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Given the amount of rain and sun we spent a good time trying to spot a rainbow....eventually I did - Dennis missed it as he was ahead route finding.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of zero metres, at 06:37am on Sunday 5th September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, between the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
In the distance we see Mt Baker in Washington State, USA . Known to the Lummi First nation people (Lhaq'temish) as Kwelshán ('Shooting place' in Nooksack), to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River as Teqwúbe7 meaning “snow-capped peak'', to the Nooksack language as Kweq’ Smánit (“white mountain'') and also known as Koma Kulshan, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.
The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792.
The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in this small but beautiful town where some of my family are so lucky to reside. Work commenced on the pier in 1993 withn Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed.
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Nikon D850. Focal length: 24mm Shutter speed: 1/5s Aperture f/14.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Focus mode: AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable Exposure mode: Aperture priority exposure Nikon Back button focusing enabled Metering mode: Matrix metering ISO Sensitivity: ON (Normal) White balance: Natural light auto 0, 0 Colour space: Adobe RGB Nikon Auto Distortion control: ON Picture control: (SD) Standard (Sharpening +3/Clarity +1) High ISO NR: ON (Normal) Vignette control: Normal Active D-lighting: Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.64s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.70s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.1MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 42.60MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Fehler bitte melden. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob alle Angaben richtig sind.
Please displaying errors. I am not shure if all given informations are correct.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.628+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 23rd 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1182623787 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,392nd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Zero metres, at 13:17pm on Friday 20th September 2019 off Mills Road and 17a West Saanich Road, from the shoreline of Patricia Bay near beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Patricia Bay is a body of salt water that extends East from the Saanich Inlet and forms part of the North Saanich shoreline in British Columbia. The bay was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught who was Governor General in 1912.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 24mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/16.0 iso160 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 17.27s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 26m 45.54s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.2MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 45.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.513+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Friday 12th November 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1352826450 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,321st frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Ten metres at 12:39pm on Thursday 11th November 2021 off the Western Esplanade and West Cliff Road on the shoreline of Louisa Bay in Broadstairs, Kent. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.
Here we see an Adult Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) in winter plumage. They are also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or palaearctic oystercatcher,or just oystercatcher in Europe. They are waders with three races in Western Europe, Central Eurosiberia, Kamchatka, China and Korea. A Canary Islands species is now extinct. They are also the national bird of the Faroe Islands.
We left around 9am for the hour or so 70 mile drive down the A2 to Viking bay, first stop a full English breakfast at the pub there overlooking the beach. Then time for a stroll along the beach on a cloudy day surrounded by Mother Nature, a tonic for the soul.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration Control set on to normal position 1 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/250s Aperture f/10.0 iso250 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX) Focus mode: AF-C focus AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto 1, 0, 0 (5760K) Colour space: Adobe RGB Active D-Lighting: Low Picture control: (NL) Neutral +2 sharpening
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Black Rapid curve breathe sport shoulder strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Jessops Tripod bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 16.76s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 38.71s
ALTITUDE: 10.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE SIZE: 91.20MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 36.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Given that I live less than half a mile away, a proper visit to All Saints is long overdue, though I've visited often for concerts, exhibitions, civic events and a few funerals. There was a church on this site by the time of the Domesday Book, serving what remained a small hamlet until the spa waters were developed in the 1790s. The church grew alongside the town, with a number of extensions added so it could accommodate around 400 worshippers. A new phase of building began in 1843, constructing a new nave. A new lofty chancel was added in 1845, based on the one at Cologne Cathedral. Work on the baptistry and the tower didn’t begin until 1898, and was finally completed by 1902. By then Queen Victoria was dead, but in view of her having granted Leamington Spa the honour of being ‘Royal’ in 1838, the church was dedicated to her.
More or less surrounded by white stucco, the church is quite a dark and lowering presence, its stonework darkened by coal fires and more recent pollution.
When the tower was added in 1902 (and indeed, before that) this view would have been impossible, as a tall terrace of shops had been built in front, along with the single storey well house built by the Earl of Aylesford n 1813 so visitors could take the waters. The terrace of shops was demolished in the 1890s but the well house survived until the 1950s. The church now benefits from a wide paved area in front and with its grassy chuchyard behind, is a relatively quiet oasis from the busy main road.
To the left of centre in the roof line you can see the large rectangular base that was to support the tall spire. Never having noticed it before, it now looks like a very prominent oddity.
I was given a box of old compact digital cameras to see if I could resuscitate any of them. This one is awaiting a battery and further testing. Kodak made a ba-jillion types of early digital cameras. They tried everything to satisfy a fickle marketplace. What they DID succeed in doing (at least for this guy) was to make wonderfully colorful cameras. We could use more of that these days. Lots more. IMHO.
Given it was a rainy day I looked around for something to photograph and there, just waiting to be captured for posterity, was a glass platter with a harvest-time sample of the garden’s produce: tomatoes, plums, peaches and a lone yellow pepper. A quick set up of the lighting gear and here is the result. A nice still life reminder of summer come January’s snows. And, of course, Red Rule applies. - JW
Date Taken: 2018-08-21
Tech Details:
Taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with an AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lense, ISO100, Daylight WB, Manual exposure mode, f/5.0, 1/200 sec. Strobist info: one radio-triggered flash in an octagonal soft-box approx 7 feet to the left and about 5 feet higher than the table top, white reflector approx 2 feet right of the platter. PP in free Open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon RAW/NEF source file: set final image size to be 9000px wide, crop to square format, set exposure compensation to EV+0.65 brighter than-as-shot, slightly increase contrast and Chromaticity in L-A-B mode, sharpen, save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: slightly modify the tone curve to hold the bottom 3/4 at default and pull up the top ¼ to brighten the highlights, slightly decrease overall contrast and increase brightness, very slightly increase saturation – just enough to clean up the colours, sharpen, save, scale image to 6000x6000, sharpen, save, add fine black-and-white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 2048 wide for posting, sharpen slightly, save.
Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, and Windhoek in the south.
In the 1970s the name Damaraland was revived for a bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Damara people. A centrally administered local government was created in 1980. The bantustan Damaraland was situated on the western edge of the territory that had been known as Damaraland in the 19th century.
Damaraland, like other homelands in South West Africa, was abolished in May 1989 at the start of the transition to independence.
I’ve given much thought to this week’s theme. Photographically I’ve been in a creative slump since the middle of 2016. Three years ago my husband of 41 years passed away, and I’ve spent the time since getting rid of things, downsizing and trying to build a life on my own. Last May I moved into a newly built home in an “empty nester” community. It has been a really good move for me, but it has left me mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. After 36 years in one place, I am surprised at how challenging the adjustment has been. So my story starts with rest and recovery that will hopefully lead to renewed creativity in my photography.
I thought I’d jumpstart things with a new macro lens. I’ve been wanting the 60mm for at least a year and a half, and finally decided to order it. It came, I took this picture of it and was planning to use it for this theme, and then realized I had mistakenly ordered the wrong lens! This is the AF 60mm and I need the AF-S! So I have to send it back and exchange it for the correct one. So my photographic story starts with a frustration and a delay. Hopefully by Week 3’s theme I’ll be able to do something creative with my new lens! :-)
Also for the ODC Theme “Three”
2 Weeks of 2017 - Week 1 - Theme: My Story starts with a… - Category: Creative
ODC Three
A natural mikan given to us from our friends farm house in the rural backwoods of Chiba Prefecture. www.lucidcommunication.com/2011/12/05/real-natural-ancien...
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 39.465+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1329479606 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,109th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty four metres at 08:50am on an beautiful summer morning on Sunday 18th July 2021, off Woolacombe Road and Broad Walk in a garden in Blackheath, South East London.
Here we see an adult male European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), taking a drink from a stone garden bird bath. A small passerine bird of the finch family, they are native to Europe, North Africa and Western and Central Asia. Males have larger red patches on the head, extending past the eye at the top and base, and also darker nasal feathers where the females are light brown nasal feathers.
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Nikon D850 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/1600s Aperture: f/9.0 iso500 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4500k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 27m 58.44s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 1m 53.94s
ALTITUDE: 44.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 36.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
French postcard, no. 2056. Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990).
Kevin Costner (1955) is one of Hollywood's most prominent strong, silent types. He had his breakthrough with his portrayal of Eliot Ness inThe Untouchables (1987). For several years he was the celluloid personification of the baseball industry, given his indelible mark with baseball-themed hits like Bull Durham (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), and For Love of the Game. His epic Western Dances with Wolves (1990) marked the first break from this trend and established Costner as a formidable directing talent to boot. He received two Oscars, two Golden Globes, and a Primetime Emmy. Although several flops in the late 1990s diminished his bankability, for many, Costner remained one of the industry's most enduring and endearing icons.
Kevin Costner was born in 1955, in Lynwood, California, and grew up in Compton. His mother, Sharon Rae (Tedrick), was a welfare worker, and his father, William Costner, was an electrician and, later, a utility executive at Southern California Edison. Kevin was not academically inclined in school. He enjoyed sports (especially football), took piano lessons, wrote poetry, and sang in the First Baptist Choir. While a marketing student at California State University in Fullerton, he became involved with community theatre. Upon graduation in 1978, he married Cindy Silva, who worked at Disneyland as Cinderella. Costner took a marketing job that lasted all of 30 days before he decided to take a crack at acting. He took work that allowed him to develop his acting skills via tuition, including working on fishing boats, as a truck driver, and giving tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the couple while he also attended auditions. He made an inauspicious film debut in the ultra-cheap independent film Sizzle Beach USA/Hot Malibu Summer (Richard Brander, 1986), AllMovie mentions 1974 as the premiere date. According to Wikipedia, Filmed in the winter of 1978–1979, the film was not released until 1981 and re-released in 1986 after Costner became a celebrity. However, Costner decided to take a more serious approach to acting. Venturing down the usual theatre-workshop, multiple-audition route, the actor impressed casting directors who weren't really certain of how to use him. That may be one reason why Costner's big-studio debut in Night Shift (Ron Howard, 1982) consisted of little more than background decoration, and the same year's Frances (Graeme Clifford, 1982) starring Jessica Lange, featured the hapless young actor as an off-stage voice. Director Lawrence Kasdan liked Costner enough to cast him in the important role of the suicide victim who motivated the plot of The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, 1983). Unfortunately, his flashback scenes were edited out of the film, leaving all that was visible of the actor - who had turned down Matthew Broderick's role in WarGames (John Badham, 1983) to take the part - to be his dress suit, along with a fleeting glimpse of his hairline and hands as the undertaker prepared him for burial during the opening credits. Two years later, a guilt-ridden Kasdan chose Costner for a major part as a hell-raising gunfighter in the 'retro' Western Silverado (Lawrence Kasdan, 1985), this time putting him in front of the camera for virtually the entire film. He also gained notice for the Diner-ish buddy road movie Fandango. The actor's big break came two years later as he burst onto the screen in two major films, No Way Out (Roger Donaldson, 1987) and The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987); his growing popularity was further amplified with a brace of baseball films, released within months of one another. In Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988), the actor was taciturn minor-league ballplayer Crash Davis, and in the following year's Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson, 1989), he was Ray Kinsella, a farmer who constructs a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfield at the repeated urging of a voice that intones "if you build it, he will come." Riding high on the combined box-office success of these films, Costner was able to make his directing debut. With a small budget of 18 million dollars, he went off to the Black Hills of South Dakota to film the first Western epic that Hollywood had seen in years, a revisionist look at American Indian-white relationships titled Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990). The supposedly doomed project, in addition to being one of 1990's biggest moneymakers, also took home a slew of Academy Awards, including statues for Best Picture and Best Director.
Kevin Costner's luck continued with the costume epic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds, 1991). The film made money, though it seriously strained Costner's longtime friendship with director Reynolds. The same year, Costner had another hit - and critical success - on his hands with JFK (Oliver Stone, 1991). The next year's The Bodyguard (Mick Jackson, 1992), a romantic thriller which teamed Costner with Whitney Houston, did so well at the box office that it seemed the actor could do no wrong. However, his next film, A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood, 1993), casting Costner against type as a half-psycho, half-benign prison escapee, was a major disappointment, even though Costner himself garnered some acclaim. Bad luck followed Perfect World in the form of another cast-against-type failure, the Western Wyatt Earp (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Adding insult to injury, Costner's 1995 epic sci-fi adventure Waterworld received a whopping amount of negative publicity prior to opening due to its ballooning budget and bloated schedule; ultimately, its decent box office total in no way offset its cost." The following year, Costner was able to rebound somewhat with the romantic comedy Tin Cup (Ron Shelton, 1996), which was well-received by the critics and the public alike. Unfortunately, he opted to follow up this success with another large-scaled directorial effort, an epic adaptation of author David Brin's The Postman (Kevin Costner, 1997). It featured Costner as a Shakespeare-spouting drifter in a post-nuclear holocaust America whose efforts to reunite the country give him messianic qualities. Like Waterworld, The Postman received a critical drubbing and did poorly with audiences. Costner's reputation, now at an all-time low, received some resuscitation with the romantic drama Message in a Bottle (Luis Mandoki, 1998), with Robin Wright, and later the same year he returned to the genre that loved him best with the baseball drama For Love of the Game (Sam Raimi, 1998). A thoughtful reflection on the Cuban missile crisis provided the groundwork for the mid-level success of the historical political thriller Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, 2000).
Kevin Costner's played a member of a group of Elvis impersonating casino bandits in 3000 Miles to Graceland (Demian Lichtenstein, 2001) with Kurt Russell. This film drew harsh criticism, relegating it to a quick death at the box office. Costner's next effort was a more sentimental supernatural drama lamenting lost love, Dragonfly (Tom Shadyac, 2002). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Costner fared better in 2003, and returned to directing, with Open Range, a Western co-starring himself and the iconic Robert Duvall -- while it was no Dances With Wolves in terms of mainstream popularity, it certainly received more positive feedback than The Postman or Waterworld." Next, Costner starred alongside Joan Allen in the drama The Upside of Anger (Mike Binder, 2004). It cast Allen as a single, upper-middle-class woman who unexpectedly strikes up a romance with the boozy ex-baseball star who lives next door (Costner). Even if divided on the picture as a whole, critics unanimously praised the lead performances by Costner and Allen. After the thoroughly dispiriting quasi-sequel to The Graduate, Rumor Has It... (Rob Reiner, 2005), starring Jennifer Anniston, Costner teamed up with Fugitive director Andrew Davis for the moderately successful Coast Guard thriller The Guardian (Andrew Davies, 2006), co-starring Ashton Kutcher. Costner then undertook another change-of-pace with one of his first psychological thrillers: Mr. Brooks, (Bruce A. Evans, 2007). Playing a psychotic criminal spurred on to macabre acts by his homicidal alter ego (William Hurt), Costner emerged from the critical- and box-office failure fairly unscathed. He came back swinging the following year with a starring role in the comedy Swing Vote, playing a small-town slacker whose single vote is about to determine the outcome of a presidential election. Costner's usual everyman charm carried the movie, but soon he was back to his more somber side, starring in the recession-era drama The Company Men (John Wells, 2010) alongside Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, and Tommy Lee Jones. As the 2010s rolled on, Costner's name appeared often in conjunction with the Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained prior to filming, but scheduling conflicts would eventually prevent the actor from participating in the project. He instead signed on for the latest Superman reboot, playing Clark Kent's adoptive dad on Planet Earth in Man of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013) starring Henry Cavill. In 2020, he returned to form with Let Him Go (Thomas Bezucha, 2020) with Diane Lane.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty metres at 07:53am on Thursday 8th May 2022, of a juvenile Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and it's mother taking food from a garden off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Several times the Vixen angrily put the youngster in it's place, and it cowered down, ears pinned back in full submissive mode until she allowed it to move again.
The largest of the true foxes (a genus of the sub-family Caninae which form a proper clade or monophyletic or natural group). Red foxes are the largest of the worldwide foxes, and also the most commonly widespread across the Northern hemisphere, Europe and North Africa.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 380mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture f/8.0 iso800 Hand held with Tamron Vibration Control set to position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504) NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering Active D-Lighting: low White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4670k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.30s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.44s
ALTITUDE: 60.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 21.60MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Name: Matthew M. Lamb
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields Police Station
Arrested on: 5 October 1914
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-256-Matthew M Lamb
The Shields Daily News for 7 October 1914 reports:
“TRAWLER-HAND SENT TO PRISON FOR BREAKING AND ENTERING
Today at North Shields Matthew M Lamb (21), deckhand, minesweeping trawler no. 461, was charged with breaking and entering the house, 73 Tyne Street and stealing therefrom a gramophone, records, and several other artefacts valued in all £4, the property of Emma Cope.
Miss Cope stated that prisoner stayed with her on Friday night last and on the following day she met him in South Shields. On reaching home she found the house had been broken into and she missed the gramophone, records etc.
A neighbour of the last witness deposed to seeing the defendant with other men at Miss Cope’s house. Defendant burst open the door and witness later saw defendant carrying the gramophone. There was no one with him. Defendant was very drunk.
Sergt. Spindler said the defendant replied to the charge when arrested “I don’t know anything about it but I take all responsibility”. Defendant said he was drunk at the time and didn’t remember anything about the offence. Defendant was committed to prison for one month.”
These images are taken from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 (TWAM ref. DX1388/1). This set is our selection of the best mugshots taken during the First World War. They have been chosen because of the sharpness and general quality of the images. The album doesn’t record the details of each prisoner’s crimes, just their names and dates of arrest.
In order to discover the stories behind the mugshots, staff from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums visited North Shields Local Studies Library where they carefully searched through microfilm copies of the ‘Shields Daily News’ looking for newspaper reports of the court cases. The newspaper reports have been transcribed and added below each mugshot.
Combining these two separate records gives us a fascinating insight into life on the Home Front during the First World War. These images document the lives of people of different ages and backgrounds, both civilians and soldiers. Our purpose here is not to judge them but simply to reflect the realities of their time.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
Showing of the shoes. I decided to keep the same ones as for Alice given they have a similar style anyway, even if otherwise they would ideally be a littl flatter.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Twenty four metres at 10:30am on Wednesday 9th February 2022 off the West Cliff Promenade standing beside the Clock tower looking out on the shoreline of Louisa Bay in Broadstairs, Kent. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.
We left around 9am for the hour or so 70 mile drive down the A2 to Viking bay, first stop a full English breakfast at the Royal Albion pub there overlooking the beach. Then time for a stroll along the beach on a cloudy day surrounded by Mother Nature, a tonic for the soul.
Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor Vibration Control enabled on Normal setting 1 Focal length: 40mm Shutter speed: 1/125s Aperture f/14.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX Focus mode: AF-C focus AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance: Auto 1, 0, 0 (4930K) Colour space: Adobe RGB Active D-Lighting: Low Picture control: (NL) Neutral +2 sharpening
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.3 (1 Stop) Neutral density graduated soft resin filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Black Rapid curve breathe sport shoulder strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Jessops Tripod bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 22.95s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 35.89s
ALTITUDE: 24.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE SIZE: 91.20MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 44.10MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Norwich is a fine city. Or so the signs say on every road into it. But, and there can be no denying it, it is a jewel in the Norfolk countryside.
For me it is “just” Norwich Where used to go for our important shopping, for football and later for concerts. We, and I, would take for granted its cobbled streets, Norman cathedral and medieval churches by the dozen. Also it’s a pub for every day, the ramshackle market, and the Norman castle keep looking down on the city sprawled around.
Just Norwich.
Later, it also became where I bought new records from Backs in Swan Lane, and searched for punk classics in the Record and Tape Exchange.
Norwich is lucky that the industrial revolution passed by the city leaving few changes, the character and history intact. World War II did damage, some churches were abandoned, some rebuilt, but many survived.
And Norwich is a friendly city. It sees warm and colourful, and on a hot summer’s day when the locals were in shorts and t-shirts, much white flesh was on display. I also take the football club for granted. I have supported it from nearly 49 years, and being away from the city means I get my news and views largely second hand, but I also forget how central the club is to the people.
Other cities would have children dressed in any one of a dozen Premier League club’s replica shirts. In Norwich yellow and green was the dominant colour, even after a chastening season that saw us finish rock bottom of the league. The local sports “superstore” has a Norwich Fan’s fanzone, and a third of the window is given to the home city club.
I knew the city like the back of my hand, so knew the route I wanted to take to provide me with views that would refresh those in my mind. I didn’t dally, pressed on to my two targets, the Anglican Cathedral and St Peter Mancroft.
This wasn’t the original plan; that was to meet two friends I used to go to the football with, Ian and Ali, but they both caught a bug in Manchester watching the women’s Euros, so couldn’t meet with me. But I had an alternative plan, maybe with a pub stop or two.
The trip happened as I got a mail offering a tempting 20% off the trip that had been selling poorly, I checked with Ian and Alison, they said they were free, but had yet to fall ill. So seats were booked, as Jools liked the sound of an afternoon in Norwich and meeting my friends.
Up at quarter to five so we could catch the first High Speed service out of Dover, so to be in London in time to catch the railtour to Norwich.
Sun had yet to light up Dover Priory when we arrived, but a few people milling around, including two still at the end of their night out.
Folkestone was light by the warm light of the rising sun, and well worth a shot as we passed over Foord Viaduct.
Later, I was hoping the calm morning meant the Medway would be a mirror, but a breeze disturbed the surface ruining the reflections I had hoped for.
Finally, emerging into Essex, the line climbs as the go over the Dartford Crossing, just enough time to grab a shot.
It was already hot in London, so we stayed in the shade of the undercroft at St Pancras, had a coffee and a pasty from Greggs before walking over to Kings Cross to see if our tour was already at the buffers.
We walked across the road to King's Cross, and find the station packed with milling passengers, all eyes trained on the departure boards waiting for platform confirmations.
Ours was due to be platform 3, and the rake of carriages was indeed there, top and tailed by class 66 freight locomotives.
We get on the train and find we had been allocated a pair of seats nearest the vestibule. This meant that they were a few inches less wide than others, meaning Jools and I were jammed in.
Almost straight away, Jools's back and Achilles began to ache, and the thought of four hours of this in the morning and another four in the evening was too much, and so she decided to get off at the first stop at Potters Bar.
In the end, a wise choice I think.
The guy in the seat opposite to us talked the whole journey. I mean filling any silence with anything: how much he paid for the components of his lunch, his cameras and then his job. In great detail. He also collected train numbers. I didn't know that was really a thin in the days of EMUs, but I helped out from time to time telling him units he had missed.
We had a twenty minute break at Peterborough because of pathing issues, so we all got out to stretch our legs and do some extra trainspotting.
An Azuma left from the next platform, and another came in on the fast line. I snapped them both.
From Peterborough, the train reversed, and after the 20 minute wait, we went out of the station southwards, taking the line towards Ely.
Now that we had done our last stop, the train could open up and we cruised across the Fens at 70mph, the flat landscape botted with wind turbines and church towers slipped by.
Instead of going into Ely station, we took the rarely used (for passenger trains) freight avoiding line, now a single track. Emerging crossing the main line, taking the line eastwards towards Thetford.
Again, the regulator was opened, and we rattled along. Even so, the journey was entering its fourth hour, and with my travelling colleague and without Jools, time was dragging.
We were now back in Norfolk, passing the STANTA training area, all warning signs on the fences telling the trainee soldiers that that was where the area ended. I saw no soldiers or tanks. My only thought was of the rare flowers that would be growing there, unseen.
And so for the final run into Norwich, familiar countryside now.
Under the southern bypass and the main line from London, slowing down where the two lines merged at Trowse before crossing the River Wensum, before the final bend into Norwich Thorpe.
At last I could get off the train and stretch my legs.
Many others were also getting off to board coaches to take them to Wroxham for a cruise on the Broads, or a ride on the Bure Valley Railway, while the rest would head to Yarmouth for four hours at the seaside.
I got off the train and walked through the station, out into the forecourt and over the main road, so I could walk down Riverside Road to the Bishop’s Bridge, then from there into the Cathedral Close.
The hustle and bustle of the station and roadworks were soon left behind, as the only noise was from a family messing about in a rowing boat in front of Pulls Ferry and a swan chasing an Egyptian Goose, so the occasional splash of water.
I reached the bridge and passed by the first pub, with already many folks sitting out in the beer garden, sipping wines and/or summer beers. I was already hot and would loved to have joined them, but I was on a mission.
In the meantime, Jools had texted me and said if I fancied getting a regular service back home, then I should. And a seed grew in my brain. Because, on the way back, departing at just gone five, the tour had to have a 50 minute layover in a goods siding at Peterborough, and would not get back to Kings Cross until half nine, and then I had to get back to Dover.
I could go to the cathedral the church, walk back to the station. Or get a taxi, and get a train back to London at four and still be home by eight.
Yes.
I walked past the Great Hospital, then into the Close via the swing gate, round to the entrance where there was no charge for entry and now no charge for photography. But I would make a donation, I said. And I did, a tenner.
I have been to the cathedral a few times, but not as a churchcrawler. So, I made my way round, taking shots, drinking in the details. But the walk up had got me hot and bothered, I always run with a hot engine, but in summer it can be pretty damp. I struggled to keep my glasses on my nose, and as I went round I knew I was in no mood to go round again with the wide angle, that could wait for another visit.
The church is pretty much as built by the Normans, roof excepted which has been replaced at least twice, but is poetry in stone. And for a cathedral, not many people around also enjoying the building and its history.
At one, bells chimed, and I think The Lord’s Prayer was read out, we were asked to be quiet. I always am when snapping.
In half an hour I was done, so walked out through the west door, through the gate and into Tombland. I was heading for the Market and St Peter which site on the opposite side to the Guildhall.
I powered on, ignoring how warm I felt, in fact not that warm at all. The heat and sweats would come when I stopped, I found out.
I walk up the side of the market and into the church, and into the middle of an organ recital.
Should I turn round and do something else, or should I stop and listen. I stopped and listened.
Everyone should hear an organ recital in a large church. There is nothing quite like it. The organ can make the most beautiful sounds, but at the same time, the bass pipes making noises so deep you can only feel it in your bones.
Tony Pinel knew his way round the organ, and via a video link we could see his hands and feet making the noises we could hear. It was wonderful, but quite how someone can play one tune with their feet and another with their hands, and pulling and pushing knobs and stoppers, is beyond me. But glad some people can.
It finished at quarter to two, and I photograph the font canopy and the 15th century glass in the south chapel. Font canopies are rare, there is only four in England, and one of the others is in Trunch 20 miles to the north. Much is a restoration, but it is an impressive sight when paired with the seven-sacrament font under it.
The glass is no-less spectacular, panels three feet by two, five wide and stretching to the vaulted roof. I can’t photograph them all, but I do over 50%.
I go to the market for a lunch of chips, for old times sake. I mean that was the treat whenever we went either to Norwich or Yarmouth; chips on the market. I was told they no longer did battered sausage, so had an un-battered one, and a can of pop. I stood and ate in the alleyway between stalls, people passing by and people buying chips and mushy peas of their own.
Once done, I had thought of getting a taxi back to the station, but the rank that has always been rammed with black cabs was empty, and two couples were shouting at each other as to who should have the one that was there. So I walked to the station, across Gentleman’s Walk, along to Back of the Inns, then up London Street to the top of Prince of Wales Road and then an easy time to the station across the bridge.
I got my ticket and saw a train to Liverpool Street was due to depart at 14:32. In three minutes.
I went through the barrier and got on the train, it was almost empty in the new, swish electric inter-city unit. I was sweating buckets, and needed a drink, but there appeared to be no buffet, instead just electric efficiency and silence as the train slid out of the station and went round past the football ground to the river, then taking the main line south.
In front of me, two oriental ladies talked for the whole journey. I listened to them, no idea what they talked about to fill 105 minutes.
I thought it would be nearly five when the train got in, but helped by only stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree and Colchester we got in, on time, at quarter past four.
I walked to the main concourse and down into the Circle Line platforms, getting a train in a couple of minutes the four stops to St Pancras. I knew there was a train soon leaving, and after checking the board and my watch I saw I had five minutes to get along the length of the station and up to the Southeastern platforms.
I tried. I did, but I reached the steps up to the platforms and I saw I had 45 seconds, no time to go up as they would have locked the doors. So, instead I went to the nearby pub and had a large, ice-cold bottle of Weiss beer.
That was better.
I was all hot and bothered again, but would have an hour to cool down, and the beer helped.
At ten past five, I went up and found the Dover train already in, I went through the barriers and took a seat in a carriage I thought would stop near the exit at Dover Priory. I called Jools to let her know I would be back at quarter to seven, and she confirmed she would pick me up.
She was there, people got off all out on a night on the town, dressed in shiny random pieces of fabric covering boobs and bottoms. I was young once, I thought.
Jools was there, she started the car and drove us home via Jubilee Way. Across the Channel France was a clear as anything, and four ferries were plying between the two shores. Take us home.
Once home, Jools had prepared Caprese. I sliced some bread and poured wine. On the wireless, Craig spun funk and soul. We ate.
Tired.
It was going to be a hot night, but I was tired enough to sleep through it. Or so I thought.
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Norwich has everything. Thus, the normally dry and undemonstrative Nikolaus Pevsner began his survey of the capital of Norfolk in his 1962 volume Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk. And there is no doubt that this is one of the best cities of its size in northern Europe. Living in Ipswich as I do, I hear plenty of grumbles about Norwich; but really, although the two places have roughly the same population, Ipswich cannot even begin to compare with regard to its townscape. The only features which the capital of Suffolk can claim to hold above its beautiful northern neighbour are a large central park (Norwich's Chapelfield gardens is not a patch on Ipswich's Christchurch Park) and a large body of water in the heart of the town, perhaps Ipswich's most endearing feature and greatest saving grace.
But Norwich has everything else - to continue Pevsner's eulogy, a cathedral, a castle on a mound right in the middle, walls and towers, a medieval centre with winding streets and alleys, thirty-five medieval parish churches and a river with steamships. It even has hills...
I think it would be possible to visit Norwich and not even know this cathedral was there. The centre of the city is dominated by the castle, and the most familiar feature to visitors is the great market square widened by the clearances of the 1930s, and the fine City Hall built at that time which towers above it. In comparison, Norwich Cathedral sits down in a dip beside the river, walled in by its close, and is visible best from outside the city walls, especially from the east on the riverside, and to the north from Mousehold Heath. If you arrive by road from the south or west, you may not even catch a glimpse of it. The great spire is hidden by those winding streets and alleys, and many of the city's churches are more visible, especially St Giles, St Peter Mancroft in the Market Place, and the vast Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, on Grapes Hill. It is said that the nave floor of St John the Baptist is at the same height above sea level as the top of the crossing of the Anglican cathedral.
With the possible exception of Lincoln Cathedral, I think that Norwich Cathedral is my favourite cathedral in all England. Call this East of England chauvinism if you like, But Norwich Cathedral has everything you could possible want from a great medieval building. But there is more to it than that. It is also one of the most welcoming cathedrals in England. There is no charge for admission, and they positively encourage you to wander around through the daily business of the cathedral, in the continental manner. No boards saying Silence Please - Service in Progress here. Because of this, the Cathedral becomes an act of witness in itself, and you step into what feels like it probably really is the house of God on Earth. They even used to say the Lord's Prayer over the PA system once an hour, and invite you to stop and join in - I wish they'd go back to doing that. The three pounds you pay for a photography permit must be one of the bargains of the century so far.
Norwich Cathedral is unusual, in that this is the original building. It has been augmented over the centuries of course, but this is still essentially the very first cathedral on this site. This is because the see was only moved to Norwich after the Norman invasion. The Normans saw the wisdom of drawing together ecclesiastical and civil power, and one way in which this might be achieved was by siting the cathedrals in the hearts of important towns. At the time of the conquest, Bishop Herfast had his seat at Thetford, and it was decided to move the see to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. It had moved several times during the previous four centuries, from Walton in Suffolk to North Elmham in Norfolk before Thetford, where the first proper but simple stone building had been raised. But as well as an eye for efficient administration, the Normans brought the idea that Cathedrals should be glorified; already, vast edifices were being raised in Durham, London and Ely. and Bury St Edmunds, with its famous Abbey, was the obvious place for the Diocese of East Anglia to sit.
However, such a move would have removed the Abbey's independent direct line with Rome, and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Province of Canterbury. The Abbey community was determined that this would not happen, and Abbot Baldwin sent representations to the Pope that ensured the survival of St Edmundsbury Abbey's independence. Bishop Herfast would not be allowed to glorify his position in East Anglia in the way his colleagues were doing elsewhere. But his successor, Herbert de Losinga, was more determined - and, perhaps, steeled by his conscience. A Norman, he had bought the Bishopric from the King in 1091, an act of simony that required penance. Building a great cathedral could be seen as that act of penance. But where? Bury was a lost cause; instead, he chose to move the see to a thriving market town in the north-east of his Diocese; a smaller, more remote place than Bury, to be sure, but proximity to the Abbey of St Edmund was perhaps not such a good thing anyway. It tended to cast a rather heavy shadow. And so it was that the great medieval cathedral of the East Anglian bishops came to be built, instead, at Norwich.
Work began in 1094, and seems to have been complete by 1145. It is one of the great Romanesque buildings of northern Europe, its special character a result of responses to fires and collapses over the course of the next few centuries. At the Reformation in the sixteenth century, it became a protestant cathedral of the new Church of England, losing its role as a setting for ancient sacraments and devotions, but being maintained as the administrative seat of a Diocese which covered all of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the ceremonial church of its great city. In the 19th Century, the western part of the Norwich Diocese was transferred into that of Ely, and at the start of the 20th Century the southern parishes became part of the new Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Today, the Diocese of Norwich consists of north, south and east Norfolk, and the north-eastern tip of Suffolk.
The absence of this great church from the Norfolk Churches site has long been the elephant in the room, so to speak. And having it here at last is, I feel, a mark of how things have changed. When I first started the Norfolk and Suffolk sites back in 1999, I did not have a decent camera, and the earliest entries did not have any photographs at all. How the wheel has turned. Now, the photographs have become the sites, and with no apologies I don't intend to make this a wordy entry.
The perfection of Norwich is of distant views, the cloisters, and the interior. The exterior is hemmed in, and the most familiar part of the building, the west front, is a poor thing, the victim of barbarous restorations in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is almost a surprise to step through its mundanity into the soaring glory of the nave. Above, the famous vaulting is home to one of the largest collections of medieval bosses in the world. There are more in the beautiful cloisters.
The view to the east is of the great organ, looking very 17th Century but actually the work of Stephen Dykes Bower in the 1950s. Beyond is the intimacy of the quire and ambulatory with its radial chapels, the best of which is St Luke's chapel, containing the Despenser retable. Bishop Despenser is one of history's villains, putting down the Peasants Revolt in East Anglia with some enthusiasm. It is likely that this retable was made for the cathedral's high altar, possibly even to give thanks for the end of the Revolt. It was discovered upside down in use as a table in the 1840s. This chapel is, unusually, also a parish church; the parish of St Mary in the Marsh, the church of which was demolished at the Reformation, moved into the cathedral. They brought their seven sacrament font with them, and here it remains.
In the ambulatory there are many traces of medieval paint, almost certainly from the original building of the Cathedral. Two curiosities: at the back of the apse is the original Bishop's chair, and rising across the north side of the ambulatory like a bridge is a relic screen.
There is a good range of glass dating from the 14th to the 21st centuries. Highlights include the medieval panels in the north side of the ambulatory, Edward Burne-Jones's bold figures in the north transept, Moira Forsyth's spectacular Benedictine window of 1964 in a south chapel, and the millennium glass high in the north transept, which I think will in time become one of the defining features of the Cathedral. The figure of the Blessed Virgin with the Christ Child seated on her lap is the work of Norfolk-based artist John Hayward, who died recently, but the glass above is Hayward's reworking of Keith New's 1960s glass for St Stephen Walbrook in London, removed from there in the 1980s, and now reset here. Towards the west end of the nave are two sets of Stuart royal arms in glass, a rare survival.
I grew up in a city some sixty miles away from Norwich, but I didn't come here until I was in my mid-teens. I remember wandering around this building and being blown away by it, and I still get that feeling today. There is always something new to find here. My favourite time here is first thing in the morning on a winter Saturday. Often, I can be the only visitor, which only increases the awe. Another time I like to be here in winter is on a Saturday afternoon for choral evensong. Perhaps best of all, though, is to wander and wonder in the cloisters on a bright sunny day, gazing at fabulous bosses almost within arm's reach.
Several English cathedrals have good closes, but Norwich's is the only one in a major city, I think. It creates the sense of an ecclesiastical village at the heart of the city; and then, beyond, the lanes and alleys spread out, still hanging on despite German bombing and asinine redevelopment. And now I think perhaps it is part of the beauty of this building that it is tucked away by the river, a place to seek out and explore. Norwich has everything, says Pevsner. But really, I think this is the very best thing of all.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichcathedral/norwichcathedr...
I had pretty much given up on the idea of getting out today but after raining all morning, the sun managed to peek through the clouds for a little while.
I jumped in my car and drove to Burrow Mump. I only managed to take three 365 shots and the last on was me running towards the camera as the tripod blew over! Thankfully I managed to catch it in time. It was so windy! Even with my heavy camerabag tied to one of my tripod legs, I couldn't get it stable enough so I had to use on of the three rather crap photos I had already taken - I wasn't going to risk loosing my camera to the wind!
There's a bit about Burrow Mump in my blog
I LOVE this lens!
Thanks to Spencer for letting me borrow it for so long! Happy Birthday!
Given the choice between watching The Eurovision Song Contest or going out to take photos I decided on the latter. After hearing all the criticism about the show being rigged I feel like I made the right choice.
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So, let's get one thing straight from the outset.
I LOVE CARRION CROW.
There, I've said it. Words I use to describe these amazing birds would include stunning, beautiful, bold, magnificent, intelligent and fantastic, loving, tender, victimized.
Right now I have a resident pair of Carrion crows who have decided that my garden is theirs, and are playing a game of cat and mouse with a pair of cheeky Magpies (Pica pica) for dominance and food rights. The male crow actually flies in and 'wings' the magpies to make them leave, an incredible sight to witness. It's an honour and a privilege to be able to win their trust and they have given me so much pleasure this year being able to get within a few feet of them, to photograph and feed them, and they have reinforced my already deep admiration for a bird that is brimming with beauty, intelligence, confidence and also surrounded by myths, legend and prejudice.
So let's begin with a look back over history.
LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY
Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.
In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.
In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.
The crow features in the Ghost dance, popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom.
Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnar Lodbrok used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms.
In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.
In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.
The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug
In Greek mythology Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow. Turning them forever black from their pristine white plumage as a punishment after they failed to watch Coronis, lover of Apollo, battles a Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.
In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.
In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:
1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.
2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.
3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.
4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.
5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.
6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!
7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.
8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events
Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....
There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.
The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.
Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.
Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone
Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm.
They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!
They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.
Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of Kwraw-kwraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.
Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.
Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!
Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades. Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!
They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.
In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN
Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them.
She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.
Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the frames as the mirror slapped back and forth.
The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....
I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....
On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.
A final observation came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them.
Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!
Paul Williams June 4th 2021
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©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty nine metres at 13:58pm on a summer afternoon on Monday 7th June 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see an adult female Carrion crow (Corvus corone)'sunning' herself on the grass.'Sunning', is a behaviour adopted by several bird species which involves sitting down, fanning it's wings or tail feathers, fluffing out it's feathers, tilting it's head, or even staring at the sun with one eye in an effort to release vital preening oils into the feathers, to help rid themselves of unwanted parasites, and possibly even simply because they enjoy it! Other species that I've observed doing this include the Blackbird (Turdus merula) and juvenile Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).
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Nikon D850 Focal length 460mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/7.1 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4700k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.43s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.59s
ALTITUDE: 49.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.90MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 16th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1090841458 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,354th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Three hundred and fourteen metres at 08:50am on Friday 24th August 2018, having paid twenty five euros for a trip on the East wing lift up to the highest viewing platform on the Tour Eiffel located at Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 in Paris, France. Here we look over part of Paris including the fountains in Jardins du Trocadero towards Place du Trocadero and Esplanade du Trocadero in Paris, France.
The Eiffel Tower was originally designed by Gustave Eiffel and constructed between 1887-1889 as the entrance to the worlds fair in that year. It is now the worlds most visited paid monument, standing 324 metres tall (1,063ft) with three floors and eight lifts and was the tallest building in the world from 1889 to 1930.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 46mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. shutter speed 1/60s Aperture f/10.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 51m 30.00s
LONGITUDE: E 2d 17m 40.00s
ALTITUDE: 314.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 21.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Ah, now we have the start of a series of bee pictures from Slovakia as given to us by Peter Šima (bee and, in particular bumble bee expert) who did most of the determinations. The Slovakian bee at hand was collected on the Levee of the Nitra river (Nábrežná) by Nové Zámky. This bee is a European counterpart of our Orchard Bee. So counterparty is it that it was introduced into California to pollinate the Almond Orchard. This was during the era of USDA bad idea bee introductions of which two are now pesty introduced species and the others (like this one) appear to have not taken. The world is littered with these "what could go wrong?" introductions. Photo by Cole Cheng.
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde
You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML
Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
Continuing with posting photos from my archives. Not sure when I will get out for a drive, given that our winter weather continues. November 23 2024: lots more snow and it looks like almost 1 foot of snow on top of my back fence. Can't complain, though, as mild, fall weather lasted well into November, which was wonderful. So thankful that I managed to get out for groceries the day before yesterday, so now I can hibernate for a while.
At 9:00 pm this evening (24 November 2024), our temperature is -19°C (feels like -24°C). Sunrise was at 8:08 am and sunset was at 4:38 pm.
Given that we're going to be back again at the Oxford Walmart for our photoset this weekend, I thought I could commandeer this week's teaser uploads for a few update pics from the former Oxford Mall. Where last we left off, the corridor between the former Wal-Mart (current University of Mississippi Jackson Avenue Center) and the current (if temporary) Ole Miss Bookstore was busy being converted into additional off-campus extension space for the university. This August 2017 shot shows that a lot more progress had been made since the date of that linked pic, April 2017. Both views are also a far cry from how this corridor originally appeared on my first visit to the mall in January 2017.
(c) 2019 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2019 census, the city has an estimated population of 182,437. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people in 2018.
The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.
Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.
The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.
The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.
The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.
Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.
When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control, operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.
On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.
Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida
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Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
In 1942, Albert Speer placed an order for a howitzer mounted on a tank chassis to keep up with the Panzer Divisions. Alkett received the order to design the new vehicle, which would be known as the Sd.Kfz.166, Sturmpanzer, or Sturmpanzer 43. Although commonly referred to as the Brummbär, this was the nickname given to the Sturmpanzer 43 by Allied intelligence, not by the Germans. They referred to it casually as the “Stupa 43”.
The chassis was the one of the reliable mass-produced Panzer IV. Above it, Alkett fitted a massive 15 cm (5.9 in) Sturmhaubitze (StuH) 43 L/12 developed by Škoda, which had common ammunition with the standard siG 33 howitzer in German service. The howitzer was protected by a casemate with sloped sides and thick armor plates. The first production vehicles proved their superstructure was way too heavy for the chassis, and experienced breakdowns of suspension elements or the transmission. The second series corrected this issue with a newly shaped, lighter casemate. The decision was taken in October 1943 and after the redesign, 800 kg (1,800 lb) of steel were spared, including from the gun mount itself on the third series. This new series was named StuH 43/1. Also, the Zimmerit anti-magnetic coating was factory-applied until September 1944. All in all, around 300 were built and primarily saw service in 4 dedicated battalions, the Sturmpanzer-Abteilungen (Stu.Pz.Abt.) 216 - 219.
By that time, the limits of the Sd.Kfz.166 had become apparent and constant losses required new or at least more vehicles of this type. To fill these gaps and provide the assault gun carrier with improved mobility and protection, a successor on the basis of the then-state-of-the-art German medium battle tank Sd.Kfz. 171 Panzer V ‘Panther’ was conceived. The Panther had been born out of the shock of combat on the Eastern Front during the 1941 Operation Barbarossa. There, German units first met the T-34 and KV-1 tanks which posed significant problems to the German tank and anti-tank cannons. The use of sloped armor kept the weight of the tank down but maintained its protection level. Panther tanks first saw action on the Eastern fronts, but they were subsequently also used in Italy, France, Belgium and Holland. The tank had better cross-country mobility than the heavy Tiger and had the same if not more hitting power, with its 7.5 cm Kw.K 42 L/70 long barreled high velocity anti-tank gun. Around 6,000 were produced.
By early 1944 a dedicated anti-tank SPG on the Panther’s basis had been developed, too, the Panzerjäger V Panther, also known as “Jagdpanther”, even though its official designation was “Sd.Kfz. 173 8.8 cm (3.46 in) Pak 43/3 auf Panzerjäger Panther”. It was based on the upgraded Panther Ausf. G that had just entered production. This type was earmarked to be converted into a Sturmpanzer, too, but it became soon clear that the 15 cm Sturmhaubitze (StuH) 43 required a different mount than the Pak 43, placed further forward in the casemate to accept the weapon’s stronger recoil and leave enough room for the crew to properly handle the bigger and heavier rounds. While the Panther chassis was retained, the superstructure had to be modified accordingly. As a consequence the “Stumpanther” became an almost independent development from the Jagdpanther, even though it was still regarded as a variant of the latter with the designation Sd.Kfz. 173/2.
The Sturmpanther was produced in two batches, called “Serie 1” and “Serie 2”. The initial production run was based on converted Sd.Kfz. 171 battle tanks, which were typically recovered damaged battle tanks and re-built at Alkett as Sd.Kfz. 173/2s. The tanks lost their turrets and the respective area in front of the engine bay, creating a spacious combat section with the weapon and its crew but also with the driver and a radio operator station (which was occupied by a 2nd gunner who also operated a defensive machine gun in the front, too). Above the chassis’ waterline, a new boxy casemate was added that protected the front section. Viewed from the front, the casemate had a trapezoidal shape with flat walls. While these plates were thick, they were also slightly sloped to provide additional protection. Unlike the Jagdpanther’s construction, the Sd.Kfz. 173/2’s superstructure was not welded to the hull but was instead held in place by bolts, what made it possible to lift the whole casemate away and easily mount/replace the main gun or work on the drivetrain.
To the rear part of each side armor plate, a cone-shaped pistol port was placed. These were actually conical plugs that were connected to chains: When in use, the armored cover would simply be pushed out by one of the crew members. Once open, these would just hang on to the chains and could be closed back by dragging the chain back in. In the middle of the casemate’s rear wall above the engine deck, a large two-door hatch was located, and two additional pistol ports with plugs were placed on both sides of this door. The front plate had a round-shaped opening in the middle for the gun ball mount, which was further protected by a sloped cast deflector mantlet against direct frontal attacks.
The casemate’s top was flat but slightly angled down (4°) toward the front. An arc-shaped armored cover protected the gunner’s periscope. To the right of it, initially only a square-shaped two-piece hatch for the commander with a periscope was located, but this was soon replaced or retrofitted with a shallow command cupola. Further back, on the left side, the loader’s round-shaped two-part hatch was located. In the back corners, two round-shaped ports were used by the two loaders to see the surrounding rear hemisphere with periscopes. In the middle, a ventilation port with protective sides was installed.
The Sturmpanther’s frontal lower armor remained at the Panzer V’s standard 55°-angled 80 mm, while the steeper casemate front plate (just 20° angle) had a thickness of 100 mm to provide comparable protection. However, the seam between hull and casemate was a weak point. The casemate’s side walls were 60 mm thick and placed at a 30° angle, flush with the hull’s side walls. The rear armor was the same armor thickness placed at a 20° angle. The top was much lighter, at only 30 mm.
In the field, especially the frontal armor was augmented with equipment like spare track links, and additional steel plates of 30 mm were frequently bolted onto the front and/or the sides of the casemate – but this added weight, shifted the center of gravity forward, and it reduced the vehicle’s performance and handling, too. Additionally, protective skirt armor made from 4 mm face-hardened steel plates could be added to protect the visible 40 mm chassis side armor visible between the top of the track and below the pannier. It was believed this area would be vulnerable to penetration at close range by Soviet anti-tank rifles, but these items were rarely mounted and were also easily lost in the heat of battle.
For the use in the Sturmpanther, the StuH 43 was modified further and received a longer barrel for more firepower and versatility: the original short L/12 barrel (only 180 cm/ 6 feet) was replaced with a new L/24 barrel, and the gun received a hydro-pneumatic recoil damper to compensate the higher recoil forces. The longer barrel resulted in a considerably higher muzzle velocity and therefore in a longer firing range. The so-called StuH 43/2 had a maximum range of 14.500 m (15,900 yd) when firing a standard I Gr 33 HE round (which weighed 38 kilograms / 84 lb), which now achieved a muzzle velocity of 880 m/sec. (2,887 ft/s), almost three times as fast as the former short-barreled variants of the gun.
The vehicle could fire 1-2 rounds per minute, but the biggest letdown for the Sturmpanther was its limited ammunition capacity: It only had internal space for 20 shells, usually 13 HE and 7 Concrete- or Armor-Piercing, so that many crews stowed more rounds externally on the rear deck, too, sometimes in sophisticated transport racks that were welded to the hull. Smoke rounds were available, too, but only carried/fired when the tactical situation required them. It took up to 40 minutes to resupply ammunition and it needed a very strong loader, as each shell weighed around 40 kg. This would strongly affect combat capabilities, especially if supply lines were bogged down, or if an offensive lasted too long, meaning that the tank would run out of munitions far too quickly. But an experienced crew would make the best use of its limited ammunition and fare well.
Twenty-two “Serie 1” vehicles were converted in this fashion, and they differed from each other in many details as they were based on a mix of already existing variants of the Panzer V. When a dedicated production line was eventually established, “Serie 2” Sd.Kfz. 173/2s were built in a more standardized fashion, using Panther Ausf. G hull and elements from the Jagdpanther production (which had priority). More than sixty Sd.Kfz. 173/2s were newly built this way, and an interspersed “Serie 3” was technically the same as the Serie 2, but were, due to the lack of StuH 43/2 howitzers, only outfitted with a 10.5 cm Leichte Feldhaubitze 18 L28 with 44 rounds. These vehicles received the separate designation Sd.Kfz. 173/3 and were primarily used in urban combat against fortifications, strongholds and bunkers; less than thirty were built.
Exact production numbers are uncertain, but when Sturmpanther production ceased in mid-1945 in favor of the new Einheitspanzer tank series, a little less than one hundred of all variants had been built and delivered. At least one Sd.Kfz. 173/2 was in early 1945 tested with a 38 cm Sturmmörser RW 61 (the same weapon as used on the “Sturmmörserwagen 606/4”, the Sturmtiger), but it was found that the Sturmpanther’s chassis was not strong enough for the heavy weapon, so that the E-75 chassis was chosen instead for the Sturmtiger’s successor.
Being based on the Panzer V, the Sturmpanther was reliable mechanically and even more agile than the regular Panther, thanks to its lower center of gravity. The first vehicles arrived at the front lines in summer 1944 at the Western front and were immediately thrown into action. The Sturmpanther initially tended to be used for direct fire as an assault gun, which saw it fighting against enemy positions, but not necessarily enemy tanks. However, even though rather designed as a bunker breaker, the Sturmpanther was more and more employed as a Jagdpanzer against enemy tanks and turned out to be quite effective in this role. Whilst the weight of the shells resulted in a slow rate of fire and lacked penetration power, the sheer mechanical shock of a hit was enough to kill the crew of an enemy tank or disable it. It was reported that the Sturmpanther’s HE shell could totally blow the turret off of a heavy tank like a Soviet KV-1 or at least jam it, and the blast could turn over a medium tank like an M4 Sherman or T-34 and totally disable it.
AP shells for direct attacks were available, but these large-caliber rounds were expensive, hard to make, and were in very short supply, as well as only being a little more effective than the HE round.
Many Sturmpanther were outfitted in field workshops with launch racks for unguided rockets like the 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 or 21 cm Nebelwerfer 42 (four to six) were mounted on top of the engine deck, firing forward over the casemate. 8 cm Raketen-Vielfachwerfer (a copy of the Soviet BM-8 “Katyusha” multiple rocket launcher) were occasionally used in this fashion, too, with one or two 12-rocket-racks mounted above each other. These weapons had a range of up to 7 km (4½ ml), gave the Sturmpanther crew more tactical options and stretched the short internal shell supply.
Like the Sturmpanzer 43 before, the Sturmpanther was concentrated in dedicated Sturmpanzer-Abteilungen, but the type’s limited number only made it operational in single companies within three battalions, including the newly founded Sturm-Panzer-Abteilung 220 that exclusively operated the Sturmpanther. The Sturmpanther was heavily used during the “Battle at the Bulge” and also saw extensive action in Southern Germany, Austria and Hungary.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (commander, gunner, 2x loader, driver)
Weight: 45.5 t (44.8 long tons; 50.2 short tons)
Length: 8.46 m (27 ft 8½ in) overall
6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only
Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in)
Height: 2.66 m (8 ft 8¾ in)
Ground clearance: 54 cm (21¼ in)
Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels
Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)
Armor:
15–100 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 46 km/h (29 mph)
Operational range: 260 km (160 mi) on road
130 km (81 mi) cross-country
Power/weight: 15.38 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)
Engine:
Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 23.800 cm³ petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse
Armament:
1× 150 mm (5.9 in) StuH 43/2 L/24 howitzer with 20 rounds
1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun in the front glacis plate with 800 rounds
The kit and its assembly:
This build was inspired by leftover parts from other projects, including a complete casemate from a Trumpeter 1:72 Elefant and the gun barrel from a Trumpeter 1:72 KV-2. This made me wonder about a German Sturmpanzer, a successor for the Panzer IV-based Brummbär with its short 15 cm howitzer. At first, I considered a Tiger I chassis (got one left in The Stash™) but found that it would resemble too much the real-world Sturmtiger with its 38cm rocket mortar. A medium Panther chassis appeared like a better and more plausible option. The real world Jagdpanther would have been a similar SPG development, so I settled upon a Panther basis, in this case a Hasegawa 1:72 Panther Ausf. G.
The Hasegawa Panther is a simple and by today’s standards almost primitive affair, but it goes together well and can be easily modified. Hull and running gear were taken OOB, including the original rubber-rimmed wheels and parts of the protective side skirts. Mounting the Elefant’s casemate onto the turret-less hull took some effort, though. First, it had to be modified to match the Panther’s front section, and it was tailored down accordingly in height, until width and length matched the hull. A double door from a Jagdtiger was glued to the casemate’s back side, as the original round opening fell victim to the trimming-down measures. As a lucky coincidence, the casemate would fit well between the front glacis plate and the engine deck, resulting in a very Jagdpanther-esque look, and the longer barrel reminds of the Soviet ISU-152 SPG?
Integrating the gun mantlet and the bigger barrel into the new kinked front was a bit tricky, though. To fill the hole in the Elefant’s casemate front plate I used the ball mount from the same kit and fixed it into position with a sturdy styrene tube from behind, so that it would still be movable. The Elefant’s front cover was missing, though, so that I had to improvise from this point on. I found a gun port from a Jagdpanther and totally disassembled it, using it to cover the ball mount from the outside and to frame the narrower opening on the model.
The ball mount had to be further protected with a mantlet, and I used a relatively narrow piece from a Schmalturm (IIRC from a Hasegawa 1:72 Panther Ausf. F), which was glued between the KV-2 barrel and the Elefant’s trimmed-down ball mount. A Frankenstein creation that looks surprisingly natural!
Some small details like sight slits, plug covers and bolts on the casemate were added, and I transplanted a shell rack from the 1:72 Trumpeter KV-2 onto the engine deck, with some additional supports and struts (styrene profile material). I first thought that this was a launch rack for unguided missiles, but due to its fixed in position I rather assume that it is “only” a storage rack for additional howitzer rounds. Still plausible, though, and it adds an interesting detail to the model.
Painting and markings:
Another iteration of the standard Hinterhalt paint scheme, in this case only a two-tone variation with wide stripes in Rotbraun (RAL 8017, Humbrol 160) over a Dunkelgelb (RAL 7028, Tamiya TS-3 from a rattle can as overall primer) base. The model received an overall watercolor washing with black and burnt umbra, as well as dry-brushing with grey and beige. Rust and dirt residues were created with watercolors (burnt sienna, umbra). The black vinyl tracks were painted with watercolors, too, with a mix of grey, ochre and burnt umber.
The tactical code’s color and arrangement are unusual, but this style with the code numbers in a contrasting tone and separated by the national marking was for instance used by the Schwere Pz.Abt.506 (operating Tiger IIs) in early 1945. The Mickey Mouse decoration comes from a Luftwaffe aircraft, as well as the small tank “kill markings” on the barrel; both came from a generic TL Modellbau sheet.
The finished model received an overall coat with matt acrylic varnish, was then assembled (running gear and tracks), and the lower areas were lightly dusted with artist mineral pigments.
A cool model, and this fictional assault gun carrier on the basis of a Panther chassis looks very natural – it reminds a lot of the Jagdpanther, but there are many subtle differences that only become apparent with a second, closer look. I like that. The paint scheme in just two tones also looks better than expected, I expected it to look quite dull. But the tiger stripes are quite disruptive, altogether a pretty subtle whif vehicle.
Only location given was Philippines. According to their skirts and the strings of beads around some of the ladies necks can anyone suggest a location?
John Dutton Wright photograph collection documenting the Wright family's international travel, 1920-1924
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.
Given that we work under the name 'id-iom' we do enjoy shoehorning an idiom into our work whenever we get the chance. For today's piece we were commissioned to paint something live for the Streatham Food Festival and once I'd got the idea of using the idiom 'food for thought' (meaning anything that makes you stop and ponder) into my head I was off and running. The design largely suggested itself at that point and all that was then required was some nice weather. Given the quality of summer thus far we were delighted to actually have a sunny day to work with and judging by the number of people who'd come to enjoy the food stalls I'd imagine it was a good day for all. And the brisket burger I had was spot on to boot. Win all round.
Cheers
id-iom
British postcard. in the Picturegoer Series, London Films, no. 1049. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935).
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a handsome, eloquent, and highly charismatic actor and singer, who became one of the foremost interpreters of Eugene O'Neill's plays and one of the most treasured names in song during the first half of the twentieth century. With his powerful bass singing voice, Robeson made an evergreen of the song 'Old Man River'. He starred in The Emperor Jones (1933), the first film to feature an African American in a starring role. At the height of his popularity in the 1930s, Robeson became a major box office attraction in British films. In the USA, he courted disdain and public controversy for most of his career as a staunch Cold War-era advocate for human rights, as well as his very vocal support for Joseph Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. While the backlash of his civil rights activities and left-wing ideology left him embittered and practically ruined his career, he remains today a durable symbol of racial pride and consciousness.
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1898. His siblings were William, Benjamin, Reeve, and Marian Robeson. Their father, William Drew Robeson, was a humble Presbyterian minister and former slave. In 1900, a disagreement between William and white financial supporters of the Witherspoon church arose with apparent racial undertones. William, who had the support of his entirely black congregation, resigned in 1901. The loss of his position forced him to work menial jobs. The young, impressionable Paul grew up singing spirituals in his father's church. He was only six when he and his four siblings, William, Benjamin, Reeve, Marian, lost their mother, Maria Louisa Bustill, a schoolteacher. She was nearly blind and died in a stove fire accident at home. His father then raised the family singlehandedly. Paul was a natural athlete and the tall, strapping high school fullback had no trouble earning a scholarship to prestigious Rutgers University in 1915. At the age of 17, he became only the third member of his race to be admitted at the time. He excelled in football, baseball, basketball, and track, and field, and was the class valedictorian. In his speech, he was already preaching idealism. Paul subsequently played professional football to earn money while attending Columbia University's law school, and also took part in amateur dramatics. During this time he met and married Eslanda Cardozo Goode in 1921. She eventually became his personal assistant. Following graduation, he obtained work at a New York law firm, but quit when a stenographer refused to copy a memo, telling him, "I never take diction from a n*****." His wife persuaded him to play Simon in Ridgely Torrence's 'Simon the Cyrenian' at the Harlem YMCA in 1921. This was followed by his Broadway debut the following year as Jim in Mary Hoyt Wiborg's play 'Taboo', a drama set in Africa, which also went to London. As a result, he was asked to join the Provincetown Players, a Greenwich Village theatre group that included in its membership playwright Eugene O'Neill. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "O'Neill personally asked Paul to star in his plays 'All God's Chillun Got Wings' and 'The Emperor Jones' in 1924. The reaction from both critics and audiences alike was electrifying...an actor was born." In 1925, he sang the first concert recital consisting solely of black spirituals, at the Greenwich Village Theatre in New York. That year, he also made his film debut starring in Body and Soul (Oscar Micheaux, 1925). Gary Brumburgh: "a rather murky melodrama that nevertheless was ahead of its time in its depictions of black characters. Although Robeson played a scurrilous, corrupt clergyman who takes advantage of his own people, his dynamic personality managed to shine through." Radio and recordings helped spread his name across foreign waters. His resonant bass was a major highlight in the London production of Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein II's 'Show Boat'. The role of Joe, the deckhand, was written for him, but because of schedule conflicts and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s delay in putting on the show, he had been unable to star in the first stage production but played the role in London five months later. His rendition of "Ol' Man River" became the benchmark for all future performers of the song. In 1928, he made the second-ever recording of 'Ol' Man River'. (Bing Crosby did the first). Show Boat continued for 350 performances. At the time no U.S. company would hire Robeson and so, he remained in London to play the role of William Shakespeare's 'Othello' in 1930. Paul caused a slight stir by co-starring opposite a white actress, Peggy Ashcroft, who played Desdemona. After his wife Essie discovered Robeson had been having an affair with Ashcroft, she decided to seek a divorce and they split up. Around this time Robeson starred in the film Borderline (Kenneth MacPherson, 1930), a silent film that dealt strongly with racial themes. Stephen Bourne at BFI Screen-on-Line: "Black characters in American cinema of the period rarely moved beyond Al Jolson in blackface, or the dim-witted buffoons played by comedy actors like Stepin Fetchit. For the ambitious Robeson, there were hardly any opportunities to play challenging roles." In 1931, he returned to the stage in the O'Neill play 'The Hairy Ape'. The following year he appeared in a Broadway revival of 'Show Boat' again as Joe, to critical and popular acclaim. In the same production, Helen Morgan repeated her original 1927 performance as the half-caste role of Julie, but the white actress Tess Gardella played the role of Queenie in her customary blackface opposite Robeson. In 1932, Ashcroft and Robeson's relationship ended. Robeson and Essie reconciled, although their relationship was scarred permanently.
Throughout the 1930s, Paul Robeson spent most of his time singing and performing in England. He also was given the opportunity to recapture two of his greatest stage successes on film: The Emperor Jones (Dudley Murphy, 1933) and Show Boat (James Whale, 1936), with Irene Dunne, Helen Morgan, and Hattie McDaniel. His performance of 'Old Man River' in this film version of Show Boat became legendary, both for its quality and for Robeson’s purposeful changing of the lyrics "I'm tired of livin' and 'feared of dyin’" to the more activist "I must keep fightin' until I'm dying". In Britain, he played Bosambo in Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935), which he felt would render a realistic view of colonial African culture. It made Robeson an international film star. Stephen Bourne: "When Robeson became a major star in British films in the mid-1930s, he negotiated for roles that projected a positive image of a black man, roles that broke away from one-dimensional and offensive racial stereotypes. But he often found himself in conflict with an industry that glorified the British Empire and colonialism. This was certainly the case with his first commercial film, Sanders of the River (d. Zoltan Korda, 1935), one of a cycle of imperial adventures produced by Alexander Korda for London Films."Robeson also appeared in such British films as Song of Freedom (J. Elder Wills, 1936), King Solomon's Mines (Robert Stevenson, Geoffrey Barkas, 1937), Jericho (Thornton Freeland, 1937), and The Proud Valley (Pen Tennyson, 1940), set in a Welsh coal-mining town. After returning to America, Robeson played a sharecropper in a segment of the Hollywood movie Tales of Manhattan (Julien Duvivier, 1942) but, after the film was released, he was criticised for perpetuating a racist stereotype. Robeson agreed with his critics and volunteered to join protestors outside cinemas where the film was being shown. He said he wouldn't make any more films until there were better roles for blacks. During the 1930s he gravitated strongly towards economics and politics with a burgeoning interest in social activism. In 1934 he made the first of several trips to the Soviet Union and outwardly extolled the Soviet way of life and his belief that it lacked racial bias, despite the Holodomor and the later Rootless Cosmopolitan Campaign. He was a popular figure in Wales where he became personally involved in their civil rights affairs, notably the Welsh miners. Developing a marked leftist ideology, he continued to criticize the blatant discrimination he found so prevalent in America. In 1939, he premiered Earl Robinson’s multi-ethnic cantata 'Ballad for Americans' on CBS radio, which he would eventually perform in twenty-five languages. In addition to his creative work, Robeson used his personal prominence to push for social and political reform. He supported the Spanish partisans against Franco’s fascist Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, raised funds for refugees from Hitler’s Germany well before such activities were fashionable, and organized a coalition that challenged President Truman to support an anti-lynching law in 1945. The 1940s was a mixture of performance triumphs and poignant, political upheavals. While his title run in the musical drama 'John Henry' (1940), was short-lived, he earned widespread acclaim for his Broadway 'Othello' in 1943 opposite José Ferrer as Iago and Uta Hagen as Desdemona. This production is still the longest-running non-musical production of a Shakespeare play ever to be staged in the United States, due almost entirely to Robeson's enormous popularity. He appeared in a World War II-era U.S. Government War Department propaganda film, Easy to Get, aimed at combating the spread of venereal diseases among black soldiers. In the film, Robeson appears at the end in his capacity as a celebrity football star and singer to advise viewers to stay "clean". By this time, however, Robeson was being reviled by much of white America for his outspoken civil rights speeches against segregation and lynchings, particularly in the South. A founder of the Progressive Party, an independent political party, his outdoor concerts sometimes ignited violence and he was now a full-blown target for "Red Menace" agitators. In 1946, he denied under oath being a member of the Communist Party but steadfastly refused to refute the accusations under subsequent probes. His continued support for the Soviet Union became even more controversial after Stalin publicly turned against Israel in November 1948. As a result, his passport was withdrawn and he became engaged in legal battles for nearly a decade in order to retrieve it. Adding fuel to the fire was his only son's (Paul Jr.) marriage to a white woman in 1949 and his being awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1952. He was unable to receive it until 1958 when his passport was returned to him.
Paul Robeson was essentially blacklisted, and tainted press statements continued to hound him. He began performing less and less in America. Despite his growing scorn towards America, he never gave up his American citizenship although the anguish of it all led to a couple of suicide attempts, nervous breakdowns, and a dependency on drugs. Europe was a different story. The people continued to hold him in high regard as an artist above reproach. He had a command of about 20 languages and wound up giving his last acting performance in Tony Richardson's production of 'Othello' at Stratford-on-Avon in 1959. Although he did give a few interviews on television, he never played any dramatic or musical roles in that medium. In 1960, in what was his final concert performance in Great Britain, Robeson sang to raise money for the Movement for Colonial Freedom at the Royal Festival Hall. In October 1960, Robeson embarked on a two-month concert tour of Australia and New Zealand with Essie. While in Sydney, he became the first major artist to perform at the construction site of the future Sydney Opera House. Back in London, Robeson expressed a desire to return to the United States and participate in the civil rights movement, while his wife argued that he would be unsafe there and "unable to make any money" due to government harassment. His health suddenly took a turn for the worse and he finally returned to the United States in 1963. His poet/wife Eslanda Robeson died of cancer two years later. Double pneumonia and a kidney blockage in 1965 nearly killed Robeson too. Robeson moved in with his son's family in New York City. He remained in poor health for pretty much the rest of his life. His last years were spent in Harlem at his sister's house in near-total isolation, denying all interviews and public correspondence. At a Carnegie Hall tribute to mark his 75th birthday in 1973, he was unable to attend, but a taped message from him was played that said: "Though I have not been able to be active for several years, I want you to know that I am the same Paul, dedicated as ever to the worldwide cause of humanity for freedom, peace, and brotherhood." In 1976, Paul Robeson died at age 77 of complications from a stroke. He was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Among his many honours: he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995; he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998; was honored with a postage stamp during the 'Black Heritage' series, and both a Cultural Center at Penn State University and a high school in Brooklyn bear his name. In 1995 his autobiography 'Here I Stand' was published in England in 1958. His son, Paul Robeson Jr., also chronicled a book about his father, 'Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey' in 2001. When appearing before HUAC, the Committee asked him why he didn't relocate to Russia. He replied: "Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay right here and have a part of it just like you."
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Stephen Bourne (BFI Screen-on-Line), Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. (AllMusic), Find A Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty metres at 11:51am on a beautiful springtime morning on Saturday 16th April 2022, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see a Male and Female Carrion crow (Corvus corone), a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Raven (Higher classification: Corvus), which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia. It can grow to twenty inches in length with a wingspan of up to thirty nine inches. In the distance are the contrails of two passing aeroplanes.
AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE
LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY
By Paul Williams
Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.
In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.
In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.
The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.
Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.
In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.
In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.
The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug
In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.
In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.
In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:
1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.
2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.
3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.
4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.
5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.
6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!
7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.
8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events
Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....
There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.
The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.
Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.
Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone
Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!
They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.
Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.
A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.
Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.
Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!
Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!
They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.
In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN
Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.
Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.
The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....
I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....
On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.
A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.
I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation. The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.
Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults are still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also have a pair of Magpies to compete with now.
Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster are still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fatballs that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.
Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!
Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated in April 2022)
Nikon D850 Focal length: 460mm Shutter speed: 1/1250s (Electronic front curtain enabled) Aperture: f/6.3 iso160 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (5080k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2) Active D-lighting: Low
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.19s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.66s
ALTITUDE: 52.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 89.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 46.10MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
With the growth in Intermodal traffic, how much longer will the venerable Class 86's be given the weekend off to rest and be serviced? Here are 86608, 86632 and 86627 resting on the Loco Holding line in Basford Hall Yard on Saturday 27th May 2017.
“When I See I See An Alfa Romeo Pass By, I Lift My Hat.” – Henry Ford
That quote summarizes the impact and the profound work that this Italian automaker has given to the world. Creating history for over 100 years, Alfa Romeo started their humble beginnings as a French company in Italy (that’s a weird combination), and worked on cementing their legacy by building a storied racing heritage, supporting it with countless wins, discovering a young racer named Enzo Ferrari, and being known as a ‘petrolhead’ marque.
Alfa Romeo has accomplished many wins such as “The World’s Best Motor Race”, the Mille Miglia in 1928, Le Mans, various Grand Prix, World Sportscar Championship, German Touring Car Championship, just to name a few.
That quote also exemplifies the craftsmanship that went to every single Alfa Romeo, painstakingly creating works of art like the P2 in 1924, the original Giulia in 1962, or the GTA in 1965.
Being flamboyant as any Italian can be, the company poured their heart and soul in every creation, focusing on aesthetics and making sure that their everyday, practical models (the 155, 156, the Bretta) were jaw-dropping to make their ancestors proud.
Alfa Romeos are known for their quirks and questionable reliability, but we don’t care. They’re graceful, elegant, and oh so undeniably pretty. Alongside their beauty, we embrace these cars because it’s the closest car that gives us an almost-human connection.
Everyone has their faults, but we’ll make it work.
Founded in 1910, Ugo Stella bought a floundering French car factory in 1909 and rebranded as “Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili” or A.L.F.A. Translated in Italian as “Lombard Automobile Factory Company”, it started a new beginning for this Italian automaker situated in Milan, which is in Northern Lombardy region of Italy.
From there, the company immediately built vehicles with the intent to conquer speed. More powerful engines were introduced in the early 1900’s, producing 40 – 60 hp and A.L.F.A. ventured naturally into motor racing. That venture went to a halt thanks to World War I, which caused the company to focus on manufacturing different products and planting the seeds of the other half of the brand that we all know today.
This takeover also gave birth to one of the most bizarre logos in the automotive world. Created in 1910, after the official rebranding of the company, the A.L.F.A crest debuts and everyone remembers the right-half of the crest, where a snake is eating a man. The meaning is actually quite interesting as given by Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo logo :
(left side): the red cross on white field is the symbol of Milan, the hometown of Alfa Romeo.
(right side): the symbol of one of the most important families in the history of Milan (and Italy), the Visconti family – the family that ruled Milan.
There are a lot of legends about the origins of this heraldic symbol, representing a mythological animal with a human in his mouth (some believe it to be a dragon, but most likely a snake). During the time of the crusades, Otone Visconti, the founder of Visconti Family and a knight, fought against a noble Saracen knight (nomad from the Syrian Desert that bordered the Roman Empire). Otone beat the Saracen knight and, following the tradition, took the symbols the Saracen carried on his shield: a snake with a human in his mouth. At first glance, it looks like the snake is eating the human. Instead, the human is coming out of the snake a “new man,” purified and renewed.
The meaning: The snake is a circular animal (a snake can assume a circular position) and is an animal of the changing – able to change his skin regularly and totally renew or rebirth himself. The meaning is definitely describing Alfa Romeo to a tee.
Given that Lufthansa is starting to ramp up their repainting of the 747-8 fleet. This legacy livery is slowly disappearing from their 747-8s. Here is one of them Departing on LH457 back to Frankfurt (FRA) and climbing rather quickly thanks to the strong winds.
Helped a friend pick out a new mirrorless [digital] camera & in turn, I was given this one.
Konica-Minolta DiMage A2
Adobe has given permission to share images I have processed with Photoshop CS5 Beta release test software. I can not discuss the details or features. I will let the image say it all! Check out the LARGER Size:
www.flickr.com/photos/howardignatius/4484984718/sizes/o/
Adobe also encourages comments, good or bad.
Given the abysmal light at Duxford that day, I thought that stripping out the colour was the best way to go.
Given this is being posted on a Thursday, I opted to participate in Throwback Thursday and post this image from August 2013. At that time we were on our way home from a trip to Newfoundland and had to stop for a break in Amherst, Nova Scotia. As is my general practice, I took a little bit of a tour/wander around the town and while at the local railway station, nearby, I spotted a large green building. Curious, I went over and walked around a bit. Located at 20 Station Street is a large self-store building painted in a distinctive green and on one side is a yellow door, so I had to get a shot of it. In doing the post processing I felt a minimalist style would suit it best so I cropped off some unnecessary detail along the left to yield a square format as seen here. – JW
Date Taken: 2013-08-07
Date PP: 2025-04-17
(c) Copyright 2025 JW Vraets
If you are interested in prints or licensing of any of my images, DM me with a brief description of what you may be looking for.
Tech Details:
Taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6 lense set to 42 mm, ISO 100, Matrix metering, Auto WB, Aperture Priority mode, f/8.0, 1/500 sec with an EV-0.67 exposure bias. PP in free, Open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon SOOC JPEG source file as I was not shooting RAW/NEF at that time: set final image size to be 8000px wide, crop to 1:1 format by cropping off a left, apply perspective correction, apply Tone Mapping at default levels, darken overall a bit by setting Exposure Compensation to EV-0.16, use the L-A-B filter tool to slightly increase Contrast and Chromaticity, increase Vibrance very slightly, sharpen (edges only), save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: use the Curve tool to shape a classic ’S’ curve, sharpen, save, scale image to 5000 px wide, sharpen, save, add fine black and white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 3000px wide for posting online, save.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 37.598+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 28th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1282452114 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,666th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of One metres, at 19:32pm on Friday 20th September 2019 around sunset off the 17a West Saanich Road, from the shoreline of Patricia Bay near beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We look over towards Mill Bay.
Patricia Bay is a body of salt water that extends East from the Saanich Inlet and forms part of the North Saanich shoreline in British Columbia. The bay was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught who was Governor General in 1912.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 32mm Shutter speed One second long exposure Aperture f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) soft resin Reverse ND grad filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 46.22s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 27m 5.23s
ALTITUDE: 1.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.6MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 25.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
“Suppose this is it…” I said as I looked at the address written on the small slip of paper Fluxx had given me ages ago. I then gazed upward at what looked to be a decently sized facility with “Flickr Fighters” printed on a sign above the entrance.
“Must be a typo…”
Shaking off the peculiar wordage I marched inside to find surprisingly few of my colleagues. Hardly any of which I recognized.
This could prove difficult…
“You alright there Count?” A slightly modulated voice spoke behind me.
I quickly whipped around to find a figure clad in silver and purple power armor with a cape similar to my own. I recognized them from the Halloween incident but like most instances, I could not remember their name.
“Ah, Hello there. By chance do you have any idea where we keep the archives?”
“Try the office next to the meeting room.”
“Which is where exactly?”
“Just follow me…” the figure said with a sigh as he marched through the lobby and down the hall.
We reached the office and they walked over to the filing cabinet and attempted to open it only to discover it was locked.
“Allow me.” I said calmly as I pulled out a couple of bobby pins from my pocket. And began picking the lock.
“Why don’t you just carry lock picks?” They asked likely wondering why a gentleman had hairpins on his person.
“Lock picks always raise suspicion… Not to mention I never could get the hang of them…”
With that, a satisfying “click” sounded as I positioned the last pin and opened the drawer.
“Let’s see… ah, here we are.”
I pulled out a large folder filled with sheets of paper containing a photo of each member along with their name, powers, and a summary of their background.
“What is it you’re looking for anyway?”
“I’m looking for heroes with portal generation abilities…” I answered as I flipped through the papers.
“You mean like this?”
With a flick of the wrist, the hero summoned a small purple rift in space-time about the size of a pie pan.
Then something clicked in my cluttered mind and I remembered that the hero in front of me went by the name Rift Runner.
“Well. I feel like an idio-“
Suddenly a fellow in a black tactical suit wearing a bandana over his mouth entered the office.
“What’s going on here?!” Agent Sharp exclaimed.
“Oh bother, time to go!” I said quickly grabbing Rift runner’s shoulder and shifting to a random dimension.
“Youch! Watch it man, that hasn’t fully healed- What the?! Where the heck are we?!” Rift shouted as he looked around clearly startled by our sudden change in location.
I looked around and saw we stood in a room with yellow wallpaper covered in mildew stains, slightly damp foul-smelling carpet and Fluorescent lights that buzzed loudly overhead.
“It appears we have ended up in the realm known only as the backrooms.” I replied as I pocketed the folder.
“Backrooms? Sounds like one of those crazy stories you find online…”
“Well my friend, the multiverse is often a very odd thing. Sometimes one realm’s crazy story is another’s reality… Now, if we just stay put we should return to the realm we came from shortly.”
“Can’t you just shift us back?”
“One does not enter or exit this realm on purpose. Only by accident. If I were to shift now we’d end up in one of the more treacherous levels of this office building of the damned…”
Suddenly a loud howl echoed through the halls causing Fluffenstein to leap out of my pocket and dash off down the hall.
“Oh bugger! Come on! And try to keep up, this place will drive you mad if we get separated!” exclaimed as I pulled out my cutlass and a bottle of almond water before we ran through the endless halls after the cat.
As we searched I explained the Apophis Ra situation to Rift in order to try and maintain our sanity.
“So what does this guy have to do with me?” Rift asked.
“Well, I honestly have no idea what Apophis is capable of. Thus I devised a backup plan utilizing portals just in case- There!”
I pointed as a white blur dashed towards us and clung to the leg of my trousers.
“Easy there mate. You’re safe now.” I said consoling the frightened feline as I picked him up and gently placed him in my coat. Buttoning it to ensure he stayed put.
“I wouldn’t be so sure Count…” Rift said pointing to a pair of shadowy creatures in the distance slowly approaching us.
“Hounds…” I whispered as I passed Rift the bottle of almond water. “Here, start backing up slowly and If they turn hostile douse them with this.”
Rift nodded and we began to walk backwards. The creatures slowly picking up speed and their appearance becoming clearer as they got closer. Revealing not the canine shape they had at a distance but that of distorted and tangled humanoids walking on all fours with unnatural movements. With a loud snarl, the creatures began rapidly scuttling towards us. I quickly raised my sword and prepared to strike the beast in front as it lunged towards me when suddenly a pair of purple vortexes opened in front of the first creature and above the other as the first tumbled in and sank its claws into the other’s back causing a fight to break out between them. I turned to my companion to see he had his hand raised and was breathing heavy as though he had just had quite a workout.
“Quick Mate, the water!” I exclaimed.
Rift tossed me the bottle and I ripped off the cap frantically before splashing the liquid onto the beasts causing them to scream in pain as it burned their shadowy hide.
I then began shouting and swinging my sword as I walked towards them and the creatures scrambled back down the hall they came from.
“Haha! That’s it ya yella bellied beasties! Run back to the void where ya belong!” I shouted as I pocketed my weapon and turned back to my companion.
“Exceptional work my friend!” I said as I went to pat Rift on the shoulder but caught myself before I made the mistake.
“What even were those things?!”
“Most refer to them as the Hounds of Tindalos after one of Lovecraft’s abominations.” I explained. “Now then, what say we find a way out of this wretched place before Cuthulhu shows up…”
“Should I take that last statement a joke or an actual concern?”
“Best to take it as both mate…” I replied with a laugh. “Best to take it as both.”
After a bit more walking we turned a corner to find the hallway opened into a desert landscape filled with mesquite bushes and cacti.
“Ah, an exit!” I stated as we walked into the “room” only for the hallway to vanish once we turned around.
“Now. Let’s find out where we are…” I said as I began pulling out my navigational equipment. Compass, spyglass, sextant and the like.
“Hold on Capt Sparrow.” Rift said likely referencing something. “Let me handle this.”
Rift then pulled out a smartphone and opened up some sort of map on it.
“Looks like we’re just outside Laredo. Just a quick jump and we’ll be back in Advent City.”
Rift opened a portal under our feet and we disappeared through it and landed in the lounge room of the Flickr Fighters Headquarters. Rift landing on a chair while I crashed backwards into the coffee table.
“Sorry about that Count. I’m used to traveling alone.”
“That’s understandable. Most Vampire hunters choose to be lone wolves…” I said as I picked myself up and let the cat out of my coat before I sat down on the couch.
“Vampire hunter? What are you talking about?”
“Your cape, it’s a trophy from a vampire hunt correct?” I asked. “Got mine after a fight with Dracula last centur- er, a few years ago.”
Rift shook his head.
“I Just thought the cape looked cool and the guys back at HQ whipped this one up for me.” Rift explained. “It helps with gliding and deflects heat and ice rays.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Rift’s description.
“Fancy. But I’ll stick with being able to say I pulled mine out of the dust pile that was once a legendary strigoi.”
Just then our discussion was interrupted by the lights flickering out and then on again to reveal the sudden and dramatic arrival of agent sharp.
“The folder. Hand it over.” He said sternly.
I sighed as I pulled out the file and tossed it onto the coffee table. (Which was now cracked down the center and was being held up by only three legs.)
“Anything else officer?” I asked mocking Sharp’s serious tone.
“Yes. You’ve yet to show up at any of the group training sessions or any of the meetings…”
“In my defense, I wasn’t aware either of those were things.”
“I figured as much.” Sharp said shifting to a somewhat softer tone as he picked up the file. “According to Fluxx you only knew about Gravestein last Thursday because he happened to say something to you.”
“Hey, I was at the warehouse wasn’t I? What’s the big deal?”
“The point I’m getting at is the Flickr fighters rely upon communication between heroes. And we can’t function properly if one of them doesn’t even have a phone.”
“I’ll have you know I have two excellent telephones.” I said pulling one out of my pocket. “Why this one even has one of those newfangled rotary dial setups.”
“Man, I didn’t know they still made these…” Rift said as he picked up one of my phones and fiddled with the dial. “And how exactly are we supposed to send you messages on these?”
“Well, I figured we could set up a party line. Telephones still have that right?”
“No Count, they do not.” Sharp said with a sigh. “Look, you have access to a multiverse full of tech. Just find a smartphone you like and then get someone more technologically inclined to connect it to HQ’s network for you.”
“Not to mention you’ll have access to the group files and don’t have to raid the office.” Rift said passing the phone back to me.
As I stuck the phone into my pocket I noticed a sneaky look in Sharp’s eyes as a smirk came across his face.
“Which reminds me, which of you left a hairpin jammed into the lock on the cabinet?”
“He did it.” Rift said quickly slipping through a portal before I had a chance to pull him down with me.
“Well. I believe some extra time in the training room will be suitable consequences. I’ll see you at 0500 tomorrow morning for your first session.”
Sharp then exited the room and once he was a good distance away Rift appeared through a portal and landed back in his seat.
“Sorry man, I survived one training session with him, I don’t know if I’d last through another.”
“Quite alright ol’ chap. But you better not let me down tonight.”
“No prob. I’ll meet you at the museum ’round eleven. This should be interesting…”
That evening…
I walked around the museum half shifted to avoid detection. Looking at the exhibits to pass the time as I waited for either Rift or Apophis to arrive.
I couldn’t help but notice the differences in this dimension’s history I wasn’t aware of. The Sphinx not having a nose, three pyramids at Giza instead of four. But oddest exhibit of all was in the American history exhibit. A playbill from the Ford theatre’s production of “Our American Cousin.” Perhaps this realm’s version of the event went differently than I had learned. If Lincoln hadn’t bent down to retrieve his wife’s handkerchief Booth’s scheme could have easily succeeded.
“Excuse me, sir.” The night guard said rounding the corner and walking towards me. “I’m gonna have to ask you to le- GAH!”
The guard screamed and frantically drew his weapon as he saw the beam of his flashlight hit the wall behind me.
“Ah, Sorry my good fellow.” I said shifting back to where I was no longer translucent and held up my ITF badge. I’m an agent from the Interdimensional Task Force. I’m here to investigate a potential robbery.”
“Interdimensonal? Look, kid, I have no idea what the heck you are or what you’re doin’ here and I honestly don’t care. Now come along-“
Suddenly a portal opened under the guard and he disappeared through it.
“Gotten in trouble with the cops already?.” Rift said as he walked up behind me.
“So it would seem… The ITF must not be very well known in this realm.”
I then noticed rift was holding a cloth knapsack and something in it was moving.
“um, what’s in the bag?”
“your cat.” Rift said shoving the bag in my face. “you left them at HQ. Thought you might need them for whatever plan you have.”
I hadn’t thought of that… If Apophis’ is fascinated with the Egyptian religion then Fluffenstein could be a valuable weapon.
Genius idea mate! Just like The Battle of Pelusium!”
“The what?”
“During the first Persian conquest of Egypt, Cambyses II’s troops painted cat faces on their shields and placed dogs, sheep, cats, ibises and whatever other animals the Egyptians held sacred onto the front lines. Thus, the Egyptians surrendered at once instead of facing the ‘cat army.'”
“Huh, neat… But last time I checked two guys and a cat aren’t an army…”
“What we need is not an army, but a lookout.” I answered. “Follow me into the Egyptian exhibit.
We walked down the hall a ways until we came to a room filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts. Or rather, what the people of this dimension assume to be Egyptian.
“See that camera up there?” I said gesturing to the security device above us in the corner of the room.
“Lemme guess. you want me to head up to the security room and keep an eye on the cameras while you wait here for Apophis”
“You catch on quickly my friend.” I said with a grin. “When he gets here focus on the Egyptian exhibit’s camera and whenever you see me tip my hat open a rift under Apophis into that sarcophagus over there.”
“You got it Count.”
Rift gave me a quick salute before opening a rift behind him and disappearing through it.
“Well Fluffenstein.” I said pulling the kitten from the bag. “I hope that Antiquitus has the same superstitions as Third Dynasty Egypt.”
Around thirty minutes had passed and I had shifted in an armchair from my lair and was beginning to doze off in it whilst stroking Fluffenstein. Something about petting a small furry creature always puts one’s mind at ease.
Suddenly the lights in the room turned on and then began flickering rhythmically as an electronic noise began echoing around me.
I quickly stood up and shifted the chair away to my lair and tucked Fluffenstein behind my back under my cape.
Wait a minute, that noise, is that, music?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Cbb0AyhBU
Suddenly a cloud of blue smoke appeared and Apophis Ra stepped through it holding an ankh staff in one hand and a strange obsidian tablet in the other.
“Friends, Romans, countrymen…” The Cultist said in a semi-robotic voice. “Apophis Ra here coming at you live with a crossover I have been waiting dynasties to make! Here he is, the menace of the multiverse, Bane of Anubis, Count Dimensio!”
“Bane of Anubis? That’s a new one…” I joked trying to mask my confusion as Apophis held the tablet up towards me.
“Oh yeah, my dude! That ol’ doggo is ticked with you. What with your tomb raiding and all. Right folks?”
“Who the devil are you talking to?!”
I exclaimed in frustration as I scanned the room. “What manner of multidimensional demons have you brought here?”
“Chill, I’m just vloggin dude, Gotta keep them followers posted on my conquest of the multiverse.”
“Well, I’m afraid your cult’s quest ends here…” I said drawing my sword.
“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Apophis replied as he set his device on top of a nearby crate and held up his staff with both hands. “BEHOLD THE POWER OF APOPHIS RA!”
As he tapped the end of his staff on the floor a loud hissing erupted from the walls and hundreds of vipers began pouring out of the cracks and formed a defensive ring around their master.
“Impressive eh? Go ahead my man, try and strike me!” Apophis taunted
“With pleasure…” I said tipping my hat.
On cue, a rift opened under Apophis and he fell into the sealed sarcophagus in the corner.
Before a larger rift opened and the vipers fell into it.
“Well, that was easy.” Rift said as he appeared beside me.
“Indeed, I didn’t even have to use the-“
Suddenly I was cut off by the sound of a laser blast and the lid of the sarcophagus shattering and flying across the room.
“HEY! Not cool dude!” Apophis shouted as he lept out of the casket. “You totally messed up the vibe I had going!”
“Never mind…” I said with a sigh as I dodged a blast from the arch of Apophis’ staff.
“Did he just say vibe? I thought you said he was a Cultist.” Rift asked as we ducked behind a display case whilst Apophis was firing his staff and swinging it around like a maniac whilst doing some kind of strange dance. “He looks more like one of those annoying internet celebrities…”
“I’m certain, he even has a magic tablet that he uses to keep his followers updated on the fight.”
“Tablet huh. Where?”
I pointed out the strange device to Rift and he opened a portal under it causing it to fall right into his hands.
“Uh, Count? this is just a smartphone.” Rift explained looking the device over. “albeit a rather strange looking one. I mean it looks like he’s live-streaming the fight on some kind of youtube style site but the text is all in caps and some kind of weird language.”
“All in capitals? Hand me that…”
I took the phone and sure enough, it was filming us right that moment and many different people were posting messages beside the video in what appeared to be Latin. Or at least a variant of it.
“Hmm, I believe you’re right… it does appear to be an internet-like system..”
“Hey, I have an idea.” RIft whispered. “If his internet is anything like ours I know something that just might give us an advantage.”
“Hey! You fellas comin’ out or am I gonna have to disappoint all my followers?” Apophis asked mockingly before smiling towards where his phone had been and noticing it wasn’t there.
“What the- WHO STOLE MY EYE-PHONE?”
“You mean this?” I taunted as I shifted through the display and walked into the center of the room. “Sorry ‘dude’ but I just had a talk with your followers they think this fight is missing something.”
“Oh yeah? And what do my loyal legion of fans what to see?”
“BEHOLD! THE SLAYER OF RODENTS, DESTROYER OF HOUSEPLANTS! FLUFFENSTEIN!!!” I exclaimed pulling the cat out and holding him in view of the phone’s camera.
“GAH! GET THAT BASTET SPAWN AWAY FROM ME!!” Apophis screamed as he stumbled backward.
“Well now, An Egyptian who’s afraid of cats? Now I’ve seen everything…” I said with a laugh.
“I’m n-not afraid of th-them I’m just Aler- aah, Aah, ACHOO!!”
Apophis then entered a sneezing fit and dropped his staff in the process. which rift quickly snatched up with a portal.
“Allergic?” Rift said with an obvious chuckle in his voice he was trying to hide.
“Yeah…” Apophis answered with a sniffle, reaching for his staff and fumbling around with watery eyes.
“Well, It appears we have the upper-hand here Apophis… Perhaps you better come along peacefully before we have to take you to a hospital…”
“Sure man, ACHOO! J-just get that thing away from me…”
a short while later we had Apophis in cuffs and we had just finished dropping off Fluffenstein at my lair with Jack.
“Right, So I assume you’ll take it from here?” Rift asked.
“I can, but I’d prefer if I had someone else with me. helps keep the cops from getting suspicious if I have a hero with me…”
“But I thought you work for some top-secret Men in black style organization?”
Men In Black? Good heavens no. It’s just the inter-dimensional police. Not the CIA. Now come on…”
I grabbed Rift and Apophis’ shoulders and shifted into the large front lobby of the police station.
marble pillars lining the walls, royal blue carpeting, and a large wooden desk in the center.
“Well look what we got here.” The red-haired woman at the desk stated. “Chief said you’d be comin’ in with a convict but I didn’t expect you to bring in two.”
“Uh, No Miss Lana. This is Rift Runner, He’s part of the hero team I joined.”
Lana raised an eyebrow suspiciously as she looked Rift over.
“If you say so sugar. leave Apophis with Charlie and then head on back to the chief’s office. I’ll let her know Y’all are here…”
“Thank you, ma’am. Come on Rift.”
I walked towards what must have seemed like a wall to Rift and apophis until we stepped through it and into the prisoner processing center.
“So this is where you guys lock up the crooks?” Rift asked.
“No, this is just where we throw the book at em, and that fellow over there is our head book thrower. How’s it going, Charlie?”
The tall gawky looking man jolted up in his seat and straightened his uniform only to sigh once he turned his desk chair around to find me.
“Oh, It’s just you. I thought it was somebody important.” Charlie said with a yawn. “Just stick the perp in cell seven while I work out the papers…”
“Cell seven? Well now, You’re a lucky man Apophis.” I joked. “You get to stay in my old room.”
Apophis merely rolled his eyes as rift shoved him down the hall and into the cell with a seven above it.
“Right, You have a good evening Charlie, I’ll fill out any paperwork later. Gotta go see chief.”
“HEY! you still haven’t turned those papers from-“
I quickly grabbed Rift and shifted to the Cheif’s office door before Charlie could finish.
“Sorry about that Rift, I can’t stand paperwork…”
“Tell me about it. you wouldn’t believe how many reports Sharp has us fill out when we capture a villain…”
“You’re preaching to the choir mate. Preaching to the choir…”I said with a grin as I knocked on the door.
“Enter…” The Chief replied from inside.
I opened the door to see Chief Cahill standing at the window behind her desk. gazing out at the futuristic skyline of Capitus Prime.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Chief asked as she turned around and sat down at her desk and turned on the banker’s lamp that sat on it.
“I always prefered the look of Capitus Delta.” I replied.
“Of course you would. Have a seat Jones, You too Monteleone.”
“HOW DID YOU KNOW-“
“Your Name? Oh relax, I know more about you flickr fighters than Sharp! why else would I have sent Jones here to Advent city to serve his parole.”
“Well, just don’t tell anybody alright? I prefer to keep my secret identity.”
“Of course, My lips are sealed…” Chief replied with a locking motion over her lips. “Now then, tell me everything that happened…”
WV-740 rolled off the Hunting production line at Luton on March 2nd 1955. Built to Air Ministry contract 6/AIR/6847/CB5(a) of June 5th 1951, she was given construction number K66/027, also quoted as P66/41 which would tie in with the issue of the RAF batch of serial numbers (WV-699 to WV-740). She flew for the first time on March 12th 1955 and was delivered to Number 9 Maintenance Unit at RAF Cosford on March 14th 1955, and allocated to the Middle East Air Force on April 15th. Arriveing at RAF Khormaksar, Aden on April 20th she joined the Aden Protectorate Support Flight. On December 20th 1956, WV740 was damaged in a Category 3R accident, repaired, and joined Number 84 Squadron at Khormaksar on January 22nd 1957. It was not long before trouble occurred again, and she was badly damaged in a further Category 3R accident on May 30th 1957. She moved into the repair shops of the Aden Repair Squadron on June 1st, and rejoined the Station Flight at RAF Khormaksar on December 3rd, before being transferred to Number 78 Squadron in Aden on June 13th 1958, before flying off to RAF Eastleigh in Nairobi, where she joined the Station Flight on December 15th 1958. Just under a year later, on November 27th 1959, she made the long ferry flight home to UK where she entered a period of storage at Number 5 Maintenance Unit based at RAF Kemble, where she remained until September 28th 1961. She then joined the Metropolitan Communication Squadron at RAF Northolt. Through the next five years she spent her life with various communications flight in UK, being with Bomber Command Communications Squadron at Booker on May 1st 1962, Number 5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble on June 6th, the Maintenance Command Communications and Ferry Squadron August 9th 1962. With the latter organisation, she met with a further Category 3R accident on February 20th 1963 and was repaired on site by personnel of Number 60 Maintenance Unit for a week before being returned to the Maintenance Command Communications Squadron. The highlight of this period of her life occurred on June 26th 1963 when she flew Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to Gatwick. She was transferred to the Western Command Communications Squadron at
RAF Andover on April 1st 1964 and was loaned to the Ministry of Aviation on February 15th 1965 before being returned to N°5 Maintenance Unit at RAF Kemble on March 24th 1965, then to Andover on May 28th 1965.
On February 13th 1967 she flew eastwards again, and back to her old haunts in Aden when she joined Number 21 Squadron at RAF Khormaksar on February 13th 1967. Her record is not clear, but she must have left Aden later that year with the withdrawal of the British presence, and probably moved with N°21 Squadron to RAF Muharraq at Bahrain. Whatever the case, she was one of the fourteen aircraft chosen to be resparred, and she was returned to the British Aircraft Corporation at Luton on March 8th 1971. Making her first flight after this major work on June 16th 1971, she flew to Wisley in Surrey and was then returned through N°5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble to N°21 Squadron at RAF Andover on June 24th 1971 serving with this unit for five years.
Returning to Number 5 Maintenance Unit for heavy maintenance on March 25th 1976, WV740 was then sent to join the Station Flight (Dragon Airlines) at RAF St Athan on July 30th. On March 29th 1978, she made the short flight to Germany where she joined Number 60 Squadron at RAF Wildenrath, the airfield where she would spend the rest of her service life, and acquire the German instructions written on her fuselage!
At Wildenrath, she joined five other Pembroke's with this unit, and flew extensively throughout Europe. Carrying many VIP’s as well as completing more mundane tasks, this aircraft was, for a time, the personal aircraft of Air Chief Marshal Sir Dennis Spottiswood. Her record shows that from 10th until 30th March 1981 she was attached to Number 5 Maintenance Unit at RAF Brize Norton for a repaint and interior refurbishment, before returning to RAF Wildenrath where she remained until March 23rd 1987 when she was flown to RAF Shawbury for storage and disposal.
On June 24th 1987, together with her sister ship XK-884, WV740 was purchased by Air Commodore John Allison and moved to RAF Benson for storage. Air Commodore Allison together with Mr Mike Searle placed WV740 on the civil register as G-BNPH. Both aircraft were retained for several years until WV-740 was sold to Mr Richard J.F.Parker in mid-June 1991. Mr Parker, a property developer and aviation enthusiast returned WV-740 to her former splendour, refurbished her interior, and flew her for many years at air displays and for pleasure. The closure of both Leavesden and Hatfield in Hertfordshire in 1994 forced Mr Parker to consider the future of his fleet of vintage aircraft, and with great regret, he offered WV-740 for sale. March 15th 1994 saw WV740 sold to Captain Martin Willing, a Cathay Pacific pilot now retired who lives in Jersey, and she was flown to that lovely location. WV740 continued to fly, and was based mainly at Duxford, where she was operated by Radial Revelation, a company set up to foster the preservation and operation of radial engined aircraft. In 2003 ownership of the aircraft passed to Andrew and Geraldine Dixon at Bournemouth who operated the Pembroke as a personnel transport and air show duties.
During 2011 WV740 was put up for sale and and acquired by Mr Mark Stott in 2012 along with Sea Prince T1 WP321. Now based at MoD St Athan, WV740 is maintained by Horizon Aircraft Services and is available for display, flight training and corporate events.
The USMF's elite pilots (those given the rank of Paladin) are a tough breed whose exploits are well known across the galaxy. Though qualified on a wide array of different craft (including ones not used by the USMF) most Paladins operate solo or in small groups; often great distances from allied bases or capital ships and thus have found great use in one-man fighter craft with FTL capability.
Miniaturizing FTL jump drives is a complex and costly process, but the benefits of a faster-than-light starfighter are numerous. For years, the USMF Paladins utilized the AX-20 "Katana" in this role. While a sturdy and fast ship, the Katana's production foundry was completely destroyed in the beginning stages of the Dimension Wars, and as such, it's service numbers dwindled further from the already small amount (in comparison to non-FTL fighters in the fleet).
Starcom Solution's answered the call for a "faster-than-light jack of all trades" by introducing the "Tekkan" (a name of Japanese origin inspired by its spiritual predecessor "Katana"). Starcom Solutions, living up to it's name, conquered the complex issue of small FTL jump drives with a unique solution; the drive systems were built at the capital ship shipyards on Saturn and then shipped to Neptune where quantum technology was used to shrink the units down to a smaller size.
Impressed by the originality of Starcom Solutions' engineering prowess, the USMF quickly requested a Tekkan for immediate trial runs. The first Tekkan produced (which was painted red with white markings as tribute to the Katana) passed its tests with flying colors (no pun intended) and was assigned to Paladin Kira Janus.
The Tekkan features twin heavy repeating lasers (much like those found on Hyperius Industries' "Scorpion"-class heavy fighter) and twin "Mjölnir"-type lightning cannons, which fire thunderous bolts of energy across great distances. These weapons pack quite the punch and require no ammunition, but require a great amount of charge time. If safety protocols are bypassed, the capacitor banks can overcharge and result in a devastating chain reaction.
(Pictured above is the AX-20 "Katana" which the "Tekkan" replaces. I paid tribute to the original craft by using a similar layout to it's wings and main thrusters, as a sort of easter egg.)