74 posts tagged “photography”

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I kept waiting for this kid to set himself on fire - I'm pretty sure these canisters are supposed to be placed on the ground to be lit ....

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How do stilt walkers get up on their stilts?

This guy was actually dancing!  Now that must take some talent!

It was amazing how quickly they were walking  - is "stilting" a word?

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I took these photos with a Canon PowerShot SD850 set on Manual with black & white setting:

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In May last year we had 16 days in China - most of that time was spent in Nanjing. It was hot and humid and disgustingly smoggy - apparently it gets REALLY REALLY hot & humid and REALLY disgustingly smoggy in July & August!!  Nanjing is one of the three hottest cities in China with temperatures regularly over 105 F in summer - but then it drops to 19F in winter - so quite a range.  

So ...  because the astro-dweeb was there working on a project with a Purple Mountain scientist he went to work in the observatory offices each morning with our host Jianghui, and I got to roam the city on my own & loved every minute. Then, on many afternoons Jianghui took us to places he thought were interesting or must-see in Nanjing. One such outing was a trip up Purple Mountain.  Purple Mountain is China's first modern observatory - started in 1929, completed 1934 - and one of only 3 in China.  It is considered the "cradle of the modern astronomy in China'.

There is a cable car which goes to the top of the mountain but I have a fear of cable cars, made in China, swinging free of their wire and hurtling down some mountainous gully - so I chose to walk up. It only took about 25 minutes to walk to the top but it was grueling in the heat and smog!   

  Purple Mountain is about 870 feet high and on a clear day you would be able to see Nanjing.  I'm not sure when they last had a clear day!   There is a museum with astronomical displays which have descriptions in Chinese -  Jianghui translated them for us and pointed out what he thought were the more important things - like the meteorite that Chairman Mao had touched in the 1960's!  Many of these instruments and artifacts are actually replicas as the originals were stolen by the British, French, Germans, Americans and later the Japanese.
This is an Armillary Sphere, designed by Zhang Heng in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), and used to locate celestial bodies and define their movements. It is an impressive work of art. Its four poles are engraved with entwining dragons and the four sides of the base are cast with flowers and animals. The bronze one kept here was made in 1437 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  Using an instrument like this, China was the first to determine that there are 365.25 days in a year.
This is a Celestial Globe - Invented by Zhang Heng, an astronomer in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D.-220 A.D.).  The one displayed here was made during the Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911). Measuring one meter in diameter, it is inlaid with 1449 stars, the ecliptic and the equator. Celestial globes were used to represent the stars and constellations of the night sky and record their positions with respect to each other and a co-ordinate system.

Nowadays only Solar Studies research is performed on the Solar Telescope at Purple Mountain as the air quality is bad and there is light pollution and radio noise from Nanjing.  There are 4 remote observing stations under the auspices of Purple Mountain: Delingha, Qingdao, Ganyu and the Xuyi station where we spent 3 days.

Most often seen beside the roadways in Australia are gum trees or eucalyptus along with native shrubs such as wattle, bottle brush, waratah, myall trees.....

Not so often does one come across a cactus!

Between Coonabrabran and Baradine is this magnificent specimen - the Warrumbungle Range can be seen in the background. 

Since this week's photo quest was posted we have only had one evening with a twilight. It has rained and rained and rained some more.  We have had 7.75 inches of rain since Thursday!!! Nearly 8" in 5 days!

This is our street of row houses with the last rays of the setting sun shining on them:  

The rear of our row houses with twilight images reflected in our window. Point & Shoot Canon set on automatic  - no flash;  hand-held.

The National Arboretum is a wonderful space of 446 acres with 9.5 miles of roadway wandering through it.  It is right here in Washington DC - but you really need a car to get to it.  This last weekend we rented a car and visited on Saturday to see the azaleas which were in their flowering peak.

The Arboretum was established by an Act of Congress in 1927 and is today administered by the US Department of Agriculture and is run with a staff of 99 and about 150 volunteers.

As the only federally supported arboretum, and one of the larger arboretums in the country, the National Arboretum breeds plants for arboretums throughout the country. The Arboretum was opened to public viewings in May 1954 - primarily after high demand from the public to view the azaleas.

The Azalea Collection came about when the arboretum’s first Director, Benjamin Morrison, developed hybrids  from breeding large-flowered Indica azaleas with cold-hardy species. Between 1946 and 1948 10,000 unnamed hybrids were planted. Morrison then introduced 454 azalea cultivars.  Most of these are not available in the nursery industry. 

In the Ellipse Meadow of the Arboretum are twenty two 34' Corinthian columns - the National Capitol Columns - which were actually on the East Portico of the Capitol from 1828 - 1958. The columns are set on a foundation of stones from the steps that were on the east side of the Capitol and old identification marks from the quarry are still visible on some of the stones.

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As most of you noticed my rose buds had some nasty aphids on them.  When I was taking the photos I did not notice the bugs as I didn't have my reading glasses on so when I downloaded the photos to the computer I was rather horrified to see creatures everywhere.   After advice from several readers I bought some spray today - intended to be sprayed on vegetables- which is meant to kill aphids and a few other bugs.  It is not as chemically strong as some sprays. 

When I went out to spray this afternoon, my first rose was in bloom!!!   I was so happy!!  I had imagined the aphids sucking the life blood out of the bud so that it just frizzled and never opened.   I sprayed anyway and then  I thought to go and get the camera!!  So here is my very first homegrown rose - ever - doused in aphid poison:  

While I had the camera out I took a few photos of the azaleas at the front of the house.   I have a pale pink one, a brighter pink one and the deep red one (under the maple).  I can hardly wait now to see what colour the peonies are and I am not sure what the grassy "stuff"  is -   no buds on it. 

Well, there were 13 ladies so ..... yippee I wasn't  forced onto a team to make up the numbers!!!   They decided to have 4 teams of three.....  they were discussing how to pick the teams when it was discovered that the losing team would actually be the winners of the $50 gift cards.  Suddenly I became popular!  :-)

I assured everyone that there was no way I was going to put those grotty shoes on my feet!  Do they ever wash them out?  Seriously, they looked nasty!

I discovered wine on the menu board and asked for a glass of white.  I don't think they have sold much in the past.  The woman disappeared for a long time; a very long time, and then came back to confer with another couple of ladies behind the counter.  After an animated discussion two of them went off, and, just as I was wondering if they were out crushing the grapes, one returned to ask if Chablis would be ok.  It was actually a nice wine!  I wonder if they had to run to a bottle shop to buy it! 

The promised "Mediterranean Cuisine¨ turned out to be basic pizzas and a cauldron of spaghetti!   Just as well that wine was good!!

After spending 3 hours observing in Bowl America I totally confirm my dislike of bowling and still wonder what the attraction to this activity is!   At least with golf you get some fresh air!!

 

The afternoon did not start off well for Del ...    she was given two right shoes - in different sizes:

One Admin had never bowled before (how is this possible? - maybe she is not American)  - Miss K had to demonstrate how to hold the ball:

How do you decide which ball to use? 

This was duelling pins as both Admins had one pin left after the first "throw"  -  seriously I know it is called a "bowl" but the way some of them were throwing the balls down, I am surprised there are not divots in the boards: 

At least everything - except the shoes - looked shiny:

I took a photo of Miss G's shoes - I was surprised at the effect of her jiggling her leg - it looks as though her left leg is transparent!