Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
According to Lockheed Martin:
The F-22 Raptor defines air dominance. The 5th Generation F-22’s unique combination of stealth, speed, agility, and situational awareness, combined with lethal long-range air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry, makes it the best air dominance fighter in the world.
While I’m sure they’re somewhat biased, it’s certainly a very impressive aircraft.
Francis Frith (1822-1898), Egypt, Sinai, and Jerusalem: a Series of Twenty Photographic Views;
Francis Frith collaborated with a lecturer and scholar of antiquities at the British Museum, Reginald Poole, and with Poole’s mother, Sophia, to produce this mammoth album of photographs. It is interesting that at the same time, Sophia’s brother Edward W. Lane (1801-1876), a scholar of Oriental linguistics, was working with Reginald on an illustrated edition of the Arabian Nights (The Thousand and One Nights, a new translation from the Arabic, with copious notes by Edward William Lane; illustrated … by William Harvey; edited by his nephew Edward Stanley Poole, 1859. Rare Books (Ex) 2263.2869).
Source: Egypt, Sinai, and Jerusalem – Graphic Arts
Interesting photographs from the late 1800s. It was photographs like these that first got me interested in exotic places and ruined buildings. I doubt, however, that they have the same impact nowadays that they had when they first saw the light of day. In those days only a privileged few would ever have viewed such sights.
Nowadays with relatively cheap air travel, the ubiquity of cameras, movies etc. pretty much everyone knows what these countries look like. This in turn raises the question: are these truly good photographs, or did their fame come largely from their novelty? Such photographs had such an influence on me when I was young that I am certainly biased and can’t give an objective opinion on this.
It’s not much of a picture, but it does illustrate a point. We had taken the dog to be groomed and when we went to pick him up I noticed wonderful light on the hills opposite the store. The trouble was that it was difficult to get a picture because the hills were on the other side of a parking lot with lots of lights that partially obstructed the view. So I thought that if I moved to a different position I might be able to find somewhere where the lights weren’t to obvious. I set out walking across the parking lot. Part of the way across I noticed that the light was disappearing and decided to take a picture before it went altogether. It was already to late – the wonderful light that I’d seen earlier had gone. A few seconds later the hills were almost completely dark. A short walk (probably only a minute or so) across a parking lot had been enough for the light to evaporate.
The Air Show brochure describes the GEICO Skytypers as follows:
The world famous GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team consists of six of eleven remaining vintage World War II SNJ-2‘s that demonstrate low level precision flying as well as deliver aerial messages, known as Skytyping – as tall as the Empire State Building, and eight miles wide. The letters can be seen for 15 miles.
I’m leaning on a lamp, maybe you think, I look a tramp,
Or you may think I’m hanging ’round to steal a motor-car.
But no I’m not a crook, And if you think, that’s what I look,
I’ll tell you why I’m here, And what my motives are.I’m leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street,
In case a certain little lady comes by.
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by.
I don’t know if she’ll get away, She doesn’t always get away,
But anyhow I know that she’ll try.
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by,
There’s no other girl I would wait for, But this one I’d break any date
for,
I won’t have to ask what she’s late for, She wouldn’t have to leave me
flat,
She’s not a girl like that.
Oh, she’s absolutely wonderful, and marvellous and beautiful.
And anyone can understand why,
I’m leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street
In case a certain little lady passes by.I’m leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street,
In case a certain little lady comes by.
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady goes do do do dah dah dee dee dee…..
I don’t know if she’ll get away, She doesn’t always get away,
But anyhow I know that she’ll try.
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by,
There’s no other girl I would wait for, But this one I’d break any date
for,
I won’t have to ask what she’s late for, She wouldn’t have to leave me
flat,
She’s not a girl like that.
Oh, she’s absolutely wonderful, and marvellous and beautiful.
And anyone can understand why,
I’m leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street
In case a certain little lady passes by.Composed by Noel Gay. Sung by George Formby.
Of course I have absolutely no idea who this guy is, why he’s there or what he’s thinking. He’s not even leaning on the post, as much as he is leaning on a bicycle. But when I took this picture for some reason the above song recorded by George Formby in 1937 came to mind. Formby was a somewhat unlikely star – not particularly good looking, with a squeaky voice and a pronounced Lancashire accent. He accompanied himself on a ukulele/banjolele and was very popular with my parent’s generation, becoming at one point the UK’s highest paid entertainer. He died in 1961 aged 56. I was nine then and surely had some memories of him performing. The song was also performed by Herman’s Hermits and went on to reach number nine in the Billboard charts in 1966. Herman’s Hermits still exist and are, coincidentally, performing in a nearby theater: The Paramount Hudson Valley, Peekskill in 10 days time (October 25, 2015).
Below: Formby performing “I’m leaning on a lamp post at the corner of the street”.