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©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 42.458+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on July 20th 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1328859551 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,590th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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**** This frame was chosen on Thursday 9th June 2022 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #396. This is my 215th photograph to be selected.
I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to every one of the 42.458+ Million people who have visited, favorited and commented on this and all of my other photographs here on my FLICKR site. *****
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty two metres at 12:31pm on an overcast summer afternoon on Thursday 15th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia.
Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is... er... the biggest plague on the planet after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility.
Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London. The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons. They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionaly killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dippeds into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time.
By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market.
Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.
They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials. They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire. Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him. In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture. The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician tradition and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also. Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons. They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama.
Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons. The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons. In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogamous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives. They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum. They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
Nikon D850 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture: f/8.0 iso500 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4480k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.24s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.20s
ALTITUDE: 62.00m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 50.60MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data 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 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Camera used: Kodak Flash Single Use Camera [preloaded with Kodak 800 film]
Olinda, Victoria, Australia.
Note: This was an Australian made car, and different to the Plymouth Valiant sold in the US during the same year.
As used in VeloVixen's blogspot to promote Ride London - a sportive through London and over into the Surrey Hills. The ride takes place this weekend - don't try to drive anywhere near - it's all about the bikes :-)
www.velovixen.com/blog/cat/Womens_cycling/post/lego/
#shutuplegos
I found out that minifigs do not wear shorts very often when building this!
Big Ben Architecture set used (and abused slightly) Downing Street, London Eye, Nelson's Column, St Pauls and the infamous Red Telephone box....oh and a London "Bobby" (Policeman).
Custom Downing Street sign by Firestar Toys.
CustomVeloVixen t-shirts by www.minifigforlife.com
Images used:
Eliot Phillips
No Starch Press shot glass
www.flickr.com/photos/hackaday/7686641020/in/faves-144331...
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Kristine
www.flickr.com/photos/53035820@N02/8070021761/in/faves-14...
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Image by shauking from Pixabay
anton
Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay
beer/red bull
Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay
shot
It used to be I shot black and white film for the boring stuff. Color film was expensive for me In those days Southern Pacific (SP) SD45's and UP SD40's were considered boring, like GEVOs today. SP 9076, UP 3049, SP 9195 and possibly others lead a freight around the wye at Davis, California on an unrecorded date around 1973. The train is coming off the CalP and heading up what now is the California Northern. Then, it was the West Valley Line of the Southern Pacific. According to WAF, (This train) "is the OPS from Oakland, the general merchandise train (mostly lumber empties) between Oakland and Portland. Whether it actually went all the way to Portland is unknown. I suspect it got humped in Eugene and its Portland/Seattle cars forwarded to Portland."
SP 9076 is an EMD SD45, SP Class EF636-5. Reportedly: it built in 1969 builders number 34911. This locomotive was upgraded in 1984 emerging as SP 7489 SD45R, SP Class EF636LR-1.
The disposition of this locomotive is, sold 1994 to Helm Atlantic Leasing, HATX 915. Rebuilt to SD40-2M HLCX 6413.
~ Handmade texture available for use in your artworks with creative commons license ~
~ Do not re-distribute in ANY WAY ~
~ Please do not use to create your own stock ~
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~ I would love to see what you have done, if you would like to put a small size sample in my comments, thanks & have fun~
~ Please add your artworks to my group here ~
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I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I'm leaning on the everlasting arms
If I can see it, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me, oh
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it .
♪ . . .
Dipping into my photo archives in past weeks I found this shot in the Pornic file. Until I became used to it, the naming of places after important dates did seem a particularly French custom. This date resonates with me and brings to mind the concluding pages of my father's diaries.
In the early hours of 8th May 1945, my father was in a column of prisoners being marched away from the PoW camps. They had reached the German-Czech border, after a 'stopover' in a tin mine at Zinnwald. My dad saw the guards shine their torches down and feared they would have no option but to sleep on the wet ground. He suggested to his pals that they leave the column.... Which they did. Unnoticed.
There followed a time of living on their wits for food and shelter, plus a few adventures, until they met three American ex-PoWs, who had found a 15 cwt truck. My dad and his mates hitched a lift to Pilsen where they were officially registered as recovered allied PoWs by the Third US Army.
There followed a flight to Reims in France and thence onward to England where my dad finally arrived home to his wife at 4.30 p.m. in the little village of Claydon, Suffolk on 25th May 1945.
I was born the following year - nearly a Christmas baby. A new little family; a different life.
As my Flickr friends who have read the story know, the help of a fellow member of a local U3A Photography Group has been invaluable to me in publishing, in paperback and kindle format, my father's diary account of his WW2 service, captured at Tobruk, subsequently as a PoW in N. Africa, Italy and Germany:
www.amazon.co.uk/Till-We-Meet-Again-Gunner/dp/154404870X
My royalties are donated to the Red Cross, without whose food parcels sent to the PoW camps, my father felt that 'a lot of us wouldn't have come back'.
COMMENT: Of Bots and Bad Pandas
After trying to log in to Flickr numerous times without success earlier today, I gave up. Too many Bad Pandas. No point posting photos if half the people can't get on to see them. I don't know why this platform is the only one we know that goes down so regularly. Looking at the Help Forum this is a worldwide problem. But that happens to be the least of our problems on Flickr.
There is something more important existentially that goes on every single day on everyone's page that far too many people are turning a blind eye to. I'm talking about bot use. For those who still live in a prelapsarian social media world, bots are either (1) pieces of internet code written specifically to trawl the pages of Flickr faving and in some cases commenting (generically) in order to garner reciprocal visits - you can buy them, or (2) humans behaving in a bot-like manner, simply faving and following as many people as possible in the hope of achieving the same goals - inflated views, faves and followers. Frankly I'm sick of it.
So much so that I will block any person I see that exhibits this bot-like tendency. My list of blocks is hundreds long. Of course this has seen a falloff in my own view numbers. We don't seriously think that all those views of our old photos are real do we? If say you post 3 photos a day and each of them gets 500 views in 24 hours and your total view count for the day is 5,000. I would argue a good percentage of all those extra 3,500 views are in fact unblocked bots.
Opponents of bots on social media platforms (and Flickr is by no means the worst here) estimate that up to 50 percent of all traffic on these sites is bot-driven. Now bots are easy to understand when the corruption of monetarization comes into play. That is not the case on Flickr. But ego is. And it seems to me that ego will drive some people to do very bad things to attract attention to themselves.
Have you ever wondered why that awful out of focus picture of the Grand Canyon has attracted 65,000 views and 1,500 faves? Well very likely this person is using a massive bot. And many people fave unthinkingly. Go to the Activities Feed and press the fave star and you don't even need to visit a person's page. You can fave thousands in an hour or two doing that. But what a hollow feeling. And what does it do for the photography community?
Explore is another area rife with gaming strategies. How many times do you see the usual suspects turn up on a person's page with "Congrats on Explore"? That's the only time they'll visit your page by the way (that's if you're lucky enough to ever get Explored because it seems only magic accounts do every 16-19 days). These are a group of people who fave (or by proxy their bot does) every one of the 500 Explored photos each day, in the belief it will garner them more "followers" (how I hate that word - CONTACTS is so much better). So if you have been in the habit of doing that there is an excellent chance I will have blocked you.
Of course the most dangerous bots of all are the ones pretending to comment. People think they are real, but AI is very clever now. And one in particular has been at the centre of attention during this week. Banned by Flickr after being clearly outed by a "bot catcher". He gets banned, and then the whistleblower gets banned too for exposing the biggest bot commenter on Flickr. All this ended up with the whistleblower rightly being restored, but also the return of the bot user. Some of you will have followed proceedings very closely.
Frankly I've advocated for a long time for view counts to be discontinued. Thousands of views do not make a good photograph. Social media has been bad for photography in that regard. It's made photographers complacent, and even worse, made them conform to particular styles or genres that "succeed" - as if that matters. Photography is an individual art and everyone is unique.
Always remember that not another soul saw Vivian Maier's photographs before she died. And I dare say you rarely see photographs on Flickr even half as good as the ones she spent a lifetime taking.
So if you feel like I do about the integrity of Flickr and bot use, please join us at this group:
....don't like bot-comments/faves? Join us, post your photos there.
Please post it to the Anti-Bots and Anti-Fake group.
* A final point. Mr Ed was a talking horse and not a bot user.
Deer skulls found in the woods by near my home.
All Rights Reserved. None of these photos may be reproduced and/or used in any form of publication, print or the Internet without my written permission.
Nakameguro, Tokyo, Japan
Nikon F3
Nikkor 50mm F1.2 AiS
Fujifilm Astia 100F
Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED
I used to sing this song a lot. And then I met Jennifer. And she showed me what love is.
Song: I Want To Know What Love Is
Artist: Foreigner
I've gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
This mountain, I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds, I see love shine
Keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life, there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me (hey)
Gotta take a little time
Little time to look around me
I've got nowhere left to hide
Looks like love has finally found me
In my life, there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is (I wanna know)
I want you to show me (I wanna feel)
I wanna feel what love is (I know, I know, and I know)
I know you can show me
Let's talk about love
I wanna know what love is
(Love that you feel inside)
I want you to show me
(I'm feeling so much love)
I wanna feel what love is
(And you know, you just can't hide)
I know you can show me
Oh, I wanna know what love is
(Let's talk about love)
I know you can show me
(I wanna feel)
I wanna feel what love is
(And you know you just can't hide)
I know you can show me
I wanna feel what love is (oh, I wanna know)
I want you to show me
© All rights reserved — Any use, reproduction or curation requires prior written permission via Flickr mail.
Early on Sunday morning, the cold was biting, well below zero. Bradgate Park was already busy with visitors, and in places the ground had turned white, dressed in a true winter coat. Trusting the BBC weather forecast that promised a bright, sunny day, I set off towards the park.
Almost immediately, I encountered a young male Fallow Deer (buck – Dama dama). As soon as he noticed the crowd, he stopped and, almost knowingly, posed for a few seconds. What caught my attention straight away were his antlers. The left antler showed the typical broad, palmate shape of a Fallow Deer, while the right one looked strikingly different—more like the pointed tips of a young male Red Deer.
Most likely, this unusual shape resulted from a deformation or break during the growth phase of the antler. I found it fascinating; perhaps the experienced park rangers would have more insight into the history behind this individual’s antlers.
With winter clearly arriving, migrant birds have started to appear. After recent sightings of Stonechat, Goldcrests have now begun to show themselves. I am sharing two Goldcrest photographs from this walk. Unfortunately, I experienced a technical issue with my Z8, so I am confident that on my next visit I will be able to present sharper and more varied poses of this tiny bird.
As always, my photo walks would not be complete without the Robin (European Robin / Redbreast), which once again stepped onto the path in front of me, as if keeping me company.
I am sharing a total of seven photographs and hope you enjoy them.
Wishing you all a beautiful week ahead.
Goldcrest in the UK – Short English Note
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) is both a resident and a winter visitor in the UK. While many individuals breed locally, significant numbers arrive from northern and eastern Europe during autumn and winter, boosting the UK population. These winter migrants are often seen in woodland edges, conifers, and parks, especially after cold spells on the continent.
I've captured some unforgettable moments with my camera, and I hope you feel the same joy viewing these images as I did while shooting them.
Thank you so much for visiting my gallery, whether you leave a comment, add it to your favorites, or simply take a moment to look around. Your support means a lot to me, and I wish you good luck and beautiful light in all your endeavors.
© All rights belong to R.Ertuğ. Please refrain from using these images without my express written permission. If you are interested in purchasing or using them, feel free to contact me via Flickr mail.
Lens - With Nikon TC 14E II - hand held or Monopod and definitely SPORT VR on. Aperture is f8 and full length. All my images have been converted from RAW to JPEG.
I started using Nikon Cross-Body Strap or Monopod on long walks. Here is my Carbon Monopod details : Gitzo GM2542 Series 2 4S Carbon Monopod - Really Right Stuff MH-01 Monopod Head with Standard Lever - Really Right Stuff LCF-11 Replacement Foot for Nikon AF-S 500mm /5.6E PF Lense -
Your comments and criticism are always appreciated.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to explore! 😊
This used to be a proud well kept train station. Now tickets are bought and paid for online or from the conductor on the train. I’m not even sure that the building is in use anymore. You used to be able to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee inside. At one point it was featured in a movie even!!
ANSH scavenger14 public transportation.
This is a picture I took a couple of days ago using 6 strobes to put even light on the background and the hummingbird. The yellow succulent flowers were set decoration, but the hummingbirds like them, and did feed from them while I was photographing.
I learned the lighting that I used here from a book by Linda Robbins called The Hummingbird Guide. Her method is to use a minimum of 5 to 6 strobes, a supplied background, and photograph the birds in the shade so that you don't have to overpower the sunlight. When you use multiple strobes on a subject in the shade you can use lower power settings for each flash which results in shorter flash durations which means it freezes the wing blur. The backdrop is a painting my wife did for this purpose. I used 6 Yongnuo strobes because I wanted to use identical manual power output for each flash . One strobe was pointed at the background, one was underneath the feeder, and the other 4 strobes surrounded the feeder. The strobes were all at set to 1/32nd power, in manual mode, and were triggered by a Yongnuo RF-603N., and you can see the EXIF info on the side. This method is the only way that I've been able to photograph one of these birds with little, or no, wing blur. I've finally learned to pre-focus on a spot near the feeder, using Live View, so that the birds are usually all in focus. I can then sit farther away from the feeder and trigger the strobes and the camera remotely. Down below in the first comment, you can see a picture of the setup that I used on that particular day.
I've taken quite a few pictures of hummers over the years and put them an album creatively called Hummingbirds.
www.flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/sets/72157627149575339/</a
I used to fuck with light more.
I was in the water yesterday morning with a buddy, talking about my Costa Rica trip, telling him one of the few good things was, I caught a lot of waves, got a lot of "reps", lots of chances to get my timing right, to get my pop up right, to work on my form. Building that muscle memory.
Before the pandemic...before getting a good career, really, I would get in lots of reps, taking pictures. Photo shoot after photo shoot, several in a day, several in a week, fucking with light, fucking with composition, doing it all so often, working things out, watching ideas mutate like they were in a Petri dish.
Not to say I miss it, having done it all at that pace for years, I'm grateful to be taking it slower, nowadays. But I recognize the utility of all those reps. Developing muscle memory for recognizing how light moves and operates through a camera lens. Knowing how this flare would work out.
I used to fuck with light more...but now I don't have to.
By remote shooting with Playboy Cybergirl Muirina Fae, model/hair/makeup
Last weekend I participated in a remote workshop shoot with model @muirinafae and coordinator @darwinimages. Because I was operating in completely unfamiliar waters, using methods and gear completely new to me and a model 3400 km away from me, I learned a great deal. Plus I gained a newfound appreciation for my old familiar gear! :-)
Photo taken using a vintage manual Minolta MD 50 mm f1.7 lens at f5.6
Check out my web site : www.ortbaldauf.com and my www.500px.com/ortbaldauf site.. www.facebook.com/ortbaldauf © Photo is the property of Ort Baldauf. Do not use this photo on or off the web without my written permission. Thank you
Used 2 seperate photos for textures on this (both my own), overlay on both, converted to B&W. This is the lighthouse in Two Harbors, MN.
Use without permission is illegal.
don't use my pics on websites and other social media without my permission,thanks !
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Follow the link to my Youtube channel to watch the video from when I captured this image. youtu.be/HlPYNs1HULA
Used this new tool I made on Sunday at yesterdays workshop.
Everyone loved the effect so thought I should get a shot of it myself
The brief and questions I gave myself for this project were:
if I truly had to design my very own craft what would I want it to look like?
As a pilot, what kind of tech would I want to see in the cockpit?
What real life scenario could I incorporate making it a unique experience?
If I needed it repaired/ refueled, would I have the correct gear?
Could I build in real safety features?
What if I crashed in a remote place and needed to survive?
Can I challenge myself from a builders persepctive using parts that hardly ever come out to play?
Could I revisit my stickering techniques on such a small build?
My answers were:
I wanted something that visually had a very aerodynamic shape that looked like it was moving even when stationery, it had to have a unique "skin" that set it apart from any of my previous builds. Plus been a Starfighter, it had to be equipped with lots of weapons, that could shoot any enemy in any direction. If I wanted to be able to end a mission I could just inject and still tell the tale to my mates. My wishlist for this very personal project was, make it truly mine!
Over 80 hours of building and experimental phases was a challenge, only as its 16 x 35 studs and 9-in height, made it rather difficult to integrate not only the many play features but the final balance display stand. Ive truly enjoyed the Jam, guys you are all my hero`s, such a wonderful creative bunch. Thank you kindly to the organization of this great contest! Over &-Out
Play features on FXX (-number of features after the # )
·Front pronge shooters rotate 180° (left & right) #2
·Hidden frontend loading slot for missiles #2
· Squeeze side panels to release main missiles to fire (left and right) #2
·Open side panels to release the drop target bombs (left and right) #2
·Trigger the side decoy flares (left & right) #2
·Swivel hydrolysis pipe for regas when in servcie (left & Right) #2
·Fully opened bottom panels reveal computer charger panel and refuelling ports which are numbered from 1·3: 1) is jet fuel 2) is for hydrogen and 3) us for oxygen #5
·Removable engine covers on rear mechanism, access to batteries and cooling refuelling ports #2
·Removable quantum batteries #2
·Refuelling connection port for cooling #2
·Swivel side panel opens hatch (left):
Contains 9 items that can be removed and used: Hammer, spanner, ice hammer, screwdriver, GPS unit, emergency sky flare, galaxy neutral passport card, tablet and first aid kit #10
Swivel side panel opens hatch (right):
Contains 6 items whuch can be removed and used: main laser shotgun, Handheld tazer gun, a pack of Hero Bullets, camo face paint cream, 2 meters carbon rope, 1.5m bugee card hidden in the door #7
·Under carriage features frontend full foldable landing gear integrated into body#1
·Turn nob switch activates light inside cockpit to show pilot landing gear is activated (for real) #2
·Fold down panel fires a rear bomb disc #1
·Once pushed into full lock it automatically fires without the need to finger fire #1
·Swivel and folable landing rear gear #2
·Fully removable cockpit screen #1
·Wind screen holder for pilot entry and exit #1
·Pilot has own personal storage unit #1
·Datacard used to release Drone, which automatically falls from craft #2
·Drone folds open and has adjustable antennas #3
·Hidden side lazer guns can swivel up to 172° (left & right) #2
·Injectable pilot seat release #1
·Pilot has flying seat once fully activate folded for flight #1
·Fold down display stand #1
·Removable steering /-navigator tablet for pilot #1
· can come in/ out #1
George Washington Creef Memorial Park in Manteo, North Carolina is a picture perfect location nestled into the calm waters of the Shallowbag Bay, making it a local attraction for those visiting the revitalized downtown Manteo. The park contains a several attractions of interest that include the centerpiece that is the fourth version of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, the Manteo Weather Tower once used to display signal flags to warn mariners of any weather concerns, a floating gazebo with an excellent view of the Elizabeth II replica ship docked at the Roanoke Island Festival Park, and a Helical Screw Pile (as seen in the photograph above) used in the 3rd version of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse constructed in 1877 and decommissioned in 1955. There is a informational panel (also seen above) that gives some details and shows 'drawings' of the screw pile from different views (plan view, profile view, a cutaway view, and end views). In each corner is The Town of Manteo logo and the Coastal Studies Institute of the University of North Carolina logo.
Seeing this historic piece of engineering, especially as a civil engineer myself, is fascinating! Understanding the engineering behind the item seen above and how it is the structural component that 'holds up' a lighthouse sticking up out of the water in the middle of the Croatan Sound (original location of the 3rd version of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse) is just a small part of the fascination...the real interest is in the fact that the piece of engineering seen above is nearly 150 years old, was recovered from its original location at the bottom of Croatan Sound where it supported the lighthouse, and is now on display in Manteo. That is also an interesting feat of engineering by itself...I hope you all enjoy as much as I did!
theglovetrotters.com/north-carolina/roanoke-marshes_light...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/