Birds of Prey at Gauntlet, Cheshire, UK
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As viewed from Davis Bay, on the Sunshine Coast of BC, this one bright cloud flew through the sky like a superhero. As if lighter than air (pun intended) it quickly pierced the gauntlet of darkness that surrounded its path.
This short event was most interesting to watch as the cloud crossed the atmosphere without dissipating. Although it continued to morph in shape through out its journey, it never lost the eye catching brilliance that initially drew my attention.
Compressed into a narrow channel and racing fast through colorful rocks and trees, the blue water gives away its glacial origins.
Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, CA
On reflection, maybe I laughed a little bit too loudly. But by now I was probably bordering on delirium. I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours and I’d just come down from the summit on a wave of jubilation mixed with exhaustion. What I really needed was to fend off yet another barrage of feverish sales pitches. I can’t tell you exactly how many times over the last few hours I’d declined offers of camel rides. Or how often I’d turned down the opportunity to buy a fragment of the mountain I’d just stood on top of. Earlier, as we’d queued up to open our backpacks for inspection and walk through an airport style metal detector that was presumably here to make sure none of us was about to blow up this famous mountain, we were surrounded by a host of jabbering tribesmen, dementedly waving their wares in our faces and asking prices higher than the invisible peaks that were cloaked in the inky night above us. I didn’t need a headscarf - really I didn’t. I had brought my fleece lined beanie hat. I didn’t need gloves either. Not with a camera to operate at the summit later on. And what were those strange squares of cloth the locals seemed so convinced my life would be incomplete without? Did they think I might have time to stitch a patchwork quilt together while I waited for the sun to come up? Was someone else waiting at the other end of the queue with a basket of reasonably priced needles and thread? As I sat on a slab of flat rock outside the walls of St Katherine’s Monastery, quenching my labours with the last dregs from my water bottle, a voice emerged from the melee, thrown in my direction. “What’s that, a sleeping bag?” The man, a local Bedouin wheeler dealer, had taken an interest in the blue stuff sack at my side.
“No it’s my coat,” I replied. I’d needed that coat up there earlier. It was very cold in the hours leading up to sunrise at the summit. “Look at these!” he went on excitedly, brandishing two matching halves of a lump of quartz. “Very cheap!” I replied politely but firmly that thank you, I wasn’t interested. I could have had any number of rocks from that mountain by now without paying for them. By this stage, having done what I’d come here to do, I just wanted to get on the bus and go to sleep on the long journey back to Sharm el-Sheikh. I'm ashamed to say I'd lost interest in the fabled burning bush and the chapel on the inside of the huge monastery walls. “Ok, how about a trade? You give me that in exchange for them?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the blue stuff sack. It was at this point that I burst out laughing in response. Two lumps of quartz that I didn’t want in a swap deal for my treasured down filled winter coat. I’m not going to tell you how much I paid for that coat. I gave him a vague idea though. “No, not Egyptian pounds! That wouldn’t pay for a cup of coffee.” I asked him if he had a car to throw into the deal. He looked a bit confused at this. I made my escape while I could. It’s a very good coat and even after a hefty sale discount it’s the most expensive garment I’ve ever invested in. I intend to carry on using it each winter until one or the other of us expires.
I’m not keen on people who try to sell me things. Beyond a nod and a brief exchange of greetings, human interaction really isn't my thing you see. If a sales assistant spots me browsing in a shop and asks whether they can help, my usual response is to run for the exits. And when, as they do in Egypt, the salesman regards bartering as a way of life, I’m at even more of a disadvantage. Here, where tourists have to run the gauntlet of traders to make their way onto the mountain trail, it can be a bit scary for people like me. There were plenty of enthusiastic customers around, ready to part with a few dollars for a trinket to take home with them. We don’t like clutter at home. My souvenirs were sitting happily in my memory and saved on an SD card. Once you make it onto the trail, you’re forever trudging up towards the summit of Mount Sinai in the pitch of night, listening for the tell-tale gastric groans of approaching camels, their keepers trying to sell you a ride to the bottom of the last flight to heaven. Suddenly they loom over you in the darkness, inches away, filling the air with their musky ruminant scent as a lugubrious dark eye gazes disinterestedly into the beam of your head torch. Every kilometre brings a pit stop with a covered seating area, plying its trade, offering hot drinks and snacks for the weary traveller. Even the hole in the ground “facilities” have a callow youth stationed by the entrance, relieving visitors of one US dollar before the visitors can relieve themselves. Finally, after the penultimate section of the climb, a kilometre long flight of six hundred and fifty steps to a small plateau just beneath the summit, there are four or five of these small coffee stops huddled together, one or two of them selling genuine Mount Sinai rocks. Why not add a few extra pounds to your bag for the hike back down to the monastery? Why not just pick up a rock from the ground? Only at the end of another hundred steps do you finally escape the din of commerce. Here at the summit is where everyone is lost for words.
Ali had already made it clear that she had no intention of joining me on this trip. She dislikes pressure selling just as much as I do, and unlike myself she had previous experience of this weird and wonderful old country. In the early nineties, long before I met her; when she was just a slip of a girl, a Luxor trader offered one hundred camels in exchange for her. Luckily for me the bid was turned down. One hundred belching, hungry flatulent camels. What on earth would anyone do with one hundred camels? Open the world's most challenging petting zoo? Lead a party of thirsty thrill seekers across the Sahara Desert? Train the fastest ones and enter them into the Cheltenham Gold Camel Cup? The mind boggles.
I’ll never regret getting on that bus and making the long journey into the mountains of the Sinai Desert. It’s a memory I’ll cherish. But in so many ways it wasn’t an easy ride. Even without climbing onto the back of a camel. Of course the hard sell is how these people earn a modest living. But there are plenty of far more willing customers than this one. When I returned to Sharm el-Sheikh and into the arms of the subject of that one hundred camel bid, I described the trip as fourteen hours of purgatory for forty-five minutes of raw landscape mountain morning magic, and that’s how I’ll always remember it. The highlight of the holiday amid the depths of the toughest hours, of which I spent almost nine squashed onto a cramped coach. I’d survived the gauntlet and now I could quietly celebrate and look back on the adventure through a pair of rose tinted spectacles that I didn’t buy from a Bedouin tribesman. Back on the slumbering sunbeds with a good book and unfettered access to the first world cocktail menu. Mostly in Egypt my alcohol intake outscored the daily step count, but much like today’s ascent, the graph suddenly went steeply upwards before plunging down to pina colada level once more. Days one to eight, zero steps. Day nine, thirty-two thousand steps. Days ten to fourteen, zero steps. Or something like that anyway. Mind you, even by the pool you have to tell the same man that you don’t want a massage at least twice a day every day. It’s hard work running the gauntlet.
There are 2.5 million weddings every year; it's not often I get to post a shot that may never have been taken before.
OK, you've probably seen people running out of a church to sparklers or bubbles or doves or rice. But this wasn't daylight; it was late twilight, shot at ISO 6400. What that means is that the dim tungsten interior of the church, not a factor in a daylight shot, is now a bright orange glow framing the couple.
Thanks, D3.
You can see more of the wedding at www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK2B30PWXFZEA5O.
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www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A1K7OB8VJ7CMKI/, or follow the RSS feed.
1070 Western Gauntlet heads for the Berks & Hants at Reading West with 1B73 Paddington to Paignton service 29/5/1976
Combe Martin again, two exposures on this one as the slow shutter speed gave quite an ugly streaky sky. It's also been flipped, and some split toning added as it just worked better. Lets just say this one isn't a record shot...
The creaky sound of unlubricated shopping cart wheels deadened by falling snow. 200 feet above a river in early September on the High Level Bridge, in Edmonton, Alberta. Sept 2018
IMG1567
Artwork Available for Purchase:
11.[10000&Co.] Clown Mask RARE
12.[10000&Co.] Gauntlet RARE
1.::GB::Off shoulder suit hacket / RARE
2.::GB::Suit pants suspender
6.::GB::Suit Vest / Black
15.::GB::Strap Mini machine gun
::GB:: Jopper pants(F) /FATPACK
HAZEL - Nano Stompers - Black
Formerly @ Midnight Order - July 20 - August 20
Now on the marketplace!
Gauntlets from the reliquary of an ancient clandestine society. These mostly ornamental armored gloves were likely used in rituals and rites by knights higher in the secretive order~
These bento rigged gauntlets have 3 plate, 3 chainmail and 2 filigree color options (silver, steel and black) via HUD.
Fits:
• Legacy Male & Female
• Belleza Freya & Jake
• eReborn
• Maitreya
• Kupra
You will need to use your body's alpha HUD options to hide your hands and lower arm for these! An alpha for Kupra is included.
Mod / Copy / No Trans
More from me ♥
At the start of The Infinity Gauntlet, the alien nihilist Thanos has collected the six Infinity Gems and attached them to his gauntlet. With their combined power, he becomes "like a god" and sets out to win the affection of Mistress Death, the living embodiment of death in the Marvel Universe. When Thanos uses his powers to kill half of the living beings in the universe, Adam Warlock leads Earth's remaining heroes against him. After the Infinity Gauntlet is stolen by Thanos' villainous granddaughter Nebula, Thanos aids the remaining heroes in defeating her. Warlock ultimately obtains the Infinity Gauntlet and uses its power to undo the death and destruction caused by Thanos.
Aug. 7, 2022: The stern of the pirate ship "Devil's Gauntlet" in Ventura Harbor, Ventura, California. The tall ship, built in 1968, faced dismantling in 2018 when Daniel "Pirate Dan" Blevins Catalano purchased the vessel for one dollar. He completely rebuilt the tall ship. This summer, the "Devil's Gauntlet" is in Ventura Harbor, but there is no indication of public tours. 206/365
Gloster Gauntlet on an air to air photo shoot in Finland arranged by the Centre of Aviation Photography (COAP).
I made this for a Draw This in Your Style challenge by an artist who goes by Levitzo on Instagram. Not quite a drawing, but still. It counts.
Sculpted hair, plastic card for her glasses and hair ornament, e-tape shoes, jacket and skirt, and painted face, legs and BrickWarriors gauntlets.
What do you think? And be sure to check out Levitzo’s page if you’re on IG!
Small wooden fishing boats run the gauntlet of choppy waters to put out to sea at Badouzi harbour. For over 2,000 other free (public domain) photos, please see my Pexels account:
Formerly @ Neo-Japan ~ Sept. 24 - Oct. 16
Now on the marketplace!
These full arm and partial chest gauntlets are fashionably crafted and tough enough to keep your limbs and side boob protected at all times.
The arm and chest portion of these gauntlets can be separated if you choose to just wear one part, and it is also wearable one arm at a time for asymmetrical outfit designs~
Fits:
• Legacy F
• Belleza Freya
• eReborn
• Maitreya
• Kupra
Comes with a texture HUD with 10 color options shown here.
Mod / Copy / No Trans
More from me ♥
1070 Western Gauntlet has just dropped off aggregates from one of the Somerset quarries at Gloucester near the site of Barnwood shed 30/3/1976.
Anyone who's been to the Farne islands, will know the gauntlet the puffins have to run (fly) to get their catch safely into the burrow.
South Shore Freight's PF9 runs through the Hammond station on the gauntlet track as they work their way slowly west. The rear of the long train is still rolling out of the yard at Burnham. Once it clears, the engineer will notch up his pair of SD38-2s and the train will climb up to the elevated portion of the roller coaster that is the South Shore mainline.
Interested in purchasing a high-quality digital download of this photo, suitable for printing and framing? Let me know and I will add it to my Etsy Shop, MittenRailandMarine! Follow this link to see what images are currently listed for sale: www.etsy.com/shop/MittenRailandMarine
If you are interested in specific locomotives, trains, or freighters, please contact me. I have been photographing trains and ships for over 15 years and have accumulated an extensive library!
Soo 213-A rolls down the "Gauntlet", old passenger main, at Schiller Park. She will make a setout and continue on to the Belt Raiway of Chicago at Clearing, August 1978.
Swedish registered P-51D Mustang with the world's only Gloster Gauntlet behind. The Gauntlet carries the markings of the Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) as used from its inception as a branch of the Finnish army in 1918 until the adoption of the blue and white roundel at the end of the second world war.
The Belt Job rolls west into Hammond during one of the last winter storms of the season. Hammond is one of three stops on the South Shore Line that utilizes gauntlet tracks. It is one of the last examples of gauntlet operations in the Midwest.
Engineer Vahey has his train well in hand as South Shore's job to the Belt Railway skims NICTD's Hammond Depot coming up to State Line and Burnham Yard. The train is utilizing the unique gauntlet track, offering some space between the freight train and the elevated platforms.
Hammond, IN
2019.09.07
D1070 Western Gauntlet at Ranelagh Road stablingpoint near Paddington August 1974.
One of my favourites possibly because I seemed to see Gauntlet regulalrly. Withdrawn in 1976. There must have been a real challenge keeping the noise and exhaust fumes to a minimum [if that is possible] in such a built up area.
Part of the Tom Derrington Collection with photographer unknown.
I really must scan some more of my negatives as this is becoming very unrepresentative.
Through the gauntlet called “sharks teeth” off the coast of Sumatra island the waves find their way through for many centuries carving this magnificent scene. I am one lucky human being to capture and appreciate this beautiful piece of nature. I hope you like it to.
White Tailed Eagle, one of the birds in the flying display at Gauntlet Birds of Prey Eagle and Vulture Park link here - www.gauntlet.info/index.html