Sunday Stills – Light My Fire

Stumbled upon Ed’s challenge via Cee and I could not resist this from an awesome wedding celebration…

Fire Dancer – Langkawi, Malaysia

Click to see this full size. Lit up by the flames you can see that it was raining…

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Car Interiors

Some images from Glorious Goodwood. In age order:

A 1938 Mercedes Benz W154

A 1967 Ferrari

The driver’s eye view from a 1970 Tyrell Cosworth

And finally (in the hopes someone buys and bank rolls them) a Caterham F1 car from 2013

I’m amazed by the number of buttons and dials the drivers need to keep track of while hurtling around at eye popping speeds and being subjected to body bending g forces.

Check in with Cee for more challenges and great photos.

Minimalist London

As a North Londoner I am having to make a slight geographical adjustment, the South Bank is not South London. The Sarf, is a barely habitable hinterland populated by barbarians and connected by nonsensically curving roads. Horse and cart country in the space age. The South Bank is a vibrant enclave of architecture and culture, with odd artistic gestures thrown in.

The block in the above serves no purpose. It just is. Perhaps the South Bank does share some characteristics with South London after all.

The mayor’s office is a lopsided little folly, and it is approached by way of this grey amphitheatre.

And then of course, because I was wondering around on the 11th of the 11th I hopped over the bridge to look at some poppies.

Cross Cultural Living and the Poppy

A year on, so time for a reblog

Ali Abbas

I was born in London, and apart from university and a year working away, I have lived my whole life there. My parents were born in India, and moved to Pakistan. If you trace my roots back far enough you will find yourself on the eastern shore of the Arabian Peninsula. I am a Muslim, I am a Shia. I wear a poppy on and around Remembrance Day, and it has never been a dilemma.

I have seen the armed forces of this country, my country; go to war against people who share my faith and my ethnicity. And yet every year I wear a badge proclaiming solidarity with those soldiers, sympathy for their suffering, financial support for their welfare, and it has never been a dilemma.

I bought poppies for my kids because I think they should learn to be part of this tradition.

There is a difference between…

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You take the high road, I’ll take the low road

Studies on the theme of height and descent. First a short drop at great speed:

Ducks landing

Picking up the pace to a quicker descent, although still well controlled:

Hill slide at Godstone Farm

And then a wanted and unwanted descent, while the red slide is quick and hazardous, I’d prefer it to a fall from the pear tree.

Looking down at the treehouse from the middle of the pear tree

And finally another hat tip to mother nature, a muddy descent and the fallen tree descending back into her embrace.

Fallen tree at Groomsbridge

Only the ducks were taken with my camera, the rest were off my phone. And if the title has left you with a hankering for a sing a long, here are Runrig and the Tartan Army.

END

One Colour to Keep

My wardrobe is primarily greys, blacks and blues, but the kids live in a riot of colour. I think they would hate to live in a world without the red end of the rainbow.

Cover Art

I’ve tried my hand at cover art already, although if sales are anything to go by it isn’t my strong suit. The flowers are from the Munstead Wood rose in the garden (affectionately known as Mundungus).

The Hajj cover went through several iterations, eventually the beveling on the text helped it stand out while giving me a colour I could use for both the title and author.

There was a meme that did the rounds on the book of faces in 2009 which was a bit of fun. If you are stuck for ideas try this:

1 – Go to “Wikipedia” and hit Random Article or click

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations” or click

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to “flickr” and explore the last seven days or click

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Remember to watermark the picture to credit the original artist!

END

Art and Light

I love Bloomsbury. In between the tree lined streets and the garden squares you come across the oddest of shops. In that magical way of the best odd shops you feel like you have never seen them before, and that they have been there forever.

This time is was L Cornellison and Son an art supplier for the very serious painter. It had an air of Ollivanders, and the costume shop from Mr Ben, where turning a corner could take you into another world.

It also struck me as an interesting place to study light – that essential medium for both the artist and the photographer.

The staff were a little bemused that I wanted to take pictures, but kindly let me do so as long as I didn’t snap them or any of the customers, which was fine, my interest was in objects not people.

A case in point was this case, which I half expected to fly open with a selection of wands ready to choose me.

I kept the light deliberately low on these brushes, there was something about the auburn bristles that was very compelling.

I liked the play of light against the different colours in the bottles, the only slight change to the setting of the shelf was to twist the Copaiba Balsam to hide the price, because that cheapened the whole composition (although it was ruinously expensive).

A drawer full of pastels to round things off.

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Wayward Women

The Queen of the Night
Possibly Ishtar the Goddess of Sexual Love and War, or her sister and rival Ereshkigal, ruler of the underworld.
From the reign of Hammurabi – Babylon c1792-1750 BC

A canter today through the British Museum (including the Mesopotamia room) culminated in a brief look at the Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibition. Halloween writing deadlines are pressing and I needed inspiration.

The focus of the exhibition is the representation of women as the source of evil, deviance and misdirection of the virtuous. There was a preachy part of this post linking this representation of women to modern day trolling, but as my blog followers are smarter than me, you’ll have made the link yourselves.

Click the pictures for higher res versions.

The Temptation of St Anthony – Jost de Negker – Woodcut 1500-20

Battle of the Sea Gods Andrea Mantegna – Engraving 1470-1500

The one below is innocent at first glance, but note the devil peaking out of the fire. OGH on the globe apparently stands for O Gott hute – O God Save Us.

The Four Witches – Albrecht Durer – Engraving 1497

Witches Sabbath – Hans Baldung – Woodcut 1510

Circe is one of my favourite mythical characters, partly out of love of the Odyssey.

Circe – Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione – Etching 1650

Poor St Anthony makes several appearances. The general theme is that asceticism in the deserts of Egypt will make you go mad and have visions of demons and succubi.

The Tribulations of St Anthony – Martin Schongauer – Engraving 1469-73

Preparation for the witches sabbath – Andries Jacobsz – Engraving 1610

The Sorceress – Jan van de Velde II – Etching and Engraving 1626

When the prophet Samuel told Saul of his impending death, Saul was tempted by the witch of Endor. She promised him an army of small furry creatures of limited technological ability that would nonetheless overwhelm a vastly superior army. Saul refused because he did not want to ruin his franchise.