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#marinelife

mkwadee@diasp.eu
Khurram Wadee

Beware, this is going to be a long post...

My standard longer #bike ride is a 30 km round trip to #Starcross, which is #village on the west coast of the #ExeEstuary on the way to #Dawlish. The ride is motor-traffic-free for a goo 80% of the distance. It's also through a lot of #countryside and it's my intention to photograph some of the #trees through all the seasons. However, this set contains a little more for your edification.

Not all trees are alive. For example, this one is a hulk of what was once probably a magnificent specimen.
Dead tree

Most #FarmFields have been replanted after harvesting and even now, shoots are appearing. Meanwhile most #Trees still have their #Foliage.
Green shoots in a field

The #plants and #insects that feed off them are also a food source for these male and female #pheasants.
Pheasants feeding in a field

The village of #Starcross is small but it happens to have a #RailwayStation on the line from #LondonPaddington and #Penzance, though the #IntercityTrains don't usually stop there. This is the last part of the journey for me before I turn and head back homewards at the station itself.
Starcross and its train station

Here is an #IntercityTrain passing. It is run by #GWR or #GreatWesternRailways, which was a company in existence before nationalization and which came back after privatization.
Train passing the cyclepath

Starting to head back, you can get a good view of the other side of the #Estuary, where the #town of #Exmouth can be seen. There happens to be a nice ferry trip on which you can take your #bike between #Starcross and #Exmouth
Exmouth as seen from Starcross

The #ExeEstuary has a few #wrecks in it. I presume they are #NavigationHazards but I guess it would prove too expensive to clear the #waterway. Perhaps they provide a #habitat for #MarineLife. Here you can see #Birds (I can't tell whether they are #Cormorants of #Shags).
Birds perching on a shipwreck
Bird perching on a shipwreck

Next, we come to #PowderhamCastle, which is now a #NationalTrust property. It has a herd of #deer numbering in the hundreds.
Male deer sitting in a field
Male and female deer in a fileld
Dozens of deer in a field

The mild #autumn #Sun is seen shining through this #tree's #branches.
Tree with sunlight shining through it

More #trees in the grounds of #PowderhamCastle.
Trees in a field
Trees in a field
Trees in a field

At first glance, this may look like a dead #tree but you can see that parts of it still has #foliage.
Tree with dead and living parts

This #tree, on the other hand, looks completely dead.
Dead tree

This #Pheasant is eyeing the #photographer warily.
Pheasant in a field

This #cycle #bridge was installed not much longer than a decade ago. It makes traversing the #RailwayLine easy. I think there was a #footbridge before this but I'm not sure. A nice addition to #cycling #infrastructure.
Bridge over a main railway line

From the top of the #bridge, you can see the #barracks of the #RoyalMarines in #Lympstone. Technically, this #photograph is a #Selfie too.
Royal Marine Barracks

Getting closer to home now, here is the #M5 #Motorway which links #London to #Exeter. This #concrete #viaduct goes over the #Estuary, thankfully leaving much it intact.
M5 over the Exe Estuary

Some parts around the #Cyclepath form natural ponds.
Pond in a meadow

Any #journey of moderate length or longer often leaves one #reflecting. Here, you can let the scenery do it.
Trees reflecting in the canal
Panorama of trees reflecting in the Exeter canal

This #swan was preening on the #ExeterCanal (and so was its #reflection).
Preening swan and reflection

Lastly, this is the #bridge over the #RiverExe, which is a sign that my home is a mere 5 km away. A sight that is always welcome. The bridge is old but it a #cyclepath was constructed as an extension to it on the far side, which blends in very nicely with the existing #masonry.
Masonry arch bridge over the River Exe

#MyWork #MyPhoto #CCBYSA #DSLR #Nikon #D7000 #Autumn

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mlansbury@despora.de
Mark Lansbury

Ban octopus farming

Octopuses are seriously smart. They can use tools and solve complex problems, and even feel pain, pleasure, joy and fear!

That’s why scientists are outraged by plans for the world’s first octopus farm in Spain, which would see a MILLION of these mostly solitary creatures crammed into tiny tanks every year, then killed painfully by being frozen alive in icy vats to feed the food market.

It’s torture on an industrial scale.

Petition:
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/ban_octopus_farming_loc/?diaspora

#nature #octopus #maritime #farming #ocean #sea #Spain #wildlife #marinelife

Octopus massacre

They're building the world’s first octopus farm. Here's how we can stop them:

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petapixel@xn--y9azesw6bu.xn--y9a3aq
petapixel (unofficial)

Photographer Captures Beautiful Split Photos Above and Below the Sea

image

David Doubilet, known as a pioneering underwater photographer, has released a photo book that spans decades of his work and shows the symbiosis of the mysterious underwater world and the more familiar surface captured together in a single image.

Doubilet is widely acclaimed as one of the world's leading underwater photographers and has been a regular contributor to National Geographic for decades. Today, Doubilet has revealed his "Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea" photography book which encompasses decades of documenting the ocean and the still largely unexplored underwater world.

Doubilet discovered his passion for outdoor exploration during a summer camp as a kid when he was given a mask and sent under a dock to pick up sticks and "meet the dreaded giant dock spider as punishment" because he did not want to hike. Since that moment, he has been mesmerized with the life underwater and at the age of twelve, his father used an anesthesiologist bag to create an underwater camera housing for Doubilet's Brownie Hawkeye camera, giving him a taste for what's to come later in his career.

David Doubilet on assignment among icebergs Scoresby Sund Fjord Greenland

He published his first story during his teen years and went to collaborate with National Geographic in 1971. Five decades and 75 stories later, Doubilet still sees every dive as a discovery.

"I still search for the elusive half and half image and I continue to nudge photographic boundaries to see where we can make technological advances," he says.

The idea for his Two Worlds projects arose early on; Doubilet has always been fascinated with the surface of the sea "as a door to a hidden world", he tells PetaPixel.

"Fast forward to assignments in the remote corners of the world where I began to slow down and look as I descended. I saw corals sloping upwards to the surface meeting rainforests tumbling to the edge. I began lingering at the boundary of surface and sea, recognizing it as our largest most important border on the planet."

This is where the experiments of capturing half and half images in a single frame began. For Doubilet it is a thrill, knowing that a person on the surface has no idea of the fascinating and rich life that can be seen just beneath the water.

The project includes images taken throughout Doubilet's underwater career and spans Papua New Guinea to Grand Cayman Island, from the icy waters of the Antarctic Ocean to the tropical Great Barrier Reef. He has captured rare sea creatures, corals, plant life, and the unique underwater landscape -- all of which help highlight important climate change and marine life conservation issues.

Although an exciting experience, it can be labor-intensive to create images like these. Doubilet uses a variety of Nikon cameras in SEACAM underwater housings which are equipped with a range of wide-angle Nikkor lenses, behind a 9.5-inch optical glass super dome. The dome corrects the 33-percent underwater magnification and spreads the boundary layer of the surface across the curvature of the dome.

When Doubilet shoots, he has to kneel or stand very carefully; sometimes he even floats with the housing and dome half in and half out of the water. He lights the bottom half of the frame with two or more Sea and Sea YS 250 strobes.

The most challenging aspect of this type of work is finding two compelling subjects in a single frame to illustrate the essence of the place that Doubilet is shooting in.

"Although I am driven to look for two world moments on every dive, the images themselves remain rare," he explains. "In five decades and 75 stories as a National Geographic photographer, I have only produced a few dozen of these images that I truly like."

"The largest border that impacts every single person on this planet is not etched in ink, it is the surface of the ocean. It is a portal into that other 71-percent of our planet. No matter where we live, coastal or inland, we depend on the oceans to produce oxygen and resources that we rely on."

As challenging as underwater photography is, Doubilet doesn't plan on stopping and hopes that his project connects people to the sea. The newly published book is an invitation for the audience to enter into this world: "to see, know, explore, connect with, and protect the oceans."

Doubilet's "Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea" book is available for $60 and can be found on the Phaidon website, with more of Doubilet's photographic work available on the Undersea Images website.

Image credits: All images by David Doubilet and used with permission.

#features #news #travel #book #daviddoubilet #marine #marinelife #newbook #seacam #underwater #underwaterhousing #underwaterphotography #underwaterphotoshoot

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