A Photograph Of A Ghost Girl

Posted By Mark on Aug 28, 2014

Via the Metro website we learn that Thomas Beavis may have taken a photograph of a ghost of a girl in an apparently “notorious haunted mansion in Ireland.” I can see what the photographer of the “ghost” and the “reporter” Ollie McAteer are getting at because that picture of a person against glass certainly looks quite ethereal. You know what else is ethereal? A reflection. It’s glass, there are people outside, it’s brighter out than in, and there’s a woman immediately to the left of the one in pink the same height as the spectre, wearing apparently similar clothing to the spirit, and angled in a mirror image way to the apparition. Is this a picture of a ghost girl? Don’t be so bloody...

Lunchboxes

Posted By Mark on Aug 28, 2014

The always entertaining Flashbak website presents a large of collection of lunchboxes from the 1970s across two articles here and here. As a taster, here’s my favourite from the selection: I wasn’t familiar with the Doctor Dolittle story before and had never had any intention to change the state of affairs but now I know there’s a giant pink sea snail in it I might just have to keep an eye...

Cabbage Faux Pas

Posted By Mark on Aug 26, 2014

The Notting Hill Carnival

Posted By Mark on Aug 25, 2014

We hadn’t planned to hit the Notting Hill Carnival because, not living in the capital, we don’t really tend to follow events happening up there. However, at fairly short notice we had a reason to visit London on Saturday and wanting to make the most of the trip we had a look around to see what else was going on in the city. Neither of us had been to a carnival before so this was going to be a new experience. How would I describe the Notting Hill Carnival? Crowded. In parts, very crowded. Loud. Very loud. Almost everywhere. And quite messy. Ankle-deep in discarded meat, corn cobs, containers, cans, and bags is not unusual. And the people – at least in the first area where we found ourselves – didn’t seem particularly happy. My wife wasn’t particularly pleased with the crowds or noise (although she said she could have tolerated them; they’re pretty much expected for carnivals, after all) or the lack of fun apparently being had by most people but it was the mess that she just couldn’t stand. Sadly, this meant that I grudgingly agreed to keep the visit to the carnival quite short but my “quite short” isn’t exactly the same as her’s. Our exit route would take us through quite a lot of the carnival as it turned out. All the things that my wife hated were the things I loved. Lots of people just being people in public is exactly what I like photographing. The floats and flashy outfits that everyone associates with a carnival parade do nothing for me but the grit and grime attract my eye. The following constitutes a very small selection of the photos I took of the Notting Hill Carnival in London on August 24th 2014. You can see the full selection of photos here: Notting Hill Carnival Photos. A little bit of that mess that disgusted my wife. And a smidge more. Usually when I see someone sleeping while surrounded by loud noises and lots of people I assume they’ve had too much to drink but it’s probably not the case in this particular instance. I hope. One of those lucky shots fired off while the camera was at waist height that caught a ray of sunlight through a woman’s sunglasses and a happy moment of carnival strangulation, possibly in retaliation for blowing that horn the kid’s holding. I get the feeling that my wife wouldn’t have minded so much experiencing the carnival atmosphere in a similar way; far above the crowds. I liked being in the thick of things. I’m not even going to hazard a...

Street Photography By Marie Laigneau

Posted By Mark on Aug 19, 2014

Someone who almost always gets a +1 from me whenever her photos appear on her Google+ stream and I spot them, Marie Laigneau is a prolific street photographer based in Chicago. Just recently she’s been shooting in Japan too, an area of the world I really need to get back to in order to get my street photography vibe back, and I felt compelled to showcase some of her pictures from there as well as a few older ones too. An outstanding composition and even if your eyes are drawn to the face bottom left instantly you can still spend a few seconds staring everywhere else looking at the layers in the reflections and through the glass. My greatest desire and greatest fear in one photo: night street photography and eye contact! Another one in a similar vein and this one looks like there’s a story waiting to be told from the moment after the shot. It also highlights that I really shouldn’t be so hung up on getting sharp shots myself. Where to start? There’s light, there’s shadow, there’s fabulous framing, there are great lines drawing the eyes this way and that, there’s a wonderful subject, there are great contrasts between the near-monochrome background and the vibrant colours in front. I like this shot a lot. This photo reminds me so much of film photographs from the 1970s and 1980s and that speaks warmly to my retro heart. The subject matter is excellent and there’s just something about the woman on the right facing away from the camera that stands out. Another beautifully-framed shot and a great moment of concentration captured. To finish with, another one of Marie’s black-and-white shots and the reason I like this is because it looks to me like the subject is forming some thought bubbles. It’s a great pose and a great composition. All of Marie’s photos can be found on Google+ and there’s more to see on her website http://marielaigneau.com/...