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A New Game of Tag!
Part 4
Then the show continued...
They were all being sat down to dinner.
I chillingly squirmed again because it appeared that the thievery was not over. The dancing man wearing a tie was now busy lifting the men’s wallets as he helped seat them.
Pickpocketing was a term I would learn later.
The show was moving kind of fast and I was wriggling in my seat to see if he had taken any more jewellery off the ladies. I think one of the pretty diamond bracelets from the older ladies gloved wrist was gone, but could not be sure. I was wondering what was going to happen next, would the bloke, his pockets full of their shiny valuables, as he sat right under their noses, be caught!.
That realization did make me fidgety, thinking someone would be that diabolical to be so methodical in lifting the island people’s very jewels and such, would be getting away with it.
They all toasted him, congratulating that he was no longer a thief, and he became choked up and left them.
It was soon after he left that they began discovering their missing jewels. Of course they chased after him to get their valuables back, but it was too late, he was escaping in a boat!
Escaping in a boat with all their nicked valuables, as they watched helplessly.
He was bloody well getting away with it.
I can still feel myself cringing as I imagined myself being in the ladies' shoes, watching a thief leave with the jewels I had been wearing. At that point my brother jumped up, dashing off down to the basement loo!. So I sat there alone, not really focused on watching the telly anymore.
For the way down deep, I was feeling all prickly. Surprised that there was just something exciting about the sinister element of the plot of the show. Delicious almost the feelings I was having over the deviousness behind someone pretending to be nice when actually they are after something else entirely. As I mulled this over I realized that I really wanted, desired, was to recreate that feeling in my real life! Of being dressed up( which I happened to be ) and wearing my jewellery, with a sneaky thief lurking about.
My mind was now flying with ideas.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So many cars and so much stress rushing by
As I now sit here alone and drifting on why
Expressions forces to tears to my eyes somehow
That partiality escapes and never seems to allow
To render a sense of continual thought within
A soul that arms no one can feel in doctrine
Sometimes when you feel the answers to listen
To others in daily commute from dawn to even
You ever tried to slow time down methodically?
And see the many colours of people’s impracticality
Please sir, can you get out of your car and tell me
What you see, what you hear or are you already free
Is life to pass on wisdoms of personified experiences?
I wish someone could return and grant me answers
Are you longing for passion but frightened by love?
I could love you if somehow you let me fly like a dove
Over the many sights of people far below who know not
That some can see beyond and calm nerves of daily plot
Ever studied an inanimate object when others just pass?
Consider its origins and why the thing got there in a mass
Of so many rushing past unfeeling of the peace it has
Still and never moving like a rock under the torrents
As slowly it shall be buried as sediment now augments
Burdening like me as a heavy heart seeks a tolerance
Are you too tired to wake early and watch the slow sun?
As the darkness fades and the coldness is for now undone
See how the pace of real life is so much calmer than us
That the healing of nature is achieved in the timelessness
Would we live longer like the tree with so many rings?
When we are so subject to emotion that our life flings
Do we forget how to breathe and the heart forgets to beat?
Because we cannot be so subject to ever feeling the heat
But forgetting there is warmth in the passion we can share
Like the taking of granted as the breathing of the free air
So much in abundance if we would just ever open our arms
Let the soul of another be tender in slowest, kindest charms
V.R
Anocheciendo en Mojácar pueblo, trate de captar una cierta emoción escondida de la presencia humana invisible, aunque metódica en esta farola de "hierro forjado",la magia de la luz con sus degradados de amarillo y naranja.
El contraste con la escala de grises y alguna lineas negras,me parece que refuerza la idea de esa presencia humana invisible y enriquece la textura de la imagen .
La fotografía minimalista es en esencia Comunicar a traves de una composición con los elementos mas básicos . Con elementos mínimos tratar de generar o comunicar emociones,historias,reflexiones.
La imagen en su mayor simplicidad tratando de contar una historia que refiere tanto al contexto propio de la imagen como al proceso estilístico e intención de la toma de fotografías. no es poca cosa en una realidad social y cibernética caracterizada por la hiper-saturación de tomas y difusión de imágenes fotografiadas.
Apuntes diario lateral ffmendoza
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Au crépuscule dans la ville de Mojácar, j'ai tentez de capturer une certaine émotion cachée de la présence humaine invisible, bien que méthodique dans ce réverbère en "fer forgé", la magie de la lumière avec ses dégradés de jaune et d’orange.
Le contraste avec l’échelle de gris et certaines lignes noires me semble renforcer l’idée de cette présence humaine invisible et enrichir la texture de l’image.
La photographie minimaliste consiste essentiellement à communiquer à travers une composition contenant les éléments les plus fondamentaux. Avec des éléments minimaux, essayez de générer ou de communiquer des émotions, des histoires, des réflexions.
L'image, dans sa plus grande simplicité, tente de raconter une histoire qui renvoie à la fois au contexte approprié de l'image, au processus stylistique et à l'intention de prendre des photos. Ce n’est pas une mince affaire dans une réalité sociale et cybernétique caractérisée par l’hyper-saturation de poduction et diffusion d’images photographiées.
Notes journal lateral ffmendoza
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Dusk in Mojácar town, I try to capture a certain emotion hiddenin a simbolic invisible human presence, although methodical in this street lamp of "wrought iron", the magic of light with its gradients of yellow and orange.
The contrast with the gray scale and some black lines, seems to me to reinforce the idea of that invisible human presence and enriches at the same time the texture of the image.
Minimalist photography is in essence Communicate through a composition with the most basic elements. With minimal elements try to generate or communicate emotions, stories, reflections.
The minimalist image in its greatest simplicity it is alwais trying to tell a story that refers both to the proper context of the image and to the stylistic process and intention of taking photographs. It is not a small thing in a social and cybernetic reality characterized by hyper-saturation of shots and diffusion of photographed images.
Notes diary lateral ffmendoza
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Last month we spent 3 day in the Black Rock Desert to attend Balls, the Wild West event of rocketry, with large and dangerous rockets. My son got invited to help prepare the most spectacular rocket, a two stage rocket that was designed to reach 200,000 feet altitude. I was invited to be the official photographer. Due to dangerously large motors, this rocket's launch pad was 3 miles away from the camp. Only a few people could see the preparation and launch up close.
The crew raises the rail with rocket upright.
Spec of the rocket:
- two stage rocket built by Jim Jarvis from Texas
- total weight of rocket 250 lb
- booster (first stage) has a P motor built by Stu Barrett
- sustainer (second stage) has an O motor, made by CTI
- electronics: Stratologger, live flight status update by Kate
The booster flight was nominal, The sustainer flight was initially nominal, then Kate announced an anomaly at 40K+ feet altitude - the sustainer shredded at Mach 3.7. The booster was recovered successfully.
Cause of anomaly: Premature detection of booster burnout, the sustainer separates early while the booster was still burning. The booster passes the sustainer while still burning; and both collide twice in midair. Here is a short video of this launch.
What a project! Kudos to Jim, Stu and team for the achievement, even though it did not go as planned! As we all know from SpaceX, rocketry is hard. Jim had a multi page checklist, and everything was done very methodically. Hats off!
I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the curves.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC3497_hdr1bal1e
When I heard from fellow fishing enthusiasts the tale of the bait-stealing, fisherman-stalking owl, I listened closely, but with more than a little doubt. We had been stalked the previous year, and in the same area by a Red Shouldered Hawk that eventually swooped down and took a shiner from the surface, maybe it was he and just misidentified. Having hiked, flown and driven countless miles in search of just the possibility of photographing different species of owls, I must admit I found the possibility of being stalked by an owl exciting.
Over the next few days my neck and eyes worked overtime as we entered and exited the Juniper and Little Juniper Rivers. If the rumors were true, I wanted to see it…and more desirable, photograph it. Knowing that God blesses me so with his creations, and knowing that some are meant to be seen and enjoyed (the times when I don’t have my camera with me or ready) and some are meant to be photographed, and that will be the result.
It was just after 8:30am on our second to last day of fishing when Kent and I pulled into the area where the sightings had taken place days before. My hopes were so much higher that the probability of a sighting, but like the lotto ad, you can't win if you don’t play. My friend and skipper of our vessel, Kent, graciously and patiently maneuvered the boat for both the best fishing and photographic lighting.
I surely resembled a human bobble-head as I quickly, but methodically scanned the trees, up and down and 360 degrees around us, camera in hand. Double and triple checking my camera settings, checking the cleanliness of my lens…I was doing everything that I could to ensure that if it appeared, I wouldn’t blow the shot. It was then that I realized that I needed to bait up and at least appear to be fishing!
It was shortly before nine that without warning or a single sound, I looked over my left shoulder to see a Barred Owl not 30 feet away. My initial thought/word was “crap”, for two distinctly different reasons. One because it startled me to see those two black eyes staring into mine from the woods and two, it was a Barred Owl, the same species that I commonly photograph at Muscatatuck NWR, I had hoped for any other species.
I have since learned that his aggressiveness is well known in the region and that he has attempted to snatch shiners mid-cast, tried to get into live wells on boats and has landed on many boats to further announce his presence and desire for food. I just hope some fool doesn’t come along and hurt him.
Until a few days ago I wasn't aware that Red Kites are able to fish but upon hearing about this activity I couldn't resist travelling to Rutland in order to spend a day waiting and watching to see if I if I could record this behaviour.
During the day there were four fishing visits from kites - each one notable for the methodical and measured approach by the kite to their chosen target.
I don’t know if our atmospheric conditions that mix summer air and the smoke from the Canadian forest fires will appear again this fall. With that in mind, my wife and I spent a couple mornings last week getting up early to see if we could get a photo or two during the brief time the reds and oranges were winning over the normal brilliant yellow of the sun that comes with clear skies.
We stopped alongside a road that runs between two wetland ponds with our vehicle off and our windows open in the near darkness while I took a few photos of the sun at several levels as it did its methodical morning climb.
Outside our vehicle the smoggy quietness was heavy, unbroken with the sounds of the day that had yet to arise from their slumber. From a good distance away we began to hear the raspy marble-rolling honks of the familiar sand hill cranes as they flew through the air.
I don’t hear like I used to and have difficulty discerning which direction sounds are coming from which my doc gleefully told me might be a problem at railroad crossings.
Therefore I had to ask my wife what direction the cranes were coming from. Luckily they were approaching our position from the north and cooperated with me for this shot when they passed between us and the sun though they ignored me when I asked them to move a little higher and fly in a single line.
(Photographed near Cambridge, MN)
Backed by one of the town's historic "beehive" burners (more on these below), the yard scene at Hearst is humming with activity. ONR's 313 has dropped its interchange traffic, finished its work, and is ready to depart as 514 for Cochrane with ONR personnel at the ready for a roll-by and some maintenance work. On the right of the frame, CN 552's power idles away, its crew on duty in just a few minutes to pick up 313's inbound train for Oba via the Soo Sub (formerly WC/ACR). All the while, the formidable logging crane methodically rolls back and forth, moving logs around the mill for processing, while a CAT machine maneuvers mounds of sawdust and snow around.
Beehive burners were used as incinerators by sawmills to burn sawdust and scrap wood, the name referring to their conical shape. These posed obvious air quality issues, spewing large amounts of smoke and ash directly into the atmosphere and were eventually phased out by environmental regulations, the last active one in Hearst running into the early '80s. Just a landmark now, the burner still stands tall preserving some of Hearst's heritage as a leader in the forestry industry.
For years now, one of Barney's very favourite traditions on Christmas day has been getting to shred all the wrapping paper up... Ever since I've known him, Barn's been one of those dogs who really takes a great delight in destroying things. When he was younger, I was forever buying Barney supposedly "indestructible" toys, hopeful that this toy would be the one to survive... & Barney would immediately set about finding a way to dismantle it, often in an almost scientifically methodical manner. He was an extremely determined - & fast ripper-upper of toys. A few things, like larger Kongs *would* last a little while but eventually, he'd find a way to chew the end off!
I finally learnt that the best thing to do - the thing that makes us both happy - is to give in to the inevitable & simply buy Barney cheap toys, that are safe for him (under supervision, of course!) to take to pieces. The toy is gone in a few minutes, or, occasionally just seconds, but while it lasts, Barney has a wonderful time & I'm not left regretting spending large sums of money on something that has to be thrown away almost immediately!
Barney's love of shredding things means he is very easy to please at Christmas... his favourite holiday tradition is the annual game of turning wrapping paper into confetti. He sits & watches us unwrapping gifts & then happily shreds every single piece of the discarded paper, into tiny pieces. I can only be thankful Barney does seem to have some idea that he's only allowed to rip up paper, once it's handed over to him, as he will leave the still wrapped presents alone, at least while they're under the tree. However, once you've picked a gift up, you better be fast with the unwrapping because if you're too slow opening it & throwing the paper at the waiting dog, Barney will leap in & try to "help" speed things up!
Estábamos persiguiendo al Talgo por el Directo y tras conseguir una buena foto en Villamayor de los Montes el siguiente punto elegido era la estación de Campo de San Pedro. Llegamos con tiempo más que suficiente para preparar la foto sin prisas y la presencia del sol estaba más que garantizada, pero cuando llegó el tren nos llevamos una pequeña decepción. Me explico. En aquella época estábamos viviendo una transición para dejar de hacer fotos "a lo loco" y convertirnos en (más o menos) unos "fotógrafos metódicos". Esos cambios se estaban materializando, entre otras cosas, en el empleo de aplicaciones que nos informaban de la posición del sol en el punto elegido para fotografiar un tren. Aquel día, la aplicación prometía una espectacular iluminación del tren en la estación de Campo de San Pedro así que cuando vimos que el lateral del Talgo no quedó nada bien, se nos ocurrió pensar que la aplicación era un timo. Y nada más lejos de la realidad porque luego supimos que nos enfrentábamos a algo que entonces no conocíamos: el high sun (el sol alto, para entendernos), un fenómeno que conlleva una iluminación decepcionante en buena parte del sujeto fotografiado. Con el uso del Photoshop, hemos mejorado ligeramente el lateral del Talgo pero desde entonces afinamos mucho más la elección de los puntos a las horas en las que ese "high sun" es más evidente. Y es que el camino para ser un "fotógrafo metódico" es agotador...y mejor no hablar del largo trayecto que aún nos queda por recorrer....
We were chasing Talgo along "el Directo" and after getting a good photo in Villamayor de los Montes the next point chosen was Campo de San Pedro station. We arrived with more than enough time to prepare the photo without rushing and the presence of the sun was more than guaranteed, but when the train arrived we were a little disappointed. I explain. At that time we were undergoing a transition to stop taking "crazy" photos and become (more or less) "methodical photographers". These changes were materializing, among other things, in the use of applications that informed us of the position of the sun at the point chosen to photograph a train. That day, the application promised spectacular lighting of the train at Campo de San Pedro station, so when we saw that the side of the Talgo did not look good at all, it occurred to us that the application was a scam. And nothing is further from reality because then we learned that we were facing something that we did not know then: the high sun, a phenomenon that leads to disappointing lighting in much of the photographed subject. With the use of Photoshop, we have slightly improved the side of the Talgo but since then we have refined the choice of points much more at the times when this phenomenon is most evident. And it is that the road to being a "methodical photographer" is exhausting ... and better not to mention the long journey that we still have to travel ...
Gandhara is the name given to an ancient region or province invaded in 326 B.C. by Alexander the Great, who took Charsadda (ancient Puskalavati) near present-day Peshawar (ancient Purusapura) and then marched eastward across the Indus into the Punjab as far as the Beas river (ancient Vipasa). Gandhara constituted the undulating plains, irrigated by the Kabul River from the Khyber Pass area, the contemporary boundary between Pakistan and Afganistan, down to the Indus River and southward towards the Murree hills and Taxila (ancient Taksasila), near Pakistan"s present capital, Islamabad. Its art, however, during the first centuries of the Christian era, had adopted a substantially larger area, together with the upper stretches of the Kabul River, the valley of Kabul itself, and ancient Kapisa, as well as Swat and Buner towards the north.
A great deal of Gandhara sculptures has survived dating from the first to probably as late as the sixth or even the seventh century but in a remarkably homogeneous style. Most of the arts were almost always in a blue-gray mica schist, though sometimes in a green phyllite or in stucco, or very rarely in terracotta. Because of the appeal of its Western classical aesthetic for the British rulers of India, schooled to admire all things Greek and Roman, a great deal found its way into private hands or the shelter of museums.
Gandhara sculpture primarily comprised Buddhist monastic establishments. These monasteries provided a never-ending gallery for sculptured reliefs of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The Gandhara stupas were comparatively magnified and more intricate, but the most remarkable feature, which distinguished the Gandhara stupas from the pervious styles were hugely tiered umbrellas at its peak, almost soaring over the total structure. The abundance of Gandharan sculpture was an art, which originated with foreign artisans.
In the excavation among the varied miscellany of small bronze figures, though not often like Alexandrian imports, four or five Buddhist bronzes are very late in date. These further illustrate the aura of the Gandhara art. Relics of mural paintings though have been discovered, yet the only substantial body of painting, in Bamiyan, is moderately late, and much of it belongs to an Iranian or central Asian rather than an Indian context. Non-narrative themes and architectural ornament were omnipresent at that time. Mythical figures and animals such as atlantes, tritons, dragons, and sea serpents derive from the same source, although there is the occasional high-backed, stylized creature associated with the Central Asian animal style. Moldings and cornices are decorated mostly with acanthus, laurel, and vine, though sometimes with motifs of Indian, and occasionally ultimately western Asian, origin: stepped merlons, lion heads, vedikas, and lotus petals. It is worth noting that architectural elements such as pillars, gable ends, and domes as represented in the reliefs tend to follow the Indian forms
.
Gandhara became roughly a Holy Land of Buddhism and excluding a handful of Hindu images, sculpture took the form either of Buddhist sect objects, Buddha and Bodhisattvas, or of architectural embellishment for Buddhist monasteries. The more metaphorical kinds are demonstrated by small votive stupas, and bases teeming with stucco images and figurines that have lasted at Jaulian and Mora Moradu, outpost monasteries in the hills around Taxila. Hadda, near the present town of Jalalabad, has created some groups in stucco of an almost rococo while more latest works of art in baked clay, with strong Hellenistic influence, have been revealed there, in what sums up as tiny chapels. It is not known exactly why stucco, an imported Alexandrian modus operandi, was used. It is true that grey schist is not found near Taxila, however other stones are available, and in opposition to the ease of operating with stucco, predominantly the artistic effects which can be achieved, must be set with its impermanence- fresh deposits frequently had to be applied. Excluding possibly at Taxila, its use emerges to have been a late expansion.
Architectural fundamentals of the Gandhara art, like pillars, gable ends and domes as showcased in the reliefs, were inclined to follow Indian outlines, but the pilaster with capital of Corinthian type, abounds and in one-palace scene Persepolitan columns go along with Roman coffered ceilings. The so-called Shrine of the Double-Headed Eagle at Sirkap, in actuality a stupa pedestal, well demonstrates this enlightening eclecticism- the double-headed bird on top of the chaitya arch is an insignia of Scythian origin, which appears as a Byzantine motif and materialises much later in South India as the ga1J.qa-bheru1J.qa in addition to atop European armorial bearings.
In Gandhara art the descriptive friezes were all but invariably Buddhist, and hence Indian in substance- one depicted a horse on wheels nearing a doorway, which might have represented the Trojan horse affair, but this is under scan. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, familiar from the previous Greek-based coinage of the region, appeared once or twice as standing figurines, presumably because as a pair, they tallied an Indian mithuna couple. There were also female statuettes, corresponding to city goddesses. Though figures from Butkara, near Saidan Sharif in Swat, were noticeably more Indian in physical type, and Indian motifs were in abundance there. Sculpture was, in the main, Hellenistic or Roman, and the art of Gandhara was indeed "the easternmost appearance of the art of the Roman Empire, especially in its late and provincial manifestations". Furthermore, naturalistic portrait heads, one of the high-points of Roman sculpture, were all but missing in Gandhara, in spite of the episodic separated head, probably that of a donor, with a discernible feeling of uniqueness. Some constitutions and poses matched those from western Asia and the Roman world; like the manner in which a figure in a recurrently instanced scene from the Dipankara jataka had prostrated himself before the future Buddha, is reverberated in the pose of the defeated before the defeater on a Trojanic frieze on the Arch of Constantine and in later illustrations of the admiration of the divinised emperor. One singular recurrently occurring muscular male figure, hand on sword, witnessed in three-quarters view from the backside, has been adopted from western classical sculpture. On occasions standing figures, even the Buddha, deceived the elusive stylistic actions of the Roman sculptor, seeking to express majestas. The drapery was fundamentally Western- the folds and volume of dangling garments were carved with realness and gusto- but it was mainly the persistent endeavours at illusionism, though frequently obscured by unrefined carving, which earmarked the Gandhara sculpture as based on a western classical visual impact.
The distinguishing Gandhara sculpture, of which hundreds if not thousands of instances have outlived, is the standing or seated Buddha. This flawlessly reproduces the necessary nature of Gandhara art, in which a religious and an artistic constituent, drawn from widely varied cultures have been bonded. The iconography is purely Indian. The seated Buddha is mostly cross-legged in the established Indian manner. However, forthcoming generations, habituated to think of the Buddha as a monk, and unable to picture him ever possessing long hair or donning a turban, came to deduce the chigon as a "cranial protuberance", singular to Buddha. But Buddha is never depicted with a shaved head, as are the Sangha, the monks; his short hair is clothed either in waves or in taut curls over his whole head. The extended ears are merely due to the downward thrust of the heavy ear-rings worn by a prince or magnate; the distortion of the ear-lobes is especially visible in Buddha, who, in Gandhara, never wore ear-rings or ornaments of any kind. As Foucher puts it, the Gandhara Buddha is at a time a monk without shaving and a prince stripped off jewellery.
The western classical factor rests in the style, in the handling of the robe, and in the physiognomy of Buddha. The cloak, which covers all but the appendages (though the right shoulder is often bared), is dealt like in Greek and Roman sculptures; the heavy folds are given a plastic flair of their own, and only in poorer or later works do they deteriorate into indented lines, fairly a return to standard Indian practice. The "western" treatment has caused Buddha"s garment to be misidentified for a toga; but a toga is semicircular, while, Buddha wore a basic, rectangular piece of cloth, i.e., the samghiifi, a monk"s upper garment. The head gradually swerves towards a hieratic stylisation, but at its best, it is naturalistic and almost positively based on the Greek Apollo, undoubtedly in Hellenistic or Roman copies.
Gandhara art also had developed at least two species of image, i.e. not part of the frieze, in which Buddha is the fundamental figure of an event in his life, distinguished by accompanying figures and a detailed mise-en-scene. Perhaps the most remarkable amongst these is the Visit to the Indrasala Cave, of which the supreme example is dated in the year 89, almost unquestionably of the Kanishka period. Indra and his harpist are depicted on their visit in it. The small statuettes of the visitors emerge below, an elephant describing Indra. The more general among these detailed images, of which approximately 30 instances are known, is presumably related with the Great Miracle of Sravasti. In one such example, one of the adjoining Bodhisattvas is distinguished as Avalokiteshwara by the tiny seated Buddha in his headgear. Other features of these images include the unreal species of tree above Buddha, the spiky lotus upon which he sits, and the effortlessly identifiable figurines of Indra and Brahma on both sides.
Another important aspect of the Gandhara art was the coins of the Graeco-Bactrians. The coins of the Graeco-Bactrians - on the Greek metrological standard, equals the finest Attic examples and of the Indo-Greek kings, which have until lately served as the only instances of Greek art found in the subcontinent. The legendary silver double decadrachmas of Amyntas, possibly a remembrance issue, are the biggest "Greek" coins ever minted, the largest cast in gold, is the exceptional decadrachma of the same king in the Bibliotheque Nationale, with the Dioscuri on the inverse. Otherwise, there was scanty evidence until recently of Greek or Hellenistic influences in Gandhara. A manifestation of Greek metropolitan planning is furnished by the rectilinear layouts of two cities of the 1st centuries B.C./A.D.--Sirkap at Taxila and Shaikhan Pheri at Charsadda. Remains of the temple at Jandial, also at Taxila and presumably dating back to 1st century B.C., also includes Greek characteristics- remarkably the huge base mouldings and the Ionic capitals of the colossal portico and antechamber columns. In contrast, the columns or pilasters on the immeasurable Gandhara friezes (when they are not in a Indian style), are consistently coronated by Indo-Corinthian capitals, the local version of the Corinthian capital- a certain sign of a comparatively later date.
The notable Begram hoard confirms articulately to the number and multiplicity of origin of the foreign artefacts imported into Gandhara. This further illustrates the foreign influence in the Gandhara art. Parallel hoards have been found in peninsular India, especially in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, but the imported wares are sternly from the Roman world. At Begram the ancient Kapisa, near Kabul, there are bronzes, possibly of Alexandrian manufacture, in close proximity with emblemata (plaster discs, certainly meant as moulds for local silversmiths), bearing reliefs in the purest classical vein, Chinese lacquers and Roman glass. The hoard was possibly sealed in mid-3rd century, when some of the subjects may have been approximately 200 years old "antiques", frequently themselves replicates of classical Greek objects. The plentiful ivories, consisting in the central of chest and throne facings, engraved in a number of varied relief techniques, were credibly developed somewhere between Mathura and coastal Andhra. Some are of unrivalled beauty. Even though a few secluded instances of early Indian ivory carving have outlived, including the legendary mirror handle from Pompeii, the Begram ivories are the only substantial collection known until moderately in present times of what must always have been a widespread craft. Other sites, particularly Taxila, have generated great many instances of such imports, some from India, some, like the appealing tiny bronze figure of Harpocrates, undoubtedly from Alexandria. Further cultural influences are authenticated by the Scytho Sarmatian jewellery, with its characteristic high-backed carnivores, and by a statue of St. Peter. But all this should not cloud the all-important truth that the immediately identifiable Gandhara style was the prevailing form of artistic manifestation throughout the expanse for several centuries, and the magnitude of its influence on the art of central Asia and China and as far as Japan, allows no doubt about its integrity and vitality.
In the Gandhara art early Buddhist iconography drew heavily on traditional sources, incorporating Hindu gods and goddesses into a Buddhist pantheon and adapting old folk tales to Buddhist religious purposes. Kubera and Harm are probably the best-known examples of this process.
Five dated idols from Gandhara art though exist, however the hitch remains that the era is never distinguished. The dates are in figures under 100 or else in 300s. Moreover one of the higher numbers are debatable, besides, the image upon which it is engraved is not in the conventional Andhra style. The two low-number-dated idols are the most sophisticated and the least injured. Their pattern is classical Gandhara. The most undemanding rendition of their dates relates them to Kanishka and 78 A.D. is assumed as the commencement of his era. They both fall in the second half of the 2nd century A.D. and equally later, if a later date is necessitated for the beginning of Kanishka`s time. This calculation nearly parallels numismatics and archaeological evidences. The application of other eras, like the Vikrama (base date- 58 B.C.) and the Saka (base date- 78 A.D.), would place them much later. The badly battered figurines portray standing Buddhas, without a head of its own, but both on original figured plinths. They come to view as depicting the classical Gandhara style; decision regarding where to place these two dated Buddhas, both standing, must remain knotty till more evidence comes out as to how late the classical Gandhara panache had continued.
Methodical study of the Gandhara art, and specifically about its origins and expansion, is befuddled with numerous problems, not at least of which is the inordinately complex history and culture of the province. It is one of the great ethnical crossroads of the world simultaneously being in the path of all the intrusions of India for over three millennia. Bussagli has rightly remarked, `More than any other Indian region, Gandhara was a participant in the political and cultural events that concerned the rest of the Asian continent`.
However, Systematic study of the art of Gandhara, and particularly of its origins and development, is bedeviled by many problems, not the least of which is the extraordinarily complex history and culture of the region.
In spite of the labours of many scholars over the past hundred and fifty years, the answers to some of the most important questions, such as the number of centuries spanned by the art of Gandhara, still await, fresh archaeological, inscriptional, or numismatic evidence.
A conductor trainee for CSX walks toward a switch that needs to be thrown in Cayce, South Carolina. The conductor who is on the engine will meet him at the switch. was very methodical with this young man. He let him throw the switches in the yard and made sure he know to look at the rail and make sure the tracks were lined up the right before he allowed the train to pass over them. Good luck to the trainee.
CSXT 7263 looks like just another wide cab GE. And, really, it is. It also has an interesting history. CSX specifies it as a GE CM44AC. It was built in in 1998 as AC4400CW 366. CSX rebuilt her in 2022.
Saw these glaziers working about 7 storeys up on the side of the SNC Lavalin building a couple of streets over. They never rushed but kept working methodically. Very cool to observe.
"A heron stood in the creek, perfectly still, and as I watched the heron took one very methodical step, its long stick leg lifting slowly up out of the water and then... slowly... it slipped gently back in. For a finale it stood motionless again as leaves floated past on the water like flower petals."
- Barry Macleod, The Tugwell Years
This Great Blue Heron was standing in unusually deep water, but I'm not sure that would be evident if it weren't for the tiny, perfect splash from a water droplet that rolled off its bill. The fishing was great that day. I watched it catch a penpoint gunnel and then a slimy sculpin - two species of fish that no doubt taste wonderful if you're a heron. (I have to assume, however, that no one reading this is a heron.)
I was actually trying to catch the droplet in mid-drop; this worked out better. This was one of my last shots as the heron worked its way toward me while I sat on the shore, making myself small and unthreatening. Cropped only to alter the format to 8x10 proportions.
* This image was uploaded a few years ago, but few of my current Flickr friends have seen it. Rather than repost, I reprocessed it into a new version.
Photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon, Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2007 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Paddy and Elk. Elk takes the cautious approach and climbs very methodically step by step .. Paddy just bounds up there .. and down
EDIT: THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOLS PRANK. it was actually day 137/365
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oh. my. goodness.
GUYS. there were times when i thought this day would never ever come. to be honest, there were times when i regretted starting this whole project and cursed the day i got that crazy notion into my head. but in the end, looking back, i just can't believe how quickly this year has gone.
it is truly incredible to think of all that can happen in 365 days. i know everyone says this, but i think this project has helped me grow in ways not even i thought possible. i have grown not only artistically, but mentally, spiritually, psychologically, epistemologically, methodically, astronomically, pedagogically, and, arguably, physically.
though this project has been hard at times, i would not trade it for the world. the friendships i have made through it will last a lifetime. i have gotten to meet such beautiful minds and souls and am much better friends with my own mind and soul than i ever was before. it feels like way less than 365 days ago that i was friendless and lonely without a hope in the world, checking the mailbox every day and finding nothing but junk mail. i look in the mirror and i don't recognize myself, partially because it's splattered with paint, (fake) blood, gasoline, fog juice, mud, and all the other gross stuff i've pickled myself in during this project.
i want to thank my family for inspiring me every single day, and for dealing with my horrible grumpiness on the days i didn't get a photo i liked. i want to thank my parents specifically for bringing me into the world and not getting fed up with me since, and for helping me to become the kind, compassionate, beautiful, and (above all else) humble person that i am. i want to thank the kindness of strangers and the goodness in the world. i want to thank my team and the Academy and Meryl Streep... but mostly, i want to thank you all for keeping up with me and encouraging me every day.
this has been fun, but i don't plan on picking up a camera ever again. there are some things that shouldn't be drawn out any longer than they have to.
so long, and thanks for all the fish.
Swishing my N-core Sia Platform mules
Stockings by Erratic
With the methodical swish-swish of her shoe dangling from her toes he would buy her the whole store....
Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs in crop (and, in this case, not in a computer program).
Biscuit on the hunt for his ball (as always) ... I deliberately threw it in the wrong direction so he'd have to go looking for it ... tires him out pretty good, and he is really quite good at it, methodical searching in ever widening circles until he catches the scent, I love to watch :-)
Jackdaws mate for life. This pair perched harmoniously close together whilst the one methodically preened the other.
Karlheinz Weinberger
« Swiss Rebels »
Swiss Rebels is a new retrospective covering the work of the politically engaged, self-taught, Swiss photographer and a Siemens warehouse clerk, Karlheinz Weinberger. An amateur photographer at the head of the company’s photo-club, he began taking pictures for the gay journal Der Kreis under the pseudonym Jim. Born in 1921 in Zurich, Switzerland, died in 2006 . In 1958, he came into contact with a gang of Halbstarke‚ those “delinquents“ from Zurich. Weinberger methodically photographed these Swiss-German outcasts who were fascinated by Elvis Presley and James Dean. He studied them like an ethnographer, with empathy, curiosity, and respect. They returned his affection. One by one, in couples or in groups, they camped before the camera, proud of the external signs of revolt. Taking photographs of immigrant workers, not to mention outcasts and reprobates, pays endless tribute to all forms of liberty. Well beyond ghetto photography, Weinberger turned his images into zones of resistance and pleasure.
I am, in fact, a little monster, coming and going with the tides of love and lust. I am wrapped within your methodical delusions and pleasure-seeking desires. You continuously pull at my heartstrings with your creative, nonconformity, and intense psychopathic tendencies. I love your darkness and how you find humor in every situation while looking fine as hell with your dapper fashion sense and a smile that lasts for days.
I love that you endlessly make me feel like a million dollars and how there is a pure obsession for one another. Will there be a time when I will need my independence? Will there be a time when I will get enough of your exquisite but sinful persona? Will there be a time when enough is enough? Will I wake up and see you at your worst, not clouded by the enchantment of your touch and words? Will I one day snap out of this twisted tale and wonder what the fuck I was doing and question my choices?
I don’t know; the jury is still out on that one, but what I do know is I am just as wicked as you. I am just as crazy and dwell in the fantasy of darkness as you do. I am the devil in disguise, a nightmare, perhaps wearing the sheep’s skin to hide my true colors. I am the one that knocked you off your game a bit, and I won’t hesitate to throw bricks at you when needed, my love.
Hearing you moan my name, hearing you say, “Good Girl” when we’re together weakens my knees and makes me saturated, wet, flooding with emotion ~ causing pleasure to seep out knowing that I, that it is me, all me, evoke such an arousal, such a stimulation in your body that you can’t contain yourself. You simply can’t stay quiet.
I love knowing that the thought of me is racing through your mind and thoughts. That it is me you want to kiss deeply when you finally come undone at the moment; you can’t go on any longer, exploding with force into me.
I love knowing it is me you can’t get enough of and me you don’t want to leave when the night comes to an end. Hearing you moan and growl with pleasure because of me brings a passion and intimacy I love between us and obsess over when we are apart.
I never will get enough of your sexual prowess and erotic tendencies. I want to be the hunted. I want to be the one you love. I want to be your prey, your muse, and your forever after. I want to be your little (big) monster.
One of Munn’s decisive contributions to Canadian art was her fervent fusion od Christian symbolism in Cubist form. In the late 1920s she began a methodical practice of drawing scenes from the Passion of Christ, resulting in a fresh and radical update to one of European art history’s most traditional themes – an unusual subject for a Canadian modernist.
Karlheinz Weinberger
« Swiss Rebels ».
Swiss Rebels is a new retrospective covering the work of the politically engaged, self-taught, Swiss photographer and a Siemens warehouse clerk, Karlheinz Weinberger. An amateur photographer at the head of the company’s photo-club, he began taking pictures for the gay journal Der Kreis under the pseudonym Jim. Born in 1921 in Zurich, Switzerland, died in 2006 . In 1958, he came into contact with a gang of Halbstarke‚ those “delinquents“ from Zurich. Weinberger methodically photographed these Swiss-German outcasts who were fascinated by Elvis Presley and James Dean. He studied them like an ethnographer, with empathy, curiosity, and respect. They returned his affection. One by one, in couples or in groups, they camped before the camera, proud of the external signs of revolt. Taking photographs of immigrant workers, not to mention outcasts and reprobates, pays endless tribute to all forms of liberty. Well beyond ghetto photography, Weinberger turned his images into zones of resistance and pleasure.
This image is of tombstones in a Confederate cemetery at the East flank of the Franklin Battlefield.
U.S. Major General George Henry Thomas's underling, Major General John Schofield, was first to confront Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood and his army in Franklin, Tennessee. Franklin is where the Confederate Army of Tennessee experienced devastating losses after already losing Atlanta.
Although at the time he was busy back East fighting Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding general of all U.S. military efforts, wrote in his memoir after the war about the Battle of Franklin in his typically understated mid-Western way: "The fight was very desperate and sanguinary. The Confederate generals led their men in the repeated charges, and the loss among them was of unusual proportions,” wrote Grant.†
Six thousand Confederate soldiers and six Confederate generals, some of the South's best, were killed at the Battle of Franklin.
It should be noted that Civil War generals typically designed and led troop maneuvers from the rear and not from the heated front of a deadly battle line. If a general was to be found in the front of a battle, it likely meant there was a big problem, an existential problem.
After the defeat of the Army of Tennessee at Franklin, Lieutenant General John Bell Hood, with his still quick and agile Confederate forces, would follow Schofield to Nashville, continuing the march towards arguably the greatest defensive general of the Civil War–slow and methodical Major General George Henry Thomas. Hood knew Thomas was there. He anticipated the battle against the renowned general in fortified Nashville.
The confrontation in Nashville, the capital of Tennessee that had fallen to the Union early in the Civil War, resulted in a coup de grâce, effectively destroying Hood's already handicapped army.
After the Civil War and having served two terms as President of the United States, Grant publicly reflected on the Confederate general's poor strategy at Franklin and Nashville: "If I had been in Hood’s place, I would never have gone near Nashville. I would have gone to Louisville, and on north until I came to Chicago. What was the use of his knocking his head against the stone walls of Nashville? If he had gone north, Thomas never would have caught him.”††
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†S. Grant, Ulysses. The Autobiography of General Ulysses S Grant: Memoirs of the Civil War (p. 351)
††Grant, Ulysses S.; Young, John Russell. Conversations with General Grant (p. 51)
"Behind The Mask" by Maddie Diker (SL name)
Since October is ADHD Awareness month, and the Pose Fair on Second Life is conducting a contest, I thought I'd make something for ADHD awareness. This way I'd have created something meaningful to me and others, whether or not I win.
This was inspired by the imposter syndrome, depression, and shame that comes with ADHD and the masks we wear in order to appear normal. The flowers represent the parts of me that are trying to bloom, yet end up wilting and dying whenever the shame takes over. The internal struggle inside between defeat & growth.
I'm so proud of myself. It's so rare for me to be able to methodically work on a project little by little over the course of a few weeks without losing interest. I didn't miss the deadline either. <3 <3
#ADHDAwarenessMonth
#ADHD
Mask Prop with Pose:
by Po^Z, called "Two Face"
The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is one of North America’s largest birds, with a 9-foot wingspan, they are also among the heaviest flying birds in the world. They are superb flyers and often travel long distances in large flocks by soaring. When flapping, their wingbeats are slow and methodical. American White Pelicans feed from the water’s surface, dipping their beaks into the water to catch fish and other aquatic organisms. They often upend, like a very large dabbling duck, in this process. They do not plunge-dive the way Brown Pelicans do. During the breeding season, breeding adults grow an unusual projection or horn on the upper mandible near the tip of the bill. This beautiful adult pelican was photographed taking off at White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.
Click on the link below to explore your options. Select from fine art prints, canvas, acrylic or metal prints for your home or office. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out on updates, sales, and new blog posts.
Cascade Volcanoes. An image capture I took a few years back on a trip to Crater Lake National Park. It was on an October afternoon while driving along Rim Drive after enjoying a few hikes and scenic views. This location was at a pulloff where a sign exhibit noted that one could see for miles and miles, even to Mount Shasta about 130 miles distant (according to Google Maps, at least). That peak is barely visible in the image I captured that day, but I could still zoom in to see it! So that's the story of this image with the view across Oregon and then into California. I posted the image here on Flickr: (www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/9071547681/in/album-72...).
And now some information on the digital painting I did with my iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil with Adobe Sketch...my focus was using broader stokes with one of my two favorite of Kyle's brushes: Rakes - Zen Grind and Paintbox - French Sharp Block. The latter for an impressionist style that allowed me to include a mixture of colors with each stroke. That was something I'd seen watching and learning from a friend and painter. The rack brush I used with trees, which gave me a lot of practice given the hillside after hillside I had at that overlook in Crater Lake National Park. My process was to break down the hillsides into sections and change the hue and tones and give the appearance of distance and terrain relief. Then it was a methodical process of slowly painting that out. When it came to the skies, I wanted to try out something I'd read (www.creativebloq.com/advice/5-simple-tips-for-painting-be...). Sometimes easier said (or typed) then done. So I went back to a master (Bob Ross) and watched his video where he discussed painting skies by using crossing over of brush strokes (www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7K7h6iyPw8) and then mixing tones and even hues to create a look. This is what a favorite painter and friend has mentioned to me a few years ago. Clouds are still a learning point for me. This painter (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQt9r9uDe6I) helped me better process mentally what I needed to do; it’s a work in progress, but I like what I created a lot better now than in past paintings. I went about looking at some images I'd captured and others I'd just randomly seen on the Internet with clouds. I found one that I'd captured after finishing a workout at a local Austin Gold's Gym and then painted that out more free style with a Kyle acrylic type brush and let my arm and hand work as a single unit to brush it out what I wanted, alternating tones from a more pure white to darker ones.
In the left center foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me "hiking" with my Cubbies hat, loving my time exploring the Oregon Cascades :-)
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We are just back from a 3 day rocket event in the Black Rock Desert. It was Balls, the Wild West event of rocketry, with large and dangerous rockets. My son got invited to help prepare the most spectacular rocket, a two stage rocket that was designed to reach 200,000 feet altitude. I was invited to be the official photographer. Due to dangerously large motors, this rocket's launch pad was 3 miles away from the camp. Only a few people could see the preparation and launch up close.
This photo shows the owner of the rocket standing on the ladder and arming the rocket.
Spec of the rocket:
- two stage rocket built by Jim Jarvis from Texas
- total weight of rocket 250 lb
- booster (first stage) has a P motor built by Stu Barrett
- sustainer (second stage) has an O motor, made by CTI
- electronics: Stratologger, live flight status update by Kate
The booster flight was nominal, The sustainer flight was initially nominal, then Kate announced an anomaly at 40K+ feet altitude- the sustainer seems to have shredded at burnout at Mach 3.72. The cause of anomaly is not known at this time. The booster was recovered successfully.
What a project! Kudos to Jim and team for the achievement, even though it did not go as planned! As we all know from SpaceX, rocketry is hard. Jim had a multi page checklist, and everything was done very methodically. Hats off!
I processed a balanced HDR photo from an iPhone image, and carefully adjusted the curves.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 exposure, iPhone 6 Plus, IMG_7657_hdr1bal1b
Every bit of sunshine
Every particle of light
Can be captured on a portable mirror
And be manipulated into
Arrays of tiny dots
With every dial turned
And every button pushed
Waves of light are transmitted and received
Burned into plates
And preserved in a
Methodical grid
A pattern of perfection
I look on the ground and see a tiny puddle
You see a pool of concentric circles
A glistening portal into space and time
I look to the sky and see some clouds
You see the feathery wings of an angel
The billowy flaxen tresses of a maiden
You see the world through a pinhole screen
And capture images like floating dreams
----A poem written for me by my wife----
Nikon D300s + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Explored! Thank you! ^_^
The winter is over. The mechanics have done their job and the equipment, some of which is 110 years old, is in top-notch condition. There is a large crew of new guys, older, experienced guys and even several highly experienced retired guys on board. The White Pass Snow Team has been methodically preparing for this operation for several months and now, it is time for them to test their mettle and the metal of their machines. Here, the mighty Rotary Fleet makes its workman-like departure from the White Pass Shops, to begin the 20 mile run up the hill to White Pass. There is no snow in Skagway, but that fools no one. The team on board knows they'll be facing 10-20 feet of snow in the passes and the mission will take several days. In the end, their mission will be successful. They will run this old equipment as hard as it ever ran back in the day and they'll clear the line in a mere 4 days, with ZERO mechanical failures.
(Egretta caerulea) - Little Blue Heron
A small, dark heron arrayed in moody blues and purples, the Little Blue Heron is a common but inconspicuous resident of marshes and estuaries in the Southeast. They stalk shallow waters for small fish and amphibians, adopting a quiet, methodical approach that can make these gorgeous herons surprisingly easy to overlook at first glance. Little Blue Herons build stick nests in trees alongside other colonial waterbirds. In the U.S., their populations have been in a gradual decline since the mid-twentieth century.
Read more at: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Little_Blue_Heron/overview
Junger Blaureiher (Egretta caerulea)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_blue_heron
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaureiher
The little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) is a small heron. It breeds in the Gulf states of the US, through Central America and the Caribbean south to Peru and Uruguay. It is a resident breeder in most of its range, but some northern breeders migrate to the southeastern US or beyond in winter. There is post-breeding dispersal to well north of the nesting range, as far as the Canada–US border.
Description
This species is about 60 cm (24 in) long, with a 102 cm (40 in) wingspan, and weighs 325 g (11.5 oz). It is a medium-large, long-legged heron with a long pointed blue or greyish bill with a black tip. Breeding adult birds have blue-grey plumage except for the head and neck, which are purplish and have long blue filamentous plumes. The legs and feet are dark blue. The sexes are similar. Non-breeding adults have dark blue head and neck plumage and paler legs. Young birds are all white except for dark wing tips and have dull greenish legs. They gradually acquire blue plumage as they mature.
Ecology
The little blue heron's breeding habitat is sub-tropical swamps. It nests in colonies, often with other herons, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. Three to seven light blue eggs are laid. The little blue heron stalks its prey methodically in shallow water, often running as it does so. It eats fish, frogs, crustaceans, small rodents and insects.
White little blue herons often mingle with snowy egrets. The snowy egret tolerates their presence more than little blue herons in adult plumage. These young birds actually catch more fish when in the presence of the snowy egret and also gain a measure of protection from predators when they mix into flocks of white herons. It is plausible that because of these advantages, they remain white for their first year.
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Der Blaureiher (Egretta caerulea) gehört zur Familie der Reiher aus der Ordnung Pelecaniformes.
Aussehen
Die Vögel werden 60 Zentimeter lang, mit einer Flügelspannweite von einem Meter und einem Gewicht von 325 Gramm. Sie sind mittelgroße Reiher mit einem langen Hals und einem langen, spitzen, blauen oder grauen Schnabel mit schwarzer Spitze. Erwachsene Vögel haben ein blau-graues Gefieder. Die Beine und Füße sind dunkelblau. Während der Brut färbt sich der Kopf und der Hals purpurfarben. Außerdem wachsen dort längere Schmuckfedern, Beine und Füße werden schwarz. Jungvögel sind weiß mit gelben Beinen. Mit dem Älterwerden werden sie zunehmend blau.
Verbreitung
Der Blaureiher lebt in Sümpfen in den an den Golf von Mexiko angrenzenden Staaten der USA, in Mittelamerika, auf den Inseln der Karibik und in Südamerika bis Peru und Uruguay. Einzelne Tiere wandern nach der Brutsaison weit nach Norden bis zur Grenze Kanadas.
Lebensweise
Der kleine blaue Reiher ernährt sich von Fischen, Krebstieren und Insekten, denen er im flachen Wasser oder auf einem Ast am Ufer sitzend auflauert.
Er nistet in Kolonien, häufig zusammen mit anderen Reihern, auf Bäumen oder in Sträuchern. Es werden 3 bis 7 hellblaue Eier gelegt.
This bird was methodically working the cobblestones of this driveway looking in between the stone for tasty morsels.
I find it a bit hard to believe that since Kodak reintroduced TMax 3200 I have only shot a single roll of the stuff. Then again, I am not all that surprised either. It is a testament more to how much I have going on than any disinterest in this film, which I historically loved shooting before it was initially discontinued. But I am trying to get myself around to doing more. While the majority of my work tends to be relatively methodical - think Hasselblad on a tripod - I have been remembering to carry my little Yashica T4 around with me everywhere, keeping an eye peeled for the weird little details like this that hint at larger stories.
Yashica T4
Kodak TMAX 3200
I'm so happy the Hummingbirds are fond of the Lantana. I love watching the Hummers no matter where they feed, but it makes me smile all the more as they methodically flit about a Lantana. Cool stuff!
The last bit of ice in the low and wet part of a farm field floats like an island in in a rising sea, destined to disappear soon. Not a solitary soul will take note of its passing, because it is part of the methodical rhythm of nature, which underlies all places, all the time, and we no longer have the patience to let it guide us.
One of Munn’s decisive contributions to Canadian art was her fervent fusion od Christian symbolism in Cubist form. In the late 1920s she began a methodical practice of drawing scenes from the Passion of Christ, resulting in a fresh and radical update to one of European art history’s most traditional themes – an unusual subject for a Canadian modernist.
The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is one of North America’s largest birds, with a 9-foot wingspan, they are also among the heaviest flying birds in the world. They are superb flyers and often travel long distances in large flocks by soaring. When flapping, their wingbeats are slow and methodical. American White Pelicans feed from the water’s surface, dipping their beaks into the water to catch fish and other aquatic organisms. They often upend, like a very large dabbling duck, in this process. They do not plunge-dive the way Brown Pelicans do. During the breeding season, breeding adults grow an unusual projection or horn on the upper mandible near the tip of the bill.
Click on the link below to explore your options. Select from fine art prints, canvas, acrylic or metal prints for your home or office. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out on updates, sales, and new blog posts.
After a couple of snowy weeks and a forecast calling for a little more snow tomorrow, it's reaching that point of the winter where I'm ready to be done with it. Good thing we only have about 3 more months of winter weather left! Needless to say, I'm thinking about longer, warmer days, so here's what I'll call a "Susquehanna Saturday" offering.
In 2018, my wife and I were expecting our first child to be born in early August. Knowing full well how that would be a life-changing experience, I planned one, last full day of railroad photography with good friend Aaron Keller for June 2, 2018 (well ahead of my wife's due date in August). With a cloudy forecast, Aaron and I agreed that the bright yellow of Susquehanna would be a fitting subject, so we headed for Syracuse. We intercepted the northbound "Nation's Train" around Tully, pursued it north, then chased it all the way back south to Binghamton. Sweetening the deal, SD45 #3618 led the southbound train! Friend Brian Plant also joined in on the festivities and, as he always does, helped us find a couple spots that we otherwise might not have been aware.
This shot at Messengerville, however, was a total grab shot along the chase route. I usually don't do many grab shots, mostly because I have a pretty methodical approach where I often skip spots to ensure I have plenty of time to properly scope out the next shot I had in mind. But, that said, every now and then I do a grab shot, and sometimes those grab shots turn out to be some of my favorites from the day. Such was the case here.
NYS&W Train BH-2
Messengerville, NY
June 2, 2018
While out walking. This Hummer was methodically going down the row of plants along the fence, flower by flower. Intent and serious gets the work done.
A Wicked Turn
Acte 22
The Subtle Touch
He went down behind her and she arched back in an attempt to watch what he was up to!
He looked over at their figures image in the mirror, her coronet, necklace, and earrings vividly sparkling in the reflection, like fire on a distant mountain he thought drooling with anticipation…….
He methodically decided to start with her Bracelets….
Holding her left wrist with his left hand, he let his right-hand travel up her squirming figure till he reaches her breast. Cupping it he began to with a slipping motion, massage it through her thin satiny slip.
She curled her figure against her bindings, closed her eyes, and began to whimper and moan lustily, opening her mouth just enough to keep her rings hidden inside!
As his right hand subtly pleaded her breasts, his left hand travelled down to a cuffed diamond bracelet. He began rubbing it up and down her gloved wrist in sync with his right hand, eventually worked it open and slipped it off from around her wrist, tossing it neatly into his pouch.
He repeated the performance on her right wrist as she continued moaning in total satisfaction.
If she noticed her twin bracelets were being removed in the process of having her breasts massaged, she did not appear to care.
Then, playing along with the lady’s game, he fruitlessly felt for her rings, hearing her muffled giggles above him as she squirmed.
“Mmmm,” she said, through gritted teeth not being able to open her mouth due to her rings.
He could see that what she was unable to voice, it was readable in her expression, reflected from the handy mirror!
Then he moved his hands, grasping her by the silken sides of her slip, and began to tickle her mercilessly, she started to uncontrollably giggle, then stated to sputter, finally letting loose with a gasping laugh!
This sent the three sparkling rings she had been holding inside her mouth, spinning out and plopping onto the green silk of her lap, where they slithered down between her knees!
“Dirty Play, Gaston!”
She admonished, snapping her legs closed to hide the rings, tears in her eyes as she laughed out her words…
“That wasn’t how… !
He hushed up her words by quickly plunging his gloved fingers down inside her slip, grasping and kneading her breasts in unison
Her whole being tingling with the exquisite pleasure, made her forget entirely how she had wanted him to play the game with her rings!
But he was now entirely in control of the situation, and she felt her whole figure limply wilt under his command!
He left his right hand inserted down her slip to carry on with the task, subtly extracting his left to then run fingers through her long blonde, luxurious feeling hair, pulling it back behind her head, where it hung down in a gold coloured silken mass!
Figuring if he did, she would lean right back to look up at him!
Which is exactly what she did, playing right into his trick!
Her eyes, though, were still tightly shut, as her focus went off to some erotic location, as she was reeling in the vivid pleasures of her game.
Her green satin gloved fingers tried to adjust her bonds so she could reach back out behind her, and he knew for what and responded appropriately by rising so she could reach her objective.
Then it became his turn to be the one moaning softly through gritted teeth…
He silently thought, while groaning inwardly…
“Easy on the family jewels there, missy!”
“Oh, My Darling Gaston!”
she responded, apparently, hopefully, waiting for a response.
He gave her one, though not verbally…
He leaned against the backside of the chair, getting as close to her as he could!
She began to grope quite furiously and he thought of a monkey he had seen once in the city zoo doing one such number on a banana.
He was also finding it increasingly difficult to keep his mind on the task at hand.
So, he pulled away from her grasp a little, allowing her fingers the barest of touch!
He then gently pulled back her blonde hair, and quickly started caressing her now sweating earlobes, taking advantage of where this lady’s reeling mind was otherwise occupied!
Slowly, carefully stroking up and off, he pulled out the gold hooks attached to her sparkling earrings from each pierced ear.
Freeing both of her lovely long earrings in turn and letting them drop, glimmering into his leather pouch!
He kept on caressing, deeply thrusting his right hand in and along her breasts for several minutes taking precious time with the task as to keep her mind away from what he was accomplishing from behind her trussed up back.
Meanwhile, his left hand moved up into a new position.
Her entire being was squirming, so enraptured and enthralled, that she never even felt him picking up the ends of the thin coronet: lifting oh so carefully, each end of shiny gold braided ends that were woven into her hair, and began gently lifting out each one free!
As he pulled it delicately away, she did not even miss the egg-shaped diamond as it stopped brushing against her sweat glistened brow!
Once he had freed the shimmering piece, he eagerly lifted to admire it!
She broke his trance by purring, opening her eyes as he quickly hid the jewelled coronet!
“Well, my Gaston! I can feel you desire me again, my darling! It has been quite a long time for you also!”
But though she may have felt that something growing between her captor’s legs, she had no inkling that he had been busy lifting her pricey jewelled headpiece!
Nor did she now hear it being dropped in the pouch at her foot!
So, oblivious that her earrings and coronet were gone, the bound, satin slip clad lady, quite seductively began murmuring these words as her fingers continued their gentle free play between his legs.
“You want me don’t you luv!”
She asked this seductively, wistfully as her eyes opened wide and looking up into his, catching him hovering over her, his eyes from the slits in his hood, looking down upon her.
He had stopped fondling her breasts with his right hand and placing that hand on her shoulder was looking down upon her with lust-filled eyes!
But she was entirely misreading the object of his also lustful gaze…
She again closed her eyes with a heavy sigh!
As his eyes went to what he now really wanted from her!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
JP slowly wanders up canyon at the Blackrock Well site. There is a lot to see. I'm always finished a panel before JP. He's a slow and methodical photographer. I'm more of a run and gun type.
Death Valley National Park
As I have been working thru my photos from our recent Africa trip, I've been posting in essentially chronological order. Which means that so far, there has been a preponderance of night hide shots.
If I was smart I would mix it up with later shots of lions, cheetahs, buffalo etc. My wife would say I am too rigid to do this (actually she uses another four letter word starting with "A".). I prefer to think of myself as organized and methodical. :)
In any case, this is the last hide shot I will post. Not the best of the shots I have shared, but I felt fortunate to see this guy. I was not familiar with Striped Hyenas, and certainly had never seen one. Twice, one (probably this same guy) approached the hide but would not come up. But finally the last night he did.
From what I've read, they are very much nocturnal and rarely if ever seen during the day.
They have a large range, over eastern and northern Africa and into the middle east and over to India. But outside of eastern Africa, the populations are quite fragmented and their numbers appear to be decreasing. They are listed at Near Threatened unfortunately.
Northern Lapwing / vanellus vanellus. Morston Quay, Norfolk. 14/01/16.
'CRESTFALLEN.'
I've had to dig really deep in my files to retrieve this image of a lone Lapwing I photographed at Morston Quay, 9 winters ago! It favoured a raised, grassy bank, in-between the car park and boat storage yard and worked its way back and forth methodically, finding plenty of large earthworms to eat. I remember the weather that day was atrocious with a biting, icy wind and shortly after the image was made, a sudden sleety blizzard. It created a total white-out for a moment or two, before melting.
It was all very dramatic and in sharp contrast to conditions there today when I visited ... blue sky, wall to wall sunshine and only a light breeze. Sadly though, apart from several Brent Geese flyovers, plus 2 x Oystercatchers, c10 x Teal and the obligatory BHGs, there was nothing else of interest.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
For those who are surprised...I was not any less so when I methodically went through the Frisco slides from '72 and '73. As I said before, the Frisco still ran a couple of hot connections from the southeast - Birmingham and Memphis - to the West Coast via connection to the Santa Fe at Floydada, Texas. They had been routed for many years via Oklahoma City, the subsidiary Quanah Acme & Pacific, and to Floydada. The Santa Fe's own route from there to what we now know as the "Transcon" was a little convoluted too, through Plainview and Lubbock to Texico on the New Mexico/Texas border, and finally on the Chicago-California mainline. Plans were already afoot at this time to rebuild the Frisco route from Tulsa's Cherokee Yard straight west to Enid and on to a connection with that almighty future Transcon at Avard, Oklahoma. But it hadn't happened yet. My friend who was midnight operator at Oklahoma City still held his job until these trains were re-routed as I recall; soon he'd change from Third to Second Trick (afternoons) and from OKC to Tulsa. But MEANWHILE, as Stephen Colbert would say, somebody was hurting for power, and I'd venture a guess it was Frisco. I'd love to have heard the phonecalls. Probably a five unit set of F-units (just your average power set in the Texas panhandle on the Santa Fe) were sent east all the way to either Tulsa or Springfield on the hot counterpart CTB (California-Texas-Birmingham) to be bounced back on QLA or QSF. I may have been alerted by my buddy in OKC or another in Claremore, about 25 miles east of Tulsa, or maybe I just decided to skip the studies and have a look at Cherokee Yard. The Wagonmaster's "babies" appear to be getting ready to hook onto the westbound freight while one of Frisco's FM switchers - themselves endangered by now as new SW1500's were showing up - has a hold of the Santa Fe caboose to go to the other end. I'm on the service road that leads to the yard tower to my left at the south (timetable west) end of the yard, and I think the "Crest Tower" at the top of the hump was between me and the yard office.
It was the evening of June the 12 in the year of our Lord 2018. I had made several trips into and out of our RV trying to get a TV to work. I was at wits end and cussing mad with visions of the set hurling through the air into Lake Huron. And then it happened. The door to the RV opened at exactly 6:49pm and my bride of 33 years said aloud what every man wants to hear from his dearest while at his peak of frustration…”John, there is a porcupine out here!” No sweeter words have these ears ever heard!
Grabbing my camera in a full run, I do not remember using the four steps to the ground. Now outside, I looked up to see Joann, Steve and Cheryl all pointing across the street, all with the same grin…that grin of knowing that someone you care about is going to love what they are about to see…and they were right!
I covered the distance to the porcupine with the same speed and agility normally found in a buck chasing a doe…well a really old buck…missing a leg…with a back thigh cramp…and a crick in its neck…yea, it was a lot like that! Anyway I took up my position and started working my camera settings to get the shot. He wasn’t very happy with presence and spun around displaying his hindquarters with hundreds of quills. I snapped off several shots including this one. He then started heading into an area of tall grass and trees. I thought our photo session was over but as Steve entered the area from behind and I from the front, he slowly and methodically climbed up into a half dead pine tree.
I took several more shots and we left him so that he could continue his nighttime foraging. At the ripe old age of 57 I can now add “Porcupine Chaser” to the resume. A feat that placed Steve and I in a very elite club, headed up by one Marlin Perkins no doubt!
There are times I surprise myself. This was one of those. Specifically: how did I manage to put a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 all the way through my Fuji G617 and then instead of dropping it off in the lab for development I somehow got it rewound and loaded it in my Hasselblad. What the heck was I thinking? On one hand, such inadvertent actions can be a bit painful. I am very methodical in my exposures and really pick my shots when shooting with either of those cameras, so the overlapped frames were ones I sorely did not want to see overlapped. Then again, I am a big fan of serendipity and long ago learned the less of patience with initial disappointment. Time has a way of fading memory which itself can take some of the hard edges off your assessments of photos. We will see what time does with this roll, but for the time being this image at least was somewhat interesting. The Hasselblad exposure was a nighttime shot of the downtown ice skating rink with the city behind it. The Fuji 617 image was a vertical of Lower South Falls in Silver Falls State Park.
It is a good reminder that all photographers make mistakes... and that there are no bad photos when everything you do teaches you something. In that case, every image has value, even if it never gets printed or scanned.
Hasselblad 500C/M +
Fuji G617
Kodak Ektar 100
The Española Mockingbird is one of four species of Mockingbirds which are endemic to the Galapagos Islands. As the name suggests, this particular species is endemic to the Island of Española.
There was a large group of Marine Iguanas basking in The Sun when we arrived on the Punta Suarez shore. A number of mockingbirds were methodically hopping around the iguanas, foraging for their ectoparasites.
Española Mockingbird (Mimus macdonaldi)
Adult
Family: Mimids
Española--Punta Suarez
Galapagos, EC
2017/08/23