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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. You can see the horn on this breeding adult at White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.

 

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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. You can see the horn on this breeding adult 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.

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Western Tanagers forage slowly and methodically along branches and among leaves or needles of trees. They eat primarily insects, supplemented with small fruits in fall and winter. They sometimes catch insects in the air. In spring and summer , males sing their hoarse, American Robin-like song frequently.

A happy, prosperous and healthy New Year to all those who are Flickr contacts or anyone who has commented on, faved or viewed my photostream. I look forward to seeing more photos of your finds in 2023. Above is one of my many spotting fails from 2022, I ended up with many photos of a section of road that an interesting car had just driven on!

 

2022 was a busy year for car spotting as I set out to methodically cover my home town of Cheltenham looking for vehicles - this was extended to Gloucester, which I am now satisfied is pretty much complete. I will still be looking at surrounding towns, but the upload rate is likely to be considerably less than in 2022.

 

Highlights of 2022 include, but are not limited to the following:

 

Against-the-odds Accord,

Bizarre Bolero,

Cared for Cavalier,

Delightful DS,

Evocative Escort,

Fabulous Felicia,

Glorious GTV,

Hearsay Hoard of cars,

Immaculate Ital,

Jaunty Jazz,

Kept perfectly Kestrel,

Lustrous Legend,

Meager Murena,

Non-conformist Nippa,

Outstanding Omega,

Polish import Polonez,

Quirky 'Q' plater,

Ravaged Robin,

Stunning Sterling,

Troubled TR7,

(once) Ubiquitous Uno,

Vibrant V90,

Wonderful W123,

(e)Xceptional XR2,

Year defying Yaris,

Zesty ZX

 

If you're still here, well done and hope to share many more car spotting pics in 2023 and beyond.

  

This is bear 480, a.k.a. Otis, an older bear in his early twenties and fatter than any we saw. He's a good-natured bear who spent nearly the entire day every day in the falls, eating scores of fish and frequently dozing off in the water. Of all the bears he seemed to catch the most fish per unit of energy burned. He only rarely made sudden movements, and instead of lunging or diving after fish he usually sat or laid with paws under water and waited to pin a fish to his forearm, before very slowly sliding it up toward his mouth to methodically disassemble it. I'll admit I've peeked on the live bearcam a couple times since returning from vacation, and recognized him in this very same spot, though he's obviously considerably fatter.

🎶 Opus 55 - Dustin O’Halloran, Bryan Senti

 

🌐 Bridgerton: The Season of Society at, Grand Harbor Isle

 

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AUTOBIOGRAFÍA

 

Luis Rosales

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Como el náufrago metódico que contase las olas

que faltan para morir,

y las contase, y las volviese a contar, para evitar

errores, hasta la última,

hasta aquella que tiene la estatura de un niño

y le besa y le cubre la frente,

así he vivido yo con una vaga prudencia de

caballo de cartón en el baño,

sabiendo que jamás me he equivocado en nada,

sino en las cosas que yo más quería.

  

- - - -

/ Original version / Spain /

 

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Luis Rosales

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Like a methodical castaway, one who would count the waves

Left for him to die,

One who would actually count them, on and on, so as to

Avoid any mistake, till the very last one,

That wave childlike in stature,

Covering his forehead with kisses,

Thus have I lived all along in vague moderation,

Like a little cardboard horse in the bathroom,

Aware that I’ve never erred, ever,

Except for those things I’ve loved most.

 

___

Translation: Juan Ribó Chalmeta and Irina Urumova

  

 

One doesn’t need to get beaten up to observe the black-throated blue warbler in its native territory, although you may have to brave some chilly temperatures in early spring. These tiny warbles can be seen methodically searching the stems and leaves of trees for insects in their native habitats in the Northeastern US and Canada. They prefer the interior of hardwood and mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. The peace and solitude of the forests of the northeast can be a welcome respite from vexations of a busy work week. #BlackThroatedBlueWarbler

 

The Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens) is typically a bird of the deep forest, occupying spaces similar to Maleficent. In the spring and fall, however, these beautiful birds can often be seen out in gardens as they migrated north or south. Like Hooded Warblers, they will spend much of their time in the lower reaches of the forest, hunting insects in the understory. They are methodical hunters, combing every shrub in an area--and often ever branch of every shrub--before moving to the next.

I've been spending a bit of time lately watching the courtship, nest building, and overall breeding season of the birds going on in south Florida. It's a fascinating time to photograph these birds naturally. They are so full of rituals that are simply innate to these febulous birds.

 

While they are all quite wonderful as they come and go with sticks as they build their nest, none are as loving in their gestures as the great blue herons. First of all, when it's time for breeding season, their plumage becomes amazing. Always beautiful and graceful flyers, they seem to even step that up a notch as the take off methodically and search nearby for the perfect branch to return with. When they do, they present it so lovingly to their mate, which she then accepts, and they seemingly celebrate their union with each and every stick that he comes back with ... over and over. Other than the sandhill cranes, which also are quite dedicated and celebratory in their love, the great blue herons seem to be the epitome of "love birds".

 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Thanks for stopping by to view.

© 2017 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography

www.tnwaphotography.wordpress.com

www.tnwaphotography.com

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

Setting up to photograph the inhabitants of Rowena Crest is not completely unlike performing in front of a vast, mostly attentive audience. Other than the sound of the wind, the only other noise that squirreled its way up to me was the slight rustling amongst the crowd betraying their mild restlessness. To give them credit though, not a whisper otherwise escaped their lips and they sat transfixed, either on me or those other things that so capture the attentions of wild flowers, while I methodically prepared for my split-second performance.

 

Despite the lack of applause, I think I was well received.

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.

In perfect time, like a drumbeat, the FRED on the tail end of 119 methodically flashes as the daily train passes under the westbound lights at Davenport, diverging just around the corner at Osler to head northbound on the Mactier Sub. Time, on the other hand, is less kind to these shining sentinels however, going dark a little more than four hours later, 119 being the last train to call out an indication here, "8801W, medium to clear signal, Davenport".

 

The end for the Davenport searchlights had been inevitable for a while. Once the diamond with the Newmarket Sub. had been removed in 2023, these lights had become basically irrelevant outside of some additional warning for Osler around the curve. The diamond's now a flyover and new condos fill the skylines, replacing more of the industrial grit at the north east corner of the Junction Triangle. The only constant is change.

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

 

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

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.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

   

Egret On The Hunt” — A great egret hunting in a California Central Valley field.

 

I photographed this great egret back in late February during one of my last seasonal visits to a place where I photograph migratory birds every winter. This bird, like so many egrets I see out there, was hunting on its own, moving methodically and slowly toward its prey. If you did not realize what the bird was doing you might not understand its behavior, but once you do the purpose of its focused attention becomes clear.

 

The egrets appear to be carnivores, eating just about any small critter that they can corner and capture. While the hunt seems to happen in slow motion, the actual attack is quick and decisive. Then the bird settles in to swallow the prey — which sometimes can be quite a struggle. I once watched an egret holding a rather large rodent in its bill for over 15 minutes as it tried to swallow the thing whole. I thought it would never manage, but eventually it swallowed the thing whole.

 

gdanmitchell.com

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.

One morning I encountered this Greater spotted woodpecker on a tree near-completely stripped of bark, revealing the tracery left over the entire surface by its prey, wood-eating beetle larvae. As is so often the case with close photos, it was an unusually bold individual and I got to watch it for some time, hopping between the trunk and branches and methodically tapping and chiselling its own marks alongside the abstract engravings of the insects. I felt some sympathy for the tree!

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

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

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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.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha

I watched dozens of gulls yesterday in the middle of the lake on a sand bar with shells/clams on it. They would methodically take one in their beak and fly up and hover and then release it! I thought they were doing this to break open the clams on the sand below, but they would dive bomb it after they dropped it, and catch it before it hit, only to wash it in the water. I'm not sure what was going on, cause most of the time they would catch it in mid-air, but sometimes it would fall in the water, and they would retrieve it again. They all seeemd to be doing this, and they didn't seem to be stealing from one another. Fascinating to watch and shoot. 5 of 5

EDIT: THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOLS PRANK. it was actually day 137/365

 

-----

 

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.

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 ...

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 :-)

Nikon 1 (V1) : 10-30mm 1 Nikkor f/3.5-5.6

 

This is the rig used to produce the adjacent photograph of the Platycodon flower. The Tair 11, a product of the former Soviet Union, is renowned for it's sharpness and the quality of it's bokeh. It's seen here with a 10mm extension ring to permit a closer focusing distance. It's a big, heavy lens with a pre-set aperture diaphragm, so working with it is a slow and methodical process.

Jackdaws mate for life. This pair perched harmoniously close together whilst the one methodically preened the other.

Built for the “Équipage à l'abordage” collaborative contest on the french forum Brickpirate, for the theme "Pink"

 

The crew of The Medusa consists of Lokiloki, Pistash and Lufobrick.

 

Their opponents are the crew of The Sea Guardian's King (SGK), composed of Seb71, Guilego and Konix.

 

After weeks of misfortune at sea, the crew of the SGK made a stop on a large island lost in the middle of the ocean. One morning, shortly after sunrise, the captain set out to explore the surroundings: an expanse of dunes, mangroves, and marshes stretched as far as the eye could see. The atmosphere was peaceful; the water was disturbed only by a few patches of sand. The wind, light but steady, did not seem to trouble the multitude of birds, insects, and fish that inhabited the marsh. Suddenly, the captain spotted on the horizon a massive pink shape that seemed to hover above the water. He decided to approach it discreetly to observe it more closely.

 

Yumká, having sensed movement in the tall grass, turned its head to the other side of the stream. On its back, Tikal guided it methodically, making sure to keep a safe distance so as not to frighten the prey. This native woman belonged to a local tribe with a long-standing tradition of hunting and fishing, who knew the marsh like the back of their hand. Her people took only what was necessary in order to preserve this environment, which they considered a jewel. The giant pink flamingos, a rare species endemic to the island, had been domesticated for generations. Yumká was far more than a mount or a beast of burden : it was a true hunting partner. Gifted with keen hearing, it could anticipate the movements of prey, and its extraordinary size allowed Tikal to cross dunes and waterways with ease.

 

Tikal raised her spear, her eyes fixed on the bush, and approached it slowly. Suddenly, a strange black hat emerged, then two raised hands, and finally a pale, shivering face. It was not a fox or an otter, but indeed a man in odd attire, his clothes in tatters. Strangers were rare on the island, but always treated with respect. Moved by pity, Tikal handed him a cloth bundle filled with grilled fish and berries, then set off again to hunt on Yumká’s back, without a word.

 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/loic.glbr

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 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)

 

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.

 

Paddy and Elk. Elk takes the cautious approach and climbs very methodically step by step .. Paddy just bounds up there .. and down

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.

www.cuttsnaturephotography.com

 

Naked-faced Barbet (Gymnobucco calvus) A noisy and sociable forest barbet, the Naked-faced Barbet is best known for its bare, dark facial skin and constant chatter echoing through the canopy. Most often encountered in small, restless flocks, it moves methodically through forest edges, clearings, and secondary growth, feeding primarily on fruit and figs, with insects taken opportunistically.

 

This species is a cooperative breeder, nesting communally in tree cavities where multiple adults may assist in incubation and chick-rearing. Its adaptability to disturbed habitats and tolerance of human presence have allowed it to remain common in much of its range. While rarely the most colourful bird in the forest, its animated behaviour and vocal presence make it one of the most conspicuous.

"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

www.harlandpress.ca/

 

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.

(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

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

 

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! ^_^

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.

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 :-)

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

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.”††

----

†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)

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.

 

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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.

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.

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.

This bird was methodically working the cobblestones of this driveway looking in between the stone for tasty morsels.

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