Random Photos

Andy Resnick · May 28, 2025

Backlit leaves:

Dark photo with glowing orange-red outlines of leaves against a black background, backlit so only their edges are lit.

BillTre · May 29, 2025

jtbell said:

What's that in the ditch?

View attachment 361517

Looks like eggs, but why?

Where from?
Some look like coconuts to me.
What's with the one on the shore?
What's the local flora and fauna?

gmax137 · May 29, 2025

jtbell said:

What's that in the ditch

Horta?

Andy Resnick · May 29, 2025

jtbell said:

What's that in the ditch?

Looks like eggs, but why?

Ducks and geese will lay eggs near (or even in) the water for various reasons, but the number of eggs in your image implies multiple birds must be involved, so it's unclear. Too bad for the embryos- if/when they hatch they will drown.

BillTre · May 29, 2025

Andy Resnick said:

Ducks and geese will lay eggs near (or even in) the water for various reasons, but the number of eggs in your image implies multiple birds must be involved, so it's unclear. Too bad for the embryos- if/when they hatch they will drown.

If that's what they are, they will drown before they hatch.
Bird eggs are made for doing gas exchange with an atmosphere, not with water (unlike fish or frog eggs). Developing embryos have a definite need for oxygen. Without it their development could fail or become disrupted in some way.

jtbell · May 29, 2025

After examining the situation again this morning, I'm inclined to think that those might really be duck eggs. The ditch runs along a street with houses on one side and a wooded strip of vacant land on the other.

Narrow grassy ditch with shallow muddy water running beside a paved street, with a wooden utility pole and dense trees behind it.

The ditch makes a right-angle turn into the woods. On the other side of the woods is the college.

Shallow muddy stream running through grass and clover beside a utility pole, with trees and bushes on the far side of a road.

Around the block on the other side of the woods is the college pond where a family or two of ducks lives.

Paved path curving past grassy lawn with a red fire hydrant, a parking sign, and scattered dark objects on the grass; trees and a brick building in the background, with ducks near a water channel on the right.

Maybe they make their nests in the woods for privacy, and a recent heavy rain washed the eggs into the ditch and downstream toward the other street. Somehow one egg was left high and dry.

DennisN · May 30, 2025

Two fun ones...

My cat lying strategically in front of the tablet; she does this sometimes to get maximum attention from me.

She's got other tricks; sometimes she straddles the tablet on the bed with the two front legs and half the body in front of the tablet, and the rest behind

. She can also start biting on the USB-cable if she really wants my attention.

Fluffy grey tabby cat curled up on a bed in front of a tablet showing a news app with the headline "Ukraine: The Latest".

And here she is lying on my jeans:

Fluffy grey and white cat with green eyes lying curled up on a pair of blue denim jeans on a cream bedsheet, looking up at the camera.

jtbell · May 30, 2025

While driving along route I-85 through upstate South Carolina, it's hard to miss the Peachoid:

Large peach-shaped water tower beside a highway, with the word PEACHOID visible on its stem, surrounded by trees and a divided road.

Giant peach-shaped water tower with a green leaf, set on a tapering brown tower labelled GAFFNEY SC, on a lawn under a cloudy sky.

Some people say it's really a big sunburned butt with a figleaf. o0)

Ibix · May 31, 2025

jtbell said:

it's hard to miss the Peachoid

According to Wikipedia it's a water tower, and building it like that somehow got them federal funding for the construction?

jtbell · May 31, 2025

Ibix said:

building it like that somehow got them federal funding for the construction?

I didn't know that! It must have been because of the tourism-promotion aspect.

Gaffney could use a bump in tourism right now. The local college closed this month because it ran out of money and couldn't raise enough to stay open. When I passed by, two weeks after graduation exercises, the entrances to the campus were already blocked off.

Brick walkway lined with orange traffic cones and a white sandwich board sign, leading toward a white columned building with a clock tower labeled 1845 and the sign LIMESTONE UNIVERSITY.

https://www.southcarolinapublicradi...ation-some-mixed-feelings-some-positive-vibes

pinball1970 · May 31, 2025

axiom said:

Captured this sunrise one morning
View attachment 361066

It's not until you zoom in you realise the Sun's power
View attachment 361068

View attachment 361069

View attachment 361075

Beautiful

pinball1970 · May 31, 2025

Oldham NW England.

This canal makes it's way to Manchester eventually.

Narrow canal with dark green still water, lily pads on the left, tall reeds along the right bank, and dense green trees lining the far bank under a bright sky.

Gravel footpath curving through woodland, with a wooden post-and-rail fence on the left and dense green trees and undergrowth on both sides under a leafy canopy.

These two followed us for the entire walk, land and water.

Two Canada geese swimming on dark rippled water beside grassy bank; one in the foreground facing the camera, the other behind it in sunlight.

Yellow Iris and Bull rush.

Dense marsh vegetation beside a path, with yellow flag iris flowers among tall green leaves and brown cattail seed heads rising above, backed by trees.

A micro eco system under that tree.

Two fallen, moss-covered tree trunks lying across dense green undergrowth in a woodland, with leafy branches and bushes around them.

Still water of a canal lined with green trees and bushes, its surface covered with lily pads and pink-spiked pondweed growing along the right bank.

Gravel footpath curving through dense green woodland in summer sunlight, with a wooden fence on the left and a wooden post on the right.

pinball1970 · May 31, 2025

Narrow slow-moving stream in a dense green woodland, with mossy tree trunks and branches overhanging the water and green algae covering the surface.

Calm river reflecting dense green trees and shrubs along the bank under a bright, hazy sky.

This chap came up to me silently, no honking like the Canada geese.
Not a great picture but a superb little bird.
A tufted ... something. Duck? I'll have to check.

A black and white duck with a tufted crest and a pale bill swimming on dark, rippled water, with some green plant stems at the bottom edge.

Tall tree with a pale trunk and gnarled knots, its roots spreading over a sloped, mossy bank in a green woodland.

The roots.

Large tree trunk on a wooded slope with exposed roots spreading over the bank, covered in green moss, with ferns in the foreground and green woodland behind.

This tree is alive, although it has moss all over the top.

Slender, mossy tree with a pale trunk and sparse, spreading branches beside a gravel path, with wooden benches and a wooden footbridge nearby.

Tailed.

Two Canada geese with black heads and white chin straps swimming on a murky green river, with dense green trees and ferns along the bank.

pinball1970 · May 31, 2025

Outro out of the Nook.

Photo of a shaded dirt path winding through a deciduous woodland, with tall, pale-barked trees on the left and right and sunlight dappling the ground.

Something humbling about old trees.

Dirt path curving through a green woodland of tall, slender deciduous trees with pale grey trunks and dense leaf canopy, sunlight dappling the ground, a mossy stone bank on the right.

A look to the side and it is wild. TT

Dense woodland in bright sunlight, with slender trunks and green leafy canopy, low shrubs and fallen leaves on the forest floor.

pinball1970 · May 31, 2025

View attachment 361608

Green meadow framed by overhanging tree branches and leaves, with a dense band of woodland behind it under a pale sky, and a stone wall in the foreground.

A narrow dirt path curving through a green deciduous forest, with tall smooth-trunked trees on both sides and dappled sunlight falling across the ground.

BillTre · May 31, 2025

Here are some Drosophila embryos cleared and labeled with florescent markers of a variety of anatomical features:

Five fluorescence confocal images of Drosophila melanogaster embryos in lateral view, stained in yellow, pink and blue to show neurons, motoneuron projections and muscles against a black background.

BillTre · May 31, 2025

Two curled alligator embryos on a black background, pale translucent bodies with visible eyes and yolk-filled regions, photographed under a microscope.

BillTre · May 31, 2025

Five small transparent zebrafish against a black background, each glowing a different fluorescent colour: yellow, pink, green, blue with stripes, and red.

Glowfish, genetically transformed zebrafish expressing different fluorescent proteins.

BillTre · May 31, 2025

Nudebranchs, like snails without a shell. Colorful and toxic.

Underwater photo of a purple nudibranch sea slug with orange cerata along its back, blue-tipped tentacles and a red rhinophore, moving over seabed.

Underwater photo of a blue and white nudibranch with brown, white-tipped cerata on its back, crawling over seaweed on the seabed.

DennisN · May 31, 2025

Flowers in a cemetery

These five photos were taken by a fountain in a nearby cemetery.
Please note that I have not digitally adjusted any colors afterwards, this is what the photos looked like straight out of the camera. It was a sunny day with great light and I used my Yashinon-DS 50mm f/1.9 lens (from the 1960s-1970s (ca) which gives great natural colors, and a CPL filter.

1. Flowers by the fountain
- my own favorite of these. Sadly the version here on PF does not quite do it justice, but anyway

.

Bouquet of red alstroemeria and white and yellow roses on a dark paved stone edge, with pink and magenta carnations and red roses to the right against a black background.

2. Colorful flowers
- Google says chrysanthemums.

Clusters of blue-green daisy-like flowers, possibly chrysanthemums, growing against a dark background and a grey stone ledge, with a few pink and white blooms at the upper right.

3. More flowers by the fountain

Bouquet of cut flowers on a stone ledge: orange gerbera daisies, white and lilac chrysanthemums, dark red and pink roses, and green fern fronds, lit by sunlight.

4. Roses and some more flowers
- sadly a little bit overexposed, but you live and learn.

I quite often shoot a bit underexposed to avoid this.

Bouquet of red roses, pink carnations and small yellow flowers with green foliage, resting on a grey paving stone beside water.

5. Red roses by the fountain

Bunch of red roses in full bloom lying on a wet, dark stone ledge against a black background, with green leaves visible and one rose bud at the right edge.

And here's the star of the day, the Yashinon-DS 50mm f/1.9 which is about 60 years old:
(the text on the nameplate is sadly a bit worn off after I cleaned the nameplate with some alcohol-based solution; you live and learn

)

Black film-era 50mm lens labelled Yashinon-DS 1:1.9 Auto Yashica Japan, with a black lens cap on a wooden bench, and a leather-wrapped camera body behind it.

Andy Resnick · May 31, 2025

Close-up macro photo of a bright red-orange aphid with long dark antennae and thin legs, resting on a green leaf with a few white specks.

Aphid. This is a 1:1 crop of the original image, shot with 55mm MicroNikkor set to 1:1 reproduction ratio, f/11, 1/800 s, auto ISO (ISO 9000 IIRC). Handheld and windy conditions :(

jtbell · Jun 1, 2025

At the U. S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville AL on Saturday:

The onboard Launch Vehicle Digital Computer of a Saturn V rocket:

Photo of a glass-enclosed display of Saturn V LVDC computer modules with a blue LVDC label above, showing circuit cards with red and grey components and a copper coil in the centre.

A single ferrite-core memory plane (8192 bits) from an LVDC:

Photo of a ferrite-core memory plane with a grid of small red-wired ferrite cores held in an orange circuit-board frame with screws at the corners.

jtbell · Jun 1, 2025

The Apollo 16 command module, which flew to lunar orbit and back in April 1972:

Apollo command module on display in a glass-walled museum hall, its heat shield scorched and pitted, with the side hatch open and its inner face visible.

Instructions on the inside of the hatch:

Printed checklist card titled CABIN REPRESS -EVT on the inside of a spacecraft hatch, listing numbered steps for panels 326, 601 and 351, with a note on helmet and glove doffing.

The heat shield is a bit worse for wear from re-entry.

Apollo 16 command module displayed in a glass enclosure, showing its scorched and charred heat shield with a rounded, bell-shaped underside.

jtbell · Jun 3, 2025

The Mobile Quarantine Facility where the Apollo 12 astronauts lived after splashdown, while doctors observed them for signs of "moon germs".

Silver Airstream-style trailer labelled NASA Mobile Quarantine Facility, with a visitor standing before it beside a panel reading TODAY HOMECOMING.

Interior of a narrow trailer with wood-grain cabinets, a built-in microwave and sink on the left and right, bunk beds with white bedding along the right wall, and a ceiling light fixture and vents above.

Interior of a mobile quarantine trailer with olive-green seats and a green table holding a Scrabble board, yellow bowl, cups, papers and a black Sony bag, viewed through a clear partition.

After NASA no longer needed it, it went to the Center for Disease Control, which used it for doctors who had been working with rare diseases in Africa. Then it went to the U.S. Geological Survey, which used it as a research station at a fish hatchery.

Museum display panel titled MQF, Apollo 12 Mobile Quarantine Facility, with a photo of a corrugated-roof shelter and a trailer, and a second photo of the trailer under a wooden-framed shelter.

jtbell · Jun 4, 2025

Remember the Skylab space station? I had forgotten that it was occupied for only 24 weeks, during 1973-74. I do remember the nervous excitement when it was about to de-orbit in 1979. Where? Where? Look out below!

Some fragments did end up in Australia. Here's what's left of an oxygen tank.

Charred, splintered cylindrical oxygen tank from Skylab on display in a glass case, with a museum information panel reading Skylab O2 tank fragment in the foreground.

DennisN · Jun 4, 2025

jtbell said:

Remember the Skylab space station? ... I do remember the nervous excitement when it was about to de-orbit in 1979. Where? Where? Look out below!

I remember!

DennisN · Jun 4, 2025

Old camera(s) 2/2:

Here are two more old cameras I recently aquired

.

Wirgin Auta

Year: 1930s-1940s (ca; I couldn't find any serial number)
Type: foldable
Format: Medium format

This is a foldable "pocket" camera (I guess), though it is quite heavy with a weight of 660 g.
The dimensions are 35 mm (depth, folded), 135 mm (depth, unfolded), 77 mm (height) and 160mm (width).
I did try to date it, but it proved difficult since it seems there are quite many variants of this camera with different lenses, shutters and general appearance.

Here is what the camera looks like when it is folded:
(and I would personally not have thought this was a camera if I only saw it like this)

Folding medium format camera with a black textured leatherette body, brass corner fittings and a metal shutter release, shown closed on a wooden surface with a lens cap beside it.

And here the camera is unfolded. It's actually a bit tricky to fold it, I had to try quite a few times.

Black folding medium-format camera with a bellows, unfolded on a wooden surface against a magenta background. Chrome lens board reads PRONTOR, with a Wirgin Gewironar lens and a shutter scale marked 1 to 25.

The shutter is a Prontor shutter, and if you look at the photos at the bottom of the Prontor page on Camera-wiki, it is fascinating to see how complex the internal mechanisms are.

The lens is a Wirgin Gewironar 10.5 cm f/4.5.

Folded medium format camera with a black leatherette body and a Prontor shutter; the lens barrel reads Wirgin Gewironar 10.5cm f/4.5 Prontor.

Links:

Camera-wiki: https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Wirgin_Auta
J. Noir: https://www.jnoir.eu/en/cameras/wirgin/auta/

Next up we've got a real beauty, at least in my opinion

.

I bought this camera because I have a personal, historical attachment to Yashica. The first "professional" camera I ever used was a Yashica Electro 35 which belonged to my father (regretfully I don't have it, but I have a Yashica Electro 35 in mint condition at home). I also have three vintage Yashica lenses that I really like; they all give remarkably natural colors.

The camera below is something different though.
It's one of Yashica's twin lens reflex cameras (TLR), which were as I understand it the cheaper options compared to the famous and iconic Rolleiflex TLRs which are collectables and can cost quite a bit.

Yashica-C

Year: 1968 (dated with the serial number 808287)
Type: Twin lens reflex (TLR)
Format: Medium format

Here is the Yashica-C along with the original leather case:

Photo of a Yashica-C twin lens reflex camera with black body and chrome lens hoods, beside its original brown leather case with a shoulder strap.

The shutter is a Copal-MX shutter and the lens is a Yashikor 80mm f/3.5.
Well, actually, there are two identical lenses on the camera, since on TLRs the top lens is for the viewfinder and the bottom lens is the one used for taking the photo.

Front view of a black Yashica-C twin-lens reflex camera on a red background, with the Yashica-C nameplate on top and Coral-MX shutter lettering below the lower lens.

You open the viewfinder on the top, and as usually with TLRs you hold the camera at waist level and look straight down through the viewfinder when composing the photo. The viewfinder has also got a small magnifier which can be folded out to help you nail focus by looking at small details in the composition.

Two black twin-lens reflex cameras side by side: left, a camera with its viewfinder hood opened, against a dark red background; right, a close view of a viewfinder hood with a magnifier lens.

And here's the view though the viewfinder, showing a notebook on my desk:

Front view of a boxy black medium-format twin-lens reflex camera, looking into its viewing hood at a small leather-bound book with gold sun-and-moon design on a red and cream background.

And last, here is the camera opened:

Black twin-lens reflex camera shown from above with the top viewing hood open, revealing the ground glass viewing screen, a USE 120 FILM ONLY label on the back, and two chrome focusing knobs.

The weight of the camera is 992 g, so almost 1 kg. The dimensions are 76 mm (width), 100 mm (depth) and 140 mm (height).

Links:
Yashica-C on Camerapedia: https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Yashica-C
FIlm Still Photography: https://www.filmstillphotography.com/yashica-c.html

DennisN · Jun 6, 2025

Some more random photos...

White roses...

Several white rose blooms with yellow centres and buds on a green-leaved bush, against a clear blue sky.

A colorful glass vase in the cemetery...

Iridescent glass vase with a beaded band and dark base, standing on a cemetery surface beside a small basket of moss, dried pinecones and pink succulents with a plant tag.

Three red tulips in the cemetery...

Two red tulips on tall thin stems rising from green leaves in a grassy lawn, with a second flower partly behind the first.

A heart made of stone in the cemetery...
...the text "Wir vermissen dich" is German and means "we miss you"...

Grey stone heart-shaped memorial with a raised rose and leaves on the left and the German inscription "Wir vermissen Dich" on the right, resting on rough stone.

And last, a very colorful pinwheel...

Close-up of a colorful iridescent plastic pinwheel on a wooden stick against a blue sky with white clouds, its blades showing rainbow sheen.

(Lens used: Yashinon-DS 50mm f/1.9)

Point Conception · Jun 6, 2025

Red and white wooden fishing boat with a blue canopy and life ring, resting on sand at low tide beside a waterfront with a green-roofed shelter.

Seafood restaurant on Naklua mud flats, low tide. This cat is waiting intensely for shrimp. My Thai girlfriend said no water(the bay). I asked her why , She : "Hot too much - no water"

Black and white cat with green eyes sitting on a weathered wooden deck, looking up intently.

Black and white cat with green eyes sitting on a wooden deck, looking up toward the camera.

Outdoor seafood restaurant at low tide, with a red-and-white wooden fishing boat beached on exposed mud flats, a yellow umbrella overhead and a woman in sunglasses at the right edge.

Point Conception · Jun 6, 2025

Night Moves

Night photo of a person in a denim jacket leaning on a turquoise railing at an outdoor table, with a metal tray, a phone and a glass of dark drink in the foreground, and city lights blurred behind.

Random Photos

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