Loris Cecchini’s sculptures and installations take inspiration from frameworks found in nature to suggest organic processes and transformation. At the same time they allude to science and phenomenology, encouraging us to view them through our various experiences and knowledge. “Waterbones” composed of nearly 2,000 steel modules resembles coral, yet also appears to realize cellular structures or mathematic formulae three-dimensionally. The sculpture seems to proliferate in the space before us, keeping both its natural and scientific connotations in play. Despite its elements of steel, “Waterbones” intimates a delicacy that echoes the fragility of the earth’s coral reefs, 75% of which are threatened by rising ocean temperatures, marine pollution , and fishing for sport. Its scientific overtones, on the other hand, imply our capacity to conceive solutions to safeguard our future.

Junk accumulates around this once proud barn, the young family that was present when it was built are forever gone. A half century ago when I made my first return trips to our farm from college, I had become a spectator watching a play in which I no longer played a part. From that point on, I would always look back at the farm, not ahead. Now at my age, Going Home has a different connotation, one that is increasingly appealing.

— e e cummings

Onigawara are decorative features found most often on Buddhist temple roofs, though sometimes also on shrines or residences. Kawara is the word for ceramic roof tiles that were introduced into Japan along with Buddhism and temple architecture from the Korean Peninsula in the 6th century during the Asuka Period of Japanese history.

The word oni is somewhat more problematical to translate, with the word demon most often used, but in English the word demon has connotations of evil, whereas the Japanese oni does behave in evil ways, it is also capable of acting for good, so the word ogre is perhaps better.

Sometimes the word goblin is also used, though that word is often associated with another class of mythical creature called a Tengu. The simplest translation though is probably "demon tile".

Onigawara are found at the ends of the main roof ridge, the Ohmune, and at the ends of the descending ridges, the Kudarimune, and their practical purpose is to protect against weathering, and though primarily made of ceramic, stone or wood is not unknown.

Up to the Heian Period (794-1185) they were decorated with designs of flowers or animals, but from the Kamakura Period (1185-1332) the Oni design came to prominence.

Their spiritual function is to ward off evil, and so they have sometimes become associated with the European gargoyle. While onigawara are almost always Oni, there are some of other creatures, including Tengu and Kappa.

As well as Onigawara there are other types of decoration on temple roofs, the most well known being the Shachi, or Shachihoko, the mythical creature with the body of a fish and the head of a tiger.

These are placed on top of the main ridge and are to ward of fires. Big Shachi often covered in gold leaf will be found on top of Japanese castles. Other than the shachi there are various other figures found on roofs including komainu, phoenixes, monkeys, doves, etc.

Being ceramic, onigawara will often survive the periodic fires that tend to burn down temples and other wooden buildings in Japan and so older examples can often be found on display around the grounds of a temple or in the temple's treasure house.

Near Sensoji Temple | Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo

In 1786-1788 Alejandro Malaspina (1754-1810) and his crew circumnavigated the world on the behalf of the Royal Company of the Philippines. He was so successful that soon in 1789 the King of Spain commissioned him and José de Bustamante y Guerra (1759-1825) on a similar voyage for Spain. A scientific member of that crew was Luis Née (1735-1807). Née collected our Berberis in south-western North America near Monterey and provided it to Mariano Lagasca y Segura (1776-1839) in Madrid, who wote a Latin description (1816) and in turn sent seeds of the plant to Kew in England. And in 1823 an English description was published by The Botanical Register. As you can see the flowers are bright yellow, but the blue berries the plant yields after insects do their job were made into a purple dye (if the water pH was right) by Native Americans. It was used for pottery and for ceremonial purposes.

Visiting this afternoon was a male Common Spotted Hoverfly, Eupeodes luniger (see my earlier www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/27387211950/in/photoli...). 'Luniger' is from an ancient French word with the connotation of 'moonish'; the reference is to the moonlike yellow commas that decorate the insect.

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is well-known by many people all over the world, and generally underappreciated due to its "invasive" status in most places.

The male is quite a handsome bird actually, and I find their chirping rather pleasant if I can ignore connotations of large, dense flocks of scruffy town birds...

2020 has been a very special year to most of us and I am no exception. In spring, my best laid plans went awry within days and the hope for a quick return to my normal life proved to be in vain. It seemed only fitting that the great expectations for Comet ATLAS C/2019 Y4 proved to be a huge disappointment.

On the other hand, we rediscovered what is really important in life. I spent much time with my family and, thanks to the relatively liberal lockdown in Switzerland, I was also able to do a lot of astrophotography in my beautiful home country.

In July, Comet Neowise put up its unexpected show and allowed us to forget the pandemic for some time. While I had the privilege to capture it during several occasions, the best shooting was only a 3 kilometers from my home, over the medieval town Regensberg.

I recently found an unprocessed sequence of this outing and think it makes a great Christmas post. Apart from their obvious connotation as the Christmas stars, comets are also a perfect allegory for this year's ups and downs.

As the year is approaching its end, the approval for several promising vaccinations gives us hope that 2021 will let us return to our old lifes. Until then I hope you all stay safe a bit longer.

Merry Christmas to all!

EXIF

Canon EOS 7D mkii

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L @ 200mm

Skywatcher AZ-GTI mount, modified for astrophotography

Sky:

Stack of 7 x 20s @ ISO1600

Foreground:

Stack of 3 x 20s @ ISO1600

Ceramics done by a child for a father who was always writing. "Stift" has plenty of meanings, but the most common one is pen, pencil, even pin. A stift is something "stiff" in the sense of erect (steif). The fact that these Stifte are held by a round receptacle will not have escaped your attention. But it is not this sexual connotation that troubles me. What makes me think is that a child should have felt the need to support her father in activities that actually excluded her. Leica M8, Elmar (coll.) 90/4.

When you’re exhausted and your tireless toddler won’t give you a moment’s rest what do you do? Time-out has a different connotation when it’s coming from a mother polar bear. This cub spent over an hour climbing and chewing on its mother. Did the punishment help? Not at all. There’s something to be said for having twins that can keep each other busy. #PolarBears

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East Anglia is, apparently, 1/5 below sea level. The coastline along this stretch is also among the fastest eroding in Europe and has been receding since documented history.

These two facts, combined with potential increases in sea levels create a huge need to re-assess how we approach environmental issues like this. Do we act differently as a nation to help reduce our contribution to such problems or continue to patch up what we can, as we can?

There's surely no easy answer, but images of such places may help contribute toward a greater knowledge of the topic for people who previously were unaware, to help them gather information from which to form an opinion.

This stretch of concrete and rip rap runs along a huge stretch of coastline here. Despite the long term connotation presented above, I find them rather impressive.

Having spent some time living in Minnesota, there's a connotation to the phrase "Opening Day" that pairs nicely with the subject of this photo, Fishing Cone. We spent last weekend in Yellowstone to celebrate Mother's Day. We traveled to West Thumb Geyser Basin the first day the road was open to vehicles. You can see how the lake is still mostly frozen but melted out close to the shore where the geothermal activity is highest.

The rain eventually arrived early yesterday evening after no rain for the last three months. There were thunderstorms rattling around the area all afternoon and we thought they'd miss us but our patience paid off as we had a massive thunderstorm early evening and the heavens opened. So exciting (I get easily excited...)! We decided to get up and out for a walk earlier than usual this morning to take advantage of the fresher weather which has arrived following the thunderstorms and so we could discover a different wood next to a nearby village. Bob preferred this new wood and I must admit it was much better than our previous place (the one with a view to the monastery). The dampness was all pervading and gave off a beautiful pungent aroma of a mix of eucalyptus, pine, thyme and rosemary.

Another reason we gave the previous place for a walk a miss is because it's a public holiday in France today to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption (this 'marks the occasion of the Virgin Mary's bodily ascent to heaven at the end of her life') so because of the religious connotations we thought there might be pilgrims in the area we usually walk as it's a bit of a pilgrimage area walking between St Joseph's Monastery and the Shrine of Our Lady of Graces (church)

Happy Monday and have a great week ahead!

This mural presents us with a very rare blue lobster. It certainly catches the eye and is a fine piece of work by the artist. I was also struck by the geometric patterns of the factory wall and shadows. However, I'm not quite sure a "blue" lobster sends the best message about the quality of the seafood.

Anyone remember the heavy metal band Blue Öyster Cult? Perhaps this one represents the Blue LÖbster Cult.

Blue Öyster Cult was certainly an interesting creation that featured a unique alchemical symbol:

"The hook-and-cross logo was designed by Bill Gawlik in January 1972, and appears on all of the band's albums. In Greek mythology, '... the hook-and-cross symbol is that of Kronos (Cronus), the king of the Titans and father of Zeus ... and is the alchemical symbol for lead (a heavy metal), one of the heaviest of metals.' Sandy Pearlman considered this, combined with the heavy and distorted guitar sound of the band and decided the description 'heavy metal' would be apt for the band's sound. The hook-and-cross symbol also resembled the astrological symbol for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture, and the sickle, which is associated with both Kronos (Cronus) and Saturn (both the planet and the Roman god). The logo's '... metaphysical, alchemical and mythological connotations, combined with its similarity to some religious symbols gave it a flair of decadence and mystery ...'"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_%C3%96yster_Cult

la leggenda della runa

Nei paesi anglosassoni e del nord Europa, il suo nome richiama il mistero di tradizioni antichissime e perdute nel tempo. Per gli inglesi il sorbo non è conosciuto tanto come Mountain Ash, ossia frassino montano. Più spesso lo chiamano Rowan. l'etimologia, che richiama al nordico antico rūnar, ossia “scrittura segreta”.

La runa. Utilizzata nei rituali magici e religiosi dal mondo germanico antico, la runa era una scrittura composta di segni grafici, alfabetici e simbolici che veniva incisa, appunto, sul legno del Sorbo.

Qui, i druidi componevano le loro formule magiche e nel tempo il sorbo ha assunto una connotazione così fortemente benefica che chiunque avesse paura di streghe e licantropi non dimenticava di tenerne a portata di mano il legno e le bacche rosse.

The legend of the rune

In Anglo-Saxon and northern European countries, its name recalls the mystery of ancient traditions lost in time. To the English, the rowan is not so much known as Mountain Ash. More often they call it Rowan. the etymology, which recalls the Old Norse rūnar, meaning 'secret writing'.

The rune. Used in magical and religious rituals from the ancient Germanic world, the rune was a script composed of graphic, alphabetical and symbolic signs that was carved into the wood of the Rowan.

Here, the Druids composed their magic formulas and over time the rowan tree took on such a strongly beneficent connotation that anyone who was afraid of witches and werewolves did not forget to keep its wood and red berries close at hand.

la légende de la rune

Dans les pays anglo-saxons et d'Europe du Nord, son nom rappelle le mystère d'anciennes traditions perdues dans le temps. Pour les Anglais, le sorbier n'est pas tant connu sous le nom de Mountain Ash. Plus souvent, ils l'appellent Rowan. l'étymologie, qui rappelle le vieux norrois rūnar, signifiant " écriture secrète ".

La rune. Utilisée dans les rituels magiques et religieux de l'ancien monde germanique, la rune était une écriture composée de signes graphiques, alphabétiques et symboliques qui était gravée dans le bois du rônier.

C'est là que les druides composaient leurs formules magiques et, au fil du temps, le sorbier a pris une connotation si fortement bénéfique que quiconque craignait les sorcières et les loups-garous n'oubliait pas de garder son bois et ses baies rouges à portée de main.

There is quite a difference in winter versus the warm months in observing the eating habits of pheasants. In the summer time unless you are out very early in the mornings or happen to catch them searching for bits of gravel to serve as grit to help their digestion, pheasants often are more hidden as they seek things to eat. They normally have a menu with more entries on it than they do during the winter.

The phrase “scratching out a living” goes all the way back to the 14th-15th centuries when in the older farming communities the farmers “scratched” the land using more primitive tools.

By the 18th-19th centuries, the use of the phrase gained uses beyond that of farming to include anyone who was barely making ends meet in their day to day struggle.

Jump ahead until today and the phrase applies to a broad spectrum of normally physically hard, low paying jobs or an unstable work life.

I grew up in an era when there were only a few government help agencies and can well remember my folks talking about people around them during the Depression and beyond who spent many years on community “poor farms”.

Poor farms were quite prevalent at one time in the US and folks who were unable to work due to age, disability or other factors were housed and fed in exchange for helping to produce food and maintain a farm. Local governments ran the farms as they were considered a cost-effective way to care for the needy rather than simply doling out monies to individuals.

It carried negative connotations for participants, particularly because they were labeled “inmates.”

Poor farms gradually petered out by the middle of last century with many in Minnesota closing in the 1930s due to government programs starting up such as Social Security in 1935 and the growing prevalence of nursing homes.

(Photographed near Cambridge, MN)

"The Fifth Season " René Magritte, 1943 ; Oil on Canvas

Art Movement : Surrealism

Magritte Museum - Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

The painting presents two bowler-hatted artists crossing paths,or is it the same artist coming and going at the same time ...?

"All that I desire is to be enriched by intensely exciting new thoughts." René Magritte

The Fifth Season offers a new understanding of Magritte’s special position in the history of 20th-century art.His Art challenges the observer's perceptions of reality.Everything that is visible hides something that is invisible.When we look at a painting,we wonder about what is imagined and what is real.Is it about the reality of appearances or the appearance of reality? The painter himself gave the best answer :

"What’s genuinely real,there’s only a certain time when we get that feeling.And that’s what I try to express with my paintings."

René Magritte

The Belgian Surrealist René Magritte (1898–1967) was one of the most intriguing painters associated with the iconic Surrealist style.He balanced philosophy and fantasy to illuminate the gaps between what we see and what we know. His artful paradoxes reawaken age-old questions about what the senses apprehend,

what awareness and reflection contribute,and how we know.How do we understand and experience reality? How can painting help us contend with the ambiguities that surround us? Can art reflect these uncertain relationships in the world? Magritte’s work opened up these questions and many more that are still being examined.He playfully explored new styles,but his painting remained consistent in its cautionary message not to equate the observable world with the paradoxes within reality.

- For the Art Lovers -The painting next to "The Fifth Season" is :

"Flame" René Magritte, 1943 - Oil on Canvas, Surrealism

Beautiful painting!What connotations does "Flame" have for you? Any optimistic interpretations ? Alas.To me,Flame in a densely treed area reminds me of wildfires and the vicious circle that climate change worsens fires and fires worsen climate change.

PS : The Painter's' Insight into the Future

Posted for the Beginning of the Meteorological summer

June 1, 2019 in Northern Hemisphere and the observable effects of Global Climate Change.

Most Art in our current moment stands to address Climate Change in order to resonate deeply in our collective consciousness.Earth is changing face,we are under constant pressure of imminent disaster as our world is plagued by extended periods of climate disarray.It feels as if we should be prepared for "The Fifth Season ....

"I think we are responsible for the universe,but that doesn't mean we decide anything." Rene Magritte

The historic Kolb studio – the Victorian unimposing shack nestled at the South Grand Canyon rim – is a pilgrimage for photographers where one gets to brush warmly with spirits of the famous Kolb brothers. Kolb brothers are to Grand Canyon what Ansel Adams is to Yosemite – respective high-priests of these sumptuous temples. In the Kolb studio, an amble among their ideas, equipment and photographs – which are displayed artfully – injects a tantalizing reverberation with the majestic spectacle outside. While these antique cameras, darkroom equipment, and photos of Kolbs' daredevil acts furiously take your breath away, one also realizes hardships of photography in pre-Photoshop days.

“Have these images been digitally modified?”

It was here at the Kolb studio – at the gift shop on the top floor – where I heard an elderly lady ask the cashier the above question. She was referring to large panoramic posters of the canyon hanging from the wall that, in part, inspired this nomad to create the above shot.

“Most likely!”, the portly cashier replied, gently stroking his long white beard, “Some work is always done on images afterwards.”

“I don’t like digitally modified images”, the elderly lady said and then veered the conversation to something irrelevant.

Revealing the menacing negative connotation of our times associated with ‘Photoshop-ing’ images, this harmless conversation irritated me mildly. I almost wanted to remind the elderly lady that nothing is done in Photoshop today that yesterdays’ masters did not do in darkrooms. Is burning and dodging acceptable if done in the darkroom but not in Photoshop? And how much is the RAW file ‘modified’ in the camera by default before it becomes SOOC? But then, I did not engage her in the argument. You see, she is not the ‘problem’. The trickiness counter-intuitively lies in how we define a photograph.

Are our photographs mere documentation of a moment or are they expression of the moment as it resonated with the photographer? Are photos our statements or are they our voice? Are they pretty things to enhance our portfolios or are they our poems? Are photos our memories or are they our fond recollection of a few special ones? My take – after 33 years of juggling many cameras through darkroom and Photoshop eras of photography – is that, there are no correct answers to these questions. Like us individuals, our definitions of photographs are remarkably unique and diverse.

Therefore, as the elderly lady was leaving the historic Kolb studio, I held the door open for her, smiled genuinely and said, “Have a nice day”.

PS: It never fails to surprise me when one of my photos make it to Flickr Explore. I have no idea why they, including his one, end up getting selected. However, I appreciate every view, fave and comment several times more than the undeniable joy of being on Explore. Thank you!

Also, I appreciate every group invitation; thank you. I'm sorry, I've to decline them politely because it would be unfair to put my photos up there while I can't participate adequately in group activities (viewing, commenting etc.) due to scarcity of time.

Flowers photography with OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA EM-1 y OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro

Qu’est-ce que la dent de la Rancune ?

Nichée au cœur de la Vallée de Chaudefour, une vallée glacière issue de l’ancien stratovolcan du Sancy, la Dent de la Rancune est un Dyke volcanique dont le sommet culmine à 1493 mètres. Il s’agit en fait d’une remontée magmatique qui a suivi une fissure et qui s’est solidifiée. Puis, avec le temps et l’érosion, les couches géologiques environnantes se sont érodées pour ne laisser intacte que la roche la plus dure : la trachyte. Nous pouvons ainsi voir de nos jours, le résultat de milliers d’années d’érosion de cette vallée glacière. A côté de la Dent de la Rancune se trouvent également deux autres Dyke connus dans la région : la Crête de Coq et l’Aiguille du Moine.

D’où vient le nom Dent de la Rancune ?

D’après les textes ce nom serait à l’initiative du prêtre de Murol : l’abbé Léon Boudal qui, à l’époque, avait entrepris de renommer nombre de lieux de la région pour les rendre plus convenables. Ainsi à l’origine la Dent de la Rancune se serait appeler dans le patois local la Dent de la Rancul à la connotation phallique sans équivoque ou encore le Saut de la Pucelle un peu plus loin qui se retrouva baptisé en Dent du Marais.

site Sport sensation : www.sport-sensation.fr/escalade-de-la-dent-de-la-rancune/....

Bonne journée.

Merci pour vos visites et commentaires

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What is the Dent de la Rancune?

Nestled in the heart of the Vallée de Chaudefour, a glacial valley from the ancient Sancy stratovolcano, the Dent de la Rancune is a volcanic Dyke whose summit culminates at 1493 meters. It is in fact a magmatic upwelling that followed a fissure and solidified. Then, with time and erosion, the surrounding geological layers eroded to leave only the hardest rock intact: trachyte. We can thus see today, the result of thousands of years of erosion of this glacial valley. Next to the Dent de la Rancune are also two other Dykes known in the region: the Crête de Coq and the Aiguille du Moine.

Where does the name Dent de la Rancune come from?

According to the texts, this name would be at the initiative of the priest of Murol: Abbot Léon Boudal who, at the time, had undertaken to rename a number of places in the region to make them more suitable. Thus, originally the Dent de la Rancune would have been called in the local dialect the Dent de la Rancul with its unequivocal phallic connotation or even the Saut de la Pucelle a little further away which was baptized as Dent du Marais.

site Sport sensation : www.sport-sensation.fr/escalade-de-la-dent-de-la-rancune/....

Have a nice day

Thanks for your visits and comments.

The original Swallow Company, set up in 1922 changed its name to SS cars in 1934 (SS from Swallow Sidecars). It was only in 1945, due to the unpleasant connotations 'SS' had taken on during the Second World War that the name was changed to Jaguar Cars taking the name from one of its range of pre-war models.

Sigma 10-20mm

Another dawn coastal work from yesterday, I thought a portrait image would mix my feed up a bit, I say image as I’m really trying to avoid the word shoot or shot. I hate the word and it’s really inappropriate for photography, it has hunting connotations and I’ve got no good feelings towards that lobby. I saw a photography article yesterday with the headline “How many birds can you shoot in a day?”, come on, I had to look twice. So now I replace the word as much as possible with take or photo or image and try and drive that word out of my vocabulary. Anyway back to the photo, I’ve call it a bit of edge as that is what I thought the conditions this morning had, a wee bit threatening. Talking about edge, we are of to the supermarket shortly, I hate it. Today I will don a face covering as advised, and glare at all those who don’t have one on. Because as advice goes it’s only worth it if most do it, it’s not to protect you it’s to protect others. Smokers should definitely wear one, coughing all over the place. Whoops a bit of a rant sorry, probably lose a few follows this morning ;-)

The Red Dress Effect is a phenomenon in which people wearing red clothing, such as this [ASIA] CHERYL red dress, are perceived to be more sexually appealing. Studies suggests it makes you 70% more attractive.

In fact, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology shows that men think women in red are more attractive because they seem more sexually receptive (a.k.a. open to getting down). Bottom line: It's a color with very interesting connotations.

This extremely sexy and provocative [ASIA] CHERYL Dress comes with matching heels and HUD color textured coat (not shown). It is offered as a Fatpack in red, white, and pink color options. It fits Maitreya, Legacy, Reborn (+ Waifu), Erika, Kupra, and GenX (+Curvy) mesh bodies.

This [ASIA] CHERYL Dress is exclusively available at this month's Swank Winter Wonderland December Event.

Taxi to SWANK Winter Wonderland Event:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Swank%20Events/128/124/39

Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. Any use without permission is prohibited and illegal.

Copyright © Antoniociro 2014 All Rights Reserved

Thank you for your visit and comment!

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La Marina, uno dei quattro quartieri storici di Cagliari venne fondata dai Pisani nel XIII secolo come zona destinata ad ospitare magazzini e dimore di quanti lavoravano presso il vicino porto. In quei tempi lontani, venne cinto da mura e bastioni, riammodernate in seguito dagli spagnoli e infine demolite a partire dalla seconda metà del XIX secolo per far posto ai tre importanti assi viari Cagliaritani.

Dal XIV secolo, con la dominazione aragonese prima e spagnola poi, Marina crebbe come numero di abitanti e assunse sempre di più la connotazione di quartiere vivamente trafficato e animato da commerci dove per lo più dimoravano mercanti e pescatori e, comunità di persone rappresentanti le terre e le città con cui vi erano più stretti rapporti commerciali (ad esempio la comunità di siciliani, che faceva capo alla chiesa di Santa Rosalia e la comunità di genovesi, che facevano capo alla chiesa dei Santi Giorgio e Caterina).

Oggi la Marina si presenta come un quartiere carico di storia, (ma anche di localini dove poter trascorrere piacevolmente con amici la serata) che cerca lentamente di trovare il giusto modo per valorizzare le sue bellezze, spesso messe in pericolo dall'incuria e dal degrado e dalla speculazione edilizia del dopoguerra.

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The Marina, one of the four historical quarters of Cagliari was founded by Pisans in the 13th century as the area destined to accommodate warehouses and dwellings of those who worked at the nearby port. In those distant times, was surrounded by walls and ramparts, later refurbished by the Spanish and finally demolished starting from the second half of the 19th century to make room for three major axis Cagliari.

From the 14th century, with the aragonese domination first and then Spanish, Marina grew as the number of inhabitants and increasingly took on the connotation of a highly trafficked area, and animated by shops where dwelt mostly merchants and fishermen and community of people representing the lands and cities with which we were closer business relations (e.g. the Sicilian community, who was head of the Church of Santa Rosalia and the community of Genoa, who were headed to the Church of Saints George and Catherine).

Today the Marina looks like a neighborhood full of history, (but also of places where you can spend the evening with friends) that slowly tries to find the right way to valorise its beauties, often jeopardized by the neglect and degradation and encroachments by the post-war period.

Kind of funny though......Amethist is a purple stone...my birth stone, but prefer to wear Rubies or Emeralds instead...LOL!!..go figure!!

All our actions have consequences.

It is a phrase that makes me fall in love with it, perhaps because of its devastating meaning. We all undoubtedly remember an action that changed the course of our lives. Also the words that have been able to change our immediate future, just minutes after having expressed them.

They say that the value of the word has been lost; I have always understood that statement as meaning that the content has given way to the superfluous. However, for me, the word still has a sublime value. Possibly whoever reads these definitions, immediately, will be taken to some moment in his life where the very words drew a future with no possibility of returning to minutes before they came out of his mouth. I also believe that a large percentage of those who have just read this are thinking about a love relationship. It is not by chance, it is that we are beings that need to love. But to love deeply requires great courage. That implies losing ourselves in the other, with a very high gesture of understanding, of trust, of unlimited surrender. Therein lies the secret, the line that many of us cannot cross. What are those limits? The limits speak of leaving our shields behind, stripping ourselves of them until we are naked, without the absurd defenses of our greatest enemy in order to realize the divinity of surrender, our EGO. We understand the ego as an excessive overvaluation of ourselves. But there is more, Freud defines it as: a partially conscious part of the human personality that controls motility and mediates the three structures that (I defined them as our shields) the instincts of the ego, the ideals of the superego and the reality of the external world.

In order not to fall into psychological rhetoric, just in case the word "motility" does not have a correct translation, it means nothing more and nothing less than: the faculty to move, which living matter has as a response to certain stimuli.

Therein lies the center of the sacred or the divine. To use strong terms, but without any religious connotation, is there anything more sacred or divine than love? Is not the act of loving one of the greatest stimuli to which we are happily subjected?

I come back to the idea of being naked in front of the loved one. It takes a lot of Cojones, as the Spanish would say, to show our miseries, our weaknesses and why not, our worst secrets. It is there, where the basis of a true surrender of the soul begins to grow. Just as in war where, without a doubt, loyalty to our comrade in arms, to whom we give the place of guardian angel, happens the same as with the loved one.

At this point in my writing, I imagine that many of you are wondering what this is all about. I think that in order for you to understand the reason, I will ask: were those who have had the courage to leave their armor betrayed? As one who puts his chest, at the risk of receiving an accurate bullet, in the middle of the heart or in the opposite direction: have you neglected that being, who offered himself, gave himself and even sublimated your presence?

Without falling into mysticism, which in the end together with language collapse before an experience that transcends everything, I understand that everything is to be loved and to love.

Love in its pure state, although it has a lot of diffusion in movies, is not common to a great majority of people and to those who have come close enough, but have lost it, may nostalgia not cloud the search. For in addition to our ideals, our beliefs, often utopian, there is something we should not give up, we deserve to love and be loved in this way, here and now, in this life. My message to everyone, to those I consider my artist friends who have left me their best wishes for me, is this. To those who are lucky enough to feel that they have reached the great goal, my greatest and emotional congratulations and to those who are walking the path of possible encounter, much faith that surely on the same road in the opposite direction, there is also the one who goes in your search.

Todas nuestras acciones tienen consecuencias.

Es una frase que me enamora, tal vez por lo demoledor de su significado. Todos sin duda, recordamos una acción que cambió el rumbo de nuestras vidas. También las palabras dichas, que han sido capaces de modificar nuestro futuro inmediato, apenas minutos de haberlas expresadas.

Dicen, que el valor de la palabra se ha perdido, siempre he entendido esa afirmación, como que el contenido, dejo paso a lo superfluo. Sin embargo, para mí, la palabra sigue teniendo un valor sublime. Posiblemente quien lea estas definiciones, en forma inmediata, lo llevara a algún momento de su vida donde las mismísimas palabras dibujaron un futuro sin posibilidad de regresar a minutos antes de que las mismas salieran de sus bocas. También, creo, que a un gran porcentaje de quienes acaban de leer esto, estén pensando en alguna relación amorosa. No es casual, es que somos seres que necesitamos amar. Pero para amar profundamente se necesita de un gran valor. Eso implica perdernos en el otro, con un altísimo gesto de comprensión, de confianza, de entrega sin límites. Allí está el secreto, la línea a la cual muchos no podemos cruzar. ¿Cuáles son esos límites? Los limites, hablan de dejar nuestros escudos, despojarnos de ellos hasta quedar desnudos, sin defensas absurdas de nuestro mayor enemigo para concretar la divinidad de la entrega, nuestro EGO. Entendemos el ego, como una sobre valoración excesiva de nosotros mismos. Pero hay mas aún, Freud define el mismo como: parte parcialmente consciente de la personalidad humana que controla la motilidad y es mediadora de las tres estructuras que (las definí como nuestros escudos) instintos del ello, los ideales del superego y la realidad del mundo exterior.

Para no caer en retorica psicológica, por las dudas que la palabra “motilidad” no tenga una traducción correcta, significa nada mas ni nada menos que: la facultad de moverse, que tiene la materia viva como respuesta a ciertos estímulos.

Allí está el centro de lo sagrado o lo divino. Por usar términos fuertes, pero sin ninguna connotación religiosa. ¿Hay algo mas sagrado o divino que el amor? ¿Acaso, no es el acto de amar uno de los mayores estímulos, a los que felizmente estamos sometidos?

Vuelvo sobre la idea de estar desnudos frente al ser amado. Se necesita muchos Cojones, como dirían los españoles, para dejar ver nuestras miserias, nuestras debilidades y porque no, nuestros peores secretos. Es allí, donde comienza a crecer la base de una verdadera entrega del alma. Tal como en la guerra donde, sin duda, la lealtad a nuestro compañero de armas, a quien le otorgamos el lugar de ángel de la guarda, sucede lo mismo que con el ser amado.

A esta altura de mi escrito, imagino, que muchos se estarán preguntando a que viene todo esto. Creo que para que vosotros entiendan la razón, preguntaré: ¿fueron traicionados, quienes han tenido la valentía de dejar sus armaduras? Como quien pone su pecho, a riesgo de recibir un certero balazo, en medio del corazón o en sentido inverso: ¿han descuidado a ese ser, quien se ofreció, se entregó y hasta llego a sublimar vuestra presencia?

Sin caer en el misticismo, que en definitiva junto al lenguaje colapsan ante una experiencia que lo trasciende del todo, entiendo que ese todo, es ser amado y amar.

El amor en ese estado puro, aunque tenga mucha difusión en películas, no les es común a una gran mayoría de las personas y a las que se han acercado los suficiente, pero lo han perdido, qué la nostalgia no nuble la búsqueda. Pues además de nuestros ideales, nuestras creencias, muchas veces utópicas, hay algo a lo que no se debe claudicar, nos merecemos amar y ser amados de esa forma, aquí y ahora, en esta vida. Mi mensaje para todos, a los que considero mis amigos artistas quienes me han dejado escrito sus mejores deseos para mí, es este. A los que tienen la suerte de sentir que han logrado llegar a la gran meta, mi mayor y emotiva Felicitaciones y a los que están caminando por el sendero del posible encuentro, mucha fe que con seguridad en el mismo camino en sentido contrario, también esta quien va en tu búsqueda.

Best to be viewed in large size format.

The orchid is a peculiar plant and shows the most developed and the widest variety of types. Unlike the roses, which are always symmetric and of the same type. The very word orchid has a aphrodisiac connotation, because it comes from the Greek word orchis (testicle) and for the first Greeks botanics the shape of the species in the region resembled the male reproductive organ.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The word "Squaw" will soon be removed from locales and geographical features in the U.S., it was announced recently. When the word was widely used in the 19th century, many people were unaware of its racist and sexist connotations toward Native American women. (During that same era, the infamous N word was also widely used for geographic features. Those names were removed decades ago, in some cases at the cost of historical accuracy.)

no, i'm not coming out of anything! BUT i did have an adventure today. but let me first apologize for not visiting anyone's streams today--but my job is starting to go full tilt -- 12 hour days, 3 hour commute (total) and i'm one pooped puppy! but i am trying to keep up my 365 and i will try very hard to get to see everyone's streams. please bear with me...

but i do get to get out of the office for a half hour. today i took a walk down south street to go to starbucks and also to check out a bookstore called "calamus book store." i had been by before and i thought they sold mostly used books (which i love) and it looked so intriguing. it is a basement affair with a large window on the street -- very old fashioned. i had passed, as i said, and noticed that they had quite a few Christopher Isherwood books in the window. now that may or may not say anything about the establishment. yes i know Isherwood was gay, but so what -- i didn't think too much of it.

so i go to go into the store and a young man is leaving and he holds the door open for me. and i descend down old iron stairs into the main room of the store. it is loaded with books but very orderly and i can see, at a glance, that they also sell cards, calenders, that sort of thing. and then i realize what is on the cards and calenders. ahhhh. yes. so the elderly gentleman approaches me and asks me if he can help me. and i tell him that i would like to take some pictures. and he asks why and i tell him that i am trying to improve my photography and that i have been going to different establishments for practice. and he says ok, but no shots of the patrons.

so now i start to wander around and while really most of the books are just books, it's the photography all around with splashes of naked young men that makes me start to well, blush! i am not a prude and i think if i had been there with one of my gay friends i would have been very relaxed and i would be going through books and enjoying myself. but i started to feel self-conscious! but instead of it being a bad thing, i just started feeling a little silly and i finished my few shots and thanked the very kind man for letting me practice.

it was a very funny scene, in retrospect! i mean me! i was funny! and that is just fine!!!! life is indeed good!!!!

CCWeek31: high key

I have struggled with the Japanese artistic concept of wabi-sabi. As I contemplated what I was missing at my few attempts over the years at wabi-sabi inspired photography, I decided to go back to basics in this image. Since I read Chinese, the characters of the word popped out at me. For example, if the challenge in English is to show a "melancholy" tone in my photos, then the image needs to be melancholy. No mystery there. The two Chinese characters in the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (侘寂), or chaji in Chinese, informed me that wabi in art is boastful and sabi is alone.

Boastful wabi?!? I can easily imagine that the "boastful" Chinese character may be a Shinto priest's attempt at being facetious; that is to say, a reverse pride like bragging that my dad is poorer than your dad. I don't know the cultural accoutrements that have attached themselves to these words in Japan. I think it has the connotation to accentuate. It should be noted that wabi paradoxically can also be defined as despondent, that is to say, being in a low state. That may have been a more ancient definition that was transmitted to Japan. So, wabi-sabi highlights the humility and patched-up brokenness of something. The effort shows off, rather than underappreciates, a nostalgic beauty of a subject's brokenness, decay, suffering, and death. Life is ephemeral. Together, the art concept described in these two Chinese characters is about accentuating the wabi of being humbly timeworn with the sabi of aloneness.

Although my previous efforts had wabi, I realized that my images lacked sabi. I needed to show more aloneness in my wabi-sabi images, not just wear and tear.

Articles and books have been devoted to wabi-sabi to help guide a photographer's intuition. I've read some. It's left me more unsure. Confused. At times, the emphasis has been on the patina, texture, and subdued tone of a Shinto-like nature image. Some articles advocated new-fangled techniques of creating light leaks or fake film holes in digital post-processing to show or fake wabi's emphasis on imperfections, even in the photography procedure. Their look is somewhat Japanese, with a tinge of late 20th-century Kodak. However, surely, lonely cowboys and worn teddy bears have wabi-sabi too.

I have a propensity for tight frames, which is a hard habit to kick. In this image, I have given the subject some alone space. I am also experimenting with high-key whiteness, which I think can be used to better separate the subject, accentuate aloneness, and hint at death. I hope my brain is right on this because my Zen intuition is just not enough to guide me to the promised land.

Mucca_La Madre Cosmica

"... la Mucca o Vacca Sacra è colei che nutre con benevolenza, amore e dolcezza: connotati dell'archetipo della Madre Buona. ... La Mucca, con i suoi grandi occhi dolci, ... ci suggerisce di essere materni con tutto ciò che da noi nasce, nutrendo e proteggendo con amore le nostre creazioni."

Cow_The Cosmic Mother

"... the Cow or Sacred Cow is the one who nourishes with benevolence, love and sweetness: connotations of the archetype of the Good Mother. ... The Cow, with her large sweet eyes, ... suggests us to be maternal with everything that comes from us, nourishing and protecting our creations with love."

I testi citati sono di Federica Zizzari, tratti da "Animali Guida" ed. Vivida. The texts cited are by Federica Zizzari, taken from "Animali Guida" ed. Vivida.

Bing Image Creator

Apparently Lammergeier means 'sheep vulture' so can have negative connotations and represent the bird badly in some eyes........but I like the name, it sounds wild and untamed. It sounds like a bird that lives in the high places. This was taken in the Spanish Pyrennes in the Ordesa National Park. I like having the bird in it's environment but next time, all being well, I'll book a place in a hide to get some real close-ups. Magical birds in a magical place.

Ich gehe durch die Welt und rufe ‘Friede, Friede, Friede’.“

Dieses Zitat des italienischen Dichters Francesco Petrarca ergänzt die Plastik „Der Rufer“, die auf der Straße des 17. Juni steht. Der Bildhauer und Grafiker Gerhard Marcks hat die drei Meter hohe Bronze 1966 geschaffen.

Ein Nachguss der Plastik wurde 1989 zum 100. Geburtstag des Bildhauers aufgestellt - ein halbes Jahr vor Öffnung der Berliner Mauer. Die Figur des Rufers entstand 1966/1967 als Auftragswerk für Radio Bremen als Zeichen für Fernkommunikation ohne jegliche politische Bedeutungszuweisung. Der politisch motivierte Nachguß von 1989 wurde von einer privaten Stiftung von Banken sowie dem Axel-Springer-Verlag finanziert.

Quelle:

www.berlin.de/mauer/orte/gedenkorte/artikel.297851.php

und

bildhauerei-in-berlin.de/bildwerk/der-rufer-5025/

----------------

I walk through the world calling out 'Peace, peace, peace.'"

This quote from the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca complements the sculpture "The Caller," which stands on Straße des 17. Juni. The sculptor and graphic artist Gerhard Marcks created the three-meter-high bronze in 1966.

A cast of the sculpture was erected in 1989 to mark the sculptor's 100th birthday – six months before the Berlin Wall was opened. The figure of the Caller was created in 1966/1967 as a commissioned work for Radio Bremen as a symbol of long-distance communication without any political connotation. The politically motivated 1989 cast was financed by a private foundation of banks and the Axel Springer publishing house.

Ciutadella es la ciudad más poblada de Menorca (29.315 habitantes según INE 2011), y sede del obispado de la isla ; hasta 1714 fue residencia del gobernador británico de la isla así como de la Universidad General de Menorca . Actualmente se la denomina Ciutadella de Menorca de manera oficial, para no confundirla con otros topónimos de los Países Catalanes y añadiendo así ciertas connotaciones históricas en cuanto a la antigua personalidad política de esta población, antes de ser perdida por los catalanes.

***

Ciutadella is the most populated city in Menorca (29,315 inhabitants according to INE 2011), and the seat of the bishopric of the island; until 1714 it was the residence of the British governor of the island as well as the General University of Menorca. Currently it is called Ciutadella de Menorca officially, not to be confused with other place names of the Catalan Countries and adding certain historical connotations in terms of the former political personality of this population, before being lost by the Catalans.

Loris Cecchini’s sculptures and installations take inspiration from frameworks found in nature to suggest organic processes and transformation. At the same time they allude to science and phenomenology, encouraging us to view them through our various experiences and knowledge. “Waterbones” composed of nearly 2,000 steel modules resembles coral, yet also appears to realize cellular structures or mathematic formulae three-dimensionally. The sculpture seems to proliferate in the space before us, keeping both its natural and scientific connotations in play. Despite its elements of steel, “Waterbones” intimates a delicacy that echoes the fragility of the earth’s coral reefs, 75% of which are threatened by rising ocean temperatures, marine pollution , and fishing for sport. Its scientific overtones, on the other hand, imply our capacity to conceive solutions to safeguard our future.

At Good Harbor Beach, a footbridge crosses the creek, where the tide runs briskly to fill and empty the adjacent salt marsh twice every day. The bridge ends here, where you can simply step off the small concrete pier onto the sand. Unless there is an astronomical high tide.

Now, I know "astronomical" is used literally here by local meteorolgists, to refer to the effects of the gravity of the sun and moon, but it always stikes me as dragging in connotations of "extraordinary," "monumental," "gargantuan," "insane," and, well, just plain "big." All of which were the case this day.

The two photo’s (Light in the Forest, Forest of Light) are connected by location and subject.

This one is taken in a small wooded area surrounding Keele Hall, Staffordshire and depicts the light shining through the trees and has the title “Light in the Forest”

The Other is a night time view of a sculpture a few hundred yards away by Diane Maclean, titled “Forest of Light” situated in the grounds of Keele University, Staffordshire.

Both images together invoke many meanings and connotations to an individual, I’ll leave it to you to decide……………...

I see my contacts have been converted into followers. Seems the circular table of Flickr has now become rectangular.

Not sure about how you feel about it, but for me it sounds pretentious to talk about my followers. Contacts had connotations of mutuality. Followers sounds hierarchical.

...

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Au delà de la métaphore de la plénitude sphérique de notre planète et du fruit, la couleur bleue est porteuse de félicité car elle se rattache à l'azur du ciel, à l'air, à l'idéal. Autrement dit ce premier vers peut s'écrire "la terre est céleste".

Notre planète, aux trois quarts recouverte d'eau nous apparaît bleue mais cependant illuminée du rayonnement orange du soleil.

En quelques mots Eluard nous donne l'image d'une terre céleste comme un beau fruit de fête, elle en a la rondeur, le pulpeux, le parfum. La métaphore n'est donc pas aussi absurde qu'il y parait, elle est légitime, explicable, toute en nuance, en connotations comme souvent chaque métaphore en poésie.

Je vous livre l'intégralité du poème :

La terre est bleue ( recueil L' amour la poésie.)

La terre est bleue comme une orange

Jamais une erreur les mots ne mentent pas

Ils ne vous donnent plus à chanter

Au tour des baisers de s'entendre

Les fous et les amours

Elle sa bouche d'alliance

Tous les secrets tous les sourires

Et quels vêtements d'indulgence

À la croire toute nue.

Les guêpes fleurissent vert

L'aube se passe autour du cou

Un collier de fenêtres

Des ailes couvrent les feuilles

Tu as toutes les joies solaires

Tout le soleil sur la terre

Sur les chemins de ta beauté.

Beyond the metaphor of the spherical fullness of our planet and the fruit, the color blue carries happiness because it is linked to the azure of the sky, to the air, to the ideal. In other words this first verse can be written "the earth is celestial".

Our planet, three-quarters covered in water, appears blue to us but nevertheless illuminated by the orange radiation of the sun.

In a few words Eluard gives us the image of a celestial land like a beautiful festive fruit, it has the roundness, the pulpiness, the perfume. The metaphor is therefore not as absurd as it seems, it is legitimate, explainable, full of nuance and connotations, as is often the case with every metaphor in poetry.

I give you the entire poem:

The earth is blue (collection Love poetry.)

The earth is blue like an orange

Never a mistake words don't lie

They don't give you anything to sing anymore

It's the turn of kisses to hear each other

Fools and Loves

She her mouth of alliance

All the secrets all the smiles

And what clothes of indulgence

As if she were completely naked.

Wasps bloom green

The dawn is around the neck

A necklace of windows

Wings cover the leaves

You have all the solar joys

All the sun on earth

On the paths of your beauty.

العقيلات (جمع عقيل) هم مجموعة من الرجال من قبائل مختلفه حملوا على عاتقهم عبئ التجارة وتحملوا عناء ومشقة السفر ومخاطر الصحراء ، فـ شيّـدوا بذلك دعامة متينة للإقتصاد في المملكة العربية السعودية ، حتى عــُـرف عهدهم بـ اقتصاد العقيلات

أغلب هؤلاء الرجال هم من رجال نجد والقصيم (وبريدة تحديداً) ، ولهم أمراء -في وقتهم- معروفين ، حيث استمرت تجارتهم ما يقارب الأربعة قرون كان آخر عهدها عام 1949

وقد سـُـمّـو بالـ"عقيلات" نظراً لارتدائهم العمامة والعقال ، وكانت تجارتهم آنذاك تختص بالإبل في الدرجة الأولى ، والخيل والمواشي والسمن والتوابل والأقمشة ، حيث كانوا يسلكون طرقاً للتجارة من القصيم إلى كل من الكويت والعراق ومصر والشام والأردن وفلسطين

وبذلك فهم من الجيل القديم الذي عمل بالإستيراد والتصدير من وإلى الجزيرة العربية

وكانت رحلاتهم تستغرق شهوراً ، وأحياناً سنيناً طوال ، يقطعون فيها الصحراء بكل عزم وثبات لسياقة الإبل وغيرها من السلع ، وبيعها في البلدان المذكورة أعلاه

ومن أشهر أمرائهم آل الدخيل ، العجلان ، التويجري ، الفوزان ، آل الجربوع ، آل الرميح ، آل الشريدة ، آل الربدي ... وغيرهم

أما الرجل في هذه الصورة فهو العم إبراهيم من القصيم ، أحد أحفاد العقيلات ، وجدته بسوق الحرف بمدينه بريدة ، حيث يملك "دكاناً" صغيراً يعرض فيه مستلزمات رحــّـالة العقيلات وإبلهم

وبينما كنا نتجاذب أطراف الحديث سالته عن عمره ، فسكت لـ برهة ، ثم ابتسم وقال أنه لم يتجاوز السبعين عاماً ، وعلت ملامحه ابتسامة المقبل على الحياة بكل شغف

تبسمت بدوري وعلمت انه تجاوز السبعين خريفاً بأشواط عديده .. لكن روحه لا تزال يانعة

رجالٌ بالكاد يجهلهم التاريخ ، وبالكاد يعرفهم أبناء اليوم

تم إلتقاطها أثناء جولتي بمنطقة القصيم

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Al-Okailat is a group of brave men from different tribes of Najd - Al-Qassim (spicifically Buraydah) who travelled between the Arabian Peninsula and Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine for trade purposes; establishing a firm economic power at the time via import-export business.

Their main cargo is camles along with horses, livestock, spices, fabric and cooking oil.

Their era continued for about 4 (four) centuries up to 1949 A.D. and was a landmark of the economic development of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.

Their journies were through harsh environments (mainly deserts) facing sand storms, freezing nights and bandits. Thus, they were to show great deal of courage and bravery.

Their journies took months, and most of the time years of travel, and among the qualities that seem to be connotations attributed to their name were generosity and noble moral code.

The man in this photo is Ibraheem (Abraham), a grand son of the Okailat whom I met in Qassim - Buraydah, Crafts Market. He owns a small shop and displays various tools and equipment used by the Okailat at the time.

as we were talking I asked him "how old are you?"

He took a split second of silence, smiled and said "Not more than 70." showing a passionate appetite for life!

I smiled back and knew he is much older than 70 years, but has the spirit of a young vigorous man.

Al Okailat: Brave men that history knows very well, while the young generation knows so little about.

Taken during my visit to Al-Qassim

I love the fragile filaments upholding yellow orange pollen covered stamens. The leaves form a perfect cup for accumulating water drops. And the purple surrounding edges. A simple groundcover that is simply beatutiful.

Tradescantia pallida is a species of spiderwort commonly known as Wandering Jew, though it cannot be said when, where, or by whom it was first called this. But, considering the term's negative connotation, it would be safe to assume the originator's intent was not to highlight the plant's more favorable qualities. Other common names include Purple Heart and Purple Queen.

T. pallida can be primarily described as an evergreen scrambling perennial plant distinguished by elongated, pointed leaves - themselves glaucous green, fringed with red or purple - and bearing small, sterile three-petaled flowers of white, pink or purple.

Widely used as an ornamental plant in gardens and borders as a ground cover, hanging plant, or - particularly in colder climates where it cannot survive the winter season - houseplant, it is propagated easily by cuttings (the stems are visibly segmented and roots will frequently grow from the joints). It is shade-tolerant and can thrive in a wide range of soil conditions where it has not been intentionally cultivated and carefully maintained. In areas throughout the southern United States and Australia, it is considered an invasive weed and has defied many attempts at control or eradication.

As a houseplant, T. pallida is exceptionally effective at improving indoor air quality by filtering out Volatile Organic Compounds, a class of common pollutants and respiratory irritants, via a process known as phytoremediation.

Tradescantia pallida, Wandering Jew, Purple Heart, Purple Queen

Biscayne Park, FL

www.susanfordcollins.com

Khalil Chishtree’s installation of ethereal life-sized figures offers an upbeat and humanitarian take on plastic pollution and our threatened ecosystem. Chishtree wields one of the most ordinary and ubiquitous materials of our era, the plastic bag, to explore both the material’s possibilities and connotations for the well-being of the human race. Realizing only one figure in its entirety, and leaving the others incomplete, Chishtree accentuates the importance of progress and change as we encounter the challenges of that plastic pollution has wrought on our land and oceans. We greet his figures holding hands in a circle facing towards us in an expression of mutual support and empathy. Composed entirely of white plastic garbage bags, their material denotes man’s responsibility to the environment, and the need to act together towards a cleaner ecosystem.

Europe, Netherlands, Zuid Holland, Den Haag, New Babylon, Den Haag Centraal station, Cyclist (slightly cut from all sides)

The Den Haag Centraal station with the City Tower condo highrise, an element of the ‘New Babylon’ (re-)development project (MVSA architects, 2012). The project surroundings are partly blended in by their reflection.

The name can be taken at face value, the project entailed the redevelopment of the Babylon mall but is also an ironical (cynical) reference to the art installation with the same name (1974) of Constant – with it he proposed a new urbanity which would leave the bourgeois metropolis behind and would be populated by the free and creative Homo Ludens - man at play. A nice touch, ‘cause Constant was nicely ironic himself using the name Babylon with its negative (sinful) biblical connotation.

This is number 71 of the Den Haag album and 930 of Minimalism / explicit Graphism.

The concept of "emptiness" usually has negative connotations, but for some reason ever since childhood I have always been drawn towards emptiness and find it a most beautiful thing! To me it signifies a space to feel safe and free.

(I'm working on catching up with everybody ...)

Sunset lighting up the Horsetail Waterfall on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

El Capitan is a 3,000 foot tall vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Every year in February the setting sun will line up with the Horsetail Falls giving everyone quite the show, making it appear as if the water is liquid fire coming over the cliff face.

Some people have coined this phenomenon "Firefalls", unfortunately this name has a bad connotation with a past event in Yosemite Valley, The Yosemite Firefall was a summer time event that began in 1872 and continued for almost a century, in which burning hot embers were spilled from the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet (900 m) below. From a distance it appeared as a glowing waterfall. This event no longer happens, finally ending in 1968.

The current show is a natural phenomenon and is dependent on a couple of details. If it is a dry year and not enough water is coming over the falls at this time, no show. If a clouds roll in to the area and block the sun light, no show. The night before I took this photo it was snowing right around sunset, and even though it got close to giving us the effect that everyone was looking for, it did not happen.

So every day is different, you never know what you are going to get when you go there.

Sam Jinks' hyperreal sculpture, The Messenger (Iris) 2018 is seriously beautiful. Her nakedness has no sexual connotation at all here, for she represents purity, truthfulness, and unconditional love (ἀγάπη).

She is engaged in pouring a libation (perhaps of wine) in honour of a god, spirit, or in memory of dead ancestors. Libations were central to the ancient Greek mystery religions, and such an act was highly symbolic and sacred (I refer you back to Sam Jinks' statements at the beginning of this series).

The image depicts a simple physical balance but the phrase "on a knife edge" has much wider connotations and can apply to all manner of situations in which the outcome could easily go one way or another.. I used in-camera focus stacking for this image to achieve the depth of field. Annoyingly the bottom of the coin is opposite the P on one of the twelve apexes so it is impossible to stand the coin upright!

This is a scene from Ipstones Edge (Blackheath NR to be precise). The image is full of possible interpretaitons I guess.

My own title. 'Invocation'. is not meant to suggest any kind of religious connotations (although there would nothing wrong with interpreting it that way) but of magical tales where nature is able to invoke forces of good and evil. Its a sense that you get just being in that special, remote and ancient site but here it's enhanced by a few post processing effects

Cette œuvre s’inscrit dans le contexte des tendances artistiques internationales à partir des années 1950 et surtout 1960, au moment où le pop art donne le ton en Occident. Les adeptes de ce mouvement refusent le cloisonnement des arts et s’emploient à restaurer le lien entre l'art et la société. Ils puisent leur inspiration dans la société de consommation contemporaine et intègrent ses produits et ses manifestations dans leurs œuvres, tout en fustigeant au passage son nivellement par le bas. Au moment de sa réalisation en 1975, la sculpture de Verduyn a une connotation critique : la jeune femme se conforme délibérément aux codes imposés (vêtements, coiffure et maquillage). L'installation de cette figurante dans le temple du musée tient de la provocation. Malgré la nostalgie rétro que cette œuvre peut aujourd’hui susciter, son sens initial n’a rien perdu de son actualité. Le personnage hyperréaliste grandeur nature de Jacques Verduyn incarne la désacralisation de l’œuvre d’art et son intégration de la vie quotidienne, dans la lignée des artistes pop.

This work is part of the context of international artistic trends from the 1950s and especially the 1960s, when pop art set the tone in the West. Followers of this movement refuse the compartmentalization of the arts and work to restore the link between art and society. They draw their inspiration from contemporary consumer society and integrate its products and manifestations into their works, while criticizing its leveling down in the process. At the time of its creation in 1975, Verduyn's sculpture had a critical connotation: the young woman deliberately conforms to imposed codes (clothing, hairstyle and makeup). The installation of this extra in the museum temple is provocative. Despite the retro nostalgia that this work can arouse today, its initial meaning has lost none of its relevance. The life-size hyperrealistic character of Jacques Verduyn embodies the desecration of the work of art and its integration of daily life, in the tradition of pop artists.

The Mochicas transcribed in ceramics all aspects of their life and environment, including even elements that were not part of their reality. In the Andes, all the forces that animate the world are linked and they also have symbolic connotations. On this ceramic, the craftsman modelled a marine shell which is an important food in the pre-Hispanic diet. The inside of the shell is not visible, but it contains life: its interior is also the container of water.