W 19d 59m 24.01s
ALTITUDE: 39.0m
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 32.30MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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