Funky Stock Photography. Photos, pictures and images of food and travel

January Travel Ezine

2011-01-10T05:28:00.000-08:00

Professional Travel Photo Buyer Monthly.

travel photography articles with stock photos & free eBooks for designers, art directors & picture buyers.

January Issue 2011.

Newsletter Archives | Food Photos Blog |

Photos of Burano, Venice's colourful Island

As the Venice Vaporetto water bus to Burano travels across the Venetian lagoon it passes Venice's cemetery island and then the glass making island of Murano. As The grand Palaces and high campanile of Venice recede into the distance the 2 islands of Burano and Torcello appear ahead in the lagoon.

Torcello was the first inhabited Island in the Lagoon along with Burano but the water fresh water from the River Po around these island allowed mosquitoes to breed in great numbers. Malaria spread by the mosquitos eventually drove the early settlers away from these islands to build Venice on the Riva Alto where the salt water kept the mosquitos at bay.

Torcello is still almost deserted apart from the medieval church and campanile at its centre and the Locanda Cipriani Restaurant, which used to be a Cipriani guesthouse and became a literary legend after Ernest Hemingway wrote 'Across the River and Through the Trees' during his stay there.

Burano became the home of the Venetian lace industry . Devoid of any of the great palaces of Venice the houses of Burano are simple square workers homes lining a few canals that criss cross the small island. Burano is not a dull place though. It is as if its inhabitants have all been struck by colour blindness. A tradition of painting the houses in Burano in high primary colours is epidemic. Every colour of the rainbow is used and clashing colours are the fashion. The dancing colour of the reflections in the canal spread joy and happiness to residents and visitors alike.

Burano may lack the grand architecture of Venice but it more than makes up for this with its vivid coloured houses that burn their way into your memory and make any visit an unforgettable experience.

Free eBook of Burano Photos

Read eBook On Line

or Download eBook - Use Password "free"

JANUARY 2011 - LEAD ARTICLE

It is very tempting to asume that licensing Microstock photos from $1 each is a gift to any marketing Brand managers budget. At $1 you cannot loose financially but when you start looking at who else is using the same photo you start to see that usage conflicts could cost your Brand, or Products, image much much more than any financial saving you make.

Microstock photos are Royalty Free and therefore come without a usage history . So is there a way to find out who is using a Microstock photo you want to license on line and for what?

New free photo recognition browser plugins give you information about who else is using photos you find on the web such as in Google image searches, in photo library searches or even on your own web site or anyone elses web site. You can also find out if and who to license photos from that you find on the web.

We test drive 2 free plugins and come up with results from a couple of iStockphoto images that are a warning to any Brand Manager or picture buyer.

[READ ARTICLE]

How photo recognition browser plugins can help protect your brand image.

The Palatine Chapel Palermo - Middle Age High Art From The Normans

Until recently the centuries between the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance have been viewed as a period of low culture. Now historians and archaeologists are evaluating again the period called the Dark or Middle ages.

The effect the Normans had on European culture was far greater than their war mongering image suggests. Masterpieces like the interior of the Palatine Chapel in the Norman Palace of Palermo demonstrates the Normans love of high bombastic art. Wherever the Normans Conquered great works of Architecture and art were started. The Normans encouraged the church to build the great churches & monasteries of Northern Europe. When they conquered areas of Southern Italy and Sicily great architectural and high art projects were commissioned that paved the way for the Renaissance.

The art of the Palatine Chapel shows that The Norman Kings were politicians of great skill. The style of the art and its iconography would have pleased Roman Catholic Christians and the Christians of the Orthodox church of Byzantium. In this way the Normans could trade with both without conflict.

The Normans did not create great Empires but married into the local noble families of the lands they conquered and in that way became part of countries they conquered.

To find out more about the Normans and the Palatine Palace we have written the story of the chapel with photos of its incredible interiors.

Other Norman Sicilian Church Interiors

The Historic Busójárás (Busojaras) Spring Carnival of Mohacs, Hungary.

One of the last great unspoilt European pagan carnivals is the Busójárás (Busojaras). It is the annual celebration of the Šokci (Croats) living in the town of Mohács Hungary ending on Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The celebration features Busós (men wearing traditional masks and sheep skin costumes), that parade through the town ringing bells and making as much noise as possible to scare "winter" away. On the last day of the festival they symbolically burn a coffin with "winter" inside and spring starts. This is a lively carnival and is still very much a Hungarian carnival and local event even though it attracts more than 10,000 people.

To see our stock photos visit the

Spring Stock Photos Pictures & Images

We have made new collections of Spring Blossom and Spring flowers. The Blossom collection has white cherry blossom, apples & apricot blossom photos in the studio and on location.

The Spring flower collection has photos of Dandelion Clocks and daffodils in the studio and in the daffodil Nature Reserve at Farndale North Yorkshire.

Free eBook of the Story & Traditions of Easter.

If you are starting to think about Easter at we thought you might enjoy "My Little eBook Of Easter". Our Easter stock collections have photos of Easter Eggs, Easter chicks & Bunnies on painted eggs. We also have a collection of Daffodils & blossom. See these stock photos at:

eBook for normal monitors

eBook for small laptops

Download eBook - Password " free "

This Months " Must Visit" Destination.

Kleiner Scheidegg is breathtaking at any time of year but in the winter its magical. At 2061 Mts ( 6761 ft) Kleiner Scheidegg sits at the foot of the North Face Of the Eiger. From here skiers can ski to Grindelwald or follow the famous downhill run to Wengen.

From Kleiner Scheidegg you can also take the train down to Grindelwald or Wengen or take one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world to the Top of Europe. The Jungfraubahn (Jungfrau Railway) was built in 1896. A short distance above Kleiner Scheidegg the railway enters a tunnel and climbs inside the North Face of The Eiger to a stop half way up the shear mountain face. You can get out of the train and from a viewing point see the precipitous drop that defeated so many climber. From here the train continues upwards through the tunnel to the underground Jungfraujoch railway station. At 3,471 meters (11,388 ft) this is the highest railway station in Europe. The construction of this railway would be a major feat of engineering today so we can but marvel at the skill of the engineers who made the line in 1896.

From the station a lift goes up to the Sphinx Observatory from where you can see the peaks of the Jungfrau and Monch as well as the great glacier that runs away towards the Matterhorn valley. Many take their skis in the summer and ski the glacier. For most though the altitude makes such physical pastimes difficult resulting in breathlessness and dizziness. The railway station complex is well named Top of Europe and a visit is a unique and memorable experience.

This Months Food eBook - The Hamburger

eBook For Normal Size Screens

eBook for Small screens

or Download eBook - Use Password "free"

Read the story on line or in our free ebook and find out how simple meat patty from Hamburg conquered the world.

READ THIS MONTHS FOOD NEWSLETTER

ALL PHOTOS ARE PRICED ON LINE BUT FOR:

EDITORIAL USAGE - we can supply photos at your publications standard page rate so simply email us a photo request list with your page rate and we will put the photos in a secure gallery for you to download. We will invoice for the photos you used on the publication date. office@funkystock.com.

NEWSPAPERS - Get HiRes downloads 24 hours a day by joining our Instant News download service. Hit those deadlines and we will invoice you monthly at your publication page rate. Please contact terez@funkystock.com.

ADVERTISING & CORPORATE - Our photos are priced Rights Managed & Royalty Free on our web site. If you prefer to discuss a price to fit your budget please contact terez@funkystock.com.

Our sales are powered by Photoshelter, the renown photography platform for distributing and selling photography. This gives us the confidence that you will receive the very best download delivery service so we can concentrate on creating the very best creative photos for you.

20% Discount coupon when you sign up for our monthly eZine and get an instant . Offer ends Feb11th 2011 but sign up for future offers.

NEXT MONTH

ebooks - The Blue Domes of Santorini

Photo Collections - Switzerland & Italy

Food - Indian Food

ABOUT US

Funky Stock is a boutique library with photos by multi award winning London photographer Paul Williams. Paul has worked at the cutting edge of advertising, design and editorial in London for over 25 years. In the early days his cookery book photography won him a prestigious Glenfiddich cookery book award for a Dorling Kindersley's "Yan Kits Kitchen".

In later years Paul Williams has concentrated on big brand packaging and advertising including British household names like Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. This work earned him Gold DNAD awards in the UK, Cleo awards in the USA and a Silver Rose of Montreau Advertising festival.

Now Paul Williams has turned his attention to stock photography and he is well on his way to achieving his ambition of producing a world class stock boutique library with creative and highly professional food and travel photos.

His goal is simply to offer the best at affordable prices. We look forward to being of service in the furure.

office@funkystock.com.

http;//www.funkystock.eu

Fine Art Photography Newsletter & Articls -Jan/feb 2011

2011-01-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

Pixel Pigs Fine Art Photography eZine.

Fine Art photography articles with free eBooks for fine art photo buyers, collectors & lovers of photography.

January / February Issue 2011.

Newsletter Archives | Art Photography Blog |

Welcome to our first bi-monthly art photography eZine

In our first issue we explore the Selective Colour photos you can see in our on line photo galleries with an article about the process and the content of the exhibitions by Paul Williams. Get a free ebook of Burano and find out about Paul Strand.

Selective Colour Fine Art Photography by Paul Williams

The Process

Selective colour is one of those seductive techniques that seems to be an instant fix to turn any photo into art. But as with most easily accessible photo techniques it is important to understand why and how it works and not to just use it randomly on all photos.

One of the first photos that fascinated me was a portrait of me & my brother as young children that had been hand coloured by the local portrait photographer. This influenced my experiments of mixing colour and black & white in my photography . Initially I used photo dyes on black and white prints so when digital photography became available using the computer to isolate colours was a logical progression.

Selective colour pulls together the two opposing genre of black & white photography and colour photography. The magic of black & white photography is that it strips away colour to reveal texture and form. The lack of colour allows action and detail to be highlighted and interpreted by the viewer in a direct and potent way. That is not to say that black and white photography is a more powerful medium than colour photography, it simply to say that black & white photography communicates differently from colour photography. The black & white photo was an important recorder and participant of Modernist art and as such is seen as artistic photography.

Colour has a more recent history in photography than black and white. Initially purists rejected colour photography as an artistic medium referring to colour photography as "commercial". Today this Luddite view is redundant and colour photographs have taken their rightful place amongst the masterpieces of photography.

Colour in photography is though difficult. Our brains are constantly readjusting the way our eyes see the world in colour. Normally people are not that aware of the way colour shifts from yellows to blue than back to yellows as the day passes, just as they are not aware of colour shifts when going indoors to a room lit by fluorescent tubes. Photographers are aware of colour shifts though because they have trained their eyes to see how film or digital chips record colour, just as photographers train their eyes to see the world in black and white if their final image is going to end up monochrome.

Colour is problematic in photography is both aesthetic and a question of whether the colour in a photograph is "real". Photographers have always been able to make decisions about how colours look in their work and that is where creativity and controversy start. Before digital, photographers chose the colour space that they liked by choice of film. Kodak, Agfa & Fuji engineered their films to have specific colour balances and therefore had different "feels". If photographers made prints they would work with skilled photo labs to produce the colours in the final prints that they wanted. Today we all use the virtual darkroom that is photoshop to control our colour content and this software is just the latest in a long history of image control systems .

Colour has the the ability to describe emotions. We are all effected emotionally by colour shifts even if we are not aware of them. Blue hues still make us feel cold and red, the colour of blood, can still give us a sense of danger. Supermarkets use colour balanced lighting in their vegetable areas to make the food look fresher but few customers notice this.

Photographers that make the colour photographs that "move us" use colour with as much precision as a painter does. Colour becomes an additional tool, along with texture and form, to allow photographers to communicate precisely with their audience.

So it should now start to be clear how selective colour works. Selective colour photographs use black and white to describe form and texture in a direct way and the colour elements allow emotions to be communicated. In theory Selective colour gives the photographers a more precise ways to communicate and more ways to show and describe the world in new ways. Elements of the photo can be isolated and given meaning. When we look at the world we tend to concentrate on one thing at a time in our field of vision, the selective colour process allows us to highlight what we saw in the photo that we wanted to communicate.

Post Modern Games

For me Selective Colour is a perfect post modern process, if that is not a contradiction in terms. The process pastiches the modernist theories of "straight photography" in its black and white content and and Fauvism in its colour content. The mixing of the two is like collage or Pop Art. Crudely the process in like Ansel Adam meets Andy Warhol meets Matisse in 2011.

Abstraction and contradictions in style and content have always been important in my work, selective colour allows me another way to examine the world.

I have always been intrigued by people at play. This is maybe because I am not very good at leisure. My leisure is working. Working at exploring the world through new imagery. Down time from photography is photography.

I have always been facinated by the power of photography to isolate a moment in time and give it an importance that it never had at the time. In photography the photograph always reveals something that I did not see at the time of taking it. That is not to say that I was not aware of what I was photographing otherwise I would not have pressed the shutter on the camera. It is to say that the subconcious side of my brain also has a say in when I press the camera shutter and it sees things differently to the concious side of my brain.

Relying on instinct and allowing my sub conscious to play a major role in taking my photography reveals a world where people relate to each other in a fascinating timeless space. It is almost as if the fraction of a second it took to expose the photo destroyed time all together. Narratives are set up between subjects that are ambiguous and potent. The world becomes a set of tableaux where we explore its occupants in limbo. Relationships are created that may never have existed.

The margins of these photographs become important. A foot leaving frame may help the narrative or it may create another ambiguity. I love photographs that ask more questions than give answers and create a framework for my imagination to get lost in.

Selective colour adds another layer to the narrative. Participants in the photo are isolated in colour which adds an abstraction. People in colour exist against a black and white modernist world which forces us to question the photo and what it communicates at an aesthetic and cultural level.

I love black & white and colour photography but back & white can often get bogged down in its own pompousness and colour photos can often give so much information that there is no space for the mind to explore. For me used correctly selective colour is a powerful process that helps creates powerful images that explore our world in a new way.

The art of communication in photography is illusive and complicated. It takes a lot of understanding and a lot of skill that is learnt from blood, sweat & tears. There is now a democracy in photography with professional photographers and hobbyists all using similar cameras and the same final process software. As more and more people decover the excitement and power of the photograph again they also realise how difficult it is to make meaningful photographs. The lesson that everyone is learning is the old maxim that we can all buy a Fender Strata Caster but it won't turn us into Jimmy Hendrix.

See On Line Selective Colour Fine Art Photo Galleries of:

This Months Free eBook of Burano Photos

Read eBook On Line

or Download eBook - Use Password "free"

Day For Night - A New Series of fine art photos by Paul Williams

Day for night is a series of black & white high contrast photos by multi ward winning photographer Paul Williams. This is a series of stark black and white photos with landscapes and buildings sharp against nightime skies. The series of art photos has a strange abstract feel due to the fact that these photos that look as if they were taken at night were in fact taken in the daytime. Day for Night, the title of François Truffaut's 1973 film, is the old technique also known as also known as nuit américaine ("American night").

The cinematographic techniques used to simulate a night scene used tungsten-balanced rather than daylight-balanced film stock or with special blue filters and also under-exposing the shot (usually in post-production) to create the illusion of darkness or moonlight.

Historically, infrared movie film was used to achieve an equivalent look with black and white film.

Paul Williams uses his Day For Night technique to explore the daytime world and give it a ghostly moon lit atmosphere.

Unreliable Sightings - New Selective colour series of Fine art Photos by Paul Williams

Paul Williams continues his exploration of the world through this selective colour photos series. The series has no theme but is a collection of places and buildings as well as people.

Travel Photo Art Prints.

From Funkystock Photo we have access to a very large collection of photo art of European countries. Over the next year we will be assembling them into gallery collections but in the means time if you are looking for prints of European countries and landmarks please visit:

Photo art of European Countries & Landmarks

Food Photo Art Prints.

From The Stock Boutique we have 2 collections of lifestyle food photo art, so if its time to brighten up your kitchen or dining room look no further.

The Historic Busójárás (Busojaras) Spring Carnival of Mohacs, Hungary.

This Months Favorite Web Photo Gallery Reviewed by Paul Williams

Photography Now

Photography Now ia a great web site to browse the old masters of modern photography as well as contempoary art photographers.

Each photographers work can be explored through a flipping book portfolio. If you are looking for a place to start learning about the great masters of photography or you want a web site to see your favourite master photographers work, Photographers Now will not disappoint. [Visit Web Site]

Paul Strand

One of the photographers portfolios on Photography Now shows Paul Strands work. Strand has been an inspiration and a guiding light in my photography career.

Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. His diverse body of work, spanning six decades, covers numerous genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Born in New York City to Bohemian parents, in his late teens Strand was a student of renowned documentary photographer Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. It was while on a fieldtrip in this class that Strand first visited the 291 art gallery – operated by Stieglitz and Edward Steichen – where exhibitions of work by forward-thinking modernist photographers and painters would move Strand to take his photographic hobby more seriously.

Stieglitz would later promote Strand's work in the 291 gallery itself, in his photography publication Camera Work, and in his artwork in the Hieninglatzing studio. Some of this early work, like the well-known "Wall Street," experimented with formal abstractions (influencing, among others, Edward Hopper and his idiosyncratic urban vision).Other of Strand's works reflect his interest in using the camera as a tool for social reform. He was one of the founders of the Photo League, an association of photographers who advocated using their art to promote social and political causes.

Strand is one of the great political poets of photography. His work is monumental by the fact that its understated stark simplicity produces a directness that is impossible to ignore. He understood modernism and laid important stepping stones for others to follow. Strands work still endures because he was his own man. He had a strong vision and did not waver. He has been a never ending companion and inspiration to me and a constant reminder of the heights photography can reach.

GALLERY PRINT SHOP:

10% Discount Coupon

Join Our Mailing List and get 10% discount until Feb 11th. Sign up at the bottom of this eZine & get bi-monthly offers. Your welcome page will link to this months eZine with an offer coupon.

The photos our gallery are either "Fine Art Photos" or "Photo Art Photos". The title of each gallery will tell you which is which and both have a different pricing structure as follows:

Photo Art Print Sales-

4"x6" (10.2x15.2cm) prints w/envelopes (pack of 25) - $22
5"x7" (12.7x17.8 cm) prints w/envelopes (pack of 25) - $25
5"x7" (12.7x17.8 cm) print - $10.00
8"x12" (20.3x30.5 cm) print - $18.00
12"x18" (30.5x45.7 cm) print - $30.00
16"x24" (40.6x61cm) print - $48.00
20"x30" (50.8x76.2cm) print - $55

Photo art images can also be downloaded from $10 for personal use or licensed as stock photos.

Buy Photo Art Pictures:

Fine Art Print Sales

4"x6" (10.2x15.2cm) prints w/envelopes (pack of 25) - $28
5"x7" (12.7x17.8 cm) prints - $15
8"x12" (20.3x30.5 cm) prints - $28
12"x8" (30.5x45.7 cm) prints - $48
16"x24" (40.6x61cm) prints - $88
20"x30" (50.8x76.2cm)prints - $110

Buy Fine Art Art Pictures:

Visit Our Gallery Fine Art Print Shop

Limited Edition Prints For Collectors

Signed glicee prints on Hahnemuhle A3 Fine art Photo Rag printed by us are avaialble on request if the edition has not run out. For details please email terez@paulwilliamsgallery.com

Photography & Framing Galleries & Poster Publishers

To Discuss trade terms and purchases please email terez@paulwilliamsgallery.com

Food Photo, Food Pictures, Food Images & Food Photography.

2010-12-31T05:37:00.000-08:00

Stock Boutique Photos. Fresh Food. Creative stock pictures, images & prints. - Images by Paul Williams

For the very best professional food studio photography visit award winning food photographer Paul Williams food photography web site. See portfolios of fresh food photos, pictures & images, Prepared & cooked ethnic food and fast food, cutting edge creative food photos, pictures & images. License as rights managed and royalty free stock food photos, images & pictures or buy fine art food prints.

Funky Stock Photos & Picture Library

2010-12-04T05:02:00.001-08:00

Funky Stock December Photo News

2010-12-04T02:15:00.001-08:00

Funky Stock Picture Library.

Specialising in stock photos of Europe and creative travel stock photos. Download high resolution stock photos on line.

TRAVEL - December Issue 2010.

GO TO WEB VERSION OF THIS PAGE

eBook for normal monitors

eBook for small laptops

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Happy Christmas.

We know your Christmas advertising deadlines finished months ago so "My Little eBook Of Mince Pies" will hopefully get you back into the Christmas spirit and maybe give you some photo ideas for next year!!!. We hope you enjoy the ebook and have a great Christmas.

To send the ebook copy the web address from your browser and paste into any email or use the HTML code at the bottom of this page.

See our Christmas Food Stock photos

See our Christmas Decorations Stock Photos

eBook for normal monitors

eBook for small laptops

Download eBook - Password " free "

BUDAPSET STOCK PHOTOS & HISTORY

Our travel ebook this month is on Budapest . One of
the great cities of Europe. Budapest is a very
manageable destination to explore over a few days.
From Budapest's' great Austro Hungarian Palace in
the Castle district of Buda to the art Nouveau Zoo,
the Horror House or the second biggest Synagogue
in the world, there is something for everyone. Our
ebook gives facts and history of Budapest with
photos.

All our photos are high resolution and can be licensed on line or if you want to discuss
editorial rates just email office@funkystock.com.

The Swiss Alps is a winter wonderland for Skiers and walkers. Its majestic mountains and high
ski slopes are the best in Europe. We have a collection of Switzerland In The Winter stock
photos that show the Eiger, Matterhorn Jungfrau and other classic Swiss peaks. See Swiss
chalets in the snow.
Switzerland In Winter Stock Photos

One of the last great unspoilt European carnivals is the Busójárás which is an annual celebration of the Šokci (Croats) living in the town of Mohács, Hungary each year ending on Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The celebration features Busós (people wearing traditional masks) and includes folk music, masquerading, parades and dancing. They parade through the town ringing bells and making as much noise as possible to scare "winter" away. On the last day of the festival they symbolically burn a coffin with "winter " inside and spring starts. This is a lively carnival and is still very much a Hungarian and local carnival.
To see our stock photos visit the Busójárás Stock Photos Collection
Feature story available to license on reuest.

eBook for normal monitors

eBook for small laptops

Download eBook - Password " free "

Easter Stock Photos.

ITALY STOCK PHOTOS

We have a large collection of stock photos from Italy. From Portofino to the Trulli of Alberobello in southern Italy and of course Rome, Venice & Florence.

Stock Photos & Pictures of Italy Collections

PHOTOS OF WORLD FOOD

As food photography specialists we are building a library of classic recipe dishes from
different countries. If you would like to see our world food stock photos please visit our
Stock Food Photos collections.
We license most of these photos as royalty free for advertising clients but if you would like to discuss budgets please email us.
SEE THIS MONTHS FOOD NEWSLETTER

ALL PHOTOS ARE PRICED ON LINE BUT FOR:

EDITORIAL USAGE - we can supply photos at your standard page rate please email us a
photo request list with your page rate and we will ftp the photos to you and invoice for the
photos you use. office@funkystock.com.

ADVERTISING & CORPORATE - Our photos are priced Rights Managed &
Royalty Free on our web site. If you prefer to discuss a price to fit your budget please contactterez@funkystock.com.

Our sales are powered by Photoshelter, the renown photography platform for distributing
and selling photography. This gives us the confidence that you will receive the very best
download delivery service so we can concentrate on creating the very best creative photos.

Sign up for our free photo ebooks, great offers, cutting edge ideas & new photo projects email once a month.
NEXT MONTH
ebooks - Burano & Blue Domes
Photo Collections - Sicily & Hungary
Food - History of Hamburgers

ABOUT US
Funky Stock is a boutique library with photos by award winning London photographer
Paul Williams. Paul has worked at the cutting edge of advertising and editorial in London
for over 25 years. In the early days his cookery book photography won him a prestigious
Glenfiddich cookery book award for a Dorling Kindersley's "Yan Kits Kitchen".
In later years Paul Williams has concentrated on big brand packaging and advertising i
ncluding British household names like Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. This
work earned him Gold DNAD awards in the UK, Cleo awards in the USA and a Silver Rose
of Montreau Advertising festival.
Now Paul Williams has turned his attention to stock photography and he is well on his way
to achieving his ambition of producing a world class stock boutique library with creative
and highly professional food and travel photos.
office@funkystock.com.
http;//www.funkystock.eu

If you would like to use the Mince Pies Book in your Christmas emails just copy a
nd paste this HTML code into your emails.

Embed a link - Just copy and paste. Change or add to " >My little Book Of Mince Pies<" at the end
of the code below to personalise your link.

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"Flower Press" Fine Art Photos & Photography Gallery

2010-11-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

Gallery LoRes Slideshow - Lifts - Flower Press - Images by Paul Williams

Paul Williams Gallery has just created a new web site with more on line exhibitions of selective clour sreet photography, Fine art abstract black and white photos and fine art nude photos. Along with the exhibitions Paul Williams Gallery has launched a series of free ebooks to support its exhibitions.

This series of Polaroid lifts are part of an award winning series for which Paul Williams was awarded silver in Polaroids European Photographer Awards.

Visit Paul Williams Gallery On Line Exhibitions
Visit Free art Photography eBooks
Visit Gallery Fine Art Print Shop

December Food Stock Photos News

2010-11-26T12:50:00.001-08:00

Funky Stock Picture Library.

Specializing in stock photos of Europe and creative food stock photos.

Download high reolution stock photos on line.

Our sales are powered by Photoshelter, the renown photography platform for distributing

and selling photography. This gives us the confidence that you will recieve the very best

download delivery service so we can concentrate on creating the very best creative photos

to sell your products and services.

December Issue 2010.

Happy Christmas.

We know your Christmas advertising deadlines finished months ago so "My Little Book Of Mince Pies" will hopefully get you back into the Christmas spirit and maybe give you some photo ideas for next year!!!.

Happy Easter.

We hope you enjoy "My Little Book Of Easter". All the photos in our ebook can be found in :

All our photos are high resolution and can be licensed on line or if you want to discuss rates
just email office@funkystock.com.

As food photography specialists we are building a library of food ingredients and produce that
include cut outs and creative photos. Our aim is to produce an encyclopedic collection of
exciting food ingredient photos. To see what we have in ou growing collection please visit our
Food Ingredients & Produce Collection.
We license most of these photos as royalty free for advertising clients but if you would like to discuss budgets please email us.

Our collection of Recipe and Cooked Food Photos covers ethnic cuisine and specialist areas like BBQ cooking and fast food. It is evolving to meet the needs of our advertising clients who demand high quality and creativity.

Most people on Mothers day and Valentines "Say it with chocolates" so we have produced a series of stock photos that do the same.

Valentine & Mothers Day Stock Photos & Pictures.

Our travel feature this month is on Budapest . One of
the great cities of Europe, Budapest is a very managable destination to explore over a few days. From Budapests
great Austro Hungarian Palace in the Castle district of
Buda to the art Nouveau Zoo, the Horror House or the
second biggest Synagogue in the world, there is
something for everyone. Oue ebook gives facts and
history of Budapest with photos.

ABOUT US
Funky Stock is a boutique library with photos by award winning food photographer
Paul Williams. Paul has worked at the cutting edge of advertising and editorial in London
for over 25 years. In the early days his cookery book photography won him a coverted
Glenfiddich cookery book award for a Dorling Kindersley's "Yan Kits Kitchen".
In later years Paul Williams has concentrated on big brand packaging and advertising
including British household names like Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. This
work earned him Gold DNAD awards in the UK, Cleo awards in the USA and a Silver Rose
of Montreaux Advertising festival.
Now Paul Williams has turned his attention to stock photography and he is well on his way
to acieving his ambition of producing a world class stock boutique library with creative
and highly professional food and travel photos.

Pictures, Photos Images & Info about Italy

2010-07-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

Italy , officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers 301,338 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.2 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country in Europe, and the twenty-third most populous in the world.

The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the political centre of Western civilisation, as the capital of the Roman Empire. After its decline, Italy would endure numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Normans and later, the Byzantines, among others. Centuries later, Italy would become the birthplace of the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.

Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms and city-states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan), but was unified in 1861, a tumultuous period in history known as the "Risorgimento". In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire, which extended its rule to Libya, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, Albania, Rhodes, the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin, China.

Modern Italy is a democratic republic. It has been ranked the world's eighteenth most-developed country and its Quality-of-Life Index has been ranked in the top ten in the world. Italy enjoys a very high standard of living, and has a high nominal GDP per capita. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Italy is also a member of the G8 and G20. It has the world's seventh-largest nominal GDP, tenth highest GDP and the fifth highest government budget in the world.

THE GREEKS AND ROMANS

Excavations throughout Italy reveal a modern human presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC Greek colonies were established all along the coast of Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula became known as Magna Graecia. Our photo collections include pictures of the great Greek temples in Sicily At Selinute and Agrigento and the great Greek Ampitheatre in Taormina.

Ancient Rome was at first a small agricultural community founded circa the 8th century BC that grew over the course of the centuries into a colossal empire encompassing the whole Mediterranean Sea, in which Ancient Greek and Roman cultures merged into one civilization. This civilization was so influential that parts of it survive in modern law, administration, philosophy and arts, forming the ground that Western civilization is based upon. Rome still has the ruins and remains of its great buildings such as the iconic Colosseum and the remains of the emperors palaces in the Forum our Rome collection of photos and pictures show many of the important sights of Rome.

Roman art was very heavily influenced by the Greeks as can be seen in the Roman mosaics in our photo collection of Villa Romana.

In its twelve-century existence it transformed itself from monarchy to republic and finally to autocracy. In steady decline since the 2nd century AD, the empire finally broke into two parts in 285 AD: the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire in the East. The western part under the pressure of Goths finally dissolved the Western Roman Empire and Rome was sacked. This left the Italian peninsula divided into small independent kingdoms and feuding city states for the next 14 centuries, and leaving the eastern Byzantine Empire sole heir to the Roman legacy. Byzantine art can be seen in the photo and picture collections we have of the great Byzantine churches of Monreale and the Palentine Chapel in Palermo

MIDDLE AGES

In the sixth century AD the Byzantine Emperor Justinian re-conquered Italy from the Ostrogoths. The invasion of a new wave of Germanic tribes, the Lombards, doomed his attempt to resurrect the Western Roman Empire but the repercussions of Justinian's failure resounded further still. For the next thirteen centuries, whilst new nation-states arose in the lands north of the Alps, the Italian political landscape was a patchwork of feuding city states, petty tyrannies, and foreign invaders.

For several centuries the armies and Exarchates led by the Exarchate of Ravenna, Justinian's successors, were a tenacious force in Italian affairs - strong enough to prevent other powers such as the Arabs, the Holy Roman Empire, or the Papacy from establishing a unified Italian Kingdom, but too weak to unify and control the region.

Italy's regions were eventually subsumed by their neighboring empires with their conflicting interests and would remain divided up to the 19th century. It was during this vacuum of authority that the region saw the rise of the Signoria and the Commune. In the anarchic conditions that often prevailed in medieval Italian city-states, people looked to strong men to restore order and disarm the feuding elites. In times of anarchy or crisis, cities sometimes offered the Signoria to individuals perceived as strong enough to save the state, most notably the Della Scala family in Verona, the Visconti in Milan and the Medici in Florence.

Italy during this period became notable for its merchant Republics. These city-states, oligarchical in reality, had a dominant merchant class which under relative freedom nurtured academic and artistic advancement. The four classic Maritime Republics in Italy were Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi. Venice and Genoa were Europe's gateways to trade with the East, with the former producer of the renowned venetian glass. Florence was the capital of silk, wool, banks and jewelry. The Maritime Republics were heavily involved in the Crusades, taking advantage of the new political and trading opportunities, most evidently in the conquest of Zara and Constantinople funded by Venice.

During the late Middle Ages Italy was divided into smaller city-states and territories: the kingdom of Naples controlled the south, the Republic of Florence and the Papal States the centre, the Genoese and the Milanese the north and west, and the Venetians the east.

RENAISSANCE

The unique political structures of late Middle Ages Italy and its dynamic social climate and florescent trade allowed the emergence of a unique cultural efflorescence. Italy never regained the unity it once had in the days of the Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages was divided into smaller city states and territories: the kingdom of Naples controlled the south, the Republic of Florence and the Papal States the center, the Genoese and the Milanese the north and west, and the Venetians the east.

Fifteenth-century Italy was one of the most urbanised areas in Europe. Most historians agree that the ideas that characterized the Renaissance and their earliest apologists and supporters had their origin in late 13th century Florence or gravitated in or around Florence, as well as the other rival city-states. The Renaissance achieved its epitome, in particular with the writings of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) and Francesco Patriarch (1304–1374), Bocaccio. The Renaissance was an extremely important period in Italian history, and in European history, and brought along numerous political, philosophical, literary, cultural, social and religious reforms.

The Renaissance was so called because it was a "rebirth" of many classical ideas that had long been buried in the chapters of classical Antiquity. One could argue that the fuel for this rebirth was the rediscovery of ancient texts that had been almost 'forgotten' by Western civilization, but were preserved in some monastic libraries or private libraries of powerful and wealthy patrons. Some would argue that there were translations of Greek and Arabic texts into Latin from the Islamic world that found their way into Italy and contributed to the Italian/European Renaissance. However, most of the manuscripts were either already in the Italian Peninsula or in 'Greece' and were taken to Italy in the centuries preceding the Renaissance by the Italians themselves (by the traders who travelled regularly to the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece) and by Byzantine Greeks who migrated to Italy during the onslaught of the Ottoman empire, against the Byzantine Empire in the 1400s, and specially after 1453, once the Ottomans had conquered the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. These Byzantines fled the Turks, sometimes carrying precious manuscripts and their knowledge (Greek and Ancient Greek) and while fixating themselves in Italy made a discreet but crucial contribution to the Renaissance.

Florence became Italy's main centre of the Renaissance as our photo picture collection of Florence shows. Numerous artists, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli worked in the city. Its economy flourished, and according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Florence from the 14th century to the 16th century was one of Europe's greatest cities, and its numerous museums, palazzi and churches, such as the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi have been described by the encyclopedia as works of art themselves.

Rome was also a city particularly affected by the Renaissance. This period of reform changed the city's face dramatically, with works like the Pietà by Michelangelo and the frescoes of the Borgia Apartment. Rome reached the highest point of splendour under Pope Julius II (1503–1513) and his successors Leo X and Clement VII, both members of the Medici family. In this twenty-years period Rome became one of the greatest centres of art in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica built by Emperor Constantine the Great, was re-built mainly by Michelangelo, who in Rome became one the most famous painters of Italy.

Rome lost in part its religious character, becoming increasingly a true Renaissance city, with a great number of popular feasts, horse races, parties, intrigues and licentious episodes. Its economy was rich, with the presence of several Tuscan bankers, including Agostino Chigi, who was a friend of Raphael and a patron of arts. Before his early death, Raphael also promoted for the first time the preservation of the ancient ruins.

The great republics like Venice conquered the Byzantine empire and looted its treasures decorating St Marcs Cathedral with ancient columns and treasures like the 4 horses from Constantinople (today Istanbul). With this vast wealth Italian architects and artists invented Baroque which is typified by lavish, intricate curved buildings and sculptures. Once the excesses of the Baroque were over Italian architect Palladio produced Neo Classic buildings like the Rotunda that influenced every major country palace in England.

TODAY

Today Italy is a vibrant republic with one of the 5 great cuisines of the world and is the home of the world famous Italian pizza as well as a rich and diverse historic and architectural heritage. Even the smallest village church seem to have a renaissance masterpiece painting hanging over its alter. Italian culture has influenced so much of Europe for 2,000 years. From the great ancient buildings of Rome to the great fashion, furniture and car designers of today Italy has shaped so much of the way we see and think.

OUR ITALIAN GALLERIES OF PHOTOS, PICTURES & IMAGES

Rome pictures, images and photos

Venice pictures, images and photos

Burano pictures, images and photos

Chioggia pictures, images and photos

Tivoli pictures, images and photos

Portofino pictures, images and photos

Alberobello pictures, images and photos

Amalfi Coast pictures, images and photos

Amalfi pictures, images and photos

Positano pictures, images and photos

Pisa pictures, images and photos

Florence pictures, images and photos

San Gimignano pictures, images and photos

Bari pictures, images and photos

Ostuni pictures, images and photos

Ticino pictures, images and photos

Italian Food pictures, images and photos

Italian Pizzas pictures, images and photos

OUR SICILY GALLERIES OF PHOTOS, PICTURES & IMAGES

Villa Palagonia pictures, images and photos

Noto pictures, images and photos

Siracusa pictures, images and photos

Palermo pictures, images and photos

Palentine Chapel pictures, images and photos

Villa Romana pictures, images and photos

Selanute Greek Temples pictures, images and photos

Agrigento Greek Temples pictures, images and photos

Taormina pictures, images and photos

Mount Etna pictures, images and photos

Monreale pictures, images and photos

Erice pictures, images and photos

Cefalu pictures, images and photos

Trapani & Masala pictures, images and photos

Scopello & Zingaro Park pictures, images and photos

Ragusa Ibla pictures, images and photos

Modica pictures, images and photos

Scicli pictures, images and photos

STOCK PHOTOS & PICTURES OF PORTOFINO ITALY

2010-05-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

FACTS AND HISTORY OF PORTOFINO, ITALY.

Portofino is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town crowded round its small harbour is considered to be among the most beautiful Mediterranean ports.

According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and named Portus Delphini, or Port of the Dolphin, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf.

In the late 19th century, first British, then other northern European aristocratic tourists began to visit Portofino, which they reached by horse and cart from Santa Margherita Ligure. Aubrey Herbert was one of the more famous Englishmen to maintain a villa at Portofino.

Eventually more expatriates built expensive vacation houses, and by 1950 tourism had supplanted fishing as the town's chief industry, and the waterfront was a continuous ring of restaurants and cafes.

Portofino became the favorite of the stars like Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Marlon Brando, Marcello Mastroianni, Orson Welles, Maria Callas and Aristotele Onassis, Louis Armstrong and Walt Disney, Laurel and Hardy, John Wayne and Joan Collins, Anita Ekberg and Rex Harrison.

Today Dolce & Kebana have a villa in Portofino & Tokyo Disney Sea in Chiba Japan, has made a full size replica of the harbor for its theme park. The Top Gear crew made it their stating point for a race to Saint-Tropez on the BBC TV series, Hammond in a Ferrari Deytona, May in a speedboat.

Today it still has plenty of small wooden fishing boats in its harbour but the jet set millionaires also moor at Portofino in their multi million dollar yaughts.

Sitting above the harbour is Castello Brown, a house museum. The castle's site is well suited for harbor defense, and appears to have been so used since the 15th century. Today it is a museum showing work of Frederica Schiaffino who used Castle Brown to make works of art. From Castle Brown park land stretches to the end of the headland with many secluded villas and bays.

OTHER PHOTO COLLECTIONS FROM ITALY

Cacao & Chocolate Stock photos and pictures

2010-05-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

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FACTS AND HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE AND CACAO.

Chocolate ( See Photos) is one of the worlds favorite treats. It has been grown and consumed for over 2000 years. Theobroma cacao, native to Mexico, Central and South America, has been cultivated for at least three millennia in that region. Cocoa mass was used originally in Mesoamerica both as a beverage and as an ingredient in food. Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate dates back before the Olmec. In November 2007, archaeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American peoples. It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate could be imported to Europe. In Spain it quickly became a court favorite. In a century it had spread and become popular throughout the European continent To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao.

Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import.[18] Before long, the Spanish began growing cacao beans on plantations, and using an African workforce to help manage them. The situation was different in England. Put simply, anyone with money could buy it. The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657. In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold to the Cadbury brothers in 1897.

Chocolate in its solid form was invented in 1847. Joseph Fry & Son discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the dutched chocolate, and added sugar, creating a paste that could be moulded. The result was the first modern chocolate bar. A Dutch family's (van Houten) inventions made mass production of shiny, tasty chocolate bars and related products possible. In the 1700s, mechanical mills were created that squeezed out cocoa butter. But, it was not until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution that these mills and new machinery allowed for the mass production of chocolates. Companies began advertising this new invention to sell many of the chocolate treats we see today and people began experiencing and consuming chocolate worldwide.

ORIGINS & PROCESS

Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with 43% sourced from Ivory Coast. Cacao pods are harvested by cutting the pods from the tree using a machete, or by knocking them off the tree using a stick. Cocoa pods contain beans surrounded by a white membrane that are a bit like lichees and do not taste of chocolate at all. On average a pod produce enough cacao to make 5-7 chocolate bars. The beans with their surrounding pulp are removed from the pods and placed in piles or bins to ferment. The fermentation process is what gives the beans their familiar chocolate taste. The duration of the fermentation varies from 2 to more than 7 days. It is important to harvest the pods when they are fully ripe because if the pod is unripe, the beans will have a low cocoa butter content, or there will be insufficient sugars in the white pulp for fermentation, resulting in a weak flavor. After fermentation, the beans must be quickly dried to prevent mold growth. Climate and weather permitting, this is done by spreading the beans out in the sun from 5 to 7 days. The dried beans are then transported to a chocolate manufacturing facility. Cacao beans contain no sugar and between 12% and 50% fat depending on variety and growth conditions. The beans are cleaned, roasted, and graded. Roasted cacao nibs are made from the process whereby the cacao seeds are roasted in large, rotating ovens, at temperatures of about 210-290F. Roasting lasts from half an hour up to two hours. The heat brings out more flavor and aroma, and it dries and darkens the seeds. Next the shells are removed to extract the nib then the seeds are cracked and winnowed, that is, their outer shells are cracked and blown away, leaving the crushed and broken pieces of cacao seeds - "processed cacao nibs". At this point, we have something edible and really chocolaty. Finally, the nibs are ground and liquefied, resulting in pure chocolate in fluid form called chocolate liquor. The liquor can be further processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

( Raw cacao nibs are not from roasted cacao seeds, instead, they are just made from raw cacao seeds. For example, you can manually press on the cacao seeds, peel it, and then break it into nibs.) To get cacao butter the Cacao liquor is pressed at high pressure which forces our the cacao butter. The pressed liquor once pressed is very dried and is ground into cacao powder. To make chocolate the chocolate liquor is blended with cacao butter, sugar, vanilla or milk to make different types of chocolate The basic blends of ingredients for the various types of chocolate (in order of highest quantity of cocoa liquor first), are as follows: Dark chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and (sometimes) vanilla Milk chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk or milk powder, and vanilla White chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, and vanilla.

At this stage the chocolate is rather grainy so to make it smooth it is processed by "conching" in a conche. A conche, so called because a conche shell was originally used, is a container filled with metal beads which act as grinders. The refined and blended chocolate mass is kept in a liquid state by frictional heat in the conche. Conching can last a few hours for cheaper chocolates, and up to six days for the expensive chocolate. The final process is called tempering. Uncontrolled cooling of the conched chocolate causes crystallization of cocoa butter causing the surface of the chocolate to appear mottled and matte, and producing chocolate that crumbles rather than snaps when broken. The uniform sheen and crisp bite of properly processed chocolate are the result of consistently small cocoa butter crystals produced by the tempering process. The chocolate is stirring as it cools after conching, it is then heated back up slowly and the process repeated several times. This will give our chocolate that nice glossy look and effects the final chocolates texture from soft and crumbly to hard chocolate which snaps. This final tempering along with the cocoa content effects the final type chocolate produced by the Chocolatiers to make unique chocolates. These recipes are obviously great secrets protected fiercely by big chocolate brand like Cadbury and Nestle.

CHOCOLATE AND HEALTH.

Chocolate has for many years been accused as a source of obesity. This seems to be obvious if the chocolate contains a lot of sugar but low sugar dark chocolate are low in calories. “Every study on chocolate is pointing to the same conclusion: there is something in chocolate that is really good for us. That something is the raw cacao bean, the nut that all chocolate is made from. The cacao bean has always been and will always be Nature’s #1 weight loss and high-energy food. Cacao beans are probably the best kept secret in the entire history of food.” — David Wolfe, co-author of Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth About The World’s Greatest Food. Cacao and dark chocolate with a high cacao content has been found to have health benefits. Dark chocolate with its high cocoa content, is a rich source of epicatechin and gallic acid, which are thought to possess cardioprotective properties. Dark chocolate has also been said to reduce the possibility of a heart attack when consumed regularly in small amounts. One-third of the fat in chocolate comes in the forms of a saturated fat called stearic acid and a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid. However, unlike other saturated fats, stearic acid does not raise levels of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream. Consuming relatively large amounts of dark chocolate and cocoa does not seem to raise serum LDL cholesterol levels; some studies even find that it could lower them. Indeed, small but regular amounts of dark chocolate lower the possibility of a heart attack. Cacao nibs contains Magnesium, Sulphur, and Anti-oxidant, Monoamine Oxidase Enzyme Inhibitors, Phenylethylamine, and Anandamide. These substances can help us having healthy heart, relieving us from stressful mood, and much more. So recent years cacao nibs are becoming a popular healthy food. Cacao seems to be the number one source of magnesium of any food. This is probably the primary reason women crave chocolate during their period. Magnesium is associated with balanced brain chemistry, strong bones, and happiness. Magnesium is the most deficient major mineral on the Standard UK Diet (SUKD); over 80% of us are chronically deficient in Magnesium! Cacao is high in the beauty mineral sulphur. Sulfur is associated with strong nails, hair, beautiful, shiny skin, and a clean liver and pancreas.

FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE.

For years chocolate harvesting has been carried out by child labour in West Africa. Even though this is illegal it is still widespread in the Ivory Coast and Ghana according to BBC Panorama reports. Even though paperwork is required under the Harkin Engel protocol to prove that the cacao beans had no child labour in its production there are ways to get child labour beans into main stream through independent traders. Brands like Coop used Fair Trade chocolate and can verify its source. This idea spread to Cadbury and Nestle products and should guarantee farmers a fair price and all farms should be child labour free. This is slowly changing and the big chocolate companies have agreed to help with foundations and investment into cacao farms to stop child labour in Africa. This is a slow process though and child labour beans can still slip into the Fair Trade supply. The truth is that chocolate prices are still too low and an increase should be implemented to take African cacao farmers out of poverty so they do not need child labour.

OUR OTHER CHOCOLATE & CACAO STOCK PHOTOS & PICTURES

BEWARE!! Microstock can damage your image.

2010-04-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Microstock has completely changed the value of photography for ever !! Or has it?

Ever since the Editor of Time magazine announced that a front cover of his magazine had been bought from a microstock company for a few dollars, photographers have heralded this event as the start of the end of their profession. In some ways the damage microstock has heaped on photography is tremendous. I have had discussions with amateurs who are quite happy to get a few dollars here and there towards their next camera or lens and have no vested interest in a healthy photography industry. So what happens when you want the skills that photographers like myself have built up over 20 years and we have closed up shop? You may laugh but look what happened to typography when desk top publishing destroyed the skill. Today hand headline lettering is hard to find and costs a fortune.

So why should you not buy microstock photos at knock down prices. Well the answer is simple. Is you value your image of your brand, company or product, then do you want to use the same image that anyone else can afford to buy for peanuts. What do I mean? Well Chris Barton in his blog Fair Trade Photographer has come up with a bit of research that shows how several big brands have all ended up using the same microstock photo on their web page (Link Below). So what's wrong with that? Well it does rather devalue the brands exlusivity image if they look like lots of other companies and worse it makes it possible to imitate them so cheaply by any rivals or worse, companies perhaps they may not want to be associated with. Anyone can afford microstock and can use it for anything they like. From selling viagra to porn there is no restriction or control.

The idea of microstock is to make a profit by selling lots and lots of the same photo. This means that if you buy one for your web pages or ads you could end up looking the same as lots and lots of other companies.

How to avoid this?

Unless you buy an outright exclusive license, which can be expensive, the only way of getting any security of who is using the photo you want to buy is by buying Rights Managed. This way you can ask who else has licensed the photo and check for over use and any potential clashes. If you buy Royalty Free at some of the non micrstock companies you will have a better chance of avoiding over use but you have no guarantee.

Of course, if there are any of us photographers left, you could get guaranteed total exlusivity and usage by asking us to take a photograph just for you. If you want several done together you will certainly save money over licensing from Getty. We know that for a fact and we have clients who know this too. How about your own exclusive food photos for example starting from around £200 each to use forever and for whatever? I think that is the same as a hi res Royalty Free photo at some libraries that anyone can use .

One final word about microstock. If you want bland and banal photos go and buy from microstock agencies as this is what they specialize in. Of course this will make your company look rather bland too. If you want photos that have had a little love and creativity injected into them with sometimes years of professional experience selling product and promoting brand images, then search out boutique stock sites like Funky Stock and sites like Photographers Direct or specialist sites that do not pile high and sell cheap.

Photography is ultimately like any other product you do get what you pay for, and that does not necessarily have to be a fortune. Most good photo libraries are sensibly priced or will negotiate fair prices. Just ask.

Bye for Now. Paul Williams.

Here is the link as promised. Happy reading.
Fair trade Photographer. Why you should not use micostock

and if you want to commission me see my portfolio at
Paul Williams Food Portfolio
or of course check out the photos at
Funky Stock

Get Funky Stock News

2010-04-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

You can get our latest stock photography news at Funky Stock News and Blog.

Check out our fact sheets and photos of popular destinations in Europe. Also find out about our latest food photography and photos.

If you are a picture buyer or editor you will find this news page invaluable.

You can also see award winning photographer Paul Randall Williams food portfolio at funkyfood.co.uk

Check out our Photos of The Amalfi Coast, Italy

2010-04-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Amalfi Coast, or Costiera Amalfitana in Italian, is a stretch of coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula of Italy (Province of Salerno), extending from Positano in the west to Vietri sul Mare in the east.

Renowned for its rugged terrain, scenic beauty, picturesque towns and diversity, the Amalfi Coast was featured in Positano (1953) by American writer John Steinbeck.

AMALFI

Amalfi is the main town of the coast on which it is located, named Costiera Amalfitana, and is today an important tourist destination together with other towns on the same coast, such as Positano, Ravello and others. Amalfi is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In the 1920s and 1930s, Amalfi was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy.

Amalfi is first mentioned in the 6th century, and soon acquired importance as a maritime power, trading grain of its neighbors, salt from Sardinia and slaves from the interior, and even timber, for the gold dinars minted in Egypt and Syria, in order to buy the silks of the Byzantine empire that it resold in the West. Grain-bearing Amalfi traders enjoyed privileged positions in the Islamic ports.

An independent republic from the seventh century until 1075, Amalfi extracted itself from Byzantine vassalage and first elected a duke in 958; it rivalled Pisa and Genoa in its domestic prosperity and maritime importance, before the rise of Venice. In spite of some devastating setbacks it had a population of some 70,000, reaching an apogee about the turn of the millennium, during the reign of Duke Manso (966–1004).

In 1073 it fell to the Norman countship of Apulia, but was granted many rights. A prey to the Normans who encamped in the south of Italy, it became one of their principal posts. However, in 1131, it was reduced by King Roger II of Sicily, who had been refused the keys to its citadel.

In 1135 and 1137, it was taken by the Pisans and rapidly declined in importance, though its maritime code, known as the Tavole Amalfitane, was recognized in the Mediterranean until 1570. A tsunami in 1343 destroyed the port and lower town, and Amalfi never recovered more than local importance.

In medieval culture Amalfi was famous for its flourishing schools of law and mathematics. Flavio Gioia, who is traditionally considered the first to introduce the mariner's compass to Europe, is said to be a native of Amalfi.

AMALFI CATHEDRAL

At the top of a staircase, Saint Andrew's Cathedral (Duomo) overlooks the Piazza Duomo, the heart of Amalfi. The cathedral dates back to the 11th century; its interior is adorned in the late Baroque style with a nave and two aisles divided by 20 columns.

In 1206 Saint Andrew's relics were brought to Amalfi from Constantinople by the Pietro Capuano following the Sack of Constantinople (an event of the 4th Crusade) after the completion of the town's cathedral. The cathedral contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen.

The Amalfi coast is famed for its production of Limoncello liqueur and the area is a known cultivator of lemons. The correct name is “sfusato amalfitano”, and they are typically long and at least double the size of other lemons, with a thick and wrinkled skin and a sweet and juicy flesh without many pips. It is common to see lemons growing in the terraced gardens along the entire Amalfi coast between February and October.

RAVELLO

Ravello was an important town of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200.

Ravello was a diocesan town from 1086 to 1603; after that the bishop's see was moved to Scala. Situated high above the coast it has breathtaking views of the Amalfi Coast. The town has served historically as a destination for artists, musicians, and writers, including Richard Wagner, M. C. Escher, Giovanni Boccaccio, Virginia Woolf, Gore Vidal, André Gide, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Graham Greene and Sara Teasdale who mentioned it in her prefatory dedication in Love Songs, one of her many books of poems.

POSITANO

Positano was a port of the Amalfi Republic in medieval times, and prospered in the 16th and 17th centuries. But by the mid-19th century, the town had fallen on hard times. More than half the population emigrated, mostly to Australia.

Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the 20th century. It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s, especially after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in Harper's Bazaar in May, 1953: "Positano bites deep", Steinbeck wrote. "It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone." The houses of Positano almost seem to be built ontop of each other as they climb up the cliffs of the Amalfi coast. From a distance it is impossible to see how any access can be gained to the houses which are connected by a narrow winding road and tiny alley ways.

Positano has been featured in several films, including Only You (1994), and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), as well as being mentioned in the 2009 musical film Nine in the song "Cinema Italiano". It also hosts the annual Cartoons on the Bay Festival, at which Pulcinella awards for excellence in animation are presented. From July 1967 and through most of the 1970s, Positano was home of singer-songwriter Shawn Phillips and was where most of his best known work was composed. Also, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones wrote the song "Midnight Rambler" in the cafes of Positano while on vacation. Today, tourism is by far the major industry in Positano. Positano is also very popular for L"Albertissimo", an alcoholic tipple that can only be found at a small stall at the main harbour called "L'alternativa".

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Photos of Coffee and Coffee Beans

2010-04-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

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Coffee is a drink prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of coffee cherries that grow on trees in over 70 countries. Green (unroasted) coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world.

The energizing effect of caffeine in the coffee bean is thought to have been discovered in Yemen in Arabia and the north east of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee first expanded in the Arab world. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia. From the Muslim world, coffee spread from Egypt to Italy via trade with Venice and through Eastern Europe with the Turkish conquests, then to the rest of Europe and then onto Indonesia and the Americas.

Ethiopian ancestors of today's Oromo people were believed to have been the first to recognize the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant. From Ethiopia, coffee was said to have spread to Yemen, where the coffee beverage was first made and drunk, and then the beverage went to Egypt.

Coffee became more widely accepted after it was deemed a Christian beverage by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, despite appeals to ban the "Muslim drink." The first European coffee house opened in Italy in 1645. The Dutch were the first to import coffee on a large scale, and they were among the first to defy the Arab prohibition on the exportation of plants or unroasted seeds when Pieter van den Broeck smuggled seedlings from Mocha, Yemen, into Europe in 1616.[96] The Dutch later grew the crop in Java and Ceylon. The first exports of Indonesian coffee from Java to the Netherlands occurred in 1711. Through the efforts of the British East India Company, coffee became popular in England as well. Oxford's Queen's Lane Coffee House, established in 1654, is still in existence today. Coffee was introduced in France in 1657, and in Austria and Poland after the 1683 Battle of Vienna, when coffee was captured from supplies of the defeated Turks.

The Frenchman Gabriel de Clieu brought a coffee plant to the French territory of Martinique in the Caribbean, from which much of the world's cultivated arabica coffee is descended. Coffee thrived in the climate and was conveyed across the Americas. The territory of San Domingo (now Haiti) saw coffee cultivated from 1734, and by 1788 it supplied half the world's coffee. However, the dreadful conditions that the slaves worked in on coffee plantations were a factor in the soon to follow Haitian Revolution. The coffee industry never fully recovered there. Meanwhile, coffee had been introduced to Brazil in 1727, although its cultivation didn't gather momentum until independence in 1822.

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee seed, or "bean", are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The green seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways.

Of the two main species grown, arabica coffee (from C. arabica) is generally more highly regarded than robusta coffee (from C. canephora); robusta tends to be bitter and have less flavor but better body than arabica. Robusta coffee contains about 40–50% more caffeine than arabica. For this reason, it is used as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends. Good quality robusta beans are used in some espresso blends to provide a full-bodied taste, a better foam head known as crema, and to lower the ingredient cost.

Coffee beans must be ground and brewed to create a beverage. Almost all methods of preparing coffee require the beans to be ground and mixed with hot water for long enough to extract the flavor, but without boiling for more than an instant; boiling develops an unpleasant "cooked" flavor. The ideal temperature is 79 to 85 °C (174 to 185 °F) and the ideal serving temperature is 68 to 79 °C (154 to 174 °F).

Espresso-based coffee has a wide variety of possible presentations. In its most basic form, it is served alone as a shot or in the more watered-down style café américano—a shot or two of espresso with hot water added. Reversing the process by adding espresso to hot water preserves the crema, and is known as a long black. Milk can be added in various forms to espresso: steamed milk makes a caffè latte, equal parts steamed milk and milk froth make a cappuccino, and a dollop of hot foamed milk on top creates a caffè macchiato. The use of steamed milk to form patterns such as hearts or maple leaves is referred to as latte art.

Coffee has become a vital cash crop for many Third World countries. Over one hundred million people in developing countries have become dependent on coffee as their primary source of income. It has become the primary export and backbone for African countries like Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, as well as many Central American countries.

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Food Photography of Indian Food

2010-04-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

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The traditional cuisine of India is characterized by the use of many spices, herbs and other vegetables grown in India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism across many sections of its society. Each family of Indian cuisine is characterized by a wide assortment of dishes and cooking techniques. As a consequence, it varies from region to region, reflecting the varied demographics of the ethnically diverse Indian subcontinent.

India's religious beliefs and culture have played an influential role in the evolution of its cuisine. However, cuisine across India also evolved due to the subcontinent's large-scale cultural interactions with neighboring Persia, ancient Greece, Mongols and West Asia, making it a unique blend of various cuisines across Asia.The spice trade between India and Europe is often cited as the main catalyst for Europe's Age of Discovery. The colonial period introduced European cooking styles to India adding to the flexibility and diversity of Indian cuisine. Indian cuisine has had a remarkable influence on cuisines across the world, especially those from Southeast Asia.

As a land that has experienced extensive immigration and intermingling through many millennia, India's cuisine has benefited from numerous food influences. The diverse climate in the region, ranging from deep tropical to alpine.

In many cases, food has become a marker of religious and social identity, with varying taboos and preferences (for instance, a segment of the Jain population will not consume any roots or subterranean vegetables. One strong influence over Indian foods is the longstanding vegetarianism within sections of India's Hindu, Buddhist and Jain communities. People who follow a strict vegetarian diet make up 20–42% of the population in India, while less than 30% are regular meat-eaters.

Around 7,000 BC, sesame, eggplant, and humped cattle had been domesticated in the Indus Valley. By 3000 BC, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper and mustard were harvested in India. Many recipes first emerged during the initial Vedic period, when India was still heavily forested and agriculture was complemented with game hunting and forest produce. In Vedic times, a normal diet consisted of fruit, vegetables, grain, dairy products and honey. Over time, some segments of the population embraced vegetarianism, due to the ancient Hindu philosophy of ahimsa. This practice gained more popularity due to a cooperative climate where a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains could easily be grown throughout the year. Buddhism, among several other beliefs and practices borrowed vegetarianism from Hinduism to embrace Ahimsa. A food classification system that categorised any item as sattva, rajas or tamas developed in Ayurveda. Each was deemed to have a powerful effect on the body and the mind.

Later, invasions from Central Asia, Arabia, the Mughal empire, Persia, and elsewhere had a deep and fundamental effect on Indian cooking. Influence from traders such as the Arab and Portuguese diversified subcontinental tastes and meals. As with other cuisines, Indian cuisine has absorbed New World vegetables such as tomato, capsicum, chilli, and potato, as staples.

Islamic rule introduced rich gravies, pilafs and non-vegetarian fare such as kebabs, resulting in Mughlai cuisine (Mughal in origin), as well as such fruits as apricots, melons, peaches, and plums. The Mughals were great patrons of cooking. Lavish dishes were prepared during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The Nizams of Hyderabad state meanwhile developed and perfected their own style of cooking with the most notable dish being the Biryani.

During this period the Portuguese and British introduced foods from the New World such as potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and chilies as well as cooking techniques like baking.

The staples of Indian cuisine are rice, atta (whole wheat flour), and a variety of pulses, the most important of which are masoor (most often red lentil), channa (bengal gram), toor (pigeon pea or yellow gram), urad (black gram) and mung (green gram). Pulses may be used whole, dehusked, for example dhuli moong or dhuli urad, or split. Pulses are used extensively in the form of dal (split). Some of the pulses like channa and "Mung" are also processed into flour.

Most Indian curries are cooked in vegetable oil. In North and West India, peanut oil has traditionally been most popular for cooking, while in Eastern India, mustard oil is more commonly used. Coconut oil is used widely along the western coast and South India, Gingelly oil is common in the South as well. In recent decades, sunflower oil and soybean oil have gained popularity all over India. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, known as Vanaspati ghee, is also a popular cooking medium that replaces Desi ghee, clarified butter (the milk solids have been removed).

The most important/frequently used spices in Indian cuisine are chilli pepper, black mustard seed (rai), cumin (jeera), turmeric (haldi, manjal), fenugreek (methi), asafoetida (hing, perungayam), ginger (adrak, inji), coriander (dhania), and garlic (lassan, poondu). Popular spice mixes are garam masala, which is usually a powder of five or more dried spices, commonly including cardamom, cinnamon, and clove. Each region, and sometimes each individual chef, has a distinctive blend of garam masala. Goda masala is a popular sweet spice mix in Maharashtra. Some leaves are commonly used like tejpatta (cassia leaf), coriander leaf, fenugreek leaf and mint leaf. The common use of curry leaves, curry roots is typical of all South Indian cuisine. In sweet dishes, cardamom, saffron, nutmeg, and rose petal essences are seasoned.

Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe. The cuisine is popular not only among the large Indian community but also among the mainstream population of North America and Europe. In 2003, there were as many as 10,000 restaurants serving Indian cuisine in England and Wales alone. A survey held in 2007 revealed that more than 1,200 Indian food products have been introduced in the United States since 2000. According to Britain's Food Standards Agency, the Indian food industry in the United Kingdom is worth £3.2 billion, accounts for two-thirds of all eating out and serves about 2.5 million British customers every week. The popularity of curry, which originated in India, across Asia has often led to the dish being labeled as the "pan-Asian" dish. Curry's international appeal has also been compared to that of pizza. Though the tandoor did not originate in India, Indian tandoori dishes, such as chicken tikka made with Indian ingredients, enjoy widespread popularity. Chicken Tikka Masala has now become the most popular dish in the United Kingdom and curry sauces are now being exported from England back to India.

The spice trade between India and Europe led to the rise and dominance of Arab traders to such an extent that European explorers, such as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, set out to find new trade routes with India leading to the Age of Discovery.

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New Collection of Stock Photos of Venice

2010-04-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

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The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants including those that live on other islands in the lagoon.

The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Venice is also famous for its musical, particularly operatic, history, and its most famous son in this field is Antonio Vivaldi.

Tradition and the available evidence have led historians to agree that the original population of Venice comprised refugees from Roman cities such as Padua, Aquileia, Altino and Concordia (modern Portogruaro) and from the undefended countryside, who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic invasions and Huns. Some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae ("lagoon dwellers"). The traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Jacopo at the islot of Rialto (Rivoalto, "High Shore"), given a conventional date of 421.

Sometime in the first decades of the eighth century, the people of the lagoon elected their first leader Ursus, who was confirmed by Byzantium and given the titles of hypatus and dux. He was the first historical Doge of Venice.

In 775-76, the bishopric seat of Olivolo (Helipolis) was created. During the reign of duke Agnello Particiaco (811-827) the ducal seat was moved from Malamocco to the highly protected Rialto, the current location of Venice. The monastery of St. Zachary and the first ducal palace and basilica of St. Mark, as well as a walled defense (civitatis murus) between Olivolo and Rialto were subsequently built here. Winged lions which may be seen in Venice are a symbol for St. Mark.

From the ninth to the twelfth century Venice developed into a city state (an Italian thalassocracy or Repubblica Marinara, the other three being Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi). Its strategic position at the head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable. With the elimination of pirates along the Dalmatian coast, the city became a flourishing trade center between Western Europe and the rest of the world (especially the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world).

The Republic of Venice seized a number of locations on the eastern shores of the Adriatic before 1200, mostly for commercial reasons, because pirates based there were a menace to trade. The Doge already carried the titles of Duke of Dalmatia and Duke of Istria.

Venice became an imperial power following the Venetian-financed Fourth Crusade, which in 1204 seized and sacked Constantinople and established the Latin Empire. As a result of this conquest considerable Byzantine plunder was brought back to Venice. This plunder included the gilt bronze horses from the Hippodrome of Constantinople which were now placed above the entrance to St Mark's cathedral in Venice, where they remain to this day. Following the fall of Constantinople the former Roman Empire was partitioned among the Latin crusaders and the Venetians. Venice subsequently carved out a sphere of influence in the Mediterranean known as the Duchy of the Archipelago, and seized Crete.

Venice’s long decline started in the 15th century, when it first made an unsuccessful attempt to hold Thessalonica against the Ottomans (1423–1430). She also sent ships to help defend Constantinople against the besieging Turks (1453). After the city fell to Sultan Mehmet II he declared war on Venice. The war lasted thirty years and cost Venice much of her eastern Mediterranean possessions. Next, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. Then Portugal found a sea route to India, destroying Venice’s land route monopoly. France, England and Holland followed them. Venice’s oared galleys had no advantage when it came to traversing the great oceans. She was left behind in the race for colonies.

The Black Death devastated Venice in 1348 and once again between 1575 and 1577. In three years the plague killed some 50,000 people. In 1630, the plague killed a third of Venice's 150,000 citizens.[17] Venice began to lose its position as a center of international trade during the later part of the Renaissance as Portugal became Europe's principal intermediary in the trade with the East, striking at the very foundation of Venice's great wealth, while France and Spain fought for hegemony over Italy in the Italian Wars, marginalising its political influence. However, the Venetian empire was a major exporter of agricultural products and, until the mid-18th century, a significant manufacturing center.

After 1,070 years, the Republic lost independence when Napoleon Bonaparte on 12 May 1797, conquered Venice during the First Coalition. The French conqueror brought to an end the most fascinating century of its history: during the Settecento (18th century) Venice became perhaps the most elegant and refined city in Europe, greatly influencing art, architecture and literature. Napoleon was seen as something of a liberator by the city's Jewish population, although it can be argued they had lived with fewer restrictions in Venice. He removed the gates of the Ghetto and ended the restrictions on when and where Jews could live and travel in the city.

Venice became Austrian territory when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio on 12 October 1797. The Austrians took control of the city on 18 January 1798. It was taken from Austria by the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805 and became part of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, but was returned to Austria following Napoleon's defeat in 1814, when it became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1848-1849 a revolt briefly reestablished the Venetian Republic under Daniele Manin. In 1866, following the Third Italian War of Independence, Venice, along with the rest of the Veneto, became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy.

During the Second World War, the city was largely free from attack, the only aggressive effort of note being Operation Bowler, a precision strike on the German naval operations there in 1945. Venice was finally liberated by New Zealand troops under Freyberg on 29 April 1945.

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Stock Photos of BBQ Food- New Stock Photo Collection

2010-04-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Barbecue or barbeque (BBQ, Bar-B-Q and Bar-B-Que)

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The origins of both the activity of barbecue cooking and the word itself are somewhat obscure. Most etymologists believe that barbecue derives ultimately from the word barabicu found in the language of both the Timucua of Florida and the Taíno people of the Caribbean. The word translates as "sacred fire pit." The word describes a grill for cooking meat, consisting of a wooden platform resting on sticks.

There is ample evidence that both the word and cooking technique migrated out of the Caribbean and into other languages and cultures, with the word (barbacoa) moving from Caribbean dialects into Spanish, then French and English. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first recorded use of the word in the English language in 1697 by the British buccaneer William Dampier.

While the standard modern English spelling of the word is barbecue, local variations like barbeque and truncations such as bar-b-q or bbq may also be found. In the southeastern United States, the word barbecue is used predominantly as a noun referring to roast pork, while in the southwestern states, cuts of beef are often cooked.

In the southern United States, barbecue initially revolved around the cooking of pork. During the 19th century, pigs were a low-maintenance food source that could be released to forage for themselves in forests and woodlands. When food or meat supplies were low, these semi-wild pigs could then be caught and eaten.

The word barbecue is also used to refer to a social gathering where food is served, usually outdoors in the early afternoon. In the southern USA, outdoor gatherings are not typically called "barbecues" unless barbecue itself will actually be on the menu, instead generally favoring the word "cookouts". The device used for cooking at a barbecue is commonly referred to as a "barbecue", "barbecue grill", or "grill".

Barbecuing encompasses four distinct types of cooking techniques. The original technique is cooking by using indirect heat or low-level direct radiant heat at lower temperatures (usually around 240°F) and significantly longer cooking times (several hours), often with smoke. Another technique is baking, utilizing a masonry oven or any other type of baking oven, which uses convection to cook meats and starches with moderate temperatures for an average cooking time (about an hour plus a few extra minute

The choice and combination of woods burned result in different flavors imparted to the meat. Woods commonly selected for their flavor include mesquite, hickory, maple, guava, kiawe, cherry, pecan, apple and oak. Woods to avoid include conifers. These contain resins and tars, which impart undesirable resinous and chemical flavors. If these woods are used, they should be burned in a catalytic grill, such as a rocket stove, so that the resins and tars are completely burned before coming into contact with the food.

Cooking with charcoal, like cooking with gas, is a more manageable approximation of cooking over a wood fire. Charcoal does not impart the rich flavor of cooking over hardwoods but is cheap and easy to purchase in sizes appropriate for close proximity cooking in typical commercially available home grills and griddles.

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Stock Photos and Images of Asparagus

2010-03-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

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Asparagus officinalis is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the vegetable known as asparagus is obtained. It is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and is now widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.

Asparagus has been used from early times as a vegetable and medicine, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius’s third century AD De re coquinaria, Book III. It was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, who ate it fresh when in season and dried the vegetable for use in winter. It lost its popularity in the Middle Ages but returned to favour in the seventeenth century.

Only the young shoots of asparagus are eaten. Asparagus is low in calories, contains no cholesterol and is healthy as it is very low in sodium. It is also a good source of vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fiber, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese and selenium. The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, the asparagus plant being rich in this compound.

The shoots are prepared and served in a number of ways around the world. In Asian-style cooking, asparagus is often stir-fried. Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve asparagus stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, or beef, and also wrapped in bacon. Asparagus may also be quickly grilled over charcoal or hardwood embers. It is also used as an ingredient in some stews and soups. In the French style, it is often boiled or steamed and served with hollandaise sauce, melted butter or olive oil, Parmesan cheese or mayonnaise. It may even be used in a dessert. The best asparagus tends to be early growth (meaning first of the season) and is often simply steamed and served along with melted butter. Tall, narrow asparagus cooking pots allow the shoots to be steamed gently, their tips staying out of the water.

Asparagus can also be pickled and stored for several years. Some brands may label shoots prepared this way as "marinated."
The bottom portion of asparagus often contains sand and dirt and as such thorough cleaning is generally advised in cooking asparagus.
Green asparagus is eaten worldwide, though the availability of imports throughout the year has made it less of a delicacy than it once was. However, in the UK, due to the short growing season and demand for local produce, asparagus commands a premium and the "asparagus season is a highlight of the foodie calendar." In continental northern Europe, there is also a strong seasonal following for local white asparagus, nicknamed "white gold".

Since asparagus often originates in maritime habitats, it thrives in soils that are too saline for normal weeds to grow in. Thus a little salt was traditionally used to suppress weeds in beds intended for asparagus; this has the disadvantage that the soil cannot be used for anything else. Some places are better for growing asparagus than others. The fertility of the soil is a large factor. "Crowns" are planted in winter, and the first shoots appear in spring; the first pickings or "thinnings" are known as sprue asparagus. Sprue have thin stems.

White asparagus, known as spargel, is cultivated by denying the plants light while they are being grown. Less bitter than the green variety, it is very popular in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany where 57,000 tonnes (61% of consumer demands) are produced annually.

Purple asparagus differs from its green and white counterparts, having high sugar and low fibre levels. Purple asparagus was originally developed in Italy and commercialised under the variety name Violetto d'Albenga. In northwestern Europe, the season for asparagus production is short, traditionally beginning on April 23 and ending on Midsummer Day.

2010-02-19T10:20:00.001-08:00

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This collection of stock photos photography shows photos of Esztergom and its Basilica. Click Here to See.

Esztergom is a city in northern Hungary, about 50 km north-west of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom county, on the right bank of the river Danube, which forms the border with Slovakia there. Esztergom was the capital of Hungary from the 10th till the mid-13th century when King Béla IV of Hungary moved the royal seat to Buda.

Esztergom is the seat of the prímás (Primate) of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. It's also the official seat of the Constitutional Court of Hungary. The city has the Keresztény Múzeum, the largest ecclesiastical collection in Hungary. Its cathedral, Esztergom Basilica is the largest church in Hungary.

HISTORY

Esztergom is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. Throughout its rich history, times of great kings, significant events, rich palaces and churches. Esztergom, as it existed in the Middle Ages, now rests under today's town The results of the most recent archeological excavations reveal that the Várhegy (Castle Hill) and its vicinity have been inhabited since the end of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago. The first people known by name were the Celts from Western Europe, who settled in the region in about 350 BC. Under their center on the Várhegy (oppidum) lay their expansive flourishing settlement until the Roman legions conquered the region. Thereafter it became an important border province of Pannonia, known by the name of Solva. The German and Avar archeological finds found in the area reveal that these people settled in the period of the migrations that were caused by the fall of the Roman Empire. Within the borders of the town, remains of its founding ancestors were found.

Photos of the Basilica Esztergom Hungary

The settlement gained significance after 960 when Géza, the ruling prince of the Hungarians, chose Esztergom as his residence. His son, Vajk, who was later called Saint Stephen of Hungary, was born in his palace built on the Roman castrum on the Várhegy (Castle Hill) around 969-975. In 973, Esztergom served as the starting point of an important historical event. At Easter of that year Géza sent a committee to the international peace conference of Emperor Otto I in Quedlinburg. He offered peace to the Emperor and asked for missionaries.

The prince's residence stood on the northern side of the hill. The center of the hill was occupied by a basilica dedicated to St. Adalbert, who, according to legend, baptised St. Stephen. The Church of St. Adalbert was the seat of the archbishop of Esztergom, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary.

Photos of the Basilica Esztergom Hungary

By that time, significant craft and merchant settlements had been founded. (According to some scholars, the town got its name after Esztrogin, a Bulgar settlement of leather armour makers.) In 1000, Stephen was crowned king in Esztergom. From the time of his rule up to the beginning of the 13th century, the only mint of the country operated here. At the same period the castle of Esztergom ( "Estergon Kalesi" in Turkish ) was built, which served not only as the royal residence until 1241 (the Mongol invasion) but also as the center of the Hungarian state, religion, and Esztergom county. The archbishop of Esztergom was the leader of the ten bishoprics founded by Stephen. The archbishop was often in charge of important state functions and had the exclusive right to crown kings.

The settlements of regal servants, merchants, craftsmen at the foot of the Várhegy (Castle Hill) developed into the most significant town of the age of the Árpád dynasty– as being the most important scene of the economic life of the country. According to the Frenchman Odo de Deogilo, who visited the country in 1147, ‘…the Danube carries the economy and treasures of several countries to Esztergom’.

The town council was made up of the richest citizens of the town (residents of French, Spanish, Belgian, and Italian origin) who dealt with commerce. The coat of arms of Esztergom emerged from their seal in the 13th century. This was the town where foreign monarchs could meet Hungarian kings. For example, Emperor Conrad II met Géza II in this town (1147). Another important meeting took place when the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa visited Béla III. The historians traveling with them all agree on the richness and significance of Esztergom. Arnold of Lübeck, the historian with Frederick Barbarossa, called Esztergom the capital of Hungarian people ("quae Ungarorum est metropolis").

Photos of the Castle of Visegrad, Esztergom Hungary

In the beginning of the 13th century Esztergom was the center of the country's political and economic life. This is explained by the canon of Nagyvárad, Rogerius of Apulia, who witnessed the first devastation of the country during the Tatar invasion and wrote in his Carmen Miserabile ("Sad Song"): '...since there was no other town like Esztergom in Hungary, the Tatars were considering crossing the Danube to pitch a camp there...', which was exactly what happened after the Danube froze. The capital of the Árpád-age was destroyed in a vicious battle. Though, according to the certificates that remained intact, some of the residents (those who escaped into the castle) survived and new residents settled in the area and soon started rebuilding the town, it lost its leading role. Béla IV gave the palace and castle to the archbishop, and changed his residence to Buda. He himself and his family however, were buried in the Franciscan church in Esztergom, which had been destroyed during the invasion, and which had been rebuilt by him in 1270.

Photos of the Castle of Visegrad, Esztergom Hungary

Following these events, the castle was built and decorated by the bishops. The center of the king’s town however, which is surrounded by wall, was still of royal authority. A number of different monasteries did return or settle in the religious center.

Meanwhile the citizenry had been fighting for maintaining or reclaiming the rights of towns, against the expansion of the church within the regal town. In the chaotic years after the fall of the House of Árpád, Esztergom suffered another calamity: in 1304, the forces of Wenceslaus II, the Czech king occupied and raided the castle. In the years to come, the castle was owned by several individuals: Róbert Károly, and then Louis the Great patronized the town. In 1327, Kovácsi, the most influential suburb of the town, lying in the southeast, was united with Esztergom. The former suburb had three churches with mainly blacksmith, goldsmith, and coiner residents.

Photos of the Castle of Visegrad, Esztergom Hungary

In the 14th and 15th centuries Esztergom saw events of great importance and became one of the most influential acropolis of Hungarian culture alongside with Buda. Their courts, which were similar to the royal courts of Buda and Visegrád, were visited by such kings and scientists, artists as Louis the Great, Sigismund of Luxembourg, King Matthias Corvinus, Galeotto Marzio, Regiomontanus, the famous astronomer Márton Ilkus and Georg Peuerbach, Pier Paolo Vergerio and Antonio Bonfini, King Matthias’ historian, who, in his work praises the constructive work of János Vitéz, King Matthias’ educator. He had a library and an observatory built next to the cathedral. As Bonfini wrote about his masterpiece, his palace and terraced gardens: ‘… he had a spacious room for knights built in the castle. In front of that, he built a wonderful loggia of red marble. In front of the room, he built the Chapel of Sybils, whose walls were decorated with paintings of the sybils. On the walls of the knights’ room, not only the likeness of all the kings could be found, but also the Scythian ancestors. He also had a double garden constructed, which was decorated with columns and a corridor above them. Between the two gardens, he built a round tower of red marble with several rooms and balconies. .. He had Saint Adalbert’s Basilica covered with glass tiles… ‘. King Matthias’ widow, Beatrix of Aragon, lived in the castle of Esztergom for ten years (1490–1500).

Photos of the Castle of Visegrad, Esztergom Hungary

The time of the next resident, Archbishop Tamás Bakócz (†l521) gave the town significant monuments. In 1507 he had Italian architects build the Bakócz chapel, which is the earliest and most significant Renaissance building which has survived in Hungary. The altarpiece of the chapel was carved from white marble by Andrea Ferrucci, a sculptor from Fiesole in 1519.

The Turkish conquest of Mohács in 1526 brought a decline to the previously flourishing Esztergom as well. In the battle of Mohács, also the archbishop of Esztergom died. In the period between 1526 and 1543, when two rival kings reigned in Hungary, Esztergom was besieged six times. At time the forces of Ferdinand I or John Zápolya, at other times the Turkish attacked. Finally, in 1530, Ferdinand I occupied the castle. He put foreign mercenaries in the castle, and sent the chapter and the bishopric to Nagyszombat and Pozsony (that is why some of the treasury, the archives and the library survived). In 1543 Sultan Suleiman I attacked the castle with an enormous army and countless cannons. Following two years of heroic struggle of resistance, the foreign (Spanish, Italian and German) guards betrayed the castle. This was the period when the outskirts were finally destroyed. The damaged buildings were not rebuilt any more. All means were used to rebuild and strengthen the fortresses or to build new ones. At the same time, the eastern section of the Saint Adalbert Church and other significant buildings of the castle were devastated.

Esztergom was the centre of a Turkish sanjak controlling several counties, and also a significant castle on the northwest border of the Turkish Empire – the main clashing point to prevent attacks on the mining towns of the highlands, Vienna and Buda. In 1594, during the unsuccessful but devastating siege by the walls of the Víziváros, Bálint Balassa, the first Hungarian poet who gained European significance, died in action.

Photos of the Basilica Esztergom Hungary

The most devastating siege took place in 1595 when the castle was reclaimed by the troops of Count Karl von Mansfeld and Count Mátyás Cseszneky. The price that had to be paid, however, was high. Most of the buildings in the castle and the town that had been built in the Middle Ages were destroyed during this period, and there were only uninhabitable, smothered ruins to welcome the liberators. From 1605 to 1683 the Turkish ruled in the castle, as well as the whole region again.

Though the Turkish were mainly engaged in building and fortifying the castle, they also built significant new buildings including Jamis, mosques, minarets, baths. These instalments, along with the contemporary buildings, were destroyed in the siege of 1683 resulting in the liberation of Esztergom - though some Turkish buildings prevailed up to the beginning of the 18th century. The last time the Turkish attacked Esztergom was in 1685. During the following year Buda was liberated as well. During these battles did János Bottyán, captain of the cavalry, later the legendary figure of the Rákóczi war of independence disappear. All that had been rebuilt at the end of the century was destroyed and burnt down during Ferenc Rákóczi’s long lasting, but finally successful siege.

The destroyed territory was settled in by Hungarian, Slovakian and German settlers. This was when the new national landscape developed. In the area where there had previously been 65 Hungarian villages, only 22 were rebuilt. Though the reconstructed town received its free royal rights, its size and significance marked only the shadow of its old self.

Handicrafts gained strength and in around 1730, there were 17 independent crafts operating in Esztergom. Wine-culture was also of major significance. This was also the period when the Baroque view of the downtown area and the Víziváros (Watertown) were developed. The old town's main characteristic is the simplicity and moderateness of its citizen Baroque architecture. The most beautiful buildings can be found around the marketplace (Széchenyi square).

In 1761 the bishopric regained control over the castle, where they started the preliminary processes of the reconstruction of the new religious center: the middle of the Várhegy (Castle Hill), the remains of Saint Stephen and Saint Adalbert churches were carried away to provide room for the new cathedral.

Although the major construction work and the resettlement of the bishopric (1820) played a significant role in the town's life, the pace of Esztergom’s development gradually slowed down, and work on the new Basilica came to a halt.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Esztergom gained significance owing to its cultural and educational institutions as well as to being an administrative capital. The town’s situation turned worse after the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, after which it became a border town and lost most of its previous territory.

This was also the place where the poet Mihály Babits spent his summers from 1924 to his death in 1941. The poet's residence was one of the centers of the country's literary life; he had a significant effect on intellectual life in Esztergom.

Photos of the Basilica Interior Esztergom Hungary

Esztergom had one of the oldest Jewish communities in Hungary. They had a place of worship here by 1050. King Charles I (Caroberto) gifted a plot to the community for a cemetery in 1326.

According to the 1910 census, 5.1% of the population were Jewish. The 1941 census found 1510 Jews here. The community maintained an elementary school until 1944. Jewish shops were ordered to be closed on April 28, 1944, the short-lived ghetto was set up on May 11. The former Jewish shops were handed over to non-Jews on June 9. The inmates of the ghetto were sent to Komárom in early June, then deported to Auschwitz on June 16, 1944. Two forced labor units, whose members were mainly Esztergom Jews, were executed en masse near Ágfalva, on the Austrian border in January, 1945.

Soviet troops captured the town on December 26, 1944, but were pushed back by the Germans on January 6, 1945, who were finally ousted on March 21, 1945.

The Magyar Suzuki Corporation plant opened in 1992, and is now the biggest employer in the city.

The Mária Valéria bridge, connecting Esztergom with the city of Štúrovo in Slovakia was rebuilt in 2001 with the support of the European Union. Originally it was inaugurated in 1895, but the retreating German troops destroyed it in 1944. A new thermal and wellness spa opened in November, 2005.

ARCHITECTURE

One of the most important events of the 1930s was the exploration and renovation of the remains of the palace of the Árpád period. This again put Esztergom in the center of attention. Following World War II, Esztergom was left behind as one of the most severely devastated towns. However, reconstruction slowly managed to erase the traces of the war, with two of Esztergom’s most vital characteristics gaining significance: due to its situation it was the cultural center of the area (more than 8,000 students were educated at its elementary, secondary schools and college ). On the other hand, as a result of the local industrial development it has become a vital basis for the Hungarian tool and machinery industry. Those traveling to Esztergom today can admire the most monumental construction of Hungarian Classicism, the Basilica, which silently rules the landscape above the winding Danube, surrounded by mountains.

The building that might be considered the symbol of the town is the largest church in Hungary and was built according the plans of Pál Kühnel, János Páckh and József Hild from 1822 to 1869. Ferenc Liszt wrote the Mass of Esztergom for this occasion. The classicist church is enormous: the height of the dome is 71,5 meters; it has giant arches and an enormous altar-piece by Michelangelo Grigoletti. On one side, in the Saint Stephen chapel, the glittering relics of Hungarian and other nations’ saints and valuable jewellery can be seen. On the south side, the Bakócz Chapel, the only one that survived the Middle Ages, can be seen. The builders of the Basilica had disassembled this structure into 1600 pieces, and incorporated it into the new church in its original form.

Photos of Esztergom Basilica Hungary

The treasury houses many masterpieces of medieval goldsmith's works. The western European masters’ hands are praised by such items as the crown silver cross that has been used since the 13th century, the ornate chalices, Francesco Francia’s processional cross, the upper part of the well-known ‘Matthias-Calvary’ which is decorated in the rare ronde-bosse enamel technique. The Treasury also has a vast collection of traditional Hungarian and European textiles, including chasubles, liturgical vestments and robes.

The sound of the enormous bell hung in the southern tower can be heard from kilometers away. From the top of the large dome , visitors can see a breath-taking view: to the north, east and south the ranges of the Börzsöny, Visegrád, Pilis and Gerecse mountains rule the landscape, while to the west, in the valley of the Danube one can see as far as the Small Plains.

The winding streets of the town, with its church towers create a historical atmosphere. Below the Basilica, at the edge of the mountain stand the old walls, bastions and rondellas – the remains of the castle of Esztergom. The remains of one section of the royal palace and castle that had been built during the Turkish rule had been buried in the ground up until the 1930s.

Most parts of the palace were explored and restored in the period between 1934 and 1938, but even today there are archeological excavations in progress. Passing through the narrow stairs, alleys, under arches and gates built in Romanesque style, a part of the past seems to come to life. This part of the palace was built in the time of King Béla III. With his wife - the daughter of Louis VII - French architects arrived and constructed the late-Roman and early-Gothic building at the end of the 12th century.

Photos of the Basilica Interior Esztergom Hungary

The frescoes of the palace chapel date from the 12th-14th centuries, while on the walls of the mottes, some of the most beautiful paintings of the early Hungarian Renaissance can be admired (15th c.). From the terrace of the palace one can admire the landscape of Esztergom. Under the terrace are the houses and churches of the Bishop-town section, or ‘Víziváros’ (Watertown) and the Primate's Palace. Opposite the palace is the Saint Thomas hill, and surrounded by the mountains and the Danube. The walls of the castle still stand on the northern part of the Basilica. From the northern rondella one can admire the view of Párkány on the other side of the Danube as well as the Szentgyörgymező, the Danube valley, and the So-called ‘Víziváros’ (Watertown) districts.

The Víziváros (Watertown) section was named after being built on the banks of the Kis- and Nagy Duna (Small and Great Danube). Its fortresses, walls, bastions and Turkish rondellas can still be seen by the walk on the banks of the Danube. By the northern end of the wall, on the bank of the Nagy-Duna, an interesting memorial is put, a stone table with Turkish writings commemorates Sultan Suleiman’s victorious siege of 1543. The narrow, winding streets within the walls hide the remains of Turkish mosques and baths.

Along the delightful streets of the Víziváros (Watertown), surrounded by Baroque and Classicist buildings stands the Primate's Palace, designed by József Lippert (1880–82). The Keresztény Múzeum (Christian museum), founded by Archbishop János Simor, is located in this building. It houses a rich collection of Hungarian panel pictures and sculpture of the Middle Ages as well as Italian and western-European paintings and handicrafts (13th-18th c.). This is where one can admire the chapel-like structure of the late Gothic ‘Úrkoporsó’ (Lord's coffin) from Garamszentbenedek that is decorated by painted wooden sculptures (c. 1480), the winged altar-piece by Thomas of Coloswar (1427), paintings by Master M.S. (1506), the gothic altars from Upper Historical Hungary (Felvidék), handicrafts of Italian, German and Flemish artists from the 13th–17th centuries, tapestries and ceramics.

Photos of the Balassa Bálint Museum Esztergom Hungary

The building of the Balassa Bálint Museum that was built in Baroque style on medieval bases and is located in Víziváros (Watertown), served as the first town hall of Esztergom county after the Turks had been driven out of the region.

The parish-church in the centre of the Víziváros (Watertown), which was built by the Jesuits between 1728 and 1738, and the single-towered Franciscan churches are also masterpieces of Baroque architecture.

The Cathedral Library standing in the southern part of the town, which was built in 1853 according to plans by József Hild is one of the richest religious libraries of Hungary, accommodating approximately 250,000 books, among which several codices and incunabula can be found, such as the Latin explanation of the ‘Song of Songs’ from the 12th century, the ‘Lövöföldi Corvina’ originating from donations of King Matthias, or the Jordánszky-codex, which includes the Hungarian translation of the Bible from 1516-1519. Along with Bakócz and Ulászló graduals, they conserve also the Balassa Bible, in which Balassa’s uncle, Balassa András wrote down the circumstances of his birth and death.

Photos of the Balassa Bálint Museum Esztergom Hungary

The main sight of the nearby ‘Szent-Tamás hegy’ (Saint Thomas Hill) is the Baroque Calvary, with the Classicist chapel on the top of the hill, which was built to commemorate the heroes who died for Esztergom. The hill was named after a church built by Bishop Lukács Bánffy in memoriam the martyr Saint Thomas Becket, who had been his fellow student at the University of Paris. The church and the small castle which the Turks built there were destroyed a long time ago. On its original spot, the top of the hill, the narrow winding streets and small houses that were built by the masters who were working on the construction of the Basilica at the beginning of the previous century, have an atmosphere that is similar to that of Tabán in Buda. At the foot of the hill are the swimming pool and the Classicist building of the Fürdő Szálló (Bath Hotel). This is where Lajos Kossuth stayed in 1848 on one of his recruiting tours.

On the southern slopes of the hill there is a Mediterranean, winding path with stairs that lead to the Baroque Saint Stephen chapel. The main square of the town is the Széchényi square. Of the several buildings of Baroque, Rococo and Classicist style, there is one that catches everyone’s eyes: the Town Hall. Originally, it used to be the single-floor curia of Vak Bottyán (János Bottyán, Bottyán the Blind), the Kuruc general (1689). The first floor was constructed on its top in 1729. The house burnt down in the 1750s. It was rebuilt in accordance with the plans of a local architect, Antal Hartmann. Upon its façade there is a red marble carving which presents the coat of arms of Esztergom (a palace within the castle walls, protected by towers, with the Árpáds’ shields below.) On the corner of the building the equestrian statue of Vak Bottyán (created by István Martsa) commemorates the original owner of the house.

The Trinity-statue in the middle of the square was created by György Kiss in 1900. In Bottyán János Street, near the Town Hall, there are well decorated Baroque houses. This is where the Franciscan church is located (built between 1700–1755). Opposite this building there is a Baroque palace which used to belong to the Sándor Earl family.

In the direction of the Kis Duna, the downtown parish-church, built by the architect Ignác Oratsek can be admired. A bit farther is the Classicist Church of Saint Anne. The orthodox church at 60 Kossuth Lajos street was built around 1770 by Serbian settlers in Esztergom.

This town, with its spectacular scenery and numerous memorials, a witness of the struggles of Hungarian history, is popular mostly with tourists interested in the beauties of the past and art. However, the town seems to regain its role in the country’s politics, and its buildings and traditions revive.

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Stock Photography, photos and pictures of Esztergom

2010-02-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

This collection of stock photos photography shows photos of Esztergom and its Basilica. Click Here to See.

Esztergom is a city in northern Hungary, about 50 km north-west of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom county, on the right bank of the river Danube, which forms the border with Slovakia there. Esztergom was the capital of Hungary from the 10th till the mid-13th century when King Béla IV of Hungary moved the royal seat to Buda.

Esztergom is the seat of the prímás (Primate) of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. It's also the official seat of the Constitutional Court of Hungary. The city has the Keresztény Múzeum, the largest ecclesiastical collection in Hungary. Its cathedral, Esztergom Basilica is the largest church in Hungary.

Photos of the Basilica Esztergom Hungary

HISTORY

Esztergom is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. Throughout its rich history, times of great kings, significant events, rich palaces and churches. Esztergom, as it existed in the Middle Ages, now rests under today's town The results of the most recent archeological excavations reveal that the Várhegy (Castle Hill) and its vicinity have been inhabited since the end of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago. The first people known by name were the Celts from Western Europe, who settled in the region in about 350 BC. Under their center on the Várhegy (oppidum) lay their expansive flourishing settlement until the Roman legions conquered the region. Thereafter it became an important border province of Pannonia, known by the name of Solva. The German and Avar archeological finds found in the area reveal that these people settled in the period of the migrations that were caused by the fall of the Roman Empire. Within the borders of the town, remains of its founding ancestors were found.

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Photos of Pizzas and Pizza Facts.

2010-02-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

To see our Pizza Stock photos Click here.

Pizza is a world-popular dish of Italian origin, made with an oven-baked, flat, generally round bread that is often covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based sauce and cheese. Other toppings are added according to region, culture, or personal preference. In our stock photos photography f Pizzas you will find classic topped pizzas.

Originating in Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many different parts of the world. A shop or restaurant that primarily makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria". The phrases "pizza parlor", "pizza place" and "pizza shop" are used in the United States. The term pizza pie is dialectal, and pie is used for simplicity in some contexts, such as among pizzeria staff.

The origin of the word "pizza" is unclear, but by 997 it had appeared in Medieval Latin, and in 16th century Naples a galette flatbread was referred to as a pizza. The pizza was a baker's tool: a dough used to verify the temperature of the oven. A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time.

Before the 17th century, the pizza was covered with white sauce. This was later replaced by oil, cheese, tomatoes or fish. In 1843, Alexandre Dumas, père described the diversity of pizza toppings. In June 1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, the Neapolitan chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita," a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. He was the first to add cheese. The sequence through which flavored flatbreads of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean became the dish popularized in the 20th century is not fully understood.

ORIGINS

Pizza is one of the oldest prepared foods and dates to the Neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history.

In Sardinia, French and Italian archeologists have found a kind of bread baked over 3,000 years ago.[citation needed] According to Professor Philippe Marinval, the local islanders knew and used the leaven.

The Ancient Greeks had a flat bread called plakous (πλακοῦς, gen. πλακοῦντος - plakountos) which was flavored with toppings like herbs, onion, and garlic.

It is said that soldiers of the Persian King, Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.) baked a flat bread on their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates.

In the 1st century BC, the Latin poet Virgil refers to the ancient idea of bread as an edible plate or trencher for other foods in this extract from his Latin poem, the Aeneid:

Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band

Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,

To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.

Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:

“See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”

These flatbreads, like pizza, are from the Mediterranean area and other examples of flat breads that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world are focaccia (which may date back as far as the Ancient Etruscans), coca (which has sweet and savory varieties) from Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, the Greek Pita or Pide in Turkish or Piadina in the Romagna part of Emilia-Romagan in Italy.

Similar flat breads in other parts of the world include the Indian Paratha, the South Asian Naan, the Sardinian Carasau, Spianata, Guttiau, Pistoccu, the Alsatian Flammkuchen and Finnish Rieska.

INNOVATIONS

The innovation that gave us the flat bread we call pizza was the use of tomato as a topping. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). However, by the late 18th century it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza was born. The dish gained in popularity, and soon pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.

Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries. Pizzerias keep this age-old tradition alive today. It is possible to enjoy pizza wrapped in paper and a drink sold from open-air stands outside the premises. Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba in Naples is widely regarded as the city's first pizzeria. They started producing pizzas for peddlers in 1738 but expanded to a pizza restaurant with chairs and tables in 1830. They still serve pizza from the same premises today.

A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the French writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas, père in his work Le Corricolo, Chapter VIII. He writes that pizza was the only food of the humble people in Naples during winter and that "in Naples pizza is flavored with oil, lard, tallow, cheese, tomato, or anchovies."

The Neapolitans take their pizza very seriously. Purists, like the famous pizzeria “Da Michele” in Via C. Sersale (founded: 1870), consider there to be only two true pizzas — the Marinara and the Margherita — and that is all they serve. These two "pure" pizzas are the ones preferred by many Italians today.

The Marinara is the older of the two and has a topping of tomato, oregano, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. It is named “Marinara” not because it has seafood on it (it doesn't) but because it was the food prepared by "la marinara", the seaman's wife, for her sea faring husband when he returned from fishing trips in the Bay of Naples.

The Margherita, topped with modest amounts of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil is widely attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito. Esposito worked at the pizzeria "Pietro... e basta così" (literally "Peter... and that's enough") which was established in 1880 and is still operating under the name "Pizzeria Brandi." In 1889, he baked three different pizzas for the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The Queen's favorite was a pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag — green (basil leaves), white (mozzarella), and red (tomatoes). This combination was named Pizza Margherita in her honor.

"Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana"[7] ("True Neapolitan Pizza Association"), which was founded in 1984 and only recognises the Marinara and Margherita verace, has set the very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These include that the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven at 485°C for no more than 60 to 90 seconds; that the base must be hand-kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means (i pizzaioli — the pizza makers — make the pizza by rolling it with their fingers) and that the pizza must not exceed 35 centimetres in diameter or be more than one-third of a centimetre thick at the centre. The association also selects pizzerias all around the world to produce and spread the verace pizza napoletana philosophy and method.

There are many famous pizzerias in Naples where these traditional pizzas can be found like Da Michele, Port'Alba, Brandi, Di Matteo, Sorbillo, Trianon and Umberto (founded: 1916). Most of them are in the ancient historical centre of Naples. These pizzerias will go even further than the specified rules by, for example, only using "San Marzano" tomatoes grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and only drizzling the olive oil and adding tomato topping in a clockwise direction.

The pizza bases in Naples are soft and pliable. In Rome they prefer a thin and crispy base. Another popular form of pizza in Italy is "pizza al taglio" which is pizza baked in rectangular trays with a wide variety of toppings and sold by weight.

In December 2009, the pizza napoletana was granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status by the European Union.

Pizza types

Authentic Neapolitan pizza margherita, the base for most kinds of pizza. In Italy there is a bill before Parliament to safeguard the traditional Italian pizza,[10] specifying permissible ingredients and methods of processing[11] (e.g., excluding frozen pizzas). Only pizzas which followed these guidelines could be called "traditional Italian pizzas", at least in Italy.

On 9 December 2009 the European Union, upon Italian request, granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) safeguard to traditional Neapolitan pizza, in particular to "Margherita" and "marinara".[12] The European Union enacted a protected designation of origin system in the 1990s.

Neapolitan pizza (pizza napoletana): Authentic Neapolitan pizzas are made with local ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, which is made with water buffalo milk. According to the rules proposed by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of Italian wheat flour (type 0 or 00, or a mixture of both), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other machine, and may be no more than 3 mm (⅛ in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire. When cooked, it should be crispy, tender and fragrant. There are three official variants: pizza marinara, which is made with tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil (although most Neapolitan pizzerias also add basil to the marinara), pizza Margherita, made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, and pizza Margherita extra made with tomato, mozzarella from Campania in fillets, basil and extra virgin olive oil.

The pizza napoletana is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (Specialità Tradizionale Garantita, STG) product in Italy.

Lazio style: Pizza in Lazio (Rome), as well as in many other parts of Italy, is available in two different styles: Take-away shops sell pizza rustica or pizza al taglio. This pizza is cooked in long, rectangular baking pans and relatively thick (1–2 cm). The crust is similar to that of an English muffin, and the pizza is often cooked in an electric oven. It is usually cut with scissors or a knife and sold by weight. In pizza restaurants (pizzerias), pizza is served in a dish in its traditional round shape. It has a thin, crisp base quite different from the thicker and softer Neapolitan style base. It is usually cooked in a wood-fired oven, giving the pizza its unique flavor and texture. In Rome, a pizza napoletana is topped with tomato, mozzarella, anchovies and oil (thus, what in Naples is called pizza romana, in Rome is called pizza napoletana).

Types of Lazio-style pizza include:

Pizza romana (in Naples): tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil;

Pizza viennese: tomato, mozzarella, German sausage, oregano, oil;

Pizza capricciosa ("capricious pizza"): mozzarella, tomato, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives, oil (in Rome, prosciutto raw ham is used and half a hard-boiled egg is added);

Pizza quattro stagioni ("four seasons pizza"): same ingredients for the capricciosa, but ingredients not mixed;

Pizza quattro formaggi ("four cheese pizza"): tomatoes, mozzarella, stracchino, fontina, gorgonzola (sometimes ricotta can be swapped for one of the last three);

Sicilian-style pizza has its toppings baked directly into the crust. An authentic recipe uses neither cheese nor anchovies. ("Sicilian" pizza in the United States is typically a different variety of product, made with a thick crust characterized by a rectangular shape and topped with tomato sauce, cheese and optional toppings. Pizza Hut's "Sicilian Pizza", introduced in 1994, is not an authentic example of the style as only garlic, basil, and oregano are mixed into the crust);

White pizza (pizza bianca) omits the tomato sauce, often substituting pesto or dairy products such as sour cream. Most commonly, especially on the East coast of the United States, the toppings consist only of mozzarella and ricotta cheese drizzled with olive oil and spices like fresh basil and garlic. In Rome, the term pizza bianca refers to a type of bread topped with olive oil, salt and, occasionally, rosemary sprigs. It is also a Roman style to bottom the white pizza with figs, the result being known as pizza e fichi (pizza with figs);

Ripieno or calzone is a turnover-style pizza filled with several ingredients, such as ricotta, salami and mozzarella, and folded over to form a half circle before being baked. In Italian calzone literally means "large sock", while the word ripieno actually means just "filling" and does not by itself imply a form of pizza.

OUR OTHER ITALIAN FOOD STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS

Stock Photography of Traditional Italian food - Spaghetti and pasta, Risottos and Bruschetta Photos

OUR OTHER ITALY TRAVEL STOCK PHOTO COLLECTIONS

Stock Photos and images of Venice

Stock Photos photography of Burano

Stock Photos and images of Rome

Stock Photos and photography of Alberobello

Stock Photos and photography of Portofino

Stock Photos and photography of Pisa

Stock Photos and photograpohy of Florence

Stock Photos of San Gimignano

Stock Photos and photography of Amalfi

Stock Photos of Amalfi

Stock Photos and photography of Positano

Photos Of Budapest and Facts

2010-02-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

This collection of stock photos photography shows photos of Esztergom and its Basilica. Click Here to See.

FACTS ABOUT BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.

Budapest is the capital and the largest city of Hungary. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In this stock photography collection you will find photos of Budapest showing images all aspects of the capital

In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants. The area of the city is 525.16 square kilometres (202.8 square miles). Population is around 1,700,000 inhabitants and the population density is 3,233 inhabitants per square kilometre. It is the ninth most populous city in the European Union.

Originally 3 towns of Óbuda, Buda and Pest Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of right (west)-bank Buda and Óbuda with left (east)-bank Pest.

Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement, was the direct ancestor of Budapest, becoming the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Magyars arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, development of the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification. It also became the second capital of Austria-Hungary, a great power that dissolved in 1918.

Photos of Budapest Castle District, Palace and Lanhid (Chain Bridge)

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Ostapenko in The Mimento Park Budapest

Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest of 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.

Regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, its extensive World Heritage Site includes the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, the second oldest in the world. Other highlights include a total of 80 geothermal springs, the world's largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue, and third largest Parliament building. The collections of the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts are also significant. The most famous Streets and Avenues are Andrássy Avenue, Váci Street and Danube Promenade.

The Socialst and communist sculptures that used to be centre pieces of the great squares of Budapest are now in the Budapest Statue Park called the Memento Park. Our photo collection include photos of the statues including the well loved statue of the soldier Ostapenko who used to stand at entrance to Buda on main road from Vienna.

Dividing Pest and Buda is the Danube (Duna). There are several notable islands on the Danube Hajógyári sziget (literal translation: Shipyard Island), Margitsziget (Margaret Island), Csepel sziget, Palotai-sziget, Népsziget, Háros-sziget and Molnár-sziget.

Photos Of Budapest Palace on Castle Hill

HISTORY

The first settlement on the territory of Budapest was Ak-Ink, meaning Abundant Water, built by Celts. before 1 AD. It was later occupied by the Romans. The Roman settlement - Aquincum - became the main city of Lower Pannonia in 106 AD. The Romans constructed roads, amphitheaters, baths and houses with heated floors in this fortified military camp.

The peace treaty of 829 added Pannonia to Bulgaria due to the victory of Bulgarian army of Omurtag over Holy Roman Empire of Louis the Pious. Budapest arose out of two Bulgarian military frontier fortresses Buda and Pest, situated on the two banks of Danube. Hungarians led by Árpád settled in the territory at the end of the 9th century, and a century later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary. Research places the probable residence of the Árpáds as an early place of central power near what became Budapest. The Tatar invasion in the 13th century quickly proved that defence is difficult on a plain. King Béla IV of Hungary therefore ordered the construction of reinforced stone walls around the towns and set his own royal palace on the top of the protecting hills of Buda. In 1361 it became the capital of Hungary.

Photography of Statues of Hero Square Budapest

The cultural role of Buda was particularly significant during the reign of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. The Italian Renaissance had a great influence on the city. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second only in size to the Vatican Library. After the foundation of the first Hungarian university in Pécs in 1367 the second one was established in Óbuda in 1395. The first Hungarian book was printed in Buda in 1473.

The Ottomans pillaged Buda in 1526, besieged it in 1529, and finally occupied it in 1541. The Turkish occupation lasted for more than 140 years. The Turks constructed some fine bathing facilities here. The unoccupied western part of the country became part of the Habsburg Empire as Royal Hungary.

Photos of Budapest Parliament

In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed campaign was started to enter the Hungarian capital. This time, the Holy League's army was twice as large, containing over 74,000 men, including German, Croat, Dutch, Hungarian, English, Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Burgundian, Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as volunteers, artilleryman, and officers, the Christian forces reconquered Buda, and in the next few years, all of the former Hungarian lands, except areas near Timişoara (Temesvár), were taken from the Turks. In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz these territorial changes were officially recognized, and in 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was removed from Ottoman rule. The city was destroyed during the battle. Hungary was then incorporated into the Habsburg Empire.

In 1715 the population of Budapest was 19.4% Magyars (Hungarians) 55.6% Germans and 2.2% Slovaks. The long wars that were fought over Hungary left the country underpopulated so the Hapsburgs invited Swabs from Germany to form communities along the Danube.

The nineteenth century was dominated by the Hungarians' struggle for independence and modernization. The national insurrection against the Habsburgs began in the Hungarian capital in 1848 and was defeated a little more than a year later.

The Hungarian State Opera House, built in the time of Austria-Hungary. 1867 was the year of Reconciliation that brought about the birth of Austria-Hungary. This made Budapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It was this compromise which opened the second great phase of development in the history of Budapest, lasting until World War I. In 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Ancient Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The dynamic Pest grew into the country's administrative, political, economic, trade and cultural hub. Budapest went from about 80% German-speaking in 1848 to about 80% Hungarian-speaking in 1880. World War I brought the Golden Age to an end. In 1918 Austria-Hungary lost the war and collapsed; Hungary declared itself an independent republic. In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon finalized the country's partition, as a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory, about two-thirds of its inhabitants under the treaty including 3.3 million out of 10 million ethnic Hungarians.

In 1944, towards the end of World War II, Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids. From 24 December 1944 to 13 February 1945, the city was besieged during the Battle of Budapest. Budapest suffered major damage caused by the attacking Soviet troops and the defending German and Hungarian troops. All bridges were destroyed by the Germans. More than 38,000 civilians lost their lives during the conflict.

Photos of Jewish Memorial by the Danube Budapest

In 1949, Hungary was declared a communist People's Republic. The new Communist government considered the buildings like the Buda Castle symbols of the former regime, and during the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors were destroyed.

In 1956, peaceful demonstrations in Budapest led to the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution. The Leadership collapsed after mass demonstrations began on 23 October, but Soviet tanks entered Budapest to crush the revolt. Fighting continued until early November, leaving more than 3000 dead.

Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died through Nazi and Arrow Cross Party genocide during 1944 and early 1945.[37] Despite this, modern day Budapest has the highest number of Jewish citizens per capita of any European city.
In 1949, Hungary was declared a communist People's Republic. The new Communist government considered the buildings like the Buda Castle symbols of the former regime, and during the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors were destroyed.
In 1956, peaceful demonstrations in Budapest led to the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution. The Leadership collapsed after mass demonstrations began on 23 October, but Soviet tanks entered Budapest to crush the revolt. Fighting continued until early November, leaving more than 3000 dead.

Photos of Children in the Citadel Park Budapest

From the 1960s to the late 1980s Hungary was often satirically referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc, and much of the wartime damage to the city was finally repaired. Work on Erzsébet Bridge, the last to be rebuilt, was finished in 1965. In the early 1970s, Budapest Metro's East-West M2 line was first opened, followed by the M3 line in 1982. In 1987, Buda Castle and the banks of the Danube were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Andrassy Avenue (including the Millennium Underground Railway, Hősök tere and Városliget) was added to the UNESCO list in 2002. In the 1980s the city's population reached 2.1 million. In recent times a significant decrease in habitants occurred mainly due to a massive movement to the neighbouring agglomeration in Pest county. In the last decades of the 20th century the political changes of 1989-90 concealed changes in civil society and along the streets of Budapest. The monuments of the dictatorship were taken down from public places, into Memento Park.

Photography of Centinary Castle Budapest

GEOGRAPHY

The 525 km2 area of Budapest lies in central Hungary surrounded by settlements of the agglomeration in Pest county. The capital extends 25 and 29 kilometers in the north-south, east-west direction respectively. The Danube enters the city from the north; later it encircles two islands, Óbuda Island and Margaret Island. The third island Csepel Island is the largest of the Budapest Danube islands, however only its northernmost tip is within city limits. The river that separates the two parts of the city is only 230 m (755 ft) wide at its narrowest point in Budapest. Pest lies on the flat terrain of the Great Plain while Buda is rather hilly. Pest's terrain rises with a slight eastward gradient, so the easternmost parts of the city lie at the same altitude as Buda's smallest hills, notably Gellért Hill and Castle Hill. The Buda hills consist mainly of limestone and dolomite, the water created speleothems, the most famous ones being the Pálvölgyi cave and the Szemlőhegyi cave. The hills were formed in the Triassic Era. The highest point of the hills and of Budapest is János hill, at 527 meters above sea level. The lowest point is the line of the Danube which is 96 meters above sea level. The forests of Buda hills are environmentally protected.

To Visit The Budapest Stock Photo Photography click here

Other Hungarian Photo Collections

Stock Photos of Budapest Mimento Statue Park

Stock Photography and images of Esztergom Hungary

Stock Photos of Visegrad, The Danube Bend, Hungary

Stock Photography of Eger and the Eger Wine Region

Stock Photos of Pecs, Hungary, European city of Culture 2010

Stock Photos of Hungaries Villany wine region, wine cellars and vineyards

Stock Photos and images of the Balaton Region, Hungary. The Balaton Vineyards and lake as well as Heviz

Stock Photos of Kaposvar in Hungary

Stock photography, images and photos of Gyor Hungary

Stock photos of the Baroque Eszterhazy Palace at Fertod, Hungary

Stock photos of Sopron Hungary

Stock photography and images of Koseg Hungary.

Stock Photos of Velem Hungary.

Stock photography of the Hajos wine region and Hajos wine Callars Hungary.

Stock Photosb of the paprika region of Kalocsa and its paprika festival, Hungary

Stock Photos of Kecskemet Hungary and its Sucession architecture

Stock photos of a traditional Hungarian Pig Killing Day and the making of Kolbasc

Stock photography and images of Hungarian animals including the Grey Cattle and The Mangalsca pig

Stock photos of Hungarian vineyards and wine cellars

Stock photography of Hungarian wine cellars with wine barrels and bottles.

Stock Photos Of Dubrovnik

2010-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

Dubrovnik is the Jewel in the crown of the Adriatic and is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Destroyed by an earthquake in 1667 and rebuilt in Ramanesque Baroque style, its beauty was again destroyed in 1991 by the bombing of the Balkan war. Restored again Dubrovnik is again a major tourist destination. The stock photos in Funky Stocks photo collections show arial views of the city. The stock photos collection also explores the streets and beautiful buildings of Dubrovnik.

To get more information on Dubrovnik visit Funk Stocks Dubrovnik fact sheet.

To see and buy stock photos of Dubrovnik visit Funky Stocks Dubrovnik Stock Photos Collection
To See other stock photos of Croatia visit our Croatian Stock Photos Collections
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Stock Photos Of Asparagus

2010-02-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

Asparagus is a seasonal delicacy of the late spring early summer depending upon the summer. The asparagus spear is the plants growing shoot and it pushes up out of the bare earth of asparagus fields. It is harvested constantly as new shoots are produced until the end of june when the shoots are allowed to grow and produce leaves to give the plant strength for the next season. England produces particularly fine asparagus from sandy fields in Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The delicate taste of asparagus is brought to perfection by boiling lightly and serving with a knob of butter. It is also fantastic in risotto, or salads and makes the most delicate creamy soup. Which ever way you like to eat asparagus it is always a seasonal delight.

In the stock photos of asparagus in Funky Stock's photo collection you will find stock photos of asparagus growing, being cut and in bunches. There are also stock photos of organic asparagus.

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To see other vegetable Stock Photos Collections Click Here
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Stock Photos Of Spring Blossom

2010-02-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

There is always a hint of magic in the air when spring blossom comes. Blossom sees the winter out and the summer in. In Funky Stocks Spring flowers collections there is a photo collection of blossom. You will find stock photos against white backgrounds for cutting out and stock photos of blossom on trees in orchards. In the stock photos collection there are images of white and pink cherry blossom, apple blossom and pink apricot blossom.

Click here to see Stock Photos of Blossom
Click here to see Stock Photos Of Spring Flowers like Daffodils
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Funky Stock On Photoshelter

2010-01-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Happy fruit shows stock photos of oranges, apples, pears and lemons with a smile cut into them. These stock photos are perfect for magazine articles about healthy fruit or for use as advertising posters to promote fruit. The fruit food photos would also make an impresive fruit home page photo or a photo to hang on your kitchen awll for fun.

Either way the happy fruit photos can be downloaded from our site on line or you can purchase photo prints on line as well.

visit our Happy Fruit Stock Photo and Print Page
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Stock Photos Of Lake Balaton with Photography of The Balaton Region

2010-01-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hungarians have a soft spot for Lake Balaton. It was the place most of them went for a holiday under socialism. Hungary is land locked and Balaton is where its beach resorts are. The largest fresh water lake in Central Europe, Lake Balaton is ringed by resort towns and "Strands", Hungarian for beaches. Once there were large cooperative hotel around Balaton owned and run by unions and associations for their members to holiday in. These have been replaced and the north shore of Balaton is going up market with 5 star hoteld and very smart new marinas catering for the Hungarian nouveau rich and Austrians. In this series of Balaton stock photos you will find photos of Lake Balaton but also photos and pictures of some of Balatons Vineyards around Badacsony. You will also see photos of Szigliget and picture of old Hungarian castles, as well as photography of its new Baroque palaces. We have also photographed the hot thermal water lakes at Heves, with photos of Heves famous buildings.

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Stock Photos of Villany Wine Region, Hungary Photos

2010-01-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hungary has produced wine since Roman times. The Turkish introduced the red grape with varieties like Kardaka that are now only grown in Hungary. The wine regions were neglected under socilism and even the Queen of wine, Tojay, suffered a drop in quality.

In recent times new wine makers have started to return Hungary back to its former high quality production and the Villany Region has benfited the most in Hungary from investment and modern marketing techniques. Villany wines are amonst the best in Hungary with fine wines commanding high prices. As Hungarians consume a very high percentage of their wine there are still some famous Villany wine makers that do not export their wine at all.

Villany is right in the south of Hungary on the Coatian border. Pecs is its nearest big city. The Villany region follows a line of hills that climb out of a flat plain. Next to Villany is the wine cellar village of villanykovesd. This is where the family growers still make wine in rows of small wine cellars which have tunnels stretching underground behind them. The big companies though have very big modern wine making cellars that cater for high volume and these are in Villany itself.

In this collection of stock photos you will find photos of Villany vineyards and photos of villanykovesd wine cellars

Visit Funky Stock Hungarian Wine Photos Collections
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