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With the bottom of lens just skimming the top of the water even 2 inch ripples look like waves..........
Nikon D5100 and Nikkor 10-24mm AF-S F3.5-4.5 lens
UP SD60m #2329 leads on this Oakland to Pueblo work train as it heads East in DeBeque Canyon near Akin siding.
to the top via Aeri de Montserrat.
For more info on Montserrat: click here
The previous shot is the one I wanted to use but It went out of focus...so I had to go with this photo....
A single unit manifest (AC4400CW) waits for lights to enter Salt Lake City, UT.
Shot on 120 Fuji 160 H.
Life continues to move on and I am now sixty…how did I get there so fast?…the reality is I have! I moved into my sixth decade of life earlier this year and it has given me a renewed outlook on my cross-dressing. I do have regrets in my life, the biggest being my self imposed suppression of my transgender self. Why did I hold back? The answer is I was not brave enough. I feared the reaction of others, I feared losing my family life and I feared losing my income. I just caved in and tried to ignore it.
Well, back in the year 2000, 19 tears ago, at the age of forty one I began to cross-dress as a woman. I could no longer suppress my inner desire to appear as a woman. It caused a lot of upset with my family and though I am now fortunate enough to engage in cross0dressing, it is a compromise in regard to the opportunities I have. My family tolerate it but my moments as my female alter-ego are rare. I have no wish to jeopardise my family life and work so I accepted the limited opportunities. I do adore becoming Helene and though it is rare it is always an amazing and rather emotional experience.
Now I am older and less hung up about my cross-dressing I find myself being more confident and at ease with it and having more fun when I do dress up as a woman. Last night I had a sudden opportunity to become Helene again ad I totally went for it. i was somewhat tired and not quite as focused as I would have liked, not to mention very much out of practice, but I intended to enjoy my time en femme.
Having emerged from the bath with freshly shaved, legs, chest and arms I enjoyed plucking my eyebrows into a better shape and excitedly sat down to start putting on my make-up. Part of my excitement was a new piece of equipment I purchased in December purely for my make-up application. I’m sure many of us struggle with getting a real world foundation coverage because of our beard shadows. The dreaded beard shadow , even after a super close shave, can feel smooth but the skin is bumpy due to the underlying hair follicles and this also leaves a visible shadow (unless you are fortunate enough to have light hair colour).
I usually employ all the techniques to neutralise the beard shadow cover then several layers of heavy foundation and can usually get a successful coverage result but it is rather heavy looking compared to real women. I had been looking into trying to get smoother coverage but without the thick layer result. On my male face after decades of shaving I could never get the look I hoped for ski coverage on my face.
I have new aspirations to spend more time out in the real world as a woman. I do love make-up and enjoy wearing it but to be amongst women and men in public in daylight had me wanting nice smooth makeup coverage that successfully disguised my shadows but did not look like a heavy coating on my face. As I say, I love wearing make-up and when I cross-dress in private I have no issue with wearing heavy coatings of foundation at all. For the real world though, I realised I need to up my game if I was to be perceived as a female when out and about.
This led me to look at applying foundation using an airbrush with a small air compressor. The look and finish from foundation applied with an airbrush is very good. I bought a kit and some silicone foundation for use with the airbrush and I have been biding my time to give it a go.
Last night was my chance. I set it all p, watched the manufacturers tutorials and set about spraying the foundation onto my face. It is a very different feel to the traditional method of applying foundation. It is a far more subtle approach. as you gradually build up the coverage using a light misted spray and moving in small circular motions.
I had to laugh when I began as I soon realised this required a degree of practice and my initial spraying efforts were somewhat inept. I was getting the hang of it but I definitely need a lot more practice and..patience! You cannot rush it. I think once one gets competent with it it is possible to apply the foundation considerably faster than my first effort.
Despite my poor technique I was amazed by the coverage, your skin looks amazing! It’s like a flexible, durable, long lasting coverage but none of the thick make up appearance. My skin is unavoidably bumpy around my upper lip, cheeks, chin and neck area but this cover was unlike any previous efforts and the realisation that this was going to work for real world trips in public made me dizzy with excitement. Even on m y sixty year old skin it was as smooth as I was ever going to look.
I bought the Airbase HD kit, which is bigger than I expected. In hindsight I may have been better with the compressor and airbrush alone. The HD kit comes in a se with a lighted mirror. There are alternative kits from other manufacturers such as DInair and Luminess.
If you are serious about trying to look female and avoiding the heavy coverage look during the day then I can recommend using airbrush foundation application. I will admit I have decided to book myself onto a one day training course in the late Spring in order to learn how to use it well. As I am obsessed with trying to look as female as I possibly can I think the cost of the training is a god personal investment as was purchasing the airbrush kit.
I took a lot of selfies last night and one accompanies this narrative. It was rather fabulous to be appearing as a woman once more :-)
ODC Theme: All Mixed Up
Taken: 29 Dec 2013
I was a bit undecided with the post processing (if any) I'd perform on this. I spent 30 mins going around in circles. To me this is an indication to go back to basics, so I applied a simple blue hue layer at 80% to give a slightly metallic finish which I liked. Sometimes less is more.
Enjoy.
The view from St James Station, looking straight up the Clarence River Valley, Northern Canterbury.
At 230km long, the Clarence is NZ's 8th-longest river.
This shingle road (Tophouse Rd.) will eventually lead you to Lake Tennyson, a small glacial lake on the eastern edge of Nelson Lakes National Park.
And if you were suitably equipped and skilled (and mad!), you could continue on this road until you reached Nelson...!
CN 121 backs up with CN 2522, IC 1015 & IC 1032. It will drop off some cars at Turcot West for tomorrow's CN 149
UP Northbound Local Freight Train has just departed Little Rock, AR with a pair of UP GP60’s in charge with the lead 2047 still in SP paint
UP #5702 leads a manifest along Roseville Road past the Sacramento Regional Transit base of operations on the opposite side of the tracks.
Diptych #37: wake up, sleepyhead
Diptych collaboration with *Peanut (Lauren)
left pic: mine
right pic: Lauren's
Dip-It-Thursday ~ Dip-It collaboration
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If you could only see {acoustic} ~ Tonic (i <3 this!!!)
There are several cabins similar to this one along the 53 km long Chilkoot Trail used by hikers to temporarily get away from the frequently adverse weather conditions. Overnight stay is prohibited. Tenting is only allowed in designated campsites to protect this fragile area.
I remembered what this plant was called when I took the photo - but now I am drawing a blank! Let me know if you know what it is! :)
© Marcos Duarte
Há quem passe e deixe só cicatrizes,
Há quem passe banhando-nos em lágrimas,
Há quem passe aplaudindo nossos fracassos.
Há quem passe fazendo-nos cair.
Há quem passe como sombra,
Há quem passe como pedra no caminho,
Há quem para todo deslize veja uma falha
irreparável,
Há quem ignore nossos erros,
Há quem passe rápido, veloz, despercebido,
Há quem simplesmente passe,
Há quem passe pela vida,
Há quem passe semeando flores.
Há quem passe disposto a secá-las.
Há quem passe torcendo por nossa vitória,
Há quem passe ajudando-nos a levantar,
Há quem passe como luz.
Há quem passe como pedra de construção.
Há quem nos ofereça o perdão.
Há quem nos ajude a corrigir.
Há quem deixe marcas profundas.
Há quem fique para sempre
Mas, há quem não deixe a vida passar
( R.C. Suppi )
"A verdadeira função do homem é viver, não existir.
Eu não gastarei meus dias tentando prolonga-los.
Eu usarei meu tempo.
O medo mata todos os outros sentimentos "
(Jack London)