Last year I did a big series of nursery prints about animals and the sounds they make. They were very much geared toward the tiniest of audience members: high contrast, very simple, and unique enough but not very stylized. Today I am thinking of how blissful it would be to design a whole nursery around this new animal-sound-related image, but I think it's maybe too visually sophisticated -- my little girl (age 2) didn't recognize this as a bird when I first showed it to her, and I like her art to be accessible to her.

Still, it's so cuuuuute and springtimey! What do your little ones think?

Roan Mountain, straddling the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, rises like a great green fortress in the Southern Appalachian range. This five-mile-long highland ridge is one of the most ecologically diverse and visually striking places in the eastern United States. Towering over 6,200 feet at its highest point, Roan Mountain is not a single peak but a series of summits, grassy balds, and spruce-fir forests that together create a landscape unlike any other in the region.

Most visitors begin their journey at Carver’s Gap, a high mountain pass accessible by car that sits at 5,512 feet. From here, hikers step directly onto the Appalachian Trail, which cuts across the ridgeline and connects the mountain’s main features. Within minutes, the trail climbs above the tree line, revealing sweeping panoramic views from Round Bald, the first of several open summits. These “grassy balds”—including Jane Bald and Grassy Ridge Bald—offer a rare kind of terrain in the southern Appalachians: treeless mountaintops covered in wildflowers, berries, and grasses. The views are endless, stretching across North Carolina’s Blue Ridge to the east and Tennessee’s Holston Mountains to the west.

The origins of these balds remain a mystery. Some scientists believe they are remnants of the last Ice Age, sustained by a combination of grazing animals, fire, and climate. Others suggest human activity kept them clear. Either way, these open meadows are ecologically rich and fragile, requiring careful conservation to prevent trees from reclaiming the space.

To the west of Carver’s Gap, the terrain changes dramatically. The Appalachian Trail climbs into the dense, moss-covered spruce-fir forests of Roan High Knob, the highest point on the ridge at 6,285 feet. These forests feel more like New England or Canada than North Carolina, remnants of colder glacial climates from thousands of years ago. The air is cooler, the light dimmer, and the quiet deeper. Here stands the Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest backcountry shelter on the Appalachian Trail.

Near the summit of Roan High Knob, history lingers. In the late 1800s, General John T. Wilder built the Cloudland Hotel on the mountaintop as a resort for people seeking health benefits from the cool, fresh air. The hotel, which once straddled the state line, is long gone, but its ruins can still be found in the woods. Nearby, a short spur trail leads to Roan High Bluff, one of the best overlooks in the entire range.

Perhaps the most famous feature of Roan Mountain is its extraordinary display of Catawba rhododendrons. Each June, thousands of these flowering shrubs bloom across the highlands in brilliant pink and purple hues, transforming the mountains into a floral spectacle. The Roan Mountain Rhododendron Gardens, located near the old hotel site, include paved walkways and overlooks that make them accessible to all. The display is so iconic that the nearby town of Roan Mountain, Tennessee, hosts an annual Rhododendron Festival to celebrate the bloom and local mountain culture.

But Roan Mountain isn’t only beautiful in summer. In fall, the highlands erupt in gold and crimson, and in winter, the ridge becomes a snowy wonderland. The elevation keeps temperatures cool year-round, and sudden fog, thunderstorms, or wind can make conditions change quickly. Even experienced hikers are advised to carry layers and rain gear, and to check the weather before heading out.

Beyond its scenic appeal, Roan Mountain is also a place of deep ecological importance. It’s home to dozens of rare plant and animal species, including Gray’s lily, Roan Mountain bluets, and various high-elevation birds. Conservation groups work actively to protect these habitats, as overuse and erosion remain concerns, especially during peak visitation months.

Roan Mountain also holds a place in American history. In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, a group of frontiersmen known as the Overmountain Men crossed the Roan Highlands on their way to the Battle of Kings Mountain. This march is now commemorated by the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, which intersects with the Appalachian Trail in the area.

On the Tennessee side, Roan Mountain State Park provides a lower-elevation base with campgrounds, rental cabins, and family-friendly trails. The park complements the high-elevation wilderness above, offering opportunities for fishing, biking, and attending seasonal festivals.

Access to Roan Mountain is relatively easy. From Asheville, North Carolina, it’s about a 1.5-hour drive through winding mountain roads. The main entry point, Carver’s Gap, is open year-round, with parking available for both day hikers and thru-hikers. The Roan Mountain Recreation Area, open in the warmer months, provides picnic areas, paved walking paths, and access to the rhododendron gardens.

What makes Roan Mountain remarkable is how it combines natural beauty, accessibility, and a sense of the wild. It’s a place where the scenery changes with each step—from open balds under the wide sky to misty evergreen forests—each corner hiding its own magic. For many, a visit to Roan becomes a yearly ritual, a seasonal pilgrimage to walk through rhododendrons, listen to wind in the fir trees, and feel, if just for a moment, like they've stepped into another world.

Whether you’re a seasoned backpacker, a family on a scenic drive, or a botanist studying rare plants, Roan Mountain offers something meaningful. It’s not just a hike or a view—it’s an experience that connects people to nature, history, and the enduring power of mountains.

I like compositions where one can appreciate the visually chaotic environments in which animals live. I think it helps to understand how predator avoidance and background-matching have shaped the diversity of colorations, textures and patterns we observe in animals. I also like images to convey a feeling of wilderness, which I mean as the pre-human physical reality which came about by purely natural processes. Wilderness as the world the way it was up until yesterday, in evolutionary times. That is the world where animals (including us) have evolved and the world we are equipped to deal with, even if everything has changed enormously in the last couple of centuries. We can't solve the mess we have unleashed without understanding why organisms have evolved to be the way they are. And to do that, studying/observing wildlife in relatively pristine areas is fundamental.

This smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) was chilling at 1°C in a puddle near Stensoffa (Skäne, Sweden), where I took this picture in situ. All of southern Sweden is a deeply transformed area, yet for relatively small animals, there are still some patches of suitable habitat left. Never underestimate the importance of scale. As in many other species of newts, the cryptic dorsal coloration contrasts with its brightly colored bellies, suggesting that two opposing selective forces may underlie the evolution of dorsal and ventral coloration in urodela.

#wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #urodela #smooth #newt #amphibian #pond #sweden #skane #science #popsci #popularscience #zoology #biology #herpetology #macro #underwater #insitu #conservation #wilderness

Even with a mix of snow and rain my drive home from Corner Brook to Pasadena is always visually pleasing.

The Blue Lake was created during the Otago gold mining era. It started as a hill and was reduced to a pit from which shafts and then hydraulic elevators brought up gravel for sluicing. In its day it was the deepest mining hole in the Southern Hemisphere. When mining stopped, it flooded full of water. The blue color of the lake is caused by the mineral content of the surrounding, visually striking cliffs.

Spotted whilst exploring Steeple Claydon's main street. That blue is perfection! I don't think I would have been brave enough to choose that colour. (Although I wouldn't be keen on it on a house, too visually noisy for an English village.)

286/365

It is not a particularly visually interesting image today but I had around an hour until midnight to do something before the pumpkin turned back into a coach... wait, no, it is the other way around. Or is it? How do you know that when all the coaches turn to pumpkins the pumpkins do not also turn into coaches?

No, my real reason for not having anything overly creative is that I am still trying to catch up on lectures whilst trying to wrap my head around the fact that in something like nine weeks I have to have finished all of my assignments and trying to keep that straight in my head and not panicking whilst remembering that whilst everybody else in my class was celebrating for making it through three weeks of university today, I was celebrating making it through one.

I have been very bad at remembering and researching facts recently, so I apologise for that.

Did you know that according to a survey completed by the American Pie Council (I wonder how many Don McLean impressions people do around them) apple pie is America's go-to pie, with 19% of American's saying that it is their favourite? Pumpkin pie comes in second (13%).

A visually dim auroral arc across the northern sky, with the Milky Way at left in the northwestern sky, from Churchill, Manitoba, on February 14, 2018. Polaris is at top, left of centre. This illustrates the classic auroral oval across the north, centred due north at this longitude, below Polaris. ..This is a single exposure with the Sigma 14mm lens at f/1.8.

A visually stunning drive along the Shaniko-Fossil Hwy near Antelope, Oregon. As you make your way over the mountainside, going east from Antelope to Clarno, you get your first view of the John Day Fossil Beds. A preview of what is to come.

From left: Fatini Zulnaidi, Han Ghazi, Juliet Lai and Majidah Hashim

We celebrates the liberation of female expression and individuality. We are four girls from four different walks of life but we share a single passion: Interpretive photography. One's a modern-day concept artist. One is a travelling dreamer. One draws inspiration from sophistication. And one is a star gazer.

We're very excited for our first exhibition for 2008 - KLIA World Environment Day Photo Exhibition. Exhibition opens on 14th June 2008 and the booths will be up at KL International Airport's Main Terminal Building (Level 5).

----

The Magician

Majidah Hashim is a recipient of the Tourism Malaysia Awards Best Local Writer (2005/2006) and is no stranger to the Malaysian travel photojournalism scene. Her style aspires to inject a fresh and artistic perspective onto culture, adventure and lifestyle on the move. Experimental, romantically poetic and with just a touch of cynical witticism, her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous local and regional publications.

Fueled by an awesome sense of curiosity, Majidah’s passion lies in the great unknowns in every new (and old!) experience. She has great interest in the whimsical everyday habits of cultures as well as its myths, legends and folklore, and would journey to great lengths to discover them. A Descriptive Linguist by training, Majidah has presented at a number of local and international linguistics conferences, particularly on the subject of structural sociolinguistics studies and textual discourse analysis. She currently works as a researcher in the area of aviation.

The Conceptual Portrait Artist

Han Ghazi is a graduate of Temple University, Philadelphia where she studied Computer Information Science. She has since pursued a career as a Project Manager in one of the IT companies in KL. One who enjoys challenges in her life, she takes pleasure in handling demanding projects at customers sites. Despite her gruelling schedule, Han takes time off for her passion in life - photography. Her path as a photography enthusiast began in the early 90s during her university days. In 1996, she purchased her first SLR camera. A self-taught photographer, Han Ghazi has not looked back ever since.

Inspired by colours, textures and emotions, Han Ghazi uses photography as a means to express herself, her feelings and at times, her opinions, through her images. She loves experimenting with lightings, composition, body language and expressions in coming up with images that deliver emotions and messages. Such is her passion in life, her aspiration is to be able to reach out and send meaningful messages to the people at large, through her photography.

The Poetic Backpacker

Photography is Juliet's means of visually expressing beauty in everyday ordinariness as she firmly believes that poetry exists on a day-to-day basis right in front of our very own eyes. Curiosity dictates her life – she reads voraciously to sate her inquisitive mind and is always willing to abandon all that is familiar in the name of travel and adventure.

Nothing invigorates her more than her backpacking episodes, although she'd feel crippled if she was on the road without her loyal Nikon D70. Juliet's skills in wielding the camera are put to test as she showcases her journeys online. She joins the rat race as a Web Developer to fund her passions. Her heroes are Bono and Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Elemental Fashionista

Without actually everyone realizing it Fatini was a little girl with full of creativity and imaginations. Her education continues when she pursues her degree in Information Technology in Universiti Teknologi Petronas. Regardless, her deep passion for arts has never died. Traveling, art and photography experimentation, attending few art exhibitions, reading and browsing artsy photographic materials has inspired her to climb the ladder a step further.

It took her over a year to study on digital photography, decide and save money to get a dSLR. Fatini has no regrets for having to sacrifice and cutting down her girl-shopping-list to get herself equipped with this interesting hobby. Ever since she bought herself a dSLR, it became her next best friend. She shoots models, weddings and events and loves to be given a chance to be in fashion photography industry. Female photographer like Sarah Silver and Rebekka Guoleifsdottir have inspired her to push herself to the limits. She is currently a freelance photographer. Capturing tears of joy and beautiful moments of life makes her a better woman and a better person as a whole. She truly believes, if you capture things with heart and emotion, there is soul in every picture you take.

Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.

The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.

I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.

Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.

Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday

The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.

Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.

Without Prejudice.

The visually spectacular red-crested cardinal is hard to miss. Also called the Brazilian cardinal, this South American species was introduced to Hawaii in the 1930s. Despite the resemblance and common name, the red-crested cardinal (Paroaria coronate) is not taxonomically classified as a cardinal.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image presents a visually striking collection of interstellar gas and dust. Named RCW 7, the nebula is located just over 5,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Puppis.

Nebulae are areas rich in the raw material needed to form new stars. Under the influence of gravity, parts of these molecular clouds collapse until they coalesce into very young, developing stars, called protostars, which are still surrounded by spinning discs of leftover gas and dust. The protostars forming in RCW 7 are particularly massive, giving off strongly ionizing radiation and fierce stellar winds that transformed the nebula into a H II region.

H II regions are filled with hydrogen ions — H I refers to a normal hydrogen atom, while H II is hydrogen that lost its electron making it an ion. Ultraviolet radiation from the massive protostars excites the hydrogen in the nebula, causing it to emit light that gives this nebula its soft pinkish glow.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Tan (Chal

#NASAMarshall #NASA #astrophysics #NASA #nebula #ESA #NASAGoddard

Read more

Read more about NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Goliath. visually explores the theme of scale, emphasizing the contrast between the immense size of urban architecture and the relative smallness of individual human experience within these spaces. It is a study in contrasts: solidity and void, opacity and transparency, enormity and minutiae. Goliath. ultimately raises questions about the individual's place in the architectural colossus of the urban landscape.

A visually stunning, futuristic mall with huge potential, featuring unique attractions like an indoor tram, and a large ice rink.

Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.

The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.

I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.

Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.

Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday

The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.

Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.

Without Prejudice.

How do you illustrate a Braille book? With tactile illustrations, of course!

Tactile illustrations are raised pictures that can be explored by touch. They can be general or detailed, but it always helps if there is a Braille description under the picture. This picture, for example, represents a bike. The shape of the bicycle is raised and there is the word "bike" written in Braille under the picture.

In the Holiday Season, you can buy Christmas cards with raised pictures and Braille messages, so even if you're blind you can still experience the joy of sending or receiving a Christmas card :-)

Keep the comments clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please!

This early arriving Hummer is one of several males that are fighting over the nectar feeder just below. They now compete with breath-taking high-speed aerial sky dives to impress the feeding females and get their attention (for breeding). This flight action is both visually and audibly impressive! It's still very early morning, and the sunlight is heavily filtered by the tall forest growth to the east. Although I have the sun at my back, the gorgets will not display full red iridescence until it gets a little brighter. In this shot you can get quite a hint of the vibrant wine-red color to come with later more intense sunlight! This dazzling display is then based more on iridescence than pigment colors... but the sun angle has to be correct. The experienced males know how to precisely position themselves relative to sun angle to awe the ladies.

IMG_5850; Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Visually appealing trees, like anemic broccoli. They speak to me, although I can't tell what they're saying.

#AbFav_A_LOT_OF

#AbFav_PHOTOSTORY

how visually literate are you??? LOL

These are the tops and bottoms of colour felt pens/ colour markers!

Sometimes I just have some fun in the studio and play with some props...

A bit more info here:

Lee Newman patented a felt-tipped marking pen in 1910.

A marker pen, fineliner, marking pen, felt-tip marker, felt-tip pen, flow marker, texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in India) or koki (in South Africa), feutre (in FRANCE),is a pen which has its own ink-source and a tip made of porous, pressed fibers such as felt.

I wish you all a very good day and thanks for all your kind words, time, comments and likes. Very much appreciated. Magda, (*_*)

For more here: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

Colourful, backs, tops, "Felt Pens", triangle, design, graphic, minimalism, "conceptual art", square, colour, black-background, "Magda indigo"

Some pics for my Wardrobe post!

I really had a lot of fun putting this looks together. I really find the outfit, the makeup, and the hair to all be super beautiful on their own. Mixing them together makes me feel so sexy!

Full credits and more Wardrobe info at post: digitalregeneration.com/visually-organize-your-second-lif...

On Charles Bridge, Prague.

Visually similar to Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the East, this woodpecker was long considered a subspecies thereof and split only in 1998. Strawberry Butte.

The Blue Lake was created during the Otago gold mining era. It started as a hill and was reduced to a pit from which shafts and then hydraulic elevators brought up gravel for sluicing. In its day it was the deepest mining hole in the Southern Hemisphere. When mining stopped, it flooded full of water. The blue color of the lake is caused by the mineral content of the surrounding, visually striking cliffs.

A rather visually confusing photo of the inverted pyramid at the Louvre.

I've visited the Louvre many times over the past 30 years but this was my first visit since purchasing my 8mm Samyang fisheye lens. I enjoyed the creative options the new lens gave me and I think it's helped capture the vast scale of the I.M.Pei designed glass pyramid.

Click here for more photos taken at the Louvre over the years : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157624005753007

From Wikipedia : "By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure with the Sully Wing to the east containing the Cour Carrée (Square Court) and the oldest parts of the Louvre; and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south.

In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed, as one of his Grands Projets, the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988 and the Louvre Pyramid was completed in 1989. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion."

My Website : Twitter : Facebook : Instagram : Photocrowd

© D.Godliman

The most visually powerful element of the building is its successful circular viewing point, which is located on the corner, in the narrow angle formed by the confluence of the two streets; a four-storey cylindrical body with a spectacular gallery of arches on a curved portico on the second body, inspired by ancient Arab minarets, and crowned with a striking dome of polychrome glazed tiles recovered from the original, previously replaced by a crenellated body. In addition to the success of this composition, the careful chromatic study is noteworthy, based on the combination of red brick panels with other smooth ones in cream colour; the sections covered with polychrome ceramic, and the white stripes with reliefs of vases and grotesques .

Designed by the architect José Espiau y Muñoz in 1914 for La Adriática insurance company, it is a beautiful example of eclectic architecture, combining elements of Islamic origin with others of Plateresque style and others clearly regionalist. The building which opened in 1922, was built at the height of the construction boom in the city of Seville on the occasion of the opening and widening of Avenida de la Constitución in preparation for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

how visually literate are you??? LOL

These are the bottoms of colour felt pens/ colour markers!

Sometimes I just have some fun in the studio and play with some props...

A bit more info here:

Lee Newman patented a felt-tipped marking pen in 1910.

A marker pen, fineliner, marking pen, felt-tip marker, felt-tip pen, flow marker, texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in India) or koki (in South Africa), feutre (in FRANCE),is a pen which has its own ink-source and a tip made of porous, pressed fibers such as felt.

I wish you all a very good day and thanks for all your kind words, time, comments and likes. Very much appreciated. Magda, (*_*)

For more here: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

dont be afraid.

another of kristi. i had to upload this separate, even though visually its pretty similar to the last.

today was so so so gorgeous, i cant even express it. there was sunshine, then cloudy skies, more sunshine, more rain and a storm. such a beautiful mixture of all the world has to offer.

and im very pleased with how today turned out. finally, after so long, i have made a few things im happy with. and that feels so so good. whats even better, is that these pieces will always remind me of one of the most beautiful days i have seen.

p.s. i love taking photos of other people SO much more. they actually turn out how i want. meh. i should just change my 365 already.

facebook fan page | formspring

Marsh tit (Poecile palustris).

Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Visually impaired. Monocular vision.

Animal in wildlife.

This image is probably one of the most personal, and visually meaningful, images I've ever posted.

A perfect storm of stress, depression, illness and a severe lack of sleep over a period of several weeks culminated in putting my head into one of the scariest places it's ever been in, and appropriately enough whilst on a 3 day holiday sabbatical in the mountains of Snowdonia last week. They were 3 days I hope I never have to experience the like of which again. The sense of isolation, of disjointedness from the world around me, of not even being sure who I was anymore was emotionally and mentally excruciating. The nights were the worst, unable to sleep I experienced the full depth of myself while at the same time feeling so terrifyingly distant from everything in existence. Identity and reality fractured, insanity beckoned…

Strangely enough, as much as it scared me, it was finding my depth that was my saviour, that and the love of a woman who reached down into my personal hell, gently pulled me out and helped me see the light again, inner and outer. If she hadn't been there to listen to my ramblings, my fears, and to comfort me in the darkest moments, I dread to think what the consequences for my mental health would have been.

I've thought long and hard about revealing such a personal experience here on flickr, but ultimately I'm willingly to do so if it helps just one person going through something similar to take a risk and reach out and talk to someone they trust implicitly, and maybe you who read this with a sound mind could extend a hand to someone who you know is going through their own personal hell and be the spar they cling onto in their storm tossed ocean, and slowly but surely carry them back to the safety of the shore. Don't worry, you don't have to come up with answers to their issues, it's enough to lend an ear to their fears. I tried to deal it with by myself but badly crashed and burned. I kept quiet because of pride, fear and the belief that no one could help me. They can. Find that person you trust, and talk, talk like there's no tomorrow, don't leave it until you're hanging on by your fingernails like I did.

This image was done completely out of spontaneous boredom and I feel it's become quite successful visually. The model in the image adores angels and fairies so I thought it would be a nice gesture to create something she would like visually and once I began I just got carried away and created a full edit. Hope you are all enjoying your summer.

I wanted to travel to Morocco by boat in order to experiment visually the continent change from Europa to Africa. Only on land travelling make the passenger really feel the distance and the cultural evolution all along the way. Since I had previously visited Sevilla, Malaga was for me an obvious starting point for a short Morocco trip. Then I would go to gibraltar, Tarifa and take the boat for Tangier, my first Morocco city. The trip lasted 3 weeks until I reach south of Atlas Mountain Range, just before the desert.

The conclusion of my travel is that I could not recognize any Moroccan people anymore since I could realize that from north to south, and depending of the mountain side landscape, geography and people are totally different.

Visually and aurally, it's a shame the two EMD locos weren't leading, but one shouldn't complain even when the Train Gods provide a subawesome foursome.

DXC 5454 DXC 5241 DFB 7241 DC 4012, train 925, Deborah, SIMT 23 Jan 2017

... seen from east of Mohave View Point during late afternoon light.

-----

The Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, and is also one of the six distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province. Even though it is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is much deeper), the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically, it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.

[Wikipedia contributors. (2024, January 17). Grand Canyon. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:25, January 21, 2024, from en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grand_Canyon&oldid...]

Another shot from one of the most visually stunning shows that I have ever seen. It features two members of 'Kataklo', an athletic dance group from Italy, composed entirely of former Olympic gymnasts.

I became friendly with the show's producer (Angella Kwon) during last year's Edinburgh Fringe, having previously met (and become friendly with) her sister Boram (who currently studies at my old university in Stirling) during the 2005 Fringe. Both are South Korean and Angella was producing two South Korean shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe...and also Kataklo.

We were having lunch, the day before the last Kataklo show (I had only seen them perform on the Royal Mile) when Angella kindly invited me along and asked me to take photographs. I could not have taken this shot with my old camera. This (and several others like this) were taken at 3200 ISO, hand held with a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second (I just love image stabilisation) and relying on autofocus. I love my Canon EOS-5D!

As I have previously mentioned, one of my friends, Ken Campbell, has a progressive rock group called 'Crooked Mouth'. At the moment, he is preparing their second album (called 'Hold in the Sun') for release. I will be providing photographs for the CD, the idea being to produce a photo that represents each different song. However, one of these shots is a candidate for the CD cover. You can find out more about Crooked Mouth and hear some samples (and even order their first CD!) here: Crooked Mouth

If you like this shot, please have a look at my Kataklo set.

Waiting for an eclipse.

One of the most popular and visually rewarding megalithic sites in Wales, Pentre Ifan is a splendid dolmen with a huge capstone delicately poised on three uprights. Once known as Arthurs' Quoit, 'Pentre Ifan' means 'Ivan's Village'.

Description -This monument dates from around 4,000 - 3,500 BC and was unusually oriented opening to the south, standing on the slope of a ridge commanding extensive views over the Nevern Valley and Fishguard Bay. What we see today is but a fragment of the original structure,

The capstone weighs over 16 tons; it is 5m (16ft 6in) long and 2.4m (8ft) off the ground. The stones of the chamber are all of local igneous rock; on the portal stone there is a faint decorative cup-mark.

Excavations in 1936-7 and 1958-9 showed that the dolmen originally lay within a shallow oval pit, and that the trapezoidal mound of earth covering it was up to 36m (120ft) long. The semi-circular façade, as in the Irish passage mounds/court-tombs, was marked by two upright stones on either side of the south-facing portal. The forecourt was blocked with rows of tightly wedged stones; some of the original kerbstones around the barrow can still be seen. Within the cairn were a number of enigmatic features: a slumped stone, deliberately felled before the cairn was built, an irregular line of small stone-holes and a pit with signs of burning.

I’ve always enjoyed how waterfalls become transformed with slower shutter speeds, with blurring water showing smooth lines and a visually beautiful appeal that we can’t see with our own eyes. I put these images in the same category of “the unseen world” that most of my work fits into, and the equipment to do this doesn’t need to be extreme!

I was lucky that this small portion of the Krushuna Waterfall in Bulgaria was in shadow, since I wasn’t properly prepared for waterfall photography. I’d normally carry a neutral density filter with me to get this effect more easily, but this was shot with only a Lumix GX9 and the 12-32mm compact kit lens. ISO 200, F/18, and the resulting shutter speed was 1/4th of a second. I normally like to get a little closer to a full second-long exposure, but the water was quite calm and cooperative at longer exposures. I’m scratching my head to figure out why I didn’t shoot at ISO 100 though!

A neutral density filter would block some of the light from entering the lens without me having to resort to such a small aperture. This can be useful for video when you want a wide aperture, but a shutter speed around 1/25 or 1/50 sec to match your framerate. For stills, ND filters allow for you to more effectively blur things like water or clouds without compromising on other camera settings. An aperture of F/18 might begin to introduce diffraction and limit my resolution for an image such as this, but you work with what’s in your bag, and I was traveling light!

Any issues with diffraction would be negated by the fact that this is a three-shot vertical panorama. The increase in resolution by shooting it as a panorama would more than make up for any shortcomings elsewhere. Knowing that a certain amount of post-processing would be required, I sat down with the image for a couple of hours and really fine-tuned the look and feel.

Images like this can feel flat right out of the camera. Spending some time with classic dodge and burn tools in Photoshop can help add a little extra depth and contrast to the image, and the more localized you make the adjustments the better the end results. The water textures were enhanced using the Structure slider in ON1 Photo RAW which I am MUCH preferring to the clarity adjustment in Lightroom / Camera Raw. Subtle details pop without feeling overdone, especially in shadow areas. Dial this structure enhancement over just the areas that need it, and you’re on your way to a better image.

On a tripod at these slower shutter speeds, but the rest of the equipment was as minimal as could be. Just a small travel camera and one of the least expensive lenses I could pair with it. Even a more expensive lens would not have avoided the time in post-processing to make this image sing, and I’m pretty happy with the results!

I need to go through more of these Bulgaria photos before they fall off my radar and winter subjects grab all my attention! :)

An unmistakable songbird. Visually stunning and sweet sounding. Port Huron SGA.

The visually-stunning James B. Hunt Jr. library on the campus of North Carolina State University, my grad-school alma mater

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Hunt_Jr._Library

Going minimalist for the next few days... I am "cleaning up" a folder of shots from just over a year ago in the Rockies. I picked out the obvious ones in my initial processing; here are some images that didn't jump out at me immediately.

I made this shot in a rockslide area. Big pink granite boulders lay strewn around and in a series of ponds. At midday the light wasn't much good for landscape, but it was soft enough to allow macro work - it didn't overwhelm the subject matter with excessive glare or harsh contrasts.

During my teaching years (1988-2012), I found this the hardest thing to convey: "What is the light good for?" It isn't a matter of following rules, because then you become rule-bound, and that effectively kills creativity. I would suggest instead that it involves learning the see the light, rather than the subject. It really takes years of practice.

We are taught from an early age to name things; our education is generally based on science. We want to know what things are called and how they work. Art occupies a different realm, one far more shadowy or nebulous, a world of symbolism and non-cerebral responses. (This is all a great oversimplification, of course.) To get in tune with the nameless is a good start. And so, for an hour I circled the ponds and let my eyes wander, trying not to recite the names of things (so difficult!), to see if anything made sense visually.

Seeing the shapes of things rather than the things; seeing the light reflecting off surfaces, rather than placing the identified item in a box, thinking we know all there is to know about it just because we have a name for it. Although it's always my goal to look deeper, I don't get there very often.

Fittingly, I don't know what these lichens are.

Photographed in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2016 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

by artofvisuals ift.tt/22Dm9mZ

Excerpt from brainproject.ca:

The Routine Ride

For many Torontonians, streetcars represent a part of their daily routine. They are a unique aspect of Toronto’s transportation system and are familiar to everyone in the city. Visually, they are a powerful symbol of how it becomes second nature for people to move around in big cities without thinking about it. Our commute is an example of something that becomes embedded in the subconscious of city dwellers and will not be easily erased from our memory.

Mental Vacation

Get ready for some sass on the beach! With its pops of colour and patterned textures, this mental Gaycation is a place where you can always see the sun, day or night. As an artist, Tyler likes to create artwork that is fun and visibly queer. He finds a lot of inspiration through artists like Keith Haring who are able to show reverence towards social issues while maintaining a sense of play. This artwork was made with acrylic paint, gouache and resin.

Love Me

Our complex, vital brains ask us for love: care through healthy habits and mental stimulation. A loved one, changed due to dementia, asks us for love: care through nurturing, understanding and patience.

Sweet Memories

“Sweet Memories” serves to recall the sweet moments – the time spent with family and friends, enjoying a concert, or simply laughing. “Sweet Memories” is a reminder to enjoy the memorable moments that will create stories spanning generations.

Silver Bloom

The human mind is beautiful and complex, yet chaotic and fragmented. Our entire reality is created inside our brains. As you move around the piece, it evolves and changes with the light. Broken mirror and crystals reflect, distort and animate the environment in which the work is placed. ”Silver Bloom” investigates the process of how our reality is constructed and affected by our environment, while simultaneously exploring the fragility of memory and brain health.

Chromatic Thoughts

The sculpture is composed of a structure of geometric lines interlaced with the shape of the human brain. In its interior are several multicoloured floating cubes showing the viewer a contrast between the lines of the structure, the different sizes of the cubes, and the combination of colours. Both the structure and the cubes are made of galvanized wire with acrylic paints.

Tracer

For this project, the artist began by looking at brain PET scans. She was mesmerized by the colours and patterns created, and how these interactions could be used for diagnosis. Sam used these images to create a pattern to cover the brain surface in sequins, and treated the sequins like pixels to try and recreate a sense of the image. There is a contrast between the shine and seduction of the sequins and the reality of the image you are presented with, thereby expanding on the dynamic between beauty and danger.

Fibonacci Einstein

Justin Blayney is inspired by people who maximize the use of their brain and use it to come up with new and innovative ways of thinking about the world around us; those who notice the patterns amongst us and use those patterns to help further our understanding of the universe. From that starting point, Justin decided to celebrate two great mathematicians, Albert Einstein and Fibonacci. The pixel pattern painting of Einstein uses the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the golden ratio, one of the amazing and naturally occurring patterns in this world.

Visually a descendent of the SP1 Striker, but sized more like the Galactic Peacekeeper.

I'm still not totally sure about that cagelike take on the prisoner transport pod, but it mostly works.

And I actually managed semi-retractable undercarriage.

Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five lotus-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Angkor Wat is the centerpiece of any visit to the temples of Angkor.

www.canbypublications.com/angkor-cambodia/angkor-wat.htm

Dos AS-2002 se encuentran siendo inspeccionados en los pozos del taller de mantención de los Talleres de Puente Alto del Metro de Santiago.

Todos los AS-2002 de la línea 4 visitan regularmente los pozos del taller de mantención. En ellos se revisan visualmente los equipos y se realizan algunas pruebas para comprobar que no existan fallas. Además se revisan y limpian los equipos eléctricos sometidos al mayor desgaste. Entre ellos están los contactos que toman la energía de los rieles laterales y los rodamientos de los los bogies de tracción, los cuales debido al flujo de corriente eléctrica sufren un desgaste mayor que el resto.

Foto tomada con autorización.

AS-2002-460 | Puente Alto Workshops L4

Two AS-2002 are being inspected in the maintenance area wells at the Puente Alto Workshops of the Santiago Metro.

All AS-2002 of line 4 regularly visit the wells of the maintenance area. There, the units are visually checked and some tests are carried out to verify that there are no failures. Besides that, the electrical equipment subjected to the greatest wear is checked and cleaned. Among them are the contact shoes that are used to take energy of the third rail and the traction bogie bearings, which due to the flow of electric current suffer greater wear than the rest.

Photo taken with permission.