Of Birds, Local Heritage and Rugby

I will start with the local heritage. I had the opportunity at my aunt’s house yesterday before the rugby started to photograph a modern replica cast iron piece that was made from the original…

Although there were other contenders, so remarkable was yesterday photograph wise this is the feature image.
Although there were other contenders, so remarkable was yesterday photograph wise this is the feature image.

In the first of the rugby matches, England eventually ran out comfortable winners, although Italy scored first through Sergio Parisse and kept things close for about the first hour (and would have been close still had they possessed a number 10 with a functioning boot – whatever other merits he possesses ex-Kiwi Kelly Haimona is a liability in this area) but England, just as Ireland had been last week were too strong for Italy in the end. The second game between Ireland and France was much less of a spectacle. Ireland managed to win, thereby ratcheting up the stakes for the game in two weeks time between Ireland and England. There was one very serious misdemeanour by a French player in that match, when he gave one of the Irish guys a vicious knee in the back. Somewhat surprisingly the referee only deemed this worthy of a yellow and ten minutes in the sin bin. Personally, given how badly the Irishman could be affected by the blow, I think it should have been red, end of the French offender’s participation in the match and indeed of this years Six Nations.

Although it was dark by the time the Rugby ended, I had been out and about earlier in the day and snagged some good pics – I also got one on my home…

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The front of King's Lynn Minster, beautifully lit up.
The front of King’s Lynn Minster, beautifully lit up.

Your sick notes aren’t good enough claim Ashton under Lyne Jobcentre

These stories will make your blood boil…

Charlotte Hughes's avatarThe poor side of life

Yesterday our demo was a very busy one. From the minute we arrived to the minute we left we were inundated with terrible stories and people desperate for help. Nothing really shocks us anymore but it’s becoming very clear to see that universal credit is destroying life’s for both working and non working people.
A man who wanted to remain nameless has been claiming universal credit but he got sick so he did the responsible thing, he went to his doctor and got a sick note. The doctor stated on his sick note his medical condition so he took it into the Jobcentre. He was told that this sick note wasn’t good enough and that he needed to get another one because it needed the words written on it.. “He’s got worse”. He went back to the doctor got another sick note but the doctor quite rightly said I can’t…

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Catalogue for February Auction now Live

After some hard work on the imaging front a full catalogue for the James and Sons auction on February 25th at Fakenham Racecourse is now ready for viewing on www.the-saleroom.com and a printed version will be available by Tuesday morning.

There was certainly a full range of items to be imaged today. The pick of the pre-lunch lost were these…

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Post lunch, the number of lots left was thankfully small, nut there was still some very interesting stuff to do…

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The Mart, Birds and Other Stuff

One of King’s Lynn’s greatest traditions, The Mart, kicks off this Saturday. I saw some of their advertising today, and I have to acknowledge that it is quite impressive, as is the fact that this is the 811th King’s Lynn Mart (the first of a series of annual fairs that closes with the Nottingham Goose Fair)…

Advertising for the Mart.
Advertising for the Mart.

I was at the river front at the right time to catch this image a fishing boat…

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There were plenty of opportunities to photograph sea birds, including when my main targets were actually other things (check out pic 1 in this series for an example)…??????????

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As usual I spotted various architectural features that I deemed camera worthy…

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The birds were their usual exuberant selves, starting with a mallard drake and ending with a large bird I could not quite identify (had the colouring of a swan but the neck was too short)…

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Before sharing my final images, I came across this today on CosmosUp, @cosmossup:

http://www.cosmosup.com/earths-inner-core-has-an-inner-core-of-its-own. I thought of a title for this idea: Russian Doll Earth!

One of this final selection of images is there because my twitter account is approaching the milestone of 1,700 followers…?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????

Some Interesting Lots From Yesterday

All the items featured in this post will go under the hammer on February 25th at Fakenham Racecourse, sale to commence at 10AM. In each case bar one they warranted more than one image, and in each case I am including the whole gallery.

I will go in number order, so here is lot 761:

Lot 761 (all items)
Lot 761 (all items)
A close up of the watch and the two mini plaques.
A close up of the watch and the two mini plaques.

Next up comes lot 794, a ships wheel with clock set into the centre and accompanied by a brass anchor…

The full lot 794
The full lot 794
The clockface
The clockface
The wheel in full without the anchor.
The wheel in full without the anchor.

Lot 797 was also a wheel of sorts, a Cinderella style spinning wheel…

The spinning wheel in all its glory.
The spinning wheel in all its glory.
A close up of the wheel itself!
A close up of the wheel itself!

Lot 798, is certainly a striking piece…

The whole of lot 798
The whole of lot 798
A close up of one of the handles.
A close up of one of the handles.

Lot 875 only got the one image, and no prizes are awarded to anyone who knows anything about me for guessing why I considered it of particular interest!

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Finally, a couple of potential posters based on the toys I imaged yesterday…

The first composite image
The first composite image
The second composite image.
The second composite image.
The central part of my first composite image.
The central part of my first composite image.

Toy Poster 1 Toy Poster 2

Pictures for the Cover of James and Sons Next Catalogue

After a morning spent editing and transferring images from last week, I spent the afternoon imaging new stuff for our February auction, including producing some images for the cover of our catalogue, which will be available be early next week (sale date is Feb 25th, Fakenham Racecourse, first item goes under hammer at 10AM). I will deal with the non cover images in a subsequent post.

The first item I imaged for the cover was a set of coins:

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Big coin lots can be tough to image - especially if there is a strip light anywhere near them! - hence six pics in this gallery.
Big coin lots can be tough to image – especially if there is a strip light anywhere near them! – hence six pics in this gallery.

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These were followed by some vey fine old toys…

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Birds, Buildings and Quilts

Some historic buildings, a quilt and some birds plus a notice from the Environment Agency.

The title is a reference to what I have been photographing over the weekend. To start with some of the buildings:

1)Greyfriars Tower, all that remains above ground of the Franciscan priory…

This is a montage created for putting up on twitter, the rest of the gallery follows...
This is a montage created for putting up on twitter, the rest of the gallery follows…

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2) King’s Lynn Public Library…

Once again, we start with a montage...
Once again, we start with a montage…

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3)Custom House…

This is the last multiple image
This is the last multiple image

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4)The Red Mount Chapel, Guanock Gate and various interesting bits of buildings…

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West Lynn Church
West Lynn Church

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I chose to include this with the buildings, although it also features birds!
I chose to include this with the buildings, although it also features birds!

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The quilt reference is to a very elaborate quilt that my aunt made and will be submitting to a competition, for which she required photographs of it. I have provided two versions of each picture, one with very little editing, and one with much more editing….

The first five images of this quilt are the fully edited ones.
The first five images of this quilt are the fully edited ones.

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These next five images have been cropped but not fully edited.
These next five images have been cropped but not fully edited.

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Now we have some bird images…

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To finish, a notice from the Environment Agency…

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Two Hectic Days at James and Sons

Thursday and yesterday were two busy days at James and Sons, imaging for the February auction. The new Nikon Coolpix P530 proved its worth in spades, as the pictures I shall be sharing with you through this post will make obvious. Here is the (likely) front cover lot from two different angles:

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The bulk of the imaging I did over these two days was of coin lots, some of which I shall now share with you…

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Next a shout out, already provided on twitter, to Norfolk Libraries for having this magnificent book in stock, and of course to Ben Goldacre for writing it….

Goldacre

Before sharing some final images of quirky items, an update on the camera situation. Sine January 26th, a.k.a Dies Irae I have mad three attempts to contact the people from the Norfolk Camera Centre regarding the Nikon Coolpix P520 I took in for repairs on October 27th and have not seen since – for further details click here, concluding with an email sent on Thursday giving them details of where and when i would be working those two days and a warning that if by the end of work on Friday the camera was not back in my possession I would go back to the police. The camera not being in my possession I have duly recontacted the police with this information. Meantime, courtesy of the generosity of my parents I now have a Nikon Coolpix P530, which is well and truly proving its worth. Now for those final images…

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The First Fruits of My New Camera

My new camera was ready for collection today, and since picking it up I have been enjoying myself testing it out. For comparison purposes before going into the main set of pictures here are the images for Lot 723 in our February auction, the last set of pictures I took with the Samsung…

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For the rest: Camera Nova Ipse Loquatur (Let the new camera speak for itself)!

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This panel is quite attractive. Pity about the building it belongs to - £1.2 billion tax dodger B**ts
This panel is quite attractive. Pity about the building it belongs to – £1.2 billion tax dodger B**ts
Effective and appropriate restoration.
Effective and appropriate restoration.
Stage one of sorting out this disaster should involve the use of a wrecking ball!
Stage one of sorting out this disaster should involve the use of a wrecking ball!

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Imaging and Describing at James and Sons

Today has been a physically and mentally demanding day, and all the better for the latter of those two being the case. As well as imaging some very interesting lots, as you will see, I got to try my hand at describing. The most interesting lot for me was lot 720:

Lot 720

Wall Plaques – collection of seven by “Ivorex” – nice. Four of these are rectangular, 11ins  by 7ins (28 by 18cm): Westminster Abber, Conway Castle & Bridge, Royal Naval College Greenwich and Tower Bridge. One plaque measures 8 ins by 3.5 ins (20 by 8cms), with an arched top piece which at the centre increases the height by approx 0.5 ins (1.5cms) – this is of the Capitol, Washington DC. Rochester Castle and Rochester Cathedral are both 5 ins by  3.5 ins (13 by 8cms).

Est £20-30

This is all seven plaques
This is all seven plaques
And this is a close up of the star of the collection (at least in my opinion)
And this is a close up of the star of the collection (at least in my opinion)

Also quite interesting was lot 719, a small table, the top of which hinges up to reveal a full set of cutlery:

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Another very interesting lot from an imaging and describing perspective, which I am not ready to share in full yet, consists of four boxes of wooden printers blocks of varying sizes, all fairly large.