View allAll Photos Tagged USB3
.
.
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 25.388+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on September 9th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1031886508 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,281st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and twenty eight metres at 07:47am on Thursday 23rd August 2018, off Rue Foyatler, having taken the Funiculaire up to Sacre-Coeur located at 35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018 Paris, France.
The Basiica of the Sacred Heart of Paris (Sacre-Coeur Basilica) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus, located on the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city of Paris. Designed by Paul Abadie, the church was built between 1875-1914 and stands 83 metres high. Entrance fees in August 2018 are 9 euros for adults.
.
.
Nikon D850 35mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration reduction enabled in Normal mode). Shutter speed 1/100s f/8.0 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. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 53m 8.60s
LONGITUDE: E 2d 20m 34.10s
ALTITUDE: 128.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 15.10MB
.
.
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.
.
.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 27th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/567075815 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 911th 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.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and thirty three metres at 14:38pm on Monday 18th May 2015, off the A87 where we stopped at the fabulous Cluanie Inn which serves amazing food and Whiskies and has an almost 360 degree view including Glen Shiel Ridge, Five Sisters of Kintail, Aonach air Chrith and A'Chrolaig,
Situated in the beautiful valley of Glen Shiel, on the shoreline of Loch Cluanie, in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, this is so wonderful that we came back for a spot of lunch on another occasion during our trip.
.
.
Nikon D800 123mm 1/320s f/13.0 iso100 Hand held with Nikkor Vibration reduction VRII on. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Centre weighted metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.
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. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 57d 9m 21.87s
LONGITUDE: W 5d 10m 57.79s
ALTITUDE: 233.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 22.85MB
.
.
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 – 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.758+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 17th October 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1428628321 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,702nd 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty eight metres at 13:42pm on Monday April 17th 2017,spring in the air off Viale Antonino e Faustina and Viale del Museo Borghese within the Gardens of Borghese Villa in Rome, Italy.
Nikon D7200 Focal length 10mm Shutter speed 1/400s Aperture f/3.5 iso100 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.
LATITUDE: N 41d 54m 56.42s
LONGITUDE: E 12d 29m 17.95s
ALTITUDE: 48.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 69.00MB (NEF 30.0MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 28.70MB
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.
This photograph featured in an article online for 'HOW STUFF WORKS' by Beth Hendricks in 2020, purchased through 'SYSTEM1', a Venice California based branding company founded in 2013 and headed up by CEO Ian Weingarten.
.
.
©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) ©
.
.
This photograph was taken an altitude of Four hundred and eighty six metres, at 16:19pm on Wednesday May 11th 2016 past Liard River Hot springs at Mile 475 on the Alaska Highway 97, heading towards Smith River Fort Halkett Protected area in British Columbia, Canada.
This is a large adult 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 wigh up to 250kgs. On my trip I encountered several bears and, although it is strongly reccommended 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 500mm 1/50s f/13.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 59d 32m 24.30s
LONGITUDE: W 126d 24m 0.44s
ALTITUDE: 486.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.25MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty two metres at 14:45pm on Friday 3rd July 2020, of a Gull in flight off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
.
.
Nikon D850 Handheld with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization set to position 1. Focal length 135mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/9.0 iso100 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.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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.08s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.77s
ALTITUDE: 62.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 22.60MB
.
.
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.
This photograph was published online in Canadian magazine: COAST REPORTER in June 2023 in an article titled:
'' Gumboot Nation: The local bear with a taste for brie - And the bear-scaring qualities of Carmina Burana ''
written by Yvonne Mounsey on June 11th 2023.
Coast Reporter is owned by Glacier Media Group in Canada, and this photograph had previously been published by them in another article on April 1st 2022.
This photograph was originally published in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 20th 2016, becoming my 2,016th image to be published (I currently have 6,000 images published).
CREATIVE RF gty.im/540877180 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph was taken at 16:16pm on Wednesday May 11th 2016 past Liard River Hot springs at Mile 475 on the Alaska Highway 97, heading towards Smith River Fort Halkett Protected area in British Columbia, Canada.
This is a large adult 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 Focal length: 500mm Shutter speed: 1/50s Aperture: f/13.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) uncompressed large file (7360 x 4912 pixels) Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction enabled. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto white balance Nikon AF Fine tune on (+10) Colour Space: Adobe RGB
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.
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 17.49MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.154+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on September 7th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1270580263 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,569th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Zero metres, at 09:52am on Thursday 5th September 2019 off Cordova Bay road and the Whittaker trail, close to the shoreline of Mt Douglas Beach within Mt Douglas Park in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 120mm Shutter speed 1/400s Aperture f/16.0 iso1400 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 29m 48.69s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 19m 58.59s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.6MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.00MB
.
.
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.685+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 16th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1199661316 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,999th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Twelve hundred and seventy nine metres, at 09:58am on Thursday 8th September 2019 off the Trans Canada highway 97 and Bridal falls forest service road, East of Rosedale BC, part of the city of Chilliwack in Canada.
Bridal veil falls lie within the Bridal veil falls Provincial park, and these segmented tiered falls drop 122 metres over a rock face, of which only the lower 250 feet can be viewed from ground level. They are roughly 23 metres in width. They are the 38th highest waterfalls in Canada
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 32mm Shutter speed 1/80s Aperture f/7.1 iso6400 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon Image stabilization VR enabled on Normal mode. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Sutter 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.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 49d 10m 52.60s
LONGITUDE: W 121d 44m 11.20s
ALTITUDE: 1279.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 49.40MB
.
.
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.516+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1329506712 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,446th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty two metres at 16:21pm on a beautiful summer afternoon on Saturday 17th July 2021, off Woolacombe Road and Broad Walk in a garden in Blackheath, South East London.
Here we see a Female House sparrow (Passer Domesticus) looking for insects in the grass and shrubs. The house sparrow is found in most parts of the world and differs from it's close relative the Tree sparrow, the female having a yellowish beak and black and grey stripe over the eye.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture: f/8.0 iso320 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 (4690k) 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 27m 58.37s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 1m 53.74s
ALTITUDE: 52.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 39.20MB
.
.
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 35.000+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 27th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1214947423 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,125th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken in the Golden hour around sunrise at an altitude of One hundred and eight metres at 07:08am on Thursday 26th March 2020, off Green Lane and Camer Park Lane, in the grounds of Camer Park Country Park, Meopham , Kent.
After weeks of self isolation due to the global pandemic that we know as COVID-19 Coronavirus, we are allowed to go out for exercise once per day and keep away from others. Today was Blkuebelle (my car's) MOT, something the government still allows, and so I headed out early and had the fortune of a beautiful sunrise... and Bluebelle passed it's MOT.
.
.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization on Normal. Focal length 60mm Shutter speed 1/40s. Aperture f/10.0 iso500 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: Aperture priority. 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 0.9 (3 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Circular Polariser filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.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. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 38.15s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 22m 29.09s
ALTITUDE: 108.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 43.80MB
.
.
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.
This photograph was published in an online article in by E Jamir for 'ONLY IN YOUR STATE' ENTITLED: '' Two Of The World’s Most Toxic Mushrooms Can Be Found In Massachusetts Each Year '' in the Massachusetts edition, on January 19th 2021.
Launched in 2015, 'Only in your state's' team of travel writers have penned over 100,000 articles on nature and little known attractions and places in each of the 50 states of the USA and has more than 30,000,000 readers per month.
.
.
©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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken of Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus olearius), beneath hardwood trees, at an altitude of Seventeen metres at 11:41am on Wednesday December 26th 2018 off Woolwich Road and Treetops Close in the grounds of Abbey Wood open space in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 24mm Shutter speed 1/20s Aperture f/2.8 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space Adobe RGB. Handheld. 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 14-24mm F/2.8G ED IF. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 Nikon 14-24mm adapter rings kit. Lee SW150 Circular Polarizer glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 15.10s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 40.20s
ALTITUDE: 17.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 90.6MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 23.40MB
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.03 (16/12/2018) 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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty three metres at 08:18am on Tuesday 25th March 2020 off Ashbourne Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
There are a group of eight Eurasian Magpie's (Pica pica) which act as governors of the sky where I live. Despite the bad press they receive because of their habit of attacking other nesting birds to eat the young babies, I love these beautiful and incredibly intelligent birds. They are very loving towards their partners, and play in groups, diving and swooping acrosss the sky, a great sight to behold.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 600mm Shutter speed 1/160s. Aperture f/16.0 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: Aperture priority. 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. 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. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.47s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.49s
ALTITUDE: 60.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 17.40MB
.
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.150+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 20th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1188380308 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,882nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Twenty two metres, at 13:21pm on Monday 4th November 2019, off Hyde Park Corner and Park Lane A4202 in the grounds of Hyde park, a Grade 1 listed Royal Park (the largest of) of London.
Autumn has come and the leaves are turning before falling to the ground.
Spanning an area of 350 acres, the park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long water lakes, and was created by King Henry VIII in 1536 as hunting ground. It opened to the puiblic in 1637 and was extensively improved under Queen Caroline in the early righteenth century. The Great exhibition for which the Crystal Palace was erected, designed by Joseph Paxton, was also held here.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 220mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso1000 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. AF Area mode single. Exposure mode - Manual exposure. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Manually set. 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.
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 38.11s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 10m 30.20s
ALTITUDE: 22.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.0MB NEF: 95.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 45.30MB
.
.
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). 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.391+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 1st 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1304400706 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,816th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres at 07:40am on Saturday 27th February 2021 off Blackheath Avenue and Charlton Way in the grounds of Greenwich Park, one of the Royal Parks of London situated in Greenwich, South East London.
Here we see a female Fallow deer (Dama dama), a species introduced to the UK by the Normans over one thousand years ago. With a chestnut brown coat and white spots in the summer months changing to a duller grey-brown in the winter, these social deer in the Cervidae family can also be born with full white coats or even black.
.
.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Tamron VR vibration reduction enabled on setting One. Focal length 460mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/6.3 ISO1000 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. Auto ISO 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual mode. Matrix metering. White balance on: Auto1 (6990K). Colour space: RGB. Vignette control: Normal. 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.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 32.05s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 0m 25.81s
ALTITUDE: 46.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.40MB
.
.
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.473+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1329485442 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,112th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty nine metres at 15:51pm on a beautiful summer afternoon on Saturday 17th July 2021, off Woolacombe Road and Broad Walk in a garden in Blackheath, South East London.
THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
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 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 proffessionally 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)
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/800s 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 (5360k) 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 27m 58.42s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 1m 53.77s
ALTITUDE: 39.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 89.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 51.20MB
.
.
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.
Atmospherics for imaging Jupiter in the UK have remained largely poor and last night was no exception, although for a very brief spell around 4:30am I was finally able to capture some sequences that gave me some worthwhile detail. This is an 11-minute derotated set of four RRGB image sequences of Jupiter, plus the moons of Europa and Io processed separately from one of the original sets making up the 11 minute image. Europa is to the left and it is its shadow in the centre of Jupiter.
Peter
Equipment used:
Basler Ace mono USB3 CCD, 2.5x Televue Powermate, Astronomik 1.25" filters, Meade LX200 12" f10 SCT.
©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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.338+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 16th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1302402972 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,802nd 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Four metres, at 12:22pm on Tuesday 24th September 2019 off the West Coast Road 14, on the shoreline of French Beach Provincial Park.
The park is a Fifty nine Hectare provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Located on Vancouver Island, between Sooke and River Jordan, the park has spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 24mm Shutter speed 1/40s Aperture f/18.0 iso160 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 0.3 (1 stop) 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 23m 30.00s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 56m 42.17s
ALTITUDE: 4.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.00MB
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.11 (13/11/2020) 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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken taken at an altitude of Seventy four metres at 12:19pm on Monday 2nd September 2019, off 1461 Benvenuto Avenue in Brentwood Bay at the Victoria Butterfly gardens on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
This is 'Ziggy', a male Nosy Faly Panther Chameleon (Furcifer paradalis). Nosy Faly is an island locality just off the coast of Ambato to the North of Ambanja on the northwest coast of Madagascar, which is occasionally marketed by the designer name “Oorana Mena” meaning “red rain”.
Male Nosy Faly Panther Chameleons are known to show blue, white, red and yellow colors. Their body is typically blue with white barring and red spots around the body. Their eye turrets and the rear of the jaw are typically yellow in coloration. They live for around four to seven years. The latin word for Chameleon is chamaeleō which uses Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), χαμαί (khamaí) "on the ground" and λέων (léōn) "lion". The Greek word for Chameleon is 'nēš qaqqari' or Ground lion'.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 112mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/14.0 iso5000 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 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 33m 51.59s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 26m 20.44s
ALTITUDE: 74.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.60MB
.
.
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.784+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 25th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1313667243 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,179th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of two metres in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 05:25am), at 05:27am on Sunday May 3rd 2018 off Botany Road and Foreness Close on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay, the northern most of seven bays in Broadstairs , Kent, England.
Thanet offshore windfarm was officially opened on September 23rd 2010 and was for a time, the largest offshore windfarm project in the world. The eight lines of turbines, one hundred of them in total, run north-west to south-east, covering a total area of 35sq km off Foreness Point near Margate. Each turbine is 115 metres high with 44-metre blades, and the project cost between £780-900million
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 120mm Shutter speeed 1/30s Aperture f/14.0 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. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (4570K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
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. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 18.86s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 15.38s
ALTITUDE: 2.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 89.0MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 39.90MB
.
.
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.
.
.
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 companion to my D7200 DX, 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 21.537+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 2nd 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/937443824 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,850th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
This Twenty five seconds long exposure was taken standing in the River Cray at an altitude of Twenty one metres at 05:48am on Thursday 22nd March 2018, in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 05:59am),off Rectory Lane in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England.
.
.
Nikon D850 62mm 25 seconds long exposure f/22.0 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. Area mode single. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.Manfrotto 055Xprob Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections. Manfrotto 327RC2 Magnesium Ball Head. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.
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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 36.00s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 50.30s
ALTITUDE: 21.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 91.8MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.60MB
.
.
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.
.
.
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).
With visits now in excess of 17.812 Million to my FLICKR site, used primarily these days as a fun platform to reach friends and family as I have now sold my professional gear and now take a more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to FLICKR, GETTY IMAGES and everyone who drops by.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on December 16th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/540701576 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,356th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
This photograph was taken at an altitude of Four hundred and nine metres, at 15:20pm 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 wigh up to 250kgs. On my trip I encountered several bears and, although it is strongly reccommended 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 500mm 1/400s 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 29.49s
LONGITUDE: W 122d 42m 38.69s
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.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty five metres at 11:01am on an overcast Springtime morning on Monday 26th May 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see a large adult Female Carrion crow (Corvus corone), a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Raven (Higher classification: Corvus), which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia. It can grow to twenty inches in length with a wingspan of up to thirty nine inches.
So, let's get one thing straight from the outset.
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.
Right now I have a resident pair of Carrion crows who have decided that my garden is theirs, and are playing a game of cat and mouse with a pair of cheeky Magpies (Pica pica) for dominance and food rights. The male crow actually flies in and 'wings' the magpies to make them leave, an incredible sight to witness. It's 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, 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.
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)
.
.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Electronic Front-curtain enabled Aperture f/6.3 iso320 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to OFF 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 (4730k) 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.14s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.45s
ALTITUDE: 55.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 45.30MB
.
.
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.
.
.
**** This frame was chosen on April 18th 2018 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #121. This is my 99th photograph to be selected, which for me is both amazing and exciting, as I never view my images as worthy compared to some of the awesome photography out there. EXPLORE is Flickr's way of showcasing the most interesting photos within a given point in time -- usually over a 24 hour period.
Flickr receives about 6,000 uploads every minute -- That's about 8.6 million photos a day! From this huge group of images, the Flickr Interestingness algorithm chooses only 500 images to showcase for each 24-hour period. That's only one image in every 17,000!..... so I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to every one of the 17.950 Million people who have visited, favourite and commented on this and all of my other photographs here on my FLICKR site. *****
.
.
Photograph taken at 13:08pm on Wednesday April 18th 2018 off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
A terrible year of snow blizzards, the 'Beast from the East', unwelcome hurricanes and rain enough to have Noah scurrying off to build his ark! Finally mid way through April we have our first blisteringly hot day and Jerry, my thirteen year old little bundle of mischief, was out celebrating as only cats know how.... that'll be sunbathing and sleeping then!
.
.
Nikon D850 23mm 1/3200s f/2.8 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space Adobe RGB. Handheld. 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 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 89.9mb)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.20MB
.
.
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.
.
.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 5th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/582221185 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,225th 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.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres in the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise, at 04:54am on Thursday 13th May 2012 off Botany Road and Foreness Close, along the Golden sands of Botany Bay, the Northern most of seven bays in Broadstairs, Kent, England.
The seven bays are (from south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay. This view looks from Kingsgate Bay into Botany Bay.
.
.
Nikon D800 10mm 1/200s f/4.0 iso200 RAW (14 bit) Hand held. AF-S auto focus. Aperture priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-4,5.6 HSM. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. My memory 32GB class 10 20MB/s SDHC. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module
.
.
LATITUDE: N 50d 25m 8.47s
LONGITUDE: W 122d 16m 41.02s
ALTITUDE: 1131.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 6.87MB
.
.
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 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 – 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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.947+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 2nd 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1178015997 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,046th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
This three seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Four metres, at 06:19am on Saturday 4th 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.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 58mm 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 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.40s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.80s
ALTITUDE: 4.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.60MB
.
.
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.759+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 22nd 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1201143146 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,011th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Six metres, at 14:00pm on Monday 20th January 2020, on a beautifully sunny afternoon 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, 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.
.
.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization enabled on Normal setting. Focal length 280mm Shutter speeed 1/25s Aperture f/16.0 iso400 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). 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). Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 3.29s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 8m 20.54s
ALTITUDE: 6.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 46.10MB
.
.
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). 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.901+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1329051436 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,717th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty three metres at 13:44pm on a beautiful summer afternoon on Friday 16th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see a beautiful Columba livia (Adult Feral or town pigeon)with the sunlight catching it's incredible plumage.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 320mm Shutter speed: 1/800s Aperture: f/7.1 iso200 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 (5090k) 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.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.00s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.40s
ALTITUDE: 53.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.00MB
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.276+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 16th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1312459362 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,464th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Five metres at 10:56am on Tuesday 13th April 2021 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 group of feral Pigeons (Columba Livia domestica), resting on a branch in a prime location close to the lake within the park grounds. It is a relative of a relative of Stock doves and Rock Doves which are the purest of the species.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length: 120mm Shutter speed: 1/250s Aperture: f/11.0 iso80 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on Normal setting. Colour space Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Metering: Centre weighted average metering. White balance: Auto 1 white balance (5100K). Colour space: Adobe RGB. Nikon Auto Distortion control on. Picture control: Neutral with +2 sharpening
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) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery. 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 30m 8.97s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 7.51s
ALTITUDE: 18.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 60.20MB
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 R3 Series graphics card (26/03/21). 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres at 11:17am on Wednesday 9th March 2022 standing on the end of the pier and looking back over the marina and beach towards the old Clock Tower in Herne Bay on the south-east of the Thames Estuary, CT6 5JQ, England.
It was the world's first free standing purpose built clock tower, the foundation stone having been laid on the 3rd October 1836, and the tower, with a brick interior and Portland stone cladding being completed by October 5th 1837. It stands some 82 feet high to the weather vane, and originally cost around £4000. On its northern face a memorial plaque has been placed to commemorate the men of Herne Bay who volunteered for the Boar war, there being insufficient standing troops, volunteers were needed.
I left at 9am for the One hour journey down with the prospect of a cloudy day with scattered sunshine. At Herne Bay it was time for my usual stop at 'Makcari's Coffe Lounge & Ice Cream Parlour' for a slice of cherry and almond gateaux and a lovely latte coffee before a pleasant stroll on a mixed day.
This is all that remains of the third pier at Herne Bay, with just the steamer passengers landing stage remaining after a storm January 11th 1978 which wrecked the 3,787ft (1,154m) wooden pier, designed by Wrighton & Co which originally opened in 1899.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration Control enabled on Normal setting 1 Focal length: 150mm Shutter speed: 1/125s Aperture f/13.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 Full Frame FX Focus mode: AF-C focus AF-Area mode: 3-D tracking Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto 1, 0, 0 (5570K) Colour Space: Adobe RGB Active D-Lighting: Low Picture control: (NL) Neutral +2 sharpening
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 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 22m 24.91s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 7m 12.69s
ALTITUDE: 6.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE SIZE: 91.20MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 38.20MB
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). 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.032+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 28th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1320161444 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,006th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty one metres at 13:01pm on a mixed afternoon of sunshine and passing rain showers on Wednesday 26th May 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica), standing on a stone birdbath during one of those fleeting showers. Found throughout the Northern part of the Eurasian continent, it is also known as the Common Magpie, and is part of the Holarctic radiation of monochrome magpies. They can measure up to 18 inches in length with a 25 inch wingspan, and have a life expectancy of up to 3.7 years. They are also amongst the most intelligent birds and all non human animals.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/6.3 iso125 Tripod mounted with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON and position 3. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Size L (8256 x 5504) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4790k) Colour space: Adobe 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.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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.01s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.61s
ALTITUDE: 54.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 89.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 42.00MB
.
.
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.
.
.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 13th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/564676729 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 849th 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.
.
.
Photograph taken on Monday September 15th 2008 at 14:37pm, travelling east on Mt. Baker Highway, State Route 542, just past the Firs Lodge at Picture Lake. Situated in the Heather Meadows area, Washington State, USA, Picture Lake is one of the most photographed scenic locations in the world, and from here you can get spectacular views of Majestic Mt. Baker and Mt Shuksan over in Whatcom County as well as the Snoqualmie National Forest.
Here we see Mount Shuksan, a glaciated massif in the North Cascades National Park. Shuksan rises in Whatcom County, Washington immediately to the east of Mount Baker, and 11.6 miles south of the Canadian border. Standing 2,783 m tall, she was first ascended on September 7th 1906. Known in Nooksack language as Sheqsan (High foot) or Ch esquen (Golden Eagle), she is approximately 120 Million years old.
.
.
Nikon D300 20mm 1/320s f/9.0 iso200 Jpeg fine (8 bit) Handheld. Automatic exposure. Manual metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.
Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-6.3G ED IF. Jessops 62mm UV filter.
.
.
Jpeg (FINE) FILE: 35.20MB
PROCESSED FILE: 10.96MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Zero metres at 10:46am on Sunday 11th March 2012 off Saltgrass Lane and New Lane, overlooking Keyhaven Lake and Mount Lake at Keyhaven, Milford on Sea, Lymington, England.
.
.
Nikon D7000 Focal length: 260mm Shutter speed: 1/250s Aperture: f/22.0 ISO200 Exposure compensation: -0.7 Step EV Hand held RAW (14-bit) Lossless compressed file size L (4928 x 3264) DX Focus mode: AF-S AF-Area Mode: Dynamic Exposure mode: Manual Matrix metering White balance: Auto Colour space: Adobe RGB High ISO NR: On (Normal) Active D-Lighting: Auto
Nikkor AF-S 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR. Jessops UV filter.Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit. Matin DL-6399 All weather protective/insulated rain cover
.
.
LATITUDE: N 50d 42m 59.55s
LONGITUDE: W 1d 34m 36.44s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 46.2MB RAW (NEFF) FILE SIZE: 21.20MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 16.70MB
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D7000
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 35.111+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 22nd 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1207735676 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,081st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Three hundred and fifty eight metres, at 11:27am on Tuesday 13th September 2019 off Trans canada highway 1 in Lytton beside the meandering Thompson River in British Columbia, Canada.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 140mm Shutter speed 1/320s Aperture f/16.0 iso500 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon Image stabilization VR enabled on Normal mode. 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 for Lee 100 rings Lee 100 56mm 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 49d 15m 27.45s
LONGITUDE: W 121d 31m 32.86s
ALTITUDE: 267.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 49.90MB
.
.
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.
.
.
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).
With visits now in excess of 16.578 Million to my FLICKR site, used primarily these days as a fun platform to reach friends and family as I have now sold my professional gear and now take a more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to FLICKR, GETTY IMAGES and everyone who drops by.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 24th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/608012676 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,161st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres, at 13:04pm on Saturday 17th September 2016, off the A21 close to the Bewl River in the grounds of Scotney Castle.
Scotney Castle is under the care of the National Trust and located in Lamberhurst, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The partially standing original Scotney Catle and grounds were opened to the public in 2007, and a Scotney New Castle now stands at the top of the gardens. On this visit, I was somewaht disapointed by the implementation of a new parking charge of £3 on top of the entrance fees, which now do not allow a concessionary charge for visiting the grounds without the new castle.
.
.
Nikon D7000 100mm 1/25s f/5.6 iso100 Handheld. Lossless compressed RAW (14Bit) AF-C continuous point focus with 3D-tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. AF fine tune on (+6).
Nikkor AF-S 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G VR. Jessops 62mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC.Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 5m 31.89s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 24m 44.19s
ALTITUDE: 46.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 15.84MB
.
.
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.
.
.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 30th 2015
CREATIVE RF gty.im/552456501 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
.
.
Photograph taken at 12:21pm at an altitude of Four hundred and five metres on Tuesday 9th September 2014 in the wilderness, off Adams Forest Services Road, on the shoreline of Adams Lake in British Columbia, Canada.
Adams Lake is a large, deep, coldwater lake, with a maximum depth of Five hundred metres, the southern end of the lake is approximately 30 km north of the town of Chase in the Shuswap Country region of British Columbia, Canada
.
.
Nikon D800 24mm 1/200s f/10.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit). Hand held. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
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 unit
.
.
LATITUDE: N 50d 59m 2.38s
LONGITUDE: W 119d 43m 31.08s
ALTITUDE: 405.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 27.55MB
.
.
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
.
.
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/537851638 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 1,933rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at 12:19am an altitude of Ten metres, on Thursday 5th May 2016 taken from Ogden Point beside the Ogden Point Sundial and the seven hundred and sixty two metre breakwater off Dallas Road and Dock Street in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
.
.
Nikon D800 70mm 1/2500s f/2.8 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 24m 54.25s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 3.44s
ALTITUDE: 10.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.25MB
.
.
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.
.
.
I was originally enrolled as a SHUTTERSTOCK contributor on January 28th 2019. Shutterstock is an American stock photography company with headquarters in New York City, founded in 2003 by Photographer Jon Oringer. With a library in excess of 200 million royalty free stock photographs, I am delighted, and most grateful to have been accepted into the fold.
Having been passionate about photography since the age of seven years old, with a box brownie and black and white 120 roll film, 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, SHUTTERSTOCK, and the 27.587+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the SHUTTERSTOCK COMMERCIAL COLLECTION Image ID: 1303776931 on February 5th 2019.
This photograph became my 56th frame to be selected for sale on SHUTTERSTOCK, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
.
Photograph taken at sunrise, 07:03am on September 6th 2011 on the golden sands of Island view beach off Homathko drive and Island view road near Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Early morning watching sunrise over the beach is always a great please, just my Nikon and Mother Nature as company. The golden light, shimmering sand and the beauty of the driftwood piles that constantly change shape and form with each new return of tide, always a fascination and lure
.
.
Nikon D700 14mm 1/320s f/2.8 iso200 RAW (14 bit) Handheld AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D11 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 unit.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 34m 19.36s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 21m 59.24s
ALTITUDE: 5.0m
.
.
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D700
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD 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 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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.471+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 2nd 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1178489518 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,958th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres, at 06:16am on Friday 3rd 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.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 300mm Shutter speed 1/10s Aperture f/18.0 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 ring for Lee 100 rings Lee 100 56mm 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: 89.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.60MB
.
.
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.
.
.
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 companion to my D7200 DX, 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 28.845+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 24th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/950815820 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,405th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
This 1.3 seconds long exposure was taken standing on the banks of the River Cray at an altitude of Seventeen metres at 06:07am on Thursday 22nd March 2018, in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 05:59am),off Rectory Lane in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England. In the distance is Five arches bridge.
.
.
Nikon D850 120mm 1.3 seconds long exposure f/11.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space Adobe RGB. Handheld. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 40.50s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 57.60s
ALTITUDE: 17.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB (NEF 94.1MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 42.00MB
.
.
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 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.12+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 3rd 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1321440700 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,243rd 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty three metres at 12:08pm on a bright summer afternoon on Wednesday 2nd June 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult female House sparrow (Passer Domesticus) checking an azalea for insects, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent. The house sparrow is found in most parts of the world and differs from it's close relative the Tree sparrow, the male having a grey head, black beak and darker colouration than the female who has a brown head, yellow beak and eye stripe.
These little omnivores can reach seven inches in length with an almost ten inch wingspan, and engage in social singing, dust baths and water bathing and are of least concern with many breeding pairs abounding.
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm 1.2x Crop mode so 720mm Equivolent Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/6.3 iso160 Hand held with Sigma VR Vibration reduction set to position 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L Size (6880 x 4584) 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 (4410k) 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.42s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.47s
ALTITUDE: 56.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 90.30MB NEF FILE: 62.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.80MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 35.368+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 4th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1178768380 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,111th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres, at 07:15am 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.
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias) is a wading bird in the Heron family Ardeidae and found in North America, Central Ameria, the Caribean and Galapagos Islands. One of the largest of Herons, it has a head to tail length of 01-137 centimtres (36-54 inches) and a wingspan of 187-201 centimtres (66-79 inches). They are found where my family live, and naturally very wary of mankind, flying off as soon as you are within fifty to one hundred yards of them.
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.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 300mm Shutter speed 1/60s Aperture f/16.0 iso80 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/4.5-5.6ELee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. 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.
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.60MB
.
.
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.327+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 2nd 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1304851088 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,066th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken taken at an altitude of Seventy five metres at 12:19pm on Monday 2nd September 2019, off 1461 Benvenuto Avenue in Brentwood Bay at the Victoria Butterfly gardens on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
This is 'Ziggy', a male Nosy Faly Panther Chameleon (Furcifer paradalis). Nosy Faly is an island locality just off the coast of Ambato to the North of Ambanja on the northwest coast of Madagascar, which is occasionally marketed by the designer name “Oorana Mena” meaning “red rain”.
Male Nosy Faly Panther Chameleons are known to show blue, white, red and yellow colours. Their body is typically blue with white barring and red spots around the body. Their eye turrets and the rear of the jaw are typically yellow in coloration. They live for around four to seven years. The Latin word for Chameleon is chamaeleō which uses Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), χαμαί (khamaí) "on the ground" and λέων (léōn) "lion". The Greek word for Chameleon is 'nēš qaqqari' or Ground lion',
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 112mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/14.0 iso50000 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 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 48d 33m 51.59s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 26m 20.44s
ALTITUDE: 74.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 22.60MB
.
.
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.
.
.
'' It takes seconds to take a photograph and yet the memories it brings can last a lifetime ''
It's ten years since I started up my Flickr Pro account, and I wanted to do a short series of photographs that represent in different ways my most important and successful images from my time here on FLICKR and also with GETTY IMAGES, who are my worldwide agents. These photographs might be in the selections for a number of reasons, but each has played a significant part in my photographic journey and represent personal memories, some not having been seen for a while.
Whilst my photographic journey and success over the last fifty years pale to insignificance compared to many of the renowned and talented photographers out there, I am none the less proud of my achievements along the way with three published books, worldwide sales of my photographs, my contracts with Getty Images who are my agents, competition wins, appearances in photographic exhibitions and publications in magazines, books, online websites and in corporate calendars and merchandising. I have always where possible allowed free use of certain images when requested, and my passion for photography still runs deep and strong.
(8) 'HOUDINI' THE CARIBEAN FLAMINGO (PHOENICOPTERUS RUBER)
I consider myself really fortunate to have family who live in the beautiful little town of Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. My sister in law and her husband for many years lived in Bradford Avenue, an incredible location which gave me easy access to the beachfront in Sidney, Patricia Bay, island View beach, Coals Bay and many others that have featured heavily in my photographs over the years. I am never happier than when over there, usually a month at a time, at one with Mother Nature in the Golden hour around Sunrise and sunset, the sunlight on the West coast being just spectacular to say the least. Since 1997 I've had fourteen incredible vacations there, with road trips and flights to the USA, an Alaskan road trip and many other exciting ventures that I have never taken for granted.
This photograph is of Houdini, one of a pair of American Flamingos or Caribbean Flamgos (Houdini's partner is called Mango) that I first met in 1997 when visiting ' The Crystal Gardens' which first opened on June 26th 1925 as the largest indoor heated saltwater pool in the British empire. It also served as tea rooms, a Turkish bath and art gallery, a wax museum and venue for swing bands and later rock bands before extensive renovations saw it's reopening in late 1980 as a Botanical garden and conservation centre.
In 2004 with declining visitor numbers and a need for expensive renovations looking, the Crystal closed much to local Victorians dismay. With $5 million in structural upgrades and a $16 million sale it was then used for corporate events and a visitor centre and is now part of the Victoria Conference Centre. Many of the animals in the Crystal, including Houdini and Mango were re-homed in the Butterfly Gardens a little way away.
I first visited the Butterfly Gardens in the Greater Victoria region of Brentwood Bay, located at 1461 Benvenuto Avenue on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, back in 1997. It is a simulated 12,000 square foot rainforest with over 200 species of tropical plants and 75,000 species of butterflies and moths. It's an amazing place where the butterflies and tropical birds fly around freely, land on you, feed in front of you along with tortoises, ducks and a pair of amazing flamingos who stole my heart, and still do to this day.
Houdini and Mango are very much loved stars of the Gardens since their arrival, free to roam the tropical paradise and walk amongst the visitors, they will pose for a photograph but always on their terms. You cannot rush a flamingo, and they loved to walk in the water around the waterfall, the vibrant colours of their incredible plumage a beautiful contrast to the heat controlled rainforest mist and lush foliage of the plants therein. They can easily live to forty years.
The Caribean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus Ruber), is found in the Caribean, Yucatan peninsula, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Venezuela, and the Galapagos Islands, and has a height of between 3ft 9ins to about 4ft 6ins with a wingspan of around 4ft 9ins. They weigh up to six pounds and can live in captivity up to an age of forty years. Their name is derived from the Latin word for 'flame', their beautiful coloration is caused by the Beta Carotene in their diet and Caribbean Flamingos currently have a worldwide population of around 888,000 individuals.
I visited them once again in September 2019 on two occasions, spending time at the gardens that I have loved for nearly a quarter of a century. My memories of this locations are of beauty and opportunity, with staff allowing me access watch and photograph Atlas Moth lavae and those giants of the Moth world landing on me which is an amazing event considering their size. There are also parrots and ducks, fish and insects, poison dart frogs and busy ant colonies to view, but my favourites will always be the comedic couple, Houdini and Mango.
My wife and I flew into Vancouver International Airport (YVR) around the time of her birthday in April to spend a month with our family on Vancouver Island. I wanted to surprise her with something special and took her to downtown Vancouver to a great camera store there where I bought her the wonderful little Nikon D80, first released in September 2006 and featuring a 10.2 megapixel DX format CCD slotting in between the D50 and the more professional D200. My wife unwrapped it all back at our hotel, I can still see the look of sheer delight on her silly little face (I will pay for that remark!), and I tried my best to give her a crash course on digital cameras as she was used to 35mm film cameras previously. I was shooting video on that vacation, but grabbed the D80 every opportunity I could and got some great images along the way.
We then got a ferry across to Vancouver Island and began our month long adventure with the family, and my love affair with Nikon DSLR's bloomed, having grown up with Nikon F series film cameras. Lovely memories. This photograph was published by Getty Images and has sold around the world, it also featured in my first published book 'Despite straight lines' published on June 10th 2008 along with a poem titled 'The Flamingo who dared to dream' and a few photographs of Mango as well and has appeared in online articles and magazines, and one version of it was published on Shutterstock and has subsequently sold on there. It also rates highly in my Flickr stats.
For this photographic presentation I have processed the original JPeg into a fuller 28MB Tiff file.
.
.
Photograph taken at 13:29pm on Sunday April 15th 2007 of Houdini, one of a pair of American Flamingos or Caribbean Flamgoes (Houdini's partner is called Mango), introduced in 2004 to the Butterfly Gardens, located at 1461 Benvenuto Avenue in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada.
Nikon D80 Focal length: 112mm (35mm focal length: 168mm) Shutter speed: 1/80s Aperture: f/5.0 iso200 Hand held File Size JPeg uncompressed Large (3872 x 2592 pixels) Hand held Focus mode: Manual focus Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto white balance Flash mode: Flash, Auto, Strobe mode Colour space: Adobe sRGB
.
.
Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G. Jessops 68mm UV filter. Hoodman soft viewfinder eyecup.
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 22.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 6.84MB PROCESSED TIFF FILE: 28.7MB
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 27.20MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 4.20MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres, at 10:54am on Friday 20th September 2019 off Island View Road and Homathko Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Island View Beach.
Known for it's beautiful golden sand and array of driftwood, Island View Beach, located on the Eastern shore of the Saanich Peninsula, near to Victoria and beautiful Sidney by the sea, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada is a favourite spot for locals and tourists alike.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 46mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso180 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 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 34m 37.64s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 22m 4.79s
ALTITUDE: 3.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 43.10MB
.
.
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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.585+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 16th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1328372107 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,338th 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty six metres at 14:31pm 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).
.
.
Nikon D850 Focal length 24mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/1600s Aperture f/4.0 iso1000 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 63d 36m 54.49s
LONGITUDE: W 19d 59m 20.32s
ALTITUDE: 36.0m
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.70MB
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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.105+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 25th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1298127350 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,972nd 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)
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Eighteen metres at 11:24am on Sunday 24th January 2021 off Hurst Lane and New Road in open woodland in Abbey Wood open space, Belvedere in Kent, England.
.
.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 78mm Shutter speed: 1/20s Aperture: f/14.0 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 1.25s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 28.61s
ALTITUDE: 73.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 66.00MB NEF: 90.5MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 58.80MB
.
.
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.
.
.
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 companion to my D7200 DX, 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 31.452+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 10th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/956982574 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,521st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and one metres at 08:54am on Wednesday 9th May 2018 off Green Lane and Camer Park Lane, in the grounds of Camer Park Country Park, Meopham , Kent.
.
.
Nikon D850 66mm 1/15s (Electronic front curtain) f/13.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held. 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.
.
.
LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 48.80s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 22m 36.70s
ALTITUDE: 101.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 57.90MB
.
.
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 – 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) ©
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.812+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 11th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1284738112 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,700th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
.
.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty seven metres at 12:16pm on Sunday 8th November 2020 off Heron Hill and New Road in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey Woods, close to Abbey wood open space 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.
.
.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focal length 16mm Shutter speed: 1/40s Aperture f/10.0 iso160 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-S 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 16-35mm f/4.0G IF ED VR. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. 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). 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 51d 29m 11.95s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 13.34s
ALTITUDE: 57.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 56.60MB
.
.
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 – 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)
.
.
I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.981+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 1st 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1310086067 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,994th 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)
.
.
This three seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Two metres, at 06:10am 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 . Known to the Lummi First nation people (Lhaq'temish) as Kwelshán ('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.
.
.
Nikon D850. Focal length 200mm 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-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) Neutral density Graduated 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.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 51.91s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 29.51s
ALTITUDE: 3.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 38.90MB
.
.
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.
Photograph taken at 11:10am at an altitude of Seventeeen metres, on Friday 27th September 2014 off the West Coast Road 14, on the shoreline of French Beach Provincial Park.
The park is a Fifty nine Hectare provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Located on Vancouver Island, between Sooke and River Jordan, the park has spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
.
.
Nikon D800 23mm 1/2500s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Handheld AF-C Continuous focus mode with 3D-tracking enabled. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. 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.
.
.
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 41.13MB
.
.
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 1.2.9 18/09/2017).Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.