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One of the first shots with my new Nikon D700. The move to full frame really is worth the expense. The colour and detail is just fantastic . This shot is taken at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean with a 50mm f1.8 lens.
Hope you all have a lovely Sunday.
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I went outside and noticed and owl sitting the my tree outside....Very rare to see so I knew I had to take a photo of this Beautiful Owl
The Hope Diamond...
The history of the stone which was eventually named the Hope diamond began when the French merchant traveller, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, purchased a 112 3/16-carat diamond. This diamond, which was most likely from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, was somewhat triangular in shape and crudely cut. Its color was described by Tavernier as a "beautiful violet."
Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France in 1668 with 14 other large diamonds and several smaller ones. In 1673 the stone was recut by Sieur Pitau, the court jeweler, resulting in a 67 1/8-carat stone. In the royal inventories, its color was described as an intense steely-blue and the stone became known as the "Blue Diamond of the Crown," or the "French Blue." It was set in gold and suspended on a neck ribbon which the king wore on ceremonial occasions.
King Louis XV, in 1749, had the stone reset by court jeweler Andre Jacquemin, in a piece of ceremonial jewelry for the Order of the Golden Fleece (Toison D'Or). In 1791, after an attempt by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to flee France, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government. During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the French Blue diamond was stolen.
In 1812 a deep blue diamond described by John Francillion as weighing 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat) was documented as being in the possession of London diamond merchant, Daniel Eliason. Strong evidence indicates that the stone was the recut French Blue and the same stone known today as the Hope Diamond. Several references suggest that it was acquired by King George IV of England. At his death, in 1830, the king's debts were so enormous that the blue diamond was likely sold through private channels.
The first reference to the diamond's next owner is found in the 1839 entry of the gem collection catalog of the well-known Henry Philip Hope, the man from whom the diamond takes its name. Unfortunately, the catalog does not reveal where or from whom Hope acquired the diamond or how much he paid for it.
Following the death of Henry Philip Hope in 1839, and after much litigation, the diamond passed to his nephew Henry Thomas Hope and ultimately to the nephew's grandson Lord Francis Hope. In 1901 Lord Francis Hope obtained permission from the Court of Chancery and his sisters to sell the stone to help pay off his debts. It was sold to a London dealer who quickly sold it to Joseph Frankels and Sons of New York City, who retained the stone in New York until they, in turn, needed cash. The diamond was next sold to Selim Habib who put it up for auction in Paris in 1909. It did not sell at the auction but was sold soon after to C.H. Rosenau and then resold to Pierre Cartier that same year.
In 1910 the Hope diamond was shown to Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, of Washington D.C., at Cartier's in Paris, but she did not like the setting. Cartier had the diamond reset and took it to the U.S. where he left it with Mrs. McLean for a weekend. This strategy was successful. The sale was made in 1911 with the diamond mounted as a headpiece on a three-tiered circlet of large white diamonds. Sometime later it became the pendant on a diamond necklace as we know it today. Mrs. McLean's flamboyant ownership of the stone lasted until her death in 1947.
Harry Winston Inc. of New York City purchased Mrs. McLean's entire jewelry collection, including the Hope diamond, from her estate in 1949. This collection also included the 94.8-carat Star of the East diamond, the 15-carat Star of the South diamond, a 9-carat green diamond, and a 31-carat diamond which is now called the McLean diamond.
For the next 10 years the Hope diamond was shown at many exhibits and charitable events world wide by Harry Winston Inc., including as the central attraction of their Court of Jewels exhibition. On November 10, 1958, they donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, and almost immediately the great blue stone became its premier attraction.
The Hope diamond has left the Smithsonian only four times since it was donated. In 1962 it was exhibited for a month at the Louvre in Paris, France, as part of an exhibit entitled Ten Centuries of French Jewelry. In 1965 the Hope diamond traveled to South Africa where it was exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg. In 1984 the diamond was lent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, as part of the firm's 50th anniversary celebration. In 1996 the Hope diamond was again sent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, this time for cleaning and some minor restoration work.
The weight of the Hope diamond for many years was reported to be 44.5 carats. In 1974 it was removed from its setting and found actually to weigh 45.52 carats. It is classified as a type IIb diamond, which are semiconductive and usually phosphoresce. The Hope diamond phosphoresces a strong red color, which will last for several seconds after exposure to short wave ultra-violet light. The diamond's blue coloration is attributed to trace amounts of boron in the stone.
In the pendant surrounding the Hope diamond are 16 white diamonds, both pear-shapes and cushion cuts. A bail is soldered to the pendant where Mrs. McLean would often attach other diamonds including the McLean diamond and the Star of the East. The necklace chain contains 45 white diamonds.
In December of 1988, a team from the Gemological Institute of America visited the Smithsonian to grade the great blue stone using present day techniques. They observed that the gem shows evidence of wear, has a remarkably strong phosphorescence, and that its clarity is slightly affected by a whitish graining which is common to blue diamonds. They described the color as a fancy dark grayish-blue. An examination on the same day by another gemologist using a very sensitive colorimeter revealed that there is a very slight violet component to the deep blue color which is imperceptible to the naked eye. Still, one can only wonder that the original 112 3/16-carat stone bought by Tavernier was described as "un beau violet" (a beautiful violet).
The Legend Behind The Hope Diamond
This great blue diamond is perhaps the most notorious gem in history. It has left behind it a trail of so many unlucky owners that it has been popularly supposed to be cursed. The Hope was mined in India, and the 112-carat gem was brought to France in 1668. It was said that a curse rested on it, for a thief was reputed to have stolen the diamond from the eye of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita, wife of Rama.
Tavernier, who brought the gem from India to France, sold it to Louis XIV, who had it cut into a 67-carat heart-shaped stone and named it the Blue Diamond of the Crown. Tavernier is said to have been killed by wild dogs on his next trip to India.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette inherited the French Blue, as it was popularly known. In 1792, about the time of their executions, the French Blue was stolen from the Garde-Meuble together with all of the French crown jewels. Some of the gems taken in this robbery were recovered, but not the Blue Diamond of the Crown.
It is intriguing to note that a gem resembling the Hope is worn by Queen Maria Louisa of Spain in a portrait painted by Goya in 1800. There are reports that the stolen French Blue was recut to its present size by Wilhelm Fals, a Dutch diamond cutter. Fals is said to have died of grief after his son, Hendrick stole the gem from him. Hendrick, in turn, committed suicide.
In 1830, there appeared in London a 44.5-carat deep blue oval-cut diamond the gem experts agree was the French Blue recut to conceal its identity. Henry Hope bought i, and since then it has been known as the Hope diamond.
The Hope moved on. An Eastern European prince gave it to an actress of the Folies Bergere and later shot her. A Greek owner and his family plunged to their death over a precipice in an automobile accident. The Turkish sultan Abdul-Hamid II had owned the gem only a few months when an army revolt toppled him from his throne in 1909.
Evalyn Walsh McLean, a wealthy and eccentric American social figure, bought the Hope diamond in 1911. Her son was killed in an automobile accident, her husband died in a mental hospital, and her daughter died in 1946 of an overdose of sleeping pills.
After Mrs. McLean’s death in 1947, New York jeweler Harry Winston purchased her jewels, including the Hope. He gave the gem to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in 1958, no doubt with a certain sense of relief.
***When Harry Winston "gave" the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian, he mailed it via registered mail which was delivered by the US Postal Service. The package arrived at Union Station in Washington DC via train from an overnight trip from New York City.
The package was insured for $142.00 and had postage in the amount of $2.90 on it.
James Todd was the USPS mail carrier who delivered the package to the Smithsonian Museum. As with so many others, the curses of anyone who handled the Hope Diamond also impacted James Todd. Shortly after delivering the package, he was injured by a truck which ran over and crushed his leg. Soon after that, Todd experienced three additional incidents: his wife had a heart attack, his dog died after getting strangled by his own leash, and lastly Todd's house was destroyed in a fire.
Coincidence or not, the diamond seems to have brought enormous troubles in its train.
fgoncalves_fgaras62
Arras Beautiful Sunrise #instarras #instamoods #sunrise #instamood #igersfrance #igersarras #arrasmaville #villedarras #instapic #arrascameraclub #juzaphotography #500pxphoto #juzaphoto #hautsdefrancefamily #picofthedays #picofthedays #photoftheday #photoofthedays #hautdefrance #hautsdefrance
I'm in! (with "The Golden Warrior Rises", "The Birth" and "The Winterpavilion")
Thanks again Mike!
Nooroyd
Calopteryx virgo
Mainly found along streams and rivers, particularly those with sand or gravel bottoms with the males resting on bank side vegetation waiting for females.
For further information visit; british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/beautiful-demoiselle/
I wonder what nationality she is. Maybe an Arab country. The eagle on her beret makes me think she is
A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he is being photographed - Richard Avedon
The Recipe
5 mins pre soak
7.30 mins Ilford ID11
Stop 1 mins
5 mins Ilford Fixer
10 mins wash
wash aid
Yours To Discover Beautiful Somaliland.
Abdilahi Omar sips on a glass of sweet milky tea as traffic in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, increases ahead of the morning rush.
In front of him young boys ride their donkey carts to the river to collect water while ice-cream trucks serving soft-scoop start their rounds.
"So you can see, Hargeisa is calm," says the newspaper editor gesturing to the traffic police armed not with automatic rifles but with fluorescent batons and whistles.
"People are going to work peacefully, you can walk freely. There are no guns on the streets here."
This is not Somalia as the outside world knows it. But then, Somalilanders will tell you this is not Somalia. Period.
Somaliland, which is 137,600 square kilometres in size (comparable to England and Wales) and lies to the north of Mogadishu, is also a territory in limbo: it prints its own currency, flies its own flag and even issues its own passports.
But it is a state no other country will recognise.
Turbulent history
Somaliland won its independence from Britain in June 1960, a few days before Italy relinquished colonial control of neighbouring Somalia.
An emotional union ensued, creating a Somali Republic with its capital located in Mogadishu. But it soon proved to be an unhappy marriage.
"Somaliland became the poor relative, the isolated, forgotten corner of the Union,” Edna Adan, a retired senior UN official and former wife of Somalia's first Prime Minister, Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, told Al Jazeera.
Issues over adequate political representation for Somaliland in the national parliament and government fuelled resentment and distrust and led to the creation of a rebel group opposed to Mogadishu's control.
By the time the war ended in 1991 Somali bombers had razed Hargeisa to the ground but the Republic had crumbled leaving Mogadishu in the hands of warring tribes.
Somaliland's own clan-based society emerged from three decades of turmoil and the conflict with Mogadishu deeply divided.
But on May 18, 1991, tribal elders held negotiations in the shade of Acacia trees and in the ruins of schools before unilaterally declaring Somaliland independent.
Today, in downtown Hargeisa a Soviet-era MiG fighter jet sits mounted on a plinth to remind people of the civil war Somaliland rebels fought against Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991.
International obscurity
A Soviet-era MiG fighter in downtown Hargeisa reminds people of the civil war
But despite a degree of stability compared to many corners of the continent, not least the perennial chaos in Somalia, Somaliland leaders say the outside world has turned its back on them.
The government of Somalia does not recognise Somaliland's independence.
Mohammed Osman Aden, the first consul at the Somali Republic embassy in Nairobi, told Al Jazeera there has been no country-wide referendum which allows for Somaliland's secession.
"Somaliland is categorically a part of Somalia. It is one of the regions where we have good stability. No matter what they are part of Somalia," he said.
However, he does not believe conflict will be renewed.
"We are not applying any pressure right now because we have other priorities in southern Somalia. When southern Somalia is viable we will talk with Somaliland. There will be no problem, we will talk easily," Aden added.
But with no international support for Somaliland's independence, Hargeisa may have little negotiating room.
African neighbours have refused to allow the Horn of Africa to be partitioned and the UN and other international countries have refused to recognise Somaliland's secession.
"The international community has taken the wrong decision, ignoring Somaliland while it waits for Somalia to wake from its coma," said Dahir Riyale Kahin, Somaliland's President.
Self-sustenance
Money vendors in Hargesia have substituted bank transfers
The lack of political recognition has also meant that it is impossible for Hargesia to negotiate loans and assistance from international donors. It is not party to the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.
"We are a democratically functioning state … but the international community is hindering our success," Kahin told Al Jazeera.
With lack of international donor assistance, Somaliland’s infrastructure is slowly being crippled. There is no international postal service here and no banking system recognised by financial institution abroad.
Exchange companies and money vendors provide an alternative for funds coming in and out of Somaliland.
The paediatric ward at the Hargeisa General Hospital – the country's only referral hospital – swarms with flies.
The plaster-board ceiling is caving in. The ward's only oxygen cylinder lies discarded in a corner, covered in dust.
"The facilities here are very limited," said Dr Farhan Omar, one of 16 junior doctors who qualified last year, the first to train locally for years.
“We have three severely malnourished young children and we don't even have the high-energy milk they require."
The lack of doctors, drugs and equipment is woeful, but not a surprise. The government's total budget this year is a modest $50 million - Britain spends that on health alone every four hours.
Somaliland's health, education, and infrastructure sectors require massive inflows of cash.
But for as long as Somaliland's international status remains disputed, financial assistance will remain out of reach. So, too, will bilateral agreements with foreign governments.
Diaspora Money
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It is money from the Diaspora that is behind Hargeisa's transformation from concrete-ruin to bustling-city.
Glass-fronted multi-storey buildings now dot the skyline while numerous telecommunications companies vie for a slice of the lucrative Internet market.
"I came here first and foremost for the money. It is your money and business is business," said Abdul Abdirihaman Wabere, a Somaliland entrepreneur.
Wabere fled to North America at the outset of war in the 1980s. Now he divides his time between the US and Hargeisa where he runs a successful IT firm.
"There was nostalgia too. This is my country and we have brought a technology that was not here before and that itself is a leap-frog," he added.
Many families still depend on remittances from relatives living abroad. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) believes the Diaspora sends home more than $500 million to Somaliland every year.
Wabere fears this gives Somalilanders a false sense of financial security when ultimately their economy remains fragile.
Charm Offensive
Hargesia says neighbouring Somalia is still unstable due to continued armed conflict [EPA]
The Somaliland government is trying to charm its way to global recognition.
Kahin recently offered Somaliland's natural deep-water harbour at Berbera as a home for America's AFRICOM headquarters.
"Our only hope is the US which says it promotes democracy and has spent a lot of money in the Middle East,” says Faizal Warabe, Chairman of Somaliland's opposition Justice and Welfare Party and a candidate in next year's presidential elections.
The government is quick to highlight its democratic credentials in comparison to the lawlessness of its southern neighbour.
However, there are shortcomings. Critics claim the government is repressive, exerting excessive control over political opponents and the media.
Allegations of corruption tarnish the government's record.
"There is a lot of internal mismanagement of finances. Even within the Ministry of Finance there are no systems of accountability," confirmed one UN official on condition of anonymity.
Nevertheless, Somalilanders feel they should be allowed to reap the peace dividend. That should start with formal recognition, argues Edna Adan. Anything else is a slap in the face to a country pushing for peace and stability.
“Failure to recognise Somaliland is a failure to recognise democracy itself. The achievements of Somaliland could have been a good example for other African countries," she said.
Source: Al Jazeera
Gold Rulons Sz 10.5 good condition pictured with part of my lettermans...probably won't be selling until after next season but offer I love them