Having been trying to get my P950 back into how it used to work. Several re-sets & got rid of some of the problems but not all. Dashed out last evening for a couple of garden shots to test. Only problem for me now is the review system seems tyo have changed & i want it back to full frame review.

My white double flowered Hybiscus is doing well. Probably because it is in the dryist sheltered part of the gdn

Low light in the garage and his lightening fast reflexes make for a grainy action shot. But his joy and mirth come through.

He dashed in, did a tuck and roll (photo), tossed the mouse skyward and then recaptured before it fell to the ground.

That blue eyed squeaky toy is so done for!

Rusty keeps getting to be a stronger and healthier Bengal Kitty every day :)

While on a short hike in the Sierra foothills, I happened upon butterflies flitting about in a tiny wildflower patch, so I dashed to the car to grab my telephoto and capture some springtime images.

www.optimalfocusphotography.com/

This is picture number 20 of 100 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the flickr.com/groups/100strangers/ Flickr Group page

It was midday when I dashed out to run a quick errand, camera in my bag but no real expectations of using it, when right there in my own street were these two beautiful girls - what could I do but ask to make their portrait?

Natalia and Marisa have been friends for "oooooh forever!!" - well since they were about three years old. Now that they are at uni in different cities, they find that their friendship is stronger than ever when they do get to see each other. Natalia is studying Psychology, and Marisa is in her 5th year of Medicine.

In terms of the portraits, midday of a glaring summer's day is not an ideal time! The sun was high overhead and there was precious little suitable shade. What's more, my street offered little in the way of backgrounds. We tried the mustard coloured wall, an off-white patterned gate, there was a grubby grey wall that I refused to consider, there was a shot against a white wall, and of course these ones, crammed hard against the greenery in what little shade remained.

We did photos of the two girls separately, and there were some really good results. This photo was the very last one, and was at their request. I debated about adding one each of the individual photos to the project, but finally settled on this one as it seems such a delightful photo.

Natalia and Marisa, I hope you like it, and thanks for the fun!!

Two 4 hr sessions with the river Gwash Ospreys in Rutland. Both were pm . We had booked well in advance as it is very popular. 1st session our excitement was dashed due to the good old english climate, it could not have been more gloomy. We had one dive from the Osprey in the photo before we ran out of camera settings. ( no where near enough speed to freeze the action ) 2nd day conditions had much improved by the afternoon after a wet morning. Everything was perfect for the photo, plenty of shutter speed etc and so we waited! sadly it was to be a no show, very disappointing. So for our efforts we had one dive in 8 hrs, and one chaotic attempt at a photo, just a shame it missed the fish and we could not get the best from the cameras. Will return soon!

千葉県鴨川市

Assuming this is the same bird, it has spent several summers now on the coast of Northumberland. This year it mated with an Arctic Tern - and, at the time I took these photographs, it was sitting on eggs.

Any notion of an unlikely hybridisation however were unfortunately dashed as the eggs failed to hatch.

Beautiful evening yesterday, dashed out from the office to capture the sunset over Cowling. I waited til the sun dropped below the horizon and thought i would try in portrait instead of landscape

As I have been doing for weeks now, here are a few more photos from my archives. I will add the description that I wrote under a different, previously posted photo taken on the same outing.

"Maybe a week ago, my daughter and a friend went to the Calgary Farmyard for a visit. My intention had been to do this for the last few years, but somehow it just never happened. I tend to think of it as a place to visit around Halloween. Until I saw my daughter's photos, I didn't realize that the farm also has a sunflower area as well as a Corn Maze, which I knew about. Nothing would ever get me into a Corn Maze - with no sense of direction, I would never find my way out.

Two nights ago, on 29 August 2020, I took another look at their website and saw that yesterday was going to be their last day being open in summer. So, on the spur of the moment, I dashed out east of the city, found the farm, and luckily found an empty parking spot. Tons of people with young kids, but still plenty of space to be distanced from everyone. All sorts of thing for kids to climb in and on. Farm animals and the sunflowers were what I headed for. The sunflowers had mostly passed their prime, so photos looking over a field of flower heads resulted in very colourless, uninspiring images. The plants that still had bright yellow flowers were being enjoyed by endless bees.

Llamas are one of my favourite farm animals to see and photograph, though these ones were not being very cooperative. Nearby goats were entertaining and offered a few photo opportunities.

After I left the farm. there was still plenty of time to drive the backroads. A couple of beautiful Hawks - one a Swainson's and the other a Red-tailed Hawk, I think - made the drive worthwhile."

Three moose spent all day wandering around our cabin browsing the willows, so I decided to tip-toe outside and see how close I could get to the Mama and her two babies. As it turned out I got very close. I could clearly hear her stripping the leaves from the willow shoots. From time to time she would grunt, snort, and make other moosey sounds to communicate with her twins. All that stood between me and her was a four foot tall, spindly spruce tree. Suddenly she stopped munching - stared at me through the brush - made a sound to her kids - and simultaneously they all dashed off into the forest - making a lot of noise as they crashed through the brush.

I turned toward the cabin, enjoying the warm sun, and noticed that my rhubarb bed was aglow with bright red colors. Kneeling down - I captured this image as the sun backlit a huge leaf. It is definitely the beginning of autumn in the far north.

Klayar Beach is resides in Donorojo district, Pacitan Regency. It is about 35 km towards west Pacitan city. It can reach about 60 minutes from the city. Many rockies like spink in Mesir are settled in this beach. Klayar with its dune has a distinctive feature from another. Its waves dashed against the rock spourting from the hole make sound like a bamboo flute. The springkling of waves rush to the beach and out through the hole spurting about 7 meters high and has a sound like blowing bamboo flute.

My eyes suddenly popped open at 5am because the curtains were open and I dashed for the camera.

I actually prefer the pre-sun appearing over the horizon shots because the angle of the sun hitting the clouds is just fabulous and all that detail is lost when the sun comes up.

They have forecast rain for today and if these skies are anything to go by it is going to BUCKET down.

Straight out of the camera, not even a crop on this one!

MORE INTERESTING ON BLACK. CLICK ON PHOTO

I haven't seen a Kingfisher since beginning of the year, so this brief sighting was very welcome. Could not get close but managed a couple of shots before it dashed into the distance.

I've just returned from a trip with the kids back to visit some of our good friends in Northern Virginia. We've been making the trip to Virginia since 2007, and I've always meant to shoot a sunrise or sunset in DC each year, but have always run out of time between events with the family or other places to shoot. I thought I was going to get my chance last October, but our stupid congress shut down the entire city just before I arrived. This Summer, I knew I wanted a shot of the US Marine Corps War Memorial at sunrise shooting East back toward DC. If you've been shooting for any length of time, you may have heard the adage "F8 and be there" when people ask how you were able to get a particular shot. In this case, I woke up at 3:30 AM 5 out of the 7 days I was there in order to make the drive into DC and be in position by 5:15 AM. Finally, on the day before I left, the sky lit up, and I was able to get my shot.

I should also mention that from here, I dashed back down the Roosevelt bridge and grabbed a shot of the Jefferson memorial and then the Lincoln memorial before the light was gone for the morning. During that week, I took many wrong turns, fell on my butt in the mud on Roosevelt Island, and came across many disappointments as much of the mall area and the capitol were taken over by the 4th of July fences, tents and speakers, but overall, I had a great time shooting while getting to know a good deal more about how DC is laid out, where to park, etc, as well as getting to hang out with some very good friends for the week. I'm already looking forward to next year.

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William McIntosh Photography

2024 Neonate Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca). The Smooth snake is the United Kingdom's rarest native reptile; it is totally harmless to man. In the UK, the Smooth snake is a specialist of heathland, and native populations can be found only in the south of England; in the counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Like most snakes, the Smooth snake will eat almost anything that it can catch and swallow, however; they are mostly associated with a reptilian diet. Smooth snakes grow to a length of about 60-70cm (exceptionally up to 80cm), and appear slimmer than our other native snakes. The Smooth snake is so named because it lacks the central keels, or ridges on its scales, unlike our native Adder and Grass snake. This adaptation means that it is not as swift as our other snakes, but is well suited to navigating dense vegetation. Due to this name, the very smooth Slow worm is often misreported as being a Smooth snake. Exceptional individuals have reached an age of almost 30 years in the wild. Although usually considered mute, Smooth snakes can emit a quiet short hiss when stressed, which is usually associated with a strike or sudden jerk of the fore-body. They do not emit prolonged warning hisses like the Adder and Grass snake. The Smooth snake is usually of a matt colouration; usually a dark grey or dull brown, although brick-red specimens are not uncommon. The dark, almost black dorsal markings are not immediately apparent, and are arranged along the back, from neck to tail, as pairs of dots, bars or dashed lines. There is usually a second pair of lines, one of each running along the flanks of the body, although these are frequently even less obvious than the dorsal markings.The top of the head always features a large dark heart-shaped marking, which is sometimes described as a 'butterfly'. There is a characteristic dark line on the side of the head, that runs across the eye. Unlike the venomous Adder, the Smooth snake has round pupils. Copy courtesy of Surrey ARG. Photograph taken by Nick Dobbs in Dorset under license as part of an official survey 11-09-2024

Frank and Lois spotted a sale at Don's on bedroom furniture. Their daughter Barbara had just gotten married and they knew she was looking for a bedroom set. Lois couldn't wait to get home and phone Barbara about their find, so she dashed out to the pay phone next to Don's to make the call. Frank said "For God's sake, Lois, you'll catch your death out there in the rain" but Lois couldn't wait.

1:24 scale diorama

Wednesday, 4 August 2021, was yet another hot, smoky day. I had been wanting to drive SE of the city to call in at a farm to drop off a couple of photos for weeks now, but kept running out of time. This day, I was determined to reach my destination, though the smoke from the British Columbia wildfires was really unpleasant. Travelling south on the highway, it was very tempting to turn around and try on a different day. However, I suspect we might be getting this smoke for the rest of the summer, so I decided I might as well continue my drive. Much of the landscape had disappeared, shrouded in toxic smoke.

There are two barns that I love down in this area, and I took just a few photos of each one before calling in at the farm to give the photos to the lady who owns the smaller of the two barns. We had spoken whilst on the back road near her barn on maybe three of my visits to the area other years and this time, we sat and chatted outside on her porch. It was so enjoyable!

Leaving the area, my drive took me back exactly the way I had come, as there was an old homestead that I had missed on the drive to the farm. Perhaps it had been removed, but I was really hoping that was not the case. I just hadn't been looking in the right place.

This was definitely a barn day, which was my intention, but there were so few birds to be seen. anyway. My drive was quick, as I didn't want to be out for a full day in the heat and smoke, even though I was driving, not walking. I did call in at the Saskatoon Farm on the way home, though. My hopes of buying some nice, fresh fruit and vegetables were dashed, as no fruit was left, bought by earlier visitors. Enjoyed a meal there, so that I wouldn't have to make supper when I got home. I had been hoping to get to the Saskatoon Farm for the last few days, but avoided going, as it was a long weekend here. Why would I go on a busy holiday weekend, anyway, when I can go during the week?

Can't wait to see blue sky again, and our beautiful foothills and mountains in the distance. Compared to all those people who live much closer to the wildfires, we are lucky. How I feel for them, having to breathe in all the toxic smoke particles, not to mention the devastating losses that many people are having to deal with.

I was hoping this was going to be leading but my hopes were dashed but still lovely to see this on the mainline. BR green 37057 on the rear of a Longsight-Derby RTC test train through Sutton Park.

After many false starts refurbished 319's finally started their Liverpool to Manchester Airport diagrams today.

I only found out they were running just as this was leaving Lime Street so dashed to my local station to record.

Bev Price de-trained off this working and I asked him what did he think? .. "vastly superior to the old order" was his reply.

Northern Rail 319362 crosses Stephenson's 1830 Viaduct as it slows for the Newton-le-Willows station stop.

* Susan has just remarked they look like the OOMI ZOOMI's (characters from children's TV!) LOL.

After a fresh fall of snow last night, I needed to grab a few colourful photos to post.

"On 30 August 2020, I visited the Calgary Farmyard and then spent some time driving the backroads.

Fairly recently, my daughter and a friend went to the Calgary Farmyard for a visit. My intention had been to do this for the last few years, but somehow it just never happened. I tend to think of it as a place to visit around Halloween. Until I saw my daughter's photos, I didn't realize that the farm also has a sunflower area as well as a Corn Maze. Nothing would ever get me into a Corn Maze - with no sense of direction, I would never find my way out.

On 29 August 2020, I took another look at the Farm's website and saw that the following day was going to be their last day being open in summer. So, on the spur of the moment, I dashed out east of the city, found the farm, and luckily found an empty parking spot. Tons of people with young kids, but still plenty of space to be distanced from everyone. All sorts of thing for kids to climb in and on. Farm animals and the sunflowers were what I headed for. The sunflowers had mostly passed their prime, so photos looking over a field of flower heads resulted in very colourless, uninspiring images. The plants that still had bright yellow flowers were being enjoyed by endless bees.

Llamas are one of my favourite farm animals to see and photograph, though these ones were not being very cooperative. Nearby goats were entertaining and offered a few photo opportunities.

After I left the farm. there was still plenty of time to drive the backroads. A couple of beautiful Hawks - one a Swainson's and the other a Red-tailed Hawk, I think - made the drive even more worthwhile."

Under an ominous sky, billboards promoting an adult store and religious messages compete for space along Interstate 41 between Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

IMGP0957.3.tinted

The little Wrentit watched a California Towhee take a spectacular bath in a bigger bowl. You could see the envy. Later he dashed in and out of the smaller bowl. We set out 4 bowls. This was the smallest and most private bowl. Wrentit takes a bath in the shy bird bowl Inceville Los Liones Canyon

Something about this shot I really like. So I guess I have to share it.

Found those two little "Orange dashed Gobys" on a sandy bottom clearly focusing on something in front of them, which enabled me to sneak up on them to get this a little different perspective.

As always, press z for bigger viewing.

Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday.

Norbert

[Explore 18/01/2015]

I had almost written off today as being too dull, but then by late afternoon the sun broke through the clouds so I dashed down to Mote Park and was just in time to catch the setting sun.

At 05h15 yesterday morning... a Taiwanese fishing trawler ran aground in the fog... on Clifton's First Beach!

19 of the 28 crew members were successfully evacuated... leaving the others (and a dog) to coordinate the high-tide refloating attempts. Fortunately the engines and generators are still in good working order... and very fortunately there does not appear to be any danger of an oil-spill... at this stage.

Of course... I dashed out there with my D3100 as soon as I heard about it... here is a six portrait-image panorama... taken shortly before sunset. There's plenty of detail in this pano... it's definitely better to view it large. :)

Nikon D3100, Sigma 18-200mm at 98mm, aperture of f16, with a 1/160th second exposure.

Combination of a halogen bulb from a fibre optic light, a phone light (the dashed strobe type light) and the orange self timer lamp from another camera

Once my mind was up to the challenge I set out to complete the task but the pool attendant just wanted to chat and he is a chap I always enjoy talking with. On reflection, I am glad I waited to make the exposure then dashed home for breakfast.

ID

3271

britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300003271-capel-tabernacl-co...

I was driving on a service road along the Madison river in Yellowstone NP when this coyote suddenly dashed in front of my car, then he stopped and looked back where he had just came from as if something was chasing him. I never saw anything else chasing him and he then moved on.

What tranquility will there be in heaven! Who can express the fullness and blessedness of this peace! What a calm is this! How sweet and holy and joyous! What a haven of rest to enter, after having passed through the storms and tempests of this world, in which pride and selfishness and envy and malice and scorn and contempt and contention and vice are as waves of a restless ocean, always rolling, and often dashed about in violence and fury! What a Canaan of rest to come to, after going through this waste and howling wilderness, full of snares and pitfalls and poisonous serpents, where no rest could be found. - Jonathan Edwards

Hunting Valley, OH

June 2015

The base of this small falls is very difficult to access! Quite a slip-slide adventure getting down to the creekbed. On this afternoon, there was a lot of thunder rumbling overhead by the time I got everything setup to shoot. Took a few quick pics and then dashed for cover!

Butte Creek,

Oregon, USA

Yes, it's pronounced beaut as in beauty not butt as in buttcrack.

It finally dawned on me on the last trip when asking directions to Steptoe Butte that I must have been doing something wrong with pronounciation.

Anyway, regarding the picture - we had two days based at Silverton during which we mainly visited Silver Falls and Abiqua Falls. On the way to Portland, we had a small window to visit these falls, namely 20 minutes before a meeting in Portland. Dashed down, was amazed, said dammit a few times before dashing back up, then coughing up half an influenza filled lung before driving on to Portland - also found out that one of our tires sustained a nail probably when I took a wrong turn on the way to Abiqua Falls and ended up at a logging operation.

Video of the scene here : www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlXOQn_I15M

Wow. I just spotted yet another awesome sky out of my window, and dashed upstairs to shoot this, 10 minutes ago. It was stunning. I had to drag myself away before I damaged my eyes, or my camera sensor!

After the successful invasion of Hoth, the Imperial forces spent their time patrolling the snow-covered landscape. As the sun was rising after a cold nights work, a trio of snowtroopers, far from the shelter of base, stumble upon a T-47 Airspeeder. The excitement levels rise after a closer inspection reveals that the damage is minimal and it may be operational. However, their hopes of a warm ride home are dashed when they realise there is only enough room for two!

"Weeping Widow"

Outfit: Brillancia Set Melanie

Comes with Color changing Hud and fits such mesh bodies as:

=Maitreya

= Petite

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This item is featured in Tres Chic Event.

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Hair: [monso] Xinni Hair/White

Truth/ Bangs/ Straight Cut/ White

Head piece: Brillancia Oro/Black & White

Comes with color changing HUD

This item is featured in the Enchantment event.

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Gloves: Hypnose Shay Gloves/ Black

Nails: DASHED Small Almond Nails/ Black

Heels: AZOURY- Akros

Makeup/Skin: Alexandrite The Nun Ghost

StB Banshee Skin Ghost

Jewelry: Donna Flora Opera Skull set

Pose: ..:: Something New ::.. Wicca's Way

Backdrop: ( Bad Unicorn) Gothic Graveyard

TP - maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Champagne/78/154/22

VK - vk.com/brillancia

Flickr - www.flickr.com/photos/157778862@N04/

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Saw the clouds looking nice and dashed out the door at the last minute to Beav.

as every year with my short review in pictures and words:

(and I could also have repeated the text from the 2020 annual review with minor changes to names and places ...)

To me this year felt like a 'refurbished' 2020 with the global COVID-19 pandemic still going on with more than 282 million of confirmed cases and more than 5.4 million deaths worldwide since its first occurence about 2 years ago.

The hope that the pandemic could be ended by the new vaccines has been dashed by more aggressive mutations of the virus and by the irrational fear of many people, fuelled by crude conspiracy theories and other alleged dangers of vaccination. Thus we experience one wave of infections after another and the more or less effective measures (e.g. lockdowns, travel restrictions, closed borders) against it, unfortunately are still going on this winter with Omicron making its way around the world.

The worldwide ecological crisis has manifested itself in even more severe droughts such as in the west of the USA, in massive fires there as well as in the Mediterranean, in massive floods that have occurred in Europe as well as in South Sudan, China and British Columbia, in the melting permafrost in Russia and retreating glaciers all over the world and the worst locust plagues in Eastern Africa still going on.

One small hope here in Germany was, that this year was a cooler and wet year compared to the three hot and too dry years before, which gave nature and especially the forests a little 'breather'. But nevertheless, it was the eleventh 'warmer than average' year in a row.

Unfortunately, the various conferences on climate and biodiversity this year did not bring any concrete actions, but only declarations of intent for some more or less distant future ... so time is running out to avoid a global catastrophe.

And then there was the madness of bored billionaires, performing a stupid race of tourist flights into space, polluting the environment even more in the most nonsensical way, instead of investing their money in useful projects against hunger, global warming and the many other sufferings on this planet.

Unfortunately, there were again many hard blows against freedom and democracy, for example at the Capitol in Washington and at the Reichstag in Berlin, in Myanmar, in Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Russia, Belarus, Poland .... and in many other crisis areas in the world. The number of right-wing extremist and nationalist incitements on the internet has regrettably increased again.

Just as the US government under Joe Biden is blocked by outdated 'square-heads' from steering society towards a more just and environmentally friendly future, it is to be feared that the new German coalition government will not succeed in transforming society towards sustainable, eco-friendly policies and lifestyles and a fairer distribution of wealth in the country due to the exclusively pro-business attitude of the FDP (Liberal Party), that even blocked a speed limit of 130km/h on German motorways. So my optimism here is also limited.

Unfortunately, it was a travel-free year for me and my wife (except for a short scooter trip that ended with a breakdown).

Our plan to make up for last autumn's postponed trip to La Palma due to the strong Covid wave, failed this year due to the severe 3-month volcanic eruption on this small island in the Atlantic Ocean.

But despite all the adversities, one of the biggest events of my life so far, still took place at the beginning of August, the start of my retirement. After 28 years in the IT department of the German National Library, being free again, no longer having to get up at 6 a.m., no longer being able to do gardening and photography only at weekends, means a whole new quality of life for me, for which I had already 'conscientiously' prepared in February by buying my dream camera and a new macro lens in November ;-))

As every year I want to say thank you to my friends, contacts and all other users here on Flickr for your untiring support of my work with views, comments, invites and faves throughout the whole year,

for your friendship and all your excellent photos, which are impressing me every day anew.

So let's look forward - despite all the less than encouraging developments in the world - to new photo opportunities, new views, marvellous colours and a hopefully healthy and peaceful HAPPY and really NEW YEAR 2022 for us all !!

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Zeit zum Abschied von 2021

mit einem kurzen Rückblick in ein paar Worten und Bildern:

(ich hätte auch den Text vom Jahresrückblick 2020 mit kleinen Änderungen bei Namen und Orten wiederholen können ... )

Für mich fühlte sich dieses Jahr wie ein "runderneuertes" 2020 an, da die weltweite COVID-19-Pandemie mit mehr als 282 Millionen bestätigten Fällen und 5.414.213 Todesfällen seit ihrem ersten Auftreten vor etwa zwei Jahren immer noch andauert. Die Hoffnung, dass die Pandemie durch die neuen Impfstoffe beendet werden könnte, wurde durch aggressivere Mutationen des Virus und durch die irrationale Angst vieler Menschen, die durch krude Verschwörungstheorien und andere angebliche Gefahren der Impfung genährt wird, zunichte gemacht. So erleben wir eine Infektionswelle nach der anderen und mit mehr oder weniger wirksamen Maßnahmen wie Lockdowns, Kontakt- uund Reise-beschränkungen, geschlossenen Grenzen etc. dagegen, leider auch in diesem Winter mit Omikron auf dem Weg um die Welt, während sogenannte Quer?denker? auf den Strassen etwas von Diktatur und Freiheit brüllen ....

Die weltweite ökologische Krise hat sich u.a. in noch schwereren Dürren wie im Westen der USA, in massiven Bränden dort sowie im Mittelmeerraum, in heftigen Überschwemmungen, die sowohl in Europa als auch im Südsudan, in China, den USA und British Columbia aufgetreten sind, im schmelzenden Permafrost-Böden in Russland , abschmelzenden Gletschern auf der ganzen Welt und in den schlimmsten Heuschreckenplagen in Ostafrika, die immer noch andauern, manifestiert.

Eine kleine Hoffnung hier in Deutschland war einerseits, dass dieses Jahr ein eher kühles und nasses Jahr, im Gegensatz zu den drei zu heißen und zu trockenen Jahren zuvor, war, was der Natur und insbesondere den Wäldern eine kleine Verschnaufpause bescherte. Und trotzdem war es das elfte überdurchschnittlich warme Jahr in Folge.

Leider ergaben die verschiedenen Konferenzen zu Klima und Biodiversität auch in diesem Jahr keine konkreten Sofortmassnahmen sondern nur Absichtserklärungen für irgenedeine mehr oder weniger ferne Zukunft ... daher wird die Zeit wohl immer knapper um noch einer weltweiten Katastrophe zu entgehen.

Stattdessen veranstalten gelangweilte Milliardäre einen Wettlauf um Touristenflüge ins All, die die Umwelt auf unsinnigste Weise zusätzlich belasten, statt ihr Geld in vernünftige Projekte gegen den Hunger, die Erderwärmung und das zahlreiche Elend auf diesem Planeten zu investieren.

So wie die US-Regierung unter Joe Biden von ewig gestrigen 'square-heads' blockiert wird, die Gesellschaft in eine gerechtere und umweltfreundlichere Zukunft zu führen, steht leider auch zu befürchten, dass es die neue deutsche Regierungskoalition durch die ausschliesslich wirtschaftsfreundliche Einstellung der FDP nicht schaffen wird, eine Transformation der Gesellschaft zu nachhaltiger, umweltfreundlicher Politik und Lebensweise und einer gerechteren Verteilung des Reichtums im Land zu erreichen, wenn nicht einmal ein Tempolimit von 130 kmh auf Autobahnen bei den Koalitionsverhandlungen drin war.

Und leider gab es auch wieder viele harte Schläge gegen die Freiheit und Demokratie wie zum Beispiel am Capitol in Washington und am Reichstag in Berlin, in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Hongkong, Russia, Belarus, Poland .... und in vielen anderen Krisengebieten auf der Welt. Auch die Anzahl von rechtradikaler und nationalistischer Hetze im Internet hat leider erneut zugenommen.

Für meine Frau und mich war es leider ein reisefreies Jahr (ausser einer kurzen Motorroller-Reise in den Spessart, die mit einer Panne endete).

Unser Plan, die im letzten Herbst wegen der heftigen Covid-Welle verschobene Reise nach La Palma nachzuholen, scheiterte in diesem Jahr an dem hefigen 3- monatigen Vulkanausbruch auf dieser kleinen Insel im Atlantik.

Aber trotz aller Widrigkeiten fand eines der größten Ereignisse meines bisherigen Lebens Anfang August trotzdem statt, der Beginn meiner Rente.

Nach 28 Jahren in der IT-Abteilung der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek wieder frei zu sein, nicht mehr um 6:00 aufstehen zu müssen, die Gartenarbeit und die Fotografie nicht mehr nur am Wochenende erledigen zu können, bedeutet eine ganz neue Lebensqualität für mich, auf die ich mich schon im Februar mit dem Kauf meiner Traum-Kamera und im November mit einer neuen Makrolinse 'gewissenhaft' vorbereitet habe ;-))

Ganz lieben Dank an alle Flickr-Freunde, -Kontakte und -User für all die vielen Klicks, Kommentare, Gruppeneinladungen und Favoriten während des vergangenen Jahres, für Eure Freundschaft und die unzähligen hervorragenden Bilder, die mir Tag für Tag Anregungen für eigene Bilder sind oder mir einfach nur Freude beim Betrachten gemacht haben.

Nun freue ich mich mit Euch - trotz all der wenig aufmunternden Entwicklungen in der Welt - auf neue Bildideeen und Blickwinkel, auf fantastische Farben und Formen

und auf ein hoffentlich gutes, gesundes, friedlicheres und erfreuliches (und hoffentlich wirklich neues) 2022 ...

einen guten Rutsch !

Achim

Jan. With An Asking Look ..., Fridays For Future

Feb. Happy Caturday!, On The Way To Spring

Mar. A Close Friend ..., Fridays For Future

Apr. Magic Of Nature, Hoping ...

May. Getting Close, Fridays For Future

Jun. Cheery Blues, Fridays For Future

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Jul. Fully Opened ..., Fridays For Future

Aug. Fridays For Future, Starting The New Week ...

Sep. Floating Through ..., Mickey's Self-Service

Oct. Fridays For Future, Under The Spell ...

Nov. Colouring ..., On A Brighter Day

Dec. Playing With ..., Happy Caturday

Moby Dick is my favorite American novel, and Melville inspires my landscape and seascape photography! “But as in landlessness alone resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God - so better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, then, oh! who would craven crawl to land!” ― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

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Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey

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Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods: We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.

“Lake Living”

Judy Royal Glenn Photography

My husband and I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee a few weeks ago. We really enjoy where we live.

Our apartment looks over a cove on Fort Loudon Lake. It is a beautiful sight to wake up to.

As I walked my dog this morning, I saw a great blue heron on the log where the cormorant usually perches.

I dashed inside and grabbed my camera. The fall color is beautiful around the lake, so my goal was to position the heron in front of it.

My desk looks out over the lake and will quickly let me see any birds or wildlife at the lake. I love living at The Village at Westland Cove!

To purchase wildlife and nature fine art prints, please visit my website:

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Location: The Village at Westland Cove, Knoxville, Tennessee

Saw the snow and dashed out with the gear to see what I could get. The Dartmoor ponies on Cleadon Hills came to my rescuse.

This scene is about five miles inside the Wellington Harbour Heads; Cook Strait - one of the windiest and roughest stretches of water in the world - is just "out there"...! It was a calm day when this scene was photographed, but note the damage to the slipway in the right foreground...! The damage done to this boatshed's ramp / slipway illustrates just how rough it can get...

AN EXAMPLE OF STORMY WEATHER:

On April 10th 1968, the near-new Lyttleton (Christchurch) to Wellington overnight ferry "Wahine" was nearing Wellington Heads. A storm with winds averaging 50 - 55 mph was battering the region, but ships had sailed through the Heads' and into the harbour in stronger winds than that, so the Master of the ferry wasn't especially concerned. After all, his ship was a reasonably big vessel...!

Alas, just as the ferry entered the confines of the narrow shipping channel, a Tropical Cyclone / Hurricane tracking down from the north collided with a Cold Front moving north from Antarctica.

The result would prove to be catastrophic...!!!

Suddenly, the ferry found itself battling winds of 115mph. It's radar was blown out, and navigation lights marking the channel disappeared in the pre-dawn darkness, torrential rain and driving wind, and the suddenly huge following seas frequently lifted the stern of the vessel right out of the water.

The Captain attempted to turn the vessel around so he could return to open waters, but by now he and his crew were totally confused as to where exactly they were. Alas, "that" issue was suddenly rectified when the ferry struck the outer reaches of Barret's Reef, tearing a huge gash in the side of the ship below the water line...

At around 1pm that afternoon, the order was eventually given to abandon ship, but with the ferry now listing heavily, only the starboard-side lifeboats could be lowered, and many of them were either smashed against the side of the ship, or promptly sank when they hit the water. However, some passengers were somehow able to climb into a lifeboat, but although they were only a hundred or so metres from Seatoun Beach, the roaring wind, huge seas, and incoming Tide blew the lifeboats down the harbour and across to the opposite coast where numbers of people perished as their lifeboats were dashed against ragged rocks...

Fifty-two people perished in the disaster; two or three more died of their injuries in the weeks and months that followed...

BACK TO TODAY:

If you're still reading, you've done well...

I don't know when this slipway suffered its 'wipe-out', but it would have taken a considerable storm or storms to cause such damage...! So don't let the calmness of the sea in this scene fool you. This is one very dangerous and very wild stretch of water when Conditions turn nasty...!!!

Thanks for the very kind and encouraging comments beneath this photo...! Your support is very greatly appreciated.

When I saw Marcus Cote's shot of the halo around the moon tonight (thanks, Marcus), I dashed outside to see if I could capture it. I stuck the 70-200mm on a full frame body, but when I got outside and saw just how huge the halo was (is), I realized that I'd need a wider lens -- much wider.

So here it is at 17mm, with just the slightest of crops. The only other bit of perspective I can offer is Orion's Belt, which is faintly visible just inside the halo in the lower left of the frame.

EarthSky has a great explanation of halos aka 22-degree halos here: earthsky.org/space/what-makes-a-halo-around-the-moon

What a beautiful morning!! I woke up and saw the clouds forming and straight away knew it would be nice so I dashed down to old hartley, what a treat!!! The sun lit up the clouds and cast a lovely warm glow over the rocks.

I dashed upstairs when I noticed a rather nice sunset going on (I was working at the time) and shot this image of the Doctors Pond area of Great Dunmow.

Having missed the sunlight even though I dashed over here right after work, I still got what I could of a couple of trains in the shadows. Here, a KCS intermodal glides south on the UP Springfield Sub in Venice, IL.

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) perched on a Fragrant Water-lilly (Nymphaea odorata) - Wildcat Ridge, Upper Hibernia Tract, Rockaway, New Jersey

This guy liked this flower, and even though we scared it away as we approached the edge of the lake, it dashed back several times to give Tom and I a chance for a few pics.

The sunset was more spectacular than I expected. It had been largely cloudless throughout the afternoon but as the evening closed in the cloud started to build. By 10 pm the sun was setting and the light improved so I grabbed my camera gear and dashed up the road to try and capture the last bit of light! I took about 6 hurried shots and this was the best of the bag.

Male Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca). The Smooth snake is the United Kingdom's rarest native reptile; it is totally harmless to man. In the UK, the Smooth snake is a specialist of heathland, and native populations can be found only in the south of England; in the counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Like most snakes, the Smooth snake will eat almost anything that it can catch and swallow, however; they are mostly associated with a reptilian diet. Smooth snakes grow to a length of about 60-70cm (exceptionally up to 80cm), and appear slimmer than our other native snakes. The Smooth snake is so named because it lacks the central keels, or ridges on its scales, unlike our native Adder and Grass snake. This adaptation means that it is not as swift as our other snakes, but is well suited to navigating dense vegetation. Due to this name, the very smooth Slow worm is often misreported as being a Smooth snake. Exceptional individuals have reached an age of almost 30 years in the wild. Although usually considered mute, Smooth snakes can emit a quiet short hiss when stressed, which is usually associated with a strike or sudden jerk of the fore-body. They do not emit prolonged warning hisses like the Adder and Grass snake. The Smooth snake is usually of a matt colouration; usually a dark grey or dull brown, although brick-red specimens are not uncommon. The dark, almost black dorsal markings are not immediately apparent, and are arranged along the back, from neck to tail, as pairs of dots, bars or dashed lines. There is usually a second pair of lines, one of each running along the flanks of the body, although these are frequently even less obvious than the dorsal markings.The top of the head always features a large dark heart-shaped marking, which is sometimes described as a 'butterfly'. There is a characteristic dark line on the side of the head, that runs across the eye. Unlike the venomous Adder, the Smooth snake has round pupils. Copy courtesy of Surrey ARG. Photograph taken by Nick Dobbs in Dorset under license as part of an official survey 07-06-20

Nevada Fall is a 181m high waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, CA. The precipitous drop begins about 5m beyond that bridge above (note the rising spray).

The fall is located below the granite dome of Liberty Cap (off to the right of shot) at the west end of Little Yosemite Valley. The water free-falls for roughly the first third of its drop to a steep slick-rock slope. This mid-fall impact of the water on the cliff face creates a turbulent, white water appearance in the falls and produces a great deal of mist which covers a wide radius, which led to its current name (Nevada is a Spanish word meaning "snowy").

The Indian name was Yo-wy-we, signifying the twist or squirm of the falling water. Lafayette Bunnell suggested the name "Nevada" for the waterfall. He wrote, "The Nevada Fall was so called because it was the nearest to the Sierra Nevada, and because the name was sufficiently indicative of a wintry companion for our spring (Vernal Fall) ... The white, foaming water, as it dashed down Yo-wy-we from the snowy mountains, represented to my mind a vast avalanche of snow."

Below Nevada Fall, and some 800m further downstream, the Emerald Pool forms on a "step" between Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall downstream. The 97m high Vernal Fall is a short hike from the bottom of Nevada Fall. They form a cascade in which the Merced River flows down to Yosemite Valley. This cascade is sometimes called the giant staircase, which is evident when viewed from above, at Glacier Point.

I hiked from the Happy Valley trailhead in Yosemite Valley up to the top of Nevada Fall along the first 4.3 km or so of the John Muir Trail. There is a more direct (and much steeper) route, the Mist Trail, which is much closer to the river, but it gets spray from the falls, and in May, as this was, that would be a lot of spray. I was equipped for rain, but not for a deluge... The John Muir Trail crosses that bridge and, if you have a permit, continues on up to the top of Half-Dome, off to the right of shot, a 26 km round-trip with a total climb of 1600m up and the same back down.

In spite of the dangers (which are well signposted!) the pool above Nevada Fall remains a popular swimming location, with no park restrictions. In June 2018, an 18-year-old man fell from a cliff-edge near the fall while attempting to take a selfie.

Scanned from a negative taken during my last trip on which I used film.