Sweet Work At a Sweet Duty Station

That would be the old Navy rate of Photographer's Mate, which used to be taught at NAS Pensacola, Florida.

The US Navy is celebrating its 100th year of Naval Photography, and this Stars and Stripes story looks back at the history.

The Photographer's Mate school at Pensacola was in high demand always, a fun job with civilian applications for after the Navy career was over, at one of the nicer US Naval facilities.

The Story Behind the Windows XP "Bliss" Desktop Image

Taken in California's Napa Valley.

Strange Fall Leaf

Found it this morning as I walked into the house:

Shipwreck Blog: 130 Years of Shipwreck Photography

The collection of photographs of shipwrecks taken by the Gibson family of the Scilly Islands of UK; the collection is up for auction and expected to sell at between 100 and 150 thousand pounds.

Sample pic:

Click the link to see more of these striking photographs.

Milk. It Does a Body Good.

See for yourself.

Sample:

via Daily Caller.

US Civil War Photographs, Expertly Colorized

via Daily Mail.

For example, here is Matthew Brady's famous post-Appomattox photograph of Robert E. Lee colorized:

More at the link.

Call It "Lot's Lake."

Lake Natron in Tanzania. Because of volcanic activity that altered the chemistry of the lake's water, any creature falling into it quickly dies and, when dry, becomes stiff and statue-like. Photographer Nick Brandt has done a series of photographs of these dead creatures:

Click the link to see others of these striking images. H/T Rabid Librarian for the link.

Even Wedding Photographers Are Using Drones These Days

Oops.

Found here.

Four - - Count 'Em, FOUR...

...waterspouts that formed off the Greek islands in 1999 and were photographed by a lucky photographer:

I've never even seen one. OR a tornado, for that matter.

This'll Pucker Your Sphincter

"Daredevils perform stunts on Troll's Tongue in Norway – in pictures."

Troll's Tongue - - Trolltunga, in Norwegian - - is a famous rock outcropping with a breathtaking view of a fjord below it.

Here's a sample pic. Click the link for the rest of them:

Tintypes In Afghanistan

An old photographic process makes a comeback.

Sample tintype:

Click the link to read the story and see more of the tintypes.

My New Desktop Photo

This:

Found here.

The View...

...from atop the Great Pyramid of Giza.



Mark Twain famously climbed the Pyramid, and described it in his travel book The Innocents Abroad. Who knows, maybe his initials are carved into one of the stones up there.

Yer Cool Video of the Day

Snow Leopard.

Volcano Blog: Tolbachik, Siberia

On the Kamchatka Peninsula, at the Pacific Ocean. Incredible interactive photography.

Click the link for the interactive photo.

Yer Sunrise Photo of the Day

Dawn over Tower Bridge, London:

Yer "Wow!" Photographs of the Day

Richard Silver panoramic photographs of New York City Churches.

Sample:

Gorgeous.

What a Picture

Trolltunga - - Troll's Tongue - - Norway.



With the vertigo that I suffer I'm afraid you'd never get me up there; it's absolutely gorgeous though, isn't it?

Rare Photos of Pre-Revolution Russians

Circa 1860's-1870's.

Here's a sample pic, a knife sharpener:



There's also a pic of an abacus seller, which I guess would be sort of the Steve Jobs of the period. Click the link to see it, and a bunch of others.

Color Photography of Russia, C.1910

Russia in color, a century ago - Imgur

Some truly spectacular photographs. Here's a sample: