Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:31am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here, I am standing beside the wooden decked viewing platform, looking over towards Mt Baker in Washington State, USA from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Koma Kulshan, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

  

These Canada Geese, along with many other small groups, fly across the lake from East to West every morning and back again every evening at Sunset, and I love to watch the classic Vee formations and listen to the honking as they pass me by. In flight, a group of Geese are called, a Skein.

  

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Nikon D800 116mm 1/500s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.80s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.85s

ALTITUDE: 7.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 13.80MB

  

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on April 21st 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/549152417 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eight metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:41am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here, I am standing beside the wooden decked viewing platform, looking over towards Mt Baker in Washington State, USA from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Koma Kulshan, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

  

The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792. Also known by the Lummi as Kwud-Shad, and Koba (meaning 'high mountain always covered with snow', was the Skagit name.

  

These Canada Geese, along with many other small groups, fly across the lake from East to West every morning and back again every evening at Sunset, and I love to watch the classic Vee formations and listen to the honking as they pass me by. In flight, a group of Geese are called, a Skein.

 

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Nikon D800 70mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.79s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.85s

ALTITUDE: 7.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 13.56MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

  

Photograph taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 07:46am), at an altitude of Zero metres, at 07:35am on Tuesday December 9th 2014 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

  

A very chilly morning on the beach, around One degree, and a bracing wind that pounded flesh and bones, but well worth the one and a half hour journey there to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.

  

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Nikon D800 18mm 1/1.6S f/14.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 15.44s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 30.85s

ALTITUDE: 0.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 23.99MB

  

Processing power:

HP Pavillion P6-2388EA Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD 7570 graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

 

Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty five metres, during the first vestiges of dawn light prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:38am), at 03:54am on Thursday 12th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane and Eagle Heights in the poppy field beside the Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the 'Bat & Ball' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. And first services began on 2nd June 1862. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley and the River Darent.

  

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Nikon D800 38mm 1/160s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Nikon RC-DC2 remote shutter release. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 4.54s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 51.89s

ALTITUDE: 65.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 19.72MB

  

Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.90 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

The Sleeping Giant is a rock formation visible in Sao Paulo state, Brazil more precisely in Pardinho, near the city of Botucatu.

Photograph taken at an altitude of Five metres, in the magic prior to the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:29am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here, I am standing beside the wooden decked viewing platform, looking over from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias) is a wading bird in the Heron family Ardeidae and found in North America, Central Ameria, the Caribean and Galapagos Islands. One of the largest of Herons, it has a head to tail length of 01-137 centimtres (36-54 inches) and a wingspan of 187-201 centimtres (66-79 inches). They are found where my family live, and naturally very wary of mankind, flying off as soon as you are within fifty to one hundred yards of them.

  

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Nikon D800 200mm 1/125s f/4.5 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.77s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.92s

ALTITUDE: 5.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 11.39MB

  

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

  

James Stewart ( James Maitland Stewart ) 1908 – 1997)

    

James Stewart was the movies' quintessential Everyman, a uniquely all-American performer who parlayed his easygoing persona into one of the most successful and enduring careers in film history. On paper, he was anything but the typical Hollywood star: Gawky and tentative, with a pronounced stammer and a folksy "aw-shucks" charm, he lacked the dashing sophistication and swashbuckling heroism endemic among the other major actors of the era. Yet it's precisely the absence of affectation which made Stewart so popular; while so many other great stars seemed remote and larger than life, he never lost touch with his humanity, projecting an uncommon sense of goodness and decency which made him immensely likable and endearing to successive generations of moviegoers....

 

by Jason Ankeny

 

www.allmovie.com

  

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American Feuillage.

 

by Walt Whitman

  

AMERICA always!

Always our own feuillage!

Always Florida’s green peninsula! Always the priceless delta of Louisiana! Always the

cotton-fields of Alabama and Texas!

Always California’s golden hills and hollows—and the silver mountains of New

Mexico!

Always soft-breath’d Cuba!

Always the vast slope drain’d by the Southern Sea—inseparable with the slopes

drain’d

by the Eastern and Western Seas;

The area the eighty-third year of These States—the three and a half millions of

square

miles;

The eighteen thousand miles of sea-coast and bay-coast on the main—the thirty

thousand

miles of

river navigation,

The seven millions of distinct families, and the same number of dwellings—Always

these,

and

more, branching forth into numberless branches;

Always the free range and diversity! always the continent of Democracy!

Always the prairies, pastures, forests, vast cities, travelers, Kanada, the snows;

Always these compact lands—lands tied at the hips with the belt stringing the huge

oval

lakes;

Always the West, with strong native persons—the increasing density there—the

habitans,

friendly, threatening, ironical, scorning invaders;

All sights, South, North, East—all deeds, promiscuously done at all times,

All characters, movements, growths—a few noticed, myriads unnoticed,

Through Mannahatta’s streets I walking, these things gathering;

On interior rivers, by night, in the glare of pine knots, steamboats wooding up;

Sunlight by day on the valley of the Susquehanna, and on the valleys of the Potomac and

Rappahannock, and the valleys of the Roanoke and Delaware;

In their northerly wilds, beasts of prey haunting the Adirondacks, the hills—or

lapping

the

Saginaw waters to drink;

In a lonesome inlet, a sheldrake, lost from the flock, sitting on the water, rocking

silently;

In farmers’ barns, oxen in the stable, their harvest labor done—they rest

standing—they are too tired;

Afar on arctic ice, the she-walrus lying drowsily, while her cubs play around;

The hawk sailing where men have not yet sail’d—the farthest polar sea, ripply,

crystalline, open, beyond the floes;

White drift spooning ahead, where the ship in the tempest dashes;

On solid land, what is done in cities, as the bells all strike midnight together;

In primitive woods, the sounds there also sounding—the howl of the wolf, the scream

of the

panther, and the hoarse bellow of the elk;

In winter beneath the hard blue ice of Moosehead Lake—in summer visible through the

clear

waters, the great trout swimming;

In lower latitudes, in warmer air, in the Carolinas, the large black buzzard floating

slowly,

high

beyond the tree tops,

Below, the red cedar, festoon’d with tylandria—the pines and cypresses, growing

out

of the

white sand that spreads far and flat;

Rude boats descending the big Pedee—climbing plants, parasites, with color’d

flowers

and

berries, enveloping huge trees,

The waving drapery on the live oak, trailing long and low, noiselessly waved by the wind;

The camp of Georgia wagoners, just after dark—the supper-fires, and the cooking and

eating

by

whites and negroes,

Thirty or forty great wagons—the mules, cattle, horses, feeding from troughs,

The shadows, gleams, up under the leaves of the old sycamore-trees—the

flames—with

the

black smoke from the pitch-pine, curling and rising;

Southern fishermen fishing—the sounds and inlets of North Carolina’s

coast—the

shad-fishery and the herring-fishery—the large sweep-seines—the windlasses on

shore

work’d by horses—the clearing, curing, and packing-houses;

Deep in the forest, in piney woods, turpentine dropping from the incisions in the

trees—There

are the turpentine works,

There are the negroes at work, in good health—the ground in all directions is

cover’d

with

pine straw:

—In Tennessee and Kentucky, slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge, by the

furnace-blaze, or

at the corn-shucking;

In Virginia, the planter’s son returning after a long absence, joyfully welcom’d

and

kiss’d by the aged mulatto nurse;

On rivers, boatmen safely moor’d at night-fall, in their boats, under shelter of high

banks,

Some of the younger men dance to the sound of the banjo or fiddle—others sit on the

gunwale,

smoking and talking;

Late in the afternoon, the mocking-bird, the American mimic, singing in the Great Dismal

Swamp—there are the greenish waters, the resinous odor, the plenteous moss, the

cypress

tree,

and the juniper tree;

—Northward, young men of Mannahatta—the target company from an excursion

returning

home at

evening—the musket-muzzles all bear bunches of flowers presented by women;

Children at play—or on his father’s lap a young boy fallen asleep, (how his lips

move! how

he smiles in his sleep!)

The scout riding on horseback over the plains west of the Mississippi—he ascends a

knoll

and

sweeps his eye around;

California life—the miner, bearded, dress’d in his rude costume—the stanch

California

friendship—the sweet air—the graves one, in passing, meets, solitary, just

aside the

horsepath;

Down in Texas, the cotton-field, the negro-cabins—drivers driving mules or oxen

before

rude

carts—cotton bales piled on banks and wharves;

Encircling all, vast-darting, up and wide, the American Soul, with equal

hemispheres—one

Love,

one Dilation or Pride;

—In arriere, the peace-talk with the Iroquois, the aborigines—the calumet, the

pipe

of

good-will, arbitration, and indorsement,

The sachem blowing the smoke first toward the sun and then toward the earth,

The drama of the scalp-dance enacted with painted faces and guttural exclamations,

The setting out of the war-party—the long and stealthy march,

The single-file—the swinging hatchets—the surprise and slaughter of enemies;

—All the acts, scenes, ways, persons, attitudes of These States—reminiscences,

all

institutions,

All These States, compact—Every square mile of These States, without excepting a

particle—you also—me also,

Me pleas’d, rambling in lanes and country fields, Paumanok’s fields,

Me, observing the spiral flight of two little yellow butterflies, shuffling between each

other,

ascending high in the air;

The darting swallow, the destroyer of insects—the fall traveler southward, but

returning

northward early in the spring;

The country boy at the close of the day, driving the herd of cows, and shouting to them as

they

loiter to browse by the road-side;

The city wharf—Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans, San

Francisco,

The departing ships, when the sailors heave at the capstan;

—Evening—me in my room—the setting sun,

The setting summer sun shining in my open window, showing the swarm of flies, suspended,

balancing

in the air in the centre of the room, darting athwart, up and down, casting swift shadows

in

specks

on the opposite wall, where the shine is;

The athletic American matron speaking in public to crowds of listeners;

Males, females, immigrants, combinations—the copiousness—the individuality of

The

States,

each for itself—the money-makers;

Factories, machinery, the mechanical forces—the windlass, lever, pulley—All

certainties,

The certainty of space, increase, freedom, futurity,

In space, the sporades, the scatter’d islands, the stars—on the firm earth, the

lands, my

lands;

O lands! all so dear to me—what you are, (whatever it is,) I become a part of that,

whatever it

is;

Southward there, I screaming, with wings slowly flapping, with the myriads of gulls

wintering

along

the coasts of Florida—or in Louisiana, with pelicans breeding;

Otherways, there, atwixt the banks of the Arkansaw, the Rio Grande, the Nueces, the

Brazos, the

Tombigbee, the Red River, the Saskatchawan, or the Osage, I with the spring waters

laughing

and

skipping and running;

Northward, on the sands, on some shallow bay of Paumanok, I, with parties of snowy herons

wading in

the wet to seek worms and aquatic plants;

Retreating, triumphantly twittering, the king-bird, from piercing the crow with its bill,

for

amusement—And I triumphantly twittering;

The migrating flock of wild geese alighting in autumn to refresh themselves—the body

of

the

flock feed—the sentinels outside move around with erect heads watching, and are from

time

to

time reliev’d by other sentinels—And I feeding and taking turns with the rest;

In Kanadian forests, the moose, large as an ox, corner’d by hunters, rising

desperately on

his

hind-feet, and plunging with his fore-feet, the hoofs as sharp as knives—And I,

plunging

at the

hunters, corner’d and desperate;

In the Mannahatta, streets, piers, shipping, store-houses, and the countless workmen

working in

the

shops,

And I too of the Mannahatta, singing thereof—and no less in myself than the whole of

the

Mannahatta in itself,

Singing the song of These, my ever united lands—my body no more inevitably united,

part to

part, and made one identity, any more than my lands are inevitably united, and made ONE

IDENTITY;

Nativities, climates, the grass of the great Pastoral Plains;

Cities, labors, death, animals, products, war, good and evil—these me,

These affording, in all their particulars, endless feuillage to me and to America, how can

I do

less

than pass the clew of the union of them, to afford the like to you?

Whoever you are! how can I but offer you divine leaves, that you also be eligible as I am?

 

How can I but, as here, chanting, invite you for yourself to collect bouquets of the

incomparable

feuillage of These States?

  

_____________________________________________

  

( manipulated by me, using an original photo of my private colection)

 

It is precisely the unity between idea and sensible form that constitutes the essence of the beautiful. - Es precisamente la unidad entre idea y forma sensible lo que constituye la esencia de lo bello. (Hegel)

St Ethelbert, Hessett, Suffolk

 

Hessett is a fairly ordinary kind of village to the east of Bury St Edmunds, but its church is one of the most important in East Anglia for a number of reasons, which will become obvious. Consider for one moment, if you will, the extent to which the beliefs and practices of a religious community affect the architecture of its buildings. Think of a mosque, for instance. Often square, expressing the democracy of Islam, but without any imagery of the human figure, for such things are proscribed. Think of a synagogue, focused towards the Holy Scriptures in the Ark, but designed to enable the proclaiming of the Word, and the way that early non-conformist chapels echo this architecture of Judaism - indeed, those who built the first free churches, like Ipswich's Unitarian Chapel, actually called them synagogues.

 

The shape of a church, then, is no accident. A typical Suffolk perpendicular church of the 15th century has wide aisles, to enable liturgical processions, a chancel for the celebration of Mass, places for other altars, niches for devotional statues, a focus towards the Blessed Sacrament in the east, a roof of angels to proclaim a hymn of praise, a large nave for devotional and social activities, and wall paintings of the Gospels and hagiographies of Saints, of the catechism and teachings of the Catholic Church. As Le Corbusier might have said if he'd been around at the time, a medieval church is a machine for making Catholicism happen.

 

No longer, of course. The radical and violent fracture in popular religion in the middle years of the 16th century gave birth to the Church of England, and the new church inherited buildings that were quite unsuitable for the new congregational protestant theology, a problem that the Church of England has never entirely solved.

 

Over the centuries, the problem has been addressed in different ways. The early reformers celebrated communion at a table in the nave, for example, and blocked off the chancel for other uses. Although this was challenged by the Laudian party in the early part of the 17th century, it was the way that many parishes reinvented their buildings, and most were to stay like that until the middle years of the 19th century. Some went further. A pulpit placed halfway down the nave, or even at the back of the church, meant that the seating could be arranged so that it no longer focused towards the east, thus breaking the link with Catholic (and Laudian) sacramentalism. For several centuries, Anglican churches focused on the pulpit rather than the altar.

 

With the coming to influence of the 19th century Oxford Movement, all this underwent another dramatic change, with the great majority of our medieval parish churches having their interiors restored to their medieval integrity, reinventing themselves as sacramental spaces. This is the condition in which we find most of them today, and some Anglican theologians are asking the question that the Catholic Church asked itself at Vatican II in the 1960s - is a 19th century liturgical space really appropriate for the Church of the 21st century?

 

So, let us hasten at once to Hessett. The church sits like a glowing jewel in its wide churchyard, right on the main road through the village. It is pretty well perfect if you are looking for a fine Suffolk exterior. An extensive 15th century rebuilding enwraps the earlier tower, which was crowned by the donor of the rebuilding, John Bacon.The nave and aisles are deliciously decorated, reminding one rather of the church at neighbouring Rougham, although this is a smaller church, and the aisles make it almost square. A dedicatory inscription on the two storey vestry in the north east corner bids us pray for the souls of John and Katherine Hoo, who donated the chancel and paid for the trimmings to the aisles. Their inscription has been damaged by protestant reformers, who obviously did not believe in the efficacy of prayers for the dead.

 

Although not comparable with that at Woolpit, the dressed stone porch is a grand affair, and a bold statement. You may find the south door locked, but if this is the case then the priest's door into the chancel is usually open. And in a way it is a good church to enter via the chancel, because in this way St Ethelbert unfolds its treasures slowly.You step into relative darkness - or, at least, it seems so in comparison with the nave beyond the rood screen. This is partly a result of the abundance of dark wood, and in truth the chancel seems rather overcrowded. The most striking objects in view are the return stalls, which fill the two westerly corners of the chancel. These are in the style of a college or school of priests, with their backs to the rood screen, but then 'returning' around the walls to the east. They are fine, and are certainly 15th or 16th century. But one of the stalls, that to the north, is different to the others, and seems slightly out of place. It is elaborately carved with faces, birds and foliage.

 

Mortlock thought that it might have been intended for a private house. The stall in front of it has heads on it that appear to be wearing 18th century wigs. The sanctuary is largely Victorianised, with a great east window depicting Saints. The south windows of the chancel depict a lovely Adoration scene by the O'Connors. The chancel is separated from the nave by the 15th century rood screen, which is elegantly painted and gilt on the west side, the beautifully tracery intricately carved above. The rood screen has been fitted with attractive iron gates, presumably evidence of Anglo-catholic enthusiasm here in the early 20th century, and you step down through them into the light. A first impression is that you are entering a much older space than the one you have left. There is an 18th century mustiness, enhanced by the box pews that line the aisles. And, beyond, on walls and in windows, are wonderful things.

 

The number of surviving wall paintings in England is a tiny fraction of those which existed before the 15th and 16th centuries. All churches had them, and in profusion. It isn't enough to say that they were a 'teaching aid' of a church of illiterate peasants. In the main, they were devotional, and that is why they were destroyed. However, it is more complicated than that. Research in recent years has indicated that many wall paintings were destroyed before the Reformation, perhaps a century before. In some churches, they have been punched through with Perpendicular windows, which are clearly pre-Reformation. In the decades after the Black Death, there seems to have been a sea change in the liturgical use of these buildings, a move away from an individualistic, devotional usage to a corporate liturgical one. There is a change of emphasis towards more education and exegesis. This is the time that pulpits and benches appear, long before protestantism was on the agenda. What seems to happen is that many buildings were intended now to be full of light, and devotional wall paintings were either whitewashed, or replaced with catechetical ones.

 

The decoration of the nave was the responsibility of the people of the parish, not of the Priest. The wall paintings of England can be divided into roughly three groups. Roughly speaking, the development of wall paintings over the later medieval period is in terms of these three overlapping emphases.

 

Firstly, the hagiographies - stories of the Saints. These might have had a local devotion, although some saints were popular over a wide area, and most churches seem to have supported a devotion to St Christopher right up until the Reformation.

 

Secondly came those which illustrate incidents in the life of Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin. Although partly pedagogical, they were also enabling tools, since private devotions often involved a contemplation upon them, and at Mass the larger part of those present would have been involved in private devotions. These scriptural stories were as likely to have been derived from apocryphal texts like the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew as from the actual Gospels themselves.

 

Lastly, there are catechetical wall paintings, illustrating the teachings of the Catholic church. It should not be assumed that these are dogmatic. Many are simply artistic representations of stories, and others are simplifications of theological ideas, as with the seven deadly sins and the seven cardinal virtues. Some warn against occasions of sin (gossiping, for example) and generally wall paintings provided a local site for discussion and exemplification.

 

To an extent, all the above is largely true of stained glass, as well, with the caveat that stained glass was more expensive, relied on local patronage, and often has this patronage as a subtext, hence the large number of heraldic devices and images of local worthies. But it was also devotional, and so it was also destroyed.

 

So - what survives at Hessett? The wall paintings first.

 

Starting in the south east corner of the nave, we have Suffolk's finest representation of St Barbara, presenting a tower. St Barbara was very popular in medieval times, because she was invoked against strikes by lightning and sudden fires. This resulted from her legend, for her father, on finding her to be a Christian, walled her up in a tower until she repented. As a result, he was struck by lightning, and reduced to ashes. She was also the patron saint of the powerful building trade, and as such her image graced their guild altars - perhaps that was the case here.

 

Above the south door is another figure, often identified as St Christopher, but I do not think that this can be the case. St Christopher is found nowhere else in Suffolk above a south door. The traditional iconography of this mythical saint is not in place here, and it is hard to see how this figure could ever have been interpreted as such. I suspect it is a result of an early account confusing the two images over the north and south doors, and the mistake being repeated in later accounts.

 

In fact, digital enhancement seems to suggest that there are two figures above the south door, overlapping each other slightly. The figure on the right is barefoot, that on the left is wearing a white gown. There appears to be water under their feet, and so I think this is an image of the Baptism of Christ. Perhaps it was once part of a sequence.

 

The wall painting opposite, above the north door, is St Christopher. Although it isn't as clear as himself at, say, nearby Bradfield Combust, he bestrides the river in the customary manner, staff in hand. The Christ child is difficult to discern, but you can see the fish in the water. Also in the water, and rather unusual, are two figures. They are rendered rather crudely, almost like gingerbread men. Could they be the donors of the north aisle, John and Katherine Hoo in person?

 

Moving along the north aisle, we come to the set of paintings for which Hessett is justifiably famous. They are set one above the other between two windows, at the point where might expect the now-vanished screen to a chapel to have been. The upper section was here first. It shows the seven deadly sins (described wrongly in some text books as a tree of Jesse, or ancestry of Christ). Two devils look on as, from the mouth of hell, a great tree sprouts, ending in seven images. Pride is at the top, and in pairs beneath are Gluttony and Anger, Vanity and Envy, Avarice and Lust. Mortlock suggests that some attempt has been made to erase the image for Lust, which may simply be mid-16th century puritan prurience on the part of some reformer here. This would suggest that this catechetical tool was here right up until the Reformation.

 

The idea of 'Seven Deadly Sins' was anathema to the reformers, because it is entirely unscriptural. Rather, as a catechetical tool, it is a way of drawing together a multitude of sins into a simplistic aide memoire. This could then be used in confession, taking each of them one at a time and examining ones conscience accordingly. It should not be seen simply as a 'warning' to ignorant peasants, for the evidence is that the ordinary rural people of late medieval England were theologically very articulate. Rather, it was a tool for use, in contemplation and preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation, which may well have ordinarily taken place in the chapel here.

 

The wall painting beneath the Sins is even more interesting. This is a very rare 'Christ of the Trades', and dates from the early 15th century, about a hundred years after the painting above. It is rather faded, and takes a while to discern, and not all of it is decodable. However, enough is there to be fascinating. The image of the 'Christ of the Trades' is known throughout Christendom, and contemporary versions with this can be found in other parts of Europe. It shows the risen Christ in the centre, and around him a vast array of the tools and symbols of various trades. One theory is that it depicts activities that should not take place on a Sunday, a holy day of obligation to refrain from work, and that these activities are wounding Christ anew.

 

Perhaps the most fascinating symbol, and the one that everyone notices, is the playing card. It shows the six of diamonds. Does it represent the makers of playing cards? If so, it might suggest a Flemish influence. Or could it be intended to represent something else? Whatever, it is one of the earliest representations of a playing card in England. Why is this here? It may very well be that there was a trades gild chantry chapel at the east end of the north aisle, and this painting was at its entrance.

 

At the east end of the north aisle now is the church's set of royal arms. Cautley saw it in the vestry in the 1930s, and identified it as a Queen Anne set. Now, with additions stripped away, it is revealed as a Charles II set from the 1660s, and a very fine one. It is fascinating to see it at such close range. Usually, they are set above the south door now, although they would originally have been placed above the chancel arch, in full view of the congregation, a gentle reminder of who was in charge.

 

And so to the glass, which on its own would be worth coming to Hessett to see. Few Suffolk churches have such an expanse, none have such a variety, or glass of such quality and interest. It consists essentially of two ranges, the life and Passion of Christ in the north aisle (although some glass has been reset across the church), and images and hagiographies of Saints in the south aisle.

 

In the north aisle, the scourging of Christ stands out, the wicked grins of the persecutors contrasting with the pained nobility of the Christ figure. In the next window, Christ rises from the dead, coming out of his tomb like the corpses in the doom paintings at Stanningfield, North Cove and Wenhaston. The Roman centurion sleeps soundly in the foreground.

 

The most famous image is in the east window of the south aisle. Apparently, it shows a bishop holding the chain to a bag, with four children playing at his feet. I say apparently, because there is rather more going on here than meets the eye. The reason that this image is so famous is that the small child in the foreground is holding what appears to be a golf club or hockey stick, and this would be the earliest representation of such an object in all Europe. The whole image has been said to represent St Nicholas, who was a Bishop, and whose legends include a bag of gold and a group of children.

 

Unfortunately, this is not the case. St Nicholas is never symbolised by a bag of gold, and there are three children in the St Nicholas legend, not four. In any case, the hand in the picture is not holding the chain to a bag at all, but a rosary, and the hockey stick is actually a fuller's club, used for dyeing clothes, and the symbol of St James the Less.

 

What has happened here is that the head of a Bishop has been grafted on to the body of a figure which is probably still in its original location. The three lights of this window contained a set of the Holy Kinship. The light to the north of the 'Bishop' contains two children playing with what ae apparently toys, but when you look closely you can see that one is holding a golden shell, and the other a poisoned chalice. They are the infant St James and St John, and the lost figure above them was their mother, Mary Salome.

 

This means that the figure with the Bishop's head is actually Mary Cleophas, mother of four children including St James the Less. The third light to the south, of course, would have depicted the Blessed Virgin and child, but she is lost to us.

 

Not only this, but Hessett has some very good 19th Century glass which complements and does not overly intrude. The best is beneath the tower, the west window in a fully 15th Century style of scenes by Clayton & Bell. The east window, depicting saints, is by William Warrington, and the chancel also has the O'Connor glass already mentioned.

 

If the windows and wall paintings were all there was, then Hessett would be remarkable enough. But there is something else, two things, actually, that elevate it above all other Suffolk churches, and all the churches of England. For St Ethelbert is the proud owner of two unique survivals. At the back of the church is a chest, no different from those you'll find in many a parish church. In common with those, it has three separate locks, the idea being that the Rector and two Churchwardens would have a key each, and it would be necessary for all three of them to be present for the chest to be opened. It was used for storing parish records and valuables.

 

At some point, one of the keys was lost. There is an old story about the iconoclast William Dowsing turning up here and demanding the chest be opened, but on account of the missing key it couldn't be. Unfortunately, this story isn't true, for Dowsing never recorded a visit Hessett. The chest was eventually opened in the 19th century. Inside were found two extraordinary pre-Reformation survivals. These are a pyx cloth and a burse. The pyx cloth was draped over the wooden canopy that enclosed the blessed sacrament (one of England's four surviving medieval pyxes is also in Suffolk, at Dennington) before it was raised above the high altar. The burse was used to contain the host before consecration at the Mass. They are England's only surviving examples, and they're both here. Or, more precisely they aren't, for both have been purloined by the British Museum, the kind of theft that no locked church can prevent.

 

But there are life-size photos of both either side of the tower arch. The burse is basically an envelope, and features the Veronica face of Christ on one side with the four evangelistic symbols in each corner. On the other is an Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. The survival of both is extraordinary. It is one thing to explore the furnishings of lost Catholic England, quite another to come face to face with articles that were actually used in the liturgy.

 

In front of the pictures stands the font, a relatively good one of the early 15th century, though rather less exciting than everything going on around it. The dedicatory inscription survives, to a pair of Hoos of an earlier generation than the ones on the vestry.Turning east again, the ranks of simple 15th century benches are all of a piece with their church. They have survived the violent transitions of the centuries, and have seated generation after generation of Hessett people. They were new here when this church was alive with coloured light, with the hundreds of candles flickering on the rood beam, the processions, the festivals, and the people's lives totally integrated with the liturgy of the seasons. For the people of Catholic England, their religion was as much a part of them as the air they breathed. They little knew how soon it would all come to an end.

 

And so, there it is - one of the most fascinating and satisfactory of all East Anglia's churches. And yet, not many people know about it. We are only three miles from the brown-signed honeypot of Woolpit, where a constant stream of visitors come and go. I've visited Hessett many times, and never once encountered another visitor. Still, there you are, I suppose. Perhaps some places are better kept secret. But come here if you can, for here is a medieval worship space with much surviving evidence of what it was actually meant to be, and meant to do.

Precisely configured

Radiation domain

Administrative division

Think "Holland" and you've probably already conjured the iconic images of tulips and windmills. More precisely, the very specific windmills you're envisioning right now are that of Kinderdijk.

Though it may sound odd for how technical and pragmatic the region proved to be, the name Kinderdijk translates in Dutch to mean "children's dike." According to local legend, after a particularly terrible flood in the 15th century, a lone basket was left floating in an inundated canal. Upon closer inspection, a cat was found bounding from one side of the basket to the other in an effort to keep it balanced, for inside rested an orphaned baby. The cat had kept the babe afloat, safe and sound during its journey… Thus giving the world the folktale "The Cat and the Cradle" in addition to the village of Kinderdijk its name.

Back in the modern day, visitors will find 19 historically authentic windmills scattered across Kinderdijk's canal-riddled landscape. With their sails raised to the skies (coming to rest in formations that communicate across the bogs in a language of semafors), one could be forgiven for believing these are creatures beholden to the air. What history reveals, in fact, is that the Netherlands' famous windmills are well-disguised creatures of the sea, without which the nation's famously innovative water management system would not have been possible.

Sometime in the 13th century, Zuid-Holland's peat rivers ceased to drain as they had been, creating a pattern of flooding that devastated the beautiful landscape at Alblasserwaard, which already existed below sea level. Berms were built to prevent flooding, but pumping stations needed to be constructed to continue water flow from low to high areas; hence, the 19th windmills still seen today.

Nowhere else in the world offers a complete portrait of early water management like that of Kinderdijk, which accounts for UNESCO's inclusion of the site among its World Heritage as of 1997 for its "unique character." Thanks to its truly groundbreaking unification of sea and sky, plus the added bonus of a world-renowned folktale, a visit to Kinderdijk is the sort of treasure that offers something for dreamers and pragmatists alike. www.atlasobscura.com/places/windmills-of-kinderdijk

 

"The portal of the former Jesuit college with sculptural decoration by Jan Kašpar Pröbstl. A piece of Baroque architecture, valuable in both architectural and artistic terms.

 

The portal was transferred to the chancel of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary from its original location - the second, so-called cardinal's courtyard of the Jesuit college. The architecture of the portal was probably created in the 1670s, more precisely after 1673, when Jan Křtitel Ern was recommended to the administrator of the foundation of Countess Johanna Františka Priska Magnisová for the establishment of an educational and training institute for noble girls - Prince Ferdinand Josef Dietrichstein. The prince commissioned Ern with the construction of the institute for noble girls (1674 - 1679) and also, in the role of donor, with the design and implementation of the portal of the Jesuit college. The implementation took place in the years 1687 - 1690, the portal was simultaneously supplemented with sculptural decoration by Jan Kašpar Pröbstl. The cartouche with the Dietrichstein emblems commemorates both one of the greatest supporters of the Brno Jesuits - Cardinal František Dietrichstein (1570–1636), and the donor of, among other things, the portal of the Jesuit college - Prince Ferdinand Josef Dietrichstein (1636–1698). After the abolition of the Jesuit order by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, the college premises initially housed an orphanage, and in 1778 the Ferdinand and Tiefenbach Academy, which had been merged the previous year from the former Olomouc Jesuit boarding school, moved here - the "collegium nobilium" ("estate academy"), which is reminiscent of the inscription and the year on the middle cartouche. The name Ferdinand refers to Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg, who in 1624 founded a foundation with its headquarters in the Jesuit boarding school in Olomouc, financed from the income of the Nový Jičín estate. The name Teifeenbach commemorates the personality of Rudolf, the free lord of Teufenbach (Tiefenbach), who in his will of 24 July 1650 stipulated, among other things, that if the holders of the Drnholec estate substituted by him or their male successors by the sword died out, a foundation – a noble knight's school – would be established in Moravia from the estate's income. In April 1762, the owner of the Drnholec estate, František Adam, Count of Trautmannsdorf, died without successors and specific steps regarding the establishment of a noble school began to be discussed. In October 1763, Empress Maria Theresa ordered that the inmates supported by the Drnholec income be divided into several Viennese academies or colleges (Theresianum, Savoy Academy, Military Academy and Löwenburg Convent). The foundation operated in this form until 1777. By a decree of the court office of 18 October 1776, it was decided that the 16 Teufenbach foundation places would be transferred from Vienna to the Olomouc noble boarding school and merged with the Ferdinand Foundation. By a court decree of 2 May 1778, the merged noble academy was transferred to Brno, see the date on the cartouche. A decree of the court office of 5 April 1782 ordered the relocation of the Brno academy to Vienna and its connection with Theresian. After 1782, the premises of the Brno Jesuit college served as barracks and a riding school. In 1904–1906, the entire premises, except for the church, were renovated and the portal was relocated. The resulting area was subsequently built up to its present form.

 

Portal with a semicircular arched entrance opening with a profiled lintel and acanthus vault, with winged angel heads in the beets. The entrance opening is closed with a wrought iron grille with a motif of scrolls and monograms MRA, IHS and IPH. On both sides, on a plinth decorated with diamond-shaped decoration and provided with an inlaid profiled cornice, there are associated pilasters with a strip bossage. The pilasters are topped with a cornice capital carrying a twisted entablature with a frieze decorated with garlands of flowers and fruit, in the middle a cartouche in an acanthus frame with an angel head at the top, bearing the gilded capital inscription COLLEGIUM / NOBILIUM / FERDINANDEO / TEIFEENBACHIA / NUM / MDCCLXXVIII. Above the cartouche an Austrian double-headed eagle with gilded scepters and a label with the letters MT ("Maria Theresa") on its chest. Above the frieze, a profiled cornice with the gilded date A. MDCXC is inlaid, carrying a segmental pediment that has been bent several times. At the top of the pediment, on a pedestal, stands the archangel Michael dressed in Roman armor, on both sides of the pedestal are cartouches with acanthus frames and the Dietrichstein emblems. The archangel holds the jewels of these emblems in his hands - a cardinal's hat in his right, a princely crown in his left. On the sides, statues of two saints on pedestals - viewed from the left, St. Ignatius of Loyola dressed in a chasuble decorated with a rich floral ornament and the IHS monogram, in his left hand he holds an open book with the gilded inscription AD / MAIO / REM / DEI / GLO / RIAM. Viewed from the right, a statue of St. Francis Xavier dressed in a clerical robe, a rochet and a pluvial with a stole around his neck, in his left hand he holds lilies." - info from the National Heritage Institute.

 

"The Jesuit Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is located in the Brno-střed district of Brno in the cadastral area of the City of Brno. It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

 

In the Middle Ages, a nunnery called Cella Sanctae Mariae, professing the order of St. Augustine, stood on this site, which was founded in 1240 by the town wall by the burgher Oldřich Niger and which was called the Herburg Monastery after the first prioress of Herburga. Its Gothic church of the Virgin Mary burned down during construction and was rebuilt in 1280. The monastery ceased to exist in 1578, when the remaining nuns left for Pustiměř and the buildings were handed over to the Jesuits. They created a Jesuit college from the area and began to rebuild the complex. In 1599, they began construction of a new church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the Mannerist style and four years later it was consecrated.

 

Between 1662 and 1668, the Jesuits who were active there at the time had the church rebuilt and expanded according to the design of Jan Křtitel Erna. In 1732–1733, the church was renovated by another prominent Brno architect, Mořic Grimm, and then the interior was renovated.

 

The Jesuits abandoned the church and the college after the abolition of the order in 1773. The monastery then served as a barracks and the church as a military church. As part of the renovation of old Brno, the entire area of the Jesuit college was demolished in 1904, leaving only its entrance portal and the entire church. Like many other Brno churches, this one was seriously damaged during the bombing of the city during World War II. However, it was repaired again in the following years.

 

Brno (/ˈbɜːrnoʊ/ BUR-noh, Czech pronunciation: [ˈbr̩no]; German: Brünn [bʁʏn]) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after the capital, Prague, and one of the 100 largest cities in the European Union. The Brno metropolitan area has approximately 730,000 inhabitants.

 

Brno served as the capital of Moravia from the Middle Ages until 1948, and remains the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region. Brno is an important centre of the Czech judiciary. The Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, as well as state authorities, such as the Ombudsman and the Office for the Protection of Competition, are all located here. Brno is also an important centre of learning and higher education, with 10 universities, 29 faculties and a student population of over 65,000, as well as more than 60 secondary schools throughout the city.

 

The Brno Exhibition Centre is one of the largest in Europe. The complex opened in 1928 and has a long history of hosting international trade fairs and expositions. The Masaryk Circuit has been hosting motorsport events since 1930, including the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix. Another local tradition is the international fireworks competition and drone show Ignis Brunensis, which attracts over a million visitors annually.

 

Two medieval landmarks, the historic Špilberk Castle and its fortifications, as well as the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Petrov Hill, dominate the cityscape and are seen as Brno's traditional symbols. Another historic landmark is the Veveří Castle near the Brno Reservoir. The Villa Tugendhat, a seminal example of functionalist architecture, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List in 2001. One of the natural sights outside the city is the Moravian Karst. Brno is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was designated a "City of Music" in 2017.

 

Moravia (Czech: Morava [ˈmorava]; German: Mähren) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.

 

The medieval and early modern Margraviate of Moravia was a crown land of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from 1348 to 1918, an imperial state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1004 to 1806, a crown land of the Austrian Empire from 1804 to 1867, and a part of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. Moravia was one of the five lands of Czechoslovakia founded in 1918. In 1928 it was merged with Czech Silesia, and then dissolved in 1948 during the abolition of the land system following the communist coup d'état.

 

Its area of 22,623.41 km2 is home to about 3.2 million of the Czech Republic's 10.8 million inhabitants. The people are historically named Moravians, a subgroup of Czechs, the other group being called Bohemians. The land takes its name from the Morava river, which runs from its north to south, being its principal watercourse. Moravia's largest city and historical capital is Brno. Before being sacked by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War, Olomouc served as the Moravian capital, and it is still the seat of the Archdiocese of Olomouc. Until the expulsions after 1945, significant parts of Moravia were German speaking." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

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It is precisely this noisy chaotic mind that keeps us ignorant of the deeper reality of God as the ground of our being. This ignorance is pervasive and renders us like the proverbial deep-sea fisherman, who spends his life fishing for minnows while standing on a whale.

-Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land

The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis or precisely, the remains of it in its modern appearance.

 

Built between 447-438 BC (decoration extended until 432) and dedicated to Athene, also Pallas Athene and/or Athene Parthenos, as thanks to the goddess for the Hellenic victory over the Persian Invaders.

 

The Parthenon was commissioned by the Athenian politician Pericles as a part of a wider building program on the Acropolis to resemble the power and ambitions of Athens within the Delian League and Greece as a whole.

 

It is considered the most important surviving building of Classical Greece and as the zenith of the Doric order. The Parthenon was further richly ornate with highly detailed Metopes and Pediments as well as the famous Frieze.

 

Since 1975 the Greek government initiated the restoration of the over 2.500 years old monument. The efforts to restore and conserve this site are a continuing process to the present day.

 

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An offering at the entrance to a tomb in one of the underground burial complexes in Yagul (more precisely, Tomb 30, beneath Patio 4). Occupied since the Late Formative period, the Zapotec site of Yagul reached its apogee in the latter Postclassic period (13th-16th century)

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin

 

Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region (formerly County Dublin), as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.

 

There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Later expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.

 

Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Guinness

 

Arthur Guinness (24 September 1725 – 23 January 1803) was an Irish brewer and the founder of the Guinness brewery business and family. He was also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

 

At 27, in 1752, Guinness's godfather Arthur Price, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel, bequeathed him £100 in his will. Guinness invested the money and in 1755 had a brewery at Leixlip, just 17 km from Dublin. In 1759, Guinness went to the city and set up his own business. He took a 9,000-year lease on the 4-acre (16,000 m2) brewery at St. James's Gate from the descendants of Sir Mark Rainsford for an annual rent of £45.

 

Guinness's flowery red signature is still copied on every label of bottled Guinness.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Storehouse

 

Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over four million visitors.

 

The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. The ground floor introduces the beer's four ingredients (water, barley, hops and yeast), and the brewery's founder, Arthur Guinness. Other floors feature the history of Guinness advertising and include an interactive exhibit on responsible drinking. The seventh floor houses the Gravity Bar with views of Dublin and where visitors may drink a pint of Guinness included in the price of admission, which was €18.50 on 15 October 2018 with discounts depending on dates and times, described as "overpriced" by Condé Nast Traveler. In 2006, a new wing opened incorporating a live installation of the present-day brewing process.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Brewery

 

St. James's Gate Brewery (Irish: Grúdlann Gheata Naomh Séamuis) is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a British company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is Guinness Draught.

 

Originally leased in 1759 to Arthur Guinness at IR£45 (Irish pounds) per year for 9,000 years, the St. James's Gate area has been the home of Guinness ever since. It became the largest brewery in Ireland in 1838, and the largest in the world by 1886, with an annual output of 1.2 million barrels. Although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it remains as the largest brewer of stout. The company has since bought out the originally leased property, and during the 19th and early 20th centuries the brewery owned most of the buildings in the surrounding area, including many streets of housing for brewery employees, and offices associated with the brewery. The brewery also made all of its own power using its own power plant.

 

There is an attached exhibition on the 250-year-old history of Guinness, called the Guinness Storehouse.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness

 

Guinness is a dark Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to 850 million litres (220,000,000 US gal). It is popular with the Irish, both in Ireland and abroad. In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is still the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth annually.

 

Guinness' burnt flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the grist until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness's palate still features a characteristic "tang", the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The draught beer's thick, creamy head comes from mixing the beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.[6]

 

The company moved its headquarters to London at the beginning of the Anglo-Irish Trade War in 1932. In 1997, Guinness Plc merged with Grand Metropolitan to form the multinational alcoholic-drinks producer Diageo plc, based out of London.

Well, foothills dog more precisely, but with mountains in the background.

 

As I left for the park yesterday at noon the sky was starting to clear and I was seeing spots of blue. By the time I got to the park clouds had taken over and everything was overcast.

 

I crancked up the ISO and we still made the best out of it.

Modern Solstice Celebrations at Stonehenge and Almendres by Daniel Arrhakis (2026)

  

I - Modern Solstice Celebrations at Stonehenge

 

Today, the English Heritage institution opens the monument to the public with free access on the Summer Solstice (night of June 20-21) and the Winter Solstice (December 21). This is the only time of year when visitors can freely walk around and touch the inside of the stone circle.

 

The ceremonies are led by neo-Druidic and pagan groups, operating under a very specific dynamic:

 

The Awakening Ritual: Modern Druids—dressed in their traditional white robes or Celtic cloaks—form concentric circles and play drums, conch shells, and wooden flutes before dawn.

 

Salutation to the Sun: The climax occurs precisely at the moment the sun rises aligned with the Heel Stone. Druids recite medieval Welsh poems, swear oaths of protection to Mother Earth, and share pomegranates and libations (symbols of rebirth).

 

Cultural Eclecticism: Although rooted in Druidic tradition, the event attracts a vibrant mix of shamans, yogis, New Age enthusiasts, tourists, and curious onlookers. The atmosphere oscillates between a solemn religious cult and a peaceful community celebration.

 

Strict Rules: To protect the animistic and archaeological space, the organization prohibits fire, tents, sound amplifiers, and alcohol consumption, keeping the experience focused on a pure connection with nature and the silence of dawn.

 

Recitations and Oaths

 

The recitations and oaths uttered by modern Druids at Stonehenge during the solstices are based on the reconstruction and adaptation of ancient Celtic texts, primarily Welsh and Irish.

 

Although original Druidism was purely oral, these contemporary rituals draw on medieval literature preserved by Christian monks from the 12th century onwards.

 

Below are the most commonly used practical examples in ceremonies at the Stonehenge stones:

 

The Cry for Peace (The Opening of the Ritual)

 

No Druidic ritual can begin without establishing an intention of peace with the spirits of nature and the sacred directions (North, South, East, West). The bard or ritual leader turns to each cardinal point, raises their arms, and proclaims in Welsh and English:

 

In Welsh: "Heddwch ym mhedwar ban y byd!" Translation: "Peace in the four corners of the world!"

 

Meaning: This appeal pacifies the spirits of the place (the Genii Locorum or Genius Loci) and ensures that the stone circle becomes a safe space for spiritual communion.

 

2. Recitation of the Medieval Poem: The Song of Amergin

 

This is undoubtedly the most iconic text recited during sunrise at Stonehenge. Although its origin is Irish mythology (attributed to the bard Amergin), the text is a pillar of universal Celtic animistic philosophy, where the druid affirms his total fusion with all the living elements of Mother Earth:

 

"I am the wind that blows over the sea,

 

I am the ocean wave,

 

I am the murmur of the waters,

 

I am the bull of seven battles,

 

I am the vulture on the rock,

 

I am a tear of the sun,

 

I am the most beautiful of plants,

 

I am the wild boar,

 

I am the salmon in the water,

 

I am the lake on the plain..."

 

Practical action: While these lines are recited in a trance-like state, the druids play a drum in a slow rhythm that mimics the Earth's heartbeat.

  

3. The Oath of Protection to Mother Earth (The Druid's Prayer)

 

Originally written in the 18th century by Iolo Morganwg (a central figure in the Welsh Druidic revival) based on medieval concepts, the Druid's Prayer (Gweddi'r Derwydd) is the formal oath sworn at Stonehenge to seal the alliance with nature:

 

The Traditional Text:

 

"Grant, O Goddess/God, Thy protection;

 

And in protection, strength;

 

And in strength, wisdom;

 

And in wisdom, knowledge;

 

And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice;

 

And in knowledge of justice, the love of it;

 

And in that love, the love of all existences;

 

And in love of all existences, the love of Mother Earth and all Creation."

 

4. The Invocation of Awen (The Sacred Essence)

 

The poetic and sonic climax occurs at the exact moment the first ray of sunlight touches the central stone of the monument. The entire Druidic congregation joins hands and chants the word AWEN (a medieval Welsh term meaning "divine inspiration" or "fluid breath").

 

How it is practiced: The word is chanted in a prolonged manner, divided into three distinct and harmonious syllables: Ah-Oh-Wen.

 

The Effect: The sound echoes among the megaliths of Stonehenge, functioning as a mantra vibration that the Druids believe aligns the energy of human bodies with the energetic frequency of the Earth itself and the cosmos.

  

II - The Solstice Celebrations in Almendres (Portugal)

 

The Specific Alignment of the Almendres Menhir

 

The Almendres Menhir was not erected in isolation in the landscape. It functions as an ancient astronomical "sight" in perfect harmony with the main cromlech.

 

The alignment is strict and purely solstitial:

 

The Visual Phenomenon: If an observer stands on top of the Almendres Cromlech enclosure and looks towards the northeast (where the menhir is about 1.4 km away), the imaginary line of sight coincides geometrically with the sunrise on the summer solstice.

 

The Practical and Spiritual Significance: This alignment transformed the complex into an authentic prehistoric agricultural calendar. On the longest day of the year, when the sun seemed to "rise from above" the menhir, the animist community knew that the earth's ripening cycle had reached its peak and that it was harvest time.

 

Modern Celebrations in Évora

 

Similar celebrations and dynamics exist in Évora, although they operate on a much more intimate scale and are markedly different from that of Stonehenge. Unlike the massive event in the United Kingdom, the Alentejo region focuses on two complementary aspects:

 

1. Spiritual Rituals and Alternative Community

 

On the dawn of the summer solstice (June 20-21), dozens of people spontaneously gather at the Almendres Cromlech.

 

The Atmosphere: Groups associated with New Age spirituality, shamanism, neopaganism, and meditation enthusiasts spread their mats among the monoliths to await the sunrise.

 

The Practices: Sun salutations, rituals with shamanic drums, and circles of silence are practiced to absorb the telluric energy of the monument. It is a peaceful, organic experience without formal stages.

 

2. Official Scientific and Cultural Initiatives

 

The Évora City Council and local archaeology associations usually organize the annual "Summer Megalithic Solstice" program.

 

Guided Tours: These are guided tours at dawn or dusk led by astronomers and archaeologists. The aim is to explain in the field how the stones functioned as real time markers.

 

Expansion to the Circuit: The initiatives are not limited to Almendres. They often extend to other neighboring stone temples that share the same cosmic orientation, such as the Megalithic Enclosure of Vale Maria do Meio or that of Portela de Mogos.

  

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I - As Celebrações Modernas do Solstício em Stonehenge

  

Hoje em dia, a instituição English Heritage abre o monumento ao público com acesso livre e gratuito no Solstício de Verão (noite de 20 para 21 de junho) e no Solstício de Inverno (21 de dezembro). É a única altura do ano em que os visitantes podem caminhar livremente e tocar no interior do círculo de pedras.

 

As cerimónias são lideradas por grupos neodruídicos e pagãos, funcionando sob uma dinâmica muito específica:

 

O Ritual do Despertar: Os Druidas modernos — vestidos com as suas tradicionais túnicas brancas ou capas celtas — formam círculos concêntricos e tocam tambores, búzios e flautas de madeira antes do amanhecer.

 

Saudação ao Sol: O clímax ocorre exatamente no instante em que o sol nasce alinhado com a Heel Stone (Pedra do Calcanhar). Os druidas recitam poemas galeses medievais, fazem juramentos de proteção à Mãe-Terra e partilham romãs e libações (símbolos de renascimento).

 

Ecletismo Cultural: Embora a raiz seja druídica, o evento atrai uma mistura vibrante de xamãs, iogues, entusiastas da New Age, turistas e curiosos. A atmosfera oscila entre um culto religioso solene e uma celebração comunitária pacífica.

 

Regras Estritas: Para proteger o espaço animista e arqueológico, a organização proíbe fogo, tendas, amplificadores de som e consumo de álcool, mantendo a experiência focada na ligação pura com a natureza e o silêncio da alvorada.

  

Recitações e Juramentos

  

As recitações e os juramentos proferidos pelos druidas modernos em Stonehenge durante os solstícios baseiam-se na reconstrução e adaptação de textos celtas antigos, sobretudo galeses e irlandeses.

 

Embora o Druidismo original fosse puramente oral, estes rituais contemporâneos recorrem à literatura medieval preservada por monges cristãos a partir do século XII.

 

Abaixo encontram-se os exemplos práticos mais utilizados nas cerimónias junto às pedras de Stonehenge:

  

1. O Grito de Paz (A Abertura do Ritual)

 

Nenhum ritual druídico pode começar sem estabelecer uma intenção de paz com os espíritos da natureza e as direções sagradas (Norte, Sul, Este, Oeste). O bardo ou líder do ritual vira-se para cada ponto cardeal, ergue os braços e proclama em galês e inglês:

 

Em galês: "Heddwch ym mhedwar ban y byd!"Tradução: "Paz nos quatro cantos do mundo!"

 

Significado: Este apelo pacifica os espíritos do local (os Genii Locorum ou Genius Loci) e garante que o círculo de pedras se transforma num espaço seguro para a comunhão espiritual.

  

2. Recitação do Poema Medieval: A Canção de Amergin

  

Este é, sem dúvida, o texto mais icónico recitado durante o nascer do sol em Stonehenge. Embora a sua origem seja mitológica irlandesa (atribuída ao bardo Amergin), o texto é um pilar da filosofia animista celta universal, onde o druida afirma a sua fusão total com todos os elementos vivos da Mãe-Terra:

 

"Eu sou o vento que sopra sobre o mar,

 

Eu sou a onda do oceano,

 

Eu sou o murmúrio das águas,

 

Eu sou o touro de sete combates,

 

Eu sou o abutre na rocha,

 

Eu sou uma lágrima do sol,

 

Eu sou a mais bela das plantas,

 

Eu sou o javali bravo,

 

Eu sou o salmão na água,

 

Eu sou o lago na planície..."

  

Ação prática: Enquanto estas linhas são recitadas em tom de transe, os druidas tocam um tambor num ritmo lento que mimetiza o bater do coração da Terra (Earth's heartbeat).

 

3. O Juramento de Proteção à Mãe-Terra (A Oração do Druida)

  

Escrita originalmente no século XVIII por Iolo Morganwg (uma figura central no renascimento druídico galês) com base em conceitos medievais, a Oração do Druida (Gweddi'r Derwydd) é o juramento formal proferido em Stonehenge para selar a aliança com a natureza:

 

O Texto Tradicional:

 

"Concede, ó Deusa/Deus, a Tua proteção;

 

E na proteção, a força;

 

E na força, a sabedoria;

 

E na sabedoria, o conhecimento;

 

E no conhecimento, o conhecimento da justiça;

 

E no conhecimento da justiça, o amor por ela;

 

E nesse amor, o amor por todas as existências;

 

E no amor por todas as existências, o amor pela Mãe-Terra e por toda a Criação."

  

4. A Invocação de Awen (A Essência Sagrada)

  

O clímax poético e sonoro acontece no momento exato em que o primeiro raio de sol toca a pedra central do monumento. Toda a congregação druídica une as mãos e entoa a palavra AWEN (um termo galês medieval que significa "inspiração divina" ou "sopro fluido").

 

Como é praticado: A palavra é cantada de forma prolongada, dividida em três sílabas distintas e harmoniosas: Ah-Oh-Wen.

 

O Efeito: O som ecoa por entre os megálitos de Stonehenge, funcionando como uma vibração mântrica que os druidas acreditam alinhar a energia dos corpos humanos com a frequência energética da própria Terra e do cosmos.

  

II - As Celebrações dos Solstícios Em Almendres

  

O Alinhamento Específico do Menir dos Almendres

 

O Menir dos Almendres não foi erguido de forma isolada na paisagem. Ele funciona como uma "mira" astronómica milenar em perfeita harmonia com o cromeleque principal.

 

O alinhamento é estrito e puramente solsticial:

 

O Fenómeno Visual: Se um observador se colocar no topo do recinto do Cromeleque dos Almendres e olhar em direção ao nordeste (onde o menir se encontra a cerca de 1,4 km de distância), a linha de vista imaginária coincide de forma geométrica com o nascer do sol no Solstício de Verão.

 

O Significado Prático e Espiritual: Este alinhamento transformava o complexo num autêntico calendário agrícola pré-histórico. No dia mais longo do ano, quando o sol parecia "nascer de cima" do menir, a comunidade animista sabia que o ciclo de maturação da terra tinha chegado ao topo e que era tempo de colheita.

  

Celebrações Modernas em Évora

 

Existem celebrações e dinâmicas semelhantes em Évora, embora funcionem a uma escala muito mais íntima e marcadamente diferente da de Stonehenge. Ao contrário do evento massivo no Reino Unido, o Alentejo aposta em duas vertentes complementares:

 

1. Rituais Espirituais e Comunidade Alternativa

  

Na madrugada do solstício de verão (20 para 21 de junho), dezenas de pessoas reúnem-se espontaneamente no Cromeleque dos Almendres.

 

A Atmosfera: Grupos associados à espiritualidade New Age, xamanismo, neopaganismo e entusiastas de meditação estendem os seus tapetes por entre os monólitos para aguardar a alvorada.

 

As Práticas: Praticam-se saudações ao sol, rituais com tambores xamânicos e círculos de silêncio para absorver a energia telúrica do monumento. É uma vivência pacífica, orgânica e sem palcos formais.

  

2. Iniciativas Científicas e Culturais Oficiais

  

A Câmara Municipal de Évora e associações locais de arqueologia costumam organizar o programa anual "Solstício Megalítico de Verão".

 

Visitas Comentadas: São visitas guiadas ao amanhecer ou ao entardecer conduzidas por astrónomos e arqueólogos. O objetivo é explicar no terreno como as pedras funcionavam como marcadores de tempo reais.

 

Alargamento ao Circuito: As iniciativas não se fecham apenas nos Almendres. Estendem-se muitas vezes a outros templos de pedras vizinhos que partilham a mesma orientação cósmica, como o Recinto Megalítico de Vale Maria do Meio ou o de Portela de Mogos.

   

A big day for me as at precisely 11.38am today the views on my Flickr photo stream hit the magical 1,000,000!

A huge THANK YOU" to every single person who has ever taken the time to view, favourite and comment on my photos. It truly does mean a lot to me and gives me the inspiration to keep shooting. I hope that you've all enjoyed looking at my stream as much as I have enjoyed creating it. Here's to the next Million!

 

Most viewed photo.... flic.kr/p/cS6DTW

These sculptures by Bernar Venet are precisely as described by the title: beams of steel rolled into 230.5 degree arcs. Throughout his career, Venet works to define art and to separate himself from the idea that art is the expression of the artist. For him the most important element in the work of art is the concept or idea involved. In his recent work, Venet creates works based on mathematical graphs and formulas. In mathematics, Venet discovered a language of symbols that satisfied his desire to create art that is non-expressive and not subject to personal interpretation.

 

Bernar Venet was born in Château-Arnoux, France, in 1941. In 1958, at 17, Venet moved to Nice to study at the Ville Thiole, the municipal art school. He immersed himself in the cultural life in Nice and became an assistant to the decorator at the Nice City Opera.

 

Over the course of the next two decades, he explored painting, poetry, film, and dance, and was attracted in particular to pure science as a subject for art. In 1979 Venet began a series of wood reliefs, Arcs, Angles, Diagonals, and created the first of his Indeterminate Lines. That same year, he was awarded an artist grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1984, he started working at the Atelier Marioni, a foundry and ironworks in the Vosges region of France. Five years later, he acquired a steel factory in Le Muy in the Var region of France, where he fabricated and installed his work on the surrounding property.

 

Venet's work can be seen in major museums and collections throughout the world, including the Denver Art Museum; Fondation Mourtala, Dakar, Senegal; Milwaukee Art Museum; He Xiangning Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea; Jumex Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

A point of view which is readily lost sight of - if one has even

thought of it - when defending those who refuse the celestial Messages, is precisely the very appearance of the Messengers; now, to paraphrase or to cite some well-known formulas, "he who has seen the Prophet has seen God"; "God became man in order that man might become God".

 

One has to have a very hardened heart not to be able to see this upon contact with such beings; and it is above all this hardness of heart that is culpable, far more than ideological

scruples.

 

The combination of holiness and beauty which characterizes

the Messengers of Heaven is, so to speak, transmitted from the human theophanies to the sacred art which perpetuates it: the essentially intelligent and profound beauty of this art testifies to the truth which inspires it; it could not in any case be reduced to a human invention as regards the essential of its message. Sacred art is Heaven descended to earth, rather than earth reaching towards Heaven.

 

A line of thought close to this one which we have just presented is the following, and we have made note of it more than once: if men were stupid enough to believe for millenia in the divine, the supernatural, immortality -assuming these are illusions- it is impossible that one fine day they became intelligent enough to be aware of their errors; that they became intelligent, no one knowing why, and without any decisive moral acquisition to corroborate this miracle. And likewise: if men like the Christ believed in the supernatural, it is impossible that men like the Encyclopedists were right not to believe in it.

 

Sceptical rationalism and titanesque naturalism are the two great abuses of intelligence, which violate pure intellectuality as well as a sense of the sacred; it is through this propensity that thinkers "are wise in their own eyes" and end by "calling evil good, and good evil" and by "putting darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20 and 21); they are also the ones who, on the plane of life or experience, "put bitter for sweet", namely the love of the eternal God, and "sweet for bitter", namely the illusion of the evanescent world.

 

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From the Divine to the Human by Frithjof Schuon

 

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Image: Meeting of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir in Moscow in 1395 icon

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On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015)

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 1st 2016

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/507740760 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,798th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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This photograph was taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 07:39am), at an altitude of Four metres, at 07:22am on Thursday January 28th 2016 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

  

I set off at 05:00am on a clear morning, the moon and the stars out to dazzle in temperatures around five degrees, on a pleanst hour and half long journey to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.

  

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Nikon D800 14mm 1/20s f/4.5 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 19.65s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 15.65s

ALTITUDE: 4.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 16.22MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

  

“It measures just 9 inches in circumference, weighs only about 5 ounces, and is made of cork wound with woolen yarn, covered with two layers of cowhide, and stitched by hand precisely 216 times.

 

“It travels 60 feet 6 inches from the pitcher’s mound to home -- and it can cover that distance at nearly 100 miles an hour. Along the way it can be made to twist, spin, curve, wobble, rise, or fall away.

 

“The bat is made of turned ash, less than 42 inches long, not more than 2-½ inches in diameter. The batter has only a few thousandths of a second to decide to hit the ball. And yet the men who fail seven times out of ten are considered the game’s greatest heroes.

 

“Baseball is played everywhere: in parks and playgrounds and prison yards, in back alleys and farmer’s fields, by small children and old men, by raw amateurs and millionaire professionals.

 

“It is a leisurely game that demands blinding speed, and the only one in which the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.

 

“Americans have played baseball for more than 200 years, while they conquered a continent, warred with one another and with enemies abroad, struggled over labor and civil rights and the meaning of freedom.

 

“At the game’s heart lie mythic contradictions: a pastoral game, born in crowded cities; an exhilarating democratic sport that tolerates cheating and has excluded as many as it has included; a profoundly conservative game that somehow manages to be years ahead of its time.

 

“It is an American odyssey that links sons and daughters to fathers and grandfathers. And it reflects a host of age-old American traditions: between workers and owners, scandal and reform, the individual and the collective.

 

“It is a haunted game in which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before. Most of all, it is about time and timelessness, speed and grace, failure and loss, imperishable hope -- and coming home.”

 

-- Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, Baseball: An Illustrated History (1994)

 

I purchased this baseball glove in 1989, the year my son Colin was born. When he was growing up, I spent countless hours playing ball with him, many of them in a large meadow a short distance down the road from our home in Ohio. (We called that place the Elysian Fields.) The glove has also accompanied me to many baseball games over the years, in all of which I have been a spectator rather than a participant, because between a bad eye and a lack of coordination, I simply can't play the game. But that didn't stop me from being a fan.

 

The ball is one my son caught when it was hit into the stands during a rookie-league game in Zanesville, Ohio sometime in the mid-1990s. It was signed by a few members of the local team, the Zanesville Grays, which has since been disbanded.

 

I have not followed baseball much in recent years, owing to a considerable amount of personal hardship which has distracted much of my attention, coupled with a sense of revulsion at such developments as the steroid scandal, the ridiculous and still-skyrocketing players' salaries, and the changes, such as interleague play and the extra round of playoffs, which the powers-that-be have imposed on a game so deeply rooted in tradition. But in spite of all that, I know that my enthusiasm for the game is still there somewhere, waiting just below the surface for someone or something to come along and revive it.

 

The glove, unfortunately, has seen little use for some time, partly because Colin is no longer living with us, and partly because I have developed arthritis in my hands -- especially in my left, or glove, hand. But I will always hang on to it, as it has great sentimental value for me, and I will always associate it with good experiences, as well as a host of cherished memories.

 

For this colorful backdrop, I used one of my two Mexican blankets.

In 50+ years I'd seen precisely one 904 / GTS, if it wasn't a fake, and after 10 minutes in the paddock, here were TWO, and a third appeared not much later! These are pretty rare, the production run was about 100 with the factory keeping some for themselves. About 120 serial numbers were used for them. One was dropped vertically from a pole to satisfy US collision testing requirements, so only 119 ever made it to the road, in any sense.

 

I was stunned to realize, 3/5/14, that I'd actually seen 4 (FOUR) different Carrera GTS' at RennSport Reunion IV... 3 are silver, #18, #33, #12, and one is white with red rockers between the wheels. How cool is that?? so I've made sure each is tagged "Carrera GTS" and has "#12" or whatever in its tag too.

  

Most people call the GTS coupes "Porsche 904", which they might have started as... They were intended to get the 901 (we know it as 911) 6 cylinder motor and if they had, all, gotten the 901 motor, we'd all call them 904s and that would be the end of it.

 

But the 901 motor wasn't ready when the 904 chassis was ready to go as a customer racing car... so all the production coupes had the Carrera 4 4-cam, 4 cylinder engine. People had paid money and expected racing cars, and so 100+ (some say 120) were assembled and most were sold. One was dropped vertically (nose first) to simulate a front-end collision- a USA requirement I believe.

 

When the 2.0l 901 six was finally released for production, it was a brand new design making baby steps, with a single overhead cam for each bank of cylinders, whereas the Carerra 4 was a known and fully developed giant killer. The shaft-driven cams were a mechanical masterpiece or nightmare, depending on your prejudices, but it was light and powerful. The factory DID put the six into some 904s and muddied the water by calling them "906s". When they started working on the new engine, it was soon making good horsepower, and promising even more than that. Oops. Suddenly, the 904 buyer who had accepted a Carrera GTS had an obsolete racing car that was less than 18 months old.

The 901 motor would have fit just fine, but the cost of a retrofit wasn't in the cards. There had been enough customer interest to see a second set of wheels, hubs and suspension pieces ordered for a second batch of GTSs, but besides the engine issues, it was now clear that the machine-sprayed fiberglass bodies, made by Dornier Aerospace, were inconsistent in weight and strength. (The same issue just about killed Lotus's contemporary coupe - which is why the Elan roadster got a "backbone" steel frame that the drive train and all 4 wheels were attached to...)

Worse, even perfect bodies, bonded directly to the stamped steel rail frame, made the frame un-inspectable corrosion bait. It was time to retrench.

 

Family member Ferdinand Peitch (one of Ferry's nephews, a son of his sister), now head of VW, was put in charge of the racing / engineering effort and he cancelled the Carerra GTS second series. A new car, which we usually call a 906, was quickly schemed around the 901 six cyilinder motor and the Carrera GTS wheels and suspension parts now arriving. Peitch walked back Porsche's racing car technology to the tried and proven tube frame with unstressed bodies. Fiberglass bodies, removable so that the frame could be inspected. Well... he then decreed that Porsche would build new cars for each significant race, and sell them to customers after the race. As used racing cars, utility and maintenance issues were more clearly the owners problems, but the customer got the latest and greatest technology, no lag between factory and private owners.

 

All of this messed-up the name of these cars AND the "Carrera 6" which is usually (but incorrectly) called "906". , all the production "Carrera 6s" had the 6 cylinder 901 motor, but the factory raced GTS's with the six and the Carrera 6s with the 8 cylinder from the F2/F1 car.... Growing pains.

 

Very few people remember today that the 912 (nee 902) with the 4 cylinder, pushrod, Super 90 motor, outsold the 911 (nee 901) 2:1 in the first year they were available. 912s would be discontinued when the VW-Porsche 914 entered production. It was available with a VW-based 4 or a Porsche 901 6... and there were half-year 912E's (with the VW-based, Porsche-headed 914 4) between the 914 and 924... more growing pain.

 

DSC_0129

Sometimes you think the world is so full of conflict, near and far, that the only mechanism we have is to switch off and now with so much instant news we have become quite adept at switching off. It is precisely because we are now so exposed to information that the attention span has decreased so dramatically in the last twenty years. In the fifteen years from 2000 to 2015 our attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8.25 which is quite alarming, far more alarming than climate change as humans now have an attention span less than a goldfish. The result of this is we are more prone to be influenced by sound bites and snippets and this is being manipulated by extremists on both the right and left.

Back in 2005 I paid a visit to Dachau, the first German Concentration Camp and I was amazed to discover that originally the camps was set up in 1933 to house political opponents of the National Socialist Party – Nazi Party. These were mainly trade unionists, communists and socialists. In was later the Nazis developed a murderous hatred for the Jews with Kristallnacht in November 1938 and in 1942 The Final Solution to the Jewish Question resulted in the Holocaust killing 90% of Polish Jews and two thirds of all European Jews. In excess of six million men, women and children.

In 2011 we paid a visit to Krakow in Southern Poland and went Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz was very similar to Dachau and again it was originally used to suppress Polish opposition to the Nazis. Birkenau was built as a murder camp and is only 3 kilometres from the original camp.

Auschwitz- Birkenau Death Camp.

Auschwitz is probably one of the world’s most infamous places and no matter how much knowledge you may or may not have of history, nothing can prepare a person for the visit to such a place. The level of atrocities carried out are indescribable, the sadistic cruelty beyond comprehension by any reasonable individual. Initially established to house prisoners opposed to The Third Reich, Auschwitz was later the centre of the Nazis so called Final Solution of The Jewish Problem. At least one million, one hundred thousand people were murdered there, 90% were Jews from all over Europe. These people were herded together and transported in cattle wagons and shipped by rail to Auschwitz and Birkenau in the most inhumane conditions. Many never made it there.

Auschwitz was the original camp, a disused army barracks converted, this now houses the State Museum of Auschwitz with many harrowing exhibits of Nazi cruelty. It was here the SS tortured and starved prisoners and Dr Joseph Mengele carried out his experiments. Cyclone B was discovered here in an attempt to kill lice as this was becoming a problem as prisoners themselves and their conditions deteriorated. In experimenting with the chemical, it was developed as a very quick and efficient way of killing humans by suffocation

Birkenau is massive and was built as a killing factory. Seventy-five per cent of arrivals were instantly condemned to death, by the flick of the finger of the SS Officer. These were gassed in the gas chambers built specially for this purpose. All children under fourteen and the infirm or disabled were immediately disposed of. The other twenty-five per cent were the young and fit and they were put to work but three months was a long time to last. The diet had an intake of 1500 calories a day and the work was for fourteen hours a day, it didn’t take long just to starve to death, just three months for the young and strong.

No matter what a person’s political or religious views may be, nobody could be unaffected by a visit to Auschwitz- Birkenau and while it is important to pay respect to those who suffered, it is more important we never forget and insure this cannot happen again.

On a recent visit to Berlin I came across some brass cobbles in the pavement outside the apartment we were staying. They had the names and some details of parents and a child, some research unearthed the following. The cobbles are called a sett and are 10cms x 10cms and the brass memorial ones are called Solpersteine which is translated as stumbling stones. The Solpersteine Project is a work by the German artist Gunther Demnig in which he sets brass cobbles inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution.to commemorate outside the last place people they lived freely. Most of the Solpersteine are for Jews but also included are other victims of Nazi terror like gypsies and homosexuals.

From further research on the Solpersteine outside Weigandufer 30 in NeuKolln I discovered the occupants were a Jewish couple Kurt Bujakowsky, his wife Dina and their daughter Stephanie

Kurt was born in 1902 and Dina in 1904, both were Secular Jews. Kurt worked as an editorial assistant, they fled to Vienna in 1936 to escape the Nazis. Their daughter Stephanie was born the following year. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria forcing the couple to move again, this time with their daughter to France. The family enjoyed a happy life in France but shortly after France fell to the Nazis. In 1941, the first raids against Jews was ordered by the Nazis and conducted by the French police. The victims of these raids were transferred to Drancy. There is much evidence about the brutality of the French guards in Drancy. The Bujakowskys were rounded up and imprisoned in Drancy. The conditions of life were extremely difficult. From there the Bujakowskys were deported to Auschwitz with Transport 30 from Drancy on September 9, 1942. They were murdered in Auschwitz in 1942, Stephanie aged 5, like all other children, would have been killed immediately on arrival as would the parents unless they were very fit, then they would be put to work and worked to death. It seems like the Nazis followed them all over Europe

Back to Neukolln-Berlin and the Solpersteine Project at Weigandufer. The street is now a very leafy walk along the Neukokolln Ship Canal in what is becoming a very fashionable area. The canal is beautiful with lots of cafes and plenty of seating but the tranquillity was jolted when you realise that our daughter and son in law now live in the same apartment building as Kurt and Dina and we have a beautiful grand daughter who is just about the same age as Stephanie was when she was murdered in Auschwitz by the Nazis. Some times it takes a little sound bite or a snippet to remind you of past events and that is exactly what Gunther Deming had in mind when in 1962 he planted the first Solpersteine, now there are over 70,000.

 

November 2019

... more precisely Sake and and Maguro.

 

View On Black

The scene is very dramatic. Two people seem beaten to the ground, one man stands above them in an attacking pose. Right behind an elderly man who calmly looking out from the image. Image depth is shallow and ends abruptly. Aris Kalaizis (born Leipzig, 1966) performs his paintings with photographs as a starting point and it is precisely this feeling that he is looking for. The unexplained and unfinished. What we see is very real, realistically portrayed, but still no clues. As in a troubled dream. Kalaizis' art associated with the so-called New Leipzig School, which is characterized by realism, but with the abstract qualities and with themes that include Germany after reunification.

 

[Oil on canvas, 150 x 180 cm]

 

gandalfsgalleymodern.blogspot.com/2011/06/aris-kalaizis-f...

50 Synonyms and Idioms for “Give”

by Mark Nichol

It’s better to give than to receive, and it’s easier to precisely describe giving than receiving, thanks to numerous synonyms for give. Here are dozens of them, with connotative definitions.

 

1. Accord: to give what is due

2. Administer: to give medication, to perform a religious ritual, or to carry out a punishment

3. Afford: to give in a manner consistent with the giver, usually something inanimate (for example, “The complication afforded us additional time to prepare”)

4. Allot: to give a portion or share, or by lottery

5. Apportion: to give in shares

6. Award: to give something that is deserved

7. Bestow: to give as a gift, with the possible connotation of condescension

8. Chip in: see contribute

9. Comp: to give something free that is normally paid for (a truncation of complimentary)

10. Confer: to give graciously

11. Contribute: to give among other providers or supporters

12. Convey: to give something originating from one party to another party

13. Deliver: to give something to the intended recipient

14. Devote: to give something useful or valuable

15. Dispense: see administer and allot

16. Dish out: to give criticism; also see administer and allot

17. Distribute: to give to a number of recipients

18. Dole (out): to give in small amounts

19. Donate: to give to an organization or other entity as an act of charity

20. Endow: to give an income to someone, or to give money for long-term maintenance or support

21. Endue (or indue): see endow and provide

22. Extend: to give so as to make available; see also proffer

23. Fork over (or fork out or fork up): to give money

24. Furnish: see provide and supply

25. Grant: to give consent or to concede; see also bestow and transfer

26. Hand down: to give an inheritance, either of material goods or of characteristics

27. Hand out: to distribute

28. Hand over: to give something intended for or due to another

29. Impart: to give from a supply

30. Kick in: see contribute

31. Lavish: to give generously

32. Mete (out): see dole (out)

33. Offer: to make available, or to give an exhibition or performance

34. Pay: to give in exchange for a product or a service, or to give or forfeit as penalty, or to give something intangible such as attention

35. Pitch in: see contribute

36. Present: to give in a ceremonial or formal manner

37. Produce: see offer

38. Proffer: see offer and tender

39. Provide: to make available

40. Pungle (up): see contribute and pay

41. Render: to give in return or retribution; see also administer, deliver, pay, and yield

42. Reward: to give in return for a service

43. Sacrifice: to give something at a loss or to give something for a belief or an ideal or for a purpose

44. Supply: see provide

45. Tender: to give something that is to be accepted

46. Transfer: see convey

47. Transmit: see convey

48. Volunteer: to give services freely

49. Vouchsafe: to give a reply, or to grant as a favor or privilege; see also bestow

50. Yield: to give as is appropriate or required, or to surrender oneself or a possession

 

www.dailywritingtips.com/50-synonyms-and-idioms-for-give/

 

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When I came to Mississippi, in my head this was what I was looking for, though I had no real conception of precisely what it might be until I found it. And until you actually experience it you wouldn't ever really know. Robert plays authentic North Mississipi 'Hill Country Blues' as it has been played for something like 90 years or so since the days of Mississippi Fred McDowell. He grew up in the Mississippi hill country and primarily self taught according to his own words learnt his trade by watching and listening to older players such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker decades before they became internationally famous.

 

When I got to Red's juke joint in Clarksdale (see below) I was lucky enough to find a seat directly in front of the performing space. Robert played from 8.30 pm to well after midnight non stop except for a small break, regaling the audience with stories and anecdotes of his colourful life in between songs. During that break when I stood up to go and shake his hand and ask to buy a cd (personally autographed on the spot) and have a short chat with this blues legend I had to walk barely three paces across the floor and yet there have been times when I heard lesser music being performed in vast and grand auditoriums. But Robert has had his share of fame having appeared in various documentaries on the blues and having at least one of his songs on the soundtrack of a major feature film.

 

Below are a couple of his own compositions:

 

My Baby's Gone

 

Hill Stomp

   

Photograph taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 07:46am), at an altitude of Two metres, at 07:38am on Tuesday December 9th 2014 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

  

This view looks onwards towards Kingsgate Bay and the impressive architecture of Kingsgate Castle which was built in the 1760's.

  

A very chilly morning on the beach, around One degree, and a bracing wind that pounded flesh and bones, but well worth the one and a half hour journey there to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.

  

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Nikon D800 18mm 1/60S f/3.5 iso200 RAW (14Bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 15.47s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 31.26s

ALTITUDE: 2.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 16.70MB

  

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion P6-2388EA Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD 7570 graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

We must beware of converting needs into ends, interests into norms. The task is precisely the opposite: it is to convert ends into needs, to convert the divine commandment into a human concern. Religion is not a way of satisfying needs. It is an answer to the question: Who needs man? It is an awareness of being needed, of man being a need of God. It is a way of sanctifying the satisfaction of authentic needs.

-Insecurity of Freedom

by Abraham Joshua Heschel

 

My mother is and is not like any other mother to me, and the Bible is and is not like any other book to me. A pianist should study musicology but remain an artist. The words of the Bible are not made of paper. In order to know them I must submit them to my judgment; in order to understand them I must stand under their judgment. The Hebrew Bible is quoted in sermons but is absent from minds. Its intellectual relevance is ignored. Its way of thinking has not affected modern man and has remained, it seems, outside the intellectual concern of many present-day theologians. What we face is a profound alienation from the Bible. The prophets’ categories have become unknown and strange. To believe, we need God, a soul, and the Word. Having rejected the notion of the Bible as a paper pope, many are left with the Bible as a collection of ill-composed records on a mass of paper. The Bible is holiness in words. How are we to preserve within our involvement in critical studies the awareness of the holy; how are we to cultivate the understanding that the authority of the Bible is not merely an issue of either philology or chronology? More decisive than the dogmatic attempt to define the date and authorship of the biblical documents is the openness to the presence of God in the Bible. Such openness is not acquired offhand. It is the fruit of hard, constant care, of involvement; it is the result of praying, seeking, craving. Where and how is modern man guided to search for it today? The words are still with us. Scripture may have vanished from our hearts. Yet the miracle of re-engagement is possible.

- Insecurity of Freedom

by Abraham Joshua Heschel

 

Engineers Tom Huber (behind MIRI) and Mick Wilks (inside black ISIM Structure) check that MIRI is integrated precisely. The engineers have to make sure that MIRI, the only instrument on the Webb telescope that 'sees' mid-infrared light, is precisely positioned so that it and the other instruments can glimpse the formation of galaxies and see deeper into the universe than ever before.

 

Photo Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn; Text Credit: NASA/Laura Betz

 

----

 

Engineers worked meticulously to implant the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument into the ISIM, or Integrated Science Instrument Module, in the cleanroom at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. As the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb telescope will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. It will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the first galaxies formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars.

 

For more information, visit: www.jwst.nasa.gov

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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This photograph was taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 07:39am), at an altitude of One metres, at 07:29am on Thursday January 28th 2016 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

  

I set off at 05:00am on a clear morning, the moon and the stars out to dazzle in temperatures around five degrees, on a pleanst hour and half long journey to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.

  

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Nikon D800 23mm 1/100s f/3.5 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 18.24s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 13.35s

ALTITUDE: 1.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 13.80MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

  

*Could not get out to take further photos. The road runs alongside an irrigation ditch an invite to swarms of mosquitos.

 

San Acacio Mission

Originally built with a traditional flat roof, the church at San Acacio added a pitched roof and a new cupola during renovations in the early twentieth century.

 

Founded in the 1850s or 1860s by Hispano settlers near the Culebra River, the Catholic Capilla de Viejo San Acacio in the San Luis Valley is the oldest non–Native American religious space in Colorado. Over the years the church has had many repairs and renovations to stabilize the structure, as well as a few alterations to its roof and windows. The community has used the church for more than 150 years and continues to celebrate Mass and the annual feast day of Santo Acacio there.

 

The Miracle of San Acacio

A local tradition holds that one of the earliest San Luis Valley settlements, originally called Culebra Abajo (Lower Culebra), was attacked by a band of Ute in 1853. All the men in town were in the mountains tending their sheep. The women, children, and elderly in the village saw the attackers approaching and prayed to Saint Agathius (Santo Acacio), a saint popular among New Mexicans. The Ute attackers suddenly halted and fled before they reached the defenseless town, supposedly because they saw a vision of well-armed warriors defending it. In gratitude for this salvation, the village was renamed San Acacio, and the villagers decided to build a mission church in honor of the saint.

 

The first religious structure in San Acacio was a small oratorio (chapel), which still stood just east of the mission church in 1955 but was destroyed in the 1960s. Similar rustic log chapels, made of upright logs and plastered with coats of clay, were built in towns throughout the San Luis Valley. These chapels fulfilled religious functions until permanent adobe churches could be constructed, which often took years because the men of the villages had little time to spare after working hard simply to survive.

 

The mission church built in honor of Santo Acacio cannot be precisely dated, but it is generally considered the oldest non–Native American religious space in Colorado that is still in use today. The single-story adobe church and adjacent sacred spaces were all arranged on an east-west axis, with the church and the oratorio facing east. Initially, villagers probably built the church’s thirty-inch-thick adobe walls just high enough for a temporary roof to be constructed.

 

The church was probably completed sometime after 1868, when the Utes gave up their claims to the San Luis Valley, allowing villagers to safely harvest wood from the uplands. Using logs harvested that year, San Acacio villagers built higher walls and installed supportive vigas (wooden beams) near the church’s present roofline. The San Acacio church followed plans typical for mission churches in northern New Mexico and originally had a flat earth-and-log roof.

 

Renovations and Restorations

The San Luis Valley was connected to the outside world when the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad arrived in 1878, bringing an influx of new towns and settlers. In 1910, for example, German farmers from Iowa settled in the railroad town of New Hamburg (renamed New San Acacio during World War I) about four miles northwest of what came to be known as Viejo San Acacio (Old San Acacio). Older Hispano villages like San Acacio benefited from the valley’s developing infrastructure but remained culturally separate from the new towns, even when they were physically close.

 

By 1896 the Capilla de Viejo San Acacio was showing signs of deterioration. Father Samuel García oversaw major alterations to the building between 1904 and 1912. Influenced by the design of the 1880s Iglesia de la Sangre de Cristo in San Luis, he added a pitched roof of tin and wood as well as a new cupola and bell to the San Acacio mission church. He also replaced the original earth floor with wooden planks and put in a new choir loft.

 

Further alterations came in 1939, when Father Onofre Martorell stabilized the church’s walls and added a layer of concrete stucco to the exterior. The adobe walls received even more support in the middle of the century, when concrete buttresses were added on both sides of the entrance.

 

In 1989 Father Patrick Valdez initiated a major restoration of the church under the supervision of the local architectural consulting firm Valdez & Associates. The church was next to the community irrigation ditch and had no foundation, so moisture always seeped into the walls. After cement stucco was added to the exterior in the early twentieth century, that moisture could no longer evaporate naturally and was starting to destroy the original adobe walls, which were overburdened with the weight of the roof, bell, and chimney. The extensive restoration project graded the site to allow water to drain properly, underpinned the church with a concrete foundation, added a new support structure of beams and buttresses to reduce the load on the adobe walls, and replaced the cement stucco with mud plaster to allow for better evaporation from the walls.

 

The Capilla de Viejo San Acacio has seen continuous community use for more than 150 years. Every summer a priest from Sangre de Cristo Parish conducts Mass at each local mission church in the valley, including San Acacio. Mass is still conducted in Spanish. The community gathers at the church during Holy Week before traveling to the parish church in San Luis for religious observances. Each year on May 8, the town celebrates the feast day of Santo Acacio by forming a procession, carrying an image of the saint, and gathering for Mass at the church before holding a fundraising dinner at the community hall.

*History Colorado

Bullocks of Cheadle: (P485 HBA) a Northern Counties Palatine 1 bodied Volvo Olympian. Or more precisely a dealer stock Olympian at the time here when captured but became Bullocks P485HBA a few months later.

 

In this photo which was taken in the yard of Gilbraith's Commercials in Chorley who were a Volvo dealer we see this vehicle parked up as dealer sales stock at the time. It had Northern Counties body number which we checked at the time, and when checked later against those which arrived for Bullocks it became the vehicle mentioned in the title. In the windscreen can be seen a sheet of A4 paper which warned against the starting of this vehicle as the Turbo Charger had been removed from the vehicle at the time of this vehicle.

 

In this photo just to the left we see one of the pair of East Lancs bodied Volvo Olympians (either M788 or M789 NBA) which were part of a cancelled order built to the shorter chassis length incorrectly for Delaine Buses of Bourne, both of which ended up with Bullocks and is seen here being returned to Volvo for some minor warranty work.

 

Also to the right we see a former Yelloway Duple Dominant bodied AEC Reliance which was by then was with Tyrer's Tours, and a GM Buses Atlantean just to the right, which I think was a GM Buses North example but don't have any other notes to check now.

 

© Christopher Lowe.

Date: 28th May 1996.

Ref No. 0001146.

This Thirteen seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Twenty three metres, in the height of the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 06:38am), at 05:50am on Thursday 29th October in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, beside Five Arch Bridge over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England.

  

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Nikon D800 32mm Thirteen seconds long exposure. f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter.Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 34.96s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 50.96s

ALTITUDE: 23.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED Jpeg FILE: 17.39MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

  

Bossy, el Border Collie, atrapando la pelota.

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Bossy, The Border Collie, catching the tennis ball.

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 5th 2015

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/ 590454643 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 1,356th frame to be selected for inclusion and sale in the Getty Images 'Moment' collection, and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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A Southeastern Network train from Bexleyheath to London Bridge Station at 06:01am this morning, and despite the BBC weather centre assuring me of heavy cloud and light rain, Londoners were treated to a rather spectacular and beautiful sunrise this morning.

  

Photograph taken in the magic of the Golden Hour around sdunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 076:36am). at an altitude of Twelve metres at 07:30am on Thursday 22nd October 2015, just past Blackfriars Bridge, along Thames Path heading towards The Millennium Bridge, on London's Southbank.

  

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Nikon D800 116mm 1/200s f/5.3 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Handheld with Sigma image stabilization on. AF-S single point focus. Manual Exposure, Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

  

Sigma 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM. Power UP 95mm HD UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 31.10s

LONGITUDE: W 0d 5m 0.99s

ALTITUDE: 12.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 15.75MB

  

PROCESSING POWER:

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

Welcome to Vaporium! A world unlike any you have ever seen. Flying dragons, mining Dwarves, if you can make it up, it’ll probably exist there.

Existing of several dozen small and big islands, it’s a place where all sorts of people live among each other. Several hundreds of years the Vaporians have been expanding their empire, from the northern Dwarven realms to the tropical islands full of pirates and cannibals. Every island is somehow connected, be it by bridge or boat.

Walk around in the magical world of Vaporium and discover its secrets. As far as she is willing to show them to you, that is…

 

“Where do the Vaporians get their power from?” Is a question you might have. Well, all the power in Vaporium comes from the mechanical island, which also provides Vaporium with her name: Vaporia Magistralis. Nobody knows exactly where it comes from and research shows it has been spinning for several thousands of years. Ever since one of Professor Schweitzer’s clones bumped his submarine against the surface about threehunderd years ago, many of his relatives and other people made their home. The clone built the high tower to research why the island turns around exactly. They have however yet to find out why this is the case and all attempts to figure this out have ended catastrophically. The expedition led by Stanley Steam for instance led to the disappearance of Stanley himself. Only his shoe was recovered when it was spat out atop the enormous tower.

The island itself is home to remarkable events. Some plants grow beautifully, while others wither away the moment they touch the soil. It is also reported that many crates, animals or people suddenly begin to levitate.

 

Up in the north there is a mysterious tower dubbed by the as Zâhnar Khûzuhk: the Tower of Darkness. It appears to consist of dark grey granite and was built long before even the Dwarves travelled to this region. De Dwarves, oldest people of Vaporium, do not share much information they have about this place and every explorer that sets foot on the island is never heard of again.

Probably as a response to Zâhnar Khûzuhk the three towers were built that shield the Tower of Darkness from the mainland. They are called the Three Mages, probably named after the three wizards or mages that built the towers. This is also the most northern place where one can moor ones ship.

 

The mine of Stormcap is many centuries old. Long before the Vaporians reached this place the Dwarves were already delving deep in to the earth for gold and precious gems. How old the mine is precisely we do not know, because the stubborn little creatures are a very secluded people and do not wish to share much about their past. We do know however that they love gold and like to sell their jewels to the Vaporians. Few jewels or golden decorations are made without gold mined by the Dwarves in Dazûhm Ghӕrl, as the Dwarves like to call their mine.

The current lord of the mine is Jarl Thorgrim One-Eye. Some known dwarves which you might recognize are bombardiers Dӕlen and Dӕren Blackbeard (although the father has traded his black hair and beard for a grey shine) and Jormund the Black Storm.

 

Also on Stormcap is the little village called Stormhaven. Originally built as a tiny fisherman’s village, overtime, it has become one of the most prosperous merchant villages of Vaporium, all thanks to the wealth of the Dwarves. Almost every day you can visit the market or enjoy the local music. One can find knives and swords of Dwarven craftsmanship and other niftily made artifacts in the little shops. The Mayor Harold Ondanin often looks over the square from his little balcony. The center of the square is dominated by the statue of the Mage who founded the village.

 

Oldrock Keep was originally built as a Dwarven keep, but after the colonization of the Dwarvenempire by the Vaporians, it was traded for the Mine that was much more profitable for the Dwarves. The current lord of the keep is lord Dunstan Rendanin. Considering it is located so far north, technology is not that advanced in this place, but it is certainly not a place of poverty. This is the last place where people can moor their ship before going more north. For that reason the Wolfshead Inn is a famous inn, where they pour delicious dark beer.

 

The gigantic castle of king Jeryn the Always Happy is of course a marvel of construction. The people of king Jeryn are stubborn and tend to hold to their old medieval society. They avoid every form of technology. You will not find any steam engines or blunderbusses here. This causes them to be mocked by other Vaporians, but they don’t seem to mind because they keep on laughing regardless.

In the courtyard one can see the throne hall and atop the balcony stand King and Queen together. Remarkable is the clock tower which had its fair share of use since gold loving Dragons hold a fancy to the castle.

 

Roaming between the many islands one can witness the most remarkable vehicle known to Vaporium. The enormous mechanical dragon built by doctor Frankenstone. This dragon, named Draconis Magnificus, was completely designed and built by the doctor. Here and there it lands to take in supplies to take with him on his journeys through the world of Vaporium.

 

The city of Eglaïm in the warm tropical south is gouverned by Grandvizier Karsin al-Rauth. The Grandvizier is a man who loves gold, but then again: who doesn’t? This means however that he allows a lot of thing that are not strictly legal. This makes Eglaïm, also known as the Drops of the Sea, a safehaven for all sorts of outlaws and pirates. As long as they fill the gold chests of the Grandvizier he doesn’t mind if they store or sell their stolen goods in the city. The big ships with darkred sails are feared throughout the seas of Vaporium, because more often than not sailors lose their cargo after being entered by the Bloodsails.

 

Near the city of Eglaïm is the mysterious Temple of Legoqatl. Once every seven years a delegation of the island travels to Eglaïm laden with golden gifts for the Grandvizier, to make sure they are left alone to their dark practices. The Grandvizier tries to make sure they are left alone, but alas there are stubborn sailors who do try to moor their ships to the island. The few who leave the island never say a word about what happens there, but that it’s not to be trusted is a fact.

 

The small Island of Rynce Stohn, greatgrandchild of Jaques Stohn, is always in some sort of commotion. Just like his grandfather Rynce likes to invent stuff and to think of new and innovating stuff. He is also an old apprentice of doctor Frankenstone. The most crazy things he imagines he can actually produce with his hands. His current project is highly classified, but judging by the framework it’s going to be enormous.

 

Dragons are an abundance in Vaporium. Many a tower or castlekeep has fallen because of an angry or furious Dragon. The ruins of these towers are many and scattered all over the place and often a refuge for outlaws or pirates.

 

Skullbreak Island is an ominous island, upon which an incredibly high tower is built. The skeletons of many who perished there still lay all about the island, and the only inhabitant is rarely seen.

 

Made by:

 

Elderon: www.flickr.com/photos/elderon

Tijger-San: www.flickr.com/photos/tijger-san

Large: www.flickr.com/photos/67012989@N07/

Rinse: www.flickr.com/photos/52841518@N03/

JeroenD: www.flickr.com/photos/57194035@N03/

WftH: www.flickr.com/photos/workfromtheheart/

And myself.

 

It's precisely on those sandbars in Long Island Sound that my friends and I used to build massive "sand cities" back in the early to mid 1970s during low tide. (see below).

 

That's the Villa Rosa mansion on the left. It's got quite a history!

It's precisely 4:20 in this picture.

Totally accidental.

The date of the church’s construction was not precisely known until 1969, particularly as the pisanie (inscription) is partly deteriorated.

That year, the parish priest discovered a petition from the Christians of the Broșteni district to the Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia.

Authored by Manul "Cavaful", head of the shoemakers’ (cavafi) guild, the document asks permission for building a church on the land of the late Hagi Dumitrache Papazoglu, in accordance with his will.

It is dated July 1815, and construction probably started on August 15, a date mentioned on the inscription.

The structure was probably erected by summer 1816, and was completely finished by November 1817, as attested by a document of that date.

 

Repairs were carried out in 1868, 1891 and 1906, while the painting was redone in 1929.

Thorough repairs took place in 1949–1950 and 1957.

Repainting was done under Patriarch Justinian, whose portrait appears among the ktetors.

The 1930 parish house was demolished in 1985 to make way for the surrounding apartment blocks.

The church has two spires, one above the nave, the other, the bell tower, above the narthex.

The iconostasis is carved in wood and gilt.

The facades are simple, with a classical cornice and pediment on the western side, painted with three panels of saints’ icons.

 

Saint Haralambie, whose relics are here, awaits them every day.

The church, in the shape of a cross, was built between 1815 and 1817 on the land left by Hagi Dumitrache Papazoglu, by Maria and Manea Cavafu, the latter being the elder of the tanners in the Broşteni slum.

Over time, the church was repaired several times.

Among the objects of historical or documentary value, the very old icons stand out (the oldest is from the 17th century), but also the iconostasis, which is carved in wood and gilded.

The current painting dates from 1986, made by a certain Gheorghe.

"Longuich ([ ˈlɔŋɡɪç ]) is a local community in the Trier-Saarburg district in Rhineland-Palatinate. It belongs to the municipality of Schweich on the Roman Wine Route. The place is on the right bank of the Moselle in the Moselle-Franconian language area.

 

Longuich is a Gallo-Roman (more precisely: Mosel-Roman) place name (pronounced: Long_gich), which is derived from a 1st-century foundation called Longus Vicus (long village, long district). The place has been inhabited since at least Roman times, as various finds indicate, in particular the Villa Urbana, whose reconstructed bathing wing can be visited.

 

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Prussian mayor's office of Longuich emerged from the French Mairie Longuich.

 

Mosel (German: [ˈmoːzl̩]) is one of 13 German wine regions (Weinbaugebiete) for quality wines (Qualitätswein, formerly QbA and Prädikatswein), and takes its name from the Mosel River (French: Moselle; Luxembourgish: Musel). Before 1 August 2007 the region was called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but changed to a name that was considered more consumer-friendly. The wine region is Germany's third largest in terms of production but some consider it the leading region in terms of international prestige.

 

The region covers the valleys of the rivers Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer from near the mouth of the Mosel at Koblenz and upstream to the vicinity of Trier in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The area is known for the steep slopes of the region's vineyards overlooking the river. At 65° degrees incline, the steepest recorded vineyard in the world is the Calmont vineyard located on the Mosel and belonging to the village of Bremm, and therefore referred to as Bremmer Calmont. The Mosel is mainly famous for its wines made from the Riesling grape, but Elbling and Müller-Thurgau also contribute to the production, among others.

 

In the past two decades red wine production, especially from the Spätburgunder (Pinot noir), has increased in the Mosel and throughout the German vignoble and has become of increasing interest to the international wine community. Because of the northerly location of the Mosel, the Riesling wines are often light, tending to lower alcohol, crisp and high in acidity, and often exhibit "flowery" rather than or in addition to "fruity" aromas. Its most common vineyard soil is derived in the main from various kinds of slate deposits, which tend to give the wines a transparent, mineralic aspect, that often exhibit great depth of flavor. In the current era of climate change much work has been done to improve and gain acceptance for completely dry ("Trocken") Rieslings in this region, so that most of the more famous makers have found acceptance for such wines, particularly in Europe." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

This photograph was taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 07:56am), at an altitude of One metre, at 07:39am on Sunday January 11th 2015 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

  

I set off at 05:30am on a very chilly morning, around two degrees, and a bracing wind that pounded flesh and bones, but well worth the one and a half hour journey there to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.

  

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Nikon D800 45mm 1/100s f/2.8 iso125 RAW (14Bit) -2.7EV compensation. AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF.Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 20.26s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 7.69s

ALTITUDE: 1.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 36.50MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

MISS SL ♛ France was inspired by the rooster. It is the symbol of France or more precisely that of Vigilance and Work, the song of the rooster waking the peasants for their day of work or warning of a night incursion. He is often depicted wearing a Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom and citizenship,

but it disappeared during the First Empire, Napoleon I preferring the imperial eagle because "the rooster has no strength, it cannot be the image of an empire like France". It was during the July monarchy (1830-1848) that the rooster made a strong comeback in popular imagery. King Louis-Philippe even signs an ordinance placing the rooster on the flags and buttons of the National Guard's clothing, and the tricolor flags of the army are summoned.

 

MISS SL ♛ France is wearing a feather corset and pants from her own store, Belle Mode, and adds shoes by Mogul, shoulder pieces by Zibska, Merry Rooster Harpy by Bare Rose and fishnet pantyhose. She completes her ensemble with jewelry by RealEvil Industries

Rauðasandur (Red Sand) is precisely that: a beach with endless red sand. Well, not endless but 10 km is a lot. The magnificent hues of the sand differ with daylight and weather, and the beach is the biggest pearl in a string of coves with sand ranging in colours from white through yellow through red to black, and in coarseness from very fine to sole-hurting chips of seashells. (visitwestfjords.is)

 

The Westfjords or West Fjords is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a 7-km-wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður. The Westfjords are very mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by steep hills. These indentations make roads very circuitous and communications by land difficult. In addition many of the roads are closed by ice and snow for several months of the year. (wiki)

Well, more precisely, you can hold my hand......but this hat is humiliating....:-) !! No self respecting igauna should be this cute. And, obviously I was taking the photo....and did not care to hold his hand. LOL

This Eight second long exposure was taken at an altitude of Forty three metres, in the magic of Twilight, prior to Sunrise which was at precisely 04:47am, at 01:59am on Thursday 3rd July 2014 off Lullingstone Lane next to the Lullingstone Roman Villa and overlooking the field adjacent to Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

There is something about twilight that has always seduced my senses and appealed in photographic terms. The beauty and richness of the hues, the wonder of nature, and this morning a badger who came through the undergrowth and sat twelve feet form me for a short while as his eyes could not make me out until I tried to turn the camera and capture him.....

  

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Nikon D800 56mm 8 Second exposure f/2.8 iso160 RAW (14 bit) Nikon RC-DC2 remote shutter release. AF-S Single point focus. Aperture Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 51.64s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 49.06s

ALTITUDE: 43.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 11.65MB

  

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.90 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty nine metres, in the thick blanket of mist prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:42am), at 03:24am on Thursday 19th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane beside the Lullingstone Roman Villa in Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

  

To the far right you can see the Eynsford Viaduct. This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the 'Bat & Ball' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. And first services began on 2nd June 1862. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley and the River Darent.

  

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Nikon D800 105mm 1/60s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Mirror up. AF-S Single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 51.83s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 48.94s

ALTITUDE: 49.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 10.79MB

  

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.90 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit