We Had A Quiet Morning,

in the afternoon Diana was off to work,

  for myself a trip to the shops for milk and a few other things, walking back into the park I noticed the wisteria on the front of Foxgrove Lodge,

 had thrown up a few flowers, the aroma from just these few blooms was so nice,

the side garden nice as well, with some more dahlias in flower,

 arriving home, it was upstairs to play with some of the infrared photographs I took on our trip to Kent Life, I used two different cameras, so the perspective is slightly different, above the lock and far side of the bank taken with a normal camera,

the same scene taken with the infrared camera, this is how it comes out of the camera in Photoshop, apart from the color notice how much more detail there is in the sky,

 I then used a color swapping program,

and tweaked the results using NIK Collection,

 the same looking upstream,

from the infrared camera,

 color swapped,

and the final picture, infrared is not to everyone's taste, but as a hobby I like the results,

 after my evening meal I was out,

and off to the club to meet Steve for our usual Friday night drink, the good news was that Diana finished work early, so both Steve and myself walked to the bus stop to meet her, saying farewell to Steve at the park entrance,

 we walked home where it ws feet up for the last half of The Limehouse Golem, perhaps it is wrong to say enjoyable about such a gastly subject but it was, great cast, props, costumes and storyline, by now it was late so for us we were off to bed.

Stunning,

and these photographs truly are,

the more I look at the these photographs the more detail I can see, photographer Natalie Lennard, who works as Miss Aniela, creates lavish scenes centered around elegantly dressed models. While each image might seem, at first glance, like a straightforward luxury fashion shoot, further inspection reveals surreal details. A canary yellow tulle gown morphs into birds, and ocean water splashes out of a painting frame Miss Aniela’s fantastical scenes are created using a combination of on-site shoots with practical effects, along with extensive post-production and even bespoke C.G.I. (as for the 20,000 fish forming the dress worn by a deep sea diver model in “She Shoal”). The photographer explains that all images are shot on location with the model posed and lit in-frame, “Sometimes I do not know whether the image will be largely ‘raw’ and not require overt surrealism added,” Aniela shares, “until I go through the process to feel what is right for each piece.” the U.K.-based artist has been working as a fine art photographer for 13 years, getting her start with self-portraits as a university student, above “Swan Lake” (2014), all images © Natalie Lennard,

       “What He Bequeathed” (2016)

“She Shoal” (2019)

“Poster & Plumage” (2016)

“Enter the Golden Dragon” (2018)

“Thawed Fortress” (2015)

“Gilt” (2016)

 “Scarlet Song” (2013)

“Away with the Canaries” (2013)

 “Pokerface” (2015) You can explore more of Miss Aniela’s immersive worlds on Instagram, and go behind the scenes of production in her explanatory blog posts, fine art prints are available via Saatchi Art, as I said stunning, absolutely stunning.

What Exactly Am I Looking At?

a closeup of something for sure,

 the still is from a video,

 made by Pedro Machado, a computer graphics designer who is based in Brazil,

The Super Zoom is a new computer-generated animation that shows how everything in the universe is made of minuscule foundational elements, 

the 3 minute-long short above grounds itself with a relatable starting point: a ballpoint pen and ruled paper, on the lower right side of the screen, a scale adjusts as the “camera” zooms further and further in, breaking through the pen tip’s metal surface into more and more minute layers, the music I think is Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, if you want to watch the video in full size, it is here, it is an amazing video, and if you want more have a look here on Vimeo.

Could This Be The Slowest,

and potentially the scariest roller coaster ride in the world?

why slow? because it is pedal powered, by you! why scary? there are no safty rails to stop you falling out of your cage! located on a greenery-covered hill at the Washuzan Highland amusement park in Okayama, is SkyCycle, it may look like a quaint ride for people who are too scared to go on conventional roller coasters, but once you get on one of those flimsy carts and realize there’s nothing but a loose safety belt keeping you from falling to your doom, your pulse goes up instantly, even more so in strong winds! photograph Seasonal-Japan,

a ride of the SkyCycle lasts about three minutes, more or less, but it can feel like a lifetime, if you can take your eyes off the metal rail as you approach the end of the track you will be treated to one of the most amazing views in Okayama, featuring the stunning islands in the Seto Inland Sea and the Great Seto Bridge, You can find the SkyCycle ride at the Washuzan Highland amusement park in Okayama, Japan, what a neat idea, instead of multi million pound rides, just keep it slow and simple with a great view!

Apparently,

there is a bit of a Internet debate going on,

as to whether the eyes of Maria Oz, a young Ukrainian visual artist and model are really as large as they appear in her photographs, most of Maria’s 117,000 Instagram followers are convinced that she has the world’s largest eyes, Maria Oz is a self-described visual artist who sometimes posts edited photos of herself, either with an extremely long neck or with differently colored eyes, however, when it comes to her eyes, she reportedly claims they really are that large in real life, photograph Maria Oz/Instagram,

Maria Oz told Ukrainian website Beauty Hub that she started taking photos in 2016, after having her appendix removed, She was bored after the surgery so she tried cooking. That wasn’t the best idea, as she wasn’t allowed to eat much, so she tried photography and video instead. Her skills gradually improved, she started posting pics and videos on Instagram, and people took notice, She does point out that success didn’t happen overnight, it came gradually, according to Obozrevatel, Maria Oz isn’t too bothered by critics who accuse her of faking her look to attract attention, well the video is above, are her eyes larger than normal or is it just wishful thinking?

Chris And Wannie,

popped in to see us,

we had already decided on having a meal at the Toby Carvery at Eden Park, and had booked a table,

 the girls went first,

 the usual 4 meats available, turkey, beef, pork and gammon ham,

 plus lots of vegetables,

 meal over and here we all are,

 taking turns at posing,

we chatted the rest of the afternoon away at home, Chris and Wannie then made a move for home to sunny Brighton, in the evening it was feet up for us as we watched a number of game shows, and some of the Australian Outback Gold Diggers, late in the evening we finished watching Geostorm, then one we had not watched before, The Limehouse Golem, as by now it was late we watched to roughly the halfway mark, and then for us we were off to bed.

A New Fashion,

in tattoos,

 is this black background style,

 developed by Chicago-based tattoo artist Esther Garcia, who creates inky black backgrounds on her clients, which are interspersed with delicate floral designs,

 sweet peas and garden roses, along with butterflies and birds, emerge from black palettes edged in stylized patterns, Garcia, who is largely self-taught and has twenty years of experience as a tattooer, is known for her lush botanical designs and her artistic project-based approach to tattooing,

and in some good news for folks that have a tattoo they want covered over her current series of black background tattoos actually began as a solution for cover-ups (a new tattoo deliberately designed and placed to obscure an older one that is no longer wanted),

 in addition to continuing her tattoo practice, Garcia is also working on a textile and commercial design collaboration with Chicago designer Kyle Letendre, 

 and a traveling workshop series to educate younger artists on cultivating a unique style and sustainable business,

  You can see more of Garcia’s tattoos on Instagram, and see what upcoming projects she has available on her website, 

 not that I am a fan of tattoos,

but it is always interesting to see new designs that may become popular, as it happens we have featured tattoos many times in the past, have a look here for the link.

What A Winning Combination,

Iceland, and a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone, 

 add the skills of Russian photographer and videographer Vadim Sherbakov, 

 and you have a stunning timeless beauty of Iceland’s natural landscape,

to make the film complete also add licensed original music by Luke Atencio and Ryan Taubert,

in his recent short film, Islandia, above, he transports the viewer to the island nation and highlights the Cavernous fjords, rushing waterfalls, and winding rivers cut through the island’s rugged terrain, as mentioned Sherbakov used a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone to shoot the aerial film, you can see more of Sherbakov’s globe-trotting films and photos on Vimeo and Instagram, I keep thinking about buying a drone, but I have enough to learn about infrared photography without adding to it!

What Links Beta-Carotene, Anthocyanins And Flavonols?

well without them this map would not be possible,

one of America’s favorite fall foliage prediction maps has arrived for 2019, the map is produced every year by smokymountains.com using historical data, forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and observations, and if you go to this web page you will find out why Beta-Carotene, Anthocyanins and Flavonols are important to the map, the 2019 Fall Foliage Map is the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves, while no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year, so if you are lucky enough to be in the USA and have some vacation time coming up, now is the time to start planning your autumn trip.

In A Couple Of Weeks Time

we will hopefully be staying in Bath,

which many of us will know is a Roman Town with allegedly hot healing springs, but the town had a long history before the Romans, that included a King that could fly! the King was enjoying the area's warm mineral springs, Bladud, the ninth king of Briton, (not Britain that was later), stumbled upon the springs around 863 BC, according to the earliest record of his reign, which was the 12th-century chronicle History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. That's the same source for what we know about King Arthur, so you may take it with a grain of salt, anyway, the legend of Bath tells how Bladud was cured of a disfiguring skin disease by the miraculous springs. That story is surpassed by the time Bladud, as king, built himself a pair of wings so that he could fly, both tales are charmingly told by Margo Lestz at The Curious Rambler, image credit Smalljim, you never know when we get there we may have a bath in Bath, I have always wanted to say that!