View allAll Photos Tagged obfuscation
My initial reaction to this scene was one of wonder. It was amazing to see the extent to which Mother Nature had reclaimed the old house. It just did not seem possible that this much vegetation could have grown so close, and moreover, so tall. The upper portions had reached well past the second story and towered way over my head. And there was nothing orderly about the overgrowth. It seemed a labyrinth of tangled branches mingled with the barbed wire-like thorns of wild rose bushes. I was dismayed that the overgrowth prevented a clear sightline of the house. But the longer I stood here, the more I began to appreciate the creepy atmosphere. On one level it reinforced the sense of utter neglect and abandonment. But on another level, it was as if the overgrowth was encapsulating the house, preventing both entry and egress. Moreover there was something very sinister about not being able to see the house clearly. Here it required some imagination to sense the mass of the structure through this layer of organic obfuscation. Deciding this was in fact the defining camera angle, I began to walk backwards in order to widen the view. After just a couple of steps I was completely ensnared by vines, unable to move back even one more inch (and even forward motion seemed very limited, as if the vines had somehow coiled around my ankles...a chilling thought indeed). The effect of being within the grip of the vegetation was complete, and the house seemed to loom over me, ever darker and more menacing. I love when an experience like this becomes more 3D. I don't want to be just a bystander; I really want to get involved at a deeper level, make some sort of connection. Here I really felt one.
From the Old Rosslyn Inn with a date stone of 1660 here is a view of Rosslyn Chapel founded in 1446. Should you wish to take the view through the window across the garden furniture you can take in the shapely garden plinth on the way to the gate to the chapel. This old iron gate is locked and the open window lock sits nicely over the locked gate. You can consider the bird guano as either luck, or as an obfuscation of the possible mysteries, or much more likely the scene as we look at it. The current crop of Trees of Life between Collegehill House and Rosslyn Chapel add much to the potential of vista wreathed in mystification even though this is the bare branch Winter look and surely the best view possible? The window with tartan drapes flooded by Winter Sun was to my vision best seen as a scene of four reflections.
© PHH Sykes 2022
phhsykes@gmail.com
Welcome to Rosslyn Chapel
Some folks would argue that this should be the name of every church -- cuz they all trim your brain - or fry it or mangle, or manipulate it. This one: you gotta respect! They are not hiding behind "living water" or "victory" or any other obfuscations -- just a good old Brain Trim by the Baptists. Come n get it!
Was driving home yesterday amid gusty winds and noticed the trees appeared frosted. The wind was causing the leaves to flip over, revealing the lighter undersides, making the trees appear more white than green. It was a wonderful illusion. I've always loved the ephemeral tricks that light and shadow play on the eye. I suppose as photographers we're all highly tuned to things like this. It's all about capturing the moment when the light is either unique, or otherwise highlighting your subject. Earlier this month I found myself out in another wind storm. This was the result of outflow from an advancing thunderstorm. Conditions went from calm to windy in a matter of minutes. I cherish moments like this, as the sweltering heat of a summer afternoon is swept away by chilly breezes from rain-cooled air. I love standing outside during this transition phase as the two air masses collide. There was great tumult on this afternoon, both in the sky and played out at ground level. Small flags whipped in the wind, wind chimes emitted eerie tunes, pinwheels spun madly, every loose object was in motion. I got to thinking about the negative space that formed in front of me as the tree branches alternately blocked my vision, then cleared as they were lifted overhead by the gusts. That momentary obfuscation of vision intrigued me, as if shadowy figures had just darted past. I dragged my shutter to capture both the motion and spirit of the moment.
Seen passing Briton Ferry (Photo By Steve Powell)
1Z65, 11.34 hrs Llandrindod to Weymouth Jersey Siding
Departing today
operated by
Locomotive Services
UID U68270, identity 155R
TSC 21708001
STP schedule
22nd May 2022 only
Unadvertised Express
Great Britain (Network Rail, TPS)
Train obfuscated. More info here.
37521 as D6817 + 37688
TRUST ID 79155R1J22
Activated 22/05/2022 10:34
PathLine
Llandrindod [LLO]
Pathed as Diesel locomotive, trailing load 455 tonnes at 75mph
This one took quite a bit of jiggery pokery to get right. The Sunprint’s low dynamic range worked in favor of the image, bringing shadows out, but the poor resolution was more of a mixed bag, sharpening some details, while obfuscating others. I ended up using a composite of the original image to restore lost detail, and the Sunprint/contact print to bring out the shadows and enhance the immediacy, which makes a better result in my opinion than either source was capable of alone. From a #kodaktmax100 #film negative shot with an 18x6 medium format #pinhole camera. The #yosemite #tunnelview of #yosemitevalley is one of the most photographed views in the world, and it's common to see serious photographers with seriously powerful camera equipment, so I enjoy seeing the looks of bewilderment and sometimes pity when pulling out a pinhole camera like the #blindwinocam 18x6 to make my shot.
Riding every day on the Tokyo railways brings me to a disturbing realization:
Everywhere I looked, people were on cell phones. Not talking, of course... That is rude and highly discouraged in public trains. No, they were furiously texting or playing a game, listening to music, or browsing the web- looking almost oblivious to the world around them.
Quite often, the normal rider will slip into the train, purposely looking down and to the side to avoid all eye contact and acknowledgement - find an empty seat, and whip out their entertainment or communication device of choice, transporting themselves to a seeming dimension of obfuscation.
In Japan, a common saying is "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." Standing out, or being loud, or being too unique seems to draw a stigmatic attention. So rather than be outward, many have become technologically introverted.
What an interesting new society of satellite socialism.
This is the state of Japan.
* Explored May 2nd, 2009. Yay! *
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___
I know a secret. The little wise one told me.
I just remembered,
this knowing. It rushed into the empty space I cleared.
You cannot go backwards,
can’t forget what you know. But,
you can misplace it,
let the noise of the world and all their smoke and mirrors obfuscate.
I know a truth. The Lovely Lady told me.
She is not gentle, just like me.
Are you ready?
Put this in your pocket til it vibrates like a bell, some radioactive thing to tune to:
You already hold it.
You have it.
You are the glowing thing.
You don’t chase, you allow. You beckon.
You pulse.
All the things rush in because you wiped the slate,
prepared it,
burned your candles. You burned your darlings and your demons.
It’s all ashes and soot, a sooty spot,
drag your hands through it and over your face.
Laugh like madness,
you just arrived and it is coming,
not quietly but with a thundering, a rumbling quickness, a force.
You chared it. You’re brand new again.
Open wide.
04.05.22
Visit this location: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winter%20Moon/76/182/29
From the website:
Add Color (Refugee Boat) (1960/2019) is an interactive installation conceived of by visual artist Yoko Ono. Upon opening, the work will be comprised simply of a boat placed within an empty space. The public will then be invited to paint their thoughts, ideas and hopes on the walls, floor and boat. As the installation progresses, messages will be written in support, contrast and literal obfuscation of one another, moving the space from visual calm to a layered visual chaos – a beautiful sea of color from afar, a more restless reality upon closer inspection. Freely imbued in this way with a multiplicity of thoughts, each time Add Color (Refugee Boat) is shown it both shares in the memory of past iterations, while taking on a life and a meaning of its own - acutely reflecting the time, place and people that come together to create it.
I stopped at the Toledo Hospital Children's ER this evening to drop off a DVD burner to a friend of mine who's a doc there. On the way out I noticed the parking garage. So I indulged myself.
I've been thinking lately about how there are spaces we cross through daily, or at least regularly, that we don't really notice. They're utilitarian public space.
I intended it as a study of space that we use and don't really think about. I wanted it shown in stark terms; black and white, straight lines, no stylization. I wanted each shot to be obvious, not obfuscated. I also had the 50 on so no distortion, no zooming just human shots of the space. And I wanted to show the inside that we come in contact with, not the outside that we see from afar.
I was going to do this as a series (or more than three - this tych is missing a couple cool shots) and then kind of went with the triptych idea.
They are ordered as they would have been located in the vertical geography of the actual garage...
Oh and yeah - these where processed with Photoshop B&W adjustment layers and little bit of curves.
Maybe I'm taking this too seriously... it was just an idea.
Glaschu'n cynorthwyo'r hil-laddiad./ Glaschu o sikour ar gouennlazh./ Glaschú ag cabhrú leis an gcinedhíothú./ Glaschú genozidioari laguntzen./ Glasgow aiding the genocide.
▪️ caat.org.uk/data/countries/israel/mapped-all-the-uk-compa...
▪️▪️▪️CYMRAEG
▪️ "Mae grymoedd sydd yn gwbl anghyfartal yn cael eu cyflwyno fel pe baen nhw'n gyfartal: mae cefnogwyr Israel am roi terfyn ar y Palesteiniaid fel pobl, tra na bo'r Palesteiniaid ond am weld diwedd y wladwriaeth ormesol sy'n llofruddio eu plant ac sydd wedi mynd â phob dim oddi arnyn nhw. Dyw Palesteiniaid ddim yn ceisio difodi'r Iddewon, ond mae cefnogwyr Israel yn sicr yn ceisio difodi'r Palesteiniaid — neu o leiaf maen nhw am iddyn nhw fod wedi eu darostwng yn barhaol. Drwy ffug gyfuno parhad apartheid ethno-wladwriaeth neilltuol â bodolaeth yr Iddewon fel pobl, rhywbeth a gaiff ei ailadrodd o hyd, gall cefnogwyr Israel honni "Rhaid i ni eu lladd nhw am eu bod nhw am ein lladd ni," gan mai "ni" yma yw gwladwriaeth Israel. Mae hyn yn rhoi darlun anonest o sefyllfa "naill ai ni sydd yno neu nhw", lladd neu gael ein lladd. Mae'n haws amddiffyn sefyllfa o'r fath yn foesol nag amddiffyn y gwirionedd, oherwydd fe all pawb gydymdeimlo â'r weithred o ladd er mwyn hunanamddiffyn, pan fyddwch yn cael eich lladd os na laddwch chi'r sawl sydd yn barod i'ch lladd chi.
▪️Ond, wrth gwrs, nid dyna beth sy'n digwydd mewn gwirionedd ym Mhalesteina. Nid dwy garfan sy'n gwrthwynebu bodolaeth ei gilydd sydd yno. Yr hyn sydd gennym yma yw trefedigaeth apartheid o wladychwyr, sy'n cael cefnogaeth yr ymerodraeth rymusaf a fu erioed, yn cael ei gollwng ar ben gwareiddiad a oedd eisoes yno, gyda'r bobl a fu'n byw yno yn cael gwybod ei bod yn rhaid iddyn nhw ildio a cholli eu hawliau, eu heiddo, a'u hurddas, neu wynebu cael eu difodi.
▪️ Dyw'r pethau hyn ddim yn gyfartal, ond mae hi'n amlwg ei bod hi'n rhaid i gefnogwyr Israel beri iddyn nhw edrych yn gyfartal er mwyn tywyllu realiti cwbl anghyfiawn yr hyn a welwn heddiw." - Caitlin Johnstone
▪️▪️▪️ENGLISH
▪️ "A wildly unequal dynamic is being falsely framed as equal: Israel supporters want an end to the Palestinians as a people, while Palestinians just want an end to the tyrannical apartheid state which murders their children and has taken everything from them. Palestinians don’t seek the extermination of the Jewish people, but Israel’s supporters absolutely seek the extermination of the Palestinian people — or at least their perpetual subordination. By falsely conflating a particular apartheid ethnostate continuing to exist in its present iteration with the existence of Jews as a people, Israel’s supporters can then claim “We have to kill them because they want to kill us,” because “us” here means the state of Israel. This dishonestly frames this as an “it’s us or them”, kill-or-be-killed situation, which is much more morally defensible than the truth, because everyone can sympathize with the act of killing in self-defense when you will be killed if you don’t kill your would-be killer first.
▪️But of course that isn’t the reality of what is happening with Palestine. This isn’t two groups mutually opposed to one another’s existence, this is an apartheid settler colony backed by the most powerful empire in history getting dropped on top of a pre-existing civilization, with the people who had been living there being told that they must either submit to losing their rights, their property and their dignity, or face extermination.
▪️These things are not equal. Clearly. Israel’s supporters just need to make them look equal to obfuscate the wildly unjust reality of what we are seeing today."
Caitlin Johnstone - ▪️▪️▪️14/08/2024: "The estimated cost of the total ammunition used in Gaza fighting is estimated at about 1.3 billion shekels [$370 million]. According to the army’s figures, 39,000 tank shells, 34,000 artillery shells, and 4.8 million bullets were supplied during the fighting. Senior military figures estimate that land forces alone used at least 60 percent of the 5,000 tons of ammunition given to them, but the IDF [Israeli army] cannot yet evaluate it accurately."
▪️▪️▪️"The main drones used against Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon are produced by Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. Thales has been partnering with both of these firms for many years.
▪️ Intriguingly, much of the work has resulted from contracts with Britain, supposedly France’s arch rival.
▪️It is relatively well known that Thales and Elbit Systems have been working together on the Watchkeeper, a drone program for the British Army. Less attention has been paid to cooperation between Thales and Israel Aerospace Industries on the Sea Serpent, a missile system for British naval vessels."
This year the FFF+ have decided to change their monthly challenge from "Five On The Fifth" (FOTF) to “Freestyle on the Fifth”, so still a theme every month, and to be posted on the 5th of the month, but this year it does not have to be five images, it is up to the member to choose a single photo or a collage/composite of how ever many photos they like. The theme will still be set a member of the group each month.
This month it was Laszlo’s turn to choose the theme, and he chose “Summertime”.
I chose to represent Summertime as it is being experienced by so much of our country which is a state of severe drought.
These photos were taken on the last day of 2019 in the middle of the Providence Road dam at Woodlands Historic Park. If you’ve followed my Flickr stream for a while you would have seen my photos of Ducks, Grebes, Herons, Reed Warblers, Brown Honeyeaters and even a Spotted Crake all frolicking in the dam. Now there is not a drop of water in sight, just dried mud and dead reeds.
The drought is so bad in some parts of Australia that some towns are in danger of running out of water completely. There has been talk of entire towns being evacuated due to lack of water. Obviously farmers across the country are in the struggle of their life. And of course, the dryness is causing an ever increasing fire risk across huge swathes of the country with huge areas currently suffering fires that look like the start of the apocalypse.
Despite this, our government continues it’s climate denying stance, recently finishing last amongst all countries of the world in a ranking of the effectiveness of climate policy and being one of a cadre of four that really stymied the recent COP25 climate conference.
In addition they continue to approve new fossil fuel mines such as Adani while we should be doing everything to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, not increasing them. Adani is also going to have a further devastating effect on the lack of water situation. It is estimated that the Adani mine will consume at least 270 billion litres of groundwater, and the government have already approved a plan allowing Adani to drain 12.5 billion litres from the Suttor River without even conducting a full environmental assessment.
I am further bewildered at a recent decision where a Chinese-owned company has been granted approval to run a 96 million litre a year commercial water mining operation in severely drought-hit southern Queensland, where locals are on water rations and communities are at imminent risk of running dry.
It really just doesn’t make sense. They are raping and pillaging our country, and selling it to the highest bidder and showing blatant disregard for the country, the planet and the people they are meant to be representing. Scott Morrison and his LNP crones are in the pockets of the fossil-fuel industry. They love coal and the money it brings them more than they love their country and its people.
Our Government continues to ignore warnings from scientists, experts and their own Home Affairs department - acknowledging a problem would mean acknowledging climate change is real.
They lie and cheat and rely on their corporate media mates to obfuscate what is really happening - it is a disgrace.
Some links below if anyone who is interested in further reading. If you only have time to read/watch one or two links, please watch the short videos on the first two links, if they don’t scare you, I don’t know what will.
Facing Australia’s Climate Emergency
As record fires rage, Australia’s leaders seem intent on sending it to its doom.
Australia is among a number of countries being blamed for blocking climate agreement at COP25
Absolute disgrace Adani pipeline plan won’t activate water-trigger
Chinese company approved to run water mining operation in drought stricken Queensland
Fact checking Angus Taylor - Does Australia have a climate change record to be proud of?
Former fire chiefs try to warn PM who refuses to meet them
Home Affairs department warn government about impending disaster in May 2019
In the blue and golden hours, the Mekong River up in Laos is an ethereal place. Never so more than when the farmers are slashing and burning fields.
In April I took a two-day slow boat trip from Huay Xai on the border of Thailand to Luang Prabang in Laos. We spent the first night in a Laotian village called Pak Beng which seems to exist primarily to serve the adventurers taking the same route. It's a great place to try Water Buffalo and Laos Whiskey if this is your first time in Laos.
The people in this part of the world survive mainly by farming. They burn fields into the dense jungle sloping the Mekong.
The thick smoke obfuscates the sun and thousands of charred embers float through the air. Silence except for the occasional bird squawking from its hiding place.
You feel like you are outside of time and at the end of the world.
Modern cruise liner styling with the MV Aida Cosma. Just a floating block of flats on a hull akin to a container ship, its lack of style being obfuscated by lurid colour schemes.
Taking a page out of Russian doctrine, the United Songun Republics (USR) and the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia (SRY) began development of a purported advanced road-mobile ICBM launcher during the mid-2000s and adopted the final product in 2013. Utilizing lessons learned from the USR's advanced rocket and space program, the cumulative R&D period was relatively short for such a potent weapon system. Said system--designated the Y/CSS-30 Spire by NATO--is understood to be one of the most powerful nuclear-capable missile systems in the world as there is reportedly capacity for five thermonuclear MIRVs (Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles) aboard the rocket itself. This translates to a total of 1,800 kilotons of raw, destructive atomic energy being delivered to an unlucky target.
More importantly, however, is the fact that the Y/CSS-30 is indeed road-mobile. This means that yet another leg of the USR's nuclear triad can be camouflaged with ease. Although MAD assures us that any conflict that goes nuclear will be apocalyptic, such mobility disables Western planners to accurately account for land-based nuclear launches deriving from east Asia. This might seem like an unimportant variable in the grander scheme of an impending nuclear holocaust, but it has caused much international grief, especially among other nuclear states that must gauge their own nuclear capabilities against that of their peers. Hence, not knowing the extent to which one party can annihilate another is cause for concern in most intelligence circles.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Yugoslavia has not declared itself a nuclear state nor has there been any indication that Belgrade has attempted to acquire WMDs of any sort. Although the Socialist Republic's heavy industrial know-how was essential in manufacturing the Y/CSS-30's TEL (Transport, Erector, Launcher), it's unclear what its end-goal was in participating in the Spire's overall development program, especially when Yugoslavia's participation was obfuscated in many of the same ways as their development of the YSA-37 Gavel. Whatever the case, several Y/CSS-30 launch vehicles have been photographed in Yugoslav territory, but none of the necessary infrastructure for nuclear preparation has been recorded. As such, the intelligence community at large has suggested that Yugoslavia is trying to create an atmosphere of uncertainty to gain leverage in any future negotiation process. Such a ruse is dangerous, however, as it inspires angst in the SRY's neighbors and this can snowball into yet another armed conflict. An alternative theory is that the Y/CSS-30s in Yugoslavia aren't entirely empty, but rather harbor anti-satellite missiles capable of disrupting the West's orbital reconnaissance and communications network. This is a much more likely scenario as the return on investment is much more sound.
This photo was originally posted in January 2017 along with his quote from that time. Now in January 2018 this same guy is claiming to be like a "very stable genius." Lucky he tells everyone.
www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/twitter-roasts-trump-st...
WHY (Video)
WHY (Lyrics)
I like how it came out finally. I was literally chasing him! It was a rainy day, was bored so took my best friend (then it was a Nikon D80, I am waiting for the Beast!) for a walk and got this along the way! Rainy day, overcast of gray, this never is easy condition for me for photography.
This is from my archives yet again. I was trying out the Nikon 105mm Micro. Like my friend said Here it is orgasmic. Love it.
Gear used: Camera: Nikon D80, Exposure: 1/160, Aperture: f/3.5, Focal Length: 105 mm, ISO 125, Exposure Manual, Photoshop for Processing.
Visit ~ geisha ~ 's Photo Stream. To see the real magic
Visit kktp He is a real magician! with the 105mm
Thank you my friends.
This is a midday (-ish) shot from the Salar de Tara in the Atacama desert area of Chile.
If you're ever in San Pedro de Atacama then this is the single, best trip there is going from there, imho. It's not one that is especially prominent on the tour company advertising as it's a long day and high altitude, but I've done it twice now and the terrain is fantastic. I'll write about this area more in my next blog article.
As with all the salars in the Atacama - all that I've seen anyway - the nature of the salt surface is radically different from the Salar de Uyuni.
The sky is not polarised, incidentally; at least, not by me. This surface is at 4,336m., so the altitude produces natural polarisation of the sky and gives it this deep colour, even to the naked eye.
From the website:
Add Color (Refugee Boat) (1960/2019) is an interactive installation conceived of by visual artist Yoko Ono. Upon opening, the work will be comprised simply of a boat placed within an empty space. The public will then be invited to paint their thoughts, ideas and hopes on the walls, floor and boat. As the installation progresses, messages will be written in support, contrast and literal obfuscation of one another, moving the space from visual calm to a layered visual chaos – a beautiful sea of color from afar, a more restless reality upon closer inspection. Freely imbued in this way with a multiplicity of thoughts, each time Add Color (Refugee Boat) is shown it both shares in the memory of past iterations, while taking on a life and a meaning of its own - acutely reflecting the time, place and people that come together to create it.
With a recent dusting of snow, this volcano on the high part of the Atacama was really dramatic in the midday sunshine. The sky looked a very strange colour to the naked eye. I honestly don't know whether this (which I think is perhaps azure) is exactly as I saw it, but it was certainly a blue with enormous amounts of cyan, even without any kind of filtration from sunglasses.
This looks unnatural, I know, but it did at the time too ;-)
(A PDF of this image is available here.)
Dear Rep. Boehner,
Recently, you released a chart purportedly describing the organization of the House Democrats' health plan. I think Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree that the problem is very complicated, no matter how you visualize it.
By releasing your chart, instead of meaningfully educating the public, you willfully obfuscated an already complicated proposal. There is no simple proposal to solve this problem. You instead chose to shout "12! 16! 37! 9! 24!" while we were trying to count something.
So, to try and do my duty both to the country and to information design (a profession and skill you have loudly shat upon), I have taken it upon myself to untangle your delightful chart. A few notes:
- I have removed the label referring to "federal website guidelines" as those are not a specific requirement of the Health and Human Services department. They are part of the U.S. Code. I should know: I have to follow them.
- I have relabeled the "Veterans Administration" to the "Department of Veterans' Affairs." The name change took effect in 1989.
- In the one change I made specifically for clarity, I omitted the line connecting the IRS and Health and Human Services department labeled "Individual Tax Return Information."
In the future, please remember that you have a duty to inform the public, and not willfully confuse your constituents.
Sincerely,
Robert Palmer
Resident,
California 53rd District
Version History:
July 21: Original version.
July 22: Added missing link from Surgeon General to Clinical Preventive Services Task Force, noticed by @Fan on freakangels.com (Thanks!)
© All rights reserved. A low-res, flatbed scan of a 6x7 (2 1/4 x 2 3/4 inch) transparency.
I should warn people that you can now be arrested for trespassing past the uphill turn at Macalla Road off Treasure Island Road, if you are not a resident. It really sucks!
After the last 5 shots you've seen on this photostream, you might think I have turned into a fogtographer. But, it is really just that it is the foggy time of year here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I am often amazed at the difference between what the human eye can see with its 1/60th, or so, "shutter speed" and a long exposure of several minutes. I think that is the attraction of a long exposure. But, it takes on a new meaning with fog, it would seem. Anyway, I appreciate your stopping by and having a look!
This is the western side of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, connecting San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island in California.
I know this won't be everyone's idea of an exciting Altiplano image, but it's one of my favourites from Bolivia...
The southern Andes area, south of the Salar de Uyuni, is composed of sinuous lines of rock and gravel reaching down from the volcanic peaks. I really like the shapes in some of these mountain sides and, viewed at a sufficient distance, they have a lovely texture to them.
I've uploaded the full size version of this for anyone interested in what it actually is, close-up (the clue's in the title of course!). Note that this was hand-held at 300mm so it's not the best example of sharp detail - but I wasn't interested in the sharp detail so that's just fine ;-)
Though with branches bare,
success is limited.
Committed to Ferrania P30 using a Leica M3 and 50 mm Summicron dual-range lens. Developed using Ars-Imago R9 (rodinal) 1:99 in a semi-stand process for 80 minutes and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.
Just a shot of the Pai Inácio Mount at Night. It was a full moon night so the milky way was obfuscated by the moon light.
Living downwind of the Great Lakes in winter is a mixed blessing. Particularly early in the season when arctic air blows across the relatively warm lake water. The result is snow ranging from the nuisance level on up to massive falls. The wearisome part of this, for me at least, is the often incessant nature of lake effect snow. Sometimes it lasts for days after an initial storm front has pushed through the area. But I did say mixed blessing. The upside is that lake-generated snow often forms just a few hundred feet above ground, leaving the sky above visible at times. So it's possible to be standing under a heavy snowfall at ground level with the sun shining above. Even when no snow is produced, the lake generates magnificent cloud formations and weird temperature inversions. Great photographic potential in all of this. Especially the sun-snow combo. Falling snow, in and of itself, can be a tricky thing to capture effectively. Absent the sun, snow photos tend to flatten as there's little contrast or definition. But put some sun behind it and the entire scene is transformed. I happened to be out exploring on a cold day back in January when the perfect conditions emerged. A gray afternoon had resulted in a series of unappealing photos, flatter than pancakes and that no amount of processing could save. Suddenly heavy snow moved in. The flakes were thick and heavy, full of structure. The kind of snow that quickly accumulates on everything, including me. It was like being inside of a snow globe that had been vigorously shaken. As this was unfolding, the sun broke free from the low clouds, creating an amazing backlight for the falling flakes. The sun appeared oddly pale, diminished (even more so than usual for January) as it shone through millions of flakes before it reached the ground. I lifted the lens and shot quickly before snow could settle on the upturned lens. This is one of the resulting images...the raw energy of lake effect snow.
From the website:
Add Color (Refugee Boat) (1960/2019) is an interactive installation conceived of by visual artist Yoko Ono. Upon opening, the work will be comprised simply of a boat placed within an empty space. The public will then be invited to paint their thoughts, ideas and hopes on the walls, floor and boat. As the installation progresses, messages will be written in support, contrast and literal obfuscation of one another, moving the space from visual calm to a layered visual chaos – a beautiful sea of color from afar, a more restless reality upon closer inspection. Freely imbued in this way with a multiplicity of thoughts, each time Add Color (Refugee Boat) is shown it both shares in the memory of past iterations, while taking on a life and a meaning of its own - acutely reflecting the time, place and people that come together to create it.
Another image from the Northumberland coast, a little south of Bamburgh.
I was perched rather precariously on a crumbling coastal dune to take this and the intent was to make something rather large (this is a few metres across) look somewhat smaller. The hint of blue is from this being around sunrise.
Looks best in the original size!
-Mixed media: Acrylic, linen, graphite, gunpowder and blood on canvas-
40”x40”
My friend Ellen was dying of cancer. So I made her this. A benefit to defray her medical costs. A palimpsest with gunpowder and fading text expressing our years of misadventures and absurdity. A fire for her life. Her danger and passion.
The disease claimed her eventually but this remains along with memory.
“A palimpsest is work that fades to make room for something new - Stories pass into memory to offer space for fresh adventures. Fire consumes so that beauty springs forth from ashes… and health vanquishes disease in a forced erasure to give way for renewed life.
Created with multiple layers of various gunpowders, each having their own unique qualities, they were ignited on the canvas itself in numerous stages in a process that can only be guided by the artist but never controlled. Gunpowder as a medium speaks with its own voice always and leaves its traces where it alone chooses. The process then shifted to one of contrasting delicateness. Prose nearly obfuscated by paint, is rendered barely discernible throughout the work and requiring its audience into an intimate physical closeness in which to discern the words themselves. And what can be perceived from the fragmentation of the text is a dream-like narrative that evokes a journey - a community and a history of which his friend has been inextricably a part of for many years. In doing so, the work evokes our own universal longing to be part of larger narrative that we write with our lives, or hope to.
Culprit: MrWeebl - Narwhals
Aramean heavy carrier fighter, c. 1940/1942. Early prototypes were quite heavy for the handling gear of older carriers, resulting in the late prototypes and production models being built with significant wood frame sections. Late in production, the meager machine-gun armament was replaced twenty-millimeter cannons, after the initially troublesome V8 engines were replaced with (slightly) lighter and (slightly) less troublesome models.
The production Isdyamma is pictured in typical livery. The red spinner and tail bands would seem to indicate a fighter from the air group of ANS Gevurah, but carrier pairs were known to fly planes with swapped markings(or even bands from other pairs) as an obfuscation measure.
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I've done it I've got got Sukhoi fuselage/wing blending aesthetics in 1942.
Kershaw Eight-20 Penguin | Ilford HP5
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There was some editing done in Photoshop to this one, in order to obfuscate the license plate. Sorry to the purists, but this isn't my car so I didn't want to post the plate number online.
© Copyright John C. House, Everyday Miracles Photography. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use in any way without my express consent. As always, this is better viewed large.
This was taken from the top of Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains at 6,643 feet (2,025 m). When clear, it is possible to see for some ways, but that is an important caveat, since it is very often the case that the mists of the Smokies and the clouds themselves obfuscate the view. When seeking a sunset, it is a roll of the dice, with conditions often changing rapidly for the hour or so before the sun sets and the 30 minutes or so afterwards. Clouds roll in and engulf the peak only to move out and leave the promise of a little color. Color looks promising only to have clouds blot it out last minute.
After having clouds do exactly that for the last hour, there was a break and things opened up right before the sun actually set. Intense color for a short while, but long enough to get a few shots. Here is one.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - Downsampled from 1998x3552 | K-putt's merger of boulotaur's injector and CeeJay.dk's SweetFX 1.5 /w Kyo's injFX postsharpening | timestop | custom FOV | no-HUD.
Desaturation plantation and texture obfuscation. I hope you'll allow these in the group, mods. No free cam, but basic wallhuggery.
Slow ambient distortion. A portrait of Andy Warhol dissolving like burning film. Is it really Warhol?
Telamons are the human-shaped columns on the façade of buildings. They can be load-bearing or simply decorative. Here they adorn the east-facing façade of one of the buildings of the Bank of England. I was lucky enough once to meet a (retired) employee of The Bank. I did ask what they did there all day. My enquiry was met with polite obfuscation. Wonderfully pleasant chap though.
Thank you for any and all views, faves, invites to groups, comments and constructive critique. I’m not keen on: invitations to post 1 award 3; copy and paste comments (you know who you are); or links to your work. If you like my images there is a good chance I will like yours and I tend to reciprocate views as a matter of courtesy and personal interest. All my images are my own original work, under my copyright, with all rights reserved. This means asking the owner's permission, and obtaining it, before using the image for ANY purpose.
Olympia, Washington
Photo by Ana
The photo is of me holding a sign during a weekly peace vigil that I participate in.
The war was based on knowingly false pretenses. Iraq did not attack the USA. Iraq, in fact, did not pose a threat, or even so much as threaten to attack the USA. As such, the US invasion of Iraq was aggression. The occupation is a war of aggression. Hence, it is illegal. (The war is also undeclared, which makes it even further illegal.)
There is an abundance of information, publicly available, in order to make the claim that members of the Bush Administration knowingly made false statements to craft the conditions necessary for invasion. Numerous false statements were made over a period of years in order to attempt to draw a connection between the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein and Usama bin Laden's al Qaeada. They lied for the purpose of creating an environment of acceptability for war.
These connections between Saddam Hussein and UBL, as well as statements about an alleged threat to the USA from Iraqi WMD, were blatantly misleading at best and malicious intentional conspiracy to defraud the United States at worst.
Here are some links:
1) The center for Public Integrity released a study that chronicled over 900 false statements (in regard to the threat from Iraq), which were made by members of the Bush Administration during a period of two years following September 11th, 2001 when the WTC towers were destroyed. www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/
2) The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134.stm
3) Lt Ehren Watada refused to deploy to Iraq because of his belief, which is based on a deep and careful understanding of the war, that the war is illegal. His website is a great resource about the legal problems in re: the war in Iraq. www.thankyoult.org/
4) Human Rights and Constitutional Rights (HRCR) has a collection of links and information to help ground yourself in the legal understanding of what constitutes an illegal war: www.hrcr.org/hottopics/Iraq.html
There are so many resources available. For example you can start by perusing any one of these websites.
check out Elizabeth de la Vega's indictment "United States v. George Bush et al." www.tomdispatch.com/post/143205/elizabeth_de_la_vega_indi...
Also see The New Yorker section on Iraq www.newyorker.com/reporting/index/Iraq/?yrail
Seymour Hersh writing on Iraq: www.google.com/search?q="seymour+hersh"+iraq
Seymour Hersh in Berkeley, October 8, 2004: www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/10/11_hersh.shtml
Seymour M. Hersh as Contributor to The New Yorker: www.newyorker.com/magazine/contributors/seymour_m_hersh
Article about David Addington by Jane Meyer "The Hidden Power" www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/03/060703fa_fact1
Robert Fisk: www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/
From the McClatchy Washington Bureau:
washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/ (written by Iraqi journalists in Baghdad)
Inter Press Service ipsnews.net/
Harper's Magazine Online: harpers.org
The Nation: www.thenation.com
Raed in the Middle: raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com
...and so many others, too many to list...
Complete withdrawal must be the goal. The best avenue toward achieving that goal is to restore stable civil society in Iraq. Stable civil society can be achieved through economic opportunity. Economic opportunity can flourish when the basic elements of civilian infrastructure are up and running, schools, hospitals, water, sewage, electricity. The US military will be able to make a responsible - a gradual - withdrawal in the presence of a stable civil society (one that is not rooted in bribes and corruption.)
The US military must stop using bribes, and weapons as incentives. The mission must be changed from fighting an insurgency, because antagonism will only serve to provoke animosity and opposition. The US must begin the process of rebuilding the civilian infrastructure - much of which remains in a state of disrepair.
70% of Iraqis do not have reliable, safe or consistent access to potable water (www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/21753.html also see www.oxfam.org/en/news/2007/pr070730_iraq_humanitarian_cri.... This does not reconstruction make.
There is a humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
Reconstruct Iraq. Show the Iraqi people that the US cares for their well-being. We have the power. Now we have our mission. Let's make it so.
[May 11th 2008, I found a link to this important story attached to another photo: Read this: Dick Cheney's Song of America: Drafting a plan for global dominance
An essay exploring the real origins of the Iraq War, written before the war started.
by David Armstrong,
Harper's Magazine]
Additionally, please refer to Vincent Bugliosi's new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder: www.prosecutionofbush.com/
Update August 2008: additional reference: Ron Suskind's The Way of the World, which documents an Administration effort to use forged documents to justify the war.
[Warning: Some of the below comments are offensive, belligerent, and abusive. Please be advised before reading further.
Update: Commentators who were engaging in obfuscation, and offensive, dishonest, harassing commentary have been blocked. Their commentary has subsequently been removed.]
English, Français, Español, Italiana, Japanese, 日本語
Upon arrival, clouds were still hanging throughout the summer night sky. You could almost feel summer slipping away while taking this shot. The temps slipped into the 50's and it started to have a crisp autumn feeling about it. Luckily, the clouds parted enough for a shot of the Milky Way, and allowed me some time for shooting the stars in their travels.
À l'arrivée , les nuages étaient encore suspendus dans tout le ciel de la nuit d'été . Vous pouvez presque sentir l'été dérobe tout en prenant ce plan . Les temps glissés dans les années 50 et il a commencé à avoir un sentiment d'automne croquante à ce sujet . Heureusement , les nuages se séparèrent assez pour un tir de la Voie Lactée , et m'a permis un peu de temps pour tirer les étoiles dans leurs déplacements .
A su llegada, las nubes estaban todavía colgando por todo el cielo de la noche de verano. Casi podía sentir el verano escapando mientras tomo este tiro. Las temperaturas cayeron en la década de los 50 y comenzó a tener una sensación crujiente del otoño al respecto. Por suerte , las nubes se abrieron lo suficiente para un tiro de la Vía Láctea , y me permite algún tiempo para fotografiar las estrellas en sus viajes.
All'arrivo , nuvole erano ancora appesi in tutto il cielo notturno estivo . Si poteva quasi sentire estate scivolare via durante l'assunzione di questo filmato . Le temps scivolato in 50 e ha cominciato ad avere una sensazione di autunno croccante su di esso . Per fortuna , le nubi si aprirono abbastanza per un colpo della Via Lattea , e mi ha permesso un po ' di tempo per le riprese le stelle nei loro viaggi.
到着すると、雲はまだ夏の夜空全体にぶら下がりました。あなたは、ほぼこのショットをしながら夏は離れて滑り感じることができました。タンは、 50年代に滑って、それはそれについてのさわやかな秋の感じがし始めました。幸いなことに、雲は天の川のショットのために十分な別れ、その旅行で星を撮影するために私にいくつかの時間を可能にしました。
Tōchaku suru to, kumo wa mada natsu no yozora zentai ni burasagarimashita. Anata wa, hobo kono shotto o shinagara natsu wa hanarete suberi kanjiru koto ga dekimashita. Tan wa, 50-nendai ni subette, sore wa sore ni tsuite no sawayakana aki no kanji ga shi hajimemashita. Saiwaina koto ni, kumo wa amanogawa no shotto no tame ni jūbun'na wakare, sono ryokō de hoshi o satsuei suru tame ni watashi ni ikutsu ka no jikan o kanō ni shimashita.
Strictly speaking, not encrustation at all, but I like the word and if you look at the really large (original) size of this then the little knobbles on the salt surface are rather good!
Either the last or the penultimate image from this visit to the Salar de Uyuni. The cloud cover that morning was particularly good, with some interesting variations in colour as the Sun approached the horizon and I have one a few minutes later which is similar but different enough to maybe upload.
A soon to be former McDonald's at Village Plaza along 1065 Easton Avenue, pictured here in June 2020.
This oddly mint-capped McDonald's was likely once red-roofed and opened at Village Plaza in 1975, though official town records remain mostly obfuscated.
This location was planned to close in June 2024, after several decades of familiar operation, will now extend its long overdue expiration for a few weeks longer as its newer location puts finishing touches at its nearby Rutgers Plaza, nearly across the street.
The newly-built gray box will replace an equally aged and vacated, former 70's era Burger King, was demolished for its construction, which was approved in November 2022.
Very few "vintage" capped McDonald's that haven't submitted to gray kiosk hell can now be counted on one hand in the state of New Jersey.
“The shuttles release parachutes and then fire rockets for a soft landing on Mars. As the new crew arrives, the old crew leaves to rendezvous with the main spacecraft for the return voyage.”
Wow…who knew??? I didn’t. Did you???
Ranging from the artist, Carter Emmart (I think…possibly), if so, identified only because several of his works pertaining to this striking & creative series of who knows how many works (to include this one), eluded NASA/JPL? obfuscation, it apparently being part of the Mars Foundation’s “Mars Homestead Project”…still viewable FOR NOW (only as thumbnails), from its apparently defunct website…is this “available”.
Bits & pieces of this stunning visual record are strewn all over the place, with no rhyme or reason. The fact that this is one of many images of a storyboard is the only PASS NASA/JPL gets for the cursory caption. Other than that, yet another EPIC FAIL for preservation of [fill in the blank]. This is what’s available at the abysmal NASA Image/Video “library”, when searching on the root “AC87-0736-“ photo identification number:
images.nasa.gov/search-results?q=AC87-0736-&page=1&am...
And this, at one of multiple defunct NASA sites. AT LEAST they accidentally got this right, as it’s “being kept online for historical purposes”:
www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2004/mars/mars.html
It’s still TOTAL BS.
I GET IT - you can’t preserve, record, log, document, describe, etc., etc., everything. STILL – from my inconsequential foxhole – I’ve seen absolutely MINIMAL improvement, results, effort??? of such. At least since I’ve been posting my crap to the internet vacuum…and that’s been since 2016. I reiterate, that’s from MY foxhole, which I also acknowledge don’t mean shit & has NO weight.
YET, I’ve come across (at the active/’maintained’ website above) an absurd abundance of recent/contemporary, bland and IMHO, inconsequential images of otherwise great Americans performing mundane tasks at NASA, seemingly taken with the camera in burst mode…and it’s like W – T – F - OVER?! Those seem to be uploaded in earnest.
IN-FU-RI-A-TING.
One of the disjointed, standalone, but pertinent & informative tidbits:
Biconic Aerocapture Vehicle
Huh?
A combination of that, parachutes AND powered descent? Really? Seems excessive, but cool.
Slide no. 20:
www.slideserve.com/maeko/aerobraking
Credit: "SlideServe" website