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The dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) is a dolphin found in coastal waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Its specific epithet is Latin for "dark" or "dim". It is very closely genetically related to the Pacific white-sided dolphin, but current scientific consensus holds they are distinct species.
The dolphin's range is patchy, with major populations around South America, southwestern Africa, New Zealand, and various oceanic islands, with some sightings around southern Australia and Tasmania. The dusky dolphin prefers cool currents and inshore waters, but can also be found offshore. It feeds on a variety of fish and squid species and has flexible hunting tactics. The dusky dolphin is known for its remarkable acrobatics, having a number of aerial behaviours. The status of the dolphin is unknown, but it has been commonly caught in gill nets.
The dusky dolphin is small to medium in length compared with other species in the family. There is significant variation in size among the different population areas. The largest dusky dolphins have been encountered off the coast of Peru, where they are up to 210 cm (6 feet) in length and 100 kg (210 pounds) in mass. The size for dusky dolphins in New Zealand have been recorded to be a length range of 167–178 cm and a weight range of 69–78 kg for females and a length range of 165–175 cm and a weigh range of 70–85 kg for males.
Almost no sexual dimorphism occurs in this species, although males have more curved dorsal fins with broader bases and greater surface areas. The back of the dolphin is dark grey or black, and the dorsal fin is distinctively two-toned; the leading edge matches the back in colour, but the trailing edge is a much lighter greyish white. The dusky dolphin has a long, light-grey patch on its fore side leading to a short, dark-grey beak. The throat and belly are white, and the beak and lower jaw are dark grey.
Two blazes of white colour run back on the body from the dorsal fin to the tail. Right between the white areas remains a characteristic thorn-shaped patch of dark colour, by which the species can easily be recognised. Aside from that, dusky dolphins may be confused with other members of their genus when observed at sea. It can be distinguished from the common dolphin, which has a more prominent and longer beak and yellow flank markings. The skull of a dusky dolphin has a longer and narrower rostrum than that of an hourglass dolphin or Peale's dolphin of similar age and size.
This image was taken in the Beagle Channel in the Southern Atlantic Ocean
There's no specific blog post for this photograph: it's just something I had a great time making.
Thanks so much to Geryn Sloane for giving me a tour of her shop, and for a great conversation.
Credits:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona
Feet: SLink Pointe
Eyes: Mesange, Sanford Eyes
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Skin: Lumae, Ella (Catwa Applier)
Hair: Analog Dog (natch!), Onus (Available NOW at The Epiphany!) -- this is the exclusive you can buy with points after you've turned in your un-needed gachas!
Wings: Fable Workshop
Bracelets: The Plastik, The Aeliora Cuffs (Available NOW at The Season’s Story!)
Dress & Leg Ribbons: G Sloane / The Seamstress, Enchanted
Shoes: ChicChica, Fairy Pointes
Photo Backdrop: Inspire Pose, Studio Street RARE
A pair of CSX AC motors lead by SD70AC #4716 is getting underway from Grand Rapids with Toledo-bound freight Q334 in tow. The train has just passed under the old Pere Marquette cantilever at Godfrey Ave, which would stand here for a few more years before being reitred. Q334 was usually always a very large and heavy train, largely thanks to the vast amount of casting sand off of the Michigan Shore. The large cut of 2 bay hoppers on the head end illustrates this well.
Interested in purchasing a high-quality digital download of this photo, suitable for printing and framing? Let me know and I will add it to my Etsy Shop, MittenRailandMarine! Follow this link to see what images are currently listed for sale: www.etsy.com/shop/MittenRailandMarine
If you are interested in specific locomotives, trains, or freighters, please contact me. I have been photographing trains and ships for over 15 years and have accumulated an extensive library!
Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids.
A new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable cosmic sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars. Located just over 5000 light-years from Earth, the duo is collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140. Each ring was created when the two stars came close together and their stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) met, compressing the gas and forming dust. The stars’ orbits bring them together about once every eight years; like the rings of a tree’s trunk, the dust loops mark the passage of time.
In addition to Webb’s overall sensitivity, its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is uniquely qualified to study the dust rings. These rings are also called shells by astronomers because they are thicker and wider than they appear in the image. Webb’s science instruments detect infrared light, a range of wavelengths invisible to the human eye.
Contributed under both ESA and NASA leadership, Webb’s MIRI instrument detects the longest infrared wavelengths. This means that it can often see cooler objects – including the dust rings – than Webb’s other instruments can. MIRI’s spectrometer also revealed the composition of the dust, formed mostly from material ejected by a type of star known as a Wolf-Rayet star. A Wolf-Rayet star is born with at least 25 times more mass than our Sun and is nearing the end of its life, when it will likely explode as a supernova and then collapse into a black hole. Burning hotter than in its youth, a Wolf-Rayet star generates powerful winds that push huge amounts of gas into space. The Wolf-Rayet star in this particular pair may have shed more than half its original mass via this process.
Transforming gas into dust is somewhat like turning flour into bread. It requires specific conditions and ingredients. Hydrogen, the most common element found in stars, can’t form dust on its own. But because Wolf-Rayet stars shed so much mass, they also eject more complex elements typically found deep in a star’s interior, including carbon. The heavy elements in the wind cool as they travel into space and are then compressed where the winds from both stars meet, like when two hands knead dough.
Some other Wolf-Rayet systems form dust, but none is known to make rings like Wolf-Rayet 140 does. The unique ring pattern forms because the orbit of the Wolf-Rayet star in WR 140 is elongated, not circular. Only when the stars come close together – about the same distance between Earth and the Sun – and their winds collide is the gas under sufficient pressure to form dust. With circular orbits, Wolf-Rayet binaries can produce dust continuously.
The science team thinks WR 140’s winds also swept the surrounding area clear of residual material they might otherwise collide with, which may be why the rings remain so pristine rather than smeared or dispersed. There are likely even more rings that have become so faint and dispersed, not even Webb can see them in the data.
Wolf-Rayet stars may seem exotic compared to our Sun, but they may have played a role in star and planet formation. When a Wolf-Rayet star clears an area, the swept-up material can pile up at the outskirts and become dense enough for new stars to form. There is some evidence the Sun formed in such a scenario.
Using data from MIRI’s Medium Resolution Spectroscopy mode, the new study provides the best evidence yet that Wolf-Rayet stars produce carbon-rich dust molecules. What’s more, the preservation of the dust shells indicates that this dust can survive in the hostile environment between stars, going on to supply material for future stars and planets. The catch is that while astronomers estimate that there should be at least a few thousand Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy, only about 600 have been found to date.
These results have been published today in Nature Astronomy.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (the MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
[Image Description: The background of this Webb image of star Wolf-Rayet 140 is black. A pair of bright stars dominates the centre of the image, with at least 17 pink-orange concentric dust rings emanating from them. Throughout the scene are a range of distant galaxies, the majority of which are very tiny and red, appearing as splotches.]
Credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JPL-Caltech; CC BY 4.0
PROCESSION – A religious parade which always leaves from and returns to a specific church. Processions tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection using elaborate floats (called andas, see below) full of iconography. More than a dozen major processions (and many smaller processions) take place day and night in Antigua during Semana Santa. The procession tradition is said to have started in Guatemala in 1524 and, today, most Semana Santa processions include two main andas. The first carries a scene from the life of Jesus. The second carries a depiction of the Virgin Mary. Each procession is named after the specific Jesus and Mary that adorn the floats (i.e. Jesús De La Merced, Jesús El Peregrino, Jesús Del Milagro). Some last for 15 hours and cover many miles.
裸 Schlampe 懒妇 나체상 फूहड़ 벌거 벗은 desnudo ふしだらな女 nackt nu alaston निर्वस्त्र 裸体 ヌード नग्न nudo ਨੰਗੀ голый khỏa thân جنسي 性感的 malibog कामुक セクシー 婚禮 beauty beautiful travel vacation candid woman girl boy cute wedding people explore Hijab Nijab Burqa telanjang puta latina teen tranny عري hot nude naked sexy برهنه upskirt camel toe teen ass balls dirty naughty fishnet foot tits boobs feet heels fuck sex leather domination lady ladyboy mask milf Asian ebony woman model desi arab euro oral panty play dildo panties orgy pierced crossdress sex shaved toes topless transgender transsexual transvestite underwear rubber vinyl wank white wife
God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.
- Peter Marshall
Trichocentrum longicalcaratum in situ, avec taches dans les pétales et les sépales. L'imagination de la nature n'a pas de limite pour s'adapter á des centaines d'habitats particuliers avec des microclimats spécífiques, créant des especes d'orchidées les plus surprenantes les unes que les autres de par leurs formes, couleurs et parfums. Colombie.
Trichocentrum longicalcaratum in situ, with dots on the petals and sepals. Imagination of nature has no limit to adapt to hundreds of particular habitats with specific microclimate, creating more astounding orchid species one than the other by their shapes, colors and fragrances. Colombia.
Trichocentrum longicalcaratum in situ, con manchas en los pétalos y sépalos. La imaginación de la naturaleza no tiene límite para adaptarse a cientos de hábitats particulares con microclimas específicos, creando especies de orquídeas más asombrosas una que la otra por sus formas, colores y fragancias. Colombia.
For me it is often less about where a specific place is than it is about what a place is... if that makes sense or not.
Fuji G617 / Kodak Ektar 100
Bristol Zoo Project, formerly known as Wild Place Project, is a wildlife conservation park in South Gloucestershire. It is run by Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) and was the sister site of Bristol Zoo Gardens until closure of that site in 2022. In summer 2023, Wild Place Project rebranded as "Bristol Zoo Project" following the transition of Bristol Zoo Gardens from their Clifton site. The park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world, current areas include: Bear Wood, Benoué National Park and Discover Madagascar.
Male village weavers construct a woven nest using grass and leaf strips, shaped like a ball with the entrance at the bottom. Females inspect the nest, and if they approve, they move in and lay 2 to 3 eggs. Village weavers derive their name from their skill in weaving nests, and it is common for 8 to 100 males to have nests in the same tree. After mating, the male often leaves to build another nest for a different female. Males can build up to 3 nests in a single breeding season. The female village weaver incubates the eggs alone and raises the chicks. The eggs hatch after about 2 weeks, and once they are approximately 3 weeks old, the nestlings become independent.
Weavers are highly social, engaging in colonial breeding and feeding. They communicate with each other while foraging to maintain flock cohesion and to signal the discovery of food.
They often choose to nest in the same trees as wasps, as a means of deterring predators. The bottom entrance of their nests serves the same purpose.
The plant's specific name, helenium, derives from Helen of Troy; elecampane is said to have sprung up from where her tears fell. It was sacred to the ancient Celts, and once had the name "elfwort". Девясил высокий относится к древним лекарственным растениям, которые применяли врачи эпохи Гиппократа, Диоскорида, Плиния. Растение использовалось в практике Авиценны
Been seeing their tracks, plus reports of sightings.... I knew they were around. Today we saw this coyote out and about in the park looking for, and finally did score...a snack of Red Backed Vole.
(Specific locations are not revealed unless there's a threat to safety).
© Michel JS Soucy - www.michelsoucy.ca
Hoar frost is one of nature's wonders. It requires very specific conditions to develop, and with a gust of wind, it can all disappear in moments. This tiny tendril comes off some hops we have growing on the back fence, but nature has decorated it with lovely petals of ice.
I rarely go out with the specific goal of shooting the hind end of a train. While locomotives have always been the primary focus of railroad photographers since the earliest days of the genre at least a couple generations ago the rear ends were nearly as interesting. Until the mid 1980s every freight train was punctuated by a caboose each dressed in the unique colors and style of the owning road, of which there were far more in the pre mega-merger era. Go back a generation or two further than that to the pre Amtrak era and the rear end of passenger trains were just as interesting often brought up by observation cars of varied styles and colors and frequently adorned with neon logos or stylish nameplates befitting the status of the train.
Alas those days have been relegated to the history books and if you want to photograph a caboose rolling you have to visit a heritage railroad or participate in a photo freight reenactment. Similarly you won't find an observation car on any modern Amtrak trains so unless you want to travel north to see VIA's classic Canadian, you have to visit a museum or be lucky enough to catch a private car or executive train out on the line.
However in recent years the New Jersey based United Railroad Historical Society has begun running regular excursions along the Hudson River (and even a few as far as Chicago!) with their trio of original New York Central Railroad cars that they add to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains.
Bringing up the rear of Amtrak train 233 (Empire Service from New York Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer) are NYC tavern-lounge number 43 (Budd built 1947), Pullman bedroom lounge 'Swift Stream' (Budd 1949), and observation lounge car 'Hickory Creek' built by Pullman-Standard for the 1948 refit of the flagship 20th Century Limited.
All three cars would have regularly traveled these rails on their original trains, though originating at Penn Station instead of Grand Central would seem blasphemous to those old Central men! The Hickory Creek looks right at home as she splits the classic and unique New York Central era small target GRS type SA signals that still serve here at MP 99 on Amtrak's modern day Hudson Line.
This legendary route opened between New York and Albany in 1851 as the Hudson River Railroad, and in 1864 was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt along with the New York and Harlem. Meanwhile in 1853 Erastus Corning had assembled a plethora of small local lines as the New York Central Railroad running from Albany to Buffalo and in 1867 Vanderbilt merged it with his road to create the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad and the rest as they say is history. The line passed from the NYC, to Penn Central, Conrail, and ultimately CSXT until December 2012 when Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the line from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans (where it joins the busy Mohawk Subdivision) under a long term lease agreement with CSXT.
Alas this was the final weekend for these popular trips which is why I wanted to make sure I got a couple shots. To learn why, check out this link to the URHS site here:
www.hudsonriverrail.com/keepusrolling
And for an in depth history of each of these three cars check out these links:
www.urhs.org/rolling-stock#/nyc43
Tivoli, New York
Saturday March 1, 2025
I rarely go out with the specific goal of shooting the hind end of a train. While locomotives have always been the primary focus of railroad photographers since the earliest days of the genre at least a couple generations ago the rear ends were nearly as interesting. Until the mid 1980s every freight train was punctuated by a caboose each dressed in the unique colors and style of the owning road, of which there were far more in the pre mega-merger era. Go back a generation or two further than that to the pre Amtrak era and the rear end of passenger trains were just as interesting often brought up by observation cars of varied styles and colors and frequently adorned with neon logos or stylish nameplates befitting the status of the train.
Alas those days have been relegated to the history books and if you want to photograph a caboose rolling you have to visit a heritage railroad or participate in a photo freight reenactment. Similarly you won't find an observation car on any modern Amtrak trains so unless you want to travel north to see VIA's classic Canadian, you have to visit a museum or be lucky enough to catch a private car or executive train out on the line.
However in recent years the New Jersey based United Railroad Historical Society has begun running regular excursions along the Hudson River (and even a few as far as Chicago!) with their trio of original New York Central Railroad cars that they add to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains.
Bringing up the rear of Amtrak train 233 (Empire Service from New York Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer) are NYC tavern-lounge number 43 (Budd built 1947), Pullman bedroom lounge 'Swift Stream' (Budd 1949), and observation lounge car 'Hickory Creek' built by Pullman-Standard for the 1948 refit of the flagship 20th Century Limited.
All three cars would have regularly traveled these rails on their original trains, though originating at Penn Station instead of Grand Central would seem blasphemous to those old Central men! The Hickory Creek looks resplendent in her Henry Dreyfuss designed two toned grey livery crossing the causeway and small bridge separating North Bay from the west bank of the icy Hudson River as she sails north up Main 1 on modern day Amtrak's Hudson Line at MP 115 across the causeway and small bridge separating North Bay from the west bank of the icy Hudson River.
This legendary route opened between New York and Albany in 1851 as the Hudson River Railroad, and in 1864 was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt along with the New York and Harlem. Meanwhile in 1853 Erastus Corning had assembled a plethora of small local lines as the New York Central Railroad running from Albany to Buffalo and in 1867 Vanderbilt merged it with his road to create the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad and the rest as they say is history. The line passed from the NYC, to Penn Central, Conrail, and ultimately CSXT until December 2012 when Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the line from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans (where it joins the busy Mohawk Subdivision) under a long term lease agreement with CSXT.
Alas this was the final weekend for these popular trips which is why I wanted to make sure I got a couple shots. To learn why check out this link to the URHS site here:
www.hudsonriverrail.com/keepusrolling
And for an in depth history of each of these three cars check out these links:
www.urhs.org/rolling-stock#/nyc43
Hudson, New York
Friday February 28, 2025
The otherworldly sand tufa formations of Navy Beach in Mono Lake have held a specific appeal to me, resembling nothing I’ve ever seen before and which doesn’t even resemble the tower shaped tufas along Mono Lake’s south shore just 200 yards away. It’s been my goal for a long time to capture the Milky Way over these interesting formations, and a spontaneous camping trip this weekend during a new moon finally provided the opportunity. Since these tufas are short, only about 3’ – 4’ in height, Chris and I, with the location entirely to ourselves at midnight, our knees planted in the sand, and tripods down low, encountered another astrophotographer who ventured up to us out of nowhere, all apologetic for walking into our composition, and asked us, “hey, are you Beth and Chris from the Sactown Photogs Facebook group?”. We were all, “hell yes!” and met the infamous Larry Whiting, unexpectedly out there in the middle of freezing nowhere with no one else in sight! Thank you for the awesome lighting setup and great conversation, Larry! We also got to share the experience of a hunting owl swooping overhead while we shared this incredible and unexpected experience.
For the specific history of these two magnificent trees(yes, there are only two trees in this photo!) : www.pbgfl.com/270/Banyan-Trees
GLLX #3001, the only locomotive to ever wear this version of Marquette Rail paint, leads sister GLLX #3002 south along CSX's Grand Rapids Terminal sub in September of 2007. A few years later, a major track rehab project would eradicate the weeds through here. GLLX 3001 is still on the MQT roster, in orange paint as MQT #3389. 3002 and 3003 are currently working over on the Huron & Eastern.
Interested in purchasing a high-quality digital download of this photo, suitable for printing and framing? Let me know and I will add it to my Etsy Shop, MittenRailandMarine! Follow this link to see what images are currently listed for sale: www.etsy.com/shop/MittenRailandMarine
If you are interested in specific locomotives, trains, or freighters, please contact me. I have been photographing trains and ships for over 15 years and have accumulated an extensive library!
Two watco GP40s head south along the Pleasant Valley Branch on there way back to Endicott to tie up for the day.
The PCCs crew that morning started along the western portion of the line while we started out eastern, driving from Mockonema to Endicott. When we got to Endicott, there was no sign of any of the three WAMX locomotives assigned to the line. So we asked around the NWGG elevator and they suggested we head north to Sunset as PCC was supposed to pick up a couple loads there sometime soon. Instead, we ran into the 4043 and 4046 curving around the wye at Winona and onto the PV branch. They grabbed a fairly long cut of PCC/CWW/WAMX hoppers assigned to this specific line and headed north. Originally, I thought they might be headed all the way north to Sunset but instead, they only went as far as Willada before dropping the whole train off and heading back south as just power. We chased them back south, however the lighting was not ideal, if they had went all the way to Sunset, we may have got better light for the SB journey. I did end up getting lucky with this shot though. I hadn’t originally seen this spot but as they were headed away I decided to grab a shot anyway and the clouds and train lined up perfectly to give me this shot.
6/16/22
Automatonophobia is a fear of human-like figures, such as mannequins, wax figures, statues, dummies, animatronics, or robots. It's a specific phobia, or a fear of something that causes significant and excessive stress and anxiety and can negatively affect a person's quality of life.
Rugged mountain scenery near Ouray, Colorado, USA.
This photo is offered under a standard Creative Commons License - Attribution 3.0 Unported. It gives you a lot of freedom to use my work commercially as long as you credit and link back to this image on my Flickr page.
Flickr resolution: 1800 x 1200 px
Also available for download at 5000 x 3333 px on my Patreon page, an ever-growing collection of high res images for one low monthly subscription fee. You can find this specific photo at the following post:
I rarely go out with the specific goal of shooting the hind end of a train. While locomotives have always been the primary focus of railroad photographers since the earliest days of the genre at least a couple generations ago the rear ends were nearly as interesting. Until the mid 1980s every freight train was punctuated by a caboose each dressed in the unique colors and style of the owning road, of which there were far more in the pre mega-merger era. Go back a generation or two further than that to the pre Amtrak era and the rear end of passenger trains were just as interesting often brought up by observation cars of varied styles and colors and frequently adorned with neon logos or stylish nameplates befitting the status of the train.
Alas those days have been relegated to the history books and if you want to photograph a caboose rolling you have to visit a heritage railroad or participate in a photo freight reenactment. Similarly you won't find an observation car on any modern Amtrak trains so unless you want to travel north to see VIA's classic Canadian, you have to visit a museum or be lucky enough to catch a private car or executive train out on the line.
However in recent years the New Jersey based United Railroad Historical Society has begun running regular excursions along the Hudson River (and even a few as far as Chicago!) with their trio of original New York Central Railroad cars that they add to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains.
Bringing up the rear of Amtrak train 233 (Empire Service from New York Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer) are NYC tavern-lounge number 43 (Budd built 1947), Pullman bedroom lounge 'Swift Stream' (Budd 1949), and observation lounge car 'Hickory Creek' built by Pullman-Standard for the 1948 refit of the flagship 20th Century Limited.
All three cars would have regularly traveled these rails on their original trains, though originating at Penn Station instead of Grand Central would seem blasphemous to those old Central men! The Hickory Creek resplendent in her Henry Dreyfuss designed two toned grey livery splits the Central era small target GRS type SA signals as she sails north up Main1 at MP 99 on modern day Amtrak's Hudson Line which opened between New York and Albany in 1851 as the Hudson River Railroad.
In 1864 the road was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt along with the New York and Harlem. Meanwhile in 1853 Erastus Corning had assembled a plethora of small local lines as the New York Central Railroad running from Albany to Buffalo and in 1867 Vanderbilt merged it with his road to create the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad and the rest as they say is history. The line passed from the NYC, to Penn Central, Conrail, and ultimately CSXT until December 2012 when Amtrak took over control and dispatching of the line from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans (where it joins the busy Mohawk Subdivision) under a long term lease agreement with CSXT.
As for these trips check out this website to learn more about what the URHS offers:
www.hudsonriverrail.com/experiences
And for an in depth history of each of these three cars check out these links:
www.urhs.org/rolling-stock#/nyc43
Tivoli, New York
Saturday October 26, 2024
The waterfalls Hraunfossar and Barnafoss are beautiful and unusual natural phenomena. A large number of travellers make a specific point of visiting these natural treasures. The Hraunfossar Falls are clear, cold springs that well up through the lava and run in falls and rapids into the Hvítá River. Barnafoss has been evolving through recorded history, as the river has dug itself down through the lava and runs in a deep and narrow ravine. There used to be a stone arch spanning the river, forming a link between the districts of Hálsasveit and Hvítársíða.
Cited from:
www.husafell.is/ensku_sidurnar/e_nagrenni/e_hraunfossar/e...
Becoming Marni is a site-specific installation conceived as the concluding act of the whole Marni Prisma program. It consists of one hundred wooden sculptures created by Brazilian self-taught artist Véio, distributed around the cloister and inside the rooms of the Abbey, drawing an ideal landscape of organic forms. The sculptures are installed in different groups, indoors and outdoors, their presence marked by a tactile path, the color of Venice’s water, drawn on the floor: an irregular surface with translucent spots, creating continuity between the outside and the inside. A small cabinet in the cloister housed Véio’s workshop, enabling him to create artworks on site. Furthermore, as the San Gregorio Abbey is usually closed to the public, this exhibition presented an opportunity to enjoy a unique space.
Consuelo and Carolina Castiglioni discovered Véio at a collective exhibition in Paris. Through Galeria Estação, which exclusively represents him, they entered in contact with him and Carolina tracked him down to Nossa Senhora da Gloria, the small village in the north East of Brazil where he lives and works. Here Véio creates his enigmatic sculptures by giving new life to pieces of wood, clogs and branches he finds along the river. He immediately identifies a being in each piece – an animal, a resting human, a fantastic bird. By a process of artistic transformation – clipping, shaving, adding a final layer of color – he makes the same beings visible to the public, removing them from the raw material and thereby restoring to the wood a meaning that exceeds pure physicality.
This is the complete album of the photos of my visit. --- --- --- www.flickr.com/photos/136891509@N07/albums/72157661202999340
Specific intensity is the radiance of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength.
The conservation of specific intensity has two important consequences:
1. Brightness is independent of distance. Thus the camera setting for a good exposure of the Sun would be the same, regardless of whether the photograph was taken close to the Sun (from near Venus, for example) or far away from the Sun (from near Mars, for example), so long as the Sun is resolved in the photograph.
2. Brightness is the same at the source and at the detector. Thus you can think of brightness in terms of energy flowing out of the source or as energy flowing into the detector
Like, From DC Are Some Figs, What.
Gordon Batman: Mostly made him to utilize that stripey arm.
Obligatory Terrible Trio because I got the fox mask: Used older suits cause they were available.
King Shark: His jaw is crooked, and I'll never forgive myself.
Captain Cold: Has boots.
Forager: Not the perfect head, but there isn't really one. Darn you Jack for your wildly specific, iconic designs.
Bronze Tiger: How many Tiger figs can one man make? Let's find out.
Doctor Light: He's back, baby.
Tally Man: Stolen from Duncan, mostly.
Azrael: My favorite of these. The main cape's neck-holes are actually clipped onto the back of the armor via flat studs. The ribbony cape is actually around the neck. It's occured to me that you can see neither cape really, so this is redundant.
Abattoir: I made him because no one else had.
Mister Bloom: Spooky scary skeletons.
Lemme know what you think, eh?
Gasteracantha cancriformis is a species of orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae). It is widely distributed in the New World.
The genus name Gasteracantha derives from the Greek words γαστήρ (gaster, "belly") and ἄκανθα (acantha, "thorn"), while the specific epithet cancriformis derives from the Latin words cancer ("crab") and forma ("shape, form, appearance").
Females are 5–9 millimetres (0.20–0.35 in) long and 10–13 mm (0.39–0.51 in) wide. The six abdominal spine-like projections on the abdomen are characteristic. The carapace, legs and underside are black with white spots under the abdomen. Variations occur in the colour of the upperside of the abdomen: a white or yellow colour with both featuring black spots. A white upperside can have either red or black spines while a yellow upperside can only have black ones. Like with many other spiders, males are much smaller (2 to 3 mm long) and longer than wide. They are similar to the females in colour but have a gray abdomen with white spots and the spines are reduced to four or five stubby projections.
This species of spider does not live very long. In fact, the lifespan lasts only until reproduction, which usually takes place in the spring following the winter when they hatched. Females die after producing an egg mass, and males die six days after a complete cycle of sperm induction to the female.
Natural History Museum. Spider Pavilion. Los Angeles. California.
Strange process. I had a specific idea in mind, thanks to Angelique (check out, she’s great and that’s an understatement). I wanted to use some stock image for this, just to give it a try. Couldn’t find any that would fit (not being very patient :) so I just improvised a brief session.
No textures, this time (though I love it :) I just added some mist with brushes. And light, curves, filters, etc... You know...
Model: Marie
And, by the the way, should we assume anything?
ps, triggered by a nonetheless understandable and nice comment here: I don't mean to be provocative at all. Hopefully thought provoking. It's just that, I think, we often assume things that are not for us to definitely decide about.
A rare entry into a contest with a specific photo in mind, this is for my creative friends at the most excellent group, Kreative People. (You can see they are creative by their spelling...;-)) For those unfamiliar with the group, it is one of the most active and truly creative on Flickr and well worth a visit. The contest can be viewed here, a link you might use to further explore:
www.flickr.com/groups/1752359@N2/discuss/72157650926388189/
As for the image itself, picture cherry blossoms or redbuds or whatever else makes you happy. And thanks to Sandy for the inspiration...
I needed a break from studying so I set out to create a very specific image. The result was something entirely different, but to me that is what's so beautiful about creative expression. Intent is important when creating a photo but being open to new possibilities, to truly living in the moment and reacting fluidly to what is around you...Responding to the forces that surround you while you're creating - that is just as special.
This photo is rooted in two thoughts...The first is from one of my favourite movies, Chronicles of Narnia (I read the book a long time ago, I'm sure it's amazing but the visuals in the movie are incredible <3)...The image has to do with the scene where the little girl meets Mr. Tumnus and learns that winter has lasted for a long time. So that connects to the whimsical aspect of the photo. The second part is that this looks like an ad for something. It has that element of sexuality and smoking. The materialism that is symbolized represents how obsessive we have become over consumer goods, over trivial nonsense. The two girls face the same direction, and one even looks straight at the camera. The earth behind them is warm, green and lush but there is no way of knowing whether or not they are aware of this. They are huddling together for warmth. Ultimately, they are immersed in the lifeless cold of winter but there is always hope for summer and what summer represents :)
BTS shots are on my blog
Paul Huxley’s site-specific wall drawing reveals his artistic and environmental concerns, developing narrative through abstraction, Huxley’s drawing evokes statistical measurements that emerged from studies on climate change. Its abstract form and colours signify tipping points in global warming, particularly on the earth and its animals because of the human population’s rapid growth since 1950 (from 3 billion people in 1960 to 6 billion in 1999, and a projected 9 billion in 2050).
Additionally, the drawing alludes to the rising sea levels, thereby responding to its location overlooking the Grand Canal and Venice’s problems with its rising water, which, together with rising silt levels, and subsistence are causing the city to tilt eastward up to 2 millimetres annually.
While executing the wall drawing in situ, Huxley plans to mitigate the damage to Venice’s waters that his cadmium-laden brushes could cause upon washing. He will filter the water and dry the brushes in a way that prevents the toxic chemical, so critical to artists for giving hues their vibrancy, from leaching into the water.
The original houseboats are charmingly restored ships that hail from Amsterdam’s seafaring and trading legacy. Many of these are more than 100 years old and retain original features alongside modern amenities, such as electricity, heating and running water. In the 1960s and 1970s, an influx of more modern houseboats appeared as a solution to increasing demand for housing. This type of houseboat, known as a woonark (literally a house ark), is built on a floating pontoon and typically isn’t motorised. Luxuriously furnished houseboats, sometimes built over multiple floors and complete with adjoined terraces and gardens, can be seen all around Amsterdam’s most picturesque canals.
The houseboats in Amsterdam are permanently anchored to a specific address. A special permit called a ligplaats entitles a houseboat owner to moor their home in a certain spot. These permits are in high demand, and as with all properties, a prime location significantly increases the value of a houseboat.
Stepping into a scene like this fills me with a sense of awe and wonder. While I enter with the specific intention of taking photos, that becomes secondary as I begin to acclimate myself to the environment. I spend a good bit of my time simply standing in one place, intuiting for lack of a better word. It's very easy to get so absorbed with the scene that the graves become almost an abstraction. Particularly in the older sections (these stones date to the early 19th century) where the inscriptions are difficult or impossible to discern due to extreme weathering. Frequently pausing and looking around helps me stay in touch with the reality that these are graves and to be respectful of that. But there's much more to it than that. Somehow it helps guide me as to how and where to compose my photographs. It's sort of like divining. It may sound utterly ridiculous, but it's how I work. Time and again I compose and shoot and see nothing but a lackluster image in the review screen. The power of the image is generally not apparent until much later. Because of this I've learned not to get too caught up in the visual because it's often misleading. There's a time to sort out what worked and what didn't work, but for me that time is at home. Anyway on this misty morning I found myself standing here, taking in this forlorn scene at the gave of a woman named Desire. The camera dropped to my side as my eyes took in the name. Desire. Or was it pronounced Dez-i-ray? No; Dez-i-ray was too modern; like those artists I see listed on iTunes that I never seem to recognize. No, this woman was probably born in the late 18th century. I'm sure it was pronounced Desire. My mind wanted desperately to equate the name with her personality. Certainly doesn't equate with the name of a mean-spirited person. But how could her parents have know that when she was born? Or was it a nickname. No way to know. Just felt sad that she wound up in this Godforsaken place. For me, this was yet another proverbial lightning strike. I raised the camera and composed this image of that moment.
A cold clear morning sees the Norbord Inverness plant, off the A96, venting steam to great effect.
The plant produces oriented strand board (OSB), part of the organisations line in wood products, which also includes chipboard and MDF.
OSB, also known as flakeboard, sterling board and aspenite in British English, is a type of engineered lumber similar to particle board, formed by adding adhesives and then compressing layers of wood strands (flakes) in specific orientations. It was invented by Armin Elmendorf in California in 1963.
The little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek takhus "fast" and bapto "to sink under". The specific ruficollis is from Latin rufus "red" and Modern Latin -collis, "-necked", itself derived from Latin collum "neck".
At 23 to 29 cm (9.1 to 11.4 in) in length it is the smallest European member of its family. It is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.
The little grebe is a small water bird with a pointed bill. The adult is unmistakable in summer, predominantly dark above with its rich, rufous colour neck, cheeks and flanks, and bright yellow gape. The rufous is replaced by a dirty brownish grey in non-breeding and juvenile birds.
Juvenile birds have a yellow bill with a small black tip, and black and white streaks on the cheeks and sides of the neck as seen below. This yellow bill darkens as the juveniles age, eventually turning black in adulthood.
In winter, its size, buff plumage, with a darker back and cap, and “powder puff” rear end enable easy identification of this species. The little grebe's breeding call, given singly or in duet, is a trilled repeated weet-weet-weet or wee-wee-wee which sounds like a horse whinnying.
The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Scolopax totanus. It is now placed with twelve other species in the genus Tringa that Linnaeus had introduced in 1758. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific totanus is from Tótano, the Italian name for this bird
Common redshanks in breeding plumage are a marbled brown color, slightly lighter below. In winter plumage they become somewhat lighter-toned and less patterned, being rather plain greyish-brown above and whitish below. They have red legs and a black-tipped red bill, and show white up the back and on the wings in flight.
The spotted redshank (T. erythropus), which breeds in the Arctic, has a longer bill and legs; it is almost entirely black in breeding plumage and very pale in winter. It is not a particularly close relative of the common redshank, but rather belongs to a high-latitude lineage of largish shanks. T. totanus on the other hand is closely related to the marsh sandpiper (T. stagnatilis), and closer still to the small wood sandpiper (T. glareola). The ancestors of the latter and the common redshank seem to have diverged around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, about 5–6 million years ago. These three subarctic- to temperate-region species form a group of smallish shanks with have red or yellowish legs, and in breeding plumage are generally a subdued light brown above with some darker mottling, and have somewhat diffuse small brownish spots on the breast and neck.
The common redshank is a widespread breeding bird across temperate Eurasia. It is a migratory species, wintering on coasts around the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic coast of Europe from Ireland and Great Britain southwards, and in South Asia.
They are wary and noisy birds which will alert everything else with their loud piping call.
Redshanks will nest in any wetland, from damp meadows to saltmarsh, often at high densities.] They lay 3–5 eggs.
Like most waders, they feed on small invertebrates.
"Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi" is a succulent native to Madagascar. The specific epithet "fedtschenkoi" honors botanist Boris Alexeevich Fedtschenko (1873-1947), who was director of the Imperial Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg.
The common name for Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi is Lavender Scallops, in reference to its leaves with scalloped margins. It has flower clusters above the foliage on purple stems. The pendant flowers have sepals with a pearly sheen clasping their bases, and emerging from these are four flaring petals. The petals are variable: light orange, red-orange or rose.
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanderling
The sanderling (Calidris alba) is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "sand-ploughman".[2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific alba is Latin for "white".[3]
It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches.
It is somewhat unlike other sandpipers in appearance, which has led to the suggestion that it should be placed into a monotypic genus Crocethia. A more recent review (Thomas et al., 2004) indicates, however, that the sanderling is a fairly typical "stint" or small sandpiper and should be separated from the large knots with its closest relatives in a distinct genus.
This bird is similar in size to a dunlin, but stouter, with a thick bill. It shows a strong white wingbar in flight, and runs along the sandy beaches it prefers with a characteristic "bicycling" action of its legs, stopping frequently to pick small food items. It eats small crabs and other small invertebrates. In spring, birds migrating north from South America consume large numbers of horseshoe crab eggs in the Delaware Bay area.
In spring, the birds arrive on the High Arctic breeding grounds (see map), where they lay 3–4 eggs in a ground scrape. On the nesting grounds, these birds mainly eat insects and some plant material.
The sanderling is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Description
The sanderling is a small plump sandpiper, 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) in length. Its weight ranges from 40–100 g (1.4–3.5 oz). The winter bird is very pale, almost white apart from a dark shoulder patch. This is the source of the specific name, alba, which is the Latin for "white". Later in the summer, the face and throat become brick-red. The juvenile bird is spangled black and white, and shows much more contrast than the adult.
Standard Measurements[4][5]
length180–220 mm (7.1–8.7 in)
weight60 g (2.1 oz)
wingspan430 mm (17 in)
wing114.5–121.6 mm (4.51–4.79 in)
tail47.3–53 mm (1.86–2.09 in)
culmen22.5–26.6 mm (0.89–1.05 in)
tarsus23.5–25.8 mm (0.93–1.02 in)
If its size is misjudged, a sanderling in breeding plumage can be mistaken for some varieties of stint, or a sanderling in winter plumage can be mistaken for a dunlin or red knot. It can be told from other small wading birds, given good views, by its lack of a hind toe. Its behavior is also distinctive.
Distribution, habitat and migration
The sanderling breeds in the High Arctic areas of North America, Europe and Asia. In North America, it breeds in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Nunavut, Greenland (and to a lesser extent Alaska). In Eurasia, it breeds in Spitsbergen and areas of northern Russia from the Taymyr Peninsula to the New Siberian Islands. In the northern winter, it has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution across the world's marine coasts. It is a complete migrant, travelling between 3,000 to 10,000 km (1,900 to 6,200 mi) from its breeding grounds to its wintering sites. Birds that travel further also arrive later and leave sooner. Most adults leave the breeding grounds in July and early August, whereas juvenile birds leave in late August and early September. The northward migration begins in March at the southern end of their winter distribution.[6]
The breeding habitat of the sanderling is coastal tundra north of 5 °C (41 °F) July isotherm. The species typically chooses nesting sites on dry stony areas near wet areas, from 60 m (200 ft) above sea level to 800 m (2,600 ft). During the winter and its migration, it is most commonly found on coastal sandy beaches, but also occurs on tidal sand flats, mud flats and the shores of lakes and rivers. More infrequently, it may occur on rocky shores.[6]
Subspecies
The sanderling consists of two subspecies:
C. a. alba, (Pallas, 1764), breeds on Ellesmere Island, north & east Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and the Taymyr Peninsula
C. a. rubida, (Gmelin, 1789), breeds in northeast Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada
Behaviour
Feeding behaviour
Sanderlings feed on invertebrate prey buried in the sand in the upper intertidal zone. In North America, this diet largely consists of the isopods Excirolana linguifrons, Excirolana kincaidii, and the mole crab, Emerita analoga. When the tide is out, these crustaceans live in burrows some way beneath the surface. When the tide comes in, they move into the upper layers of sand and feed on the plankton and detritus that washes over them with each wave. They then burrow rapidly down again as the water retreats. They leave no marks on the surface, so the sanderlings hunt for them by plunging their beaks into the sand at random, consuming whatever they find. Their bills can penetrate only 2 or 3 cm (0.79 or 1.18 in) and as the water swirls around and retreats, the sand is softer; this makes it easier for the birds' beaks to penetrate further. In the spring, when much breeding activity is taking place in the benthic community, there may be as many as 4000 invertebrates per square metre, but their average size is smaller than later in the year. The birds appear to rush madly around at the edge of the surf, but in reality they are maximising their chances of catching as many prey animals as possible when they are at their most vulnerable near the surface.[7]
Breeding behaviour
At breeding time sanderlings are territorial, with the male aggressively defending its territory. They may either form monogamous pairs or polyandrous (one female and two male) pairings.
Back in the early 80's, TRAINS magazine worked out a formula of some kind to determine what specific locomotive represented the perfect, All-American diesel. I don't know exactly what the dynamics and requirements that were used, but I won't argue with the magazine's results. Here she is, B&O GP38 3802, the proud winner. She even had a plaque applied certifying her greatness. It was on the frame below the cab on the engineer's side. We see the 3802 here in a rescan, leading DT10 at Stateline tower. DT10 was a C&O freight that ran from Barr Yard to Detroit, using Conrail between Pine Jct and Porter Jct, getting on the former Pere Marquette there for the rest of the ride. I wonder what TRAINS would pick for its All-American today.