Life Observed

Ah!  Old whatisname.  He died back in the year 18 something and they put a seat in that there shady bower so we wouldn't forget him.

It is the school holidays and kids are everywhere, like ants. All that noise. All that running around.The arguments, the fights.  Is all this ruining your picnic? Then d o like this guy did... Put on a pair of child cancelling headphones .

There is a strange attraction about a deserted place of work. Secret urbex  photographers seek out decommissioned factories and power plants. It is there we find discarded time sheets, and dusty knobs that have not felt the hand of man for years. Here we find ourselves observing a motor mechanic's workbench . However, I suspect this is a confection of leftovers put together by the Earl of Carnarvon's staff for the benefit of visitors to Wilton House. The tin cans, old side valves and car horn are in stark contrast to what sits just outside the door.. A fine collection of motoring exotica featuring a Bugatti Veyron.  See: Work hard and this kind if thing could be yours.

We visited Greys Court at the weekend,a Tudow Country house near Henley. I would show you some pictures of the interior, but all photography is forbidden, and this always gets my back up . In this case the family retained some rights to the property when it passed into the hands of the NT, and as a result they don't want the general public snapping their domestic stuff. Fair enough I reluctantly suppose. So, here are a couple of views from the grounds: A memorial to a faithful gardener carved into a tree trunk complete with curved poem by W. De La Mer on the back. And a solitary sunflower keeps an eye on the roses and the medieval tower.

While we were out recently, I put the camera down on the pavement to get this perspective on life. It is a common perspective for some. Perhaps I could get myself a piece of cardboard and make some dosh: "Can you spare five quid mate? My Audi needs a service next month, and it's the big one..."

Breakfast, work, home, sleep. That's another day gone. There goes another week, and then it's almost the end of the month. Repeat that a dozen times and you have seen off another year. Repeat that sixty times.... Ooh, It fair makes your head spin.

See this?  This is my little world, this is where I live. This is the close. We look after each other here, and we don't take kindly to strangers. If you are thinking of visiting, be careful where you park your spaceship. (BTW. Any resemblance to a Turtle swimming through space is purely coincidental and should be ignored).

A Giant (ox-eye) Daisy captured in the rays of the setting sun. Aah. Lovely. Why do photographers use the word "capture"? Does it add gravitas to their pictures? It certainly sounds better than snap.   In either case the word serves as a verb and a noun, having been leveraged by the photographic community to greatly expedite enhanced descriptive acuity. Oh dear. I've started writing corporate drivel. Sorry about that. Nice Bokeh though...

If you are planning a day's fishing on the canal, it is always wise to check the state of things. Don't get caught out like this guy: He has completely failed to notice that it is the End of The World.

The Victorian Town Hall stands like a huge brick built ship in the market place. It sports a cast iron sign warning drivers that Traction Engines are forbidden in Mansion Street.  It also features this piece of public furniture: A drinking fountain with a text from the Gospel of John to refresh and uplift the passing pedestrian. These days it is unused and mostly ignored.

Do you need to raise the prestige of your otherwise drab town? I suggest you invest in some pretentious public sculpture . These come in various forms. There is the enigmatic smooth marble form, or something large and shiny with hundreds of tiny lights. However I suggest the "bare steel angular shape that goes rusty". This is very popular at the moment and can be banged out quickly by any local artist with access to a laser cutting shop.  If you need a short term boost, I suggest a String Quartet parked in the middle of the shopping precinct. You can never go wrong with a string quartet* Bear in mind that they will need to play "Four Seasons" by Vivaldi otherwise the shoppers will just assume it's some sort of fashion display. *The cheapest option would be an young local rock band. Many of these will play in public for free.

So.  I had some stuff in the garage that I needed to get rid of quickly, so like many others on the housing estate here, I went to see the local fence. They say if you need to get shot of some stuff, then you should go see the fence. There was no one around: So I lobbed the stuff over.

Dating from 1990s, this is an inadvertent selfie. It was taken long before the s-word was invented while standing outside the much missed Plough at Ashmansworth. Aah, Golden years. I could switch the answerphone on, shut the company down at lunchtime and cycle to the pub and enjoy a sunny afternoon. The world was a simpler place in those days. We didn't concern ourselves with such fripperies as colour. As you see, dear reader, I have always been a handsome beggar....

Here's a mean moody and magnificent low key picture of Canterbury Catherdal. I took this in 1972 during my university years there: Ah! Golden years, when it was cool and unusual to be young and studying electronics as an undergraduate.  Much has changed since then. Everyone takes a degree these days. The University up on the hill has expanded, with whole new colleges appearing on the campus. I would probably not recognise the place these days. Hopefully, the Cathedral has remained the same.  I assume they haven't turned it into some sort of general centre for crystal healing, colour therapy and spiritual contemplation.

Apparently the Moon has an agenda of its own. It wanders the heavens looking for interesting stuff, and every now and then these wanderings bring it into our back yard. When this combines with a full moon you get a particularly impressive sight. As I say, apparently. So it was this last weekend: It hung in the air like a large round hangy thing. Yes, I did deal with this topic before: Here's an example...

There are loads of programs on TV that detail the restoration of old cars. You know the plot already: A tired and rusting MG is dragged from a garage, teased into life, repainted and presented to it's delighted owner or sold to a new owner at the end of the program. Many of the boring aspects of the work are glossed over (we always get to see the new paint being applied because it makes a "nice shot"). Generally these programs feature larger than life characters in unlikely situations resulting in disagreement and confrontation. A bit like Eastenders then, but with cars.  If you have ever been near a film crew you will realise that television programs are edited so that any ordinary sequence of events is filled with larger than life characters in situations of disagreement and confrontation. Apparently we won't watch anything else.   Well, here's a restoration project with a nasty scratch , but I think it will polish out....

Poised like some Victorian rocket, the old bandstand seems ready to launch into the wild blue yonder. What happened to bandstands? I suppose the iPod happened. Why go listen to the band play in the park when you can listen to any band at any time anywhere in the world. Progress.

What's your point of view? Let's revisit this problem. Where do you stand? I suspect we all sympathise with the grass roots point of view. Surely that is the best way to look at things... Not necessarily:

I am still working. I need the money. Southern England is an expensive place to be.  Retiring is not an option with pensions in their current state.  Once upon a time I enjoyed my job and looked forward to each Monday, but not any more. Harrumph! So, I may be fraying at the edges, and I often wonder what I contribute at work these days, but aspiring youngsters can have my job when they pry it from my cold dead fingers... 

They say you are only as old as you feel. So next time someone calls you a miserable old bag , you just go ahead and ignore them.

Here's an odd thing. I wonder what befell this tree, alone and bare among its fellows this summer. (Click on the picture to see the full width version composed of four images stitched together). This view would capture the imagination of a landscape photographer, and makes him dream of returning at midnight with camera and tripod to capture the scene by moonlight. Unfortunately that kind of activity could get you arrested. This is private land, owned by a school.

Once upon a time all window glass in common houses would feature these broken lumps in the panes. These were the rejects from the process and fit only for the middle and lower classes. The upper crust of society would get the flatter sections of glass nearer the edge of the disk. In fact the phrase upper crust also tells a story of rank and privilege. In the past bread was sliced horizontally, to the upper crust was the part of the loaf that didn't have grit and charcoal from the oven in it, therefore the richer members of society had that.  The class system eh? What can you do about it?

The use of HDR (high dynamic range) and other local contrast processing methods is growing. At one time this was a specialised technique known only to enthusiasts. It was used for enhancing difficult scenes in subtle ways. These days you get HDR options on your phone and your camera, and as a result we see more pictures like this one. Our eyes accept it as a pleasing scene, but our minds tell us there is something wrong. It looks too real. Note the way the church steeple becomes darker as it rises against the sky. Spot the tell tale halo effect here and there. Resist the temptation, tone down that HDR. (It's Church Lane in Ledbury by the way)

The old Police Station in Midhurst is now a restaurant. "Enjoyed your tea and crumpets? Well, pay up or face a night in the cells"

Is this how the future will be? This kind of thing is lo longer confined to the Saturday market, you will see it in all sorts of quality establishments. Will standards decline until there are no standards left? Harrumph.

There is a technique to making impressive photographs. If you want to have folks tell you your pictures are excellent, then throw the poor ones away before anyone can see them. It is as simple as that: Just discard your failures. Keep the successes, and it makes you appear a better photographer. This May sunrise (5 a.m.) is a picture I should have discarded. It is close to good, but unfortunately it doesn't quite make the grade. I like the colours, I like the idea, but the tree should have been a tiny bit higher.  I am rather more satisfied with this one, a Kent winter sunset (5 p.m.). The masts interact well with the cold front sweeping in from the south. So there you go. Get weeding, and throw away the rubbish. What remains will therefore be brilliant.

Once upon a time, these were a common sight in Olde Englande. As a child I lived in a house with one of these, although by the late 'fifties it was unused. I guess they were considered a modern improvement in their time. Now, its a new age, and they have become something of a novelty...