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Spring comes with its flowers,
Autumn with the moon,
Summer with breezes, winter with snow;
When useless things don't stick in the mind,
You have the best days of your life.....
thank you very much for the visits ,I really appreciated with all the invites and comments..
but please minimize those banners and comment codes in your comments......
Have a gooooood day !!!!
A telescopic closeup of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) on January 19, 2015. I shot this from near Silver City, New Mexico, using a TMB 92mm apo refractor at f/4.4 and using a Canon 6D at ISO 1600 for a stack of 4 x 5 minute exposures. The ion tail is primarily from a single exposure to minimize blurring from the comet’s motion relative to the stars. The rest of the image is from the stacked combination to minimize noise.
This is part of my pandemic project. The project was created to minimize the number of people that I would come into contact with and to help keep my sanity. The location is a local university. From what I can tell the vast majority of classes are being held online leaving the campus empty with the exception of a few nursing students and an occasional group of Frisbee golf players.
The project started when my wife and I used the campus to walk the dog in the evening. I began to notice the architecture and interesting light fixtures. I started to return and photograph and soon had a project.
The project is to examine the lights and architecture of the empty Campus at night.
Canon 6D
Voigtländer Color Skopar 20mm f3.5
The missing link of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
It's a good little hike to this spot, less then a mile but mostly rocks and hills to traverse.
Quick video
Completed in 1983 at a cost of almost $10 million, the Linn Cove Viaduct is 1,243 feet long and contains 153 segments weighing 50 ton each. Only one segment, the southernmost, is straight.
In order to prevent environmental damage and to allow construction to continue during severe winter weather, builders pre-cast sections indoors a few miles from the site using a process known as "match casting." Each new segment was cast against the segment preceding it. Computer control kept measurements accurate to 0.0001 feet. Tinted with iron oxide, the concrete blends in with the existing rock outcroppings.
The Viaduct was constructed from the top down to minimize disturbance to the natural environment. This method eliminated the need for a "pioneer road" and heavy equipment on the ground. The only construction that occurred at ground level was the drilling of foundations for the seven permanent piers on which the Viaduct rests. Exposed rock was covered to prevent staining from concrete, epoxy, or grout. The only trees cut were those directly beneath the superstructure.
Read more here
Windmill located in Leiden, the Netherlands. This is actually a replica of the original one. The windmill itself is sourronded by channels. I took this picture from a boat, offering a unique perspective, and adjusting shutter speed for minimizing the shaking.
First time shooting with my new IR filter on my stock D5300. The Sun had already gone down, so the effect was probably minimized. I'll have to try again with more direct light.
I've always liked the way these trees straddle the road but haven't found a way to photograph them that minimizes distractions. Until now. Temperatures below zero combined with fog to make this wonderful frost, and the fog lingered in the background to eliminate houses and create some negative space.
Found on the ground in the garden this morning, after the sprinkler ran overnight. This shows how hydrophobic the feather is - most of the drops are almost completely spherical, minimizing contact with the feather
Guess what I'm praying for? I'm praying the day my country says "bye bye" to EU.
I don't believe in their democracy that is based on double standards. Althought they want Turkiye to change it's freedom of speech,they minimize freedom of speech in their own countries :) Well at least for Turks..
I am quite confused by how "democracy" is defined in Christian Europe.
A Turkish political leader (Perinçek) was arreseted in Switzerland last year because he presented documents falsifying the Armenian so called Genocide ! It is against the laws to say "there hasn't been an Armenian Genocide" in Switzerland!
When European parliaments decide whether there had been a genocide or not instead of leaving it to the historians, and historians holding the truth are not allowed to speak in some countries like Switzerland and soon maybe in France, and when Orhan Pamuk can say what ever he wants so that maybe he gets the nobel prize, when British troops help Bush's soldiers kill innocent people so that they have democracy, when PKK terrorists that have killed 35,000 Turks and Kurds, are still being pronounced as rebels (although the NATO an AP added them to their terrorist list), when North Cyprus is being punished for wanting peace and Greek Cyprus is being rewarded for not wanting peace (also in the Annan plan).....
I am very confused of how democracy is understood in Europe, and hope Turkish politicians will stop wanting to enter the union...because the nation doesn't!
So on the 12th of October, the French parliament will carry on a voting. If the parliament accepts the law, a historian who wants to reveal the truth, that there hasn't been a genocide, will be arrested for at least 1 year, and has to pay 45,000 Euro's.
The French parliament will also reveal it's quality, it's humanity and if they are really democratic or not. They will blame our ancestors with such a disgrace just to get the 400,000 votes of the Armenians in France in the next elections.
European democracy..We don't believe in that any more.
This pic was taken long long time ago, i did not upload it becaue of the high ISO. Now, i did some modification on the color and shadow which minimize the negative effect of the ISO. Like it , the compo, the color , so mild, so soft. A lovely pic indeed.
Left that morning at 5:30 for North Carolina for our annual "get in cycling shape" trip. I always look forward to that trip as it's very relaxed and love rekindle my cycling friendships after winter. It's hard to take time for photography, as my main priority is just to minimize the stops, so I can get there as fast as possible. It usually takes 15 hours door to door.
Around 18:45, I stopped to take a shot of this house as the light was nice, and sunlight was running out.
83/366
One of the things I like about social media is that you see a lot of other people's posts and photos. Many times a particular photo will remind you that you still have plenty of unedited photos that are just waiting for you to take a look at them. That is what happened with this photo of the Grand Canyon. I saw someone's terrific photo (I can remember whose it was) and realized that I still had plenty of photos that haven't seen the light of day from my trip there in 2012.
Sure enough, I had quite a few that warranted some more attention. The Grand Canyon is a difficult place to shoot. It is so immense that trying to get in as much of the landscape as you can in the composition does not give the place merit. There are exceptions to that, such as a dramatic storm with lightning strikes. The other challenge is that for most of the day, shooting into the canyon can result in very hazy photos. In my opinion, sunrise and sunset are the best times to shoot, as the sun is lower in the sky and the angle of light minimizes the haziness. That results in some great shadows that give definition to the landscape.
This shot was taken near sunset near Yavapai Point. I tried not to compose the full canyon in my field of vision, but rather pick a portion of the view in an effort to emphasize the details of the rocks and, at the same time, give the viewer a sense of scale. Hopefully I succeeded.
Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas is a very impressive urban green space. At this location a well manicured lawn lined by trees and paths leads to an impressive view of the Houston Skyline. Here I tried to feature the cityscape itself minimizing the field in the foreground. I took two separate raw photos and stitched them together in order to obtain this view.
Closing out the park here at around 12:46am and yet, still people flocking out. This was a wide angle shot that I switched to portrait size to minimize the train of guests leaving.
"Work-acquired infectious diseases are among the risks all healthcare workers face; and bloodborne pathogens figure prominently among these. Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids is well documented among healthcare workers. Annual exposure prevalence rates range from 1,500 nurses employed on 40 units in 20 hospitals, poor organizational climate and high workloads were associated with 50% to 200% increases in the likelihood of needlestick injuries and near-misses among hospital nurses."
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3328993/
As nurses we work in an environment that will kill us. We understand that,. We use protection and procedures to reduce risk, and we come to work with the same mission as always. Usually to save or help some ungrateful son of a bitch who doesn't deserve our assistance. Some drug using wife beating ignorant pseudo criminal who views us and health care in general with suspicion and contempt. Some ignorant person to whom knowledge and education are evil and unnecessary. And to those who firmly think nurses are a sub-class of humanity and who would "report us to administration" and "have our jobs" because we don't offer them Demerol every hour for their little aches and pains. Never mind that many nurses including myself work more hours than we sleep, often in a great deal of unmedicated pain ourselves. But I digress.....
Tonight I discovered a fascinating fact. I was hoping to find the actual infection and death rate of health care workers among the statistics at the CDC. Instead I found this statement......
"Recent experiences with severe acute respiratory syndrome
and the US smallpox vaccination program have
demonstrated the vulnerability of healthcare workers to
occupationally acquired infectious diseases. However,
despite acknowledgment of risk, the occupational death
rate for healthcare workers is unknown. In contrast, the
death rate for other professions with occupational risk, such
as police officer or firefighter, has been well defined. With
available information from federal sources and calculating
the additional number of deaths from infection by using
data on prevalence and natural history, we estimate the
annual death rate for healthcare workers from occupational
events, including infection, is 17–57 per 1 million workers.
However, a much more accurate estimate of risk is
needed. Such information could inform future interventions,
as was seen with the introduction of safer needle products.
This information would also heighten public awareness of
this often minimized but essential aspect of patient care."
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/7/pdfs/04-1038.pdf
I began my search for statistics this evening because I began my own personal nightmare today. I was exposed to most of the dread diseases and killer viruses that our profession has to offer. Not because I did anything stupid, but because others did. The only stupid thing I did was report to work believing that the risks were low, that the system would support me if there was an exposure, and that my personal protective equipment was sufficient.
"James... earn this. Earn it."
Captain John H. Miller, Saving Private Ryan
Ran into this little guy while returning from my trail cam collection. Unfortunate leg injury, possibly due to an illegal trap. He was warm and alert, and I believe he might pull through. Wanted to minimize the trauma so I was reluctant to interfere too much.
I rarely get to shoot in my home state of Kentucky as I am often busy with work and family. So I have decided to start the . The concept is that I visit the "tourist" areas of Kentucky and create a photo documentary
Barrels of 4 Roses bourbon rolling across the floor after just being filled. These barrels will eventually make it to single-story rack warehouses to age for years. The warehouses are also used to minimize temperature variations, which provides a gentle, undisturbed and more consistent aging process...
Took this a couple years ago on the boardwalk to Pyramid Island in Jasper National Park. There you can find some of the darkest skies around. The red you see is from the town. I generally try to minimize the effect but in this case I really liked the reflection on the water. Check out some of my other nighscapes here:
This is part of my pandemic project. The project was created to minimize the number of people that I would come into contact with and to help keep my sanity. The location is a local university. From what I can tell the vast majority of classes are being held online leaving the campus empty with the exception of a few nursing students and an occasional group of Frisbee golf players.
The project started when my wife and I used the campus to walk the dog in the evening. I began to notice the architecture and interesting light fixtures. I started to return and photograph and soon had a project.
Canon 6D
Canon 70-200 f4
Here's a night image along the icy shores of Abraham Lake to provide a bookend for the day and complement my previous upload of sunrise in the same location.
My regret in this image is that I didn't get all of Orion. I also needed a bit more visible shore on the right. Stitching wouldn't work because the exposures are too long. Oh well, you get the gist.
Tech Details:
Nikon D300
12-24mm lens @ 12mm
No filter
57 sec @ f5.6
Taken @ 10:55pm
ISO 400
Velbon SherpaPro tripod w/ RRS BH-55 ball head.
Note: I wanted to have the stars as still as possible, so I boosted the ISO and opened the aperture to 5.6 to shorten the exposure. These seemed to be reasonable settings to minimize noise, maximize depth of field and minimize star movement. At f5.6 I couldn't let the foreground get too close, otherwise I would have lost sharpness.
The larger view is always better... B l a c k M a g i c or as a Slideshow
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“So often we try to make other people feel better by minimizing their pain, by telling them that it will get better (which it will) or that there are worse things in the world (which there are). But that's not what I actually needed.
What I actually needed was for someone to tell me that it hurt because it mattered. I have found this very useful to think about over the years, and I find that it is a lot easier and more bearable to be sad when you aren't constantly berating yourself for being sad.” -John Green
The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity "Lake Worth Country." These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world. They included founding families such at the Potters and the Lainhart's, who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city. The first white settlers in Palm Beach County lived around Lake Worth, then an enclosed freshwater lake, named for Colonel William Jenkins Worth, who had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1842. Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River. By 1890, the U.S. Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach. The area at this time also boasted a hotel, the "Cocoanut House", a church, and a post office. The city was platted by Henry Flagler as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach, across Lake Worth in 1893, coinciding with the arrival of the Florida East Coast railroad. Flagler paid two area settlers, Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse, a combined sum of $45,000 for the original townsite, stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth.
On November 5, 1894, 78 people met at the "Calaboose" (the first jail and police station located at Clematis St. and Poinsettia, now Dixie Hwy.) and passed the motion to incorporate the Town of West Palm Beach in what was then Dade County (now Miami-Dade County). This made West Palm Beach the first incorporated municipality in Dade County and in South Florida. The town council quickly addressed the building codes and the tents and shanties were replaced by brick, brick veneer, and stone buildings. The city grew steadily during the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, most residents were engaged in the tourist industry and related services or winter vegetable market and tropical fruit trade. In 1909, Palm Beach County was formed by the Florida State Legislature and West Palm Beach became the county seat. In 1916, a new neo-classical courthouse was opened, which has been painstakingly restored back to its original condition and is now used as the local history museum.
The city grew rapidly in the 1920s as part of the Florida land boom. The population of West Palm Beach quadrupled from 1920 to 1927, and all kinds of businesses and public services grew along with it. Many of the city's landmark structures and preserved neighborhoods were constructed during this period. Originally, Flagler intended for his Florida East Coast Railway to have its terminus in West Palm, but after the area experienced a deep freeze, he chose to extend the railroad to Miami instead.
The land boom was already faltering when the city was devastated by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. The Depression years of the 1930s were a quiet time for the area, which saw slight population growth and property values lower than during the 1920s. The city only recovered with the onset of World War II, which saw the construction of Palm Beach Air Force Base, which brought thousands of military personnel to the city. The base was vital to the allied war effort, as it provided an excellent training facility and had unparalleled access to North Africa for a North American city. Also during World War II, German U-Boats sank dozens of merchant ships and oil tankers just off the coast of West Palm Beach. Nearby Palm Beach was under black-out conditions to minimize night visibility to German U-boats.
The 1950s saw another boom in population, partly due to the return of many soldiers and airmen who had served in the vicinity during the war. Also, the advent of air conditioning encouraged growth, as year-round living in a tropical climate became more acceptable to northerners. West Palm Beach became one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas during the 1950s; the city's borders spread west of Military Trail and south to Lake Clarke Shores. However, many of the city's residents still lived within a narrow six-block wide strip from the south to the north end. The neighborhoods were strictly segregated between White and African-American populations, a legacy that the city still struggles with today. The primary shopping district remained downtown, centered around Clematis Street.
In the 1960s, Palm Beach County's first enclosed shopping mall, the Palm Beach Mall, and an indoor arena were completed. These projects led to a brief revival for the city, but in the 1970s and 1980s crime continued to be a serious issue and suburban sprawl continued to drain resources and business away from the old downtown area. By the early 1990s, there were very high vacancy rates downtown, and serious levels of urban blight.
Since the 1990s, developments such as CityPlace and the preservation and renovation of 1920s architecture in the nightlife hub of Clematis Street have seen a downtown resurgence in the entertainment and shopping district. The city has also placed emphasis on neighborhood development and revitalization, in historic districts such as Northwood, Flamingo Park, and El Cid. Some neighborhoods still struggle with blight and crime, as well as lowered property values caused by the Great Recession, which hit the region particularly hard. Since the recovery, multiple new developments have been completed. The Palm Beach Mall, located at the Interstate 95/Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard interchange became abandoned as downtown revitalized - the very mall that initiated the original abandonment of the downtown. The mall was then redeveloped into the Palm Beach Fashion Outlets in February 2014. A station for All Aboard Florida, a high-speed passenger rail service serving Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, is under construction as of July 2015.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
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Detail of juice sac from a lime. Biologically the lime vesicle is considered a hair that is swollen with fluid. Side-lit with green light to accentuate surface details and minimize transparency.
Merged 10 shots in PS, made some perspective corrections and minimized the color banding after conversion...
I made the color version first but decided to try the BW, ended up playing for a long time and I'm quite happy with the result!
Minimizing Noise,should have narrowed aperture
EXIF converted Zeiss-Leica for Lightroom purposes,
Actually a Zeiss Biogen 2\35
Did you know that deer have a four-chambered stomach? They don't chew their food much when eating, but cough it up and rechew it while they are resting. This minimizes the time they might be exposed to danger while feeding. Our beautiful world, pass it on.
Colorful leg bands allow wildlife biologists to monitor endangered Snowy Plovers from a distance to minimize disturbance for the tiny nervous birds. But if one sits still on the sand, a plover might forage nearby.
Moss Landing State Beach
California
"And when people try to minimize your pain they are doing you a disservice. And when you try to minimize your own pain you’re doing yourself a disservice. Don’t do that. The truth is that it hurts because it’s real. It hurts because it mattered. And that’s an important thing to acknowledge to yourself. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t end, that it won’t get better. Because it will." John Green
Life is rough. Addiction, mental illness, abuse, disease, sin, selfishness, greed, loss, crime... There are probably many things from that list that you have been up close and personal with, whether it was you or someone you love who was affected. Me too. I know those weights all too well. It's been said that I've had to go through a lot for my age. Maybe that's true but regardless, I've had to challenge the perspective I take on when I'm faced with a difficult time. Hopefully you've realized this by now, but bitterness doesn't work. I spent so long trying to cope by being bitter and fearful of life. It was survival mode. I wouldn't recommend it.
Last year was a challenging one for me. I won't recount all of the terrible things that happened. What matters is the resounding lesson I learned throughout the year and in each trial: looking at your difficult situation and naming things in that situation to be thankful for makes a world of difference.
Life is full of difficulty. But I've begun to realize that seeing those terrible, ugly parts of life makes me so much more joyful when the amazing, thrilling parts of life happen. Sort of paradoxical, isn't it? In letting go of the fear that terrible things will happen, I am able to appreciate selflessness, sacrifice, community, love, and all of the good things with abundant joy. Terrible things are a part of life. However, it's important to remember that life has so much joy to offer as well. We can't miss that. In the midst of the awful, I have a hope that I didn't have when I took on bitterness. It's a challenge, and I have in no way mastered it. But these lessons are something I remind myself time and time again. Maybe they will help you, too.
Our experiences shape us. It's our choice whether they change us for the good or for the bad.
Hey guys. It's good to be back.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
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All photos are property of Victoria Beckett and may not be used, sold, printed, or posted elsewhere without permission.
Griffon vultures have been used as model organisms for the study of soaring and thermoregulation. The energy costs of level flight tend to be high, prompting alternatives to flapping in larger birds. Vultures in particular utilize more efficient flying methods such as soaring. Compared to other birds, which elevate their metabolic rate to upwards of 16 times their basal metabolic rate in flight, soaring griffon vultures expend about 1.43 times their basal metabolic rate in flight. Griffon vultures are also efficient flyers in their ability to return to a resting heart rate after flight within ten minutes.
As large scavengers, griffon vultures have not been observed to seek shelter for thermoregulation. Vultures use their bald heads as a means to thermoregulate in both extreme cold and hot temperatures. Changes in posture can increase bare skin exposure from 7% to 32%. This change allows for the more than doubling of convective heat loss in still air. Griffon vultures have also been found to tolerate increased body temperatures as a response to high ambient temperatures. By allowing their internal body temperature to change independently of their metabolic rate, griffon vultures minimize their loss of water and energy in thermoregulating. One study in particular (Bahat 1995) found that these adaptations have allowed the Griffon vulture to have one of the widest thermal neutral zones of any bird.
It declined markedly throughout the 19th–20th centuries in much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, mainly due to direct persecution and "bycatch" from the poisoned carcasses set for livestock predators (Snow and Perrins 1998, Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001, Orta et al. 2015). In some areas a reduction in available food supplies, arising from changes in livestock management practices, also had an impact (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001, Orta et al. 2015). It is very highly vulnerable to the effects of potential wind energy development (Strix 2012) and electrocution has been identified as a threat (Global Raptors Information Network 2015). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) used for veterinary purposes pose a threat to this species. One case of suspected poisoning caused by flunixin, an NSAID, was recorded in this species in 2012 in Spain (Zorrilla et al. 2015). Diclofenac, a similar NSAID, has caused severe declines in Gyps vulture species across Asia.
The Essence is an ongoing study about minimizing the elements in a photo to its essence - shapes, lines and black and white.
I am back :)! Finally finished with all my exams. Totally didn't expect to get anything on my first day back shooting but I did! I was so close to give up before I got this photo because I was tired, being lazy and wasn't able to get any decent photos at all. I sucked it up and ended up finding this frame and I waited... waited for maybe 45 minutes before I called it a day.
I don't know why I have been posting so many photos in portrait orientation recently. Weird streak I guess?
Hope you like it :)!
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Thanks for viewing my photos! Don't hesitate to leave a comment or send a pm and ask me about anything :)!
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The artist is smart and creative with a wicked sense of humor. First, far from being a freeway, this is a tiny stub of a street just off an industrial area. Second, this is one of the most impoverished areas of Winnipeg.
I wish that I had been a bit smarter and creative in taking this photo. I should have broken off that vile branch instead of trying to minimize its effect.
I've been terribly busy on the art show circuit lately and will be for some time. Unfortunately, that'll minimize my time for shooting for a bit. Making a living selling my photography really gets in the way of shooting, that's for sure! Anyway, here's an image from last month taken in the Munds Mountain Wilderness just east of Sedona. I was exploring some social trails (i.e. trails that aren't maintained by forest service and won't appear in any hiking book) when I came across this deep pothole still holding water from rains more than a week before. Definitely a cool find!
St Gall Catholic Church, built in 1905, and wheat fields in Colton, Washington, population 400, in Whitman County, in The Palouse.
This photo is edited to minimize distractions and the distortion from heat radiation on this hot August day.
For this image, I definitely wanted to minimize what I felt was the negative space of the blue skies above as I thought it kind of distracted from the rich and varied desert landscape all around me. What I did was I angle my SLR camera slightly downward and use that to focus the image. The eyes would then lead slowly upward as if one was walking to the peek above…
Mediatracker
Nürburgring Title Pack
There is a night - mood version of the track as well, but I actually made it more difficult and shifted the day version into the night..took just a bit. Minimized the banding via the Replay Editor as far as I could.
Kalahari Game Reserve
Botswana
South Africa
Best Viewed In Lightbox-
www.flickr.com/photos/42964440@N08/44767237204/in/photost...
The South African giraffe or Cape giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) is a subspecies of giraffe ranging from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique. It has rounded or blotched spots, some with star-like extensions on a light tan background, running down to the hooves. In 2016, the population was estimated at 31,500 individuals in the wild.
The South African giraffe has dark, somewhat rounded patches "with some fine projections" on a tawny background colour. The spots extend down the legs and get smaller. The median lump of males is less developed.
The South African giraffe is found in northern South Africa, southern Botswana, southern Zimbabwe, and south-western Mozambique. After local extinctions in various places, the South African giraffes have been reintroduced in many parts of Southern Africa, including in Swaziland. They are common in both in and outside of protected areas.
South African giraffes usually live in savannahs and woodlands where food plants are available. Giraffes are herbivorous animals. They feed on leaves, flowers, fruits and shoots of woody plants such as Acacia.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the body that administers the world’s official endangered species list, announced in 2016 that it was moving the giraffe from a species of Least Concern to Vulnerable status in its Red List of Threatened Species report. That means the animal faces extinction in the wild in the medium-term future if nothing is done to minimize the threats to its life or habitat.
Inspired by Lauren Withrow again. (I keep looking at her stream!)
I decided that, until the start of summer holidays, I need to minimize my time here flickr. With exams and many tests coming up, I need all the time I can get.
So most weekdays until summer, I'll just upload my 365, maybe look at some of my contact's photos, then get off. So because of this, I'm sorry if I don't get a chance to comment on your photos!
Until tomorrow, flickr!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Bridge
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name.Name[›] It has become an iconic symbol of London.
The bridge consists of two towers which are tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways which are designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the land-ward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. Its present colour dates from 1977 when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Originally it was painted a chocolate brown colour.[1]
Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge upstream.[2] A popular urban legend is that in 1968, Robert McCulloch, the purchaser of the old London Bridge that was later shipped to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, believed that he was in fact buying Tower Bridge. This was denied by McCulloch himself and has been debunked by Ivan Luckin, the seller of the bridge.[3]
The nearest London Underground station is Tower Hill on the Circle and District Lines.
The nearest Docklands Light Railway station is Tower Gateway.
In the second half of the 19th century, increased commercial development in the East End of London led to a requirement for a new river crossing downstream of London Bridge. A traditional fixed bridge could not be built because it would cut off access to the port facilities in the Pool of London, between London Bridge and the Tower of London.
A Special Bridge or Subway Committee was formed in 1876, chaired by Sir Albert Joseph Altman, to find a solution to the river crossing problem. It opened the design of the crossing to public competition. Over 50 designs were submitted, including one from civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. The evaluation of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not until 1884 that a design submitted by Horace Jones, the City Architect (who was also one of the judges),[4] was approved.
Jones' engineer, Sir John Wolfe Barry, devised the idea of a bascule bridge with two towers built on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves, which could be raised to allow river traffic to pass. The two side-spans were suspension bridges, with the suspension rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways.
Construction started in 1886 and took eight years with five major contractors – Sir John Jackson (foundations), Baron Armstrong (hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H.H. Bartlett, and Sir William Arrol & Co.[5] – and employed 432 construction workers. E W Crutwell was the resident engineer for the construction.[6]
Two massive piers, containing over 70,000 tons of concrete,[4] were sunk into the riverbed to support the construction. Over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the towers and walkways.[4] This was then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, both to protect the underlying steelwork and to give the bridge a pleasing appearance.
Jones died in 1887 and George D. Stevenson took over the project.[4] Stevenson replaced Jones' original brick facade with the more ornate Victorian Gothic style, which makes the bridge a distinctive landmark, and was intended to harmonise the bridge with the nearby Tower of London.[6] The total cost of construction was £1,184,000.[6]
The bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by The Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), and his wife, The Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark).[7]
The bridge connected Iron Gate, on the north bank of the river, with Horsleydown Lane, on the south – now known as Tower Bridge Approach and Tower Bridge Road, respectively.[6] Until the bridge was opened, the Tower Subway – 400 m to the west – was the shortest way to cross the river from Tower Hill to Tooley Street in Southwark. Opened in 1870, Tower Subway was the world's first underground ('tube') railway, but closed after just three months and was re-opened as a pedestrian foot tunnel. Once Tower Bridge was open, the majority of foot traffic transferred to using the bridge, there being no toll to pay to use it. Having lost most of its income, the tunnel was closed in 1898.[8]
Tower Bridge is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall is in Tower Hamlets.
The bridge is 800 feet (244 m) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 m) high, built on piers. The central span of 200 feet (61 m) between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83 degrees to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules, weighing over 1,000 tons each, are counterbalanced to minimize the force required and allow raising in five minutes.
The two side-spans are suspension bridges, each 270 feet (82 m) long, with the suspension rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways. The pedestrian walkways are 143 feet (44 m) above the river at high tide.[6]
The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in several hydraulic accumulators.Hydraulics[›][clarification needed]
The system was designed and installed by Sir W. G. Armstrong Mitchell & Company of Newcastle upon Tyne. Water, at a pressure of 750 psi, was pumped into the accumulators by two 360 hp stationary steam engines, each driving a force pump from its piston tail rod. The accumulators each comprise a 20-inch ram on which sits a very heavy weight to maintain the desired pressure.
In 1974, the original operating mechanism was largely replaced by a new electro-hydraulic drive system, designed by BHA Cromwell House. The only components of the original system still in use are the final pinions, which engage with the racks fitted to the bascules. These are driven by modern hydraulic motors and gearing, using oil rather than water as the hydraulic fluid.[9]
Some of the original hydraulic machinery has been retained, although it is no longer in use. It is open to the public and forms the basis for the bridge's museum, which resides in the old engine rooms on the south side of the bridge. The museum includes the steam engines, two of the accumulators and one of the hydraulic engines that moved the bascules, along with other related artefacts.
During World War II, as a precaution against the existing engines being damaged by enemy action, a third engine was installed in 1942:[10] a 150 hp horizontal cross-compound engine, built by Vickers Armstrong Ltd. at their Elswick works in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was fitted with a flywheel having a 9-foot diameter and weighing 9 tons, and was governed to a speed of 30 rpm.
The engine became redundant when the rest of the system was modernised in 1974, and was donated to the Forncett Industrial Steam Museum by the Corporation of the City of London.
To control the passage of river traffic through the bridge, a number of different rules and signals were employed. Daytime control was provided by red semaphore signals, mounted on small control cabins on either end of both bridge piers. At night, coloured lights were used, in either direction, on both piers: two red lights to show that the bridge was closed, and two green to show that it was open. In foggy weather, a gong was sounded as well.[6]
Vessels passing through the bridge had to display signals too: by day, a black ball at least 2 feet (0.61 m) in diameter was to be mounted high up where it could be seen; by night, two red lights in the same position. Foggy weather required repeated blasts from the ship's steam whistle.[6]
If a black ball was suspended from the middle of each walkway (or a red light at night) this indicated that the bridge could not be opened. These signals were repeated about 1,000 yards (910 m) downstream, at Cherry Garden Pier, where boats needing to pass through the bridge had to hoist their signals/lights and sound their horn, as appropriate, to alert the Bridge Master.[6]
Some of the control mechanism for the signalling equipment has been preserved and may be seen working in the bridge's museum.
Although the bridge is an undoubted landmark, professional commentators in the early 20th century were critical of its aesthetics. "It represents the vice of tawdriness and pretentiousness, and of falsification of the actual facts of the structure", wrote H. H. Statham,[11] while Frank Brangwyn stated that "A more absurd structure than the Tower Bridge was never thrown across a strategic river".[12]
Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the bridge as one of his four choices for the 2002 BBC television documentary series Britain's Best Buildings.[13]
Tower Bridge is still a busy and vital crossing of the Thames: it is crossed by over 40,000 people (motorists and pedestrians) every day.[14] The bridge is on the London Inner Ring Road, and is on the eastern boundary of the London congestion charge zone. (Drivers do not incur a charge by crossing the bridge.)
In order to maintain the integrity of the historic structure, the City of London Corporation have imposed a 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) speed restriction, and an 18-tonne weight limit on vehicles using the bridge. A sophisticated camera system measures the speed of traffic crossing the bridge, utilising a number plate recognition system to send fixed penalty charges to speeding drivers.[citation needed]
A second system monitors other vehicle parameters. Induction loops and piezoelectric detectors are used to measure the weight, the height of the chassis above ground level, and the number of axles for each vehicle.[citation needed]
River traffic
The bascules are raised around 1000 times a year.[15] River traffic is now much reduced, but it still takes priority over road traffic. Today, 24 hours' notice is required before opening the bridge. In 2008, a local web developer created a Twitter feed to post live updates of the bridge's opening and closing activities.[16]
A computer system was installed in 2000 to control the raising and lowering of the bascules remotely. Unfortunately it proved less reliable than desired, resulting in the bridge being stuck in the open or closed positions on several occasions during 2005, until its sensors were replaced.[14]
The high-level walkways between the towers gained an unpleasant reputation as a haunt for prostitutes and pickpockets and were closed in 1910. In 1982 they were reopened as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, an exhibition now housed in the bridge's twin towers, the high-level walkways and the Victorian engine rooms. The walkways boast stunning views of the River Thames and many famous London sites, serving as viewing galleries for over 380,000 tourists[citation needed] who visit each year. The exhibition also uses films, photos and interactives to explain why and how Tower Bridge was built. Visitors can access the original steam engines that once powered the bridge bascules, housed in a building close to the south end of the bridge.
In April 2008 it was announced that the bridge will undergo a 'facelift' costing £4m, and taking four years to complete. The work entails stripping off the existing paint and repainting in blue and white. Each section will be enshrouded in scaffolding to prevent the old paint from falling into the Thames and causing pollution. Starting in mid-2008, contractors will work on a quarter of the bridge at a time to minimise disruption, but some road closures are inevitable. The bridge will remain open until the end of 2010, but is then expected to be closed for several months. It is hoped that the completed work will stand for 25 years.[17]
The walkway section of the renovation was completed in mid 2009. Within the walkways a versatile new lighting system has been installed, designed by Eleni Shiarlis, for when the walkways are in use for exhibitions or functions. The new system provides for both feature and atmospheric lighting, the latter using bespoke RGB LED luminares, designed to be concealed within the bridge superstructure and fixed without the need for drilling (these requirements as a result of the bridge's Grade I status).[18]
In December 1952, the bridge opened while a number 78 double-decker bus (stock number RT 793) was on it. At that time, the gateman would ring a warning bell and close the gates when the bridge was clear before the watchman ordered the lift. The process failed while a relief watchman was on duty. The bus was near the edge of the south bascule when it started to rise; driver Albert Gunter made a split-second decision to accelerate the bus, clearing a three-foot drop on to the north bascule, which had not started to rise. There were no serious injuries.[19]
Main article: Hawker Hunter Tower Bridge incident
On 5 April 1968 a Hawker Hunter FGA.9 jet fighter from No.1 Squadron RAF, flown by Flt Lt Alan Pollock, flew under Tower Bridge. Unimpressed that senior staff were not going to celebrate the RAF's 50th birthday with a fly-past, Pollock decided to do something himself. Without authorisation, Pollock flew the Hunter at low level down the Thames, past the Houses of Parliament, and continued on to Tower Bridge. He flew the Hunter beneath the bridge's walkway, remarking afterwards it was an afterthought when he saw the bridge looming ahead of him. Pollock was placed under arrest upon landing, and discharged from the RAF on medical grounds without the chance to defend himself at a court martial.[20][21]
In May 1997,[22] the motorcade of United States President Bill Clinton was divided by the opening of the bridge. Thames sailing barge Gladys, on her way to a gathering at St Katharine Docks, arrived on schedule and the bridge was duly opened for her. Returning from a Thames-side lunch at Le Pont de la Tour restaurant, with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Clinton was less punctual, and arrived just as the bridge was rising. The bridge opening split the motorcade in two, much to the consternation of security staff. A spokesman for Tower Bridge is quoted as saying, "We tried to contact the American Embassy, but they wouldn't answer the 'phone."[23]
On 19 August 1999, Jef Smith, a Freeman of the City of London, drove a "herd" of two sheep across the bridge. He was exercising an ancient permission, granted as a right to Freemen, to make a point about the powers of older citizens and the way in which their rights were being eroded.[24] However, this was a hollow gesture as the so-called right is to drive sheep across London Bridge into the City of London, and Tower Bridge does not have its northern landfall in the City.[citation needed]
Before dawn on 31 October 2003, David Crick, a Fathers 4 Justice campaigner, climbed a 120 ft (37 m) tower crane near Tower Bridge at the start of a six-day protest dressed as Spider-Man.[25] Fearing for his safety, and that of motorists should he fall, police cordoned off the area, closing the bridge and surrounding roads and causing widespread traffic congestion across the City and east London. The Metropolitan Police were later criticised for maintaining the closure for five days when this was not strictly necessary in the eyes of some citizens.[26][27]
On May 11, 2009, six persons were trapped and injured after a lift fell 10 ft inside the north tower.[28][29]
A 300W strobe set to 1/4th was placed behind the tank and triggered by a Speedlite attached to the camera. The strobe was fired bare bulb but diffused with the translucent plexiglass. I used the high speed sync of an attached Speedlite 430EX to minimize motion blur.
Windy day allowed some interesting cloud movement around Haytor on Dartmoor. Long exposure of 25 seconds, tripod weighted down to minimize movement, f/13.0 , ISO 50, focal length 14mm. Processed in LightRoom 6 and Silver EFEX Pro 2
In the eighties, the construction of the power transmission line-750 kV became widespread. On the agenda was the development of new, previously non-existent in the world voltage classes -1150 kV AC and 1500 kV DC, called ultra-high.
The construction of ultra-high-voltage transmission lines opened up exciting prospects - the ability to quickly, with minimal losses, transfer electricity and power for thousands of kilometers from energy-surplus regions of the country to energy-deficient ones.
The world's first "latitudinal" transmission lines were to link together the five unified power systems of the Soviet Union-Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Urals, the Volga, and the Center. The power transmission line Siberia-Kazakhstan-Ural was built and put into operation in stages
On March 24, 1977, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted Resolution No. 243 "On the establishment of the Ekibastuz Fuel and Energy Complex and the construction of a 1500 kV DC power transmission line Ekibastuz-Center". This resolution provided for more efficient development of the fuel and energy complex, implementation of the energy program of the USSR, where Kazakhstan was provided for in the coming years one of the key roles in the Soviet energy sector. At that time, Kazakhstan ranked third among the republics of the USSR in terms of electricity production.
Given the myriad coal reserves and the scale of its production, it was decided to build large thermal power plants in Ekibastuz in the immediate vicinity of the mines, in order to minimize the cost of coal transportation. With the commissioning of power units at the GRES under construction, Kazakhstan not only fully provided electricity to the national economy of the republic, but also had the opportunity to transfer electricity to other regions of the former Soviet Union.
So in 1987, the section of this line from Ekibastuz to Chebarkul with a length of 432 kilometers was commissioned at a voltage level of 1150 kV. No other line in the world is capable of operating at such a high voltage. The site was supposed to deliver power from the two Ekibastuz GRES built to the 1150 kV substation in Chebarkul. Dispatch name: Kostanay-Chelyabinsk. The capacity of the line reached 5500 MW.
Laid from Ekibastuz through Kokchetayev and Kustanai up to Chelyabinsk, the power line-1150 connected the power systems of Kazakhstan and Russia. The average height of the line supports is 45 meters. The weight of the conductors is approximately 50 tons.
The unique high-voltage power transmission line "Siberia-Center" with a design voltage of 1150 kV cost the country 1.3 trillion rubles. rubles'. At the same time, the construction of a 1500 kV DC power transmission line Ekibastuz – Center was underway.
On the territory of Kazakhstan, the 1150 kV Ekibastuz-Kokchetav-Kustanai transmission line operated at a nominal voltage of 1150 kV from 1988 to 1991.
The completion of the "latitudinal" transmission lines of 1150 and 1500 kV was planned in 1995, but due to the collapse of the USSR, the project remained unfinished. Most of the line was "abroad", as approximately 1400 of the 1,900 km of the line "Barnaul-Ekibastuz-Kokchetav-Kustanai-Chelyabinsk" is located in Kazakhstan.