Earth from the ISS

Or rather, in this case, the ISS from Atlantis, via TriggerPit.

Earth from the ISS: Like a scene from Star Wars – an X-wing approaches

Kepler on the horizon. Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, European Space Agency’s (ESA)
“Johannes Kepler” Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) begins its relative separation from the International Space Station.
The ATV-2 undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:46 a.m. (EDT) on June 20, 2011.
Earth from ISS photo credit NASA.

More amazing photos here.

Thanks Nickster.

Brisbane: The Span

Those of you who got in touch regarding this post and the incredible photography on the Silent UK site (there were a lot of you) may also be interested in this blog from a similar individual in Australia.

Today’s post showcases the Story Bridge in Brisbane:

There’s plenty more where that came from as well, including (in my humble opinion, anyway) some particularly amazing snaps here and here.

Enjoy!

Caught

Proboscine readers may recall this post about Silent UK, in which I remarked:

I must say, I’ve never really though of trespass as a hobby before and I can’t bring myself to agree with it. I can, however, appreciate some of the fantastic photographic results and the images of otherwise secret history that their naughtiness generates.

And I stand by all of that. But I was still somehow saddened to read today that the protagonists recently got nabbed and of the decision which that has forced upon them:

Regardless of the punishment I am to receive, the irrevocable damage has been done, the confidence built over six years gone. Now even the thought of entering the Underground I have spent the past four years of my life wandering, makes me sick to my stomach. I never want to go through that again, unfortunately the only way to completely avoid this, is to stop. The effect this has had on my life, my studies and even my career has been unbearable. Even as I write this I realise it’s not over, no guarantees that it will end when I next answer bail.

However, they’ve decided to go out with a bang, publishing an account of a recent outing to St Paul’s Cathedral and some absolutely incredible pictures taken while they were there.

And thus, it would appear that Silent UK will not be updated from here on in. I just hope that they keep the site up anyway as some of the photographic work on there is absolutely stunning.

Calling Cape Town ‘togs etc

Here’s an interesting idea for you. And by “interesting”, I actually mean “as interesting as history gets, which isn’t quite as interesting as, say, something really fascinating, but quite easily beats accountancy”.

A bloke in London called Gary McLeod has started a project which aims to… well – he can tell you:

This project aims to revisit the voyage of HMS Challenger between 1872 and 1876. HMS Challenger was a Royal Naval vessel but was borrowed by the Royal Society to research the depths of the oceans and study the marine wildlife that they dredged along the way. It was a very significant voyage. However, for me, more important are the 500 photographs that they took throughout the journey.
These photographs were taken by 3 photographers throughout the journey and documented the depth and breadth of the world and the variety of countries and cultures encountered. The collection is a held at the Natural History Museum in London but few people see these images anymore.

After encountering these pictures online while I was living in Japan, I sought to identify the locations in the Japan photographs from the voyage and I re-photographed them as they are today.

This activity prompted a series of artworks. I then got an idea.
What about the rest of the pictures taken around the world? Could they all be re-visited?

I didn’t have a ship, nor the money to buy one. So I wondered if the Internet could help? At the same time, I wondered if anybody could do what I did?
I therefore borrowed a social networking site and customized it, naming it SNS Challenger in honour of the original ship. After filling it with all the original pictures, I started trying to promote the voyage to people around the world to increasing success.

And so on and so forth.

HMS Challenger put in a good few miles in her time, visiting Portugal, the Bahamas, South America, Tahiti, Japan, Australia and New Zealand amongst other far-flung places, but locals will be most interested in the photos from the Cape of Good Hope.
And if you can identify where any of these old photographs were taken (some are easier than others), then sign up, recreate the original photograph and post it on the site with your story.

What are you waiting for?