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...and trees line the unique park of Crathes Castle in Scotland. Have a nice time at Flickr
Akkurat geschnittene Hecken...
..und Bäume säumen den einzigartigen Park vom Crathes Castle in Schottland. Euch eine Schöne Zeit bei Flickr
...and trees line the unique park of the
Drummond Gardens and Castle in Scotland,
north of Stirling.
Have a nice time with Flickr...
Akkurat geschnittene Hecken...
..und Bäume säumen den einzigartigen Park vom
Drummond Gardens und Castle in Schottland,
nördlich gelegen von Stirling.
Euch eine Schöne Zeit bei Flickr..
An accurate astronomical observatory.
Like other platforms on the island, including the lone moai of the Ahu Huri a Urenga, the Ahu Akivi was built following a precise astronomical orientation. In this way they controlled the change of seasons and the most appropriate times for agricultural tasks.
In Akivi the axis of the platform was oriented from north to south, getting the faces of the moai look exactly at the point where the sun sets during the equinox of the austral spring (September 21st) and their backs face the sun of the dawn during the autumn equinox (March 21st).
This is going to be a long commentary so pull up a chair and get comfortable. You good, Ok here goes.
This is a shot of the False Kiva in Canyonlands National Park. Taken on day 3 of the southwest tour. It is a panorama of 10 images shot vertically, overlapping 50% between shots.
The Kiva is a cave formation in the side of a cliff with an arduous path leading up to it and at about a mile (.08) makes it a fairly easy hike to get there. Or so I thought. Hear me out!!
While making the preparations for this shot and my trip, I saw a cool photo from my favorite Nightscape photographer Wayne Pinkston, and decided to make a comment about going on this trip. He replied back and said that he would be there at the same time for a couple of days. So, we arranged to meet at the Canyonlands Visitor Center. We originally planned to head up to the Kiva much earlier but when we met I found we had so much in common that we sat there chatting for 2 hrs about a variety of photography topics, scouting, shooting, processing, equipment, and Flickr. What a treat it was to meet up with him. He is the nicest guy and a fantastic photographer. By the time we headed out to the Kiva it was already dark, but we were both "sure" that we could find it. So we trekked off down the trail and quickly found it difficult to follow because some of it goes over solid rock and to make matters worse, the rangers frequently remove the cairns that mark the trail, making it even more difficult to follow. After some time though we relocated the trail and spent the better part of the night shooting at the Kiva. I had pre-visualized this shot well before arriving here and purchased an Indian headdress from Amazon to use as a shadowcaster, which is what has created the shadows across the roof of the cave and Wayne set up some lighting back down the trail some ways to help illuminate the far inside canyon. We wrapped up at around 1:30am and headed out to shoot Mesa Arch at sunrise, except!! we couldn't find the trail out. we scoured the area for signs of a trail with no success, and after shining my flashlight over the edge of the cliffside and seeing nothing but pitch black several times, we decided to campout for a while and wait for some early morning light to help us out. Wayne was running a GPS app on his phone and it helped somewhat but not enough to accurately direct us back to the trail, but when some pre-dawn light showed up we easily found the trail and were on our way.
I love Flickr, where else can you connect with other like minded people and get lost together in the desert. :)
My family and friends thought I was nuts. "Are you crazy" your going out to the desert 900 miles away in the middle of nowhere to meet a stranger from the internet you've never met in person in the middle of the night? "Good luck with that, they said"
Later, After the trip Wayne sent me a screenshot of the GPS map and it looked like we had spent the 2 hrs at the visitor center pounding down inebriating cocktails. LOL :) All told we managed to add 4 miles to the trip just trying to find the trail but man what fun it was and quite exhilarating. What an adventure we had and one I will never forget, not in a bad way, but in a good way. Yea we missed the sunrise at Mesa Arch and I'm not sure about Wayne, but it was my best day shooting photography so far. I kept thinking as we walked around searching for the trail "Man here I am walking around in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert with Wayne Pinkston....Wayne Freaking Pinkston, what "Luck" (Good). :)
For more of the story see Wayne's comments below in the comments section.
Wayne my friend, I thoroughly enjoyed every step and would do it again in a heartbeat!!! Thank you so much. :)
We had originally planned to do some back-packing to get there and managed to do some back-tracking to get out. :)
If you have never heard of Wayne Pinkston, do yourself a favor and visit his awesome stream at this address.
www.flickr.com/photos/pinks2000/
***Sidenote... I was so into the whole feel of this location I downloaded a couple of Navajo songs to play on my JBL Flip while there. I made sure that the songs had no indian words or chants, I wouldn't want to raise any ancient spirits while there. :) It really gave the whole scene a nice ambience at the time of shooting, the acoustics here are amazing.
****And "thank you" for taking the time to read my description and look at my photos. As always, your views, comments, faves, and support are greatly appreciated!! Have an awesome weekend everyone :)
This Steveston Harbour docks sets the stage for this idyllic harbour scene.
Moored is the regular cast ....
Ku'ulakai - Miki Tugboat (1944) Only Miki in Canadian Waters
NAFCO - Fishing Vessel (1941)
Calvada - Fishing Vessel (1979)
Returning to the harbour (Background) ....
Alaska Queen- Fishing Vessel (IMO: 5232907) is a Fishing Vessel that was built in 1943 (78 years ago) . Her length overall (LOA) is 22.34 meters and her width is 6.53 meters.
Currently sailing under the flag of Canada. Formerly also known as MERMAID II. It's gross tonnage is 106 tons.
KU'ULAKAI Tugboat c. 1944 - Presented in her 'Golden Years'
(Ku'ulakai meaning: Hawaiian Fishing God of Fisherman)
Her history: as per online sources: (Unverified)
Built:1944
Length: 111.9
Gross Tonnage: 301
Used as a Tugboat all along the West Coast of BC
Ku'ulakai is said to be the only intact Miki tug in Canadian waters.
Builder: Northeast Shipbuilding, Quincy Massachusetts, USA
According to onlines sources, this tug was built as a wooden Miki US Army Tug - LT465, and used by the U.S. navy during the Second World War to tow damaged ships from the Pacific back for repair.
Online information also reports that later on in life, she was used by drug runners in the South Pacific and that in 1988 was seized by the Canadian Coast Guard for smuggling drugs out of China.
She was originally named: Lloyd B. Gore, decommissioned & sold 1946.
Please note* All information has been taken from online sources and has not been verified to be accurate.
Steveston is an ever so romantic fishing village that is situated in Richmond BC, on the Mighty Fraser River
Canada
Definitely one of British Columbia's best kept secrets.
If you enjoy quaint fishing villages, combined with light and vibrant colours, I am pleased to extend an invitation for you to browse through my.... 'I 💖 Steveston album'
www.flickr.com/photos/120552517@N03/albums/72157677404584764
Thank-you for all the overwhelming support and many friendships. Wishing you all health during this difficult time.
Stay Healthy
~Christie
*Best experienced in full screen ❤
Wikipedia: Prasat Mueang Tam ( 'lowland castle') is a Khmer Hindu Temple in Prakhon Chai District, Buriram Province, Thailand. It is primarily in the Khleang and Baphuon styles, which dates its primary phases of construction to the late-10th and early-11th centuries. The primary deity was Shiva, although Vishnu was also worshipped there.
Like most Hindu temples, Mueang Tam is oriented towards the east. It has a flat concentric plan, with a central sanctuary and two surrounded successively by an inner enclosure, ponds, and an outer enclosure. The ponds between the enclosures are an unusual feature of the temple, as is the central sanctuary, which is not elevated and has its towers arranged in rows of three and two. All the towers except the central one have been restored.
Kala are particularly prominent in the lintels of the temple. They are the best available aid in dating the structure, but the mix of styles (Khleang and Baphuon) makes accurate dating impossible. Several of the lintels on the outer gopuras are unfinished.
A small probably contemporaneous with the temple, lay to the east, while a later, larger baray survives further north between Mueang Tam and Phanom Rung.
An accurate astronomical observatory.
Like other platforms on the island, including the lone moai of the Ahu Huri a Urenga, the Ahu Akivi was built following a precise astronomical orientation. In this way they controlled the change of seasons and the most appropriate times for agricultural tasks.
In Akivi the axis of the platform was oriented from north to south, getting the faces of the moai look exactly at the point where the sun sets during the equinox of the austral spring (September 21st) and their backs face the sun of the dawn during the autumn equinox (March 21st).
***
The best time to visit and take pictures is at sunset, which is when the setting sun illuminates the seven statues and highlights their features.
***
The legend of the seven explorers:
In the recent literature on Akivi, the seven statues of the platform are related with the seven young people who were sent to explore the island before its first colonization by King Hotu Matu’a.
A legend says that Hau Maka, the priest of Hotu Matu’a had a dream in which his soul flew across the ocean when he sighted the island. Next, he sent seven explorers sailing through the sea to locate the island, study its conditions and the best area to disembark.
Although the idea that the legend was remembered in stone is attractive, it seems that it can not be true. The moai statues belong to a quite late sculptural period, after the year 1440 AD and historians consider the hypothesis that the first settlers arrived on the island towards the fifth century, so they rule out a possible relationship between both facts.
The restoration that boosted Rapa Nui:
Ahu Akivi was the first ahu to be restored after a small group of islanders, at the request of Thor Heyerdahl, erected the statue of the Ahu Ature Huki on the beach of Anakena in 1956. As a member of that Norwegian expedition was the American anthropologist William Mulloy, who from then on would devote a large part of his life to studying the mysteries of Easter Island.
The reconstruction work in Ahu Akivi began in March 1960 and continued until October of that year. William Mulloy and his Chilean colleague Gonzalo Figueroa worked with an archeologic team of 25 Rapanui people in various phases of excavation and reconstruction. This was the first serious archaeological excavation and the first complete restoration of a ceremonial site in Rapa Nui.
The works were done with hardly any material means, they only used wooden poles, stones and a pair of oxen. But with perseverance, ingenuity and effort they achieved their goal. To raise and place the first moai, they used a stone ramp and two large wooden levers. This operation took a month. However, after perfecting the technique and with the experience gained, it took less than a week to raise the seventh statue.
When the work was finished, Father Sebastian Englert himself gave the blessing at a very emotional opening ceremony. After 150 years the islanders could observe again several moai standing on an ahu.
The restoration of Ahu Akivi is considered a turning point in Rapa Nui. From that moment, other works of restoration of more platforms began. The Ahu Akivi was followed by the ahu of Hanga Kio’e, Tahai, Anakena and Tongariki. The ancient platforms regained their former glory and the small and remote Easter Island attracted the attention of other researchers and travelers. And what is more important, it unleashed a true cultural renaissance, an economic development and a renewed sense of pride in being Rapanui.
Bluff trail towards what Apple maps calls Arroyo de la Cruz beach. I think the GPS map is roughly accurate. If you find a copy of the map to the Pt Sierra Nevada trail, the parking lot is the south trailhead to this (sometimes obscure and unmaintained) trail. PM me if you want route-finding help.
Wow. What an iris! I continue to be amazed at the macro capabilities of my iphone. The Wizards of Cupertino!
......Bread catching Gulls! HWW!
Happy Wing Wednesday :-)
They were great fun to watch and photograph as they swooped and bumped into each other while all diving for the piece of bread thrown into the air by my husband. ..... thank you hubby, always there to help me!! We only stayed at the reservoir for about an hour before the sun started it's decent and the temp dropped quickly! Brrrrrr and we made a sharp exit back to the car for a cup of our hot milky flasked coffee.....Mmmmm!
Belated seasons greetings to you all! Wishing you all a healthy and very happy 2017! xx
The zebra spider, Salticus scenicus, is a common household jumping spider. Like other jumping spiders, it does not build a web. It uses its four pairs of large eyes to locate prey and its jumping ability to pounce and capture it. Zebra spiders are often noted for their 'curiosity' when observed by humans; many seem aware of their audience and seem to respond to observation by raising their heads and studying the observer.
Female zebra spiders are 5–7 millimetres (0.20–0.28 in) long and males are 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in). The most distinctive feature of these spiders is their two very large eyes, which is typical for jumping spiders. Although they have eight eyes, the two at the front are the largest and give them excellent binocular vision . These tiny spiders are black with white hairs that form stripes.
Zebra spiders tend to hunt insects or spiders of roughly their own size or smaller. They have been observed feeding on mosquitos that are almost twice their length. They have also been observed taking on prey items up to 3 times the length of the spider, such as some of the smaller species of moth. Like other jumping spiders, these spiders use their large front eyes to locate and stalk their prey. They move slowly towards their prey until they are close enough to pounce on top of their victim, and their hunting behaviour has been described as cat-like. Using their acute eyesight, they are able to accurately judge the distances they need to jump.
My rather old prism compass.
The inner degree inscribed compass ring rotates on sapphire pivots inside a liquid filled cavity that damps its motion. Sight across the compass towards the prism (part visible at bottom centre) to read off an accurate bearing.
Use as a conventional compass by rotating the outer ring to the desired direction and line up the red and metal arrows.
The modern compass equivalent appears to be the Silva 55. For less fun or dependability, use your smart watch!
For Macro Mondays “Arrow”. 10-layer focus stack. FOV 2-inches.
Steveston Historic Fishing Village is an ever so romantic fishing village, that is situated in Richmond BC, on the Mighty Fraser River
Canada
Definitely one of British Columbia's best kept secrets.
Anyone who knows me, knows of my huge love for tugs,
and this grand ole lady, the KU'ULAKAI - 1944 Miki Tug is by far, my all time favourite.
The low on the horizon setting sun, casts a beautiful tangerine glow that further romances Steveston Harbour.
(Ku'ulakai meaning: Hawaiian Fishing God of Fisherman)
Her history: as per online sources: (Unverified)
Built:1944
Length: 111.9
Gross Tonnage: 301
Used as a Tugboat all along the West Coast of BC
Ku'ulakai is said to be the only intact Miki tug in Canadian waters.
Builder: Northeast Shipbuilding, Quincy Massachusetts, USA
According to onlines sources, this tug was built as a wooden Mikki US Army Tug - LT465, and used by the U.S. navy during the Second World War to tow damaged ships from the Pacific back for repair.
Online information also reports that later on in life, she was used by drug runners in the South Pacific and that in 1988 was seized by the Canadian Coast Guard for smuggling drugs out of China.
She was originally named: Lloyd B. Gore, decommissioned & sold 1946.
Please note* All information has been taken from online sources and has not been verified to be accurate.
If you enjoy quaint fishing villages, combined with light and vibrant colours, I am pleased to extend an invitation for you to browse through my.... 'I 💖 Steveston album'
www.flickr.com/photos/120552517@N03/albums/72157677404584764
Thank-you for all the overwhelming support and many friendships.
Stay Healthy
~Christie (happiest) by the River
*Best experienced in full screen
Exploring the historically accurate pergola in Queen Eleanor's Garden at Winchester Castle, Hampshire.
The gardens are an authentic recreation of a medieval garden in the times of Henry III (Eleanor's husband) and Edward I (her son). The arbour is a tunnelled pergola, with flowers, grapevines and honeysuckle.
2-shot HDR, taken with a Nikon D7000 and a Nikkor AFS DX 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G lens, blended in Photomatix, and processed in GIMP and Photoscape.
Probably more accurately folded Earth- Raplee Ridge rises up as part of a major fold in Earth’s crust (monocline/anticline) with Comb Ridge (another major fold/ monocline) catching the sunset light in the distance. And of course on the left Mexican Hat glows in the last light, with the Cedar Mesa sandstone cap (sombrero) above the residual siltstones below.
More fun with semi-accurate composites. The trees and the stars here are from one photograph. I also photographed the moon from the same spot with a longer lens, and then combined them later. The result has an unreal quality, but I like that it is not completely arbitrary.
— Theodore Tollefson @thetollart
You play trombone or just blow up my phone?
Left you on read for weeks, Dizzy Gillespie cheeks
All eyes on you, don't blink
Last time you heard a ginger schnappin', my last EP
That sounds 'bout accurate
Flame to your candle stick
Acolyte you need to act right
(In the name of) Whoever you believe, you need
_______________________
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I absolutely love optical illusions. I altered this image (the original is not my own) to create one myself; it works best when viewed on a large screen. As you move your eyes around the image--center, edges, and in-between--the dark areas will seem to gently expand. Don't focus too hard on details, or try too hard; just relax, look around the image, and sometimes focus on one area for a little longer.
Optical illusions are fascinating, because they expose the truth about how our brain perceives the world around us. We do not simply see and interpret "what's there" in front of us, but rather, our brain is interpreting and processing what our eyes are taking in. The human brain is amazing, and most of the time it pieces together an an accurate, intelligible picture of our surroundings, but for some reasons, which are still fairly obscure to vision scientists, some situations trick our mind into seeing something that isn't really there, such as colors, movement, and ambiguous shapes. This is because of how our brains are hard-wired to to make sense of what we see. For example, just because you know something is an optical illusion, and know what is going to happen, you can't just tell your brain to stop seeing the illusion; it's how your brain works.
In a way, we see with our mind. Our mind's eye is amazing, and is one more reason to marvel at the human organism.
"Whilst part of what we perceive comes through our senses from the object before us, another part (and it may be the larger part) always comes out of our own mind." --William James
"I just got you to look incredibly silly while you stared intensely at your computer screen or cell-phone." --Daniel Kessel
All images © 2017 Daniel Kessel.
All rights reserved
Found on the window ledge outside my home office. I live surrounded by a heavily wooded county park, and the noise from thousands (millions?) of cicadas is deafening. You can even see the smaller wings underneath the larger outer wings. Amazing structure of the wings. Their bodies are so big, they can’t really fly that far or that accurately.
Well, to be more accurate, a garden of Rose of Sharon trees
We have several trees right outside our kitchen window which offers a front row seat when the occasional bumble bee, butterfly or even hummingbird shows up.
Alas, these wee winged visitors are usually faster than we are, so no picks of these visitors just yet. But the summer is young and our fingers are crossed, so who knows.
So, in the meantime, I'll settle for a closeup of a "plain" old bloom to kickstart the new week.
Canon 5D
The most accurate this lens when I came across it was just a piece of glass about 4.5cm x 7cm in diameter.
no brand, no focus, no aperture, no mount to connect...
I was curious, trying to assemble it into a simple lens to connect the camera and take a test shot...
And the result is this... Please comment on its photo and look forward to sharing technical knowledge with those of you who have similar interests.
This image accurately reflects New York City weather over the last three Winter months. In my view, this nearly snowless, persistently grey, damp, bleak winter is, at least in part, a consequence of global climate change.
The yellow section, far right was actually bluish, as was the dark area at the top. I haven't learned how to capture true color in such a situation with my iPhone. The rose-y color shown here is pretty true to life--it was an amazing sky, however brief.
Go on guess :)
This was another experiment, or more accurately a double experiment, for my 2022 100x Wobbly Camera project.
It’s a panning ICM of fast-flowing water in a stream that feeds the old sheep wash in the village. The interesting thing about the water flow in channels and tubes is that it is not all at the same speed (it’s slower at the edges though that’s perhaps obvious), so if you take a panning ICM you only get it right for a section of the water flow. In this case, it was the centre white bit.
The result was a curious mixture of detail and blur. The water movement was from right to left in the published image (which was flipped horizontally to get a better story visually).
The second experiment was to develop it in Darktable. This is the only premier league raw converter that is free. It’s hugely capable (more so than the big three others: Lightroom (= Adobe Camera Raw); DxO’s Photolab, and Capture One). But it’s also much less intuitive to use than the others… which is perhaps an understatement. Great fun to try though and full of different possibilities :)
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy 100x :)
Or more accurately, the aftermath of someone else's tea by the Windrush River. The loud, strong sound of rushing water made me bold enough to wander through and finally behind a little cafe in the town of Bourton on the Water, as I figured based on the sound that the river must change direction there. I was right. Once there, I was smitten with the leftover tea dishes, the sun-washed retaining wall by the river, and the industrial building just beyond.
Listening to Josh Rouse's "Some Days I'm Golden All Night": youtu.be/7XseJZc1cZ4
If I could then I would be showing accurate representations of the path of light and the rise and fall of warmth in each day and through the seasonal cycle of each year. The idea of the light refreshed each day anew and the energy expounded in the seasonal returns throughout the years is an acknowledgement that this house has survived through several restructuring episodes and is freshly rebuilt and now open to the public. These pictures illustrate the passage of light to dark as mentioned in our guide to Boleskine House where we told the atmosphere progresses from light to dark. The Sun Stations were out of reach on the tour so here are exposures set to enliven the mind and maybe even to stir the heart with notions of procession of light in our lives.
I am stating my claim to the darkest of the images as a Capricorn my birthday is always close to the shortest day of the year and the corresponding longest night. I was on the tour with three other companions and I do not expect them to make any choice and they are welcome to choose just as they wish, or as they do not wish. I started with the evening and impressions of the continuing Sun cycle that warms our days and enlivens Spring. Taking on the line of Wordsworth to fashion Immortal Intimations of the evening shadows deepening upon the waters with a lengthening of light illuminating the shadows in the Oratory at Boleskine House. The titles have been altered from their first inception. The titles and the pictures have been involved in intricate intimate visions that have ended here.
This picture shows the scene as exposed to open a window onto the evening in the Oratory at Boleskine House on the South-Eastern shore of Loch Ness in Scotland in 2026.
© PHH Sykes 2025
phhsykes@gmail.com
Boleskine House is open to the public and you can support the regeneration of the recently burned house and the wider projects they are undertaking. The Foundation is a registered charity.
Boleskine House Foundation
Or more accurately the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall.
It is found down the end of some very narrow lanes with no turning places and with the tiniest of car parks, but it was worth the risk.
Located in a beautiful rural setting beside the River Windrush.
Built in the 1430's it was eventually abandoned in the 1730's for a superior residence, Holkham Hall. My how some people used to live!
I am not really sure about the year of manufacture. Its the model before they had indicator lights on the front bumpers or the back. If anyone can date it more accurately, please correct me on this.
Not completely accurate, the top photo was taken February 2005 - I joined in May 2004! But I lost all my snapshots in a horrific server accident years ago :P
This photograph doesn't begin to accurately present just how beautiful Scadin Falls is in person. My jaw dropped when I saw it for the first time last week. The colors were in full peak and without any winds and great light I think I stayed for almost 3 hours. I previously posted a photo from an upstream position.
The hike is short, steep and rather sketchy. To photograph from this location, which is only big enough for one person, you are very close to a ledge. If you'd fall, you would be in bad trouble. Needless to say I was very careful in my time there.
Scadin Falls is in western North Carolina.
Thanks for viewing my photos. Comments are always welcome.
====================================
Copyright Reid Northrup, 2023. All Rights Reserved, Worldwide. Please don't use my photos in any way without my written permission.
Or more accurately a metal fish being filled with plastic...we saw quite a few of these.
www.portugalresident.com/manta-rota-beach-unveils-giant-f...
"A giant fish-shaped wire sculpture, which aims to raise awareness about beach littering, has been unveiled at Manta Rota beach in Vila Real de Santo António.
The structure was donated to the local council by sculptor Carlos do Oliveira Correia."
I did try to find more information on sculpture behind, but they might be fancy night lighting rather than a sculpture.
Explored, July 23, 2013 #63
This is the Öresund Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark.
Filters used:
- Lee Filter: Big Stopper (ND10)
Follow me on these places:
DSC_3264
Nikon D500, AF-S 500mm f4G ED VR, TC-14E II
Shot this wide open on a D500 / AF-S 500mm f4G VR + TC-14E II (f5.6) for two reasons:
a. to get a better background blur
b. to check if I properly & accurately performed the AF fine tune on the camera / lens & converter combo the day before.
✰ One of enchanting places i lovie take pictures is in Duche de Coeur, a very beautiful place in Second Life that accurately portrays the Age of Enlightment in real life regions in 18th Century France, such as Aquitaine and Poitu, Provence, Languedoc, Touraine, Franche-Comte and Normandie ~ an idealistic world where all classes live together in Harmony . . . . .
❤ Thank You For Comments N Support, Invites, Faves And Awards *★.• ·*✲
… or perhaps selenium would be more accurate (it’s kind of a bluey purple).
This wobbly was taken in May at the RHS gardens at Wisley, from under shady trees looking out on a bright sunny day.
The result was quite curious with this rainfall effect. It reminds me of the pixel sort function that you get in some distortion apps like MirrorLab even though it’s a straight ICM. Normally I don’t get a result that is quite so textured. As the shutter was quite fast there would have been only one movement: straight up (or possible down). The Mistress Serendipity was at play again :)
I tried rendering it in monochrome and was surprised at the result. I thought you might lose the sense of trees but they are still there. I’ve recently previewed more of my wobbly takes in black and white, and some of them seem to work quite well. So that’s another thing for me to explore in my 100x project this year.
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy 100 and Donnerstagmonochrom :)
[Hand wobbled in bright daylight.
Developed in Capture One.
Processed in Affinity with heavy sharpening.
Converted to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex with a light selenium toning, playing a lot with brightness and contrast to get a pleasant balance between the rain and the texturing in the foreground grass, while maximising the rain textures...]
For this week's Monochrome Monday we have a steam bonus that is only a couple days old.
This past weekend I returned to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum for a little photo charter. This event featured Monson locomotive number 3 and was a fundraiser with all the proceeds going to support the restoration of sister locomotive number 4 being undertaken by Brian Fanslau and the team at Maine Locomotive and Machine Works.
The rain and gloom leant itself to black and white, and here the little train is seen steaming just north of the Rosewood Crossing at about MP 7 (as measured from the historic south end of the line at tidewater in Wiscasset) between Alna and Top of the Mountain. Monson 3 was built in Feb. 1913 by Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for the Monson Railroad. It is a 17 ton inside frame 0-4-4RT, and spent its working life hauling slate, passengers, and freight on the six-mile Monson Railroad which ran from a connection with the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad at Monson Junction to Monson village.
After that railroad’s closure in 1943, Monson #4 went to the original version of the Edaville Family Theme Park. It stayed there for nearly 50 years before coming to Portland when Maine Narrow Gauge was formed. The museum is still the owner of the locomotive, and she has traveled throughout New England. In fact, I last photographed her in December 2024 at Edaville on a nostalgic photo charter.
She looks a bit different now, and while the lack of any lettering and the non working motorcycle headlight is an authentic late era MRR look, she sure is decidedly less attractive like this! The train ran with with the locomotive sandwiched between two flat cars with 1903 built Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes combine 14 (also now owned by MNG) bringing up the rear. While not particularly photogenic this was also historically accurate, as the little slate hauling pike routinely operated this way and only ever rostered one passenger car, a combine much like this one.
If you care to learn more about the history of the historic WW&F Ry. and its modern reincarnation check out the long form caption with this post from a prior visit: flic.kr/p/2rQgfAM
Alna, Maine
Saturday May 9, 2026
Tramore Beach, Horn Head Peninsula, Dunfanaghy, County Donegal, Ireland
The name ‘Tramore’ in Gaelic Trá Mór translates to 'Big Beach' so nothing too mystical 😄 but indeed very accurate! as this sandy cove stretches 2km across the stunning Donegal coast.
What I enjoyed almost as much as strolling along this sandy paradise was the actual walk to reach it. Starting off through a little woodland and following a winding path until greeted with a vast plain of grassy sand dunes (Lurgabrack Dunes) which stretched for miles. These dunes are carpeted in scented wildflowers and brimming with many butterfly, bird & bee species. On the final stretch they show a commanding view over Tory Island on the horizon which is timeless.
On this beautiful evening I patiently watched the sea mist and clouds for several hours, which showed no signs of rising or retreating. Never have I witnessed clouds lay so low over the ocean for so long before. I knew if there was a vibrant sunset then the light may reflect off the low-lying cloud tops, hopefully giving an ethereal look to the surrounding landscape.
I love to let my mind wander free and can just imagine the mythical lost kingdom of Tír na nÓg resting nearby under these calm Atlantic waters 🌊
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More accurately the 250 feet/76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in the "middle of nowhere" in Cheshire. Completed 1957 and still one of the largest steerable radio telescopes in the world. The site is home to the e-Merlin network combining 7 radio telescopes across the UK. It is also the headquarters of the SKA -Square Kilometre Array project. The square kilometre is the size of the _collecting area_ - the thousands of antennae providing data extend over some 3000 kilometres in the southern hemisphere.
A striking piece of technology in the countryside that shows our determination to look out