sir_ivar's Most Recent Favorites

Waikoloa Abrader Quarry

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:34:51 Z

by tbenedict "This is a synth of the Waikoloa Abrader Quarries found adjacent to the King's Trail near Anaehoomalu Bay. These were all made with roughly 300' of line between me and the camera. Wind was varied, so the actual altitude was all over the place. Largely, though, it was in the 200' AGL + range. The King's Trail is also visible in this set, as is the heiau that delineates the division between the Kona and Kohala districts. The road that goes out to that heiau also connects to a radio tower complex in the other direction. These landmarks can all be found on most mapping software. So even though the photos themselves are not georeferenced, there are enough clue frames to do so. Visible in this set are abrader quarries as well as work sites, or basins. I wasn't sure these would be visible from 200'+ altitude, but surprisingly they are. Also visible are a number of petroglyphs, as well as some graffiti dating back to the 1800's. Not bad. This set included no oblique views to help tie the large scale geometry down, but the resulting synth was actually quite flat anyway."

Kona Coastline

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:27:22 Z

by tbenedict "A first pass at an aerial orthogonal composite. (I hesitate to call this thing a "pano" since there's nothing panoramic about it.) 51 photos made using a camera suspended from a kite line. In this case the camera was being towed behind a boat, and the shutter was set to fire continuously while the camera was aimed straight down. So it's a planar motion rather than a rotating motion of a fixed camera base."

White Shaman

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:52:48 Z

by kirstenlhamilton "My boyfriend, Sir_Ivar, and I were fortunate enough to get permission to check out this amazing and unique pallet of rock art discovered by Jim Zintgraff. According to the Rock Art Foundation, this scene depicts the flight of the shaman to the land of spirits and his metaphorical death and rebirth are a message from the past about humanity's quest for solutions to life's mystery. This is truly an experience to behold, with the vibrant colors and huge drawings nestled into a small cave overlooking a gorgeous lake at the bottom of a canyon just west of Seminole Canyon State Park in Del Rio, Texas. To get to the site is a 250' steep descent into a narrow, rocky, brushy canyon and roundtrip is approx. 1.5 miles. Unfortunately, we didn't have our good camera, so the pictures taken are not as crisp as we'd like to get in future documenting excursions. Anyone wishing to visit the site can contact the non-profit Rock Art Foundation ( http://www.rockart.org ) about one of their twice a year tours. My boyfriend, Mark Willis (sir_ivar), has some truly amazing synths from some different sites he's documented...if you're interested check them out, as well. :)"

Meyers Spring Pictograph Site

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:34:44 Z

by sir_ivar "Meyers Spring Pictograph Site is located near the town of Dryden in West Texas between two ancient Comanche War Trails. The rock art is found on a limestone cliff face adjacent to Meyers Spring, one of the only stable sources of fresh water for many miles. The oldest art found at the site consists of the prehistoric Pecos River Style (2000 to 4000 years old). Most it has faded or has been covered by early historic (150 to 400 years old) pictographs that now dominate the site. The latest pictographs found are some the best preserved in North America and appear to chronicle the earliest contact between European and the native peoples of this area. Several native groups are known to have visited the area and include Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Pawnee, Ute, and an earlier group we call Lower Pecos people. An United State military outpost named Fort Meyers(or Myers) was established near the spring to try and control the native peoples in the late 1800s. The fort and spring were named after one of the black Seminole soldiers who served under Lt. John L. Bullis. Most of the interpretations of the rock art listed in the highlights are those of Reeda Peel, a rock art specialist at the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross State University in Alpine Texas. As with any artwork, a lot of what it "means" is speculation. Unless otherwise noted, the photos were taken on September 5, 2009 by Mark D. Willis. I have added some historic photographs for reference. Those are listed at the end of the highlights. Anyone wishing to visit the site can contact the non-profit Rock Art Foundation ( http://www.rockart.org ) about one of their twice a year tours."

Lalibela (Bete Giyorgis) - Ethiopia [Better Pt Cloud but < Synthy]

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:37:29 Z

by Vagabum.com "Lalibela - once the capitol of the Axumit Empire - is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum. With its 11 monolithic rock-hewn monateries the city of Lalibela is the center of pilgrimage for a significant portion of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians (the vast majority of the population). King Lalibela is said to have built a New Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. As such, many features of the town of Lalibela have Biblical names - even the town's river is known as the River Jordan. The 11 medieval rock-hewn churches are believed to have been built during Lalibela's reign or just after in the late 12th / early 13th Centuries AD. All are grouped into a single UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2007 they were named one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World". Of the 100 or so top-echelon archaeological sites I have visited, Lalibela is my 3rd most favorite (after Abu Simbel, Egypt and Petra, Jordan and before the Great Pyramid). The Church of St. George (Amharic: Bete Giyorgis) is the most well known and last built (early thirteenth century) of the 11 rock-hewn churches. The dimensions of the complex are 25 meters by 25 meters by 30 meters, and there is a small baptismal pool outside the church, which stands in an artificial trench. Like most of the other monastery churches in Lalibela Bete Giyorgis is entirely monolihic, meaning it was freed entirely from the surrounding rock from the top down. It has weathered the test of time much better than the other ten churches due to the unique sloping room and the embedded cross-relief drainage system. According to Ethiopian cultural history, Bete Giyorgis was built after King Lalibela had a dream in which he was instructed by Saint George himself to construct the church in his honor."

Braes of Balloch_photogrammtery

Wed, 20 May 2009 02:33:25 Z

by PGRic "This carving sits on hills to the south of Kenmore, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, overlooking Loch Tay to the west. It's carved in the cup and ring tradition, although some design elements are similar to passage grave art found in Eire. The markings are fairly shallow and barely visible in some light, with lichen hiding most motifs towards the top of the stone. Turf coverage has protected the stones bottom half from the ravages of the weather, and some tooling marks can be seen in this area (turf now replaced). The size and shape of the stone, along with the lightly pecked motif could possibly hint at a cist cover (speculative). Its likely to date from the late Neolithic to early Bronze Age (6000-4000yrs ago). To view this stone, close ups and the partial panorama use the navigation arrows or highlights. A still from a photogrammetric model has also been incorporated - this shows the areas of carving in greater detail."

Aboriginal engraved rock-art (petroglyth)- "Big-Fella"

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:58:55 Z

by cvjhc

Aboriginal engraved rock-art (petroglyth)- "emu"

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:24:07 Z

by cvjhc