September 24, 2016
September 8, 2016
Asylum Steampunk Festival
The Asylum Steampunk Festival is the largest and longest running steampunk festival in the World, attracting participants from around the globe. It takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend in the historic City of Lincoln. Like all gatherings of semi-normal people this festival is fantastic fun – whether you are a steampunk or not (and we all are deep down) – so if you want a fun, entertaining and different time on one of the beautiful cities in England then be in Lincoln at Bank Holiday next year.
Go to The Asylum Steampunk website for more info on the Festival next year
Go to Collections for the pictures
August 31, 2016
Human Hamster Balls
This huge ‘Hamster Ball’ that kids can get into and roll around in is quite a common sight at the bigger country fairs. Basically a double skinned, air inflated ball made of very heavy clear PVC with a sealable door (so that you can roll on water as well!!), one places ones child inside and they bump around for 10 mins or until they get tired/sick or both. In some places they are on a shallow paddling pool which makes it easier for smaller children to move the ball.
They do not look like the images above though. In daylight they are the generic silver/clear colour of PVC everywhere and make a quite boring picture. However, shift the white balance of the image very slightly suddenly a rainbow of colours appear. Why? Its to do with the way the plastic both filters and polarises the light, and it was not untill I was processing the images that I found this effect. My guess is that this sort of colour shift will occur with other similar clear plastics – those see-through umbrellas for example. We shall see.
Aside from the artistic angle why are these wonderful things restricted to children? I have asked all the stall holders if I could have a go in one – I even offered to pay double the price – but no, its restricted to children. This is not fair.
They are called Zorb balls, and rolling around in one is called Zorbing. Cost about £300-£500 depending on type.
August 24, 2016
I’ve met this guy’s brother
Went into a shop the other day, as you do, and this guys twin brother was serving behind the counter. I suppose at a similar age I probably looked just as …different, so I shouldn’t really pass judgement.
But then again I’m old so I can say he looked a dork.
Just think, in 40 years time the young of today should have a complete photographic record of their various style changes. Unless of course the hard drive crashes or Apple goes out of business.
In case you are wondering its an Emu.
August 23, 2016
Punch and Judy
There is something both scary and very funny about Punch and Judy shows. I saw my first on on holiday on the south coast when I was four and it has stuck with me ever since. I remember being scared of Mr Punches voice, but totally unable to run away because I wanted to see what happened next. I’ve since photographed them whenever I come across them, and to be honest, they still slightly scare me.
August 22, 2016
Siblings
I was wandering through the center of Leeds one day and what should I see out of the courner of my eye but this happy pair. I’m not a great fan of tiny babies, much less tiny baby images but I decided to make an exception for these two. Naturally their mother and father were nowhere to be seen so I took a few snaps. This aroused quite a lot of interest from passers-by, as an old guy with a big camera photographing tiny helpless infants without so much as asking their parents is the stuff of Daily Mail headlines. Several people stopped to ask what I was doing. We discussed it and they all left very quickly – one lady in particular was visibly horrified when I drew her attention to what I was photographing.
You did look carefully didn’t you? They are life size dolls in a shop window. This is just two of the 100’s they had on sale. Both genders and all colours, totally realistic in ALL respects (I asked) – full body functions and with a £150 upgrade will breath, cry and even defecate after feeding.
The world is a strange place.
August 21, 2016
August 19, 2016
Window Vase
Saw this on a window sill in a ‘museum croft’ in the Orkneys. The textures were fantastic and it looks great in mono – mostly because there was not a lot of colour in the image anyway.
August 10, 2016
There is a banana on the radiator. I don’t know why
This website is having had a refresh.
I’ve had this site for almost 16 years and in all that time I have had everything from (badly) hand coded pages to full packages. Not all of them have worked very well, and in some cases I have broken them by just tinkering with them. Its fun though – or at least I think its fun.
This sort of site is called a ‘vanity site’ which the Urban Dictionary defines as a “Website run by an individual or small group purely for its own amusement. The site may try to promote some cause or idea, though not necessarily. ” In my case it gives me the chance to inflict my hobby and views on a defenceless world audience with very little comeback apart from spam in my email inbox
So, what am I going to actually ‘do’ with this tiny corner of the interwebs? Well to start with I’m going to put some of my totally fantastic images on here so that the world can marvel at my boundless talent. Or not, as the case may be. I might just post pictures of tomatoes.
Anyhow, thanks for reading this far and be happy in the knowledge that apart from me you are the only other person in the world to have read this!!