View allAll Photos Tagged downsides
Downside Abbey (Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Gregory the Great), Benedictine, Somerset, 15 October 2017. Gothic Revival, built 1873-1938, various architects. Pictured is the Lady Chapel of 1881 with an alabaster rerodos designed by Sir Ninian Comper, who also designed the stained glass window.
We decided to go for a city break rather than sun in Tenerife again this September. Other than a few days in the North East we haven’t been away since last March and wanted a change and hopefully some sun. The problem is getting flights from the north of England to the places we want to go to. We chose Valencia as we could fly from East Midlands – which was still a pain to get to as it involved the most notorious stretch of the M1 at five in the morning. In the end we had a fairly good journey, the new Ryanair business class pre-booked scheme worked quite well and bang on time as usual. It was dull when we landed with storms forecast all week, the sky was bright grey – the kiss of death to the photography I had in mind. I was full of cold and wishing I was at work. It did rain but it was overnight on our first night and didn’t affect us. There has been a drought for eleven months apparently and it rained on our first day there! The forecast storms didn’t materialise in Valencia but they got it elsewhere.
Over the course of a Monday to Sunday week we covered 75 miles on foot and saw most of the best of Valencia – The City of Bell Towers. The Old City covers a pretty large area in a very confusing layout. There was a lot of referring to maps – even compass readings! – a first in a city for us. The problem with photography in Valencia is that most of the famous and attractive building are closely built around, some have poor quality housing built on to them. Most photographs have to be taken from an extreme angle looking up. There are no high points as it is pan flat, there are a small number of buildings where you can pay to go up on to the roof for a better view and we went up them – more than once!
The modern buildings of The City of Arts and Sciences – ( Ciutat de Las Arts I de les Ciencies ) are what the city has more recently become famous for, with tourists arriving by the coachload all day until late at night. They must be photographed millions of times a month. We went during the day and stayed till dark one evening, I gave it my best shot but a first time visit is always a compromise between ambition and realism, time dictates that we have to move on to the next destination. I travelled with a full size tripod – another first – I forgot to take it with me to TCoAaS! so It was time to wind up the ISO, again! Needless to say I never used the tripod.
On a day when rain was forecast but it stayed fine, albeit a bit dull, we went to the Bioparc north west of the city, a zoo by another name. There are many claims made for this place, were you can appear to walk alongside some very large animals, including, elephants, lions, giraffe, rhino, gorillas and many types of monkey to name a few. It is laid out in different geographical regions and there is very little between you and the animals, in some cases there is nothing, you enter the enclosure through a double door arrangement and the monkeys are around you. It gets rave reviews and we stayed for most of the day. The animals it has to be said gave the appearance of extreme boredom and frustration and I felt quite sorry for them.
The course of The River Turia was altered after a major flood in the 50’s. The new river runs west of the city flanked by a motorway. The old river, which is massive, deep and very wide between ancient walls, I can’t imagine how it flooded, has been turned into a park that is five miles long. There is an athletics track, football pitches, cycle paths, restaurants, numerous kids parks, ponds, fountains, loads of bridges, historic and modern. At the western end closest to the sea sits The City of Arts and Sciences – in the river bed. Where it meets the sea there is Valencia’s urban Formula One racetrack finishing in the massive marina built for The Americas Cup. The race track is in use as roadways complete with fully removable street furniture, kerbs, bollards, lights, islands and crossings, everything is just sat on the surface ready to be moved.
We found the beach almost by accident, we were desperate for food after putting in a lot of miles and the afternoon was ticking by. What a beach, 100’s of metres wide and stretching as far as the eye could see with a massive promenade. The hard thing was choosing, out of the dozens of restaurants, all next door to each other, all serving traditional Paella – rabbit and chicken – as well as seafood, we don’t eat seafood and it constituted 90% of the menu in most places. Every restaurant does a fixed price dish of the day, with a few choices, three courses and a drink. Some times this was our only meal besides making the most of the continental breakfast at the hotel. We had a fair few bar stops with the local wine being cheap and pleasant it would have been a shame not to, there would have been a one woman riot – or strike!
On our final day, a Sunday, we were out of bed and down for breakfast at 7.45 as usual, the place was deserted barring a waiter. We walked out of the door at 8.30 – in to the middle of a mass road race with many thousands of runners, one of a series that take place in Valencia – apparently! We struggled to find out the distance, possibly 10km. The finish was just around the corner so off we went with the camera gear, taking photos of random runners and groups. There was a TV crew filming it and some local celebrity (I think) commentating. Next we came across some sort of wandering religious and musical event. Some sort of ritual was played out over the course of Sunday morning in various locations, it involved catholic priests and religious buildings and another film crew. The Catholic tourists and locals were filling the (many) churches for Sunday mass. Amongst all of this we had seen men walking around in Arab style dress – the ones in black looked like the ones from ISIS currently beheading people – all carrying guns. A bit disconcerting. We assumed that there had been some sort of battle enactment. We were wrong, it hadn’t happened yet. A while later, about 11.30 we could hear banging, fireworks? No it was our friends with the guns. We were caught up in total mayhem, around 60 men randomly firing muskets with some sort of blank rounds, the noise, smoke and flames from the muzzles were incredible. We were about to climb the Torres de Serranos which is where, unbeknown to us, the grand, and deafening, finale was going to be. We could feel the blast in our faces on top of the tower. Yet again there was a film camera in attendance. I couldn’t get close ups but I got a good overview and shot my first video with the 5D, my first in 5 years of owning a DLSR with the capability. I usually use my phone ( I used my phone as well). Later in the day there was a bullfight taking place, the ring was almost next to our hotel, in the end we had other things to do and gave it a miss, it was certainly a busy Sunday in the city centre, whether it’s the norm or not I don’t know.
There is a tram system in Valencia but it goes from the port area into the newer part of the city on the north side, it wouldn’t be feasible to serve the historic old city really. A quick internet search told me that there are 55,000 university students in the city, a pretty big number. I think a lot of the campus is on the north side and served by the tram although there is a massive fleet of buses as well. There is a massive, very impressive market building , with 100’s of stalls that would make a photo project on its own, beautiful on the inside and out but very difficult to get decent photos of the exterior other than detail shots owing to the closeness of other buildings and the sheer size of it. Across town, another market has been beautifully renovated and is full of bars and restaurants and a bit of a destination in its own right.
A downside was the all too typical shafting by the taxi drivers who use every trick in the book to side step the official tariffs and rob you. The taxi from the airport had a “broken” meter and on the way home we were driven 22 km instead of the nine that is the actual distance. Some of them seem to view tourists as cash cows to be robbed at all costs. I emailed the Marriot hotel as they ordered the taxi, needless to say no answer from Marriot – they’ve had their money. We didn’t get the rip off treatment in the bars etc. that we experienced in Rome, prices are very fair on most things, certainly considering the city location.
All in all we had a good trip and can highly recommend Valencia.
Of course that walkability has a price; namely lots of pollution and
environmental damage
from the free iPhone app: Pollution
Hot Air Balloon at the Albuquerque, NM 2007 Balloon Fiesta
My Favorite picture of the Fiesta
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Orphan Works Act
If you don’t register every photo and work of art in government certified private databases, you are about to give the legal right for anyone to infringe on your copyright.
“The Orphan Works Act of 2008”, (H.R. 5889) and the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008” (S.2913), were released to the House of Representatives and the Senate recently. While at first glance the law seems to be a ‘last resort’ for a search for the owner of any photograph, artwork or sculpture, the devil, as they say, is in the details.
An “orphan”, as it relates to this legislation, is an original creative work such as a photograph, graphic image, or sculpture, which is still protected by its term of copyright, but the copyright holder can’t be found. Actually, this bill makes it easy for searchers to pretend it’s hard not to find copyright holders!
REGISTRIES WILL REMOVE YOUR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION!
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR:
Go to www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phone number, address, e-mail of every U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor and State Legislator. Please be polite. Threats only work against us artists. We need to make a professional impression to be taken seriously.
Make yourself be heard. Protect your creations. Every voice counts and so does your right to control your own creations. YOU NEED TO WRITE LETTERS NOW!
We only have a few days to make ourselves heard, as the Senate and House will only allow a short time for comments. Call them, send e-mails and fax letters.
excerpts from www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html
Please read up on this, become informed and based on that decision: NOTIFY YOUR CONGRESSMEN of your opinion!!!! You can tell them how you want them to vote! If enough people speak out against this, we are sure to make a difference! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
This affects EVERYONE, not just professional photographers (I'm not one). You could lose copyright to your own personal snapshots as well.
downside - still no broadband connection sigh and no sign of it ever returning
upside - fantastic news H has been offered and has accepted a job which is local woop woop! and he starts on Tuesday and they have no probs with him going on hols in 2 weeks time
phew and double phew what a different experience from the 10mths of job hunting last year
thank you flickr friends for all your support xxx
Downside of the skull. Added several holes and refined the surface structure. Surface still needs work (looks too bumpy in several areas).
The "downside" of indoor / outdoor Kitties.
Bobby went outside Friday night (twenty-one weeks ago) as usual, I have not seen him since. We have had super hot and heavy rainstorm weather, so I hope he is with somebody, only because the other options are all bad.
Still holding out hope of his coming home.
Checked Animal Control / Shelter - very nice lady named Amy - Added Bobby to the missing Kitty list.
of not looking thru the viewfinder is sometimes bad framing.....
Streetpan 400 shot with Olympus Infinity Zoom
Developed in D 76 1+1 10.5 min @20C
The downside to shooting film: no EXIF record. I have no idea what actually took these, except that they:
a) are all shot on film;
b) is either Tri-X or Neopan -- I think it's the former;
c) on either the M7 or M6TTL -- I am inclined to think the former; and
d) using a 35mm lens, either the Nokton 1.2 or the Color-Skopar 2.5 -- I am inclined to think the former.
That's what small notebooks are for, I guess. Need to remember to stick one in my camera bag pocket.
I’ve been wanting to take a city break in summer, rather than in the cold months for a while, so rather than heading for the Lake District for a week of toil on the fells when Jayne could get a week off, we took off from Liverpool for Paris. Flight times were nice and sociable but it meant we were on the M62 car park at a busy time in both directions – it’s a shambles! I’ve stopped over in Paris a dozen times – on my way to cycling in the Etape du Tour in the Alps or Pyrenees – and had a few nights out there. Come to think about it and we’ve spent the day on the Champs Elysees watching the final day of the Tour de France with Mark Cavendish winning. We hadn’t been for a holiday there though and it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision. Six nights gave us five and a half days to explore Paris on foot. I had a good selection of (heavy) kit with me, not wanting to make the usual mistake of leaving something behind and regretting it. In the end I carried the kit in my backpack – an ordinary rucksack – to keep the weight down, for 103 miles, all recorded on the cycling Garmin – and took 3500 photos. The little Garmin is light and will do about 15 hours, it expired towards the end of a couple of 16 hour days but I had the info I wanted by then. This also keeps the phone battery free for research and route finding – I managed to flatten that once though.
What can I say – Paris was fantastic! The weather varied from OK to fantastic, windy for a few days, the dreaded grey white dullness for a while but I couldn’t complain really. We were out around 8.30 in shorts and tee shirt, which I would swap for a vest when it warmed up, hitting 30 degrees at times, we stayed out until around midnight most nights. It was a pretty full on trip. The security at some destinations could have been a problem as there is a bag size limit to save room in the lifts etc. I found the French to be very pragmatic about it, a bag search was a cursory glance, accepting that I was lugging camera gear, not bombs around, and they weren’t going to stop a paying customer from passing because his bag was a bit over size.
We didn’t have a plan, as usual we made it up as we went along, a loose itinerary for the day would always end up changing owing to discoveries along the way. Many times we would visit something a few times, weighing the crowds and light etc. up and deciding to come back later. I waited patiently to go up the Eiffel Tower, we arrived on Tuesday and finally went up on Friday evening. It was a late decision but the weather was good, the light was good and importantly I reckoned that we would get a sunset. Previous evenings the sun had just slid behind distant westerly clouds without any golden glory. It was a good choice. We went up the steps at 7.30 pm, short queue and cheaper – and just to say that we had. The steps are at an easy angle and were nowhere near as bad as expected, even with the heavy pack. We stayed up there, on a mad and busy Friday night, until 11.30, the light changed a lot and once we had stayed a couple of hours we decided to wait for the lights to come on. This was a downside to travelling at this time of year, to do any night photography we had to stay out late as it was light until 10.30. The Eiffel Tower is incredible and very well run, they are quite efficient at moving people around it from level to level. It was still buzzing at midnight with thousands of people around. The sunset on Saturday was probably better but we spent the evening around the base of the Tower, watching the light change, people watching and soaking the party atmosphere up.
Some days our first destination was five miles away, this is a lot of road junctions in a city, the roads in Paris are wide so you generally have to wait for the green man to cross. This made progress steady but when you are on holiday it doesn’t matter too much. Needless to say we walked through some dodgy places, with graffiti on anything that stays still long enough. We were ultra-cautious with our belongings having heard the pickpocket horror stories. At every Café/bar stop the bags were clipped to the table leg out of sight and never left alone. I carried the camera in my hand all day and everywhere I went, I only popped it in my bag to eat. I would guess that there were easier people to rob than us, some people were openly careless with phones and wallets.
We didn’t enter the big attractions, it was too nice to be in a museum or church and quite a few have a photography ban. These bans make me laugh, they are totally ignored by many ( Japanese particularly) people. Having travelled around the world to see something, no one is going to stop them getting their selfies. Selfies? Everywhere people pointed their cameras at their own face, walking around videoing – their self! I do like to have a few photos of us for posterity but these people are self-obsessed.
Paris has obviously got a problem with homeless (mostly) migrants. Walk a distance along the River Seine and you will find tented villages, there is a powerful smell of urine in every corner, with the no alcohol restrictions ignored, empty cans and bottles stacked around the bins as evidence. There are families, woman living on mattresses with as many as four small children, on the main boulevards. They beg by day and at midnight they are all huddled asleep on the pavement. The men in the tents seem to be selling plastic Eiffel Tower models to the tourists or bottled water – even bottles of wine. Love locks and selfy sticks were also top sellers. There must be millions of locks fastened to railings around the city, mostly brass, so removing them will be self-funding as brass is £2.20 a kilo.
As for the sights we saw, well if it was on the map we tried to walk to it. We crossed the Periphique ring road to get to the outer reaches of Paris. La Defense – the financial area with dozens of modern office blocks – was impressive, and still expanding. The Bois de Boulogne park, with the horse racing track and the Louis Vuitton Centre was part of a 20 mile loop that day. Another day saw us in the north east. We had the dome of the Sacre Couer to ourselves, with thousands of tourists wandering below us oblivious of the entrance and ticket office under the church. Again the light was fantastic for us. We read that Pere Lachaise Cemetery or Cimitiere du Pere Lachaise was one of the most visited destinations, a five mile walk but we went. It is massive, you need a map, but for me one massive tomb is much the same as another, it does have highlights but we didn’t stay long. Fortunately we were now closer to the Canal St Martin which would lead us to Parc de la Villette. This was a Sunday and everywhere was both buzzing and chilled at the same time. Where ever we went people were sat watching the world go by, socializing and picnicking, soaking the sun up. As ever I wanted to go up on the roof of anything I could as I love taking cityscapes. Most of these were expensive compared with many places we’ve been to before but up we went. The Tour Montparnasse, a single tower block with 59 floors, 690 foot high and extremely fast lifts has incredible views although it was a touch hazy on our ascent. The Arc de Triomphe was just up the road from our hotel, we went up it within hours of arriving, well worth the visit.
At the time of writing I have no idea how many images will make the cut but it will be a lot. If I have ten subtly different shots of something, I find it hard to consign nine to the dark depths of my hard drive never to be seen again – and I’m not very good at ruthless selection – so if the photo is OK it will get uploaded. My view is that it’s my photostream, I like to be able to browse my own work at my leisure at a later date, it’s more or less free and stats tell me these images will get looked at. I’m not aiming for single stunning shots, more of a comprehensive overview of an interesting place, presented to the best of my current capabilities. I am my own biggest critic, another reason for looking at my older stuff is to critique it and look to improve on previous mistakes. I do get regular requests from both individuals and organisations to use images and I’m obliging unless someone is taking the piss. I’m not bothered about work being published (with my permission) but it is reassuringly nice to be asked. The manipulation of Flickr favourites and views through adding thousands of contacts doesn’t interest me and I do sometimes question the whole point of the Flickr exercise. I do like having access to my own back catalogue though and it gives family and friends the chance to read about the trip and view the photos at their leisure so for the time being I’m sticking with it. I do have over 15 million views at the moment which is a far cry from showing a few people an album, let’s face it, there’s an oversupply of images, many of them superb but all being devalued by the sheer quantity available.
Don’t think that it was all walking and photography, we had a great break and spent plenty of time in pavement bistros having a glass of wine and people watching. I can certainly understand why Paris is top of the travellers list of destinations.
If this isn't David Beckham in the early days with a nice parting, I'm wearing clogs and big trousers. Sanctified at such an early age. All kneel.....
(Glass of about 1920-7 in the Lady Chapel at Downside Abbey. By Sir Ninian Comper, a true visionary. )
Well actually Bike Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday! (Weather permitting!)
This week sees the start of my summer challenge. With the kids now on school holidays I only have to sort myself out in the mornings on the above days and get to work! So with my 2nd Bristol half-marathon coming up in 7 and a bit weeks time I'm keeping fit by cycling the 13 miles (21km) to work.
The goal is to make the journey in less than an hour before we take our summer vacation in August (the same vacation I have been dared to 'look good okay' in a wetsuit!).
I've already taken 5 minutes off my personal best of 1 hour 10 minutes, so hopefully it will be an achievable goal. The only downside is that I've got to try and fit some running in as well otherwise I won't be prepared for the race.
I think beating my half-marathon personal best is going to be a little harder!
52 weeks of feeling fit
The "downside" of indoor / outdoor Kitties.
Bobby went outside Friday night (fifteen weeks ago) as usual, I have not seen him since. We have had super hot and heavy rainstorm weather, so I hope he is with somebody, only because the other options are all bad.
Still holding out hope of his coming home.
Checked Animal Control / Shelter - very nice lady named Amy - Added Bobby to the missing Kitty list.
Because agreeing on one water sport is even more impossible than agreeing on what movie to see or which restaurant to go to, Supra designed this boat so you don’t have to choose. The Supra Sunsport 20V offers amazingly scalable performance that covers the entire wake spectrum. No sacrifices necessary. Mom and dad can keep their smooth slalom cuts without compromising the swells that keep the boarders happy. Together with the compact stature of the 20V and its nimble handling there is no downside. The smallest of the Supra models boasts room for 10 with enough storage to tuck 10 people’s stuff neatly away. 1200 pounds of Gravity III ballast is there when you need it and quickly emptied when you don’t. This type of control is multiplied at the dash with VISION. The driver commands ballast levels, wake shape and ZeroOff speed control standard. Whether you are hammering down on the new Indmar Assault 330 horse power engine with catalyst to get across the lake or cruising and cranking the tunes on the Clarion-Polk Sound System, the 20V delivers. All of this and a anodized brushed aluminum tower outfitted with standard swivel board racks to compliment this 20-footer sporty profile.
Overall Length w/o Platform: 20'8"
Overall Length w/ Platform: 22'10"
Overall Length w/ Platform & Trailer: 24'8"
Width (Beam): 95"
Overall Width w/ Trailer: 102"
Draft: 24"
Weight - Boat only: 3300 lbs
Weight - Boat and Trailer: 4150 lbs
Capacity - Passenger: 10
Capacity - Weight: 1480 lbs
Capacity - Fuel: 39 gals
Capacity - Ballast: 1200 lbs
Engine - Electronic Fuel Injection: 330 HP 5.7 L MPI w/ CAT
The today view is from the other side as a comparable view could only be seen from the bottom of the gardens of the first houses on the left.
[Downside Hospital 1889 - 1974
(previously Eastbourne Infectious Diseases Hospital (1889 - 1948)]
One downside of running a business while in school: I don't get enough time to just shoot all the time.
One pro: I get really excited for each upcoming shoot.
This was taken in the middle of a forest; not a dark room.
Camera in picture: 35mm Canon AE-1 Program SLR. Taken with: Canon EOS 60D.
This is a correctly gamma-corrected (pardon the pun) scan of a colour negative film (Fuji PRO400H to be precise). It seems that end-to-end profiling based on a colour chart is the most convenient way to remove the orange mask from the scans. Deducing the orange mask from the film specifications is not trivial - status M densitometry is different from CIE standard observer which may well be different from the scanner "observer". Moreover, because gamma values for the three channels are usually different, one has to guess the balancing point. Both these problems are solved by sacrificing one frame of every film to shoot the colour checker. Downside: no way to figure out the orange mask for films already shot without the chart.
A quick disturbing observation: gamma values found via grey patches analysis are *way* different from those read from the film characteristic curves: 0.33, 0.49, 0.46 versus 0.6, 0.56, 0.53 - this may undermine the idea of using characteristic curves to figure out the gamma correction parameters altogether.