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With her housework finished for the day, Elizabeth relaxes at her desk to catch up on the latest doll fashion news and plot her shopping choices at Penny Lane boutique tomorrow.
Stefan heads for a browse around the new fishing store. While there he is impressed with the new diving gear
DAY FOUR. To download with phone browsers, force them into the "PC" or "Desktop" mode and you'll see a download arrow. Tag your photographer! Requests to Instagram or waterbloggged at mail dot com
For your browsing amusement:
Mostly unpublished Nude Work(NSFW)
SFW stuff:
www.instagram.com/jimmydavig_/
Includes some previously unpublished work
www.behance.net/gallery/91146483/Nude-Girls-in-Windows
www.behance.net/gallery/91161733/Bottoms-Up
“The nakedness of woman is the work of God" William Blake
Hello
Since October I've had very little opportunity to indulge in any transvestite activities whatsoever. By this I don't mean those rare and wonderful moments when I do actively engage in dressing up as a woman but I have not even had much opportunity to go on line and discuss the topic on forums or browse the pictures of other cross-dressers (an activity I always find positive and inspiring).
I am very keen to dress as a woman but as usual I have no opportunity to do so. I found I had a few hours alone today whilst monitoring a job that requires periodic attention and have at last managed to get on line for some Helene time. As a result I cannot resist the indulgence to post another video I made in October as Helene.
I am aware my pictures and videos are barely looked at with very low viewing numbers but I never really expect anyone to look at them anyway. I've always felt the reward was the sheer daring of actually posting a picture or video on a public forum such as Flickr or You Tube. I acknowledge the content of my images and videos is highly personal and offers no insight or interest to other transvestites but as a transvestite who so rarely gets to cross-dress the outlet is important to me personally.
If by chance you are actually reading this then the point I am trying to make is do not be concerned with being popular and avoid the expectation of high views or comments. If you do receive them then that is undeniably nice and a bit of a thrill but I know my pictures and videos are not very good so I never expect others to look at them. As I say the main thing is the personal reward of actually posting publicly. Don't feel disappointment if no-one looks. To have had the nerve and courage to post publicly is, I find, reward enough and brings a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
There are certain T-girls on Flickr and You Tube who always attract a lot of attention and I know some feel disappointed their own pictures do not achieve the same response. This is not something one should feel low about. It's just how it is in all social groups, not everyone is popular and there are always those who are. One should enjoy their own indulgence in cross-dressing and gain from the excitement and contentment it can bring. Posting the picture publicly is a memento to oneself and that I find is truly rewarding. Any views or comments are nice bonus but not something one should place to much emphasis upon.
I acknowledge some transvestites do desire a lot of attention and compliments but that's human and to be expected. Not all of us can look great as women despite our inner desire to look feminine when we cross-dress, we can only try our best and enjoy the experiences. The popular transvestites who do attract attention I personally find to be inspiring in making me try harder in my own meager efforts to look like a woman. They do actually push me to more self reward so I'm pleased they post their pictures.
I am trying to stress that self contentment is more important than popularity. The popular T-girls are fortunate as they physically can look female. As we are men it is difficult for us to look female but the achievements of those who are rightly popular with browsers can aid us to get the most from our own efforts by inspiring and firing our enthusiasm. It's all about enjoying yourself and pushing your boundaries. Flickr has at times been inspiring to me and always gives me renewed enthusiasm to try and improve in my own cross-dressing efforts. We can't all be popular and acknowledging this will lead to more reward and contentment.
Have a great 2012 - Helene x
Happy Monday Blues all!
Here's a shot of one of the towers around The Taj Mahal. I have deliberately kept the other small structure in the frame for the sake of perspective.
More of the Taj Mahal here: www.flickr.com/photos/ashumittal/sets/72157622017700886/
Give this a try to browse Flickr, you won't be disappointed: flickroom.org/
For your browsing amusement:
Mostly unpublished Nude Work(NSFW)
SFW stuff:
www.instagram.com/jimmydavig_/
Includes some previously unpublished work
www.behance.net/gallery/91146483/Nude-Girls-in-Windows
www.behance.net/gallery/91161733/Bottoms-Up
“The nakedness of woman is the work of God" William Blake
Browsing fashion catalogue,looking to pick a pretty dress,something sparkly that will impress everyone at the Christmas party ❤️❤️
The muntjac deer, Colby and Violet, were excited when their keeper delivered browse. My camera and I were glad to see them so happy.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2023], processed by Sentinel Hub/Pierre Markuse
Fires near Kondinskoye, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia - 3 May 2023
Iimage is about 33 kilometres wide.
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On a fire damaged building in Southchurch Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Building totally destroyed by fire 14.04.17.
All images are the exclusive property of Paddy Ballard. The photographs are for web browser viewing only and may not be reproduced, copied, stored, downloaded or altered in any way without prior permission.
had to re-upload due to the default color profile on the original image was not compatible with some browsers.
Nikki.
© 2008 2012 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Nyala
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.
To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").
The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.
(Wikipedia)
The lowland nyala or simply nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Tragelaphus, previously placed in genus Nyala. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is 135–195 cm (53–77 in), and it weighs 55–140 kg (121–309 lb). The coat is maroon or rufous brown in females and juveniles, but grows a dark brown or slate grey, often tinged with blue, in adult males. Females and young males have ten or more white stripes on their sides. Only males have horns, 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. It exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the spiral-horned antelopes. It is not to be confused with the endangered mountain nyala living in the Bale region of Ethiopia).
The nyala is mainly active in the early morning and the late afternoon. It generally browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in the rainy season. As a herbivore, the nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, and requires sufficient fresh water. A shy animal, it prefers water holes rather than open spaces. The nyala does not show signs of territoriality, and individuals' areas can overlap. They are very cautious creatures. They live in single-sex or mixed family groups of up to 10 individuals, but old males live alone. They inhabit thickets within dense and dry savanna woodlands. The main predators of the nyala are lion, leopard and African wild dog, while baboons and raptorial birds prey on juveniles. Mating peaks during spring and autumn. Males and females are sexually mature at 18 and 11–12 months of age respectively, though they are socially immature until five years old. After a gestational period of seven months, a single calf is born.
The nyala's range includes Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It has been introduced to Botswana and Namibia, and reintroduced to Eswatini, where it had been extinct since the 1950s. Its population is stable, and it has been listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The principal threats to the species are poaching and habitat loss resulting from human settlement. The males are highly prized as game animals in Africa.
Taxonomy and naming
The nyala was first described by George French Angas, an English naturalist, in 1849. The scientific name of nyala is Tragelaphus angasii. The name angasii is attributed to Angas, who said that John Edward Gray had named this species after Angas' father, George Fife Angas of South Australia. According to Article 50.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, though, this is insufficient to state Gray as the author. The name "nyala" is the Tsonga name for this antelope, which is likely the source of the English, along with Zulu inyala. Its first known use was in 1899. The word has a Bantu origin, similar to the Venda word dzì-nyálà (nyala buck).
The nyala is the second taxon to branch off from the tragelaphine family tree just after the lesser kudu. As the nyala line has remained separate for a considerable time (over 5 million years), some authorities have placed it in its own monotypic genus Nyala. Nyala was proposed in 1912 by American zoologist Edmund Heller, who also proposed Ammelaphus for the lesser kudu, but it was not widely recognized. It was re-erected as a valid genus in 2011 under the classification of Peter Grubb and Colin Groves, but has not been embraced by taxonomic authorities such as the Mammal Diversity Database.
In 2005, Sandi Willows-Munro (of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and colleagues carried out a mitochondrial DNA analysis of the nine Tragelaphus species. Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA data were compared. The results showed the tribe Tragelaphini to be monophyletic, with the lesser kudu (T. imberbis) basal in the phylogeny, followed by the nyala. On the basis of mitochondrial data, studies have estimated that the lesser kudu separated from its sister clade around 13.7 million years ago. However, nuclear DNA data shows lesser kudu and nyala forming a clade, which collectively separated from the sister clade 13.8 million years ago.
Genetics and evolution
The nyala has 55 male chromosomes and 56 female chromosomes. The Y chromosome has been translocated onto the 14th chromosome, as in other tragelaphids, but no inversion of the Y chromosome occurs. Cranial studies have shown that the mountain nyala and nyala, though sharing a common name, are actually distant relatives.
Fossil evidence suggests that the nyala has been a separate species since the end of the Miocene (5.8 million years ago). Genetic evidence suggests that the proto-nyala had some early hybridization with the proto-lesser kudu, but the two have remained separate long after this crossing.
Physical description
The nyala is a spiral-horned and middle-sized antelope, between a bushbuck and a kudu. It is considered the most sexually dimorphic antelope.[The nyala is typically between 135–195 cm (53–77 in) in head-and-body length. The male stands up to 110 cm (43 in), the female is up to 90 cm (3.0 ft) tall. Males weigh 98–125 kg (216–276 lb), while females weigh 55–68 kg (121–150 lb). Life expectancy of the nyala is about 19 years.
The coat is rusty or rufous brown in females and juveniles. It grows a dark brown or slate grey in adult males, often with a bluish tinge. Females and young males have ten or more white vertical stripes on their sides. Other markings are visible on the face, throat, flanks and thighs. Stripes are very reduced or absent in older males. Both males and females have a white chevron between their eyes, and a 40–55 cm (16–22 in) long bushy tail white underside. Both sexes have a dorsal crest of hair running right from the back of the head to the end of the tail. Males have another line of hair along the midline of their chest and belly.
Only the males have horns. Horns are 60–83 cm (24–33 in) long and yellow-tipped. There are one or two twists.The spoor is similar to that of the bushbuck, but larger. It is 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) long. The feces resemble round to spherical pellets. The nyala has hairy glands on its feet, which leave their scent wherever it walks.
The condition of the nyala often varies between the sexes. According to a study, this can be attributed to the differences in their body sizes. It was noted that during nutritional stress, old adults died in more numbers, of which most were males. During an attempt of blood sampling in the nyala, it was found that Vitamin E levels varied during stress.
Parasites
A study of the helminths from 77 nyalas from four game reserves in Natal revealed the presence of ten nematode species and four nematode genera, a trematode species and paramphistomes (members of superfamily Paramphistomoidea), and two cestode genera. The research discovered new parasites that the nyala was host of - namely a Cooperia rotundispiculum race, Gaigeria pachyscelis, a Gongylonema species, Haemonchus vegliai, Impalaia tuberculata, an Oesophagostomum species, a Setaria species, Trichostrongylus deflexus, Trichostrongylus falculatus, the larval stage of a Taenia species, a Thysaniezia species and Schistosoma mattheei. Ostertagia harrisi and C. rotundispiculum were the most dominant nematodes in the antelope.
Another study of 97 blood samples of South African nyalas revealed the presence of tick-borne hemoparasites (blood parasites). The methods used were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization. The dominant parasites were Theileria species, T. buffeli, T. bicornis, Ehrlichia species, Anaplasma marginale and A. bovis. Ten tick species, two louse species and a louse fly species were recovered in a study of 73 nyalas at Umfolozi, Mkuzi and Ndumu Game Reserves in northeastern KwaZulu-Natal in 1983 and 1984 and an additional six individuals in 1994. It was found that nyalas were hosts to all stages of development in Boophilus decoloratus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. muehlensi and the immature stages of Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus maculatus. Adult males served hosts to more number of ticks and lice than adult females did. Also, a trypanosome was isolated from a nyala, wild-caught in Mozambique, which was diagnosed and found as akin to Trypanosoma vivax, based on biological, morphological and molecular data.
Diseases
The nyala can also suffer from myopathy. In between January 1973 and June 1981, 21 nyalas succumbed to the disease. The main symptoms were stiffness, inability to rise, and failure to suckle in newborns. Necrosis (that is, the premature death of cells in a living tissue) and mineralization were found in the skeletal muscle after a histological analysis. In the juveniles there was acute necrosis of the cardiac muscle. In adults, there was interstitial fibrosis of the cardiac muscle, along with arteriosclerosis.
In a report published in 1994 entitled "Epidemiological observations on spongiform encephalopathies in captive wild animals in the British Isles", it was noted that spongiform encephalopathy had been diagnosed in one nyala captive in a zoo. The nyala was formerly affected by the disease rinderpest, although the viral disease is considered eradicated now.
Ecology and behavior
he nyala is active mainly in the early morning and late afternoon. It browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) and during the night in rainy season. These antelopes rest in thick bushes during the hot hours of the day. The nyala is very shy and cautious in nature, and often remains hidden rather than coming out in the open. Most sightings of the nyala in the wild are at water holes. But in protected areas they become less shy and often come out in view of tourists.
Nyala groups are according to sex or mixed. Herds usually browse and drink water together. Each group consists of two to ten individuals. A study in Zinave National Park at Mozambique showed that 67% of the observations were of groups of one to three nyalas, and the rest of the herds consisted of up to 30 nyalas. Herds often broke up and re-formed. Generally adult males remain alone. Females often remain near their mothers when they have their offspring, so the relationships in female herds may be closer than those of males.
Alert and wary in nature, the nyala use a sharp, high, dog-like bark to warn others in a group of danger. This feature is mainly used by females. They also react to the alarm calls of impala, baboon and kudu. The impala has been found to react to the calls of the nyala as well. The main predators of nyala are lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, African wild dog and nile crocodile while baboons and raptorial birds are predators of juveniles.
Diet
As a herbivore, the nyala's diet consists of foliage, fruits, flowers and twigs. During the rainy season they feed upon the fresh grass. They need a regular intake of water, and thus choose places with a water source nearby. However, they are adapted to live in areas with only a seasonal availability of water. A study in Zululand showed that the nyala fed mainly in the early morning and the late afternoon. They feed at night during the rainy season.
A study in Mkhuze Game Reserve and Ndumu Game Reserve in Natal focused on the dietary habits of the impala and the nyala showed that the amount of dicotyledons in their diets varied seasonally. In the dry season, the nyala's dicotyledon diet content was 83.2% and the impala's 52%. In this season, the diet grew richer in fiber and dietary proteins were less. The reverse occurred in the rainy season. As the rainy season arrived, both species took to a diet of mainly monocotyledons, and the impala consumed more of them. The diet contained more proteins than fiber.
Another study was done to find whether the sexual dimorphism in the nyala influenced its foraging habits. Vegetation surveys were conducted with the end of each feeding bout. It was found that females spent equal periods of time foraging in all the three habitats, but males preferred sand forest more. More differences were noted, as males ate woody species at a greater average height whereas females fed from the low herbaceous layer. It was concluded that the differences resulted from varying nutritional and energetic demands according to their diverse body sizes and differing reproductive strategies.
Reproduction
The nyala breeds throughout the year, but mating peaks in spring and autumn. The reason for this is still unknown, but attributed to the photoperiod and the feeding habits of the animal. Females reach sexual maturity at 11 to 12 months of age and males at 18 months (though they are socially immature until five years old), though they begin to show active spermatogenesis at 14 months.
Before ovulation, the Graafian follicles reach a length of at least 6.7 cm (2.6 in). A female's estrous cycle is about 19 days long. Males will attempt to mate with the female for two days of the cycle, but she allows it for only six hours per cycle. When the male enters a females' herd during mating, he makes a display by raising his white dorsal crest, lowering his horns and moving stiffly. As in many other animals, the males fight over dominance during mating.
The kidney fat indices (KFIs) of impalas and nyalas have been studied to understand the influence of social class and reproduction on them. To determine the KFI, the kidney is removed and weighed with the fat and once again excluding the fat. The resultant difference is the amount of fat on the kidney. The more the fat, the healthier the animal. In rut, male nyalas had lower KFIs, which did not vary much with the season. Pregnant females of both nyala and impala had higher KFIs than non-pregnant ones.
There is a significant increase in corpus luteum in the last third of gestation. Gestation is of seven months. A single calf is born, weighing 5 kg (11 lb). Birth takes place generally away from the sight of predators, in places such as a thicket. The calf remains hidden for up to 18 days, and the mother nurses it at regular intervals. The calf remains with its mother until the birth of the next calf, during which males in rut drive it away from the mother.
Habitat and distribution
The nyala inhabits dense lowland woodlands and thickets, mainly in southern Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and eastern South Africa. It chooses places with good quality grasslands as well as provision of fresh water. It also inhabits lush green river country. The nyala's natural range stretches across southeast Africa from the Lower Shire Valley in Malawi through Mozambique and Zimbabwe to eastern South Africa and Eswatini.
The geographic distribution of the nyala may be based on the genetic variation. According to a study of nyala in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, there was a marked difference in the gene frequencies at three microsatellite loci. Mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed the presence of a unique haplotype in individuals from each location. Thus, the geographic variation in the nyala may be due to a distribution pattern based on habitat specificity.
Today nyala are found in South African protected areas in the Ndumo Game Reserve, uMkuze Game Reserve and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, all in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Kruger National Park. As of 1999, 10–15% of nyala occurred on private land. Efforts are being made to retain the populations of nyala in Gorongosa National Park and Banhine National Park in Mozambique. Nyala also thrive in Lengwe National Park in Malawi.
Nyala have never been observed showing territoriality. Territories of either sex overlap extensively. The home ranges of males are approximately equal to that of females, about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) in area.
Threats and conservation
The major threats to the population of the nyala are poaching, habitat loss, agriculture and cattle grazing. Rinderpest outbreaks have also contributed in population loss. This species is currently of Least Concern, and the population is considered stable by both the IUCN and CITES. As of 1999, the total population of the nyala was around 32,000 individuals. More recent estimates show that South Africa has at least 30,000 nyalas, with 25,000 in KwaZulu-Natal. There are now more than 1,000 on protected areas and ranches in Eswatini. In Mozambique there are not more than 3,000, in Zimbabwe over 1,000, and numbers in Malawi have fallen from 3,000 to about 1,500. Namibia has the smallest population, at about 250.
Today over 80% of the total population is protected in national parks and sanctuaries, mostly in South African protected areas. In South Africa there is a high demand for adult males as game trophies.
(Wikipedia)
Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.
Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.
(Wikipedia)
Der Nyala (Nyala angasii, Syn.: Tragelaphus angasii) ist eine südostafrikanische Antilope aus der Gruppe der Waldböcke. Zur Unterscheidung vom Bergnyala wird er manchmal auch als Flachland-Nyala oder Tiefland-Nyala bezeichnet. Die Bezeichnung Nyala stammt aus dem Swahili.
Der Nyala galt lange als eine der seltensten Antilopenarten. Strenge Schutzmaßnahmen haben dazu beigetragen, dass sich die Bestände wieder erholt haben. Trotzdem zählt der Nyala zu den immer noch sehr wenig erforschten Hornträgern.
Aussehen
Diese Antilopenart erreicht eine Kopfrumpflänge von 140 cm und eine Schulterhöhe von 110 cm. Das Gewicht beträgt 55 bis 125 kg, wobei Männchen deutlich größer und schwerer als Weibchen sind.
Weibchen und Männchen lassen sich vor allem anhand ihrer Körperfärbung unterscheiden: Während die viel größeren männlichen Tiere schiefergrau gefärbt sind und schraubenartig gedrehte Hörner tragen, die mit einer weißen Spitze versehen sind, sind die weiblichen Tiere ebenso wie Jungtiere hornlos und überwiegend rötlichbraun gefärbt. Alle Tiere haben bis zu 18 schmale, weiße Querstreifen. Die Männchen tragen sowohl eine lange, erektile Mähne, die das Rückgrat bedeckt, als auch von der Kehle bis zu den Hinterläufen hängende Bauchmähne. Dieses Merkmal unterscheidet sie von den meisten anderen Antilopenarten. Der buschige Schwanz ist bei beiden Geschlechtern an der Unterseite weiß.
Verbreitung
Nyalas sind in Mosambik, Simbabwe und im äußersten Nordosten Südafrikas verbreitet. Eingeführt wurden sie außerdem in Nationalparks Botswanas und Südafrikas, in denen sie ursprünglich nicht heimisch gewesen waren. Sie leben bevorzugt in dichtem Buschwerk in der Nähe von Wasser. Das Vorkommen ist in den Naturschutzgebieten Hluhluwe/Umfolozi, Mkuzi, Ndumo und Krügerpark bekannt. In den letzten Jahren wurde ebenfalls eine Population im Isimangaliso Park wieder angesiedelt.
Lebensweise
Während Weibchen und Jungtiere kleine Herden bilden, sind die männlichen Tiere Einzelgänger. Die Nyalas ernähren sich vorwiegend von Laub, doch werden gelegentlich auch Gräser gefressen. Zu den Fressfeinden des Nyalas zählt unter anderem der Leopard, dieser hat jedoch keine signifikante Auswirkung auf den Bestand dieser Art.
Fortpflanzung
Nach einer Tragzeit von gut sieben Monaten bringt das Weibchen ein Junges zur Welt. Das Höchstalter der Tiefland-Nyalas liegt bei etwa 16 Jahren.
(Wikipedia)
Actualy, I don't even have one in my room. I prefer spending my time reading, browsing the web or practing some sport or yoga. "I'm not audience for solitude". But I love movies. Indepent and alternative ones, I've got lots of them in DVD.
Since I've taken dozens of shots for week 6, consider this a "week 6 1/2". Credits and mini tutorial on comments. Large on black looks good.
This is specially form my new group: Insolitus Portraiture, a place for exotic portraits. Join us!
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2023], processed by Sentinel Hub/Pierre Markuse
Hawaii, USA - 17 June 2023
Iimage is about 200 kilometers wide.
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Browsing my archive in search for what might become an upload I came across the photograph above that I took in November 2009. It was one among other stuff I keep in a group labeled “failures”. A quick glance at the original shot would reveal nothing interesting other than some flowers and a butterfly or what looked like one, all set against a lifeless wall made of dust-colored bricks with the in-between cracks being loosely stuffed with cement. This is how it looked when I first downloaded it from my camera last year.
This time there was something new to perceive. While the wall represented impediments hindering or slowing down progress in my life, the flowers and the butterfly bore resemblance to good things: Making friends online and exploring new depths in terms of human relations, enjoying thrilling novels, photography, Flickr, an exciting movie, a lovely song…etc in the time when everything around was not only frustrating but in many times saddening, sometimes seriously!
Realizing that life is far more complicated than a mutely flat wall to speak for and that those impediments had to be felt in some way or another…that hours, days and weeks are never the same and that the ups and downs carry us, we like it or not, from one stage to the next and the next, I sat down with my friends the laptop computer and Adobe Photoshop with a new vision in mind: Writing all that down in a legible and perhaps funny photographic language.
I thought of transparent or nearly transparent columns of somehow different widths to stand for those days and weeks. Now for the columns to play their assigned roles each would be given a particular layer mode and/or opacity level different from the adjacent, to speak in “photoshopic” terms with the varying widths referring to the seriousness of the situations. In this way they would lighten up at times and darken at other times, get wider, that is to say easier now and become narrower, that is harder shortly after…appear refreshing at stage A then depressing at B. Rhythm is out of control as harmony intersects with chaos…the common with the irregular…the predictable with the unexpected!
Gradually and inadvertently I found myself engaged in a world where fancy overlaps with real life and the work started to put on a garment different from being a nearly duplication of some other works intended to shed light on the here and now of my life.
From that point the entire attempt became secondary and even trivial to what my mind was now trying to crack: IMAGINATION!
Searching the net for some info several months ago I remember I was more than astonished to know that Jules Verne, a capable French author wrote in 1865 “De la Terre à la Lune” (From Earth to the Moon) and that H.G. Wells, that brilliant British novelist whose “Kipps” I studied at high school did publish his scientific fiction “The First Men in the Moon” in 1901. The idea that the two great men had such admirable talents to conceive of such great ideas DECACEDS before NASA was impressively capable of replacing the word “fiction” with “Fact” proved to me how great achievements could be traced back to some daring dreams of brilliant people.
Now that I had something more serious to busy my mind with, I ended the amusing dialogue I was having with Mr. Photoshop, shut down the computer and started a new mental journey.
What occurred to me next had its roots in the book of Genesis. “God saw all that he had made – and it was very good!” Genesis 1:31 it was so clear now that our God, the most genius and the most creative ever, had that trait: Imagination or the ability to imagine things even before they come into existence. He saw all that he had made and it was very good!!! Where does that lead? Doesn’t it mean that the most brilliant designer, the most creative engineer ever had mental sketches? designs? Perhaps even prototypes that He worked on over what “we” regard as “giant periods of time”, resulting in what we now call “evolution”? For me it is certain that all were in His creatively creative mind long before He decided to roll up His sleeves for hard work! Having finished the creation and now examining His marvelous masterpieces I can imagine Him admiring the fact that whatever He did did exactly match His earlier visions (imaginations) and as if saying “All our calculations were so accurate… all designs so perfect…ALL IN ALL IS SO GREAT”…
Now what does that have to do with you and me? Well, we, human beings, are said to fall under the “Animal Kingdom” category. A scientific theory that held and will continue to hold true as long as we have our “mental eyes” wearing the glasses of materialism and as long as we keep examining “only” our “physical” existence and that under the microscopic lens of our hi-tech biolabs. Genius, creative and open-minded like Sir. Charles Robert Darwin we might be regarded yet with our perspectives still imprisoned within the boundaries of “traditional scientific criteria”…the jailor that would never permit that we look beyond the visible and/or perceivable worlds of MATTER.
Based on the assumption that we are highly ranked or superbly developed animals we then have to compare ourselves to our less developed siblings and see where would that lead. Animals do think indeed, some of them are so clever; they use tricks, even improvise maneuvers to communicate, compete with one another and survive. But can you tell me of an animal whose patterns of thinking have ever proved to be creative enough to compete with and conquer us humans? I’m sorry my friends but we are “unique” and that “missing link” will never be found in my opinion simply because it never existed!
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness,…” Genesis 1:26. In the image of God? After His likeness? How? Tall or short? Slim or pudgy? Dark-skinned or Caucasian white? Don’t think I’m joking…some and I say “some” people in the part of the world where I live would see it this way!!! But it is so obvious. There is no code here to decipher and the entire idea is so easily grasped: to be made in the image of God and to be created after His own likeness is to bear the divine genes of the Creator, among which is the ability to imagine, spiritually speaking of course.
I know that for that “some” of the people what I say here falls under blasphemy. Now what I really believe I’m doing is glorifying God who planted in us that remarkable holy likeness in order that we become like the Creator: creative! What sin did after was that it brought “dirt” which in turn drove the “holy” out of the human entity…now that’s another story but what I mean is that I believe that the credit for whatever honorably impressive and admirably creative along recorded history of mankind belongs to Him, Elohim who decided to make us in His image, to create us after His likeness…hallowed be His Name for ever and ever… Amen!
Following is a bunch of quotes on “imagination” and for my new friends I’d stress that by putting my own quotes among those by great people I’m not counting myself as one of them. I’m a humble person but only with some vision to share.
“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them” by Pablo Picasso
“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night” by Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora"
“Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn't it be interesting if...’ And then do it” by Duane Michals.
“Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun” by George Scialabba
“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see” by Henry David Thoreau
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed” by Albert Einstein
“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought” by Albert Szent-Györgyi
“To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted” by George Kneller
“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see” by Duane Michals, Real Dreams
“When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge” by Tuli Kupferberg
“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” by Jamie Paolinetti
“You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'” by George Bernard Shaw
“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.” By Jesse Jackson
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” By Albert Einstein
“Imagination is the first step towards achieving the impossible for it has the power to release God’s image implanted in us all, humans” By Salwan Binni
“If you are still dreaming, if your mind is capable of imagining beautiful things then forget about impediments and know you are on the right track. Imagination is the early manifestation of the upcoming uprising. It indicates the urge in our minds to rebel against the reality, hence to create a better one” by Salwan Binni
“Imagination is the mother of all arts, without it human civilizations would have withered and died out long long ago” By Salwan Binni
“The first secret behind creativity is imagination…then follow persistence, discipline, hard work and maybe luck” by Salwan Binni
“Imaginations make up the daydreams of the genius. Once they are materialized, we ordinary people, get to call ‘breakthroughs’” By Salwan Binni
Have a great time everybody! God bless!