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Everybody knows that I have a soft spot for Voigtlander cameras. Although I don't like much folding cameras, I go weak when I see the prints that big negatives make with great lenses, like is the case here. The camera is svelt, superbly built and finished. Sadly, the mythical Bessa II is not as well designed, with very poor lens alignement none of that here. The camera is simple, it lacks a rangefinder (that would put it too close to the Bessa II), although one version of the Perkeo had it, but uncoupled. The major innovation here is a frame counter. No longer one had to look at the little red window and the paper back of the film to control exposure counting. A nice touch that few foldings have. Of course, the main attraction here is the Skopar lens 3,5/80 that produces beautiful pictures. I really don't know why, but this Tessar clone always seemed to me to produce better pictures than the original Zeiss. The Perkeo II is Rolleiflex quality at a fraction of the price, although they are very different to use.
"Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come... And what I say to you I say to all: Watch."
- Mark 13:33, 37, which is part of today's Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent.
In this window from the church of Ss Philip and James in Oxford, we see the Blessed Virgin Mary, looking to Christ, and in prayer. For she is the model of all prayer, and is ever attentive to God's Word, as we too strive to be during this holy season of Advent.
I KNOW. I need to stop posting photos from this shoot, but I really wanted to post a photo on today (December 28th, 2008) because it's my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON FLICKR! I am going to be gone all day in another town shopping and figured I would have little to no time to shoot or edit.
1 year. wow. I have grown so much in the past year. Thanks to everyone who has inspired me. There is so much talent here on Flickr that every time I begin to think I am good someone comes along and shows me how much I have to improve :-)
Have a fabulous day everyone!!! The new year is just around the corner :D weee
I know that for many, the Sorcerer's Hat is a bit of a sore spot about Hollywood Studios. It's the "icon" of the park the was so lovingly dropped right in front of the old "icon" that used to greet guests at the end of Hollywood Boulevard. While I don't overly enjoy it's position either and the fact that it almost completely blocks out the replica Mann's Chinese Theater, it does make for a very fun location to look up and grab a fisheye shot from!
This is a picture that I wish I could have a do-over on, but that probably won't come for at least a few months. While I like where I caught the sun, the coloring, and many other things, I can't get past that neither the hat or the theater are quite centered on their respective sides. While I wish I could crop it to fix it, that just leaves to much being chopped of with a fisheye shot. So, hopefully the next time I'll get EXACTLY what I want! In the meantime, I'll still be happy with this!
Comments, suggestions, critiques, etc. are always appreciated! Thanks for looking!
Other Weekly Fisheyes | #3 Blur of Lights | #4 Follow the Yellow Brick Road | #5 Like a Grand and Miraculous Spaceship
I don't know why my lovely friend Noora comes to my mind when i smell this perfume..
is it the name?
Flooora.. Nooora!!
or the fact that Noora's favorite perfume is Flora XD
I just realized that the photo needs a frame!!
so I thought we'll do something interesting :D
make a frame with notes.. and add in "the note" your favorite perfume..
so maybe we get to know new things for shopping wishlists :p
and OMG..
did you go to the future with the new design or preview thing here?!
it is WONDERFUL... everything is easier more than ever
just disable the sizes features you added please!! :@
&
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
1984.
A side:
Do They Know It's Christmas? (remixed by Trevor Horn)
B side:
Do They Know It's Christmas? (standard mix)
Feed The World
Released in 1984
12" Vinyl.
"Wild Horses"
by The Rolling Stones
Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can’t let you slide through my hands
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
I know I dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don’t have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let’s do some living after we die
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we’ll ride them some day
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we’ll ride them some day
Klick Link For Read Online Or Download Pilgrim Tips & Packing List Camino de Santiago: What you need to know beforehand, what you need to take, and what you can leave at home. Book : bit.ly/2haiRc1
Synopsis
You have seen the movie, you have read all the novels, now you want to walk “The Way†yourself - the Camino de Santiago. But you have questions, many questions: What does the daily life of a pilgrim actually look like? How big should your backpack be and do you need xyz? What is the best time to walk the Camino? Is it dangerous to walk alone, especially as a woman? What about the dangerous dogs you have heard so much about? Are there gender-separated showers and toilets in the pilgrim hostels? And when nature calls when you are on the trail, will there be outhouses or not? How can you prevent blisters and other health problems? Will you find enough places to buy food from or restaurants to eat in? And what about if you are vegetarian – will you find adequate
You all know how much I hate my 18-200 Tamron lens with no IS. Well I think this is pushing it to it's limit. this pic was taken at Little Forest halfway up the mountain towards Morton National Park, appox: 53.2 kms from Booderee National Park and about 40 minutes away down the coast .... It took a bit of work to get it to this . but for what the lens is I guess I can't whinge to much I mean what do you expect from a $300 lens. This fire is so out of control .. the wildlife loss in huge.. and to make it worse it was deliberately lit.. This morning I have seen arial shots of the park, over 3/4s of it is gone nothing left and not many animals escaped either....
Check out my greatest hits compilation, and let me know what you think:
www.elliotmcguckenphotography.com/Other/45SURF-Heros-Jour...
As the Great Mick Jagger satted, "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, girl
Pretty, pretty
Such a pretty, pretty, pretty girl." -Beast of Burden Sexy, hot, and cute too!
Epic Goddess Straight Out of Hero's Journey Mythology! Pretty Model! :) Tall, thin, fit and beautiful!
Welcome to your epic hero's journey! The beautiful 45surf goddess sisters hath called ye to adventure, beckoning ye to read deeply Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, whence ye shall learn of yer own exalted artistic path guided by Hero's Journey Mythology. I wouldn't be saying it if it hadn't happened to me.
New 500px!
500px.com/herosjourneymythology
New instagram! instagram.com/45surf
Pretty Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! :)
Join/like my facebook page! www.facebook.com/45surfHerosJourneyMythology
Follow me on facebook! facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken
Nikon D300 Photos of Beautfiul Sexy Hot Brunette!
She was a beauty--a gold 45 goddess for sure! A Gold 45 Goddess exalts the archetypal form of Athena--the Greek Goddess of wisdom, warfare, strategy, heroic endeavour, handicrafts and reason. A Gold 45 Goddess guards the beauty of dx4/dt=ic and embodies 45SURF's motto "Virtus, Honoris, et Actio Pro Veritas, Amor, et Bellus, (Strength, Honor, and Action for Truth, Love, and Beauty," and she stands ready to inspire and guide you along your epic, heroic journey into art and mythology. It is Athena who descends to call Telemachus to Adventure in the first book of Homer's Odyssey--to man up, find news of his true father Odysseus, and rid his home of the false suitors, and too, it is Athena who descends in the first book of Homer's Iliad, to calm the Rage of Achilles who is about to draw his sword so as to slay his commander who just seized Achilles' prize, thusly robbing Achilles of his Honor--the higher prize Achilles fought for. And now Athena descends once again, assuming the form of a Gold 45 Goddess, to inspire you along your epic journey of heroic endeavour.
ALL THE BEST on your Epic Hero's Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
I know I've already posted a couple from this shoot, but I just love them so much!
And I'm posting this to let you guys know that I'm probably gonna announce the print winners tomorrow. So enter now if you're interested! I'm already completely chuffed that this many people have entered. But I wanted to make sure to let everyone know before I close it! :)
So click here for my giveaway please.
PS: Sometimes I like to use strange British expressions like "chuffed." :P
I know these both have names but i cant remember them the black universal had about half of its clips missing so i left it
Ya know, all the range maps only show American Pipits around here during migration, and since I only ever seemed to see them in Late Feb-March, I figured they're just early migrators. Also, I can only find pipits when it snows (they're even more corn-colored than the horned larks), and most of our major snows come in that same time period.
Well imagine my surprise when we got dumped on by nor'easters twice already this year, and lo and behold, the pipits were everywhere. Good to know they're actually here all winter.
Much easier to spot when when there's only one spot of field that isn't snow covered. This one was squabbling with the larks and digging up old corn kernels.
that there is such a thing as kitten season?
and in Toronto it's started up....these cuties will be available soon at Toronto Animal Services which is having an Adopt-A-Thon this weekend at the Kennel Cafe on Roncesvalles-I hope our foster hamsters and guinea pigs get adopted....they are sweet and need a "forever" home!
I know I haven't been around lately. We were away on vacation a couple weeks ago and Benni had been sick since then.
We didn't think it was serious at first. He was just a little finicky about his food when we were at the beach, but he ate everyday and he had plenty of energy. We got home and he started having black, tarry stools (a sign of upper GI bleeding). I took him to the vet three days last week. His bloodwork showed low platelets and low red blood cells. At first the vet thought it might be an ulcer accompanied by an infection. She put him on medicine to coat his stomach as well as an antibiotic to fight the possible infection.
Benni's poop became normal and he was eating well but he was not himself. On Friday morning he threw up so we went back to the vet. She called in a vet internist to examine Benni and do an ultrasound. The ultrasound was normal except for a few small cysts in Benni's bladder. She told me older dogs often have cysts in their bladder and she wasn't concerned. Both vets were still uncertain about Benni's diagnosis. Before the internist left she suggested we do a chest x-ray because chest tumors can cause the blood dyscrasias like low platelets. I wasn't worried because we had done an x-ray on Benni only a few months ago when he was being worked up for pancreatitis.
When the vet called me in to look at the x-ray I couldn't believe my eyes. Benni's lungs were full of small circular tumors. How could this be? How could my boy have lung cancer? The vet internist came back and both vets discussed Benni's x-ray. Yes, it was lung cancer. They mentioned that there was a small chance he had a fungal infection in his lungs but fungal infections are rare in this part of the U.S. We could treat for the fungal infection just in case, but it was probably cancer.
We were completely devastated. As the week progressed, Benni seemed about the same. Not his usual happy, bouncy energy, but he was still getting excited about food and was running up and down stairs to go outside. Then, on Wednesday of this past week, we started to see black mixed in with his poop. He was bleeding again.
We went back to the vet to check his platelets. They wanted to send the lab work out because their machine had been inaccurate, so I would have to wait until Friday for the results. We went home.
Thursday evening, Benni started to breath more rapidly. He began to have trouble sitting up. I knew we had to find out what was going on. we went to the emergency vet.
Once we were at the ER, they did blood work, including a platelet count and clotting factors. By then, Benni was very pale and very weak. The blood results showed that he had DIC, a condition that is life threatening. He was bleeding inside and it would be an uphill battle to try to stop it. They could try, but there was a very slim chance it would work.
With the cancer in his lungs, it was clear to us that we had to let him go. By this time he was so pale and his breathing was slowing. We pet him and held him and talked to him and told him it was okay to let go. The vet and tech tried to get a vein so they could give him the medicine to put him "to sleep" but they couldn't get a vein because Benni was in shock. The medicine wasn't necessary, because my boy was dying right in front of me. He stopped breathing as we held him and talked to him. Finally, his heart stopped beating and he was gone from this world.
This house feels so empty now. Even with the three dogs that remain. Benni was that irresistable, goofy, cuddley boy that loved life and loved everyone he ever met. I am so blessed to have been able to have him in my life for eight plus years. He ws one in a million.
Norio knows the warming disc keeps him nice and warm at night and into the morning, even if it's a bit of a stiff pillow.
For people whom is inside my Facebook will know that i had recently bought a puppy.Being a puppy and shetland sheepdog, it had the hyper-active nature and drained away my time away from photography...
No worries because i had never ever forgotten about photography...
Even though i am not able to be out there to capture the latest event and moments , i will dig into my archive library of photos taken previously to work on it...
Same spot same location same photo...different time...different feeling = different work being generated.....
Click here to view all my Singapore Flyer's images .
Lady luck finally fall on my sick as the long awaited dramatic sunset that i had been waiting for during a Singapore flyer ride. I did my part of being patient and doing my homework of multiple trial run to predict the blue sunset hour upon reaching the peak for the best composition. The process of trial and error and capturing multiple shots also allow me to understand the optimum exposure to obtain in certain situation as listed below:
1) The moving singapore flyer which need a reasonable shutter speed to prevent motion blur.
2)A reasonable aperture to be used such that the photo will have a reasonable depth of field.
3) The optimum iso to use
to achieve a reasonable shutter speed and noise.Higher iso also help to capture the vibrance of the sky when used properly.
4) Positioning within the cabin and also the camera to have minimum distortion and best composition.
If not for the reflection on the right side of the photo , it will be perfect for me.
I'm awaiting for joseph to upload his photo. Hope he get some shot. A pity that kenny didnt manage to join me for the exciting journey.
...:Taken from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:...
Marina Bay Sands (traditional Chinese: 濱海灣金沙; simplified Chinese: 滨海湾金沙) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion, including cost of the prime land.[1][2]
With the casino complete, the resort features a 2,561-room hotel, a 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m2) convention-exhibition centre, the 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m2) The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, an iconic ArtScience museum, two large theatres, seven "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating Crystal Pavilions, an ice skating rink, and the world's largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m.[3][4] The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects. The local architect of record was Aedas Singapore, and engineering was provided by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP). The main contractor was Ssangyong Engineering and Construction.[5]
Originally set to open in 2009, Las Vegas Sands faced delays caused by escalating costs of material and labour shortages from the onset. The severe global financial crisis also pressured the company to delay its projects elsewhere to complete the integrated resort.[6] Although Marina Bay Sands has been compared on scale and development costs to MGM's CityCenter, the latter is a mixed-use development, with condominium properties (comprising three of the seven main structures) being sold off.[7][8]
The resort was officially opened with a two-day celebration on 23 June 2010 at 3.18 pm, after a partial opening (which included the casino) on 27 April 2010.[9] The SkyPark opened a day later on 24 June 2010. The theatres were completed in time for the first performance by Riverdance on 30 November 2010. The floating pavilions are still being built and are expected to be fully completed by 2011. The indoor skating rink, which uses artificial ice, opened to a performance by Michelle Kwan on 18 December 2010. The ArtScience Museum opened to the public and the debut of a 13-minute light, laser and water spectacle called Wonder Full on 19 February 2011 marked the full completion of the entire Integrated Resort.
The grand opening of Marina Bay Sands was held on 17 February 2011. It also marked the opening of the seven celebrity chef restaurants. The highly-anticipated Broadway musical The Lion King debuted on 3 March 2011.[10] The last portion of the Marina Bay Sands, the floating pavilions, were finally opened to the public when the two tenants (Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club) opened on 18 September 2011 and 22 September 2011 respectively.
...:Taken from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:.
The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel located in Singapore, constructed in 2005–2008. Described by its operators as an observation wheel,[2] it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m (541 ft), making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, 5 m (16 ft) taller than the Star of Nanchang and 30 m (98 ft) taller than the London Eye.
Situated on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it comprises a 150 m (492 ft) diameter wheel, built over a three-story terminal building which houses shops, bars and restaurants, and offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km (28 mi), including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia.
The final capsule was installed on 2 October 2007, the wheel started rotating on 11 February 2008 and it officially opened to the public on 1 March 2008.[1] Tickets for rides on the first 3 nights were sold out for S$8,888 (US$6,271), an auspicious number in Chinese culture.[2] The grand opening for the Flyer was held on 15 April 2008.[3]
Each of the 28 air-conditioned capsules is capable of holding 28 passengers, and a complete rotation of the wheel takes about 30 minutes.[4] Initially rotating in a counter-clockwise direction when viewed from Marina Centre, its direction was changed on 4 August 2008 under the advice of Feng shui masters.[5]
Do not use my photos in anyway without my explicit permission.
you can contact me using the form at www.on9cloud.com/contact regarding your usage of photo
Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!
The gold 45 revolver lingerie is designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
If you would like a free review copy, message me!
And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
'
The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)
http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!
Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!
Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!
Follow me!
I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!
Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
Golden Ratio Fine Art Lingerie Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis!
Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!
The gold 45 revolver lingerie is designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
If you would like a free review copy, message me!
And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
'
The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)
http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!
Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!
Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!
Follow me!
I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!
Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
Golden Ratio Fine Art Lingerie Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis!
MAN REALLY LOVES THIS SECOND WORLD WAR ARMY TRUCK AND BOWS LOW TO IT'S RADIATOR. NOT REALLY I ONLY WROTE THIS RUBBISH BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS AT DAMYNS HALL AERODROME MILITARY AND CAR SHOW IN AN EAST LONDON BOROUGH SUBURB STREET VENUE ENGLAND DSCN1552
THANKS TO Angus McVicar FOR THE INFORMATION MORRIS CDSW 6x4 GUN TRACTOR
Blog #012 ~ I might know what I'm doing...
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I know everyone was wondering what it looked like to view 17th & K Streets in Bakersfield, California. This photo is HDR with some texture tossed in. I set up a trampoline, bounced three times and got three bracketed shots. I was going for five bracketed shots, but, I lost my grip on the camera and it landed on the top floor of a public parking structure.
The larger building on the left is the Haberfelde Building and the shorter building on the right houses Uricchio's Trattoria which serves some really fine Italian food and lots of wine. On the backside of the Haberfelde Building is TL Maxwell's Restaurant & Bar which is another really fine place to chow down.
See that palm tree? That's one of 50 million in Bakersfield. They are all over the place and if you don't have one, just wait a year and one will start growing in your yard or a crack in the sidewalk.
Bakersfield, California 2013
[...] Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal [...]
-- Quote by Elbert Hubbard (American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915)
Nikon D70, Tokina 12-24 f/4, 24mm - f/22 - 1/8s - HDR 3xp +2,-2EV - Cokin filter GND8 + Cokin Gradual Dark Tobacco
Sperlonga, Italy (July, 2008)
Okay, so, I know this image is totally weird but I couldn't get the idea out of my head! I was trying to visualize my new concept for Naberia.
I'm sure this happens to a lot of people, but often my dolly ideas are inspired by movies I had seen recently, or games I played, etc. (The perfect example is Saturn, who was conceptualized when I was watching Cosmos.) Well, I recently watched the game SOMA (since I can't play it T_T) and fell in love with it. (Spoilers ahead!) The plot centers around the idea that a perfect digital copy of your brain can be made, which is basically just your consciousness in a digital form that can be placed in different bodies or in a digital world. The game really pushes the idea that these "copies" are not inferior to the original in any way, they really are the same consciousness just in separate instances, if that makes sense. Anyway I really love this idea, and it reminds me of branched timelines in time travel stories.
(End SOMA spoilers!)
A lot of my demons have powers that are not about controlling something physical or having any kind of "super power", but rather that they can perceive something others can't (Gremory can see the past and future, but not interact with it, for example). So I started thinking it would be interesting if there was a demon who could see through the eyes of themselves in an alternate timeline. But THEN I thought... what if it's not that they CAN see it, but that they ALWAYS see it, and it's overlayed with their own life? Constantly aware at all times of what their other selves are seeing, hearing, doing, thinking, remembering. It would be like a horrible cacophany of your own voice in your head, thinking just slight variations of what you are thinking, and you know all their memories that are slightly different from your own, so you might get confused about which memories happened to you versus your other selves. Not to mention seeing and hearing and feeling all the things that all the alternate selves see and hear and feel. It would be such an extreme sensory overload. How horrible and strange. May as well give this terrible power to Naberia since her concept was pretty vague so far!
I have this really clear vision of it in my mind, but it's kind of hard to put in words, so I hope it makes sense. I know, it's pretty bizarre. XD But I really like it. Most demons inherit their name/power during a time of great stress in their lives (how original!), but for Naberia it was the opposite. She was just minding her business when the power slowly started to manifest. At first she thought she was hearing voices. Then she couldn't remember exactly how certain events in her life had played out, because she had a distinct memory of doing something different from what she thought she had done. When it finally kicked in at full force, she fell into a catatonic state and was pretty much trapped in her mind, the memories of her other selves acting like a hall of mirrors in her brain and she couldn't think of anything but all the infinite variations of her own life.
Luckily she managed to overcome it (probably with some help), and now she's fine... more or less. I think she probably has trouble focusing sometimes, and will do odd things like respond to something that wasn't said. I am still sticking with the idea that she helped Ronove become a demon, but that's pretty complicated now and I'm done babbling!
Ah... my demons are so silly. ;3;
You know how the beat goes: Saturday night, ballroom dance. Girl meets mutant boy, mutant boy lights her cigarette and in the process sets her heart on fire as the delicate parasite of love starts to devour her guts inside out. Add the sweet-sweet melodies and divine pitches of the D & his Retra-mongo-motorized crazy kids to the mix and get you booty shaking. Don't forget to buy that gorgeous turquoise dame of yours a special house martini to ease her thirst—if that could even be possible!—, frame the whole picture and conquer posterity! Incredibly cool music contained inside the new Munsterama summer music catalog in mother-Spain for which this illo was carefully thought and chemically engineered. If you love vinyls and awesome music, visit www.Munsterama.com, check out what they've got to offer and arm yourself with the most amazing tunes ever!
Now we know why Choo Choo Charlie had so much fun...
My favorite thing about this is the accumulated soot down the top of the tunnel from seventy-some years of coal-fired steam train passage.
And the signage, of course...
I'm crying inside.And nobody knows it but me..
Bên trong trái tim em đang oà khóc,ko ai hiểu đc,chỉ có mình em...
I'm missing you.And nobody knows it but me...
Em nhớ anh rất nhiều,ko ai hiểu đc,chỉ có mình em...
My heart is calling you.And nobody knows it but me...
Trái tim em đang gọi tên anh,ko ai hiểu đc,chỉ có mình em...
I know that these are not technically great shots but they are though one of my favorites. These are one of my first shots with a dSLR.
I know I have shot rows of Necco wafers before. I may have even shot a whole roll.
But if I did, it didn't look as nice as this so here you go.
I got a lens llast Thursday that is part of someone elese art project. He is sending a Pentax 500mm lens to variuos photographers around the world to take a picture and then forward it. the poor guy had the misfortune to put me on the list.
It's a sharp lens and fully manual. With the adapter to Nikon F-mount is will only focus up to about four feet, but goes down fairly close.
I hope I don't destroy it at some point. That would be embarrassing. But there is not much I can do about it. With such a short focal length I really have to get in close to the target.
Cheers.
Everyone knows the special feeling of "young love", and the magic that accompanies it. Not everyone is fortunate enough to experience "old love", finding that special person that you are lucky enough to gladly spend the rest of your life with.
My apologies to anyone that is disappointed that I didn't post any granny porn with the title "Old Love".
I know I`m fussy, but I messed this one up a bit, being a fraction of a second too slow allowing the pantograph to appear mixing with the trees behind. Still, I won`t be trying this shot once the fencing resumes. This is 90046 with 4M88 Felixstowe-Crewe BH. Watford village, 12th June 2014.
this was my radio when I was about... 10 years old. dig the funky 80's pastel colors
so, the velvet underground isn't exactly 80s bubblegum pop but it's what i listened to then (and now) and it's fine fine music.
Jenny said when she was just five years old
There was nothing happening at all
Every time she puts on a radio
There was a nothin goin down at all, not at all
Then one fine mornin she puts on a new york station
You know, she couldnt believe what she heard at all
She started dancin to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock n roll
Despite all the amputations you know you could just go out
And dance to a rock n roll station
It was alright
It was allright
Hey baby you know it was allright
Jenny said when she was just by five years old
You know y parents gonna be the death of us all
Two tv sets and two cadillac cars -
Well you know it aint gonna help me at all
Then one fine mornin she turnss on a new york station
She doesnt believe what she hears at all
Ooh, she started dancin to that fine fine music
You know her life is saved by rock n roll,
Despite all the computations
You could just dance to a rock n roll station
And baby it was allright
And it was alright
Hey it was allright
Hey here she comes now!
Jump! jump!
It was allright
"rock 'n' roll"
the velvet underground
"You watch the clock
Move the slow hand.
I should have been home
Hours ago,
But I'm not here.
But I'm not here.
You can't hear me.
You can't hear me.
You can't feel me
Here in the room with you now.
You can't hear what I'm saying.
You don't hear what I'm saying, do you?
Can't let you know
What's been happening.
There's a ghost in our home,
Just watching you without me.
I'm not here ... "
.
I don't know when the bicycle was introduced to Morocco. But it may well have been in the nineteenth century in Tangiers or Essaouira. Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast was then one of the most important Moroccan harbors for merchant trade with Europe. Among the countries with a consulate within the walled city was Holland where cycling for other than sporting reasons was becoming popular.
Today Essaouira is no longer a bustling mercantile city. Its once famous international harbor has been diverted to the use of the large fishing fleet. It's a must-do to walk the quays early in the morning when the catch of fish and other wondrous sea-creatures is brought in and displayed.
This photo was taken a couple of hours later as people were preparing to go home... a final chat for the day with one's companions.
No, I doubt they were discussing the history of Moroccan-Dutch relations and they're probably not aware of the derelict doorway in town of what was once the Dutch consulate here. But Holland and Morocco once formed - in the early seventeenth century - a strong allegiance against their mutual enemy, King Philip II and III's Spain.
More than that, there was also a vivid and exotic exchange of ideas. Central figures in that last area are Aḥmad ibn Qāsim Al-Ḥajarī (c.1570-c.1640) and Dutchman Thomas Erpenius (1584-1624). They got to know each other in the context of a Treaty of Friendship and Free Commerce (1610) between Morocco and Holland. Apparently this is the first treaty between a Christian European nation and a non-Christian non-European one. Interesting ideologically is that the Dutch Protestants and the Moroccan Muslims discussed between themselves their joint revulsion against (Roman) Catholic 'idolatry'. Both Muslims and Protestants, of course, are much against 'graven images' certainly in religious or devotional contexts. Al-Ḥajarī went on the become a translator of theological texts for the community of Moriscos to which he belonged; he died at Tunis. Erpenius became one of the most well-known and influential orientalists of Western Europe at the time. He'd been appointed to the chair of Arabic and Oriental Languages at the university of Leiden (1613), but he was also the official translator of the Dutch States-General (for Arabic but also Turkish; incidentally, this year celebrates 400 years of diplomatic relations between The Netherlands and Turkey).
Al-Ḥajarī and Erpenius during their discussions at Paris and in The Hague wouldn't likely have talked and debated on a quay. But their colloquies certainly furthered greatly Oriental Studies in early-modern Europe.
"I live for those who love me, for those who know me true, for the heaven so blue above me, and the good that I can do." ~ George Linnaeus Banks
As some of you already know, we’ve been digging deep into our vaults and digitizing 16mm photolog footage from 1966 to give you our BC Road Trip Time Machine video series. (“Photologs” were created to capture road condition information across the province and give our engineers the ability to study a particular stretch of road without having to travel into the field.)
Looking back on these old reels reveals a lot more than just pavement condition. The camera installed onto the dash of a car and driven over 9,000 km of BC highways captured some incredible glimpses of our province during the heyday that was the 60’s. So sit back, relax and watch a world long gone by in the rear view mirror. Learn more here: tranbc.ca/?s=photolog#sthash.IH22QypR.dpbs
Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!
The 45surf and gold 45 revolver swimsuits, shirts, logos, designs, and lingerie are designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
If you would like a free review copy, message me!
Epic Landscape Photography! New Book!
www.facebook.com/epiclandscapephotography
And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
'
The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)
http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!
Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!
Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!
Follow me!
I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!
Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SPIDERS!
Spiders are chelicerates and therefore arthropods. As arthropods they have: segmented bodies with jointed limbs, all covered in a cuticle made of chitin and proteins; heads that are composed of several segments that fuse during the development of the embryo. Being chelicerates, their bodies consist of two tagmata, sets of segments that serve similar functions: the foremost one, called the cephalothorax or prosoma, is a complete fusion of the segments that in an insect would form two separate tagmata, the head and thorax; the rear tagma is called the abdomen or opisthosoma.[6] In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are connected by a small cylindrical section, the pedicel. The pattern of segment fusion that forms chelicerates' heads is unique among arthropods, and what would normally be the first head segment disappears at an early stage of development, so that chelicerates lack the antennae typical of most arthropods. In fact, chelicerates' only appendages ahead of the mouth are a pair of chelicerae, and they lack anything that would function directly as "jaws". The first appendages behind the mouth are called pedipalps, and serve different functions within different groups of chelicerates.
Spiders and scorpions are members of one chelicerate group, the arachnids. Scorpions' chelicerae have three sections and are used in feeding. Spiders' chelicerae have two sections and terminate in fangs that are generally venomous, and fold away behind the upper sections while not in use. The upper sections generally have thick "beards" that filter solid lumps out of their food, as spiders can take only liquid food. Scorpions' pedipalps generally form large claws for capturing prey, while those of spiders are fairly small appendages whose bases also act as an extension of the mouth; in addition, those of male spiders have enlarged last sections used for sperm transfer.
In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, which enables the abdomen to move independently when producing silk. The upper surface of the cephalothorax is covered by a single, convex carapace, while the underside is covered by two rather flat plates. The abdomen is soft and egg-shaped. It shows no sign of segmentation, except that the primitive Mesothelae, whose living members are the Liphistiidae, have segmented plates on the upper surface
Like other arthropods, spiders are coelomates in which the coelom is reduced to small areas round the reproductive and excretory systems. Its place is largely taken by a hemocoel, a cavity that runs most of the length of the body and through which blood flows. The heart is a tube in the upper part of the body, with a few ostia that act as non-return valves allowing blood to enter the heart from the hemocoel but prevent it from leaving before it reaches the front end. However, in spiders, it occupies only the upper part of the abdomen, and blood is discharged into the hemocoel by one artery that opens at the rear end of the abdomen and by branching arteries that pass through the pedicle and open into several parts of the cephalothorax. Hence spiders have open circulatory systems. The blood of many spiders that have book lungs contains the respiratory pigment hemocyanin to make oxygen transport more efficient.
Spiders have developed several different respiratory anatomies, based on book lungs, a tracheal system, or both. Mygalomorph and Mesothelae spiders have two pairs of book lungs filled with haemolymph, where openings on the ventral surface of the abdomen allow air to enter and diffuse oxygen. This is also the case for some basal araneomorph spiders, like the family Hypochilidae, but the remaining members of this group have just the anterior pair of book lungs intact while the posterior pair of breathing organs are partly or fully modified into tracheae, through which oxygen is diffused into the haemolymph or directly to the tissue and organs. The trachea system has most likely evolved in small ancestors to help resist desiccation. The trachea were originally connected to the surroundings through a pair of openings called spiracles, but in the majority of spiders this pair of spiracles has fused into a single one in the middle, and moved backwards close to the spinnerets.[8] Spiders that have tracheae generally have higher metabolic rates and better water conservation. Spiders are ectotherms, so environmental temperatures affect their activity.
Uniquely among chelicerates, the final sections of spiders' chelicerae are fangs, and the great majority of spiders can use them to inject venom into prey from venom glands in the roots of the chelicerae. The family Uloboridae has lost its venom glands, and kills its prey with silk instead. Like most arachnids, including scorpions, spiders have a narrow gut that can only cope with liquid food and spiders have two sets of filters to keep solids out. They use one of two different systems of external digestion. Some pump digestive enzymes from the midgut into the prey and then suck the liquified tissues of the prey into the gut, eventually leaving behind the empty husk of the prey. Others grind the prey to pulp using the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps, while flooding it with enzymes; in these species, the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps form a preoral cavity that holds the food they are processing.
The stomach in the cephalothorax acts as a pump that sends the food deeper into the digestive system. The mid gut bears many digestive ceca, compartments with no other exit, that extract nutrients from the food; most are in the abdomen, which is dominated by the digestive system, but a few are found in the cephalothorax.
Most spiders convert nitrogenous waste products into uric acid, which can be excreted as a dry material. Malphigian tubules ("little tubes") extract these wastes from the blood in the hemocoel and dump them into the cloacal chamber, from which they are expelled through the anus. Production of uric acid and its removal via Malphigian tubules are a water-conserving feature that has evolved independently in several arthropod lineages that can live far away from water,[14] for example the tubules of insects and arachnids develop from completely different parts of the embryo. However, a few primitive spiders, the sub-order Mesothelae and infra-order Mygalomorphae, retain the ancestral arthropod nephridia ("little kidneys"), which use large amounts of water to excrete nitrogenous waste products as ammonia
Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the cephalothorax, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another.[8] The pair at the front are of the type called pigment-cup ocelli ("little eyes"), which in most arthropods are only capable of detecting the direction from which light is coming, using the shadow cast by the walls of the cup. However, the main eyes at the front of spiders' heads are pigment-cup ocelli that are capable of forming images. The other eyes are thought to be derived from the compound eyes of the ancestral chelicerates, but no longer have the separate facets typical of compound eyes. Unlike the main eyes, in many spiders these secondary eyes detect light reflected from a reflective tapetum lucidum, and wolf spiders can be spotted by torch light reflected from the tapeta. On the other hand, jumping spiders' secondary eyes have no tapeta. Some jumping spiders' visual acuity exceeds by a factor of ten that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects; in fact the human eye is only about five times sharper than a jumping spider's. They achieve this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layer retina and the ability to swivel their eyes and integrate images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.
There are spiders with a reduced number of eyes, of these those with six-eyes are the most numerous and are missing a pair of eyes on the anterior median line, others species have four-eyes and some just two. Cave dwelling species have no eyes, or possess vestigial eyes incapable of sight.
As with other arthropods, spiders' cuticles would block out information about the outside world, except that they are penetrated by many sensors or connections from sensors to the nervous system. In fact, spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various touch sensors, mostly bristles called setae, respond to different levels of force, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell, often by means of setae. Pedipalps carry a large number of such setae sensitive to contact chemicals and air-borne smells, such as female pheromones. Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs slit sensillae that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders, all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes, while the eyes are most important to spiders that hunt actively.
Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance and acceleration sensors and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up. Arthropods' proprioceptors, sensors that report the force exerted by muscles and the degree of bending in the body and joints, are well understood. On the other hand, little is known about what other internal sensors spiders or other arthropods may have.
Each of the eight legs of a spider consists of seven distinct parts. The part closest to and attaching the leg to the cephalothorax is the coxa; the next segment is the short trochanter that works as a hinge for the following long segment, the femur; next is the spider's knee, the patella, which acts as the hinge for the tibia; the metatarsus is next, and it connects the tibia to the tarsus (which may be thought of as a foot of sorts); the tarsus ends in a claw made up of either two or three points, depending on the family to which the spider belongs. Although all arthropods use muscles attached to the inside of the exoskeleton to flex their limbs, spiders and a few other groups still use hydraulic pressure to extend them, a system inherited from their pre-arthropod ancestors. The only extensor muscles in spider legs are located in the three hip joints (bordering the coxa and the trochanter). As a result, a spider with a punctured cephalothorax cannot extend its legs, and the legs of dead spiders curl up. Spiders can generate pressures up to eight times their resting level to extend their legs, and jumping spiders can jump up to 50 times their own length by suddenly increasing the blood pressure in the third or fourth pair of legs. Although larger spiders use hydraulics to straighten their legs, unlike smaller jumping spiders they depend on their flexor muscles to generate the propulsive force for their jumps.
Most spiders that hunt actively, rather than relying on webs, have dense tufts of fine hairs between the paired claws at the tips of their legs. These tufts, known as scopulae, consist of bristles whose ends are split into as many as 1,000 branches, and enable spiders with scopulae to walk up vertical glass and upside down on ceilings. It appears that scopulae get their grip from contact with extremely thin layers of water on surfaces. Spiders, like most other arachnids, keep at least four legs on the surface while walking or running.
The abdomen has no appendages except those that have been modified to form one to four (usually three) pairs of short, movable spinnerets, which emit silk. Each spinneret has many spigots, each of which is connected to one silk gland. There are at least six types of silk gland, each producing a different type of silk.
Silk is mainly composed of a protein very similar to that used in insect silk. It is initially a liquid, and hardens not by exposure to air but as a result of being drawn out, which changes the internal structure of the protein. It is similar in tensile strength to nylon and biological materials such as chitin, collagen and cellulose, but is much more elastic. In other words, it can stretch much further before breaking or losing shape.
Some spiders have a cribellum, a modified spinneret with up to 40,000 spigots, each of which produces a single very fine fiber. The fibers are pulled out by the calamistrum, a comb-like set of bristles on the jointed tip of the cribellum, and combined into a composite woolly thread that is very effective in snagging the bristles of insects. The earliest spiders had cribella, which produced the first silk capable of capturing insects, before spiders developed silk coated with sticky droplets. However, most modern groups of spiders have lost the cribellum.
Tarantulas also have silk glands in their feet.
Even species that do not build webs to catch prey use silk in several ways: as wrappers for sperm and for fertilized eggs; as a "safety rope"; for nest-building; and as "parachutes" by the young of some species
Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect, in other words the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods, male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm), but spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to special syringe-like structures, palpal bulbs or palpal organs, borne on the tips of the pedipalps of mature males. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or "safety ropes", the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by "smell".
Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In web-weaving species, precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may "hypnotize" the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the palpal bulbs into the female's genital opening, known as the epigyne, on the underside of her abdomen. Female's reproductive tracts vary from simple tubes to systems that include seminal receptacles in which females store sperm and release it when they are ready.
Males of the genus Tidarren amputate one of their palps before maturation and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's epigynum for about four hours and apparently continues to function independently. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male. In over 60% of cases, the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact, the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the "lucky" ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed. However, males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs
Thanks, Wikipedia
I know its a little unusual using a portrait lens to take photo of a bird but at the Arizona Sonora Desert museum hummingbird aviary they are so tame you can get away with it.
The Shallow DOF means only his head and beak are in focus.
Bill, what kind of Hummer is this?
Captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM lens.