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Taipei, Peace Park
Taiwan
2013
Urban Life in Taiwan
Nikon D7100 + 35mm 1.8
Latest blogpost: thecovertphotographer.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/in-transit...
Processed using calibrated near-infrared methane absorption band (MT2, CB2) filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on August 15 2011. Applied strong sharpening in Topaz Sharpen AI.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
This Hubble image captures a portion of a dark nebula in the constellation Cepheus. LDN 1165 is part of a collection called Lynds’ Catalog of Dark Nebulae, originally published in 1962. Dark nebulae ― also called absorption nebulae ― are clouds of gas and dust that neither emit nor reflect light, instead blocking light coming from behind them. These nebulae tend to contain large amounts of dust, which allows them to absorb visible light from stars or nebulae beyond them. Dark nebulae are so dark that they’ve been referred to as “holes in the sky,” but in reality they may be full of activity, with stars sometimes forming inside their dense clouds.
Hubble observed this region as part of a study of protostars, hot dense cores of newly forming stars that are accumulating gas and dust as they undergo the starbirth process. The bright area in this image is likely a star-forming region that may hold one or more young protostars. Further study of dark nebulae like LDN 1165 will help us better understand the nature of these dark and dusty clouds and the stellar nurseries that may lurk within them.
Credit: NASA, ESA, T. Megeath (University of Toledo), and K. Stapelfeldt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Processed using calibrated near-infrared methane-absorption band (MT2, CB2) filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on March 28 2014.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
This was an experiment to demonstrate the transmission of living tissue in a spectral window between approximately 600 and 1,300nm wavelength. This "window of transparency" is bounded at the long wavelengths side by the harmonics of the stretch and bend vibrations within a water molecule and, at shorter wavelengths below 600nm, by the rapidly increasing absorption of blood and, basically, most living tissue including plants.
With the exception of some X-rays and km-length radio waves, this is the only spectral band where light can penetrate deep into components of the biosphere. From a growing number of experimental investigations, it is becoming apparent that light at these wavelengths — coming mostly from the Sun — plays essential roles in maintaining the health of most life on the planet Earth (including us!)
For close to 3.5 billion years, life on Earth has evolved to exploit light from the Sun to power itself, either directly (cyanobacteria and plants) or by stored food and fossil fuels generated by photosynthesis.
Only in the last few decades have energy-efficient sources of artificial light appeared that produce copious visible light but little or no far-red or near-infrared light within this transparency window. These lights, especially the ubiquitous white LEDs, have broken these billions of years of adaptation of life to 'thermal' light sources (light produced as a result of the hight temperature of the emitter) which are rich in near-infrared light.
Living, as many of us do, under these white LEDs for large fractions of our lives without exposure to sunlight has starved us of this near-infrared light that can penetrate our bodies. This is needed to protect us from such afflictions as type 2 diabetes, obesity and a number of 'diseases of ageing' which result from the diminishing ability of the mitochondria (the energy generators in cells) to produce enough energy as we age.
The image above was obtained using a 'full-spectrum' adapted Sony alpha camera with a filter that passes light above about 750nm. The light source, behind a hand-shaped alu-foil covered cardboard mask, was a "Candeer 54W Red Light Therapy" LED lamp that has diodes emitting 660 and 850nm light. Only the longer wavelength LEDs pass through the filter to produce this image which is the combination of three exposures each separated by 2.5 stops and combined using Photomatix Pro software to result in the high dynamic range.
De-oxygenated haemoglobin has a spectral absorption band around 750nm which results in the veins (but not arteries) being seen as dark in this image. The image shows that this long wavelength light can penetrate deep into our bodies where it appears to perform a number of beneficial functions.
It has been estimated that around 60% of cells in non-obese human bodies are reached by this light where it appears to enhance the efficiency of metabolism by oxidative respiration and produce cellular energy for immediate use before diverting metabolised food to storage as fat.
[Note: bones are relatively transparent to 850nm light, resulting in this looking quite different to an X-ray image of the hand.]
Here is a sculpture of Louis XIV in front of the Palace. Due to an outbreak of self-absorption and narcissism, there are images of Louis XIV about every 10 steps......
hairy structures on the surface of plant leaves for water and nutrient absorption
Macro Mondays - Leaf
Amsterdam
June 2012
The Netherlands
Most likely not his actual name but he reminded me of the character Neil from the old British series "The Young Ones"..
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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WARNING : these cheap scans do not reflect the real photograph
Nor do they reflect any outlined vision on my part.
I just take/make photographs.
They serve no purpose whatsoever.
Infact, I could just as well not photograph anymore and start doing something really useful.
oh, and by the way...flickr lies...this photograph was not taken on the 16th of october àt all.
Processed using calibrated near-infrared methane absorption band (CB2, MT2, MT3) filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on March 31 2014.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
Hi Folks,
This is the third and last imaging project to come out of a recent data collection session that occurred in late September.
Given the expected weather patterns, it may be my last new image of 2023.
WR 134 is a Wolf-Rayet Star in a complex region in the constellation Cygnus. Located 6,000 light years away, WR 134 is associated with a bubble nebula blown in the gas and the dust by this star's intense radiation and solar winds.
While there are a lot of objects in this image, it should be noted that it also contains WR 135 and WR 137. Together with WR 134, these were the first Wolf-Rayet stars ever discovered.
Wolf-Rayet Stars stood out because their spectra show intense emission lines, whereas typical stars only show absorption lines. These massive and bright stars burn fiercely and live short lives!
This image results from 15.5 hours of exposure taken with my Askar FRA400 f/5.5 Astrograph, a ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro camera, and a ZWO AM5 mount. The AM5 mount continued to perform excellently, typically giving me tracking errors of 0.24! Best I have ever seen.
Full details on this imaging project, including a detailed, step-by-step processing walkthrough, can be found on my website here:
cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/wr134
Thanks for looking,
Pat
Temple of Heaven, Beijing
July 2012
China
Urban life
Canon 550D
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Temple of Heaven, Beijing
July 2012
China
Actually a very proud and friendly Temple of Heaven gardener! His colleagues were overjoyed that i also included them in my pictures. I guess most people are to pre-occupied with the beautiful surroundings to acknowledge them and the importance of their work.
Urban life
Canon 550D
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The Hague CS
April 2012
The Netherlands
Candid shots in and around the Public Transport in The Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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This is a montage of the minor partial eclipse of the Moon of September 17, 2024, showing the sequence from the start of the umbral phase, at left, to the end, at right. The two images in between on either side of mid-eclipse were shot at roughly equal time intervals, to show the progress of the Moon along the edge of the umbral shadow.
The middle image was taken at mid-eclipse when only 8% of the lunar disk was immersed in the Earth's umbral shadow, taking a dark bite out of the northern edge of the Full Moon. This is not enough of an eclipse to show any reddening of the umbra, unlike at a total eclipse or even a major partial eclipse.
Throughout most of the eclipse the rest of the Moon was within the lighter penumbral shadow, creating the gradient of brightness across the disk with the southern region brighter than the north.
However, more obvious is the change in colour of the lunar disk as the eclipse progresses, from yellow to whiter. That is not due to the eclipse or effect of the Earth's shadow, but is from the Moon climbing higher in the southeast over the roughly hour-long umbral phase, decreasing the amount of atmospheric absorption that yellows the disk of a low Moon. Indeed, for the first part of the eclipse the Moon was in light cloud.
Technical:
This middle mid-eclipse image is a blend of two exposures: a short 1/40-second exposure for the main disk and a longer 1/10-second exposure taken immediately after, to bring out the area at top in the umbral shadow. The others are single 1/40-second exposures.
All through the Askar APO120 refractor at f/7 with the Canon R5 at ISO 100. On the AP400 mount.
Tiananmen , Beijing, July 2012
China
Canon 550D
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Sunset over a wheatfield on a smoky evening with the haze reddening the setting Sun, July 12, 2014. Taken with the Canon 60Da and 135mm lens. This is an HDR stack of 6 exposures with Photoshop's HDR Pro and Adobe Camera Raw 32 bit procesing.
Beijing
July 2012
China
Urban life
Canon 550D
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iss067e065353 (May 20, 2022) --- Expedition 67 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren checks airflow and water absorption capabilities on spacesuit components at the maintenance work area inside the International Space Station's Harmony module.
Please feel free to comment. It's lovely to be praised, but, if you see something which could improve an image don't be afraid to say! There are several of my contacts who give my images honest appraisal and I am grateful for that.
Flying Scotsman leaving Great Yarmouth for London pulling a special excursion train as part of the locomotives 100th. anniversary.
The Flying Scotsman has been described as the world's most famous steam locomotive
In July 1922, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) filed Engine Order No. 297 which gave the green-light for ten Class A1 4-6-2 'Pacific' locomotives to be built at the Doncaster Works. Designed by Nigel Gresley, the A1's were built to haul mainline and later express passenger trains and following the GNR's absorption into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) after the amalgamation of 1923, A1's became a standard design. Flying Scotsman cost £7,944 to build, and was the first engine delivered to the newly formed LNER. It entered service on 24th. February 1923, carrying the GNR number of 1472 as the LNER had not yet decided on a numbering scheme. In February 1924 the locomotive acquired its name after the LNER's Flying Scotsman express service between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, and was assigned a new number, 4472.
Flying Scotsman became a flagship locomotive for the LNER, representing the company at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park in 1924 and 1925. In 1928, the LNER decided to make The Flying Scotsman a non-stop service for the first time. 4472 became one of five A1's selected for the service, and hauled the inaugural service on 1st. May where it completed the journey in 8 hours and 3 minutes. For this, the locomotives ran with an upgraded tender which held nine long tons of coal and was fitted with a corridor connecting the footplate to the carriages, so a change of driver and fireman could take place while the train was moving. By replenishing water from the water trough system several times en route, these modifications allowed the A1's to travel the 392 miles (631 km) without stopping. Flying Scotsman ran with its corridor tender until October 1936, after which it reverted to the original type. In 1938, it was paired with a streamlined non-corridor tender, and ran with this type until its withdrawal in 1963.
On 30th. November 1934, Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), while hauling a light test train between Leeds and London, and the publicity conscious LNER made much of the fact. Although the Great Western Railway's 3440 City of Truro was reported to have reached the same speed in 1904, the record was unreliable.
Following the success of Gresley's streamlined Class A4's introduced in 1935, Flying Scotsman was relegated to lesser duties but still worked on the main line and hauling passenger services. In 1943, as with all railway stock during World War II, the locomotive was painted black. In 1946, it was renumbered twice by Gresley's successor Edward Thompson, who devised a comprehensive renumbering scheme for the LNER. 4472 was initially assigned number 502, but an amendment to the system several months later led to its renumbering of 103.
In 1928, Gresley began to modify the A1's into an improved version, the Class A3, on a gradual basis. In 1945, the remaining unmodified A1's, which included Flying Scotsman, were reclassified as A10. 103 emerged as an A3 on 4 January 1947 with its original Apple Green livery. Its old 180 psi boiler was replaced with a 225 psi version and it was fitted with more efficient valves and cylinders.
Following the nationalisation of Britain's railways on 1st. January 1948, Flying Scotsman was renumbered E103 for several months, before almost all of the LNER locomotive numbers were increased by 60000, and Flying Scotsman became 60103 that December. Between 1949 and 1952 she wore a BR Express Blue livery, after which it was painted in BR Brunswick Green. On 4th. June 1950, now under British Railways ownership, Flying Scotsman was allocated to its new base at Leicester Central on the Great Central Railway, running passenger services to and from London Marylebone, London St Pancras, Leicester, Sheffield, and Manchester.
60103 returned to the East Coast Main Line in 1953, initially based in Grantham, before returning to London King's Cross in the following year. In December 1958, the locomotive was fitted with a double Kylchap chimney to improve performance and economy, but it caused soft exhaust and smoke drift that tended to obscure the driver's forward vision. The remedy was found in the German type smoke deflectors fitted at the end of 1961.
Amid rumours that British Railways would scrap Flying Scotsman, the Gresley A3 Preservation Society failed to raise the £3,000 to buy it. Businessman and railway enthusiast Alan Pegler stepped in and bought the locomotive for £3,500. Flying Scotsman ended service for British Railways on 14th. January 1963, hauling the 13:15 from London King's Cross to Leeds with the locomotive coming off at Doncaster. The event attracted considerable media interest. It had covered over 2.08 million miles, three weeks short of 40 years in operation.
Pegler immediately restored Flying Scotsman at the Doncaster Works as closely as possible to its LNER condition. It was renumbered 4472 and repainted in LNER Apple Green; the smoke deflectors were removed, the double chimney replaced by a single, and its standard tender was replaced with a corridor type.
Following an overhaul in the winter of 1968–69, Flying Scotsman toured the United States and Canada, hauling a 9 coach exhibition train to support British exports.
In 1972, Pegler, now £132,000 in debt with considerable unpaid bills, declared himself bankrupt and in August, arranged for the engine to be kept in storage at the US Army's Sharpe Depot in Lathrop, California to keep it from unpaid creditors, who by now were demanding payments and threatening legal action.
Amid fears of the engine's future, horticulturist and steam enthusiast Alan Bloom asked businessman William McAlpine to help save it. McAlpine agreed and within a few days paid off outstanding debts and bought the locomotive for £25,000. Flying Scotsman was shipped back to England via the Panama Canal. Upon arrival at Liverpool in February 1973, the engine travelled to Derby. McAlpine paid for its restoration at Derby Works and two subsequent overhauls in the 23 years that he owned and ran it. In 1986, McAlpine leased a former diesel locomotive maintenance shop at Southall Railway Centre in London, which became the new base for Flying Scotsman until 2004.
In October 1988, Flying Scotsman arrived in Australia to take part in the country's bicentenary celebrations as a central attraction in the Aus Steam '88 festival. During the course of the next year Flying Scotsman travelled more than 28,000 miles over Australian rails. On 8th. August 1989 Flying Scotsman set another record en route to Alice Springs from Melbourne, travelling 422 miles (679 km) from Parkes to Broken Hill non-stop, the longest such run by a steam locomotive ever recorded. The same journey also saw Flying Scotsman set its own haulage record when it took a 735 ton train over the 490 mile (790 km) leg between Tarcoola and Alice Springs.
Upon returning to Britain, Flying Scotsman returned to its former British Railways condition with its number changed to 60103, refitting of the smoke deflectors and double chimney, and repainted in BR Brunswick Green. It retired from the mainline in 1992, following the expiration of its running certificate. In 1993, McAlpine sold it to help pay off a mortgage on the locomotive. Music producer and railway enthusiast Pete Waterman became involved and the two formed Flying Scotsman Railways.
In April 1995, Flying Scotsman derailed on the Llangollen Railway, with all wheels coming off the track. When put back into steam, smoke emerged from a crack separating the boiler and the front cab. It was deemed a total failure and immediately withdrawn from service. It returned to Southall awaiting its next major overhaul
By 1996, McAlpine and Waterman had run into financial issues and put Flying Scotsman up for sale. On 23rd. February, Tony Marchington bought the locomotive, a set of Pullman coaches, and the Southall depot for £1.5 million. He spent a further £1 million on the locomotive's subsequent overhaul to mainline running condition, which lasted three years and at that point, the most extensive in its history.[65] It received an upgraded 250 psi boiler originally made for a Class A4, its livery was repainted in LNER Apple Green and it was renumbered 4472. Flying Scotsman's first run following the works was on 4th. July 1999, hauling The Inaugural Scotsman from London King's Cross to York, where an estimated one million people turned out to see it.
In 2002, Marchington was in financial difficulties and in September 2003 was declared bankrupt. A sealed bid auction for the locomotive was held on 2nd. April 2004. Amid fears it could be sold into foreign hands, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York announced it would bid, and appealed for funds with a Save Our Scotsman campaign. It secured a winning bid of £2.3 million, 15% higher than the second highest bidder, and Flying Scotsman became a part of the NRM's national collection.
In 2004 and 2005, Flying Scotsman intermittently hauled special trains across Great Britain before undergoing numerous repairs, restorations and refits between 2006 and 2016. On 7th. January 2016, Flying Scotsman moved under its own steam for the first time since 2005 on the East Lancashire Railway, where it completed several low speed tests. Its inaugural mainline run was on 6th. February with The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express from Carnforth to Carlisle. In April 2022, the engine was withdrawn for an overhaul in preparation for its centenary year in 2023. Following the work it will be certified to run on the mainline until 2029, after which it will run solely on heritage railways until 2032.
The Hague
June 2012
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
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Diergaarde Blijdorp (Zoo)
June 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
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District 789, Beijing
July 2012
China
Urban life
Canon 550D
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Blue ice is created in the human eye because absorption of light at the red end of the spectrum is six times greater than at the blue end. The deeper light energy travels, the more photons from the red end of the spectrum it loses along the way. Two meters into the ice, most of the reds are dead. The lack of reflected red wavelengths causes us to see blue.
Prior to the October 2019 absorption of Long Sutton depot into the division, the furthest south one would find a Stagecoach East Midlands vehicle was Grantham. Grantham is reached by service 1 from Lincoln which currently operates hourly along the full route and half hourly between Lincoln and Wellingore. Deckers are the usual allocation, and former North East Enviro 400 NK57DWG (19202) is seen here on its way out of Caythorpe with the 10:00 from Grantham, the Grade I-listed St Vincent's visible in the background.
Leiden
May 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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Blob o' dust. I was curious to see if Hubble had ever looked at this object, so I was poking around in the archive. HST has never looked, but apparently JWST will at some point, and I expect the dust to nearly disappear in the wavelengths it will observe in, revealing all sorts of colors. Very curious to see the results.
Whatever the future holds, this image is from PanSTARRS, which I also noticed in the archive and that it was relatively clean data. I love PanSTARRS, but it's sometimes more trouble to work with than it's worth. What's nice here is that there was enough near-infrared data to just begin to see through the less thicker parts of the dust, and I like the reddening effect this produces.
Red: y/z 50/50
Green: i/r 50/50
Blue: g
North is up.
The hotel is just a few steps from the railroad tracks, yet I never heard a train while I was inside. The surface of the wall facing the tracks must have something to do with that.
Auto-tagging must have gone berserk today: this picture got more than a dozen auto-tags! Among the ones I removed were “white background”, “black background” and “text”... [and the picture I posted a few hours later, which actually does have a black background, got no auto-tags at all!]
The American makeup artist, beauty blogger, entrepreneur and the founder of beauty line Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan has recently revealed her most amazing detoxifying bath ingredients and we are not surprised.
Huda recently took to her official Instagram and posted a video of making her favorite bath. She added bubble bath, lots of Epsom salt, French cream clay, powdered coconut milk powder and Himalayan pink salt. She also lit up scented candles to spice up the whole environment. She called the entire bath her favorite detoxifying bath for all the right reasons. All the bath ingredients that the beauty blogger added are quite common except for Himalayan salt which is quite underrated.
Himalayan Salt:
Himalayan pink salt is proved to be healthiest and purest of the sea salt family because it is finally refined without any addition of preservatives. It is full of nutrients and mineral traces like iron, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus and others. Its anti-bacterial and detoxifying properties make it absolutely healing for humans and animals as well. It’s a perfect ingredient for skin because its minerals make it smooth, prevent scaring, remove dead cells, help in fighting off acne and much more. Let’s dig deep into why Himalayan salt should be added in every bath.
Detoxifying Properties:
The pink salt has extraordinary detoxifying properties which help in extracting harmful toxins from skin and tissues. The salt crystals penetrate through the skin and leave it nourished and refreshed. They also trigger self purifying abilities of the skin in a miraculous way. For the very reason the salt is recommended to be added in every bath especially after a long hectic day or whenever the body needs it.
Exfoliating Properties:
The Himalayan pink salt is highly recommended natural body scrub for its mineral contents and exfoliating texture. It not only removes the layer of the dead cells from the skin but also makes a protecting layer inside the skin to prevent dryness. It’s super easy to make a salt scrub by mixing only three ingredients: pink salt, olive oil and essential oil. Use the scrub on the whole body to make it naturally smooth and glowy.
Bath Soak:
When the Himalayan salt is added in the bath and the body gets soaked in it, the process of dermal absorption starts. Though this heavenly process, the body starts soaking minerals from the salt such as zinc (which prevents scaring), magnesium (which helps in relieving cramped muscles), sulphur (which makes the skin soft), chromium (which fight off acne) and others. This bath soak is highly recommended for nourishing the skin.
Start adding Himalayan pink salt to your bath and have a great skin.
The Hague
April 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
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All rights reserved
Diergaarde Blijdorp (Zoo)
June 2012
The Netherlands
Finally home after a very busy weekend in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.
Shot a lot of nice frames and i have a lot of processing to do. Visited a Zoo for the first time in many years and had a blast, with the animals and with the visitors ;)
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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Cactus
A cactus (pl. cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus)[3] is a member of the plant family Cactaceae,[a] a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales.[4] The word cactus derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word κάκτος (káktos), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain.[5] Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. In the absence of true leaves, cacti's enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis. Cacti are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north—except for Rhipsalis baccifera, which also grows in Africa and Sri Lanka.
Cactus spines are produced from specialized structures called areoles, a kind of highly reduced branch. Areoles are an identifying feature of cacti. As well as spines, areoles give rise to flowers, which are usually tubular and multipetaled. Many cacti have short growing seasons and long dormancies and are able to react quickly to any rainfall, helped by an extensive but relatively shallow root system that quickly absorbs any water reaching the ground surface. Cactus stems are often ribbed or fluted, which allows them to expand and contract easily for quick water absorption after rain, followed by retention over long drought periods. Like other succulent plants, most cacti employ a special mechanism called "crassulacean acid metabolism" (CAM) as part of photosynthesis. Transpiration, during which carbon dioxide enters the plant and water escapes, does not take place during the day at the same time as photosynthesis, but instead occurs at night. The plant stores the carbon dioxide it takes in as malic acid, retaining it until daylight returns, and only then using it in photosynthesis. Because transpiration takes place during the cooler, more humid night hours, water loss is significantly reduced.
Many smaller cacti have globe-shaped stems, combining the highest possible volume for water storage with the lowest possible surface area for water loss from transpiration. The tallest[b] free-standing cactus is Pachycereus pringlei, with a maximum recorded height of 19.2 m (63 ft),[7] and the smallest is Blossfeldia liliputiana, only about 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter at maturity.[8] A fully grown saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) is said to be able to absorb as much as 200 U.S. gallons (760 l; 170 imp gal) of water during a rainstorm.[9] A few species differ significantly in appearance from most of the family. At least superficially, plants of the genera Leuenbergeria, Rhodocactus and Pereskia resemble other trees and shrubs growing around them. They have persistent leaves, and when older, bark-covered stems. Their areoles identify them as cacti, and in spite of their appearance, they, too, have many adaptations for water conservation. Leuenbergeria is considered close to the ancestral species from which all cacti evolved. In tropical regions, other cacti grow as forest climbers and epiphytes (plants that grow on trees). Their stems are typically flattened, almost leaf-like in appearance, with fewer or even no spines, such as the well-known Christmas cactus or Thanksgiving cactus (in the genus Schlumbergera).
Cacti have a variety of uses: many species are used as ornamental plants, others are grown for fodder or forage, and others for food (particularly their fruit). Cochineal is the product of an insect that lives on some cacti.
Many succulent plants in both the Old and New World – such as some Euphorbiaceae (euphorbias) – are also spiny stem succulents and because of this are sometimes incorrectly referred to as "cactus".[citation needed]
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactus
️🌈 Dédales Chromatiques / Chromatic Mazes series
The series ends on this photo.
"It ends with a black-and-white photograph, breaking with the chromatic exuberance of the other images. This deliberate choice aims to bring the observer back to the reality of the place, often deserted and plunged into darkness. This photograph also wishes to reveal the weight of the solitude and silence that I felt during my visits where I was very often the only one in the quarry, and in which I had the feeling of being absorbed after a few hours."
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Bio here: www.flickr.com/people/lionexploration/
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At the West end of Lake Ontario lies Burlington Bay. Now dominated by the City of Hamilton, Ontario along the South shore of the bay, in the early 1800s a canal was built (1827-1837) to serve the somewhat further inland town of Dundas, which, at that time, was competing with Hamilton for economic dominance of this area. The canal was to provide Dundas with easy access to Burlington Bay and, thereby, Lake Ontario, for ship transport. The eventual construction of a railway in conjunction with the growth of Hamilton as a commercial and industrial centre, reduced the role of the canal and relegated Dundas to the role of a pleasant small town, and at the end of the twentieth century to the absorption of Dundas into the regional City of Hamilton. This view taken during Blue Hour at dawn, looks roughly due East from the entrance to the canal from Burlington Bay. The lights along the shore are, from left to right, the Burlington Skyway, the steel making complexes of Arcelormittal (formerly Dofasco) a,d US Steel (formerly Stelco), and further to the right, the City of Hamilton.
Tech Details
The image was taken using a tripod-mounted Nikon D7100 fitted with a Nikkor 18-105mm VR lense set to 18mm, ISO400, Aperture priority mode, f/6.3, 8 seconds. PP in GIMP: level horizon, sharpen, add fine black and white frame, ad bar and text on left, scale to 1800 wide for posting.
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