Striving Amateurs
View allAll Photos Tagged strive
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"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world"
Desiderata
Max Ehrman
ערב ראש השנה תשע"ז
שנה טובה!
War is not a game! Stop the hate, start the love!!!
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
OCEAN GRANVILLE (IMO: 9833632, MMSI 316020998) is a Tug built in 2019 (1 year old) and currently sailing under the flag of Canada.
Ocean Granville is a 381 gt vessels built by Damen's Song Cam shipyard in Vietnam
*Information has been compiled from various sources and not verified to be correct.
I was truly fortunate to have a photo opportunity on the Lynnwood Docks, North Vancouver, BC.
There is no public access to these docks, marina or surrounding property. I had a special access tour as a guest, from a long time personal friend.
Strive to be different and original , be your own artist.
Thank-you for all the overwhelming support and many friendships.
Stay healthy
Happy Clicks,
~Nautical me - Christie
**Best experienced in full screen
"Lord Jesus, help me to always trust in your saving grace, especially when I am tempted and put to the test. Help me to be faithful to you and give me the courage and strength to resist temptation, especially the temptation to compromise or to be indifferent to your word."
Copyright© 2010 Kamoteus/RonMiguel RN
This image is protected under the United States and International Copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without written permission.
When our leaders understand that no weapon or ammunition is conducive to dialogue for peace and stop manufacturing and buying them, then peace will be reborn for the good and happiness of humanity.... → Unfortunately this is an utopia, but I say it anyway !
"This world is a cage of fools where war, peace, love, hate, anger, jubilation, boredom, pleasure, martyrdom follow one another in turn and play on us".
Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
Buddha
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
Deepak Chopra
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Melody Beattie
Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.
George Orwell
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Stephen Sondheim
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️
“Everyone strives after the law,” says the man, “so how is that in these many years no one except me has requested entry?” The gatekeeper sees that the man is already dying and, in order to reach his diminishing sense of hearing, he shouts at him, “Here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going now to close it.”
—Franz Kafka, “Before the Law”
Hanksville, Utah
20-10-2022; 01:00 UTC 325;37;4
Vancouver City Seascape
Captured from Granville Island
Burrard Bridge
False Creek,
British Columbia Canada
HDR - Blue Hour Artistic Impression
False Creek is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. It separates downtown from the rest of the city. It was named by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey of 1856-63. George Richards named False Creek during his survey of the coast in the mid-19th century. While traveling along the south side of the Burrard Inlet, he thought he was traversing a creek; upon discovering his error, he gave the waterway its modern name. Wikipedia
The Burrard Bridge (background) is a five-lane, Art Deco style, steel truss bridge spanning False Creek
Constructed in 1930–1932.
I appreciate all the individual perspectives on how photographers
view and shoot their images, and how, over time we all seem to adapt styles and make them our own.
It's very interesting to see what makes the different artists 'click'.
~Strive to be different~
Thank-you for all the overwhelming support and many friendships. Wishing you all health during this difficult time.
~Christie
* * *
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”
John Muir (also known as "John of the Mountains")
* * *
Langwiedboden at an altitude of 2000 meters, an intermediate mountain station for climbing to the Top of Salzburg viewing platform at an altitude of 3029 metres.
Kitzsteinhorn mountain in the Central Eastern Alps, Austria
* * *
See my new pictures in the "My Travels" album:
Summit of the foothills
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/52467503895
The magical world of alpine glaciers
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/51321325971
Journey to the emerald lake
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/51306512183
Tranquil autumn morning on the alpine lake
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/51291984294
The last rays of the alpine sun
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/51277565722
Road not to be forgotten
www.flickr.com/photos/paradox_m/51262706747
* * *
Стремление к высоте
"Горы зовут, и я должен идти".
Джон Мьюир (известный также как "Джон гор")
* * *
Лангвайдбоден на высоте 2000 метров, промежуточная горная станция для подъема на смотровую площадку "Вершина Зальцбурга", 3029 метров.
Гора Кицштайнхорн, Центрально-Восточные Альпы, Австрия
Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.
La felicità sta nell’assenza della lotta per la felicità.
Chang-Tzu
Shirt: [ ERAUQS ] - Will Shirt w/ Tank Top
Skin; leLAPEAU - Evo X - Noel Skin
Head: LeLUTKA Eon Head 3.1
Necklace: ROZOREGALIA_hi/low*NECKLACE(Propose)
Hair: Vango. Rick
Pose/furniture: Cheeky Pea, Ethereal hanging bed and Ethereal Arbour (Kustom 9)
Hair: Truth, Candy - variety
Mesh Head: S@R, Hybrid Avatar Head - Nea Milky-White
Head Band: +half-deer+, Forest's Tale Flower Crown
Body: Belleza, Venus - V3
Bracelets: .tsg. Candy (group gift)/ +half-deer+, Forest's Tale - Petals and pearls bracelet
Dress: Moon Amore, Selene Dress - Pink
Striving, rising, arriving, accepting, reaching, yearning, learning .....
~ Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutram 心經梵唱 - The Shore Beyond 彼岸 (黃慧音 Imee Ooi) ~
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
I have. been looking for ideas and read the following article that I have based this work upon:
The Mystery of Life
Muhammad Taqi Ja'fari
Positive Mysticism
www.al-islam.org/mystery-life-muhammad-taqi-jafari/positi...
I hope that my work makes sense to you!
With heartfelt and genuine thanks for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, be well, keep your eyes open, appreciate the beauty surrounding you, enjoy creating, stay safe and laugh often! ❤️❤️❤️
Mitt bidrag till Fotosöndag och veckans tema «vårkänslor».
My contribution for this week's theme «spring feelings»; for the Swedish photo group Fotosondag.
If you're going to do something, strive to do it better than anyone else. Do it all the way. If you're going to half-ass it, why bother?
[Ashly Lorenzana]
Tunnel through the rhododendron, Scaly Mountain Trail, Nantahala National Forest
Pentax K-1
SMC Pentax 1:5.5 55mm
Iridient Developer
My heart to yours for eternity my sweet one
I love and adore you more than anything
and there I strive to always make you proud and happy.
My heart to yours for eternity
because my heart, my essence and very soul are all yours.
I love you my darling and with true love for you
my heart overflows pure rivers of gold.
You are the most precious thing in this world,
you are it's beauty and in joy that makes me cry.
My heart to yours for eternity because of
the most special and sacred bond that we so deeply share.
Could you feel its power to when we first met?
I think you could but must ask,
I think you did because we are both so very shy
and in so many ways opened up to each other
that with others we could not or would dare not,
all that kept us back was that last bit of shyness
which kept us from saying our love directly,
when we looked at each other though everyone could see it.
It was mentioned to me so very often
and I've always known you are who I cherished and wanted.
My heart to yours for eternity because you
are my Queen and sweet Angel.
You are so darling and my heart melts and sing for thee.
My heart to yours for all eternity because it aches
so very much when you aren't near to me
and when we are not talking.
Even now when I'm smiling I ache and yearn
for the beautiful woman I adore and love,
I pray you are not angry even though I don't feel that you are,
my heart longs to give you sweet kisses
and hold you so close sharing sweet warmth.
My heart to yours for eternity because
you are my dream and only true love,
I want to marry you and be with you for all time.
My heart to yours for eternity because you are my light,
you are my hope, you are my northern star and a diamond in the rough.
My heart is yours and forever it shall be to no end,
My heart to yours singing my favorite songs of love
and writing poetry just for you through eternity my dear.
The most accomplished street artist in Launceston is Kreamart. His identity is unknown (a local version of Banksy), but looking at this work he could well be a professional signwriter.
The message is one we should all take to heart whatever we do.
Striving for that "perfect" black and white flower shot, whatever that may be.
I am not a "flower" photographer, and I don't always know what kind of flower I am shooting, but I do enjoy the challenge of getting a good flower shot.
And, on a good day, I can usually tell the difference between a rose and a daisy.
"Il mare insegna ai marinai sogni che poi i porti spengono." Bernard Giradeau.
Prima o poi bisogna trovare il coraggio di uscire fuori dal porto, per non dimenticare quanto più emozionante è il solcare il mare.
Buona giornata
PS: Foto di archivio, un bellissimo tramonto illumina le barche, ormai vuote, dei pescatori di un piccolo porto del sud della Sicilia. Foto scattata a mano libera con obbiettivo grandangolare, 10mm.