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took the boys on a little holiday, we stayed in a pet friendly holiday house with loads of beaches within minutes in any direction!
it wasn't as weather-friendly as I'd hoped, the rain has been following me, but it was at least warmer :-)
Saxon is a strong swimmer, here in the midst of some small swirling waves.
;-) Texto en castellano mas abajo ;-)
Excuse me the many mistakes that sure I have committed in the translation, I hope that it is understood regardless!
Development of the trilogy blog – pride – persons.
The second part of this trilogy that I dedicate to explain, and to explain myself, because I use the captions (feet) of my photos as if they were my personal blog. This time I will comment because I feel proud, basing on my concept of person that I exposed in the first photo of the trilogy.
I am a heterosexual crossdresser girl. It is a fact … but, what does it means? If I you tell the truth, I don´t know it with certainty. It seems as if every crossdresser girl had her own definition … probably because there are many branches inside the crossdress … but this it is another theme. I suppose that to the others happen like to me, I am ashamed instinctively of this facet of my life, it is something cultural, the image of the "transvestite" is at least ridiculous, laughable, even I fall down in it without thinking it. It is like if it was so unnatural, so out of place, so incomprehensibly … why a sane man, that considers himself as man, would try to pass off as a woman?... And this it is the nice image, also there is the vicious image, in which you are a disgusting pervert which who know how many more barbarities will do. It is not to feel very proud … not. But the reason wins to the instinct, I am a person, and as such I have reasoning and feelings, and they say to me that this it is not the reality, it is not my reality. Maybe it is a parafilia, as some people say, or maybe it is the aptitude to overcome the assigned role and experiencing positive sensations that are denied to us without reason. I do not have answers, disease or quality, I don´t know, but I know that I do not have motives for which to be ashamed. I am a person, with multiple characteristics, but none of them defines me lonely and to be a crossdresser girl is not the exception, only it is a small part of me. Globally I am not discontented with me, do not understand me badly, I should improve very much as person, but if tomorrow I would die and I would have to give account for my life and for what I am, I believe that I would go out in peace, and it is a motive of pride. The global pride like person, to feel yourself well with total honesty is what really matters. And the pride for the different characteristics that I have? It is a different pride, with different purposes, bad some as arrogance, and other more positive as the reaffirmation. The pride that I feel for be a crossdress girl is of this type. If the things were as they should be, surely I would not feel proud for it, would be another characteristic more as to have small foot or the dark eyes. But unfortunately the things are not like that, and some groups have had to use pride as method of defense, as reaffirmation against discriminations and injustices.The example most clear is the homosexuality. I am hetero and it allows me to see the situation from out, impartially, and I believe that they do very well in feeling proud, because understandable better or worse, what harm do it?, why to make to feel badly to a person for a quality that goes implicit in that person?... My crossdress does not harm anybody either and though I can give up practising it, it is not anything that could make disappear of me, as I cannot change my liking or my way of being, it is a part of my intimate self. So, if I see it good for the others, why not for me?
I look around and see so many motives for what the people should be ashamed, so many attitudes, so many actions that cause so much harm … And later I look at me, being ashamed instinctively for wearing a dress or for feeling feminine … Not … I refuse to accept it, it is possible that in the moment I could not avoid the instinct, but I refuse to accept consciously a shame that does not correspond to me, because of it I am proud! This one is not an allegation in order that we all go out to the light and feel us superproud (though it would be very well also I understand that it is very difficult and dangerous), it is for feeling us well with ourselves and we do not torture psychologically ourselves without motive. The crossdress makes me feel good, and when I dress and look at the mirror, there goes out for me a smile of satisfaction and pride. I am proud!!
Desarrollo de la trilogía blog-orgullo-personas.
Segunda parte de esta trilogía que dedico a explicar, y a explicarme a mi misma de paso, el porque utilizo los pies de fotos como si fueran mi blog personal. Esta vez os comentaré porqué me siento orgullosa, basándome en mi concepto de persona que expuse en la primera foto de la trilogía.
Soy una chica crossdresser heterosexual. Es un hecho… pero, ¿que significa eso? Si os digo la verdad, ni yo misma lo se con seguridad. Parece como si cada chica cd tuviera su propia definición… quizás porque hay muchísimas ramas dentro del crossdress… pero ese es otro tema. Supongo que a las demás os pasará como a mí, me avergüenzo instintivamente de esta faceta de mi vida, es algo cultural, la imagen del “travesti” es como mínimo ridícula, risible, yo misma caigo en eso sin pensarlo. Es como si fuera tan antinatural, tan fuera de lugar, tan incomprensible… ¿por que un hombre cuerdo, que se considera hombre, intentaría pasar por mujer?... Y esa es la imagen amable, también está la imagen viciosa, en la que eres un pervertido asqueroso que ha saber que barbaridades mas hará. No es para sentirse muy orgullosa… no. Pero la razón vence al instinto, soy una persona, y como tal tengo razonamiento y sentimientos, y ellos me dicen que esa no es la realidad, no es mi realidad. Quizás se trate de una parafilia como dicen algunos, o quizás sea la capacidad de superar el rol asignado y experimentar sensaciones positivas que nos son negadas sin razón. No tengo respuestas, enfermedad o cualidad, no lo se, lo que si se es que no tengo motivos por los que avergonzarme. Soy una persona, con múltiples características, pero ninguna de ellas me define por si sola y ser una chica cross no es la excepción, solo es una pequeña parte de mi. Globalmente no estoy descontenta de mi misma, no me entendáis mal, debería de mejorar muchísimo como persona, pero si mañana muriera y tuviera que rendir cuentas sobre mi vida y lo que soy, creo que saldría en paz, y eso es motivo de orgullo. El orgullo global como persona, el sentirse bien con una misma de forma totalmente sincera es lo que realmente importa. ¿Y el orgullo por las diferentes características que tengo? Ese es un orgullo distinto, con distintas finalidades, algunas malas como la soberbia, y otras mas positivas como la reafirmación. El orgullo que siento por ser una chica crossdress es de este tipo. Si las cosas fueran como deberían de ser, seguramente no me sentiría orgullosa por ello, sería otra característica mas como el tener los pies pequeños o los ojos negros. Pero desgraciadamente las cosas no son así, y algunos colectivos han tenido que tirar de orgullo como método de defensa, como reafirmación ante discriminaciones e injusticias. El ejemplo mas claro de esto es la homosexualidad. Yo soy hetero y eso me permite ver la situación desde fuera, imparcialmente, y creo que hacen muy bien en sentirse orgullosos, porque se entienda mejor o peor, ¿que mal hacen a nadie?, ¿por que hacer sentir mal a una persona por una cualidad que va implícita en ella?... Mi crossdress tampoco hace mal a nadie y aunque puedo renunciar a practicarlo, no es algo que pueda hacer desaparecer de mí, al igual que no puedo cambiar mis gustos o mi forma de ser, es parte de mi yo íntimo. Así que si lo veo bien para los demás, ¿por que no para mí?
Miro alrededor y veo tantos motivos por lo que la gente debería avergonzarse, tantas actitudes, tantas acciones que hacen tanto mal… Y después me miro a mí, avergonzándome instintivamente por ponerme un vestido o por sentirme femenina… No… no lo acepto, puede que en el momento no pueda evitar el instinto, pero me niego a aceptar conscientemente una vergüenza que no me corresponde, ¡por eso estoy orgullosa! Este no es un alegato para que salgamos todas a la luz y nos sintamos superorgullosas (aunque eso estaría muy bien también entiendo que es muy difícil y peligroso), sino para que nos sintamos bien con nosotras mismas y no nos martiricemos psicológicamente sin motivo. El crossdress me hace sentir bien, y cuando me visto y me miro al espejo, me sale una sonrisa de satisfacción y orgullo. ¡¡Estoy orgullosa!!
PS: Si quieres ver un video con este look (If you want see a video with this look):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GHQJ03rBJg
Si quieres ver una versión reducida en Flickrs (If you want see a small version in Flickrs):
www.flickr.com/photos/61410455@N08/6319457850/in/photostream
Our burning bush got too large for it's space and we had to get rid of it. Last summer we bought a tiny new one and planted it in a space where it can grow to its heart content. During the winter we discovered the rabbits were enjoying this tender new plant a little too much! Fortunately, it looks like it's going to be resilient and continue to grow despite the major crime committed by the neighborhood bunnies. :)
Committed to Lomography Babylon using a Leica M3 and 50 mm Summicron dual-range lens. Developed using Ars-Imago R9 (rodinal) 1:99 in a semi-stand process for 80 minutes and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
RCAF 188735 - McDonnell Douglas CF-188A Hornet - Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
2021 RCAF CF-18 Demonstration jet “Strong at Home”, represents the commitment to domestic operations that the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are involved with throughout Canada. The RCAF is committed to 24/7 operations in the defence of Canada and North America. Each day, aviators work hard to protect the lives of Canadians through NORAD operations, aeronautical Search and Rescue across Canada, rapid response to natural disasters, and operations to combat COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic. This season the CF-18 Demonstration Team will also recognize the strength of Canadians who have sacrificed so much and shown tremendous resiliency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 paint scheme design was developed by RCAF Reservist Captain Jeff Chester and brought to life by a talented team of Aircraft Structures Technicians from the Aerospace Telecommunications and Engineering Support Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton, ON. The paint scheme for 2021 utilizes a classic hornet-grey palette representing the importance of operational excellence in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The Eagle featured on the tail of the CF-18 Demo Jet represents vigilance, agility, readiness, and speed. This speaks to NORAD operations in particular, but also the immediate response in protecting and defending Canadians through SAR or Operation LENTUS as 24/7 operations. The feathers of the eagle are represented with Maple leaves, an iconic symbol of Canada that is proudly displayed in the Canadian flag and on the Royal Canadian Air Force roundel.
In tribute to 50 years of inspiration, including their mission to uplift us all this past year, there are eight maple leaves representing eight of the nine iconic CF Snowbirds Tutor aircraft that perform during an air show. Like in the missing man formation, the ninth is missing, in solemn remembrance of all the Canadians who were lost this year, including members of CAF, the Snowbirds own Captain Jenn Casey, and our airshow family.
On the underside of the Demo jet, the single missing Snowbird can be found – represented by the signature Snowbird SPEEDBIRD in the exact dimensions that are found on the CT-114 Tutor.
The CF-18 false canopy paint remains alongside the SPEEDBIRD highlighting the operational nature of the jet and the Snowbirds pilots, technicians and support staff who spent their careers contributing to operational missions on the CF-18 and other RCAF aircraft.
The large maple leaf on the inner tail pays homage to our home and native land that the Royal Canadian Air Force has proudly served for 97 years.
Listed on the upper and lower portions of the inner tail are the 12 domestic operations that the Canadian Armed Forces currently participates in including, Search and Rescue and NORAD, then in alphabetical order, Operation BOXTOP, Operation GLOBE, Operation INSPIRATION, Operation LASER, Operation LENTUS, Operation LIMPID, Operation NANOOK, Operation NEVUS, Operation PALACI, and Operation VECTOR.
The leading edge extension (LEX) fences feature the 2021 theme hashtags in both languages: #StrongAtHome and #ProtectionduCanada.
The pilot for the 2021 CF‑18 Demonstration Team is Captain Dan Deluce.
c/n 254 - built in 1985 -
curr. operated by 3 Wing, CFB Bagottville
Teacher, journalist, committed Christian, and first Secretary General of the African National Congress, Sol Plaatje (1876-1932) cycled around South Africa with a typewriter to document the devastating impact of the 1913 Land Act, which saw Black landowners dispossessed overnight in most of South Africa.
He is memorialised here at the Long March to Freedom exhibition at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in Maropeng, 55 km north west of Johannesburg. The Long March to Freedom consists of almost 100 life-sized bronze statues of people who resisted colonialism and apartheid from the 17th Century to the late 20th Century. It is said to be the largest exhibition of representational bronze sculptures anywhere in the world.
Committed to Lomography Babylon using a Leica M3 and 50 mm Summicron dual-range lens. Developed using Ars-Imago R9 (rodinal) 1:99 in a semi-stand process for 80 minutes and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
These birds are focused downward and have committed to the drop down to the pond in a steep descent... more a free fall drop (i.e., parachute) than a glide-in. This shot against a cloudy western sunset sky results in a silhouette view of the crane against the sky... but if you're familiar with these birds such shots offer no difficulty regarding their ID. The sky colors deepen so rapidly, and the bird groups continually arrive... you need to be constantly shooting to capture the ever changing spectacle! All of the subsequent shots this evening will be of silhouettes of the Cranes against the sky background.
IMG_8457; Sandhill Cranes
Committed to Ilford HP5+ using a Leica M3 and 50 mm Summilux ASPH lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
Committed to expired Kodak Ektachrome 100 using a Hasselblad 503CX and 100 mm f3.5 lens. Developed using an E6 kit from Ars-Imago and scanned using an Epson V850 using Silverfast.
Name: Reginald Stains alias Brown
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields
Arrested on: 4 December 1915
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-262-Reginald Stains AKA Brown
The Shields Daily News for 15 December 1915 reports:
“NORTH SHIELDS FALSE PRETENCES CASE. ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL.
Reginald Ashley Staines (30), chief steward, of 23 Milton Terrace, was brought up on remand at North Shields today, charged with having obtained by false pretences on the 22nd Nov. from Joseph Randell, the sum of £15 and on the 23rd ult. a further sum of £7 from Joseph Randell and Ed. Perris and on the same date in a like manner, the sum of £5 from William Manson Bews, with intent to cheat and defraud. Mr Frankham of Newcastle defended.
Joseph Randell of 40 Drummond Terrace stated that in the early part of November last defendant came to his shop and made reference to some previous groceries and wanted to open an account. On the 22nd October he ordered goods to be sent on board his ship. On the 22nd Nov. he wanted to cash a cheque for £15. He said he had got married and wanted to go to Liverpool and witness gave him the £15. Next day he again came to the shop and asked witness to cash another cheque for £7 and he said he would send his account from Liverpool in settlement for some goods. Witness cashed the cheque. He presented the cheques on the 22nd and 23rd Nov. and they were returned on the 24th and 25th.
Mr Frankham: Defendant has had other dealings with you for groceries and provision? – Yes.
Mr Frankham: Have you cashed other cheques for him? One, for £10, which was honoured.
Mr Frankham: If he had asked for the loan of a certain sum, would you have give him it? – No.
Mr Frankham: He never attempted to conceal where he was going to? – No.
Mr Frankham: You made no effort to get in touch with him? – Yes. Mr Perris went to his mother’s and could not get his address.
William Manson Bews, a tailor residing in Linskill Terrace, said that on the 23rd October the defendant came to his shop and ordered a frock suit, a jack suit, a double-breasted suit and a cap. He was dressed in a naval uniform and said the things had to be delivered to the Northumberland Arms. On the 22nd November he again came to the shop and asked for his account. He told witness he was a little short of cash. Witness gave him £5 and the defendant made out a cheque for £22 12s, in payment of the clothes and the money. The cheque was presented at Farrow’s Bank, Newcastle on the 24th and returned on the 26th. Witness still had all the clothes with the exception of the uniform.
George Graham Campbell of Farrow’s Bank said that no the 24th November the cheque produced, for £15, was presented and returned, marked ‘N.S.’. On that date the defendant only had £3 19s 6d in the bank. On the 25th November cheques for £7 and £22 12s were presented but the defendant only had a balance of £1 19s 6d then.
Detective-Sergeant Radcliffe stated that from certain information received he went to Brighton, on the 3rd inst. and took the defendant into custody from the Brighton police. He was brought to North Shields and when questioned replied “The only thing I can say is, the cheque must not have been met”. When charged later he made no reply. The defendant pleaded not guilty.
Mr Frankham said the defendant had not the slightest intent to rob anybody of money. He had a banking account and being newly married and unwell, had gone away and given these cheques. He had about £16 on board the ship and the officers were owing him about £30. The defendant gave a cheque for £1 on the 13th November as a donation to the YMCA. He had not tried to cover up any tracks and the officers on board HMS Satellite knew where he was.
The defendant, in giving evidence on his own behalf, said he was chief steward on HM Yacht Medusa II. The ship came into port on the 19th November and he had leave granted because he had been ill and he was going to be married. After the marriage he went to Liverpool and was there two days and he then went to London and Brighton. He sent his medical certificate to HMS Satellite. When he got the money from Mr Randell and Mr Bews he understood he had sufficient money in the bank to meet the cheques. Money was owing to him on board the ship but he could not say how much. He had no intention of defrauding the people.
The defendant was committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions”.
On 6 January 1916 at Northumberland Quarter Sessions Reginald Staines was acquitted on a charge of obtaining money by false pretences from tradesmen at North Shields.
These images are taken from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 (TWAM ref. DX1388/1). This set is our selection of the best mugshots taken during the First World War. They have been chosen because of the sharpness and general quality of the images. The album doesn’t record the details of each prisoner’s crimes, just their names and dates of arrest.
In order to discover the stories behind the mugshots, staff from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums visited North Shields Local Studies Library where they carefully searched through microfilm copies of the ‘Shields Daily News’ looking for newspaper reports of the court cases. The newspaper reports have been transcribed and added below each mugshot.
Combining these two separate records gives us a fascinating insight into life on the Home Front during the First World War. These images document the lives of people of different ages and backgrounds, both civilians and soldiers. Our purpose here is not to judge them but simply to reflect the realities of their time.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
Committed to Ferrania P30 using a Leica M3 and 50 mm Summicron dual-range lens. Developed using Ars-Imago R9 (rodinal) 1:99 in a semi-stand process for 80 minutes and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
;-) Texto en castellano mas abajo ;-)
Excuse me the many mistakes that sure I have committed in the translation, I hope that it is understood regardless!
Conclusion of the trilogy blog – pride – persons.
Third and last part of this trilogy that I dedicate to explain, and to explain myself, because I use the captions (feet) of my photos as if they were my personal blog.
Always I have been a crossdresser girl, an innate tendency that thankfully did not produce many concern to me, it was there, but separated from my habitual life. It was dominating my fantasies and dreams, but was not leaving trace in the "real" life. It was appearing in the moment in which one was giving an opportunity and was vanishing without leaving trace, as if it had never happened at all. I was never planning anything, never thinking about it except in my dreams, only… was arising occasionally, sometimes with many frequency, sometimes with long periods of inactivity. Until that came one day in which I wanted more, I started having concern, started having desires and this part of me that was living in my dreams until that moment, started emerging in my reality. It was then when I started investigating the subject, in the easiest and more safe way … Internet. I was lucky, found at the first attempt the suitable sites, far from the topics and the habitual image of the "transvestite" with which I was not identifying. I found heterosexuals crossdressers who understood the subject of similar form to how I was feeling. It was good for me, I could see from out, in other persons a sort of reflection of what I was, or I wanted to be. In this reflection I saw persons and saw pride, not because they wanted to transmit it deliberately, surely they were not thinking it, but it was what I saw, and I liked it. Different and complete persons to who the crossdress factor, was not limiting them and was not determining for entire. Crossdress was alone one more characteristic and they were not left to trap for a hackneyed role that really was not reflecting their true personality, except when wanted to do it. A characteristic that they were taking of natural form, with precaution against the dangers, but with the implicit pride of the one that does not make nothing bad. Yes, I was lucky, if instead of find initially the correct persons I had found the typical image of the transvestism, surely I had stopped searching soon, convinced to be totally atypical. And surely not had changed anything, probably my path would be the same, but I had felt isolated and alone in this. Because of it I would like to contribute to put my two cents in to give the image that I received in that moment. Flickr is the temple of the image, is not the appropriate site to write, but it is, probably, one of the first sites that visits a beginner crossdress girl, or someone interested in it… almost certainly, end up passing through Youtube or Flickr, and if fortuitously find my gallery, I hope that they see a gallery that, though it belongs to a silly and ugly girl with a low level of crossdress, it transmit the values that I liked to find so much. This one is not the reason for which I upload photos and videoes, but it is the principal reason for which I try to transmit my personality in what I do, because of it, even though it is not the suitable place and be so ephemeral as to construct sandcastles, I write whatever I think in every moment, things related to the crossdress and things that not, silly things and deep issues, my tastes and interests, my culture … because it is the gallery of a person … that among other many things, is a crossdresser girl and is proud of it.
Conclusión de la trilogía blog-orgullo-personas.
Tercera y última parte de esta trilogía que dedico a explicar, y a explicarme a mi misma de paso, el porque utilizo los pies de fotos como si fueran mi blog personal.
Siempre he sido una chica crossdresser, una tendencia innata que por suerte no me produjo muchas inquietudes, estaba ahí, pero separada de mi vida habitual. Dominaba mis fantasías y sueños, pero no dejaba huella en la vida “real”. Se manifestaba en el momento en que se daba una oportunidad y se desvanecía sin dejar huella, como si nunca hubiera pasado nada. Nunca planeaba nada, nunca pensaba en ello excepto en mis sueños, solo… surgía de vez en cuando, a veces con mucha frecuencia, a veces con largos periodos de inactividad. Hasta que llegó un día en que quise más, empecé a tener inquietudes, empecé a tener deseos y esa parte de mí que vivía en mis sueños hasta ese momento, empezó a emerger en mi realidad. Fue entonces cuando empecé a investigar sobre el tema, de la manera más fácil y segura… Internet. Tuve mucha suerte, encontré a la primera los sitios adecuados, lejos de los tópicos y la imagen habitual del “travesti” con la que no me identificaba. Encontré a crossdressers heterosexuales que entendían el tema de forma parecida a la que yo sentía. Eso fue bueno para mi, pude ver desde fuera, en otras personas una especie de reflejo de lo que yo era, o quería ser. En ese reflejo veía personas y veía orgullo, no porque ellas lo quisieran transmitir expresamente así, seguramente ni lo pensaban, pero era lo que yo veía, y me gustaba. Personas distintas y completas a la que el factor crossdress, ni limitaba ni condicionaba por entero. El crossdress era solo una característica más y no se dejaban aprisionar por un rol tópico que realmente no reflejaba su verdadera personalidad, excepto en los momentos que sí que querían hacerlo. Una característica que llevaban de forma natural, con precaución ante los peligros, pero con el orgullo implícito del que no hace nada malo. Sí, tuve suerte, si en vez de dar al principio con las personas correctas, hubiera encontrado la imagen típica del travestismo, seguramente hubiera dejado pronto de buscar, convencida de ser una bicho raro totalmente atípica. Y no es que hubiera cambiado nada, probablemente mi trayectoria sería la misma, pero me hubiera sentido aislada y sola en esto. Por eso me gustaría aportar mi granito de arena en dar la imagen que yo recibí en su momento. Flickr es el templo de la imagen, no es el sitio adecuado para escribir, pero sí es, probablemente, unos de los primeros sitio que visite una chica crossdress principiante, o alguien interesado por el tema… terminas pasando por Youtube o por Flickr casi seguro, y si por casualidad dan con mi galería, espero que vean una galería que, aunque sea de una chica tonta y fea con un nivel bastante bajo de crossdress, transmita los valores que a mi tanto me gustó encontrar. Esta no es la razón por la que subo fotos y videos, pero sí es la razón principal por la que intento transmitir mi personalidad en lo que hago, por eso escribo, aunque no sea el lugar adecuado y sea tan efímero como construir castillos de arena, lo que se me ocurre en cada momento, cosas relacionadas con el crossdress y cosas que no, disparates y temas profundos, mis gustos y aficiones, mi cultura… porque es la galería de una persona… que entre otras muchas cosas, es una chica crossdresser y está orgullosa de ello.
PS. Si quieres ver videos con este look (If you want see a videos with this look) :
In Youtube (recomendado, se ve mejor / recommended, it looks better):
(black version) www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ZCsLKcOQs
(blue version) www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lzDtTeAte4
In Flickr:
(black version) www.flickr.com/photos/61410455@N08/6884139200/in/photostream
(blue version) www.flickr.com/photos/61410455@N08/7177731536/in/photostream
PPS. También disponéis de una versión alternativa de esta foto con un estilo cómics en la siguiente dirección: / Also is available an alternate version of this photo, in a comics style, at the following link:
www.flickr.com/photos/61410455@N08/7308970340/in/photostream
Estoy muy orgullosa de esa versión, así como de la original que estáis viendo aquí. / I am very proud of that version and also the original photo you're seeing here ^_^
Today I committed to doing a film image. With the rain starting just as I started to shoot I figured the universe was encouraging me to shoot a portrait. The light in Luc’s room is the best in the house. It faces south, has floor to ceiling windows with the bottom half diffused with translucent coroplast. Aubrey was deep into Roblox but Luc was nice enough to give me a bit of time. So up came a piece of black foam core and away we went.
I actually missed focus on this frame but I don't mind as this is by far the strongest image of the set. I fudged the error with some liberal sharpening on the eyes in Capture One.
Shot with my Mamiya C220 and chrome 80mm f/2.8 lens wide open at 1/60 of a second, developed by hand in the upstairs bathroom and digitized with my Fujifilm X-T3 and old manual focus Nikkor 55 micro... all in the same day.
Expired Delta 100 Pro (2014) developed in Ilford DD-X in a Patterson tank for 11:30 minutes. Conversion from negative, spotting and some dodging done in Capture One Pro.
I just love the look of medium format film.
178/365
Committed to Ilford HP5+ using a Leica M6 and 50 mm Summicron v3 lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro. Dust removal and further contrast adjustment in Photoshop.
I'm not sure a bird can be anymore stretched out and committed to catching that fish than this massive eagle is. With the talons extended out front and the wings fully in the back position ready to apply as much force as possible to striking and clamping down on that fish, this eagle means business.
The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.
The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the life-giving milk from the mother’s bosom is but the mother’s life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel impregnates and may discolor. The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction.
Paul termed it “My gospel;” not that he had degraded it by his personal eccentricities or diverted it by selfish appropriation, but the gospel was put into the heart and lifeblood of the man Paul, as a personal trust to be executed by his Pauline traits, to be set aflame and empowered by the fiery energy of his fiery soul. Paul’s sermons—what were they? Where are they? Skeletons, scattered fragments, afloat on the sea of inspiration! But the man Paul, greater than his sermons, lives forever, in full form, feature and stature, with his molding hand on the Church. The preaching is but a voice. The voice in silence dies, the text is forgotten, the sermon fades from memory; the preacher lives.
The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces above the man. Dead men give out dead sermons, and dead sermons kill. Everything depends on the spiritual character of the preacher.
Edward M. Bounds, Power through Prayer (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999).
These birds are focused downward and have committed to the drop down to the pond in a steep descent... more a free fall drop (i.e., parachute) than a glide-in. This shot against a cloudy western sunset sky results in a silhouette view of the crane against the sky... but if you're familiar with these birds such shots offer no difficulty regarding their ID. The sky colors deepen so rapidly, and the bird groups continually arrive... you need to be constantly shooting to capture the ever changing spectacle! All of the subsequent shots this evening will be of silhouettes of the Cranes against the sky background.
IMG_8110; Committed To Land
Name: Henrietta
Age: 10 1/2
Gender: Girl / Cyborg
Place of birth: Italy
Places lived since: France
Parents’ names, backgrounds, occupations: Both her real Parents wore killed by Human traffickers.
Number of siblings: 0
Relationship with family (close? Estranged?): Due to her memories being removed throw brainwashing / re-conditioning she holds memories of her life before Jose... Its really for the best.
Happiest memory: Her first Memories of Opening her eyes and seeing Jose looking down at her, The nice man than gave her the first gift she remembers getting Her Name. ^_^
Childhood trauma: Do to her memories being wiped out she can not recall the Ones that Killed Her Parents and after doing well... we can just say really bad things and lift her for death after words. So its for the best she can not recall any of this things but for some reason it has some hold over her life sending her in to spells of depression and Suicidal Tendencies.
Nationality: Unknown she was found in Italy but full past is unknown.
Disabilities: Suffers Depression and very unstable.
Style of dress/typical outfit(s): She Likes the clothing that Jose Picks out for her because Jose is the most best person in the world.
Health: Her Body now that all the parts that wore damaged have been replaced by mechanical and reinforced the remaining parts has made it stronger than any normal Human... you could fire most guns at her and she would not die or at low calibers she would not even flinch.
Grooming: Along with her training to be a Assassin / Agent for the Government she has been taught how to keep the Appearance of a harmless little girl so that she could get closer to targets to kill or gather Info.
Unique mannerisms/physical habits: She Loves to hold her Monkey
Level of education: She has learned the most effective Tactics in the art of espionage and assassination. OH and she is in the 7th grade now since Jose rigged it so she could stay close to Hope. ^_^
Level of self esteem: Low... if it wore not for Jose she might not of made it this far along.
Gifts/talents: She if very gifted at playing the Violin she really likes to play for Jose because it makes him Smile. Oh she all so is very talented with her P90 and PPK.
Shortcomings: She has a really hard time making Choices on her own with no one there she very much becomes lost.
“Left brain” or “right brain” thinker?: She was trained to use both sides of her brain after all that part of her is still Human and there for needs to be conditioned.
Artistic?: she is very musical inclined she loves playing classical.. because it makes Jose smile.
Mathematical?: Very she can calculate distance, velocity, out side factors so that no matter what she can kill her targets even if they are mile out.
Makes decisions based mostly on emotions, or on logic?: She was told to follow Jose orders but now that he has ran away with her and trying to raise her as a little girl she finds that her Logic is not all ways the best and is lost as to what is the right choice to make on her own.
Life philosophy: She wants to make Jose Smile it means the world to her.
Religious stance: Roman Catholic
Cautious or daring?: Daring she will throw her self in to a fire fight and use her own body to shield Jose from oncoming fire with not even thinking about it.
Most sensitive about/vulnerable to: The Thought of making Jose made or sad.
Optimist or pessimist?: Pessimist.
Level of comfort with technology: She is really good at using her self after all she has more technology in her own body than most super
computers.
Current marital/relationship status: She is Single but she really wants to hold Jose hand.
Story of first kiss (if any–if not, how does he/she want it to happen?): She was sitting and taking Jose and telling him how she really wanted him to be happy and she would do any thing and understand even if it made him happy if she wore to just go away... But than He Set her on his lap and Kissed her on her forehead!! If you ask her It was the most amazing kiss ever!
A social person? : She had other friends back at the Agency that trains the Gunslinger girls but she has not seen them in a long time. But she dose have one other friend named Hope!
Most comfortable around (person): Jose
Oldest friend: Triela
How does she think others perceive her?: Maybe they like her, or maybe they don't but it dose not matter as long as Jose likes her!
How do others actually perceive her?: Shy, Sweet, kind, but if your her Target its more like a Little Demon, Scary, Or a sick nightmare.
Profession: Middle School Girl
Past occupations: Assassin / Agent
Passions: Making Jose Happy!
Attitude towards current job: Well School is a very different place and she is not a loud to take her guns with her so its sometimes even scary.
Attitude towards current coworkers, bosses, employees: The other kids are nice but she dose not understand them all the time.
Salary: Jose smiles!
Phobias: Being the center of attention.
Life goals: Making Jose so happy that he never looks sad ever again.
Dreams: She really has not plans for the future after all she has been trained to be what she is all ready so she has no dreams.
Greatest fears: Seeing Jose die!
Most ashamed of: Making Jose worried about her win she ran off with Hope to save Seele.
Obsessions: I bet you can guess ^_^
Secret hobbies: Hugging her Monkey.
Crimes committed (and was he/she caught? Charged?): Well Crime only is in the eyes of who holds the power after all they are all so the ones that hold the lays.
What she most wants to change about her current life: She Wishes she could be like Hope because Hope is so amazing.
What she most wants to change about her physical appearance: She wishes she was Prettier so Jose would spend more time with her and not other girls.
Night owl or early bird?: She most of the time raises with the sun but do to her training she can stay out 3 days with out sleep and still be just as sharp as if she had normal amount of sleep.
Light or heavy sleeper?: Very Light.
Favorite food: Gelati
Least favorite food: She dose not have any thing she dose not like after all if Jose tells her to eat it she will love it no matter the taste.
Favorite book: Art Of War, And Red Riding Hood.
Favorite movie: Sleeping
Beauty she likes to pretend she is the Princess and Jose is the Prince.
Favorite song: Beethoven's 5th
Least favorite song: all most ever Rap song ever made.
Coffee or tea?: Tea
Crunchy or smooth peanut
butter?: Smooth.
Type of car he/she drives (or wishes he/she drove): She really likes the Scooter and Hope drive around in.
Lefty or righty?: Both so if one is taken out she and kill just as well with the other.
Pets?: Stuffed Mr. Monkey.
Henrietta is a character from a Anime “Gunslinger Girls” in the Anime she was super adorable and really cute and they lift it open so that she could have a Happier future and that is were I started her up from. The Manga they had Jose killed her to end her Suffering and because she attacked him as she was having a flash back of her past and it really upset me so I just pretend that did not happen. I Started them off working for the government but win they are sent to Kill 2 children Jose finely gives in and decides he no long can live this life and nor can he force Henrietta to be the tool of murder for the government. In steed of reporting back the failure to his government agency he lift his country with Henrietta in hand. In hopes of giving her a better life.
But Henrietta is a trained Agent and was trained to follow the government and to follow Jose knowing that if this 2 ever conflicted it could set Henrietta into a state of Suicide not knowing what to do and shutting her self down as a result. So Jose told her that she is on a mission infiltrate a place called school were she is to attain the knowledge and to prove she did her job right that Jose would receive something called a Report card showing him how well she is doing. And she really dose her very best because making Jose is her most favorite thing in the world. Will Little Henrietta learn the lesson of living a happy life or will she be haunted by her unstable and depression till the end. Find out and follow her story after all more friends she has the better her chances are. ^_^
There is a few things that differ Like I gave her a monkey to play with because it was so cute and I all ways thought she needed a plushy in the Anime. And she was a little shorter I was thinking of getting her a smaller body but than her skirt might look really big on her. And there may be a few small details I might of mist or had to add on if it was not covered in the Anime.
It was a really cute Anime I know how it sounds but really she is super adorable throw the hole thing. ^_^
Committed to Ilford HP5+ using a Leica M6 and 50 mm Summicron v3 lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro. Dust removal and further contrast adjustment in Photoshop.
Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.
The park consists of 310.31 square kilometres (76,680 acres; 119.81 sq mi; 31,031 ha) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain annually.
Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was re designated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.
As stated in the foundation document in U.S. National Park Service website:
The purpose of Arches National Park is to protect extraordinary examples of geologic features including arches, natural bridges, windows, spires, and balanced rocks, as well as other features of geologic, historic, and scientific interest, and to provide opportunities to experience these resources and their associated values in their majestic natural settings.
The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area. This salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places and was deposited in the Paradox Basin of the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago (Mya) when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic (about 200 Mya), desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited. An additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone (about 140 Mya), was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of younger sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation.
The weight of this cover caused the salt bed below it to liquefy and thrust up layers of rock into salt domes. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual "salt anticlines" or linear regions of uplift. Faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge. The result of one such 2,500-foot (760 m) displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center.
As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the major formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the buff-colored Navajo Sandstone. These are visible in layer-cake fashion throughout most of the park. Over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits and pieces. Winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained. Wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Many damaged fins collapsed. Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections. These became the famous arches.
Although the park's terrain may appear rugged and durable, it is extremely fragile. More than 1 million visitors each year threaten the fragile high-desert ecosystem. The problem lies within the soil's crust, which is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in the dusty parts of the park. Factors that make Arches National Park sensitive to visitor damage include being a semiarid region, the scarce, unpredictable rainfall, lack of deep freezing, and lack of plant litter, which results in soils that have both a low resistance to and slow recovery from, compressional forces such as foot traffic. Methods of indicating effects on the soil are cytophobic soil crust index, measuring of water infiltration, and t-tests that are used to compare the values from the undisturbed and disturbed areas.
Geological processes that occurred over 300 million years ago caused a salt bed to be deposited, which today lies beneath the landscape of Arches National Park.[ Over time, the salt bed was covered with sediments that eventually compressed into rock layers that have since been named Entrada Standstone. Rock layers surrounding the edge of the salt bed continued to erode and shift into vertical sandstone walls called fins. Sand collected between vertical walls of the fins, then slightly acidic rain combined with carbon dioxide in the air allowed for the chemical formation of carbonic acid within the trapped sand. Over time, the carbonic acid dissolved the calcium carbonate that held the sandstone together. Many of the rock formations have weaker layers of rock on bottom that are holding stronger layers on top. The weaker layers would dissolve first, creating openings in the rock. Gravity caused pieces of the stronger rock layer to fall piece by piece into an arch shape. Arches form within rock fins at points of intense fracturing localization, or weak points in the rock's formation, caused by horizontal and vertical discontinuities. Lastly, water, wind, and time continued this erosion process and ultimately created the arches of Arches National Park. All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categories into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.
Humans have occupied the region since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Fremont people and Ancestral Puebloans lived in the area until about 700 years ago. Spanish missionaries encountered Ute and Paiute tribes in the area when they first came through in 1775, but the first European-Americans to attempt settlement in the area were the Mormon Elk Mountain Mission in 1855, who soon abandoned the area. Ranchers, farmers, and prospectors later settled Moab in the neighboring Riverine Valley in the late 1870s. Word of the beauty of the surrounding rock formations spread beyond the settlement as a possible tourist destination.
The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam, visited the area in September 1923 at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the Devils Garden (known today as the Klondike Bluffs). Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.
The following year, additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student (and future polar explorer) studying the geology of the nearby La Sal Mountains, who was shown the scenic area by local physician Dr. J. W. "Doc" Williams.
A succession of government investigators examined the area, in part due to confusion as to the precise location. In the process, the name Devils Garden was transposed to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley that includes Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted, while another area nearby, known locally as the Windows, was included. Designation of the area as a national monument was supported by the Park Service in 1926 but was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary, Hubert Work. Finally, in April 1929, shortly after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating the Arches National Monument, consisting of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. The purpose of the reservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act was to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations for their scientific and educational value. The name Arches was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.
In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation that enlarged the Arches to protect additional scenic features and permit the development of facilities to promote tourism. A small adjustment was made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.
In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the Arches. Two years later, President Richard Nixon signed legislation enacted by Congress, which significantly reduced the total area enclosed, but changed its status. Arches National Park was formally dedicated in May 1972.
In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park, prompting park officials to recruit physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, to use his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".
Climbing Balanced Rock or any named or unnamed arch in Arches National Park with an opening larger than 3 ft (0.9 m) is banned by park regulations. Climbing on other features in the park is allowed but regulated; in addition, slacklining and BASE jumping are banned parkwide.
Climbing on named arches within the park had long been banned by park regulations, but following Dean Potter's successful free climb on Delicate Arch in May 2006, the wording of the regulations was deemed unenforceable by the park attorney. In response, the park revised its regulations later that month, eventually imposing the current ban on arch climbing in 2014.
Approved recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.
Astronomy is also popular in the park due to its dark skies, despite the increasing light pollution from towns such as Moab.
Delicate Arch is the subject of the third 2014 quarter of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters program commemorating national parks and historic sites. The Arches quarter had the highest production of the five 2014 national park quarters, with more than 465 million minted.
American writer Edward Abbey was a park ranger at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, where he kept journals that became his book Desert Solitaire. The success of Abbey's book, as well as interest in adventure travel, has drawn many hikers, mountain bikers, and off-pavement driving enthusiasts to the area. Permitted activities within the park include camping, hiking along designated trails, backpacking, canyoneering, rock climbing, bicycling, and driving along existing roads, both paved and unpaved. The Hayduke Trail, an 812 mi (1,307 km) backpacking route named after one of Edward Abbey's characters, begins in the park.
An abundance of wildlife occurs in Arches National Park, including spadefoot toads, antelope squirrels, scrub jays, peregrine falcons, many kinds of sparrows, red foxes, desert bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, mule deers, cougars, midget faded rattlesnakes, yucca moths, western rattlesnakes, and collared lizards.
A number of plant species are common in the park, including prickly pear cactus, Indian ricegrass, bunch grasses, cheatgrass, moss, liverworts, Utah juniper, Mormon tea, blackbrush, cliffrose, four-winged saltbrush, pinyon pine, evening primrose, sand verbena, yucca, and sacred datura.
Biological soil crust consisting of cyanobacteria, lichen, mosses, green algae, and microfungi is found throughout southeastern Utah. The fibrous growths help keep soil particles together, creating a layer that is more resistant to erosion. The living soil layer readily absorbs and stores water, allowing more complex forms of plant life to grow in places with low precipitation levels.
Among the notable features of the park are the following:
Balanced Rock – a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
Courthouse Towers – a collection of tall stone columns
Dark Angel – a free-standing 150 ft-tall (46 m) sandstone pillar at the end of the Devils Garden Trail
Delicate Arch – a lone-standing arch that has become a symbol of Utah and the most recognized arch in the park
Devils Garden – many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
Double Arch – two arches that share a common end
Fiery Furnace – an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference, Book of Daniel, chapter 3)
Landscape Arch – a very thin and long arch in the Devils Garden with a span of 290 ft (88 m) (the longest arch in the park)
Petrified Dunes – petrified remnants of dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area
The Phallus – a rock spire that resembles a phallus
Wall Arch – located along the popular Devils Garden Trail; collapsed sometime on August 4/5, 2008
The Three Gossips –a mid-sized sandstone tower located in the Courthouse Towers area.
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.
People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:
use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.
The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.
In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.
Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:
William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866
3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
A Black man in Uintah, 1869
Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883
John Murphy in Park City, 1883
George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.
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Credit to Cami for the shading technique.
Committed to Ilford HP5+ pushed to 800 using a Leica M6 and 35 mm Summicron v3 lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
Committed to Ilford HP5+ using a Leica M6 and 35 mm Summicron v3 lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
Three orthodox Jews protesting against Israel's continued construction of illegal settlements and its atrocities committed against Palestinians. They had joined other demonstrators, who were angry at the failure of British authorities to arrest Ehud Barak, the butcher of Gaza, who was scheduled to give a talk at the Jewish Community Centre on Finchley Road to promote his memoirs.
[ Just in case anyone is interested I have attached a link to my research on British crimes against both Arabs and Jews in Palestine during the mandate period - 1919-1948. Use the following url and scroll down the list of countries alphabetically for Palestine - roguenation.org/choose-by-country/ ]
The police, instead of arresting Ehud Barak, had been instructed to protect him !
Barrack was Israel's Minister of Defence during Operation Cast Lead (also known as the Gaza massacre) in 2008-9, during which, according to United Nations figures, 1417 Palestinian were killed, the vast majority of them (926) civilians including 344 children, 250 police officers, civil defence works and ambulance drivers.
A passing out parade of police officers was deliberately targeted in the opening surprise aerial assault on 27 December. Civilian infrastructure was also targeted. Over half of Gaza's hospitals were seriously damaged or destroyed as well as tens of thousands of homes, half a million people were deprived of running water and a million people without any electric supply.
It is interesting to note that recently Ehud Barak has himself accused the current Israeli government of having been hijacked by extremists. Last year he wrote a piece for the New York Times observing that "our country now finds its very future, identity and security severely threatened by the whims and illusions of the ultranationalist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The demonstrators were however unwilling to trust a suspected war criminal now portraying himself as a moderate and they were also angry that two weeks earlier, on Monday 14th May 2018, 61 unarmed Palestinians, including several children and a baby, were killed by the Israeli army, most of them shot dead by precision snipers during a demonstration close to Gaza's border fence, although some may also have been killed by the excessive us of CS gas.
Apart from the shocking number of fatalities, over 2,000 Palestinians were injured (including at least eight journalists), over one thousand of them by live ammunition. On the same day, the United States had moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move which is a clear violation of international law. US president Donald Trump called it a "great day for Israel."
On the following day several hundred protesters had gathered in central London opposite Downing Street to protest against both the ongoing Israeli crimes against the population of Gaza and the West Bank and also British diplomatic and military support for Israel. Since 2014, the UK government has exported 445 million dollars worth of arms to the country, including components for fighter aircraft, helicopters and sniper rifles.
People in the demonstration on 15 May had expressed anger at the Israseli army's use of lethal force against unarmed protesters over the previous few weeks, which had resulted in the death of 111 demonstrators and thousands of civilian casualties. Needless to say not a single Israeli soldier had been injured and one of the Palestinians killed, Yasser Murtada, was a well respected journalist who had previously worked for the BBC, and was clearly wearing a PRESS jacket at the moment he was shot in the chest by a carefully aimed sniper's bullet.
He, like others, was also killed some distance from the illegally erected border/prison fence which isolates the population of Gaza from both their family relatives and any chance of gainful economic employment in wealthier areas. That's why the popular anology which compares Israel to South African apartheid is highly misleading because in South Africa, at least the white population needed the blacks as workers, even if they committed appalling atrocities, but in Israel the Palestinian population are neither needed nor wanted by Israeli employees.
Palestinians are treated worse than dogs, to whom humans tend to show some sympathy, but rather as unworthy of any consideration, so much so that past Israeli military operations against Gaza in which the planners know thousands of civilians are likely to die are given the military term "mowing the grass", because the Palestinian civilian population is considered of no more value in importance, than the ants one might tread underfoot when one ventures into the garden.
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Committed to expired Fujifilm Superia 100 using a Leica M6 and 28 mm Summicron ASPH lens. Developed using a C-41 kit from Ars-Imago and scanned using an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion, colour and levels done with Negative Lab Pro.
I wanted a long and committed relationship with my Canon EF 200mm f1.8L lens, but alas, the lens didn't want that. I had it only a few years before the USM focus motor fried, with the distance setting fixed at 4.5 meters. Everything else still works. I can change the aperture, take a picture and it still came out tack sharp and beautiful as it has always been. But it won't AF or even manual focus, as the lens was designed as focus-by-wire that requires the ultrasonic motor to function in order for the lens to focus manually.
No parts to fix it. Even with parts, it would cost more than $1000 to fix.
It's a sad and costly love affair that didn't last. I still love the lens, and hope that I can find someway to get it to focus manually, like putting the lens on a focus helicoid as Ian suggested.
I committed to bringing trophies for the World Architecture theme. I thought it would be fun to make a "triumphal arch", which seems to incorporate the theme of architecture along with triumphing. I think they look better in person. I was also severely limited in color and piece count and all the rest. Oh well.
For added extra fun, I'm going to give a presentation on cheese slope mosaics Sunday morning.
Then I'm going to write an article about the convention for Hispabrick Magazine. Busy times!
In a nation criminalising dissent, these two protesters committed their "crime" in broad daylight: they held a sign. Their simple placards directly challenge a government that prosecutes peaceful protesters under terror laws while remaining complicit in an assault that has systematically killed over 63,000 Palestinians. They acted in defiance of a state that ignores the deliberate weaponisation of starvation which created a confirmed famine in Gaza.
Their stance isn't radical; it reflects a powerful academic and human rights consensus. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, and even Israeli human rights groups have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide. The deep, weary but determined resolve on their faces is a silent testament to a profound moral clarity, a refusal to be silenced in the face of the gravest of all war crimes - genocide.
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Protest and the Price of Dissent: Palestine Action and the Criminalisation of Conscience
Parliament Square on Saturday, 6 September 2025 was a scene of quiet, almost solemn defiance. The air, usually thick with the noise of London traffic and crowds of tourists, was instead filled with a palpable tension, a shared gravity that emanated from the quiet determination of hundreds of protesters, many of them over 60 years old, some sitting on steps or stools and others lying on the grass.
They held not professionally printed banners, but handwritten cardboard signs, their messages stark against the historic grandeur of their surroundings. This was not a march of chants and slogans, but a silent vigil of civil disobedience, a deliberate and calculated act of defiance against the state.
On that day, my task was to photograph the protest against the proscription of the direct-action group Palestine Action. While not always agreeing entirely with the group’s methods, I could not help but be struck by the profound dedication etched on the faces of the individual protesters.
As they sat in silence, contemplating both the horrific gravity of the situation in Gaza and the enormity of the personal risk they were taking — courting arrest under terror laws for holding a simple placard — their expressions took on a quality not dissimilar to what war photographers once called the “thousand-yard stare.” It was a look of weary but deep and determined resolve, a silent testament to their readiness to face life-changing prosecution in the name of a principle.
This scene poses a profound and unsettling question for modern Britain. How did the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its democratic traditions and the right to protest, arrive at a point where hundreds of its citizens — clergy, doctors, veterans, and the elderly — could be arrested under counter-terrorism legislation for an act of silent, peaceful protest?
The events of that September afternoon were the culmination of a complex and contentious series of developments, but their significance extends far beyond a single organisation or demonstration. The proscription of Palestine Action has become a critical juncture in the nation’s relationship with dissent, a test of the elasticity of free expression, and a stark examination of its obligations under international law in the face of Israel deliberately engineering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
To understand what is at stake, one must unravel the threads that led to that moment: the identity of the movement, the state’s legal machinery of proscription, the confrontation in Parliament Square, and the political context that compelled so many to risk their liberty.
Direct Action and the State’s Response
Palestine Action, established in 2020, has never hidden its approach. Unlike traditional lobbying groups, it rejected appeals to political elites in favour of disrupting the physical infrastructure of complicity: factories producing parts for Israeli weapons systems, offices of arms manufacturers, and — eventually — military installations themselves.
Its tactics, while non-violent, were disruptive and confrontational. Red paint sprayed across buildings to symbolise blood, occupations that halted production, chains and locks on factory gates. For supporters, these were acts of conscience against a system enabling atrocities in Gaza. For the state, they were criminal disruptions of commerce.
That clash escalated steadily. In Oldham, a persistent campaign against Elbit Systems, a key manufacturer in the Israeli arms supply chain, culminated in the company abandoning its Ferranti site. Later actions targeted suppliers for F-35 fighter jets and other arms manufacturers.
These were no random acts of mindless vandalism but part of a deliberate strategy: to impose costs high enough that complicity in Israel’s war effort would become unsustainable.
The decisive rupture came in June 2025, when activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest airbase, and sprayed red paint into the engines of refuelling aircraft linked to operations over Gaza.
For the activists, it was a desperate attempt to interrupt a supply chain of surveillance and logistical support to a state commiting genocide. For the government, it crossed a line: military assets had been attacked. Within days, the Home Secretary announced Palestine Action would be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Proscription and the Expansion of “Terrorism”
Here lies the heart of the controversy. The Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism with unusual breadth, encompassing not only threats to life but also “serious damage to property” carried out for political or ideological aims. In this capacious definition, breaking a factory window or disabling a machine can be legally assimilated to mass murder.
By invoking this law, the government placed Palestine Action on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Supporting it — even symbolically — became a serious offence.
Since July 2025, merely expressing support for the organization can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
This is based on Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The specific offense is "recklessly expressing support for a proscribed organisation". However, according to Section 13 of the Act, a lower-level offence for actions like displaying hand held placards in support of a proscribed group carries a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or a fine of five thousand pounds or both.
Civil liberties groups and human rights bodies have denounced the proscription move as disproportionate. Their concern was not primarily whether Palestine Action’s tactics might violate existing criminal law. One might reasonably argue that they did unless they might sometimes be justified in the name of preventing a greater crime.
But reframing those actions as “terrorism” represented a dangerous category error. As many pointed out, terrorism has historically referred to violence against civilians. Expanding it to cover property damage risks draining the term of meaning. Worse, it arms the state with a stigma so powerful that it can delegitimise entire political positions without debate.
The implications go further. Proscription does not simply criminalise acts. It criminalises expressions of allegiance, conscience and even speech. To say “I support Palestine Action” is no longer an opinion but technically a serious crime. The state has moved from punishing deeds to punishing expressions of solidarity — a move with chilling consequences for democratic life.
Parliament Square: Civil Disobedience on Trial
It was this transformation that brought nearly 1,500 people into Parliament Square on 6 September. They knew what awaited them. Organisers announced in advance that protesters would hold signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” In doing so, they openly declared their intent to break the law.
The crowd was strikingly diverse. Retired doctors, clergy, war veterans, even an 83-year-old Anglican priest. Disabled activists came in wheelchairs; descendants of Holocaust survivors stood beside young students. This was not a hardened cadre of militants but a cross-section of society, many of whom had never before faced arrest.
At precisely 1 pm, the protesters all sat or lay down silently, cardboard signs raised. There was no chanting, no aggression — only a quiet insistence that they would not accept the criminalisation of conscience.
The police response was equally predictable. Hundreds of officers moved systematically through the crowd, arresting anyone displaying a sign. By the end of the day, nearly 900 people were detained under counter-terrorism law. It was one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history.
Official statements later alleged police were met with violence — officers punched, spat on, objects thrown. Yet independent observers, including Amnesty International, contradicted this. They reported a peaceful assembly disrupted by aggressive policing: batons drawn, protesters shoved, some bloodied.
www.amnesty.org/zh-hans/documents/eur45/0273/2025/en/
Video footage supported at least some of Amnesty's report.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQGFrqCf5U&t=1283s
The two narratives were irreconcilable, but only one carried the weight and authority of the state.
The entire event unfolded as political theatre. The government proscribed a group, thereby creating a new crime. Protesters, convinced the law was unjust, announced their intent to commit that crime peacefully. The police, forewarned, staged a vast operation. Each side acted out its script. The spectacle allowed the state to present itself as defending order against extremism — while in reality silencing dissent.
The Humanitarian Context: Why Protesters Risked All
To see the Parliament Square protest as a parochial dispute over free speech is to miss its driving force. The demonstrators were not there merely to defend abstract principles. They were responding to what they, and a growing body of international experts, describe as a genocide in Gaza.
By September 2025, Gaza had descended into almost total collapse. Over 63,000 Palestinians had been killed, the majority of them women and children. More than 150,000 had been injured, many maimed for life. Entire neighbourhoods had been flattened. Famine was confirmed in August, with Israel continuing to impose and even tighten deliberate restrictions on food, water, and fuel, a strategy condemned by human rights groups as a major war crime. Hospitals lay in ruins. Ninety percent of the population had been displaced.
It is in this context that the term genocide has been applied. Legal scholars point not only to mass killings but also to the deliberate infliction of life-destroying conditions, accompanied by rhetoric from Israeli officials dehumanising Palestinians as “human animals.” In September 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions met the legal definition of genocide.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde3eyzdr63o
Major NGOs, UN experts, and even Israeli human rights groups such as B’Tselem echoed that conclusion.
For the protesters, then, the question was not abstract but immediate: faced with what they saw as a genocide, could they in good conscience remain silent while their own government criminalised resistance to it? Their answer was to risk arrest, their placards making the moral connection explicit: opposing genocide meant supporting those who sought to stop it.
The Price of Dissent
The mass arrests in Parliament Square were not an isolated incident of law enforcement. They were the product of a broader trajectory: escalating tactics by a direct-action movement, a humanitarian catastrophe abroad, and a government determined to suppress dissent at home through the bluntest of instruments.
The official line insists that Palestine Action’s campaign constituted terrorism and thus warranted proscription. On this view, the arrests were simple enforcement of the law. Yet this account obscures the deeper reality: a precedent in which the state redefined non-lethal protest as terrorism, shifting from punishing actions to criminalising expressions of solidarity.
The cost is profound. Once speech and conscience themselves become suspect, dissent is no longer tolerated but pathologised. The chilling effect is already evident: individuals weigh not just whether to join a protest, but whether uttering support might expose them to years in prison. Terror laws, originally justified as a shield against mass violence, are recast as tools of political management.
The protesters understood this. That “thousand-yard stare” captured in their faces was not only the weight of potential arrest, but the knowledge of Gaza’s devastation, the famine and rubble, the deaths mounting daily. It was also the recognition that their own government had chosen to silence them rather than address its complicity.
In a functioning democracy, the question is not why citizens risk arrest for holding a handwritten cardboard sign. It is why a state finds it necessary to treat that act as a terror offence. The answer reveals a narrowing of democratic space, where conscience itself is deemed subversive. And that narrowing, history teaches, carries consequences not just for those arrested, but for the society that allows it.
I committed to post 8 images of each model... I have 5 more after this one.. I hope you all enjoy them..
This image is a product of one of two studio sessions I participated in recently. One night we shot High Key and the next night we shot Low Key. I will post them with alternating styles and models.
One of my good friends here on Flickr didn't know what High Key and Low Key lighting was. I wrote him a quick description that he found very helpful, so I thought I would share it here for those who might be interested.
This is a quick overview... Both High Key images and Low Key images make an intensive use of contrast, but in a very different way. When approaching a shoot of a dramatic portrait, the decision of making it a High Key, Low Key or "just" a regular image has great impact about the mood that this picture will convey. While High Key images are considered happy and will show your subject as a tooth-paste poster; Low Key portraits are dramatic and convey a lot of atmosphere and tension.
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This photo is of Alex, a veteran and dedicated activist committed to progressive causes - here protesting against Assange's continued imprisonment and extradition.
Thousands of people gathered around the British parliament on Saturday 8 October 1922 to form the first ever human chain to surround the building to protest against Julian Assange's continued imprisonment and extradition. Many of the activists had travelled hundreds of miles - I met people who had travelled from Belgium, France and Germany.
The long line of people snaked around parliament's perimeter railings and across both Lambeth and Westminster bridges as well as traversing the south side of the river between St. Thomas' Hospital and Lambeth Palace, each person holding the hand of the person next to them. As a few people attached yellow ribbons to the railings by parliament they were immediately instructed by the police to remove them.
For the last eight months Julian Assange, who is being held in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison, has been kept completely isolated and without visitors, except for his lawyers. He been detained in appalling conditions and the former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Neils Melzer, commented in 2019 that Assange showed 'all the symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture,' adding that 'what we have seen from the UK Government is outright contempt for Mr Assange's rights and integrity.'
www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2019/11/un-expert-torture...
The United States wants to extradite Julian Assange to the United States on a supposed charge of espionage. However, Assange's real crime is that he revealed US and Western war crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. As the founder and chief editor of Wikileaks he has provoked Washington's fury by the publication of US Army intelligence files leaked by Chelsea Manning in 2010 as well as subsequent revelations which have embarrassed the American establishment, including Democratic Party emails which showed how senior officials in the party's national committee favoured Hilary Clinton over the more progressive and radical Bernie Sanders.
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel signed off on the extradition request earlier in the year, but that order is currently being appealed by Assange's lawyers, who are awaiting a decision by the High Court on whether they will agree to hear it.
As far as I understand it, the remit of the appeal has been restricted to examining the United States' claimed legal promises on how Assange will be treated, rather than to the wider issues of freedom of speech, the CIA plot to assassinate him, the extent to which the evidence against him has obviously been fabricated or as to whether his treatment in Belmarsh Prison has amounted to torture.
The former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, attended Saturday's protest, as did the former leader of Unite, Len McLuskey, the independent (former Labour Party MP) Claudia Webbe, the comedian and actor Russel Brand and Mr Assange's wife, Stella. According to the Morning Star and the Evening Standard, Corbyn said
"I would say to MPs of any party, you're there to represent democracy and rights. That's what you sign up for. If Julian Assange is extradited, it will set forth fear among other journalists of doing anything to expose the truth. It becomes self-censorship of journalists all around the world. They'll say, 'hang, on, I'm not touching that, look what happened to Julian Assange.'"
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/thousands-gather-human-...
www.standard.co.uk/news/london/russell-brand-julian-assan...
If Assange is convicted in the United States on the charges of espionage for exposing US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other wrongdoing by the United States and other governments, he faces up to 175 years in prison. Two days after the protest, it was reported that Assange had contracted covid.
July 20th. Family is everything. I thought we'd do a family shot for the last pic in the theme of 'commit'. This is the first ever family jofolo pic on Flickr (and Ipernity) and also the first Mr jofolo shot. I should do more of these for the family album - they grow up so fast. It's hard to believe our eldest is now 15. We found out I was pregnant with her very early in our non married life, but you know when something is right. It was the push we both needed to settle. The next two followed very quickly and then we managed to get married before number four made her appearance. My lovely hubby and the kids (and the house, garden, and the dogs and cats and guinea pigs and frogs) are the biggest commitment I have ever made. And I love it!
Oh and after the serious shot we did the zombie shot in comments!
i have also chosen this as my weekly shot for the non themed 52s. week 29
Mais um livro novo: Committed - em português - Comprometida. Mesma autora de Comer, Amar e Rezar. (Bem mulherzinha, eu sei). Mais meu controle remote que chegou ontem. Já foi testado e aprovado! :)
Mais uma foto nos comentários!!!
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Books in Control
Another new book: Committed. Ok, very girly, I know! Also, my remote control that has arrived yesterday. I've tested and approved! So cool! :)
One more photo in the comments!!!