A Sense of Space

A Sense of Space, a photo by TomRaven (Away) on Flickr.

"Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my sacred space and love beyond my fear, and thus walk in balance with the passing of each glorious sun."
— American Indian Lakota Prayer

* Fujifilm Finepix S1000fd - Single Shot

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The Romance of Sunset

The Romance of Sunset, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Cuando amor no es locura, no es amor."
"When love is not madness it is not love."
— Pedro Calderón de la Barca

* Pentax K100D + Pentax 18-55mm Lens - Single Shot SOOC

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Land of the Long White Cloud

Land of the Long White Cloud, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Clambering up the Cold Mountain path,
The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on:
The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,
The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass.
The moss is slippery, though there's been no rain
The pine sings, but there's no wind.
Who can leap the world's ties
And sit with me among the white clouds?"
— Han-shan

Kapiti Island lies dreaming between sea and sky, under the long white cloud...

* Pentax K20D + Sigma 28-80mm Lens - Single Shot

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Flying To The Sun

Flying To The Sun, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

“It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.”
― Haruki Murakami

Its getting really cold here in the UK... so I'm planning on flying to the sun :-)

* Pentax K20D + Sigma 28-80mm Lens - Single Shot

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Molten Dawn

Molten Dawn, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"O Dionysus, we feel you near,
stirring like molten lava
under the ravaged earth,
flowing from the wounds of your trees
in tears of sap,
screaming with the rage
of your hunted beasts."
— Euripides (The Bacchae)

The volcano Mt Ruapehu is clearly visible on the horizon, some 320 kms/200 miles away, as the dawn light reflects on the breaking surf on the black volcanic sand of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand.

* Pentax K20D + Pentax 18-55mm Lens - Single Shot

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Retreating Ocean, Advancing Sky

Retreating Ocean, Advancing Sky, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world the sun and moon were pulling; and the film of water on the earth planet was held, bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide moved further along the island and the water lifted."
— William Golding (Lord of the Flies)

* Pentax K20D + Pentax 18-55mm Lens - Single Shot

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Sun Arise

Sun Arise, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Be calm, be strong, be grateful, and become a lamp full of light, that the darkness of sorrows be annihilated, and the sun of everlasting joy arise from the dawning-place of heart and soul, shining brightly."
— Baha'i Writings

The sun rises over the Kapiti Coast in the south west of the North Island of New Zealand.

* Pentax K20D + Pentax 18-55mm Lens - 3 Shot HDR

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Of Shadows & Light

Of Shadows & Light, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
— J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))

Shadows and light play across the tumbled gravestones in St Woolos Cemetery, the oldest public cemetery in Britain and a very large and peaceful place. Used as a location for two Dr Who episodes, Blink (2007) and The Next Doctor (2008).

Contemplating Crossings

Contemplating Crossings, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"I sat cross-legged in the sand and contemplated my life. Well, there, and what difference did it make? "What's going to happen to me up ahead?"
— Jack Kerouac (The Dharma Bums)

deGull contemplates three of the nine bridges crossing the River Usk at Newport / Casnewydd, Wales / Cymru. The George Street Bridge, the first cable-stayed bridge in Britain, the City Bridge and the Newport City Footbridge in front of the new riverside campus of the University of Wales.

Watching The Fall Blow In

Watching The Fall Blow In, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Time that withers you will wither me. We will fall like ripe fruit and roll down the grass together. Dear friend, let me lie beside you watching the clouds until the earth covers us and we are gone."
— Jeanette Winterson (Written on the Body)

After several days of unseasonably warm weather, 27C/80F. I sat here watching the cold front of Autumn/Fall roll in, bringing with it a cold wind and a plunge in the temperature to 10C/50F ... brrrrr :-)

Rays Above The Valleys

Rays Above The Valleys, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"I don't think it had ever occurred to me that man's supremacy is not primarily due to his brain, as most of the books would have one think. It is due to the brain's capacity to make use of the information conveyed to it by a narrow band of visible light rays. His civilization, all that he had achieved or might achieve, hung upon his ability to perceive that range of vibrations from red to violet. Without that, he was lost."
— John Wyndham (The Day of the Triffids)

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Sunflower Serendipity

Sunflower Serendipity, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow
Arise from their graves and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

Ah! Sunflower By William Blake

* Pentax K20D + Samsung 50-200mm Lens - Single Shot

Late Summer Blooms Series #2

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Fuchsia Discretion

Fuchsia Discretion, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

A spear of zinc light wounds stone and water,
stripping the scarlet fuchsia bells and yellow buttercups

of any discretion, so they confess their end in this
luminous declaration that they are no more than

shortlived absolutes in living colour, bright eyes
open against the dark.

From Summer Evening by Eamon Grennan

* Pentax K20D + Samsung 50-200mm Lens - Single Shot

Late Summer Blooms Series #1

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Flowers and Clouds

Flowers and Clouds, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."
— Martin Luther

* Pentax K20D + Pentax 18-55mm Lens - 3 Shot HDR

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Embracing The Ocean

Embracing The Ocean, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life."
— John Lennon

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Dusk of Delight

Dusk of Delight, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"There is only one day left, always starting over: It is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk."
— Jean-Paul Sartre

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