Pixel Unique- J.Kovacs Photography

Christmas is one of the most fascinating celebrations of the year. It is the time when Jesus, our savior was born.  It is the time when families get together to celebrate this, it is time for rejoice.
Wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !


Below you will find one of my favorite carols performed by the Romanian Madrigal  Choir, conducted by Marin Constantin and performing “Domnulet si Domn din cer” which more or less means “Jesus and Lord from Above”. Whenever we set up the Christmas tree, we listen to this .

Enjoy !

Monument by Anilore Banon at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France.
This is a memorial to the American forces,  consisting of three elements: The Wings of Hope, Rise Freedom, and the Wings of Fraternity.
This memorial stands on the beach known as Omaha Beach in the village St. Laurent-sur-Mer in Normandy, France and commemorates the soldiers that fell on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June6, 1944. The memorial was dedicated on June 5 2004, for the 60th anniversary of the invasion.

I have the pleasure to present you below the way I see this memorial.

Sunsets have always been fascinating. South of France it is a place where you can have a nice show of them. The image below was taken on a beautiful day of August, in the French Riviera.

This is a HDR image out of 3 exposures, taken with my D300, Nikkor 24-70G. 
For more sunsets and sunrises feel free to have  a look at my FLICKR page .
The high resolution file is available on my website. Thanks.

“DR. FEELGOOD

Formed on Canvey Island in Essex in the early 1970s Dr. Feelgood remains one of the most popular and exciting live rhythm and blues acts in the world. The raw and uncompromising style of their performance resulted in the album Stupidity that immediately went to the number one position in the U.K. charts.
Dr. Feelgood have also enjoyed global success with a string of hit singles including Roxette, Back in the Night, Milk and Alcohol, Down at the Doctors, She Does it Right, Going Back Home and See You Later Alligator - which gave the group their first gold record.
The last album to feature Lee Brilleaux - Down at the Doctors, was recorded live at the Dr. Feelgood Music Bar on Canvey Island, (now the site of the Oysterfleet Hotel) just two months before he died.
The current line up features the rhythm section Kevin Morris on drums and Phil Mitchell on bass, approaching 27 years in the band and Steve Walwyn on guitar who has been with the band for 20 years. Vocalist Robert Kane (formerly of the Animals) is the most recent addition – joining in 1999.
In 2000 EMI records released Chess Masters, Dr. Feelgood’s tribute to the Chess Label, home to many of the finest blues artists of the 20^th century and the first album to feature Robert on vocals and harmonica.
Recent releases include a DVD - Live in London and CD Repeat Prescription - a collection of some of the bands most enduring songs but with a fresh approach.
Julien Temple’s film Oil City Confidential released on 2^nd February 2010 tells the story of the bands formative years featuring the Wilko Johnson era.
The band continues to tour extensively throughout the World.”
Source: www.drfeelgood.org
For further information please check out the website www.drfeelgood.org
Recently I have seen them live in Luxembourg giving an impressive show. A coverage of the event can be seen on my website. or on my Flickr page.  Lighting conditions were very poor, around 90% of the photos were taken at ISO 6400, but their performance rocked !

Blues Express is  a Blues and Jazz Festival in Luxembourg, with 36 international bands performing on 10 stages in 2 locations, from 18:00-03:00 at Lasauvage,  Fond de Gras, and Differdange.

Every year the Blues Express Festival is a long awaited event, with lots of fun and good music.
This time I was really looking forward to see Mungo Jerry Blues Band and Dr. Feelgood, for the sake of good  memories.

I am pretty sure you know who they are. Their performance was great and worth seeing. Both groups put up great a show of music and communication with the audience.

Feel free to see an extensive coverage of  Mungo Jerry 's great performance, both on my Flickr Page and on my Photo Website pages.

Please find below the 2010's Performers:
1) Lasauvage / SALES-LENTZ-Stage / Carreau de la Mine :

• 19h30 : Lance Lopez (USA)
• 21h30 : Tower of Power (USA)
• 23h30 : Mungo Jerry (UK)
• 01h30 : Remo Cavallini Band

2) Lasauvage / SPUERKEESS-Stage / Place Saintignon + Kermesse:

• 18h00 : Blues Schoul 1
• 19h00 : Blues Schoul 2
• 20h30 : Sticky Fingers Blues Band
• 23h00 : Gaasserock

3) Lasauvage / BOFFERDING-Stage / Terrasse Salle des Pendus :

• 18h00 : Heavy Petrol and the Greyhounds
• 20h30 : Keebo
• 22h30 : George Norton Band

4) Lasauvage / Auberge de la Promenade / Casino :

• 21h00 : Heritage Blues Company
• 24h00 : Travelin’ Light (CD Release)
• 5) Lasauvage / RAIFFEISEN-Stage / Terrain de foot :
• 20h00 : Quintasy
• 23h00 : The Sayre Brothers Blues Band

6) Fond-de-Gras / Train des laminoirs :

• 19h00  21h00 24h00 : Steeldrumband

7) Fond-de-Gras / BGL BNP Paribas-Stage / Hall des Trains:

• 19h00 : Rudi Madsius (D)
• 21h00 : Dr Feelgood (UK)
• 23h30 : Gregor Hilden Band feat. Johnny Rogers (D/USA)

8) Fond-de-Gras / COCA-COLA-Stage / Hall Paul Wurth :

• 18h00 : Pontedera Big-Band (I)
• 20h00 : Big-Band Spectrum
• 22h00 : Spuerkeess Big-Band
• 24h00 : Déifferdenger Big-Band

9) Fond-de-Gras / DEXIA-Stage / Gare-terrasse :

• 19h00 : Dr Rain & and the Umbrellas
• 21h00 : Fred Barreto Group
• 23h00 : Alexx & the Moonshiners (F)
• 01h00 : Fritz and his pumping piano (dans la gare)

10) Fond-de-Gras / CFL-Stage / Bei der Giedel :

• 19h00 : Jazzonanz (D)
• 21h00 : 4s
• 23h00 : Scratching Fusion Cat (D)

+groupes mobiles: Les semeurs de notes (F), Magic Jazz Band (B), Saxitude, Louisiana Dixxie Band (B), Tijuana Dixie Band (B)

The  opening  of  the exhibition is on the 28/05/2010 at 19.00. The accepted works are going to be exhibited at the Cultural Centre of Colmar Berg in Luxembourg on:

• - 29/05/2010 10:00-12:00 and 14:-18:00
• - 30/05/2010 10:00-12:00 and 14:-17:00

Some  of my photos have been accepted in the contest and exhibition. Follow the links below to see them:

• A Lady Harp Player
• Innocence
• Annegrett (Somewhere in Time)

The event  is held at “Walfer Shopping Center” in Walferdange, Luxembourg, from  18/5/2010 to 6/6/2010. Drop-in to take a look.

 
Friday 2-nd of April 2010, at 18:30 at INS Luxembourg, FLDE organized a simultaneous chess  match of 15 players against the Czech Grand Master David Navara, currently ranked number 31 in the world,  with an ELO of 2708.
David Navara (born March 27, 1985) is a chess Grandmaster from Czech Republic. His career was progressing very fast under coaches like Luděk Pachman or Vlastimil Jansa, as he won several world medals in youth categories. In 2001, aged 16, he got 7 of 9 in the European Team Championships. One year later, three days before his 17th birthday, he received the Grandmaster title, next year he won open tournament in Polanica Zdrój.
Photos from the event are to be found here.

I have said some posts ago I would come back on this event. So here we are. Relais pour La Vie 2010,  was organized by the Luxembourg Foundation against Cancer. It was held on the 6-7 of March 2010 in Coque, Kirchberg, Luxembourg. Around  8277 people, in 315 teams attended the event. The event aimed to show solidarity with patients of cancer and break the taboo of cancer, creating as such, an open mind towards this disease.  Teams usually  runn around the track, while various artists do perform on the stage.

During the opening ceremony on 6 March 2010 19:00, welcoming remarks were addressed by the Director of the Luxembourg Foundation against Cancer, Marie-Paule Prost, then a short speech  was given by  Mars di Bartolomeo - Minister of Health. The opening ceremony continued with some very moving and encouraging testimonies of patients who had suffered or presently suffer from cancer.

More on  this event  you can  see on my Flickr Page .

Before the running itself, a parade of teams has taken place.

 

This is a monochrome (sepia) conversion done in  Capture NX2 and CS4 post processing. I had a hard time to add some noise, since my D3 hasn’t got any at this ISO.

Pancho Villa’s soldiers have been called “Los Villistas”. 
Pancho Villa was an important leader during the Mexican Revolution.  Villa and his soldiers were involved in the key moments of the aforesaid struggle: the fall of Porfirio Diaz, near Madero and Zapata, the fight against Victoriano Huerta, etc.  
Some remembers him as a charismatic leader, others as a cold blooded criminal.
According to his widow, Villa was married for … 20 times.

Historia Mundi addressed this event amazingly by setting up scenes from his fights. Please find below a sample …

This is a photo I took during Cancer Day in 2009. It is part of my Collection "Shere Khan". Some  other photos in the same collection, can be seen  here.

Cancer day or “Relais pour la vie”, it is a yearly event organized by the Luxembourg Foundation against Cancer and it aims to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. It aims, as well, to show solidarity with people who presently have it or had it in the past.  I attend this event ever since my good friend Pat died.

The 2010 event takes place in March so I will come back on this soon. In case you are interested to find out more click here.

Let me introduce  you Shyantra . Well, in fact, that is not her  real name but I really like to call  her this way.

 

 

 

Thy tones are silver melted into sound,
And as I dream
I see no walls around,
But seem to hear
A gondolier
Sing sweetly down some slow Venetian stream.
Italian skies—that I have never seen—
I see above.
(Ah, play again, my queen;
Thy fingers white
Fly swift and light
And weave for me the golden mesh of  love.)

Oh, thou dusk sorceress of the dusky eyes
And soft dark hair,
‘T is thou that mak’st my skies
So swift to change
To far and strange;
But far and strange, thou still dost make them
fair.
Now thou dost sing, and I am lost in thee
As one who drowns
In floods of melody.
Still in thy art
Give me this part,
Till perfect love, the love of loving crowns.