From my travels I feed a photo file called “Relics”.
A typical example from “Relics”:
The fascination is pondering on the story behind these orphans. How big were the trees when the car was laid to rest? Was it the owner's intention ever to have use from it again? If so, it is interesting to note this was not chosen as its final resting place. Would there be any chance of it being moved again, and if so for what reason, and if not, how long will it take nature to make it disappear?
This next relic inspired a Photoshop painting.
I once owned a Land Rover and have a soft spot for them. This was the most detailed Photoshop painting I have done.The result is hardly a work of art - just an attempted meticulous copy of the photo, but it took skill, time and patience to achieve using many Photoshop techniques and I was proud of the result.
This one is from the Languedoc in France.
Apart from being a souvenir of the walk it conveys to me the essence of much French design: eccentric, childlike, feeble, wet, not built for strength, vulnerable and soppy, but despite all this having a certain charm that makes me smile.*
* Having just watched a documentary about the new French AGV train and its accompanying infrastructure, my comments do not apply there - what an astounding feat of engineering.
* Having just watched a documentary about the new French AGV train and its accompanying infrastructure, my comments do not apply there - what an astounding feat of engineering.
I just like this picture for what it is.
On the Norfolk coast - perhaps the most attractive section of my Lowestoft to Lakes walk. I know it's a cliché type photo, but the beauty of the lines of boats relates directly to their need to interact with the beauty of nature in order to move efficiently through water, and this is an aspect of design that always gives me a tingle - I have the same feeling for elegant aircraft design.
Having perused these photos whilst constructing this post I have come up with a ghoulish Photoshop idea for the first one.
I like relics, too, and wonder about the people they once associated with, when they were bright and shiny, or still of solid stuff. That musing could easily apply to the people as to the relics, of course.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to what you might make of the relic in the woods.
Martha
(on lunch break, which accounts for the brevity)
They are everywhere. I usually see lots of old farm machinery slowly being consumed by nettles and the like. In the river just below Cardigan Bridge on the Afon Teifi a boat was left to rot and we have watched it slowly disintegrating with now just the iron work left. Similarly near Solva two tug boats crashed into the rocks some years ago and now it is hard to see any remains. Nice idea to take photos of them.
ReplyDeleteI always wish I had started taking photos of the endless ways that people use for ensuring gates are kept closed.
The Crow - Hello again Martha, good to hear from you - hope you don't get caught with your subversive use of the computer.
ReplyDeleteWelshpaddler - I sort of don't count the ones I see in farmyards unless they are particularly unusual. The ones that grab me are those found unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere.
I have thought of collecting gate fastenings and taken one or two pics. I wonder about how the design for some of those convoluted mechanical fasteners came about, and how much somebody got paid for designing them, and how much they cost to manufacture when a simple hook and eye has sufficed for centuries.
I mentally score farmer's gates out of 10 for their ease of opening and general maintenance. I reckon the average is about 3.
"The ones that grab me are those found unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere."
ReplyDeleteWe came across a fully rust-coloured old bus in the middle of the desert. Think that one qualified as being both unexpected and middle of nowhere! I'll have to include that photo in my cut for the blog.
(BTW, did you see my comments on your posts of 3 and 5 July - I was a bit late adding my thoughts and don't know if you saw them?)
Gayle - My own unwritten rule about my "relics", and my "signs" folders are that they should really be photos I have taken, but I would consider it an honour for you to allow me to include your desert photo, even though I haven't yet seen it. If you are agreeable perhaps you could email me a copy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your note about OS maps which I did see, and I have looked at the relevant posts. Strange how the OS manages to portray itself as an inflexible, bureaucratic and unhelpful organisation in a few masterly emails.
It is my experience that when you write to most people with specific questions they fail to answer the questions you have asked, or at best, not all of them,
Gayle - I have set Blogger to send me an email whenever a comment is posted on my blog regardless of the age of the relevant post.
ReplyDelete