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This week’s assignment is to find a quiet place
Don’t – none, just take a break from your busy days and go shooting!
Dare – add people (same as last week, sorry I just love pictures of people)
My husband and I went to Colonial Williamsburg yesterday just to stroll around. It's about 1 1/2 hours from our house. On the way home we stopped at this wonderfully quiet place on a river bank. My husband is off in the distance and I'm in the corner (shadow).
WIT - Adjustments in LR basic panel
I had to go to the Post Office after work, and took a few photos on my walk back home.
Poole Quay 05.10.2020
Observations in two wavelengths of extreme UV light revealed the magnetic connections between a pair of large and dynamic active regions observed over almost a two-day period (Feb. 2-4, 2014). The tangles of lines between the two regions are actually high-energy particles spinning along the magnetic field lines that arch between them. The numerous bright flashes are solar flares erupting. Active regions are areas of intense magnetism and appear as sunspots in white light images. The color table of the AIA 193 images was changed to help bring out the magnetic field lines. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA.
Maker: Francis Heyland
Born: Switzerland
Active: Italy
Medium: albumen print
Size: 9 7/8 in x 7 1/2 in
Location:
Object No. 2022.383s
Shelf: C-54
Publication: Francis Heyland - Photographs of the Carthusian Monastery of the Certosa of Pavia, self-published, printed by Lombardi, Milan
Other Collections:
Provenance: Photographs, Doyle New York, June 21, 2022, Lot 75
Notes: The firm of Deroche and Heyland was active in Milan in the 1860s and 1870s, Jaques François Kumpfler (alias Francesco Heyland), born in Geneva on 26 August 1830, became a daguerreotypist and photographer active in Milan (Italy), initially with his father ("Heyland et fils" = "Heyland e figlio"), then in association with the French photographers Hippolyte and Victor Deroche (in the firm "Deroche & Heyland - Photographie Parisienne, al grand Mercurio"), and finally he worked on his own ("Francesco Heyland").
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In the nineteenth century the owners of the great pastoral estates in the Mid North played the role of the English gentry. They employed people, funded local churches and charities, led local and state political life and contributed to the growth and functioning of their communities. They were all very wealthy men. Here is a brief story of William and John Browne. They grew up in England of modest means but they both studied medicine in Paris but were examined in Edinburgh. William arrived in SA in 1839 and his brother John and sister Anna arrived in 1840. William farmed for Joseph Gilbert of Pewsey Vale in his first year. Anna later married Joseph Gilbert in 1848. In 1843 they jointly acquired Booborowie run. They took out other leases at Streaky Bay and in the South East. By the 1850s they had extensive tracts of freehold land at Booborowie, Mt Gambier and Buckland Park near Two Wells and they had more leaseholds in the Flinders Ranges (Arkaba and Wilpena Stations). They became the biggest exporters of wool from SA. In 1860 William was a state MP and campaigned hard for local roads and bridges etc. When the great drought of the mid 1860s struck they lost money on Arkaba Station and the brothers dissolved their partnership. William bought out Booborowie from his brother but moved his family to Moorak near Mt Gambier. He then lost his seat in the parliament. He was a financial founder of the Christ Church in Mt Gambier and he did other charity work. He eventually retired to England and died in 1894 as a wealthy man but he visited SA several times to check on his proprieties including Booborowie. He played a major role in cross breading sheep in SA and was recognised as a leading Australia stock breeder and the owner of the second Merino stud established in SA after the Hawker stud at Bungaree. The fourth Merino stud in SA was started by John Howard Angas at Hill River station in 1845 who also started the first cattle stud with his Angas Shorthorn cattle from 1854. When William died in 1894 he left Booborowie Station to his two sons Percival Browne and Arthur Browne. They were the ones who sold North Booborowie to Henry Dutton and George Melrose in 1897. Booborowie Station was resumed by the government in 1910 and became a small property with a large homestead and shearing shed.
Brother John was a good bushman and went on Charles Sturt’s 1844/45 trek to Central Australia. Dr John was credited with saving Sturt’s life with his medical knowledge. He too supported the local Booborowie district. In 1851 he became a justice of the peace. In 1854 he imported rams from England and made Buckland Park his headquarters between 1856-64. He married a local girl at Burra in 1857. He travelled the state visiting his pastoral properties which also included properties in the Northern Territory, the Gawler Ranges and Eyre Peninsula. Buckland Park had regular horse hunts and other upper class English pursuits. In the 1870s he returned to live in England but made several trips back to Australia. He died in 1904. The Buckland Park property was named after brother William’s Devon property. Even in the 1880s from England through the SA press John Browne was advising against settlement in the Flinders Ranges as his experience at Arkaba Station showed the rainfall would not be sufficient for farming. His comments were ignored.
These brief stories show the role these gentry characters played in being the centre of the social, economic and political life of their communities. They often married into other wealthy pastoral families and they took an active interest in their stock and cross breeding stud animals. They generally sent their sons to Prince Alfred College or St Peter’s Boys College in Adelaide followed by university in England. The pastoralists often retired to England as wealthy gentlemen despite their relatively humble origins. They then became absentee landlords of their great estates with managers on site. Where owners never lived permanently on site such great estates never had a grand house erected on the property as the stations only needed a manager’s residence. The grandest houses were built where the owners lived more or less on site such as Anlaby, Bungaree, Bundaleer and Hill River. The Brownes never lived permanently at Booborowie and the Duncans never lived at Gum Creek. Obituaries for both the Browne brothers appeared in the SA press when they died in England. Many of these wealthy northern pastoralists had their town mansions in North Adelaide or Medindie for easy access to the north road.
Booborowie.
Booborowie is 1,320 feet (402 metres) above sea level, so about 300 feet higher than Stirling in the Adelaide Hills. It has an average of 380 mm of rain a year, compared with 550 mm for Adelaide. It not only grows cereals but also extensive paddocks of lucerne for fodder. The town has Booborowie Seeds factory which employs several men who process and sell lucerne seed. In March 1877 the township of Booborowie was declared but the Hundred of Ayers had been declared earlier in 1863. The name Booborowie was adopted by the Drs Browne for their property and is an Aboriginal word for “round waterhole.” There is a natural spring not far from Booborowie. The new town was just one mile from the Booborowie homestead of the Drs Browne. Although the town never had a railway it grew and prospered. The locals tried hard to get a railway and formed a committee to achieve this around 1911 because they had to cart their wheat to Farrell Flat. The government considered a railway from Farrell Flat to Booborowie but decided an extension of the railway from Riverton to Clare, then to Spalding and finally to Booborowie would be better. This did not eventuate but a railway came north from Riverton in 1914. It reached Spalding, in 1922 but went no further. Again the locals in Booborowie organised to get a rail line to the town but to no avail. The local Council was established in the 1875 but the Council Chambers were not completed until 1889 to the north of the town. The Booborowie Council is now amalgamated with Burra. The first Chairman of Booborowie Council was Robert Giles who became the District Clerk for 17 years. He was also a lay Wesleyan preacher at Burra for 20 years. He died in 1894 and was buried in Burra as the Booborowie cemetery did not open until 1925.
The northern half of Booborowie Run which was bought by Henry Dutton and George Melrose was resumed by the government in 1909 and small farms created for sale by 1911. 93 farms were created boosting the small town of Booborowie. At that time the government also retained part of the lands to create an experimental training farm for boys. Mr. W.R. Birks was placed in charge of the 300 acre government farm which surrounded the North Booborowie homestead. The farm opened in 1912 and operated until around 1930. The press said: 'There will be room for 20 boys and, £2.10s. will be paid each half year into a Savings Bank account to the credit of the respective boys...' The government operated the farm, but not as a training farm for many years. One manager was Mr Waddy who designed the first automatic sheep feeder. The government sold the farm and it was called “Lorraine” by its new owners.
Buildings in Booborowie.
(a) The Soldiers Memorial Hall was opened in 1921 but it has some later additions.
(b) St Edmund’s Anglican Church opened in 1923 but services were held at Booborowie Homestead for many years. (c)The Wesleyan Methodist Church was the first building in Booborowie opening in 1891. It was used as the school from 1892 until the new government one opened in 1919. A second stone class room was added in 1935.
(d) The former hardware store on the corner of Third Street and Fifth Street was opened in 1920 for John Bacon. In latter years it was run by the Affolter family.
(e)The Catholic Church Endowment Society Incorporated bought land in Booborowie in 1896 and St Dymphna’s Catholic Church opened in 1903. Before then mass had been held in the Booborowie Station shearing shed. A porch and chancel was added to St Dymphna’s in the 1920s.
(f)The hotel was built in 1917 and was used by consulting doctors from Burra as a surgery for many years.
(g) The old General Store. It began in 1915 on the veranda of Mr Charlie Fahey’s house. A stone store was later built. In 1950 John Martins took it over. In the 1970s it became a supermarket and more recently the Post Office, and a hardware store.
(h) The former Bank of Adelaide. The bank opened in 1917 and operated until 1986 albeit as an ANZ Bank agency for many years. It is now a private residence along from the general store.
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Francisco Aragão © 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Use without permission is illegal.
Attention please !
If you are interested in my photos, they are available for sale. Please contact me by email: aragaofrancisco@gmail.com. Do not use without permission.
Many images are available for license on Getty Images
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English
The Brazilian Army is the land arm of the Brazilian Armed Forces. The Brazilian Army has fought in several international conflicts, mostly in South America during the 19th century. In the 20th century, fought on the Allied side at World War I and World War II. Aligned with Western Bloc, it also had active participation on Cold War in Latin America and Southern of Africa, as well as have taken part in UN peacekeeping missions worldwide since late 1950s.
Domestically, besides facing several rebellions throughout these two centuries, supported by key local elites and by big international capital, after has ended the monarchic period in the country, imposed to the rest of society its political views and economic development projects, during the periods (1889-94, 1930-50* and 1964-85) that it ruled the country.
Wikipedia
A complex and potentially active Sunspots (AR3932, AR2928, 3927) are rotating into view and to face Earth. Earth directed activity might result.
EOS 5D Mark III+SIGMA 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art
* If this photo might have problem, there is a possibility of removal.
* If you have requests or comments, please describe these in photo comment space.
Title: Alushta.
Creator: Bossoli, Carlo, 1815-1884 (delineator); Walker, Edmund, active 1836-1882 (lithographer)
Contributors: Day & Son (publisher)
Date: April 7, 1856
Part of: The beautiful scenery and chief places of interest throughout the Crimea from paintings
Place: Alushta, Crimea
Physical Description: 1 print: lithograph, color, part of 1 volume (65 prints); 20 x 28 cm on 56 x 40 cm
File: folio_3_ne2524_b6_16a_opt.jpg
Rights: Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when using this file. A high-resolution version of this file may be obtained for a fee. For details see the sites.smu.edu/cul/degolyer/research/permissions/ web page. For other information, contact degolyer@smu.edu.
For more information and to view the image in high resolution, see: digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/eaa/id/1301/
View the Europe, Asia, and Australia: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints Collection
Pampers active baby are now made with Comfort. With it’s soft leg cuffs and a pillowy soft backsheet, it comforts your baby like never before and provides a wonderful cosy feeling on his delicate skin.Pampers New Baby absorbs both newborns’ wee and even poo to help newborns feel as comfortable as possible.
Marrowstone Island, Washington; the active light is on top of a post mounted on the roof of the square fog signal building, in the left-center of the photo. The structure on the left was the former location of the light, built in 1902. The former keeper's house was built in 1896 and is now used as a U.S. Geological Survey station.
Active Assignment Weekly: "Starts with a B"
Went for a walk after the rain today. Came upon this church I frequently see from the freeway. Found this bike in front of one of the doors to the church. The lights are reflecting from another room at the church. Upped the exposure a bit in pp.
Active Assignment Weekly challenge: Male Portraits
I had tried a couple of street photography shoots earlier in the week, but with limited success. I tried again a third time and ended up with a couple of reasonable shots for the theme.
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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 27.717+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the SHUTTERSTOCK COMMERCIAL COLLECTION Image ID:1306741573 on February 7th 2019.
This photograph became my 90th 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 Thirty four metres at 12:55pm on Friday April 14th 2017, off Via della stamperia of Fontana di Trevi (the Trevi fountain), in the Trevi Rione II, located in Municipio I district of Rome, Italy.
Designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed in 1762 by Pietro Bracci, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city standing Eighty six feet high (26.3 metres)and One hundred and sixty one feet wide (49.15 metres).
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Nikon D7200 22mm 1/160s f/11.0 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 41d 54m 3.38s
LONGITUDE: E 12d 29m 0.55s
ALTITUDE: 34.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 69.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 21.30MB
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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 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 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
The main attraction of the Water Gardens is the active pool which has water cascading 38 feet (11 m) down terraces and steps into a small pool at the bottom.
Submitted to Active Assignment Weekly. This week's assignment was b craw
Inspiration: I wanted to research b craw in more detail. Find out more about what makes him tick, what his inspiration is, and whether he has material available for exploration in addition to his pictures here at flickr. So I followed the link from his flickr profile to his homepage. On the welcome page, he explains his work this way:
The predicates of my work are familiar--yet, ultimately in-locatable--contexts, wherein collective cultural-mythic structures and my biography coalesce to play upon art image/object as substance and residue, fixed autonomous form and frictional fluidity; it is a phrenetic process that forms, re-forms, and erases cultural and biographical loci via the intrinsic mutability of artistic practice.
And that was the inspiration for this picture.
Active Weekly Assignment (Mar. 1-8, 2021) - "There is a number in my photo"
For this assignment, I wanted to find some numbers outside rather then arranging something at home. My girlfriend had the idea that the single spaces in parking decks are often numbered, so I made a tour through the different parking decks in my town (turns out only half of them actually have numbers).
There are only two numbers but at least they consist of six digits, I hope that counts :).
Post-processing: Apart from cropping and the obvious conversion to b&w I adjusted the brightness, mostly by playing around with the "filmic rgb" and "tone equalizer" modules of Darktable which I learned about just recently and are trying to master now.
Active Assignment Weekly: Jan 18-25 "Details"
Rumpleteazer is one of the most beautiful cats I have ever seen. He has just as much spunk as when my mom saved him from the side of the road many years ago.
There is a color version of this in my photostream as well, but I thought the b&w highlighted the details a little more effectively for the AAW.
"And when you heard a dining room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming
Then the family would say: "Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! And Rumpleteazer!"
And there's nothing at all to be done about that!”
― T.S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Maker: Marie Lydie Cabannis Bonfils (1837-1918)
Born: France
Active: Palestine
Medium: postcard
Size: 3.5" x 5.5"
Location: Palestine
Object No. 2013.130
Shelf: A-48
Publication:
Other Collections:
Notes: Félix Bonfils, a French printer who migrated from France to Beirut along with his family in 1867, established one of the first professional photographic studios in the Middle East. Very little is known about women photographers in the region. Félix’s wife, Lydie Bonfils, can be considered the first professional woman photographer in the region.
To view our archive organized by Collections, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS
For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
IR HDR. IR converted Canon Rebel XTi. AEB +/-2 total of 3 exposures processed with Photomatix. Levels adjusted in PSE.
High Dynamic Range (HDR)
High-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI) is a high dynamic range (HDR) technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques. The aim is to present a similar range of luminance to that experienced through the human visual system. The human eye, through adaptation of the iris and other methods, adjusts constantly to adapt to a broad range of luminance present in the environment. The brain continuously interprets this information so that a viewer can see in a wide range of light conditions.
HDR images can represent a greater range of luminance levels than can be achieved using more 'traditional' methods, such as many real-world scenes containing very bright, direct sunlight to extreme shade, or very faint nebulae. This is often achieved by capturing and then combining several different, narrower range, exposures of the same subject matter. Non-HDR cameras take photographs with a limited exposure range, referred to as LDR, resulting in the loss of detail in highlights or shadows.
The two primary types of HDR images are computer renderings and images resulting from merging multiple low-dynamic-range (LDR) or standard-dynamic-range (SDR) photographs. HDR images can also be acquired using special image sensors, such as an oversampled binary image sensor.
Due to the limitations of printing and display contrast, the extended luminosity range of an HDR image has to be compressed to be made visible. The method of rendering an HDR image to a standard monitor or printing device is called tone mapping. This method reduces the overall contrast of an HDR image to facilitate display on devices or printouts with lower dynamic range, and can be applied to produce images with preserved local contrast (or exaggerated for artistic effect).
In photography, dynamic range is measured in exposure value (EV) differences (known as stops). An increase of one EV, or 'one stop', represents a doubling of the amount of light. Conversely, a decrease of one EV represents a halving of the amount of light. Therefore, revealing detail in the darkest of shadows requires high exposures, while preserving detail in very bright situations requires very low exposures. Most cameras cannot provide this range of exposure values within a single exposure, due to their low dynamic range. High-dynamic-range photographs are generally achieved by capturing multiple standard-exposure images, often using exposure bracketing, and then later merging them into a single HDR image, usually within a photo manipulation program). Digital images are often encoded in a camera's raw image format, because 8-bit JPEG encoding does not offer a wide enough range of values to allow fine transitions (and regarding HDR, later introduces undesirable effects due to lossy compression).
Any camera that allows manual exposure control can make images for HDR work, although one equipped with auto exposure bracketing (AEB) is far better suited. Images from film cameras are less suitable as they often must first be digitized, so that they can later be processed using software HDR methods.
In most imaging devices, the degree of exposure to light applied to the active element (be it film or CCD) can be altered in one of two ways: by either increasing/decreasing the size of the aperture or by increasing/decreasing the time of each exposure. Exposure variation in an HDR set is only done by altering the exposure time and not the aperture size; this is because altering the aperture size also affects the depth of field and so the resultant multiple images would be quite different, preventing their final combination into a single HDR image.
An important limitation for HDR photography is that any movement between successive images will impede or prevent success in combining them afterwards. Also, as one must create several images (often three or five and sometimes more) to obtain the desired luminance range, such a full 'set' of images takes extra time. HDR photographers have developed calculation methods and techniques to partially overcome these problems, but the use of a sturdy tripod is, at least, advised.
Some cameras have an auto exposure bracketing (AEB) feature with a far greater dynamic range than others, from the 3 EV of the Canon EOS 40D, to the 18 EV of the Canon EOS-1D Mark II. As the popularity of this imaging method grows, several camera manufactures are now offering built-in HDR features. For example, the Pentax K-7 DSLR has an HDR mode that captures an HDR image and outputs (only) a tone mapped JPEG file. The Canon PowerShot G12, Canon PowerShot S95 and Canon PowerShot S100 offer similar features in a smaller format.. Nikon's approach is called 'Active D-Lighting' which applies exposure compensation and tone mapping to the image as it comes from the sensor, with the accent being on retaing a realistic effect . Some smartphones provide HDR modes, and most mobile platforms have apps that provide HDR picture taking.
Camera characteristics such as gamma curves, sensor resolution, noise, photometric calibration and color calibration affect resulting high-dynamic-range images.
Color film negatives and slides consist of multiple film layers that respond to light differently. As a consequence, transparent originals (especially positive slides) feature a very high dynamic range
Tone mapping
Tone mapping reduces the dynamic range, or contrast ratio, of an entire image while retaining localized contrast. Although it is a distinct operation, tone mapping is often applied to HDRI files by the same software package.
Several software applications are available on the PC, Mac and Linux platforms for producing HDR files and tone mapped images. Notable titles include
Adobe Photoshop
Aurora HDR
Dynamic Photo HDR
HDR Efex Pro
HDR PhotoStudio
Luminance HDR
MagicRaw
Oloneo PhotoEngine
Photomatix Pro
PTGui
Information stored in high-dynamic-range images typically corresponds to the physical values of luminance or radiance that can be observed in the real world. This is different from traditional digital images, which represent colors as they should appear on a monitor or a paper print. Therefore, HDR image formats are often called scene-referred, in contrast to traditional digital images, which are device-referred or output-referred. Furthermore, traditional images are usually encoded for the human visual system (maximizing the visual information stored in the fixed number of bits), which is usually called gamma encoding or gamma correction. The values stored for HDR images are often gamma compressed (power law) or logarithmically encoded, or floating-point linear values, since fixed-point linear encodings are increasingly inefficient over higher dynamic ranges.
HDR images often don't use fixed ranges per color channel—other than traditional images—to represent many more colors over a much wider dynamic range. For that purpose, they don't use integer values to represent the single color channels (e.g., 0-255 in an 8 bit per pixel interval for red, green and blue) but instead use a floating point representation. Common are 16-bit (half precision) or 32-bit floating point numbers to represent HDR pixels. However, when the appropriate transfer function is used, HDR pixels for some applications can be represented with a color depth that has as few as 10–12 bits for luminance and 8 bits for chrominance without introducing any visible quantization artifacts.
History of HDR photography
The idea of using several exposures to adequately reproduce a too-extreme range of luminance was pioneered as early as the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray to render seascapes showing both the sky and the sea. Such rendering was impossible at the time using standard methods, as the luminosity range was too extreme. Le Gray used one negative for the sky, and another one with a longer exposure for the sea, and combined the two into one picture in positive.
Mid 20th century
Manual tone mapping was accomplished by dodging and burning – selectively increasing or decreasing the exposure of regions of the photograph to yield better tonality reproduction. This was effective because the dynamic range of the negative is significantly higher than would be available on the finished positive paper print when that is exposed via the negative in a uniform manner. An excellent example is the photograph Schweitzer at the Lamp by W. Eugene Smith, from his 1954 photo essay A Man of Mercy on Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his humanitarian work in French Equatorial Africa. The image took 5 days to reproduce the tonal range of the scene, which ranges from a bright lamp (relative to the scene) to a dark shadow.
Ansel Adams elevated dodging and burning to an art form. Many of his famous prints were manipulated in the darkroom with these two methods. Adams wrote a comprehensive book on producing prints called The Print, which prominently features dodging and burning, in the context of his Zone System.
With the advent of color photography, tone mapping in the darkroom was no longer possible due to the specific timing needed during the developing process of color film. Photographers looked to film manufacturers to design new film stocks with improved response, or continued to shoot in black and white to use tone mapping methods.
Color film capable of directly recording high-dynamic-range images was developed by Charles Wyckoff and EG&G "in the course of a contract with the Department of the Air Force". This XR film had three emulsion layers, an upper layer having an ASA speed rating of 400, a middle layer with an intermediate rating, and a lower layer with an ASA rating of 0.004. The film was processed in a manner similar to color films, and each layer produced a different color. The dynamic range of this extended range film has been estimated as 1:108. It has been used to photograph nuclear explosions, for astronomical photography, for spectrographic research, and for medical imaging. Wyckoff's detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid-1950s.
Late 20th century
Georges Cornuéjols and licensees of his patents (Brdi, Hymatom) introduced the principle of HDR video image, in 1986, by interposing a matricial LCD screen in front of the camera's image sensor, increasing the sensors dynamic by five stops. The concept of neighborhood tone mapping was applied to video cameras by a group from the Technion in Israel led by Dr. Oliver Hilsenrath and Prof. Y.Y.Zeevi who filed for a patent on this concept in 1988.
In February and April 1990, Georges Cornuéjols introduced the first real-time HDR camera that combined two images captured by a sensor3435 or simultaneously3637 by two sensors of the camera. This process is known as bracketing used for a video stream.
In 1991, the first commercial video camera was introduced that performed real-time capturing of multiple images with different exposures, and producing an HDR video image, by Hymatom, licensee of Georges Cornuéjols.
Also in 1991, Georges Cornuéjols introduced the HDR+ image principle by non-linear accumulation of images to increase the sensitivity of the camera: for low-light environments, several successive images are accumulated, thus increasing the signal to noise ratio.
In 1993, another commercial medical camera producing an HDR video image, by the Technion.
Modern HDR imaging uses a completely different approach, based on making a high-dynamic-range luminance or light map using only global image operations (across the entire image), and then tone mapping the result. Global HDR was first introduced in 19931 resulting in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995 by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard.
On October 28, 1998, Ben Sarao created one of the first nighttime HDR+G (High Dynamic Range + Graphic image)of STS-95 on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It consisted of four film images of the shuttle at night that were digitally composited with additional digital graphic elements. The image was first exhibited at NASA Headquarters Great Hall, Washington DC in 1999 and then published in Hasselblad Forum, Issue 3 1993, Volume 35 ISSN 0282-5449.
The advent of consumer digital cameras produced a new demand for HDR imaging to improve the light response of digital camera sensors, which had a much smaller dynamic range than film. Steve Mann developed and patented the global-HDR method for producing digital images having extended dynamic range at the MIT Media Laboratory. Mann's method involved a two-step procedure: (1) generate one floating point image array by global-only image operations (operations that affect all pixels identically, without regard to their local neighborhoods); and then (2) convert this image array, using local neighborhood processing (tone-remapping, etc.), into an HDR image. The image array generated by the first step of Mann's process is called a lightspace image, lightspace picture, or radiance map. Another benefit of global-HDR imaging is that it provides access to the intermediate light or radiance map, which has been used for computer vision, and other image processing operations.
21st century
In 2005, Adobe Systems introduced several new features in Photoshop CS2 including Merge to HDR, 32 bit floating point image support, and HDR tone mapping.
On June 30, 2016, Microsoft added support for the digital compositing of HDR images to Windows 10 using the Universal Windows Platform.
HDR sensors
Modern CMOS image sensors can often capture a high dynamic range from a single exposure. The wide dynamic range of the captured image is non-linearly compressed into a smaller dynamic range electronic representation. However, with proper processing, the information from a single exposure can be used to create an HDR image.
Such HDR imaging is used in extreme dynamic range applications like welding or automotive work. Some other cameras designed for use in security applications can automatically provide two or more images for each frame, with changing exposure. For example, a sensor for 30fps video will give out 60fps with the odd frames at a short exposure time and the even frames at a longer exposure time. Some of the sensor may even combine the two images on-chip so that a wider dynamic range without in-pixel compression is directly available to the user for display or processing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging
Infrared Photography
In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for photography range from about 700 nm to about 900 nm. Film is usually sensitive to visible light too, so an infrared-passing filter is used; this lets infrared (IR) light pass through to the camera, but blocks all or most of the visible light spectrum (the filter thus looks black or deep red). ("Infrared filter" may refer either to this type of filter or to one that blocks infrared but passes other wavelengths.)
When these filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, "in-camera effects" can be obtained; false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance known as the "Wood Effect," an effect mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is marginal and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs. The effect is named after the infrared photography pioneer Robert W. Wood, and not after the material wood, which does not strongly reflect infrared.
The other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze, caused by reduced Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering, respectively, compared to visible light. The dark skies, in turn, result in less infrared light in shadows and dark reflections of those skies from water, and clouds will stand out strongly. These wavelengths also penetrate a few millimeters into skin and give a milky look to portraits, although eyes often look black.
Until the early 20th century, infrared photography was not possible because silver halide emulsions are not sensitive to longer wavelengths than that of blue light (and to a lesser extent, green light) without the addition of a dye to act as a color sensitizer. The first infrared photographs (as distinct from spectrographs) to be published appeared in the February 1910 edition of The Century Magazine and in the October 1910 edition of the Royal Photographic Society Journal to illustrate papers by Robert W. Wood, who discovered the unusual effects that now bear his name. The RPS co-ordinated events to celebrate the centenary of this event in 2010. Wood's photographs were taken on experimental film that required very long exposures; thus, most of his work focused on landscapes. A further set of infrared landscapes taken by Wood in Italy in 1911 used plates provided for him by CEK Mees at Wratten & Wainwright. Mees also took a few infrared photographs in Portugal in 1910, which are now in the Kodak archives.
Infrared-sensitive photographic plates were developed in the United States during World War I for spectroscopic analysis, and infrared sensitizing dyes were investigated for improved haze penetration in aerial photography. After 1930, new emulsions from Kodak and other manufacturers became useful to infrared astronomy.
Infrared photography became popular with photography enthusiasts in the 1930s when suitable film was introduced commercially. The Times regularly published landscape and aerial photographs taken by their staff photographers using Ilford infrared film. By 1937 33 kinds of infrared film were available from five manufacturers including Agfa, Kodak and Ilford. Infrared movie film was also available and was used to create day-for-night effects in motion pictures, a notable example being the pseudo-night aerial sequences in the James Cagney/Bette Davis movie The Bride Came COD.
False-color infrared photography became widely practiced with the introduction of Kodak Ektachrome Infrared Aero Film and Ektachrome Infrared EIR. The first version of this, known as Kodacolor Aero-Reversal-Film, was developed by Clark and others at the Kodak for camouflage detection in the 1940s. The film became more widely available in 35mm form in the 1960s but KODAK AEROCHROME III Infrared Film 1443 has been discontinued.
Infrared photography became popular with a number of 1960s recording artists, because of the unusual results; Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, Frank and a slow shutter speed without focus compensation, however wider apertures like f/2.0 can produce sharp photos only if the lens is meticulously refocused to the infrared index mark, and only if this index mark is the correct one for the filter and film in use. However, it should be noted that diffraction effects inside a camera are greater at infrared wavelengths so that stopping down the lens too far may actually reduce sharpness.
Most apochromatic ('APO') lenses do not have an Infrared index mark and do not need to be refocused for the infrared spectrum because they are already optically corrected into the near-infrared spectrum. Catadioptric lenses do not often require this adjustment because their mirror containing elements do not suffer from chromatic aberration and so the overall aberration is comparably less. Catadioptric lenses do, of course, still contain lenses, and these lenses do still have a dispersive property.
Infrared black-and-white films require special development times but development is usually achieved with standard black-and-white film developers and chemicals (like D-76). Kodak HIE film has a polyester film base that is very stable but extremely easy to scratch, therefore special care must be used in the handling of Kodak HIE throughout the development and printing/scanning process to avoid damage to the film. The Kodak HIE film was sensitive to 900 nm.
As of November 2, 2007, "KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance" of HIE Infrared 35 mm film stating the reasons that, "Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved." At the time of this notice, HIE Infrared 135-36 was available at a street price of around $12.00 a roll at US mail order outlets.
Arguably the greatest obstacle to infrared film photography has been the increasing difficulty of obtaining infrared-sensitive film. However, despite the discontinuance of HIE, other newer infrared sensitive emulsions from EFKE, ROLLEI, and ILFORD are still available, but these formulations have differing sensitivity and specifications from the venerable KODAK HIE that has been around for at least two decades. Some of these infrared films are available in 120 and larger formats as well as 35 mm, which adds flexibility to their application. With the discontinuance of Kodak HIE, Efke's IR820 film has become the only IR film on the marketneeds update with good sensitivity beyond 750 nm, the Rollei film does extend beyond 750 nm but IR sensitivity falls off very rapidly.
Color infrared transparency films have three sensitized layers that, because of the way the dyes are coupled to these layers, reproduce infrared as red, red as green, and green as blue. All three layers are sensitive to blue so the film must be used with a yellow filter, since this will block blue light but allow the remaining colors to reach the film. The health of foliage can be determined from the relative strengths of green and infrared light reflected; this shows in color infrared as a shift from red (healthy) towards magenta (unhealthy). Early color infrared films were developed in the older E-4 process, but Kodak later manufactured a color transparency film that could be developed in standard E-6 chemistry, although more accurate results were obtained by developing using the AR-5 process. In general, color infrared does not need to be refocused to the infrared index mark on the lens.
In 2007 Kodak announced that production of the 35 mm version of their color infrared film (Ektachrome Professional Infrared/EIR) would cease as there was insufficient demand. Since 2011, all formats of color infrared film have been discontinued. Specifically, Aerochrome 1443 and SO-734.
There is no currently available digital camera that will produce the same results as Kodak color infrared film although the equivalent images can be produced by taking two exposures, one infrared and the other full-color, and combining in post-production. The color images produced by digital still cameras using infrared-pass filters are not equivalent to those produced on color infrared film. The colors result from varying amounts of infrared passing through the color filters on the photo sites, further amended by the Bayer filtering. While this makes such images unsuitable for the kind of applications for which the film was used, such as remote sensing of plant health, the resulting color tonality has proved popular artistically.
Color digital infrared, as part of full spectrum photography is gaining popularity. The ease of creating a softly colored photo with infrared characteristics has found interest among hobbyists and professionals.
In 2008, Los Angeles photographer, Dean Bennici started cutting and hand rolling Aerochrome color Infrared film. All Aerochrome medium and large format which exists today came directly from his lab. The trend in infrared photography continues to gain momentum with the success of photographer Richard Mosse and multiple users all around the world.
Digital camera sensors are inherently sensitive to infrared light, which would interfere with the normal photography by confusing the autofocus calculations or softening the image (because infrared light is focused differently from visible light), or oversaturating the red channel. Also, some clothing is transparent in the infrared, leading to unintended (at least to the manufacturer) uses of video cameras. Thus, to improve image quality and protect privacy, many digital cameras employ infrared blockers. Depending on the subject matter, infrared photography may not be practical with these cameras because the exposure times become overly long, often in the range of 30 seconds, creating noise and motion blur in the final image. However, for some subject matter the long exposure does not matter or the motion blur effects actually add to the image. Some lenses will also show a 'hot spot' in the centre of the image as their coatings are optimised for visible light and not for IR.
An alternative method of DSLR infrared photography is to remove the infrared blocker in front of the sensor and replace it with a filter that removes visible light. This filter is behind the mirror, so the camera can be used normally - handheld, normal shutter speeds, normal composition through the viewfinder, and focus, all work like a normal camera. Metering works but is not always accurate because of the difference between visible and infrared refraction. When the IR blocker is removed, many lenses which did display a hotspot cease to do so, and become perfectly usable for infrared photography. Additionally, because the red, green and blue micro-filters remain and have transmissions not only in their respective color but also in the infrared, enhanced infrared color may be recorded.
Since the Bayer filters in most digital cameras absorb a significant fraction of the infrared light, these cameras are sometimes not very sensitive as infrared cameras and can sometimes produce false colors in the images. An alternative approach is to use a Foveon X3 sensor, which does not have absorptive filters on it; the Sigma SD10 DSLR has a removable IR blocking filter and dust protector, which can be simply omitted or replaced by a deep red or complete visible light blocking filter. The Sigma SD14 has an IR/UV blocking filter that can be removed/installed without tools. The result is a very sensitive digital IR camera.
While it is common to use a filter that blocks almost all visible light, the wavelength sensitivity of a digital camera without internal infrared blocking is such that a variety of artistic results can be obtained with more conventional filtration. For example, a very dark neutral density filter can be used (such as the Hoya ND400) which passes a very small amount of visible light compared to the near-infrared it allows through. Wider filtration permits an SLR viewfinder to be used and also passes more varied color information to the sensor without necessarily reducing the Wood effect. Wider filtration is however likely to reduce other infrared artefacts such as haze penetration and darkened skies. This technique mirrors the methods used by infrared film photographers where black-and-white infrared film was often used with a deep red filter rather than a visually opaque one.
Another common technique with near-infrared filters is to swap blue and red channels in software (e.g. photoshop) which retains much of the characteristic 'white foliage' while rendering skies a glorious blue.
Several Sony cameras had the so-called Night Shot facility, which physically moves the blocking filter away from the light path, which makes the cameras very sensitive to infrared light. Soon after its development, this facility was 'restricted' by Sony to make it difficult for people to take photos that saw through clothing. To do this the iris is opened fully and exposure duration is limited to long times of more than 1/30 second or so. It is possible to shoot infrared but neutral density filters must be used to reduce the camera's sensitivity and the long exposure times mean that care must be taken to avoid camera-shake artifacts.
Fuji have produced digital cameras for use in forensic criminology and medicine which have no infrared blocking filter. The first camera, designated the S3 PRO UVIR, also had extended ultraviolet sensitivity (digital sensors are usually less sensitive to UV than to IR). Optimum UV sensitivity requires special lenses, but ordinary lenses usually work well for IR. In 2007, FujiFilm introduced a new version of this camera, based on the Nikon D200/ FujiFilm S5 called the IS Pro, also able to take Nikon lenses. Fuji had earlier introduced a non-SLR infrared camera, the IS-1, a modified version of the FujiFilm FinePix S9100. Unlike the S3 PRO UVIR, the IS-1 does not offer UV sensitivity. FujiFilm restricts the sale of these cameras to professional users with their EULA specifically prohibiting "unethical photographic conduct".
Phase One digital camera backs can be ordered in an infrared modified form.
Remote sensing and thermographic cameras are sensitive to longer wavelengths of infrared (see Infrared spectrum#Commonly used sub-division scheme). They may be multispectral and use a variety of technologies which may not resemble common camera or filter designs. Cameras sensitive to longer infrared wavelengths including those used in infrared astronomy often require cooling to reduce thermally induced dark currents in the sensor (see Dark current (physics)). Lower cost uncooled thermographic digital cameras operate in the Long Wave infrared band (see Thermographic camera#Uncooled infrared detectors). These cameras are generally used for building inspection or preventative maintenance but can be used for artistic pursuits as well.
2015 Lockheed HC-130J Hercules at USCG Elizabeth City.
One of five active today, there was also another one stripped of paint by one of the hangars and probably another one inside.
Doors and windows.
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
Restriction: Should not be in any reflection. To confirm, I have checked 4 times and I am not in any of those reflections!
WIT: Pretty much as is, I just made the blue sky even bluer to give it a bit more of a surreal feel. Apart from that, it is just as it was in-camera.
The Flickr Lounge: Blue theme
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop, rap, and reggae, while retaining a basic style as a new wave band.
Blondie broke up after the release of their sixth studio album The Hunter in 1982. Debbie Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin.
The band reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world[5] during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.[6] Blondie has sold 40 million records worldwide[7] and is still active today, with a new album, Panic of Girls, planned for release in 2010.
Early career (1975–1978) In the early 1970s, Chris Stein moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan.Inspired by the burgeoning new music scene at the Mercer Arts Center, he sought to join a similar band. He joined The Stilettos in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a romantic relationship with one of the band's vocalists, Debbie Harry, a former waitress and Playboy Bunny, Harry had been a member of the folk-rock band, The Wind in the Willows, in the late 1960s. In 1974, Stein parted ways with The Stilettos and Elda Gentile, the band's originator. Stein and Harry formed a new band with drummer Billy O'Connor and bassist Fred Smith. By 1975, after some personnel turnover (including sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo on backing vocals), Stein and Harry were joined by drummer Clem Burke, keyboard player Jimmy Destri and bass player Gary Valentine. Originally billed as Angel and the Snakes,they renamed themselves Blondie in late 1975. The name derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled "Hey, Blondie" to Harry as they drove by.Later, band members were amused to learn that the name was shared by Adolf Hitler's dog Blondie, a fact acknowledged in parody when, in 1997, they semi-anonymously contributed a cover of "Ordinary Bummer" to the Iggy Pop tribute album We Will Fall under the pseudonym 'Adolph's Dog'. Blondie became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB.They got their first record deal with Private Stock Records in early 1976 and released their debut single "X-Offender" on June 17, 1976.Their debut album Blondie (AUS #14, UK #75) was issued in December 1976. In September 1977, Blondie bought back its contract with Private Stock and then signed with Chrysalis Records.The first album was re-released on the new label in October 1977. Rolling Stone's review of the debut album observed the eclectic nature of the group's music, comparing it to Phil Spector and The Who, and commented that the album's two strengths were Richard Gottehrer's production and the persona of Deborah Harry, saying she performed with "utter aplomb and involvement throughout: even when she's portraying a character consummately obnoxious and spaced-out, there is a wink of awareness that is comforting and amusing yet never condescending." It also noted that Harry was the "possessor of a bombshell zombie's voice that can sound dreamily seductive and woodenly Mansonite within the same song".
The band's first commercial success occurred in Australia in 1977, when the music television program Countdown mistakenly played their video "In the Flesh", which was the B-side of their current single "X-Offender".[6] Jimmy Destri later credited the show's Molly Meldrum for their initial success, commenting that "we still thank him to this day" for playing the wrong song.[16] In a 1998 interview, drummer Clem Burke recalled seeing the episode in which the wrong song was played, but he and Chris Stein suggested that it may have been a deliberate subterfuge on the part of Meldrum. Stein asserted that "X-Offender" was "too crazy and aggressive [to become a hit]", while "In the Flesh" was "not representative of any punk sensibility. Over the years, I've thought they probably played both things but liked one better. That's all." In retrospect, Burke described "In the Flesh" as "a forerunner to the power ballad".
Both the single and album reached the Australian top five in October 1977, and a subsequent double-A release of "X-Offender" and "Rip Her to Shreds" was also popular. A successful Australian tour followed in December, though it was marred by an incident in Brisbane when disappointed fans almost rioted after Harry canceled a performance, due to illness.
In February 1978, Blondie released their second album, Plastic Letters (UK #10, US #78). The album was recorded as a four-piece band because Gary Valentine left the band.Plastic Letters was promoted extensively throughout Europe and Asia by Chrysalis Records.[6] The album's first single, "Denis", was a cover version of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 hit. It reached number two on the British singles charts, while both the album and its second single, "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear", reached the British top ten. Chart success, along with a successful 1978 UK tour, including a gig at London's Roundhouse, made Blondie one of the first American new wave bands to achieve mainstream success in the United Kingdom.[6] By this time, Gary Valentine had been replaced by Frank Infante (guitar, bass guitar), and shortly after that Nigel Harrison (bass guitar) joined, expanding the band to a six-piece for the first time.
"Heart of Glass" was their first U.S. hit. The disco-infused track topped the U.S. charts in April 1979. It was a reworking of a rock and reggae-infused song that the group had performed since its formation, updated with strong elements of disco music. Clem Burke later said the revamped version was inspired partly by Kraftwerk and partly by the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", whose drum beat Burke tried to emulate. He and Stein gave Jimmy Destri much of the credit for the final result, noting that Destri's appreciation of technology had led him to introduce synthesizers and to rework the keyboard sections.[21] Although some members of the British music press condemned Blondie for "selling out", the song became a success, worldwide. Selling more than a million copies and garnering major airplay, the single reached number one in many countries including the U.S., where Blondie had previously been considered an "underground" band. The song was accompanied by a music video that showcased Debbie Harry's hard-edged and playfully sexual persona, and she began to attain a celebrity status that set her apart from the other band members, who were largely ignored by the media.
Blondie's next single in the U.S. was a more aggressive rock song, "One Way or Another" (US #24), which became their second hit single in the United States. Meanwhile, in the UK, an alternate single choice, "Sunday Girl", became a #1 hit. Parallel Lines is ranked #140 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest albums of all time.[22] In June 1979, Blondie, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Their fourth album, Eat to the Beat (UK #1, US #17), released in October 1979, was well-received by critics as a suitable follow-up to Parallel Lines, but in the U.S., its singles failed to achieve the same level of success as in the UK, where "Atomic" (UK #1, US #39) reached number one, "Dreaming" (UK #2, US #27) reached number two, and "Union City Blue" (UK #13) charted in the top 20.
Blondie's next single, the Grammy-nominated "Call Me" was the result of Debbie Harry's collaboration with the Italian songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder, who had been responsible for Donna Summer's biggest hits. This track was not included on any Blondie studio album; rather, it was the title theme of the soundtrack for the film American Gigolo. Released in February 1980, "Call Me" spent six weeks at #1 in the U.S. and Canada, reached #1 in the U.K. and became a hit throughout the world. The song is the band's biggest selling single in the U.S. (over a million copies sold - gold status) and was Billboard magazine's #1 single of 1980.
In November 1980, Blondie's fifth studio album, Autoamerican (UK #3, US #7) was released and contained two more #1 US hits: the reggae-styled "The Tide Is High", a cover version of a 1967 song by The Paragons, and the rap-flavored "Rapture", which was one of the earliest songs containing elements of rap vocals to reach number one in the U.S.,sweeping the world by storm. "Rapture" would be the band's only single to achieve a higher chart position on the U.S. charts than in the UK, where it peaked at #5. Autoamerican was a departure from previous Blondie records, featuring less new wave and rock in favor of stylistic experiments, including acoustic jazz: "Faces", and from an early Broadway show, "Camelot", came "Follow Me".
Hiatus, The Hunter, and breakup (1981–1982)
Following their success of 1978-80, Blondie took a brief break in 1981. That year, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri both released solo albums; Stein helped out with Harry's album Koo Koo (UK #6, US #28) and Burke with Destri's Heart on a Wall. Frank Infante sued the band regarding a lack of involvement during the Autoamerican sessions; it was settled out of court, and Infante remained in the band (though Harry has subsequently said Infante was not on the next LP).
The band reconvened in 1981 to record and release (in 1982) The Hunter (UK #9, US #33). In contrast to their earlier commercial and critical successes, The Hunter was poorly received and failed to hit the top 20 in the U.S. The album did have two moderate hit singles: "Island of Lost Souls" (#11 UK, #37 US) and "War Child" (#39 UK).
The Hunter also included a song entitled "For Your Eyes Only" which shares its title with a 1981 James Bond film. This song was originally written on spec to be the film's opening-title theme. However, the producers chose another song by the same name, composed by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson. Blondie was offered the chance to perform Conti and Leeson's song, but they turned the offer down. Sheena Easton's rendition of Conti and Leeson's theme song became a top-ten single worldwide.
With tensions within the band on the rise due to the commercial decline and the constant press focus on Harry to the exclusion of the other band members, events reached a breaking point when Stein was diagnosed with the life-threatening illness pemphigus.Blondie band members received a letter to tell them not to rely on any more money from the bank, as there was only $25,000 left in their account. Their managers had completely wiped them out, and as a result of this and of drug use, mismanagement, tension in the band, slow ticket sales, and Chris Stein's worsening illness, Blondie canceled their tour plans early in August 1982. Shortly thereafter, the band splintered, with at least one (unspecified) member quitting and instigating lawsuits against the other group members; the group formally announced their break up in November, 1982.
Stein and Harry, still a couple at the time, stayed together and retreated from the public spotlight for a few years, with the exception of the minor single releases "Rush Rush" (1983, from the film Scarface) and 1985's dance track "Feel the Spin". Harry was forced to sell the couple's five-story mansion to pay off debts that the band had run up, Stein owed in excess of $1 million, and drug use was becoming an increasing concern for them. Harry decided to call off her intimate relationship to Stein and moved downtown. She stated in a 2006 interview that she felt she was having a sort of breakdown due to all the stress. After Stein recovered from his illness, Harry resumed her solo career with a new album (Rockbird) in 1986, with active participation from Stein. Meanwhile, Burke became a much-in-demand session drummer, playing for a time with the Eurythmics, and Destri maintained an active career as a producer and session musician.
Active Assignment Weekly: Capture Your Country
I know Joe already went with this theme for America, but it's one of the first photos I took for this assignment but wasn't sure about it. Then I noticed some details I liked and decided to go for it. SOOC, except for a little clarity enhancement.
Active Pass, Gulf Islands, BC., Canada
The MV Queen of Nanaimo is a Burnaby class passenger vessel operated by BC Ferries.
The ship was built in 1964 by Victoria Machinery Depot. In 1974 the ship was rebuilt and extended 25 meters in length. It currently operates on the Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands route web. In 2006 there was a major overhaul of passenger areas. Its propulsion is by two Mirrlees National KVSSM twin turbocharged (intercooled) single acting 4 stroke, V16 diesel engines which produce 3,000 bhp (2,200 kW) at 320 rpm. 15 inch bore by 18-inch (460 mm) stroke. Propellers are variable pitch (controllable-pitch propeller) made by KaMeWa (a Rolls Royce company).