The perpetual photography thread

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@Jet: That is AWESOME!

Some more from the Stasi Museum? OK, fair enough:

A Comprehensive Network of Spies:

Whoever fell into the sights of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) was delivered up to an apparatus that used an abundance of legal and illegal methods to invade all areas of a person's life. By order to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the MfS created a set of regulations that set limits to the capriciousness of its own agents but also eased and dictated the way to invade the private lives of citizens. The MfS cooperated closely with other state and social agencies and institutions in the GDR in order to achieve its pretension of comprehensive control.



The SED, The Boss:

The most important instrument of power for the governing Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) was the Ministry for State Security (MfS), which saw itself as the "shield and sword" of the party. Its activities were based on the party's resolutions and the MfS was only accountable to the highest levels of party leadership. A close overlap of personnel with the SED ensured the implementation of the party's will. Almost all MfS staff were members of the SED, and its leading officers were also party functionaries. The MfS had its own party organisation, which guaranteed intensive political-ideological training and contributed strongly to internal cohesiveness.



Stasi district office plaque and rubber stampers:



Apparatus:

The organised on a military basis, Ministry for State Security, drew its power from the combination of its various components; it was simultaneously a secret intelligence agency, a political secret police and a criminal investigation agency. The basic elements and principles of its organisation remained stable for forty years, despite the enormous expansion of the apparatus.

The leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) kept close watch to ensure that their own power would not be affected by the Ministry for State Security (MfS). The first two ministers for state security, Wilhelm Zaisser and Ernst Wollweber, were dismissed because they clashed with party secretary Walter Ulbricht. Erich Mielke was the first to ensure that the MfS apparatus subordinated itself unconditionally to the party.



Profile of Wolf Biermann:

Wolf Biermann was born on November 15, 1936, in Hamburg. He immigrated to the GDR in 1953. After completing his secondary education, he studied political economics in Berlin. In 1957, he took a break from his studies and began working as an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble. He studied philosophy and mathematics from 1959 to 1963. At the same time, he established the Berlin Workers and Students Theatre, which, however, was barred from opening. Biermann was banned from performing publicly until June 1963. In 1964, he received approval to conduct a tour in West Germany. When his collection of poetry „Die Drahtharfe" ("The Wire Harp") was published in West Berlin in 1965, he was banned from performing publicly, publishing and leaving the country. Despite the ban, he gave a concert to a church in Prenzlau in September 1976.

Surprisingly, he received permission to go on tour through West Germany in November 1976. Three days after his concert in Cologne, the East German government announced Wolf Biermann's denaturalisation from the GDR. He continued to be observed by the Stasi while in the West. Biermann returned to the GDR for the first time in 13 years at the beginning of December 1989. Since then, he has been engaged in righting the wrongs of the GDR, has published political writings and continues to work as an artist.




Profile of Michael Beleites:

Michael Beleites was born on September 30, 1964, in Halle/Saale. In 1981, he completed his training as a taxidermist and worked in this profession at the Museum of Natural History in Gera until 1987 and thereafter as a freelancer. He became involved in the church peace and environmental movement in 1982, at which time the Stasi placed him under observation and had him followed. In 1986, Michael Beleites began researching the ecological and health consequences of the uranium-mining operations of the Soviet-East German company Wismut. He published the results in 1988 as "Pitchblende - Uranium Mining in the GDR and Its Consequences". Beleites took part in the dissolution of the Stasi in 1989 in Gera and was an advisor at the Central Round Table of the Neues Forum. He has worked as a freelance writer since 1990 and completed his studies in agriculture in 1995. Michael Beleites became the State Commissioner for Stasi Documents in Saxony in December 2000.



Growth:

The Ministry for State Security (MfS) suffused the GDR with a network of district administrations and local offices. In addition, the secret police monitored certain important enterprises and universities by setting up their own offices in these buildings. Moreover, there were thousands of "conspiratorial' apartments and buildings", where Stasi agents met with unofficial collaborators to keep their meetings secret.

At the same time as the MfS's presence grow ever stronger in the country, the number of agents continued to grow. From the beginning of the 1950s until 1989, the number of full-time agents grew from some 2,700 to approximately 91,000. Only the economic and financial problems in the GDR at the beginning of the 1980s slowed this drive for expansion. Mielke enacted a general hiring freeze in 1983, but he still allowed some exceptions to it.



Profile of Uta Franke:

Uta Franke was born on July 2, 1955, in Leipzig. She married and had a daughter during her training as a typesetter. In 1977, she began working in the editorial office of the Bibliographical Institute of Leipzig. In the mid-1970s she began meeting regularly with a group of friends to discuss where political and philosophical topics. They wanted to take steps to bring attention to social injustices in the GDR.

On September 5, 1979, Uta Franke was arrested by the Stasi and spent eleven months in custody. She received a prison sentence of two years and four months for "agitation against the state".

The Federal Republic of Germany paid for Uta Franke's release on August 1, 1981. Working from Cologne, she dedicated herself to the release of political prisoners in the GDR. She was an editor of the periodical „Deutschland Archiv“ in 1982/1983. After a training in special education, she then worked in an institution for the mentally ill.

Uta Franke has worked on projects to shed light on the SED dictatorship on a freelance basis since 2001. Her book Sand im Getriebe (Sand in the Gears) was published in 2008.

An over edited phone picture I took of a sunset on my way home a few days ago.

[img][800:468]http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc517/annettahanson/issaquahsunset.jpg[/img]

Love this! How much was your telescope and capture gear altogether btw? Its something ive been meaning to get into for a long time.

Nice picture! Love the colours!

Very impressive, I love space photography.

Here's a snap I took from the South Coast of England.
[img][800:750]http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab229/athousandpixels/DSC00004.jpg[/img]

Here's a photo of a village church in Kent.


The White cliffs of Dover in Kent.


Another snap I took at the river.


One of the smaller castles in Kent.

A lot of sites in progress in my town.
Pictures not that perpetual I guess - at least, I hope so.

One of mine - a foxglove:

LOVE IT!! !! !! !! !! !! !!

Thanks! Here's a picture of the Venus transit from June 5th:




Trying my new 40mm macro lens on a Johnson jumping spider (Thank you mahal ko ):

[img][800:743]http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae332/ASMJT/DSC_3291.jpg[/img]

I don't think I have posted here before, so I'm going to be rude and post a few at once. These are some of my most recent shots.

Very nice pics, yellowtamarin. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks keira Most of my photos are of bugs (macro), but it is Winter here so there aren't many around at the moment.

I'm kind of mesmerised by your waves pic. I love photos that make me feel like I'm really there.