View allAll Photos Tagged Which
Lilium (members of which are true lilies) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers.
The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a wide range of colors including whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples. Markings include spots and brush strokes. The plants are late spring- or summer-flowering. Flowers are borne in racemes or umbels at the tip of the stem, with six tepals spreading or reflexed, to give flowers varying from funnel shape to a "Turk's cap".
Kitty and I doing a little bird watching together...
~~~~~~~~~~
Model: Skye McLeod Fairywren
Bento Mesh Head: CaTwA Lona
Bento Mesh Body: Maitreya Lara
Face Applier: Essences
Frost Mask Applier: Arte
Bright Eyes Face Gems: EMO-tions
Body Tatt: Vivian by Stardust
Hair: Stackable Hairstyle Little Birdcages (Rare) by Curio Obscura
Ensemble: Birds in a Cage by Les sucreries de Fairy
Baroque Corset Stocking appliers (Sakurairo): Cureless
Josephine Shoes: Real Evil Industries
Precious Nails (square) & Rings: Real Evil Industries
A Thousand Stars Earrings: Chop Zuey
Kitty: JIAN White Chubby Cat Bird Bus (Companion) currently at the Home & Garden Expo
PROPS: Di'Cor Natalie Reflector Seat [White]
Big Leaf: HPMD (Happy Mood)
Fish shop daughters (Lotus - gold) by {anc}
Unicorns in background: +Half-Deer+
SIM: Luanes Magical World @ maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morning%20Glow/231/104/21
The Temple Island in Henley-On-Thames is a beautiful little spot tucked away amongst the more exalted bustle of the Henley Regatta. I first caught wind of this place a few years ago when I had been a spectator at the Henley Regatta. Although I wanted to take some shots, there were not a lot of cloud cover to make it worth my while.
As a landscape photographer, everyone would nod their heads in unison that whilst sunny weather is preferred, all sun with little clouds does not really make for some compelling viewing especially at dusk.
So I went back thinking I should be here on other day when the clouds would play ball. Thing is you do not need too much of wind either or your reflection would be shot. So in all, there are a lot of factors that need to come together to get a good photograph of a place. There wasn't much of a wind blowing although there were a lot of boats going backwards and forwards which leaves a big wake every now and then. So you have to time the shot in between such instances.
In all, it was a decent evening's work at the temple island. Midsummer is a good time to be here with the sun setting adjacent to this location.
EXIF - f/11.0, ISO100 38mm 99 sec
Magenta Filter (handheld)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on in the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
combined heat and power station Neudorf-Werndorf, just before demolition in 2017 - all photos unfortunately without tripod
The Six Sisters, located in North Street, Bedminster, are a series of murals which were supported by Upfest. These street art works are from Bex Glover, Lucas Antics, Zoe Power, Gemma Compton, Sophie Long and Ejit.
... which I mentioned on the previous post. It was one of those sunny and special days. Inserted in a landscape of extreme beauty, this small island marked an unforgettable time in my life.
The kids had kayaks and I had fun with them too, surfing those waves on the side of the island. I spent hours and hours in the sea. Couldn't have enough. And I also did the island/land crossing by swimming. It wasn't a very long distance, but there were strong currents. Delightful memories. I am lucky to have them. Just remembering. Thank you for reading me ☺️
Verbena bonariensis, which I love so much when it's blooming and filled with butterflies, adds great texture to the Winter gardens as well. These were taken on a frosty morning at sunrise.
Aare Gorge In Switzerland
want to tell you sorry I was busy with Ramadan and work and now I will be a way for 2 months in my trip xo I will come with a lot of pictures for you my friend I will miss you all
Past which blue moon
Will grow in this field
A stalk
And scatter in the wind
The moans of the earth?
Poetry of Mohammad Mokhtari
Translated from Persian
In Brittany, in Finistère, which means end of the world, is the lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu. Right next to it is the Sémaphore de Saint-Mathieu, from which the French coast is monitored.
In der Bretagne, in Finistère, das bedeutet, Ende der Welt, steht der Leuchtturm von Saint-Mathieu. Direkt daneben steht das Sémaphore de Saint-Mathieu, von dem aus die Küste Frankreichs überwacht wird.
San Francisco Square in the Historic Center of Quito.
From left to right, in the San Francisco building, you can see the doors of the Chapel of Cantuña, the Chapel of Villacísla, the main church, the convent and the museum.
***
The Church and its chapels (La Iglesia de San Francisco), which were considered sacred places.
Together, Church and Convent encompass three hectares including 13 cloisters (six of them major), three churches, and a large courtyard. In total, about 40,000 square meters of construction. San Francisco follows the classical typology of medieval monasteries. The main Church is the guiding axis and from there the cloister galleries extend: the refectory, the chapterhouse, and winery. These define a quadrangular courtyard, with the four respective pandas, or galleries: that of the chapter room, the refectory, the converts, and the mandatum. In addition to the basic dependencies of a convent, there were areas devoted to health care, education, crafts, a garden, and even a jail (to maintain strict discipline). The kitchen and dispensery operated in the cloister of services.
***
Walking from the Old Town’s narrow colonial streets into this open plaza reveals one of the finest sights in all of Ecuador: a sweeping cobblestone plaza backed by the mountainous backdrop of Volcán Pichincha, and the long, whitewashed walls and twin bell towers of Ecuador’s oldest church.
***
The Public Square (Plaza de San Francisco) was a purely urban space, demarcated and connected to various public activities (teaching, market, water supply).
***
Sad part of our History.
In pre-Hispanic Quito, the current lands of the Church and Convent of San Francisco were occupied by the royal palace of the Inca Huayna Cápac, before the advance of the armies commanded by the Spaniards from the south and the impossibility of defending the city the indigenous general Rumiñahui arranged the total destruction of it. In the city fire the palace was destroyed and buried under a huge amount of rubble and garbage. One of Rumiñahui's soldiers was the great-grandfather of the indigenous Cantuña, who as an eyewitness to the events had full knowledge of what was buried in the place. The construction of the church and convent of San Francisco began around 1537, just three years after the Spanish foundation of the city, with the completion of a provisional temple that was maintained until 1550, when construction of the current building began and which was completed around 1680. Although the building was officially inaugurated in 1705.
China, Guangxi, Yangshuo
Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which fishermen use trained cormorants to fish in rivers.
Ribbon pasta, which is flat strands of pasta, is available in different lengths, widths and thickness. Some are short and wide, while others are long and narrow. Ribbon pasta can have straight or wavy edges and many varieties are available fresh and dried.
The most well known varieties of ribbon pasta are Fettucine, Linguine, Tagliatelle, Lasange and Pappardelle and are generally made from durum wheat, that is semolina in Southern Italy and wheat flour and eggs in Northern Italy. You might know of pizzoccheri though, which is made from buckwheat and is a darker, almost grey colour.
We used to buy a lot of coloured tagliatelle. If you see green pasta, it has spinach in it. Black varieties use squid ink whilst red types are that colour due to the addition of carrot surprisingly. One colour that I have never seen before is a purple colour that evidently is coloured by tomato or beetroot!
which is interesting ...
and you often meet interesting people on staircases ...
at first you may only hear them tap dancing ... ;-) ...
3x
ƒ/5.6
14.0 mm
1/50
200
_DSC9496_98_pa2
“Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to...”
#MacroMondays and #MyFavouriteNovel(Fiction)
"Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities." D.T. Suzuki
* cOffee
^ teA
# caPPuCinO
* MilK
^ FrUit JuicE
# Beer
* wIne
# VodKa
??????
choose one , then I'll reply by flickr mail
<-- 3ashan ma n5rib 3ala elcontacts :p
^__^
All By ME ^_*
{ STOP THE " NICE " COMMENTS PLLLLZ !! U're DRIVING ME CRAZYYYY !! }
The beautiful Lago di Carezza which is perhaps one of the most beautiful lakes in the world - surely? With it's crystal waters and backdrop it's truly a sight to behold and no wonder so popular.
I persuaded my husband to drive me the hour and a half from our accommodaton at 5am to get this picture. To say he wasn't too excited about this prospect is an understatement! However, it was the only photography time I asked for on our holidays so he relented. We had a good hour or so here without a soul around us. He said he quite happily sat on the bench and drank in the view whilst I messed on with my camera! I'd annoyingly forgotten my filter ring and had to hold my filters in front of the lens so I did only get one or two shots
Just being here was worth it though. My fourth visit but by far the best without the all the people; so tranquil.
East Morton
A former mill dam which now belongs to Bingley Angling Club. The mill has long gone to be replaced by a few rather nice houses which overlook this water. Access is actually through the drive and garden of one of the houses, fortunately the owner said he doesn’t get too many people visiting.
Thank you for your visit and your comments, they are greatly appreciated.
View looking down to Llandanwg Marina and beach and area.
Llandanwg is a village in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, in Llanfair community Wales. It is situated on the coast, has a railway station, and a medieval church in the sand dunes behind the beach which is a Grade II listed building.
Another shot from Govetts Leap for sunrise which was only 5 minutes from the hotel. The previous shot was at 120mm so easy to compare the difference of a 10x zoom ;-)
The sun rays came out nicely at f/16.
The trees in left foreground lit up nicely in the early morning sunlight!
Victor and I were hoping for the sky to go crazy with the high level cloud but there must have been too much cloud on the horizon unfortunately. Still a great a sunrise though.
Govetts Leap lookout is right at the carpark so no hiking required.
Why are the Blue Mountains blue? Wikipedia tells us
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountains_(New_South_Wales)
....the tinge is believed to be caused by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. Volatile terpenoids emitted in large quantities by the abundant eucalyptus trees in the Blue Mountains may cause mie scattering and thus the blue haze for which the mountains were named...
or that we really don't know but the blue can be easily seen at 120mm.
This highly social and intelligent species is well adapted to a semi-aquatic life-style. Male and female California sea lions differ significantly in appearance. Males are substantially bigger than females and have an enlarged sagittal crest, which is usually topped with white fur.
Yes, Norway again :-)
Which photo to upload among hundreds of new ones is always a hard decision, but it's a good problem to have, and I haven't even had a chance to look at half of them. The light was not ideal here, and I waited a long long time for the sun to peek through the clouds, it didn't happen. The sharp peak is Stetind, "Norway's national mountain", whatever that means.
I had a mixed bag of weather in the past few months, but it was surprisingly good in Norway.
Macro Mondays: Arrow
Jade arrow & the "broad arrow" for my convict heritage (I have convict ancestors who arrived on the 2nd Fleet ... fortunate to do so because the 2nd Fleet was "seconded" to ex-slave traders so life was cheap and many, many died on the way to Australia)
Image taken near Mata-mata
Before sunset we stayed to shot a raptor that we particularly liked. We worry on our way back to find the entry to the camp closed ! A few kilometers only from our destination and near a waterhole where apparently he just drink in, a cheetah was showing off before some admirers.At first lying on the ground, the animal roll sideways, seeming very calm, enjoying himself, ignoring us. Then he stand up and left us without hurry, coming back a few times, one or two bushes away, letting us admiring his feline beauty before leaving ...The wildlife photographer knows well this intense emotion which we never tires when wild nature offers us such a gift!
Image prise près de Mata-mata
Avant le coucher du soleil nous sommes restés pour photographier un rapace que nous aimons particulièrement. Nous nous inquiétons en revenant de trouver l'entrée du camp fermée! A quelques kilomètres seulement de notre destination , près d'un point d'eau où il venait certainement de boire, ce guépard est allongé et roule sur lui même devant quelques admirateurs !Le photographe animalier connait bien cette émotion intense qui nous envahit et dont on ne se lasse jamais lorsque la nature sauvage nous offre un pareil cadeau !
Puis le guépard va s'en aller ,allant d'un buisson à l'autre ,nous permettant d'admirer sa beauté féline !
Il est temps pour nous de rentrer , encore émervveillés des moments que nous venons de vivre ..
Explore 70 🌟July 12, 2024
Ripponden
It would have been nice to read all the directions on the sign, but the sun put a stop to that. The sign pointing up and to the right reads ‘Heights and Car Park’, the area of Heights is still there but the car park is no longer. The sign pointing down to the left, and the one we followed reads ‘Ryburn Reservoir’, it’s a very steep downhill descent, the climb up is much easier. The final finger post, the words you can just make out reads ‘Baitings and Car Park’. We chose not to take that route today as it’s a path trodden many times before, you can see the reservoir where we eventually ended up in the distance centre of picture.
The photo was taken by the ruined farmhouse from the previous shot, one of the outbuildings by the tree has collapsed a lot more since last spring. An OS map from the National Library of Scotland, surveyed 1948 to 1849 and published in 1854, shows the farm as being called New House, the building pre dates the construction of both reservoirs.
Thank you for your visit and your comments, they are greatly appreciated.
A teenage girl who is busily typing a text message on her smartphone is a bit surprised to see me crouching in front of her when she lifts up her head after sensing my physical presence.
It is interesting to note that this long-haired gal is wearing a shirt and a face mask which are both yellow in color, which likewise matches the color of the house wall immediately behind her back.
Taken in Subic, Zambales, Philippines.