Uploads from ImranAnwar, with geodata

Cloud/Cover(s) St. Petersberg On Tampa Bay - IMRAN™ -- {SOOC} -- 150+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:17:29 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

I almost missed posting a single photo in all of April, 2013. I cannot believe how quickly time, years and lives fly by, until I see how quickly the days go by.

I am delighted at the many interesting, always unique, and often magical light effects the clouds create at sunset and dusk over Tampa Bay, looking West from the Apollo Beach and Ruskin sides of the bay.

© 2013 IMRAN
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Stunning Sunset, End of Day on Tampa Bay - IMRAN™ -- (SOOC) -- 250+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:51:27 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

SOOC Straight out of camera, stunning 1MB image from Fuji W3 3D camera. Simply framed in Photoshop with *NO* editing or processing of any kind. .

I have been away from posting for too many weeks because of a hectic (and blessed) wonderful time working and traveling. I also got a little lazy after hitting 1 Million Views. :-) But I hope to be more regular!

A stunning end of the day at Tampa Bay, taken from beautiful Apollo Beach, looking at St. Petersbeerg with the sun sitting cradles exactly between two buildings.

© 2013 IMRAN
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The Light(House) At "The End" (Montauk) Of No Tunnel - IMRAN™ -- 350+ Views! -- Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:45:03 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 62nd Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on January 28, 2013!

As 2012 was drawing to an end, and I was making fresh new starts in my life, I had the company of an absolutely gorgeous companion from Christmas Eve, into the New Year….. several of our many firsts together.

We drove to Montauk, which stands for "The End" in the native American language of the tribe that once ruled this part of the land, at the end of the Eastern-most point on Long Island and I believe New York state.

Even as the sun was setting behind us, the lighthouse in front of us, closed for seasonal repairs, but glowing even redder in the sunset's glow, was a reminder, it was The Light(house) At "The End" (of no tunnel but a long journey).

May God give us all the blessings to have fresh new starts, and bright days ahead.

© 2012-2013 IMRAN
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New Year's / Ball(s) - IMRAN™ -- 250+ Views! - Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:39:08 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 61st Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on January 21, 2013!

A Belated Happy New Year and Happy Holidays wish to you all, my friends and loved ones.

Enjoy this cell phone photo I took in the lobby of the Hilton BWI in mid-December.

© 2013 IMRAN
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The End (Of Day At) The End (Of 2012 At Montauk) The End - IMRAN™ -- (SOOC) -- 350+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 02:24:10 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

SOOC Image Straight Out Of Camera!! NO editing, tweaking, or color processing of ANY kind. Only framed & titled in Photoshop..

There were few who were not impacted by the (few) ups and (many) downs of the last few years.

As 2012 drew to a close, by the grace of God, it appeared that the number of ups was up, the number of downs counting down, like the hours, and minutes, to the end of the year.

Though the global economy, the nation, and my own personal challenges had not fully come back from the edge of the (fiscal) cliffs, there was a sense of optimism I felt like a soft but unsure sigh of relief the world wanted to let out.

Even though 2012 had proven to be a year of uncertainty initially, for the most part it seemed to be the year that also brought a turnaround, in the economy, in hope, in life, and in love. But, all in all, poor 2012 was lumped more with the terrible years of 2009-2011 that brought so much devastation and sorrow to so many.

It was then so poetically ironic to take this picture, with a very special someone coming into my life, as many new goals, destinations, and dreams also started coming back into view, as we stood, in the freezing cold wind at Montauk (meaning "The End" in native American languages, at the Eastern tip of Long Island and New York), as the cold day, and a warming but still cold year started to disappear from view….

It was the beginning (of beautiful new times) and the beginning of The End (Of Day At) The End (Of 2012 At Montauk) The End !

Happy New Year, my friends, and may 2013 bring good fortune, love, life, health, prosperity and peace to all. Amen.

© 2012-2013 IMRAN
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BaltiMore Sun(Set!) - IMRAN™ -- 650+ Views! Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 04:50:28 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 60th Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on December 13, 2012!

I had to be in the Washington, DC area for meetings, and flying Southwest Airlines to BWI airport is the most convenient way. Except this trip.

I had pulled an all-nighter for all day and all week meetings in DC, on top of a difficult personal challenges filled week! Prayers appreciated my friends.

So I got to the airport early 0500 for the 0630 flight of 55 minutes. Due to fog at BWI, we could not take take off and a one hour trip became 11 hours in an airplane seat.

I could've walked faster, as I joked. Then some passengers who were allowed to walk around the terminal just left for home without telling anyone, so we had a person by person identification against a paper list. If it was an Extra passenger I'd say it was my evil twin brother. LOL. Instead we were a few passengers short.

By the time the check was done, BWI had closed landings again so we missed our take off slot! What a joke that process was. I did get to the hotel that night, ironically one I had last stayed at when it was brand new, 7 years ago. It took 12 hours door to door! I wondered if the local newspapers, the Baltimore Sun, had given news coverage to the delays.

But, by the next day, the weather had cleared, and that evening I was able to catch this spectacular sunset from my pocket Nikon 6200, through the unopenable and not perfectly clean 9th floor hotel window. Zooming it to the max ensured the window's impact on the photo was minimized, as I caught more of the BaltiMore Sun(Set). :-)

© 2012 IMRAN
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The Bridge To The Sun - IMRAN™ -- 500+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:52:43 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

We can go through decades of life and the realize how quickly the days of our lives flew by. I wonder if the sun, hurtling on its own one-way ticket to burning out in the heavens one day, wonders how quickly its own billions of years of existence have flown by.

The last few weeks, months, even the year, have been a blur… of downs and ups, of sorrows and joys, despair and hope, but above all, a certain knowledge of how blessed this amazing life has been, and seeing dreams start turning to reality in front of my eyes.

An irony of these few weeks has been the destruction of the boardwalk to my beach here on Long Island, due to hurricane Sandy. The debris on the alternate path kept me from visiting the beach as much as before, so, I did not catch as many sunsets at the beach as before. Last night, well, just 5 PM EST really, I braved the really cold wind, and walking over debris fields, fallen tree trunks and treacherous piles of wood, to step back onto my home beach that I have been blessed to live at for nearly 20 years.

And, I saw the ironic imagery of how the setting sun's burning orb colors were exactly touching the tip of the bridge 17 miles away that the Nikon D300 and Nikkor 300mm (450mm eq) lens caught even with my trembling cold hands.

The Bridge To The Sun, which is the bridge to what makes our lives possible on earth, which are the bridge from when we are born to when our sun sets, and we, once born from stars, burn out in the cosmic winds leaving behind, we hope, shining images in the memories of those who love us, even better replicas of us in those whom we give birth to, and our deeds, and how we made people feel, and how we lived, laughed and loved to our last breaths…..

© 2012 IMRAN
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Sea, Me, Out and aBo(a)t! - IMRAN™ {Panorama} -- 500+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 21:30:28 -0800

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

Sea, me, out and abo(a)t, flying through, sailing away. What a perfect day to be out on a car, boat, plane, or best of all, seaplane — at Davis Island Seaplane Basin, Hillsborough Bay, Tampa, Florida.

This is actually an iPhone 4S AutoStitch cleaned up in Photoshop, so it does not lend itself very well to my signature framing and titling. But, I wanted to mix things up here a little bit, and, especially because I have been remiss in posting things here since I hit the One Million Views mark back at the end of August.

Not bad for a cell phone photo panorama. The color variations especially at the top right are because the camera takes each shot by its own exposure values and the inexpensive but pretty cool app merges and blends the pics, all while you're making a phone call or checking email. How spoiled we get with technology.

I hardly miss my $700 360-degrees panorama lens and Nikon 5700 that had been smashed when they fell off a friend's shoulder a few years ago.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Be/Hold The (Man); The (Super) Human Stain(ed) Glass View - IMRAN™ -- SOOC -- 700+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 00:30:48 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

2012 has gone by in a blur of activity, even as what is likely more than half of my life has rushed by, as time flies, before it is time to meet my maker, at the end of my human life.

Because of the hectic schedule, I have not even been able to add more than one or two pictures here since I had the pleasure of passing the One Million Views mark in August 2012.

I was about to post a gorgeous sunset I captured at home in New York this weekend, when I remember the Stained Glass theme I played with words on, in the previous photo, of a butterfly, the wings of which almost appeared to be made of stained glass.

That reminded me that I had captured some photos deep inside the Köln Dom (Cologne Cathedral) on my arrival there, in Germany, exactly 25 years after my first visit. So, I decided to post a photo from that April-May 2012 trip.

This SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) photo was simply framed in Photoshop and titled, otherwise, nothing was changed. It is how the Nikon D300 captured the windows of these religious symbols, of such symbolism and significance to many Christians.

I am a Muslim but went to Catholic schools in Pakistan. That is where I studied Shakespeare and was introduced to puns.

The title was based on too many puns that combined wordplay and mixing religious metaphors. Be! A powerful word ascribed to events carried out at the order of a supreme being. Behold the man. A baby Jesus image, likely the mother holding the child, who is to be a man many would follow and behold. Others would later attribute super human, even god like, powers to him.

And it reminded me of the movie with Anthony Hopkins that related to the games genes and mixed parentages can play, The Human Stain, coming full circle to the stained glass view, of great human beings, miraculous events, stained by violence and murder in the name of God, marred by near-idolatry worship of a great man whose message was to erase idolatry, seen through the windows of time, and stained glass windows....

Do as the man did, not by what others later tell you to do. Don't be BeHoldEn to dogma created in all religions by power hungry men decades and centuries later to usurp power, to legally steal money from poor believers, and to kill others, in the name of messengers of peace.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Stained Grass Wing Do? Bad Puns Seen On Good Fun Scene - IMRAN™ -- 400+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:00:24 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

I was about throw some burgers on the grill to savor the passing days of end Summer on Long Island, New York, as a strong onshore wind started picking up, carrying with it news of thunderstorms arriving tomorrow.

The butterfly bushes on my back deck were swinging wildly, but I saw several tenacious butterflies still at work. I only had the Nikon D300 with a 300mm (450mm eq.) zoom lens on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed it, and zoomed in full power. My attempt was to catch the butterfly and flowers lit by the sun but with the pale blue sky as the background.

It was impossible to get perfect focus, with the wind, the swinging bush branches, the fluttering wings and that it was a handheld maximum telephoto picture being taken of a butterfly barely a few feet away from me.

I still felt I should post the picture because of the shocking colors and textures I caught on the butterfly. They reminded me of stained glass windows and rich fabrics in famous cathedrals…. with straining Stained like Wings the grassy green leaves visible, as the butterfly did what it had to Do…. Stained Grass Wing Do was what I muttered to myself as a bad punny sounding title for this photo…

© 2012 IMRAN
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Lv LV Or Lv LV -- IMRAN™ -- 666+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:38:34 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

Love Lois Vuitton Or Leave It, one does have to appreciate the unique look and style of the LV Store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York.

This photo was actually stitched from 6 iPhone 4S pictures on the iPhone standing right outside the building, later imported into iPhoto on my MacBook Pro, and then processed in Photoshop CS6, before being saved as merely a 2.2 MB file.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Butterfly / Bush / (Whacked) - IMRAN™ -- 700+ Views! Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:02:52 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 58th Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on August 26, 2012!

I'll have to learn Spanish just to make the landscapers stop chopping off my Butterfly Bushes during hedge trimming. They did it twice this year but I managed to save the bushes the most recent time.

There was still enough time for them to bloom again, rising to about 9 feet, though much less than the 12-15' high they had gotten mid-summer. An amazing growth considering I planted these a dozen years ago, and each was less than one foot tall.

Like all past years, this weekend the butterflies again came out in force, even three at a time on each flowering branch. All peacefully savoring nature's bounty, while their wings showed scars of surviving encounters with predators.

My downstairs deck is filled with the sweet aroma of the bushes, and the dazzling colors of these lovely winged creatures, including a stunning midnight blue one that got away before the Nikon could capture it in a net of photons and electrons. Maybe next time!

© 2012 IMRAN
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Reason #1 That I Don't Get Anything Done! Life Is A Beach! - IMRAN™ -- 950+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:19:50 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

Life is neither a bed of roses, nor a day at the beach. As a matter of fact, as I took this photo with my iPhone 4S, with the late summer Atlantic rip tide churning near my feet, I was contemplative.

The weekend brought with it an unexpected twist, an unresolved challenge, but I am not one to let the challenges of life faze me. But, as I sat in the wet sand, the reddish summer dusk starting its moody glow over my shoulder, I realized how blessed I am, have been, and, God willing, will be, until it is my time to go.

I resolve to make the best use of my time, to achieve my potential, to find my true love, and to leave behind a legacy, of a life well lived, a love incredibly loved, a family to be proud of and that is proud of me.

In the meantime, there is never a moment that I do not want to waste the opportunity to play with words, to jest with life, to mock fate….

A twist on a "Wish You Were Here" card came to mind, especially as it gave me an excuse to make excuses for all the excuses I cannot make for all the things in life I need to get done, but procrastinate away the precious hours. :-)

Yet, for all that, there are moments, even hours and days, when there can be no better way to savor one's blessings than to do nothing but soak in God's gift all around all day, and then take a break!

All the best to you, all, my friends.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Sun Settles On Seattle Scene - IMRAN™ -- 750+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 00:24:22 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

I finally made it to Seattle Washington (after lots of time in Bellevue and Redmond the last 2 trips).

I had a great time walking Alki Beach Park with a friend, and we had a great dinner at Cactus. My special thanks to the beautiful young lady at the front desk, with gorgeous eyes, who took my friend and me to the top of the long wait list. :-)

As my friend and I walked along the water of Alki Beach Park, the beautiful Sunday was coming to an end. The street vendors at a small fair type event going on there were wrapping up.

A cool nip in the summer air surprised us but I had to stop to capture some photos with my Canon Vixia HD camcorder's built-in camera. It could not match what my Nikon D300 would have captured, but, it was the only camera I had carried with me on this trip.

The tendril like branches of a tree framing the scene…. the layers of mountains under layers of clouds under layers of colors looking like a painting…

So I went with that effect in Photoshop… calling this picture, Sun Settles On Seattle Scene.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Earth, Wind & Fire (On The Water) - IMRAN™ -- 700+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:34:44 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

Back home after a travel filled weekend and whole month, I stand on a Smith Point Beach deck right now to soak in this beautiful NY summer day languidly melting into the night.

The moist fertile land, in heat, from the strong demanding glare of the sun, opens itself to the cool breezy evening that drops in to seduce it and wrap it into the satin sheets of night.

Shades of passionate pink pastel drip longingly from the sky, now arousing nature, which starts to sing the sounds of night, then thrilling the hungry deep dark blue openness beneath bluahing red…. engorged on the fiery heat of the hot sun, and laps up the pearly and pink colors dripping from the heaven above….. until all three, sated, spent, smiling, meld and melt into a tender triple embrace through the long longing night, while the moon, quietly, silently, stands to one side, with the seductive pull of a voyeur, so near, and yet so far…..

© 2012 IMRAN
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Title refers to a music group, Earth, Wind And Fire, as well as a song by Chris de Burgh, Fire On The Water. iPhone 4S photo, brightened and framed in Photoshop.

Shades Of Red, White & Blue in/and RGB! - IMRAN™ -- 600+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:48:03 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

iPhone 4S Photo Of A Perfect NY Summer Weekend At Home On Long Island, NY.

It is great to be back after 2 weeks away. Great trip to Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, etc. Great meetings, great new professional connections, great new friends made (esp you TLC & MSM :-)), great weather, great (too much) food, great conference, great appreciation...

Worst part was being stuck at Philadelphia Airport's third world Terminal F and horrible USAir 'service', incompetent clueless people, crappy planes (two separate planes broke down on the same day just for that airport!)...making it just slightly less horrible than the airline I find most disgusting and never travel, AirTran.

But, I am safely home, happy, blessed, thankful, as always!

© 2012 IMRAN
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Palm ~ Beach. Far From Palm Beach! - IMRAN™ -- 1200+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:44:36 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

Palm Beach, Florida, one of the most affluent, and classy, places in the world, is also one of my favorite places to have lived in. Singer Island, the location of my old Tiara condo, and the mega rich Palm Beach Island, have some of the most stunning Atlantic Ocean waters and beautiful beaches with palm trees lining the roads, and the area.

I finally got to visit the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida several times this year, including a beautiful memories-making trip to the Naples, Fort Myers Beach, and Captiva/Sanibel areas culminating in another visit to Apollo Beach and Tampa Bay.

It was on my first evening in Fort Myers Beach (the island side) that I captured this sunset view from my resort balcony showing a stunning silhouette of trees against the melting pink vanilla gold sky.

A vision of Palm ~ Beach, far from Palm Beach! I am sure you will love this photograph.

© 2012 IMRAN
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I ♥ NY. Empire State Of Mind, In 2D, 3D, Or 36D! - IMRAN™ -- Unedited iPhone 4S Photo -- 1100+ Views! Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:23:59 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 57th Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on June 27, 2012!

Empire State. I Love NY. It has an energy all its own, unmatched by any other city. Walking on Avenue Of The Americas (6th Av), at 34th Street, I noticed how the Empire State Building appeared perfectly framed by the other buildings, and, in this iPhone 4S photo, appears almost 3D-ish.

The ♥VS at the bottom of the picture adds, ummm, another dimension to liking the photo. LOL

Unedited iPhone 4S Photo framed in Photoshop.

© 2012 IMRAN
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I, Solitary Soul, Eye Sole, A Tree, See By Sea - IMRAN™ -- 500+ Views! Explored!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 02:41:08 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

My 56th Photo to make it in Flickr Explore on June 24, 2012!

Despite living in America for nearly 25 years, and despite having had a second home in Florida for nearly half of that time, I had never been to the Gulf Coast, ever, until earlier this year.

My nearly 2 weeks driving along the Gulf coast of Florida was a fascinating part of a nearly 3 weeks long drive I did along the entire Florida coastline.

This is definitely not a straight out of camera photo. It was during a detour to a remote, nearly desolate peninsula, near Bald Point State Park, that I, a solitary soul, eyed this sole tree stump, standing open in seeming solitary confinement under the punishing sky raining fiery heat on it day in, day out.

The hazy weather, and ironically, a completely accidentally screwed up camera setting led to a photo that was interesting in subject, but boring visually. As I was trying to undo the damage of the wrong settings in Photoshop at home in New York, a few wildly (and randomly) applied settings led to this almost 3D effect, which I thought made it visually, and conceptually, interesting enough to share.

I hope you will enjoy this random output.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Clouds On Fire - IMRAN™ -- 850+ Views!

nobody@flickr.com (ImranAnwar) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:51:39 -0700

ImranAnwar posted a photo:

I have been traveling most of the last several months of this year. So I have not had much time to post photos, even though I have taken many more than usual.

I hope you enjoy this fiery red sky, clouds on fire, above the Great South Bay, at Smith Point Beach, near my home on Long Island, New York.

© 2012 IMRAN
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