Balloon Race
Balloon Race, originally uploaded by Heaven`s Gate (John).
Multicoloured hot air balloons take off into a cloudless blue sky, over the English countryside.
Balloon Race, originally uploaded by Heaven`s Gate (John).
Multicoloured hot air balloons take off into a cloudless blue sky, over the English countryside.
Sweeping away the past.jpg, originally uploaded by Kevin Day.
Sun Break over the Alhambra, originally uploaded by bgladman.
Meter for the Shadows, originally uploaded by Trevor Haldenby.
Collingwood, Ontario.
September 2006
Geger Beach, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
The photographer writes about this photo: “My memories of Geger go way back to my first trip about 13 years ago. We were trying to promote seaweed mariculture and ground zero was Geger. Strolling by the beach once again and surveying the now-thriving industry make me proud.
I will never tire of revisiting Indonesia. Couldn’t wait for next week…”
… after the rain …, originally uploaded by idogu.
the photographer:
“.. I’m back from rush-hour on 5th Avenue …”
Colorful Basket, originally uploaded by BoazImages.
The photographer: “A young Mursi Girl with a beautiful basket on her head.”
Lower Omo valley
Ethiopia
Eland - Masai Mara sunset, originally uploaded by markeveleigh.
Morning Has Broken, originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.
The photographer: “was tired and weary, mostly through not having slept very well as a result of my first few days at the altitude of the Tibetan plateau. However, given the chance to see sunrise over the Potala Palace (the former home of the Dalai Lama), you just have to book that early morning call.
When I took this, I was the sole European representative, surrounded by about a dozen Japanese photographers, all of us with carefully interlocked tripods (the rock we were standing on to get this vantage point wasn’t that big!). At one point while we were waiting for interesting light, we started taking shots of the group. Ahhh…memories! ”
the photographer: from the train between yangon and moulmein, just before sunrise
better in color or in bland and white ?
at the Good Friday procession in Bantayan town, Bantayan island, Cebu, the Philippines
The Rose Red City, originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.
the photographer: “A spot of precarious climbing and clambering was called for to get this shot. This is the building known as ‘The Treasury’ from Petra, Jordan. It featured in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. Mind you, I didn’t find any death traps inside! ”
Crazed????, originally uploaded by mboogiedown.
The photographer: “The finale of kabuki performance by the geiko (geisha) of Miyagawa-cho, Kyoto. Kabuki roles, even those of women, are played by men, but this selection was performed entirely by the most accomplished geiko of Miyagawa.”
sufi dancer in cairo, originally uploaded by romsrini.
the author: “this looks better in the large size.”
Plitvice Lakes - Turquoise Pool, originally uploaded by acastellano.
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
A stairway to Andalucia, originally uploaded by cuellar.
Staircase in Mojacar, Almeria.
beach of kvalvika - lofoten islands (another “perfect” place that stays in my memory),
originally uploaded by Reinhard.Pantke.
The photographer: “this beach is north of the arctic circle, on the west side of lofoten. You reach the place after a hike, the water temperature is here around 12-14 degrees celsius (well in summer). Next stop to the west is greenland!!! But its a great place!”
Convergence…, originally uploaded by lapidim.
The photographer: “This is one of my own favorites - look at these facial expressions and tell me something…”
The Photographer: “Under the last beams of a setting sun, the Parthenon looks just incredible, a monument 25 centuries old, the Ideal of Beauty, the peak of the esthetical achievements of a great civilization.”
Parthenon - Athens, Greece
The photographer: ” shot this with Fuji Velvia 50 and a 2-stop hard GND filter and scanned it with a Nikon Coolscan IV. No real “processing” other than to try and match the original slide. It was a stormy late afternoon and I was near Paoha Island out in Mono Lake looking west towards the Sierra crest. This was a multi-day mid-winter solo kayak trip. The water color in the shallows had a greenish tint but the deeper water was quite blue. Mono Lake is 3 times saltier than the ocean which is why it’s not frozen in winter.”
The photographer: “Two tourists, dressed as maiko (apprentice geisha) explore Kiyomizudera, the Temple of Pure Waters, in Kyoto. I usually don’t take pictures of tourists playing dress-up, but they were so beautiful! ”
originally posted by mboogiedown.
The Photographer: “Another one of those old people I met in Madurai. This one was near another temple outside the city.”
Gateway to hell, originally uploaded by hkvam “Námaskarð has very active solfataras (sulphurous mud springs) and fumaroles (steam springs), none of which contain pure water. The mud craters are uncommonly large and are well worthy of the travelers attention, whereas many of the steam craters are drilling holes that have been covered with rocks. There is no vegetation in this high temperature area and the ground is sterile and very acidic due to the effects of the fumes from the mud springs.”
Námaskarð geothermal area, Mývatn, N-Iceland
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm.
ISO 100, f5.6, 1/50
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Tower of David – Old City of Jerusalem – Israel
Torre de David – Ciudad Vieja de Jerusalén - Israel
To the Jewish People and the Land of Israel best wishes for a Happy New Year of 5766 (starts tomorrow night).
Para el Pueblo Judío y la Tierra de Israel, los mejores votos para un Feliz Año de 5766 (que empieza mañana por la noche).
The photographer: When I was working at Sun Island ( www.villahotels.com/sun/index.htm )
this used to be a favourite spot.
Off limits for the tourists, (because of unloading and other back-house activities) this jetty is bypassed by many, as uninteresting and Ugly.
I find many photo opportunities, of both action and scenery, here.
Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder.”
“Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. For more than a billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a “month of blessing” marked by prayer, fasting, and charity. Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan, Allah revealed the first verses of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Muslims practice sawm, or fasting, for the entire month of Ramadan. This means that they may eat or drink nothing, including water, while the sun shines. Fasting is one of the Five Pillars (duties) of Islam. As with other Islamic duties, all able Muslims take part in sawm from about age twelve. Fasting serves many purposes. While they are hungry and thirsty, Muslims are reminded of the suffering of the poor. Fasting is also an opportunity to practice self-control and to cleanse the body and mind. And in this most sacred month, fasting helps Muslims feel the peace that comes from spiritual devotion as well as kinship with fellow believers.”
“Sort of dreamy
Sort of dizzy
People get silly
Back to my childish
Search for fantasy”
[text & title by cllover]
Nijmegen, Netherlands
A sandstone formation in the South-West corner of Fezzan, close to the border Libya-Algerie. A place of stunning rock paintings, similar for abundance and quality to the nearby Tassili n’Adjjer.
(Nikon FM2 on Fuji Provia F100, Mar 2002)
Santa Luzia - Algarve - Portugal
A truly magical moment just before sunrise
A petition by the photographer:
“Friends,
there is a new Humanitarian Pool to help our friends in the Gulf Coast in this horrible moment they are in.
Please join and help in this auction. I’ll print this image and sent it anywhere in the Globe to the best bidder.
www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction
Together we can make a difference. Again.”
“Amigos,
Hay un nuevo Grupo de carácter humanitario para ayudar nuestros amigos que están sufriendo con el pasaje del terrible huracán Katarina.
Se trata de una subasta de fotos cuya recaudación será donada a OGNs que trabajan en esta emergencia.
Imprimiré y enviaré esta imagen al mejor postor, aunque viva en el otro lado del globo
www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction
¡Una vez más, juntos podemos hacer la diferencia!”
For details on the boy’s expression, check the original size on Flickr.
“9-10 year old boys of the Yao tribe in Malawi participating in circumcision and initiation rites.
Nikon FM2 / 85mm Nikon lens”
A model posed in the garden of Kinkakuji Shrine (Golden Pavilion). After I took this photo, someone told me she wasn’t a maiko (a young geisha-in-training), but just a young woman posing in traditional formal Japanese wear for a commercial.
Kyoto, Japan, 2004
The photographer: “This is one of my all time favorites, the first photo I took that blew me away, opened my eyes to the possibilities before me.
Taken in February of last year in Yellowstone National Park. The scene was even more surreal than a still photo can do justice, with steam rolling over the rise, creating backlit shifting patterns and shrouding the trees from view completely. Then for a moment, just a tiny moment, it would clear and the scene would split in half - all color and light and pristine snow on one side and twisted, tortured trees & steaming algae covered rock on the other.
I was a newbie to my 10D, and SLR photography in general, and had goofy settings - 800 ISO among other ridiculousness - which makes this shot one I would desperately desire to “redo” although I doubt I could recreate this if I tried. I will say this: if you ever get the opportunity to visit Yellowstone in the winter, for the love of Pete take that opportunity and run with it. Algae & Ice was taken the same morning…
Uploaded by awfulsara on 12 Apr ‘05, 7.25pm CEST.”
The photographer: “A scene of rare Himalayan peace. Taken with Nikon F3, Tamron 300mm f2.8 lens. Kashmir”
The photographer: “I was fortunate to be standing at this spot when the sun painted these low hanging clouds with several different colors just before it dropped below the horizon….
Just west of Krum, Texas, U.S.A…..”
The author: “Although Sapa means “sand village” in Chinese, Sapa is located within Vietnam and is home to a wealth of colorful, diverse hill tribes, who have steadfastly resisted integration into Vietnamese society and modern life. In fact, the hill tribes, including the Hmong, the Dao, and the Dai, comprise the majority of inhabitants in the area, outnumbering the Vietnamese who prefer the low lands. Sapa’s central market is a main gathering place for hill tribes from the surrounding villages. They congregate there not only to sell handicrafts, jewelry, orchids, mushrooms, and honey, but to also cultivate relations with other groups, play games, and perhaps find a sweetheart.”
The Photographer says: “Picture taken at the Great Salt Lake near Tozeur, Tunisia.
This was not too far away from the place where I took my ‘Sunrise over the Great Salt lake’ shot.”
The photographer writes on Flickr:
“This is what she wears if shes gonna marry
The Himba of Namibia
The Himba are semi-nomadic pastoralists who inhabit the Kunene Region in northwestern Namibia. Unlike many indigenous groups in Africa, the Himba have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle, perhaps owing to the fact that the land they occupy is so harsh and unyielding that that it has been rarely coveted by the colonialists and commercial farmers that have affected so many other regions of the continent.
The Himba (together with the Herero) moved into present-day Namibia and Botswana as part of a larger migration of Bantu-speaking peoples from east Africa several hundred years ago. About 150 years ago, the group began to split and a large group that we know today as the Herero moved southward, while the ancestors of the present-day Himba remained.
Today, the Himba live as they have for centuries and manage to eke out an existence by following their herds of goats and cattle to new grazing areas and waterholes as existing areas become depleted. They live in small villages or family groups throughout the Kunene Region (the area known as Kaokoland while Namibia was under South African control prior to independence in 1990). The village had been in place for about three years because those years had brought higher than usual amounts of rain and allowed the nearby land to support growing herds of livestock without moving. During 1980’s, however, this same area experienced a severe drought and many livestock were lost and people went hungry. The fortunes of the Himba are still very much tied to the earth and its weather.
Himba women have a particularly distinctive appearance. Each morning, they cover themselves with a mixture of butter fat, red ochre and local herbs that both gives their body the smooth, reddish appearance the Himba find attractive, plus offers some protection against the desert sun. Married women wear a small headpiece made of soft skin on top of their braided and ochred hair. In addition, they often wear a heavy ornament around their necks that includes a conch shell that hangs between their breasts in the front and a metal-studded leather plate that hangs down the center of their back. They also wear heavy metal rings around their ankles as well as other jewelry made of copper, ostrich shells or woven reeds.
The men of the village were less distinctive in their dress and some had taken to wearing western-style trousers and T-shirts. Some men leave the village to find work in other areas of the country and thus become more exposed to outside influences.”
The photographer: “I could get drunk on these. Bagan is a fairytale from above, and sometimes painfully real down below.”
The photographer: “Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island, the ‘third island’ of New Zealand. This summer view is taken from the summit of Bluff Hill, on the far southern tip of the South Island. Foveaux Strait is right in the middle of the Roaring Forties, and is very rarely this calm.”
The Photographer: “A young boy plays with his own shadow as he bathes in the glow of a magnificent sunset at a small beach north of Sengiggi.
Lombok, Indonesia, 2004″
The photographer: “The story behind the picture is that in this street there is an old tram running. On this tram there were always small boys trying to get a free ride. I was standing on the rear platform and watched this boy fall off the tram, which runs in just walking speed, and the picture was taken while he were trying to catch up on the tram. Nothing is planned on the picture, just point and click, and try to avoid the direct sun. But it is one of my own favourites…”
“Outside of the hustle and bustle of Dakha - Bangladesh lies a quiet park were people can walk, sit, and reflect on the beauty of creation around them. One afternoon as I was sitting in the grass, I was struck by the awesome beauty of these water-lilies floating in the lake beside me. A perfect moment to capture…!
Nikon FM2 / 200mm Nikon lens”
“The early morning mist, glowing in the sunlight, moves across the lake at Langley Country Park, Slough”
The photographer: “The Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. Shot from Princes Bridge. Flinders Street Station is on the right; Southgate and the Southbank Promenade are to the immediate left.”
Photographer’s comment: “It was before sunrise on Lake Malawi, Africa’s third largest freshwater lake. It runs deep - part of the Rift Vally fault. The pre-sunrise sky reflected blood red on the crystal waters of the lake. Villagers were already up, starting their daily chores. Here one woman helps her friend raise a bucket of water drawn from the lake. What a photogrpaher’s dream come true!”
The photographer writes:
“Women walking on Sam sand dunes outside Jaisalmer, India.
You never know when you’ll get a good picture. We were tired: tired of the sand, tired of the sun, tired of riding camels, and I was tired of taking pictures. Walking back to our tent I wanted to get one last look at a big sand dune. I turned around and these women were beautifully framed in the sky and the sand.
Part of the work is already done for you when you travel to Sam. People tend to walk along the ridges of the sand dunes because the sand is more tightly packed there than on the sides.”
The photographer: “My favorite morning in Bagan, eery foggy light for just a few minutes before the sun broke through. Alone with my bicycle, it was a good day.”
Jeff says: “Grand Tetons, Wyoming, U.S.A. - Moulton Barn - July, 2003…the clouds parted just as I snapped the shot and I was pleasantly surprised to see the end result. Cloud movement is all luck….and I got lucky.
The “most favorited” photo in my Flickr photostream….and yes - those are bison.”
There had been a religious icon at the end of this columnade… however it was removed for unknown reasons.
This was taken in the Cathedral of Chartres, about an hour west of Paris.
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