©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.222+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 11th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1323681274 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,060th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres, at 19:37pm in the golden hour around sunset on Tuesday 3rd September 2019 off Mills Road and 17a West Saanich Road, from the shoreline of Patricia Bay near beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Patricia Bay is a body of salt water that extends East from the Saanich Inlet and forms part of the North Saanich shoreline in British Columbia. The bay was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught who was Governor General in 1912.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length: 70mm Shutter speed: 1/125s Aperture: f/18.0 iso640 RAW (14 bit uncompressed file) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Focus mode: AF-C focus 51 point AF-Area mode: 3D- tracking 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 0.9 (3 stops) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 14.49s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 26m 44.32s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.7MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 47.00MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Photograph taken at 12:17pm an altitude of Four 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.

   

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Nikon D800 62mm 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 24m 54.25s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 3.50s

ALTITUDE: 4.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 31.67MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 30th 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/ 552113365 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

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Photograph taken at 13:09pm at an altitude of Three metres, on Wednesday 24th 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.

 

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Nikon D800 14mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Handheld AF-S Single point focus. 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. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 23m 34.45s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 56m 45.56s

ALTITUDE: 3.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.65MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

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A soul can wander many years, a mind can peruse the pages of a thousand books, a heart can yearn for days gone by or yet to come, and love can come and love can go....

But beauty liers a constant companion to eyes wide open......

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty metres, during the magic of a misty ethereal period around the Golden Hour (Sunrise was at 06:59am), at 06:26am, on Thursday 17th August 2015 off Lullingstone Lane beside the Lullingstone Roman Villa in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

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Nikon D800 70mm One point six seconds long exposure f/3.2 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 52.74s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 48.44s

ALTITUDE: 50.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 17.09MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

 

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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.

    

On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably).

  

With visits now in excess of 20.047 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 May 25th 2017

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/683939988 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 2,708th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty six metres at 14:50pm on Sunday April 16th 2017 in Piazza Del Duomo, looking at the main entrance of Cattedrale Di Santa Maria Del Fiore (Cathedral of St Mary of the flower), in Firenze (Florence), Italy.

  

Il Duomo di Firenze, is the main church of Florence, begun in 1296 and completed in 1436, it was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome was once the largest in the world. The Cathedral, known in Latin as 'Cathedral Sanctae Mariae Floris ', is 376ft high, 502ft long and has a floor space of 89,000square feet.

     

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Nikon D7200 10mm 1/160s f/14.0 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. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 43d 46m 23.32s

LONGITUDE: E 11d 15m 19.22s

ALTITUDE: 66.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 69.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 28.90MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D7200 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 1.02 (9/3/17) L 2.015 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.717+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1255911579 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,485th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty one metres at 16:07pm on Sunday 12th July 2020, of Small White (Pieris rapae) butterfly, resting on a Red Robin shrub off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.

  

A medium sized butterfly found in abundance in the UK, the female is easily identified by having two black dots on each forewing, and both males and females can reach up to a 48mm wingspan. It is known in North America as the cabbage butterfly or cabbage white.

 

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Nikon D850 Handheld with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization set to normal. Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/80s Aperture f/6.3 iso80 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1

  

Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.27s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.54s

ALTITUDE: 61.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.4MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 22.60MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.914+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 11th 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1264958909 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,978th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty nine metres at 06:47am on Monday 10th August 2020, of a Garden snail (Cornu aspersum)moving slowly across the grass, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

This is a species of land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc of the Helicidae family.

  

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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS OPtical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 300mm Shutter speed: 1/30s Aperture f/5.6 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/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)

  

Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.15s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.26s

ALTITUDE: 59.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.8MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 24.70MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.435+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Thursday October 21st 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1347379677 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,668th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty three metres at 10:13am on a cloudy summer morning on Tuesday 10th August 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Here we see an adult Feral or town pigeon, a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation.

  

Nikon D850 Focal length: 380mm Shutter speed: 1/800s Aperture: f/7.1 iso320 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical stabilization control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4910k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS (Firmware version 1.00 05/11/2019). Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Black Rapid curve breathe sport shoulder strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Jessops Tripod bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.09s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.56s

ALTITUDE: 63.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.00MB

     

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)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.553+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 30th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1331118654 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,134th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres at 11:07am on Wednesday 9th March 2022 at 81 Central Parade, in front of Waltrop Gardens, beside the current pier looking towards the remnants of one of the original piers at Herne Bay on the Thames Estuary, CT6 5JQ, England.

  

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 pasengers 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: 350mm Shutter speed: 1/160s 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 (5490K) 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 20.40s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 7m 16.92s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE SIZE: 90.20MB

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)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.491+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 19th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1328693138 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,673rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty two metres at 14:01pm on a beautiful summer afternoon on Friday 16th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Here we see a magnificent adult Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus), the largest and most common spread of Pigeons in the United Kingdom.

  

Wood pigeons are the largest and most common pigeon in the UK, and forms part of the Dove and pigeon family, genus Columba, family Columbidae. Known locally as the 'Culver' in Southeast England, they are also called Cushy-do and Quist as well as Woody and their name is often written in two forms, either as Woodpigeon or as Wood pigeon. Polumbus is the ancient Greek for “a diver”, derived from kolumbao meaning “to dive, swim, or plunge”.

  

κόλυμβος is the Ancient Greek for Columba, which means “a diver”. These game birds are a protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and with over five and a half million breeding pairs in the UK, they are classed as he UK conservation status, meaning they are of least concern.

  

They can weigh between 480-550g with a length from 40-42cm and a wingspan of 75-80cm.The common wood pigeon was originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 tenth editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', where it was placed with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba palumbus which is from the Latin palumbes for a wood pigeon. Of the five subspecies recognised worldwide, the Madeira species is now extinct.

  

Wood pigeon is also eaten regularly in the UK, a meaty bird with a distinctive deep gamey flavour. It is low in fat and high in protein and iron with a delicate texture that can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Commercially bought whole Wood pigeons sell from as little as a few pounds each.

    

Nikon D850 Focal length: 500mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture: f/8.0 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 (4900k) 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 10.46s

ALTITUDE: 52.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.6MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.60MB

     

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.

   

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on December 22nd 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/597077573 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,500th frame, (I have 1,560+ including ESP selections), to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'Moment' collection, and with my photographs now selling all over the world, I am truly very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity,

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Ten metres at 09:44am on Friday 26th May 2015 in Ord, on the shoreline of Loch Eishort, on the South West corner of The Isle Of Skye in Scotland. Ord is also part of the area known as 'The garden of Skye'.

   

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Nikon D800 24mm 1/2000s f/2.8 iso100 Hand held. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Centre weighted metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Optech Tripod Strap. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 57d 8m 52.13s

LONGITUDE: W 5d 56m 33.19s

ALTITUDE: 10.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 26.37MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 18th 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/571378813 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,008th frame to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'Moment' collection, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and Eight metres, in the magic of the Golden Hour around sunset at 18:41pm on Monday 9th September 2013 off the A85 between Glentarken Wood and Derry Wood on the shoreline of Loch Earn (Loch Eire/Loch Eireann).

  

Loch Earn (also known as Loch of Ireland), is a freshwater loch situated in the Central Highlands of Scotland in the districts of Perth and Kinross, and Stirling, approximately ten and a half kilometres in length and 1.2km wide, with a depth of around 87 metres.

  

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Nikon D800 98mm 1/320s f/9.0 iso200 RAW (14-bit) Mirror up. AF-S Single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Manfrotto 327RC2 Grip action ball head. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 56d 23m 31.69s

LONGITUDE: W 4d 11m 11.51s

ALTITUDE: 108.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 16.78MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 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

   

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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 1st 2016

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/516380310 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,845th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and twenty three metres at 13:14pm on Monday 18th May 2015 on the shoreline of Loch Cluanie, a loch in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland at the south-east end of Glen Shiel.

  

It is a reservoir, contained behind the Cluanie Dam, constructed by Mitchell Construction and completed in 1957 as a part of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board's Glenmoriston project to generate Hydroelectricity.

  

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Nikon D800 70mm 1/100s f/14.0 iso100 Hand held with Nikkor VRII Vibration Reduction switched on. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. manual exposure. matrix 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 57d 8m 51.84s

LONGITUDE: W 5d 0m 52.42s

ALTITUDE: 223.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 19.85MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

     

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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 15th 2016

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/tbc MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,988th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Five metres, at 18:44pm on Monday Monday 2nd 2016 off the 17a West Saanich Road, past Sangster road close to the Victoria Airport Water Aerodrome, from the shoreline of Patricia Bay near beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Patricia Bay is a body of salt water that extends East from the Saanich Inlet and forms part of the North Saanich shoreline in British Columbia.

  

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Nikon D800 24mm 1/2000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Hand held. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance

  

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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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 24.37s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 26m 46.59s

ALTITUDE: 5.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 16.44MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 33.692+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 2nd 2019

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1178480281 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,726th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, at 19:17pm on Saturday 18th September 2019 around sunset off Gowlland point road on the shoreline at Poets Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Here we look towards the edge of Bedwell harbour which is boith a marina and a water aerodrome with a customes border for vessels entering Canada from abroad.

 

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Nikon D850. Focal length 46mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso400 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. Cokin GND4 resin filter . Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 44m 48.80s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 13m 38.80s

ALTITUDE: 1.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 29.60MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

One of those 'must do' situations. Early morning, coach loads of Chinese tourists milling about by the Charles de Gaulle Etoile Metro staircase which leads to a view of the Arc de Triomphe across the busy circular road that is Place Charles de Gaulle. Standing in the centre of Avenue Champs-Elysees on a tiny marked strip of tarmac which separates the two lanes of traffic, cars buzzing by like angry bees.... it had to be done!

  

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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.

    

On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.

  

These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, a Nikon D850 FX Pro body as my trusted companion, I travel light with less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 23.157+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on September 5th 2018

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1030842348 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,056th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty one metres at 07:44am on Saturday 25th August 2018, between Avenue Marceau and Avenue d'lena in Place Charles de Gaulle in front of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile in Paris, France.

  

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile stands at the Western end to the Champs-Elysees and the star or etoile in it's name is formed by it's twelve radiating avenues. The arc is based upon the Arc de Titus in Rome, and honours those who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. It stands 50 metres tall and 45 metres wide and was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon after the victory at Austerlitz. The original architect, Jean Chalgrin died in 1811 and it wasa not completed until 1836. The tomb of the unknown warrior resides at theArc and the flame is relit every evening at 6.30pm.

     

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Nikon D850 30mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/100s f/13.0 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 52m 24.30s

LONGITUDE: E 2d 17m 46.10s

ALTITUDE: 61.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.2MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.70MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

'' If you are after truth, then leave your cave! ''

  

It's ten very enjoyable years since I began my Flickr account, and I wanted to take a moment or two to reminisce and take a stroll down memory lane with a selection of photographs that have meant a lot to me along the way. They might be commercial success, personal favourites, milestones or a change in direction, or just great memories and locations that I know and love, and now with a few words behind the making and taking of those images.

  

(20) THE CAVE

  

I first visited the Kent coastline as a child with my family after moving to Blackheath from my birthplace in Dunstable, Bedfordshire and then on my own in 1981 after passing my driving test, just two days after heading off in my second hand white Austin Allegro 1.3SDL which I proudly polished and pampered at every opportunity. I fell in love with Joss bay where I used to launch my hard keel inflatable boat and 14HP engine with friends, and then found Botany bay and Kingsgate Bay and the other surrounding bays in the area. To this day I still visit all of them and over the years I have had so many enjoyable phot shoots here at ridiculous hours of the morning, as well as days out with my wife and family. My Mother in law lived not far away in Margate which is a walkable distance to Botany Bay before we persuaded her to move to Canada for a better quality of life and to be with my wife's sister and family and watch her grand children grow up.

  

Botany Bay is the northern most of seven bays in Broadstairs, off Botany Road in Broadstairs, Kent, England. The seven bays of Broadstairs comprise Botany Bay, Kingsgate Bay, Joss Bay, Stone Bay, Viking Bay, Louisa Bay and the Dumpton Gap. I got up at about 03:00am and made the one hour and twenty minute, sixty six mile journey from Bexleyheath down the A2 and M2, arriving at the tiny pot holed dirt trap of a car parking area at Botany Bay at around 4.30am. It's a short walk onto the sand dunes of the beach via a very steep boat launch cemented road, and I'd previously done my homework and established that the tide would be almost fully out upon my arrival. This lead a nice pathway to the stand alone chalk cliff sections through which you could walk to get to the broad expanse of beach and the old cave and archway there which lead onwards to Kingsgate Bay.

  

This chalk cave is nicely recessed and can be seen only as you stumble upon it, and you can walk inside for about fifteen feet or so where the rear is cold and dark and the cave itself full of birds. This is an ever changing shoreline with chalk boulders being dropped, dispersed and gathered and left by each new low and high tide, making it a pretty unique shooting experience whenever I come here. I've taken many photographs from within the cave, and balancing the light is always the tricky park. Exposure wise you have the brightness of the sky and horizon contrasting with the limited light on the inside left of the cave, and even more limited right hand side.

  

So, exposures are always important, especially as I do not stack my images, nor use Photoshop to merge and blend a series of them, preferring to try and get my exposure as correct as possible and faithful to the scene that I see, in camera. Active D-Lighting is a really useful tool to utilize, really helping to bring out and preserve detail in the shadows, and the low light capabilities of both the camera and the lens naturally help.

  

On this particular morning the sun had just risen and the light pierced the cave in a way I had never before, nor ever seen since, giving me a golden opportunity to shoot at a higher aperture and lower ISO of 200.

  

On this morning, the tide was far out and just beginning to wander back inwards and it was a lovely sunrise and morning breaking over the coastline. The exposure seemed a good balance and overall the frame looked very faithful to the scene in front of me. I've been caught out by the quickly moving tide on a few occasions in this cave, on one visit standing in the sea and leaving things just a little too late before making my exit and having to wade back along the shoreline to the safety of my car! (The things we do for that perfect shot).

  

This image featured in my third published book released in 2015 and was published by Getty Images in the Moment Open Collection on February 23rd 2015, it's also always been a steadily viewed photograph through Flickr and remains high in my stat charts, as well as being a personal favourite, representing a location and hour of the morning for photography that has been a passion of mine over the years. For this photograph I was shooting hand held with my Nikon D700, the first step up into the world of FX full frame photography me, and a superb camera capable of capturing some wonderful images. Coupled here with the stunning Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF lens that was so revolutionary in it's day, the widest, sharpest and finest wide angle lens ever produced, that Canon shooters could buy a mount to allow it to be fitted to their equipment. A master for close up, shallow depth of focus and of course wide angle landscape, I still turn to this lens regularly and still rate it as one of the finest lenses ever made.

  

Featuring 14 elements in 11 groups with a minimum aperture of f/22, it has a mind boggling angle of view of 114-84 degrees and 9 diaphragm blades. A SIC super integrated coating to reduce ghost and flare, AS aspherical lens elements, manual override of focus ring, Nano coating, internal focusing with a silent wave motor, rounded diaphragms and ED glass, it was revolutionary and is now legendary. Back in 2007 on it's release I paid £1,305.00 for mine, and today, fourteen years on, still in production and never altered, it retails for over £1,500.

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken on April 10th 2011 off Botany Road and Foreness Close on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay, the northern most of seven bays in Broadstairs , Kent, England.

  

Nikon D700 Focal length: 14mm Shutter speed: 1/100s Aperture: f/16.0 iso200 14Bit uncompressed RAW file size L (4256 x 2832 Pixels) Resolution: 300dpi Focus mode: Single point focus Exposure mode: Manual exposure White balance: Auto white balance Colour space: Adobe RGB

   

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF Nikon MB-D10 battery grip pack and two batteries

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D700

  

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.

   

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

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, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. 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 mechanisms 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 further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation.

  

The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rambunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum. Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021

  

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©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty one metres at 10:17am on a summer morning on Thursday 3rd June 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 160mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/7.1 iso400 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW Size L (8256 x 5504) 14 bit uncompressed file 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 (4700k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.52s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.45s

ALTITUDE: 60.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 46.70MB

   

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Was cleaning up my gear and had the urge to knoll them. Not all my gear photographed, but the ones I would use or pack with me more regularly than others.

 

Unfortunately, my old smartphone bit the dust and my current smartphone isn't really all that good at taking photographs lol but hey, the Oppo A3S was given to me for free from my telecom subscription for whatever reason, and it just so happens I needed a new phone since my former phone bit the dust. So, I gotta make due with what I have (just remembering Chase Jarvis saying "the best camera is the one that's with you".)

 

With that said, for what its worth, the phone does what a phone does, but for everything else, I don't recommend the Oppo A3S as it has a subpar camera, and the Color OS is such a locked down Android OS that I can't completely customize it. But again, it was for free lol

 

Hover over the photo to get more info for each item.

 

Shooting Information:

 

•Oppo A3S (Don't buy this phone! lol)

•1/15th @ 3.4mm zoom, f/2.2

•ISO 1115

•Flash Fired

 

Post Processing Information:

 

•Adobe Lightroom Classic CC

•Nik Software Analog Efex Pro 2

•Cropped

 

I accept any comment, from praises, awards, invitations, all the way to criticisms - as long as the criticism is constructive that I can learn and improve from. So, don't shy away with the comments!! =]

 

Also, consider following me! I will certainly follow back! You can never have too many friends!! =]

Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty eight metres at 10:42am on Wednesday February 28th 2018 off Woolwich Road and Treetops Close in the grounds of Abbey Wood open space in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.

  

'The beast from the East', a Siberian cold front and weather phenomenon, has swept across the United Kingdom during the past few days, and last night was Kent's turn to brace herself for the deluge of snow.

  

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Nikon D7200 24mm 1/25s f/11.0 iso100 Exposure Compensation +1.3EV RAW (14 bit Lossless compressed) Image size 6000 x 4000). Colour space RGB. Handheld. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control on.

  

Nikkor AF-S DX 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED DX. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL battery. Hoodman H-EYEN22S soft rubber eyecup. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDHC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 6.30s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 9.90s

ALTITUDE: 68.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 69.10MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 30.50MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D7200 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 2.015 (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. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

I was contacted through Flickr on January 24th 2021 by Anna Treger who works at the Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw where she is a lecturer in the Foreign Language Centre. Anna is also the author of numerous English textbooks and self-help books.

  

Anna asked to use the part colour version of this black and white photograph for an online article on her non-commercial blog for students 'ENGLISH FOR PSYCHOLOGY'. The article was entitled: PROTECTED DEFENCE MECHANISMS 3 and can be seen here: www.englishforpsychology.eu/exams-and-tests/defence-mecha...

  

Thank you Anna for your friendly and polite request which of course, I was happy to help with. All the best for your future endeavours.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty four metres 13:31pm on November 21st 2012 off Dartford Road and High street, in the car park of the Lion pub, Farningham village, next to the River Darent in Farningham, Dartford, England.

  

Many thanks to my two models of the day: LittleTed (Made by GUND) and Mandy Frost (Made by her parents)

  

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Nikon D7000 Hand held. Focal length: 35mm Shutter speed: 1/8s Aperture: f/1.8 Iso200 RAW uncompressed 14-bit file size L (4928 x 3264) DX. Focus mode: Manual focus AF-Area mode: Single point Exposure mode: Manual exposure Matrix metering Active D-Lighting: Auto Colour space: Adobe sRGB White balance: Auto1

  

Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G. Jessops UV filter. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Matin quick release comfort strap.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 55.52s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 13m 17.15s

ALTITUDE: 34.0m

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D7000 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 1.03 (26/2/18) L 2.015 (Lens distortion control version 2 7/10/16)

  

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) ©

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 44.546+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 23rd 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1257541938 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,789th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty nine metres at 09:32am on Wednesday 22nd July 2020, of a Juvenile Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus), on a walnut tree off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

The juvenile Blue tit is identified by yellow cheeks and a grey head and top plumage that eventually turns blue, and these little birds are bestowed with wonderful acrobatic skills.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/160s Aperture f/6.3 iso320 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)

  

Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fibre geared tripod. Neewer Gimbal tripod head with Arca Swiss quick release plate.055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.20s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.50s

ALTITUDE: 59.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.4MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 23.40MB

      

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 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.039+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 14th 2019

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1155843198 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,418th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Six metres, at 10:29am on Tuesday June 4th 2019, on a an overcast and drizzle filled morning off Birdcage Walk and Horse Guards Road in the grounds of St James's Park.

  

Situated in the City Of Westminster, the Park spans twenty three Hectares and is the oldest of the Royal Parks of London, with a variety of visiting and nesting birds that include Ducks, Canada Geese and Pelicans.

  

Here we see one of a pair of resident Ardea Cinerea (Grey Heron) that currently has one yearling that is safe and well within St James's Park. These birds are native to Europe and Asia as well as parts of Africa, with a wingspan up to Two metres and a mass of up to 2.1kgs.

 

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Nikon D850 Focal length 300mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/5.6 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 6880 x 4584 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration (Normal) selected . Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. AF Area mode single. Exposure mode - Manual exposure. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. Auto 1 white balance. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal. Active D-lighting on Automatic. High ISO Noise Reduction: On. Picture control: Auto with Sharpening A+1.00.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polarizer glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 9.10s

LONGITUDE: W 0d 8m 7.70s

ALTITUDE: 6.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 90.40MB NEF: 63.6MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 29.60MB

  

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 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.557+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 29th 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1282463511 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,868th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at 10:50pm at an altitude of Seventeen 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.

 

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Nikon D800 Focal length: 17mm Shutter speed: 1/1000s Aperture: 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. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 adapter ring set for Nikkor 14-24mm. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. 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.

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB NEF FILE: 72.30MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 25.80MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 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.

   

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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the current 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 December 11th 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/502379956 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 84th frame to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'ESP' collection,(I have 1,630+ in total for sale through Getty Images), and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres, during the first vestiges of dawn light prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:38am), at 03:11am on Thursday 12th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane and Eagle Heights in the field beside the Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the 'Bat & Ball' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. And first services began on 2nd June 1862. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley and the River Darent.

  

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Nikon D800 14mm 1/3s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Nikon RC-DC2 remote shutter release. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto Actuve D-lighting.

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 6.73s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 12m 11.42s

ALTITUDE: 46.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 20.64MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.472+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 30th 2019

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1164928606 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,632nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty three metres, at 16:01pm on Monday July 29th 2019, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.

  

Here we see a Prepupating Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar, which is searching for a place to pupate in the soil. It will become a Privet Hawk-moth which is the United Kingdoms largest resident Hawk-moth. In Larva form it is seen between July and September, a beautiful bright green caterpillar with purple and white stripes and a distinctive curved yellow and black tail.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 300mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/13.0 iso640 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration (Normal) selected . Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. AF Area mode single. Exposure mode - Manual exposure. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: 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.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.20s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.50s

ALTITUDE: 53.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.0MB NEF: 94.8MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.80MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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.

 

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 44.040+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 7th November 2022

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1434038541 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,733rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, at 06:10am on Saturday 18th September 2019 around sunrise off Gowlland point road on the shoreline at Poets Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here we look towards the edge of Bedwell harbour which is both a marina and a water aerodrome with a customs border for vessels entering Canada from abroad.

 

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Nikon D850. Focal length 66mm Shutter speed: Thirty seconds long exposure Aperture f/16.0 iso16000 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.3 (1 stop) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 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 44m 49.65s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 13m 38.31s

ALTITUDE: 0.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 29.60MB

     

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) ©

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two metres, at 06:35am on Friday 9th September 2011 within the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise, off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, between the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in Sidney, and Work commenced on the pier in 1993 with Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed.

  

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.

 

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Nikon D850. Focal length 16mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/4.5 iso200 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus Exposure mode: Manual 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 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 53.20s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.10s

ALTITUDE: 2.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 34.50MB NEF: 23.90MB

PROCESSED (TIFF) FILE: 67.40MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D700

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.517+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Wednesday 28th September 2022

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1427501105 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,675th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at 14:45pm on Monday 9th September 2019 at the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre, north of the Nk'Mip Winery, in Osoyoos, in one of the most endangered ecosystems in Canada, the northernmost point of the Great American desert.

  

I was very fortunate to be asked if I wished to watch the rattlesnake eat a mouse by a handler who was incredibly knowledgeable on her subject matter. The snake chose to digest the mouse head last, and after consumption flexed its jaws to rest them after devouring such large prey. Contrary to popular belief, rattlesnakes do not dislocate their jaws to eat large prey.

  

The Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) is also known as the northern Pacific rattlesnake and the Pacific rattlesnake and is a venomous pit viper found in North America, British Columbia, Mexico and the United States of America. They can grow to five feet in length but generally are much smaller and threatened by man's incursion into their habitat.

  

It is worse to be bitten by juveniles which have yet to learn how much venom to administer in a single bite, thus they release all of their venom with obviously dire consequences for the victim!

  

People of the Okanagan Nation Alliance live in eight communities in the interior of British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA and more than four hundred band members work and live on the Osoyoos Indian Reserve in which Nk’mip Desert Cultural Centre is located.

  

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Nikon D850. Focal length 100mm Shutter speed 1/800s Aperture f/4.0 iso1600 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon VR Vibration reduction set to normal. 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 polarizer 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. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.1MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 15.60MB

     

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.

  

PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.975+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 11th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1295231675 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,992nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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This photograph was taken at 14:03pm on Thursday 19th May 2016 at Barkerville historic town and park, Northern British Columbia, Canada, which features over 125 heritage buildings dating back to the 1860's and named after William 'Billy' Barker, who was one of the first successful Gold diggers of the era. It was declared a National Heritage site of Canada in 1924 and a Provincial Heritage property in 1958, now attracting around 60,000 visitors a year.

  

This horse was one of six used to pull a stage coach around and through the town (I took a ride for $8 and loved every second), formerly founded by Francis Jones Barnard for his B X Express freighting company which was the main cartage and passenger service on the Cariboo wagon road. Now pregnant, she is safely away in a large holding enclosure.

  

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Nikon D800 70mm 1/800s f/2.8 iso200 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 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag.

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 29.12MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

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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 milliuon 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 27.432+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the SHUTTERSTOCK COMMERCIAL COLLECTION Image ID:1300532728 on February 1st 2019.

  

This photograph became my 26th frame to be selected for sale on SHUTTERSTOCK, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty two metres at 20:07pm on Thursday 23rd August 2018, off Place du Trocadero and Esplanade du Trocadero, looking over the fountains in Jardins du Trocadero towards the Tour Eiffel located at Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 in Paris, France.

  

The Eiffel Tower was originally designed by Gustave Eiffel and constructed between 1887-1889 as the entrance to the worlds fair in that year. It is now the worlds most visited paid monument, standing 324 metres tall (1,063ft) with three floors and eight lifts and was the tallest building in the world from 1889 to 1930.

  

Eiffel tower from Place du Trocadero, Paris, France

  

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Nikon D850 38mm. Hand held. 1/3s f/4.0 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 51m 42.30s

LONGITUDE: E 2d 17m 18.60s

ALTITUDE: 62.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 51.60MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB DATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.202+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 20th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1323987204 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,326th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at 04.26am on a beautiful Springtime morning in the Golden hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 05.48am), at an altitude of Twenty eight metres on Wednesday 22nd April 2020, off North Cray Road within Foots Cray Meadows in Bexley, Kent.

  

A gorgeous golden hour with swirling ground mist that tumbled and twirled all around me, and a powerful sunrise, beauty without any input or need for mankind.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 120mm Shutter speed: 1/4s Aperture f/4.0 iso64 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode: Manual focus 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 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee filters SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad Soft resin filter. Lee filters Little Stopper (6 stops) Glass filter. 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.

   

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LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 21.52s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 15.61s

ALTITUDE: 28.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.70MB

   

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

 

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.747+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 19th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1313241064 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,929th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty metres at 09:38am on Sunday 18th April 2021, of a female Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus), gathering up material for a nesting box in a garden off Woolacombe Road in Blackheath, South East London.

  

The female is identified by a less blue skull cap,a thinner and less well defined black chest stripe, and these little characterful birds are bestowed with wonderful acrobatic skills.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 500mm Shutter speed: 1/400s Aperture f/6.3 iso320 Hand held with Sigma VC Vibration Control set to position 1. 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) 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 mode Metering mode: Centre Weighted Average Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White balance on: Auto1 (5540k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 27m 58.09s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 1m 53.54s

ALTITUDE: 40.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 89.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 30.70MB

   

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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.

  

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.000+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 12th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1301612096 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,781st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Photograph taken at 15:41pm on Thursday 11th February 2021, on a cold but bright afternoon. Sadly this was shot through glass as this little beauty was so nervous of my every move.

  

The Redwing (Turdus iliacus) is the smallest of the Thrush family and protected under the Wildlife and countryside Act 1981 with a current status of Red. They rarely visit gardens unless snow is on the ground, and there are only a few nesting pairs in the UK, mainly in Scotland. They migrate to the UK from the Scandinavian coast, Russia, the Faroes and Iceland, and can detect berries using Ultra violet vision. They stay in the UK from October to April.

  

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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/500s (Electronic front-curtain) Aperture f/8.0 ISO250 Exposure compensation: +0.7EV Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. 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 (7450K). Colour space: RGB. Vignette control: Normal. 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). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 38.20MB

   

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.

    

On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably).

  

With visits now in excess of 17.834 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 19th 2016

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/625729112 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 2,357th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken in the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise at an altitude of Eight metres, at 06:58am on Sunday 21st September 2014 off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here, we are looking over towards Mt Baker in Washington State, USA from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Koma Kulshan, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’),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. Also known by the Lummi as Kwud-Shad, and Koba (meaning 'high mountain always covered with snow', was the Skagit name.

 

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Nikon D800 165mm 1/800s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) AF-S Single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 54.80s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 38.60s

ALTITUDE: 8.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 20.09MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

This photograph was taken an altitude of Four hundred and eighty six metres, 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 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.

  

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Nikon D800 390mm 1/80s 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.

     

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LATITUDE: N 59d 32m 24.30s

LONGITUDE: W 126d 24m 0.44s

ALTITUDE: 486.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 28.96MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.494+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on February 14th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1302047549 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,118th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres at 09:46am on a cold winter morning on Saturday 13th February 2021 off Woolwich Road A206 and New Road in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey Woods in the London Borough of Bexley, England.

  

Here we see an adult Ring necked parakeet also known as the rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri), a medium sized parrot in the genus Psittacula of the family Psittacidae with native ranges in South Asia and Africa originally. Brought to the United kingdom and Europe as caged exhibit ornamental birds, inevitably some escaped and began breeding and in 1969 in Kent, small colonies emerged. There are now more than 8,600 breeding pairs in the UK.

  

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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 420mm Shutter speed: 1/100s (Electronic front-curtain) Aperture f/6.0 ISO320 Exposure compensation: +0.7 Step EV 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. 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 (5300K). Colour space: RGB. Vignette control: Normal. 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). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 4.19s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 5.43s

ALTITUDE: 57.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.8MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 60.60MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.150+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 13th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1317640522 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,437th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty seven metres at 14:06pm on a bright afternoon on Tuesday 12th May 2021, of an adult Wood pigeon(Columba palumbus), off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Wood pigeons are the largest and most common pigeon in the UK, and forms part of the Dove and pigeon family, genus Columba, family Columbidae. Known locally as the 'Culver' in Southeast England, these game birds are a protected species in abundance with over five and a half breeding pairs in the UK, and can grow to 42cms in length and weigh up to 550g.

  

Wood pigeon is also eaten regularly in the UK, a meaty bird with a distinctive deep gamey flavour. It is low in fat and high in protein and iron with a delicate texture that can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Commercially bought whole Wood pigeons sell from as little as a few pounds each.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 550mm Shutter speed: 1/1250s Aperture f/8.0 iso640 Tripod mounted with Tamron VC Vibration Control set to position 3. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (4128 x 2752). JPeg basic (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4570k) 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.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 10.60s

ALTITUDE: 47.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.5MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 44.80MB

     

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 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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.

 

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.353+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 9th 2016

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/614267132 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,924th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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This photograph was taken at an altitude of Forty two metres, during the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at 07:15am), at 06:40am, on Tuesday 11th October 2016 off Lullingstone Lane beside the Lullingstone Roman Villa in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

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Nikon D7200 22mm 1/1.3s exposure f/3.5 iso200 RAW (14 bit Lossless compressed) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting. Nikon Fine Tune on (+5).

  

Nikkor AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. Jessops 67mm UV filter. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Hoodman soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto 055Xprob Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections. Manfrotto 3772 Magnesium Ball Head. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDHC. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon ML-3 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 51.20s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 50.40s

ALTITUDE: 42.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 68.80MB

PROCESSED FILE: 20.85MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D7200 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 2.015 (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

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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 27.636+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the SHUTTERSTOCK COMMERCIAL COLLECTION Image ID:1302840034 on February 5th 2019.

  

This photograph became my 68th frame to be selected for sale on SHUTTERSTOCK, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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This photograph was taken an altitude of Seven hundred and forty eight metres, at 17:02pm on Friday May 13th 2016 between Bennett and Conrad, on the shoreline of Tutshi Lake off the Alaska Highway 1 and then Klondike Highway 2 in Northern British Columbia, Canada.

 

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Nikon D800 31mm 1/125s f/16.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

     

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LATITUDE: N 59d 55m 46.34s

LONGITUDE: W 134d 46m 5.24s

ALTITUDE: 748.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 27.81MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB 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 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty eight metres at 07:34am on a cold but bright morning on Wednesday 12th May 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Here we see a poor Female Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) having to deal with her brood of three juveniles, which she has worked so hard to keep fed and watered against the odds and chances of predation.

  

Although capable of excellent flight, these little terrors are still hounding her for food every which way she turns!

  

Starlings are Passerines and despite being a common sight in UK gardens, their decline elsewhere sees them on the red conservation list.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture f/6.3 iso500 Tripod mounted with Tamron VC Vibration Control set to position 3. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (4128 x 2752). JPeg basic (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4570k) 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.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fiber Geared tripod 3 sections. Neewer Carbon Fiber Gimble tripod head 10088736 with Arca Swiss standard quick release plate. Neewer 9996 Arca Swiss release plate P860 x2.Jessops Tripod bag. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.73s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 12.72s

ALTITUDE: 38.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.4MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 48.60MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.024+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 3RD 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1222164165 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,240th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty metres at 08:24am on Thursday 30th April 2020 off Hurst Lane and New Road in the grounds of Abbey Wood in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Abbey wood joins to Lesnes abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.

  

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. A walk in the local woodlands after the rain came today to taste the fresh air and get my limbs moving again.

  

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Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focal length 24mm Shutter speed: 1/13s Aperture f/11.0 iso250 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ 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

  

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.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 1.59s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 30.82s

ALTITUDE: 60.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.0MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 45.10MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.167+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 14th 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1224761876 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,280th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of six metres, at 06:34am 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.

  

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 “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.

 

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Nikon D850. Focal length 145mm Shutter speed 1/25s Aperture f/11.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 .9 (3 stops) soft ND Grad 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.

   

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 51.90s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 29.62s

ALTITUDE: 6.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.2MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 37.40MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.482+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 19th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1328693138 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,672nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty nine metres at 14:20pm on a mixed summer afternoon of cloud and brief sunny interludes on Wednesday 14th July 2021, of an adult Male White Fantail Dove (Columba livia), off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

The fantail is a very popular breed of 'fancy pigeon', it's Latin name Columba Livia gives the clue to the fact that it is not a Dove, rather it is related to the Feral or town pigeon, hence the same name. The fantail refers to around 40 individual feathers compared to a standard 14 or so in a feral pigeon, and in some variants the fantail pigeon can have a very elaborate array of these feathers and be bread for show purposes with ornate feet feathers and head plumage.

  

In 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', published on 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin used a Fantail in the opening chapter and referred to it as a descendant of the rock pigeon (Columba livia). Fantails are often used by pigeon flyers to help with the training of racing pigeons (Homing pigeons) and Tipplers (domestic pigeons bred to race in endurance competitions flying up to 22 hours at a time).

  

White doves have a huge significance in religious ceremonies the world over and 'Release Doves' have traditionally been bred for public ceremonies, weddings and funerals. They are in fact white pigeons.

  

The practice of using release doves has thankfully decreased over the last decade as those birds are often attacked soon after release by predators due to their white colouration marking them out against other birds. Because they are domesticated birds, they can become confused and disorientated, and do not possess the instincts and skills to survive in the wild. Injuries and deaths, and increased public awareness of animal cruelty has thankfully decreased the popularity of release doves.

  

This little fella has visited me daily for a week now, grazing on bird seed and mingling with the other feral pigeons, and it could well be that it is from a local dovecote, maybe even bred with homing abilities.

It is a little beauty for sure.

  

HISTORICAL SYMBOLISM

  

The Genesis flood narrative is the flood myth[a] Found in chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, 'The Genesis flood narrative' is the flood myth, and a white dove is released three times as the flood waters are receding. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts, Utnapishtim sends out a dove that returns to his ship with a similar flood narrative.

  

The ritual of releasing doves at the Olympics originated in 1896 as part of the closing ceremony, becoming an official part of the opening ceremony in the 1920 Antwerp games. Changes were made to be purely symbolic after the doves released in the 1988 Seoul Olympics landed on the Olympic Torch and were burnt alive when it was lit!

  

In 2016 whilst Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) performed a ceremony for the Holocaust remembrance, two doves were attacked by a gull, one seriously injured. Similar tragedy occurred during Vatican release of doves in 2014 when Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) failed to get two release doves to leave from the window of the papal apartment. When he finally pushed them out, they were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull in front of all the spectators.

  

White Doves are also a symbol of peace, used in many ceremonies and films including Tim Burton's marvellous 1996 film 'Mars attacks', starring an all star cast of famous actors lining up to die (Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Annette Bening, Rod Steiger, Michael J Fox), when white doves are released as a gesture of peace and goodwill from the Earthlings.... only to see them frazzled to a pulp by the Martian ray guns!

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length: 350mm Shutter speed: 1/800s Aperture f/7.1 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in 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 Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (5020k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.16s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.63s

ALTITUDE: 52.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.5MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 35.60MB

     

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.

 

'' I do not have a fear of heights. I do however have a fear of falling from heights ''

  

It's ten years since I first joined Flickr and I felt it was an appropriate time to take a gentle stroll down memory lane and reminisce with a few photographs that have meant a great deal to me along the way. They include commercial successes and personal favourites, fantastic memories and turning points in my photographic journey and all are accompanied with a little background information to the making and taking of the photograph.

  

(28) Niagara Canyon Bridge (Cisco Bridge over the Fraser River) on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

  

I have never had a fear of heights.

  

I have stood on a precarious ledge at the top of the West rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, I have taken photographs at 1,150ft from the top of the Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas, and walked the glass bottom bridge in the Canyon, and the 603.5ft Space needle at 400 Broad Street in Seattle. I have hung over the edge of the jutting out rocks known as the pinnacles overlooking the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, and crossed the barriers with a massive 540ft drop down to Ross Dam in Washington State USA. I've stood at the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains at over 2,177 metres having taken the longest gondola rides in North America across the mountains, travelled in the tallest cable cars across worldwide mountain ranges.

   

I've also encountered wild American Black bears (Ursus americanus) and wild grizzly bears and even got between a mother and her juvenile and had a tug of war over a holdall of food and lived to tell the tale! But this photograph appears in my selection as one of the scariest things I have ever done... erm....three times!

  

Not for the first time in my life, I risked life and limb to capture this photograph (Chasing wild American black bears counts too I guess). Trespassing on private property, illegally entering onto the railway line some 169 metres or 554 feet high up in the air, with no railings nor protection, and facing prosecution and hefty fines if caught (not to mention certain and spectacular death should I fall), this was my first visit to this amazing location. I subsequently made two more visits on later trips in 2014 and 2016 at which point I realized that age was catching up with me and I could no longer make the steep walk up to the bridge. Some lovely memories though....

  

Up here there is a sense of freedom and danger like no other place I've encountered. You stand on wood, the planks move through years of use, the height can muddle your brain temporarily as you look down on the tops of giant trees and water falls that seem so tiny. You look birds in the eye as they inquisitively pass you by, and you wonder if at any moment a steam train might come thundering around the blind bend in front of you. You would fly, but you do not have wings. You are steady and yet unstable, safe to a point, vulnerable for sure. You are out of your comfort zone, brave yet afraid.

  

This was taken on the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (E&N) Niagara Canyon Bridge (Cisco Bridge over the Fraser River). The present day bridge 17 km north of Victoria, BC, over Niagara Creek Canyon formerly crossed the Fraser River at Cisco, BC, and was moved here in 1910. The metal cantilever 21 panel pin-connected Pratt deck truss bridge was pre-fabricated in England in 1884 by Hawkes, Crayshay and Company of Gateshead with Charles Conrad Schneider the Engineer and designer and shipped to Canada. It replaced the original wooden trestle bridge, which was damaged in a washout on 12 November 1886. Still very much used to this day.

  

The main span length of the bridge is 315 Feet (96 metres) the structure length reaching 525 Feet (160 metres) and features three main spans. It was created to carry the Canadian Pacific Railway over the Fraser River in British Columbia in an area called Cisco, and came to be known as the Cisco Bridge. According to an 1894 Annual Report of the Department of Railways and Canals of the Dominion of Canada, the bridge was painted white for a time during its service on the Fraser River, which was the same colour as other bridges in the railway division.

  

In later years it has come to known as the Goldstream Trestle Bridge crossing high above the Niagara Creek and offering some beautiful views of the estuary, Mount Finlayson, and the surrounding area.

  

Though not currently not in use, there are plans to resume passenger and freight service in the future. It is illegal and dangerous to walk out onto the bridge, which is situated in what is now private property, having unevenly spaced slats and no railings, though many tourists and hikers (myself included) walk along the line to capture photographs of the view down. That being said, many hikers take the risk and walk out to the middle of the bridge to see the view anyhow. Trespassing like this can incur fines or prosecution, and certainly could result in death should someone fall.

  

After taking this shot I walked along the open track to the far left metal casing where I stood and took photographs of the forest and rivers far below me. You cannot help but be enthralled by the spectacle and beauty that your eyes and brain soak in here, but it does cross your mind in such a vulnerable position, what if... The dark side of my mind can't help but think, if I were to wish to end my life then I couldn't think of a better place to do it than here with that incredible, vast and beautiful landscape all around as I fall. Could be worse.

  

For this trip I was carrying the Nikon D90 a DX crop sensor successor to the D80, and a fine little camera in it's day, along with a pretty average Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II lens which was destined to become the first lens I ever dropped when hastily exiting a car without securing my camera bag. The lens was cheap as chips to buy, and full of distortion and compromise, not one to hold much fondness in my heart.

  

This photograph was published by Getty Images on June 28th 2021 and became my 5,070th frame to be published by them. It also appeared in one of my published books and others from this shoot have also gone on to publication.

  

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©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Nikon D90 Focal length: 10mm Shutter speed: 1/160s Aperture: f/7.1 iso200 Exposure compensation EV: -1.7Step NEF FILE SIZE L (4288 X 2848 Pixels) Compressed RAW File 12-Bit Hand held Focus mode: Manual focus AF-Area mode: Single Exposure mode: Programmed Auto Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto Colour space: Adobe RGB Active D-lighting: Low

  

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II. Jessops UV filter. Nikon MB-D10 battery grip. Hoodman H-RAV right angle viewfinder. My memory 32GB class 10 20MB/s SDHC. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 28m 58.00s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 33m 27.00s

ALTITUDE: 169.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 35.10MB NEF FILE: 10.4MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 14.60MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D90

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of nine metres at 15:38pm on Thursday 3rd September 2019 off Bradford Avenue in the garden of my Sister in Law who resides in Sidney, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia in Canada.

  

This is a male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna), easily distinguishable by it's crimson red iridescent crown and gorget. Hummingbirds are native to the Americas and are the smallest birds species measuring just three to five inches and weighing less than two grams. Their wingbeats range from 12 to 80 per second and the noise created by the wings gives them their name as the high frequency is audible to humans. They fly at up to 34mph.

  

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Nikon D850. Focal length 300mm Shutter speed 1/1250s Aperture f/5.6 iso20000 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 - Shutter priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 23.97s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 38.64s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.0MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 22.60MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and thirty four metres, at 13:42pm on Saturday 18th September 2019 off Ainslie Point Road and Canal Road at the summit of Mount Norman on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.

  

The summit is nestled within the forrest within the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, and here we have a view out across to North Pender Island, Poets cove and the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Designated as the fortieth national park in 2003 and covering 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) of area with 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, it also contains Douglas-fir trees as well as Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, red alder and Western red cedar.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 24mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso400 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 0.9 (2 stops) Soft 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.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 45m 31.04s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 14m 28.30s

ALTITUDE: 234.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.2MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.40MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.800+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 30th 2020

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1202900046 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 4,720th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty one metres, at 13.38pm on Sunday December 22nd 2019, off Great Cross Avenue in the grounds of Greenwich Park, in Blackheath, South East London, One of the Royal Parks of London.

  

Here we see a pair of rutting male Red deer (Cervus elaphus), one of the largest of the deer species, ruminants with four chambered stomachs, which are found across most of Europe. Rutting usually occurs around September to November and includes elaborate displays of dominance, deep bellowing and roaring, parallel walks and fighting.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed 1/200s Aperture f/6.3 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. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 32.26s

LONGITUDE: W 0d 0m 25.99s

ALTITUDE: 47.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.0MB NEF: 95.1MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 58.80MB PROCESSED TIFF FILE: 130MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.902+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Sunday 26th December 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1360477208 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,392nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and twelve metres at 12:24pm on Wednesday December 22nd 2021 off Church Lane overlooking Bay Pond in the heart of Godstone, a village and civil parish in the county of Surrey in England.

  

Here we see an pair of adult Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo)a bird found in many parts of the world with different sizes and names. It is known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India,the genus name is Latinised Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός (phalakros, "bald") and κόραξ (korax, "raven"), and carbo is Latin for "charcoal".

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 460mm Shutter speed: 1/80s Aperture f/11.0 iso400 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW Size L (8256 x 5504) 14 bit uncompressed file AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D -Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4760K) Colour space: Adobe RGB Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening +2) Active D-Lighting: Low

  

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 14m 49.88s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 3m 49.92s

ALTITUDE: 112.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 93.7MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 36.20MB

    

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 – 2022 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of zero metres, at 06:30am on Friday 3rd September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, between the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

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.

  

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Nikon D850. Focal length: 140mm Shutter speed: 1/6s 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 Metering mode: Matrix metering ISO Sensitivity: ON (Normal) White balance: Natural light auto 0, 0 Colour space: Adobe RGB Nikon Auto Distortion control: ON Picture control: (SD) Standard (Sharpening +3/Clarity +1) High ISO NR: ON (Normal) Vignette control: Normal Active D-lighting: Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings.Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.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 51.86s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 29.57s

ALTITUDE: 5.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.2MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 42.60MB

     

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.