Uploads from Sony200boy, tagged sony200boy, with geodata

New Year's Eve

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 08:14:38 -0800

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Hi everyone - just a quick post to wish all my contacts a wonderful 2011.

Sorry I haven't been around a lot, but 2010 brought a lot of 'busy-ness' - I hope to be able to spend a bit more time visiting you all in the New Year.

In the meantime, thanks for being a wonderful and faithful bunch - and I hope to be able to be as good a contact for you in 2011 as you all have been for me in 2010.

NOTE: This is a shot I took today on a walk - with my Nokia N8 cell phone again. This time I forgot I had set it to take 'small' pictures, so it is much lower quality than I normally take - lesson learned - always check your settings!

Evening Path

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:13:41 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Again, a scene captured while driving - a rainy summer evening, with the sun going down in the distance.

(I have tried to put it on the map in the right place ...)

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Autumn Leaves

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:22:22 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Happy Monday. A bright colourful sunny Autumn shot to start the week. Hope you have a great one!

Autumn is gathering pace now, and even though the trees still have many leaves on them, it is surprising how many they have already lost! When the sun is out, the Autumn colours seem to come alive.

I have less time than usual these days, but will try to return all visits by the end of the day.

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#5 - Ricky

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:20:47 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Ricky – ex-Parachute Regiment - is 76 years old, and is one of the Co-Founders of “Action for Armed Forces” ( www.actionforarmedforces.com ), a group whch supports all service personnel, and lobbies government for better terms, conditions, and benefits, both on behalf of active service personnel and those who have retired. He was a sprightly person with a wonderful sense of humour. I asked him to provide me with permission to use his portrait on the internet, and the final shot I chose, from the many I took, was one where he was writing this out. We were talking all the time, and I felt that this shot, where he was smiling to himself about something, captured the warm, lively and spirited personality I had seen, during the brief time I was with him. (Ricky has since told me that he was smiling because he was writing out permission for me to 'plaster' his photo all over the internet, and he didn't really know me at all ... now that was trust - thanks, Ricky!) Behind him is GMEX, the venue of the Conservative Party Conference, with banners up declaring “Ready for Change” ….. which is taking place in Manchester this week.

Ricky and co-founder of “Action for Armed Forces”, George Kay, chained themselves to Buckingham Palace gates as a part of their campaign to raise the visibility of the issues related to servicemen. This was the first time in 100 years this had been done since the National Union of Women's Suffrage. Pictures of this are available on their website. Ricky chained to Buckingham Palace

SIDE NOTE: To get anywhere near GMEX to take photographs would have cost me £650! (having found this out I was invited, by someone in the street, to one of the larger ‘fringe’ events at the conference – “The Freedom Zone” …! I thought that was quite ironic ....)

This picture is #05 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com Many thanks to the members of this group for their encouraging and insightful feedback on my earlier shots, which has helped me be more creative with portrait shots, and also for teaching me things that are hopefully helping me improve my techniques in this area.

NOTE: Someone sabotaged my tags for this photograph, so I have now restricted tag editing to myself only. Unfortunately this also means you cannot add notes.

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Model Shot

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:46:10 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Worlds Apart

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:26:10 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

One billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, now live in shanty towns.

Stereotypes present shanty towns as inevitably having high rates of crime, suicide, drug use, and disease. However the observer Georg Gerster has noted (with specific reference to the invasões of Brasilia), "squatter settlements [as opposed to slums], despite their unattractive building materials, may also be places of hope, scenes of a counter-culture, with an encouraging potential for change and a strong upward impetus."

Shanty towns are present in a number of countries. The largest shanty town in the world is the Neza-Chalco region in the state of Mexico, Mexico. The largest shanty town in Asia is the Orangi Township in Karachi, Pakistan, while the largest in Africa is Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. Another large shanty town is Dharavi in Mumbai, India which houses over 1 million people.

Other countries with shanty towns include South Africa (where they are often called squatter camps) or imijondolo, Australia (mainly in Aboriginal areas), the United States, the Philippines (often called squatter areas), Venezuela (where they are known as barrios), Brazil (favelas), West Indies such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (where they are known as Shanty town), Peru (where they are known as pueblos jóvenes), and Haiti, where they are referred to as bidonvilles. There are also shanty town population in countries such as Bangladesh and the People's Republic of China. In many countries there are now large movements of shanty town residents which often face severe state repression.

For those interested in more information follow this link to the online home of the Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shackdwellers' movement. www.abahlali.org/

Explore: August 22nd, 2009 - #289

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Moving On (thanks to c h r i s for the title)

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:41:49 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

This is the last picture I will be posting for a while, as I am taking a break.

I feel I want to take my photography into new directions, and this shot is a move towards this – a departure from the type of shot I have previously posted. I will log in occasionally to view your shots, and check what is happening in some of the groups that I belong to.

For now, I just want to thank all my Flickr friends for their many visits and encouraging comments to my shots over the past few months, and hope that the next few months bring each of you everything you wish for. And, at some time I will start posting again. Until then, if you believe in god, may your god bless you and yours. Whether you believe or not, be happy, live a good life, and above all HAVE FUN until we meet again!

Explore: July 18th, 2009: Highest Position #244
Once again, I am really grateful to all my Flickr friends for you support.

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Japanese lunch

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:50:55 -0800

Sony200boy posted a photo:

This was a double experiment. Firstly, it was an indoor shot using my new N8 camera-phone, and secondly it was a live upload from the phone to Flickr using Pixelpipe. Fairly happy with the overall image quality - left it on automatic but I think it handled the varied light really well, apart from a bit of burn-out at the top - but heh - a great compromise given the difficult lighting. And the upload to Flickr only took about 30 seconds, so that was OK as well. I could have added tags and a description as well as a title before I uploaded it instead of after - probably will next time. Perhaps I will do more of this ....

Incidentally, if anyone is interested, I heard that quite a lot of journalists were using N8s at the CES recently in the States, as it is one of the few phones (possibly the only? - not sure) that has such a high resolution excellent camera with its own photo editor built-in to the phone - and it is quite impressive. You can even edit videos on the phone itself, so no need to go near a pc. Take your shot/video - edit it - post it. Pretty neat?

Oh - and just for good measure, for an extra £60 I picked up a DAB radio accessory for the phone that connects via the mini-usb connector (it is basically a headset with earphones but halfway down the cord there is a 5x2x0.5cm rectangle) which allows you just to carry the headset but still tune in to DAB radio - and DAB+ if it is available (the phone has an FM radio built-in). And that beats having to carry around a bulky DAB radio - it is basically little more than a standard headset. Will also work connected to Nokia portable speakers, and you could, if you wished plug you own headphones into it. You can control the volume and channel selection from the little box on the headset cord, or via the phone itself, which displays the DAB channel info. I love my N8 .... sad really.

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Bluebell Path

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:09:13 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Nothing is more beautiful than a woodland path fringed with bluebells, especially when it is dappled with sunlight.

Have a great start to the week!

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Isle of Skye

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:01:46 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Skye or the Isle of Skye (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or Eilean a' Cheò), is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills. Although it has been suggested that the first of these Gaelic names describes a "winged" shape there is no definitive agreement as to the name's origins.

The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic and has a colourful history including a time of Norse rule and a long period of domination by clans Leod and Donald. The events of the 19th century had a devastating impact on the human population, which declined from over 20,000 to around 9,200 in the early 21st century. Nonetheless, in contrast to many other Scottish islands, this represents a 4 per cent increase from the census of 1991. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and whisky-distilling and the largest settlement is Portree, which is known for its picturesque harbour. Just over 30 per cent of the residents on Skye speak the Gaelic language.

Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area and is now linked to the mainland by a road bridge. The island is renowned for its spectacular scenery, vibrant culture and heritage, and its abundant wildlife including the Golden Eagle, Red Deer and Salmon.

Courtesy Wikipedia: Skye

Independent Site for visitors: The Skye Guide

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Coffee Time

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:03:36 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

I took this shot from across the road - four lanes of traffic - so that people would not notice me and look straight at the camera. When I looked at it afterwards, I just liked the variety of light, and the colours and lines, and the busyness of it. I really welcome honest comment, feedback and suggestions for improvement ...

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

(I thought I might add this to the Star***** sponsored group, but when I looked at the rules it scared me off ... my life is too short to read them all ...)

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Times Gone By

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:01:00 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

This wonderful shop frontage in Deansgate in Manchester reminds me of the grandeur of the Victorian age. The beautiful lettering over the arch declares proudly the owner’s name – "T Hayward" & “Glass & China”. Today this elegant building has become one of the restaurants in the “Slug & Lettuce” chain.

I tried to find out more about T Hayward, but so far have only been able to unearth the reference below, in the record of marriages dated 1911, where the groom’s father was Thomas Hayward, Glass & China Merchant.

Marriage: 2 Nov 1911 St Mary, Great Sankey, Lancashire, England
George Hayward - 33 Clerk in Holy Orders Bachelor of 17 Verulam St. Liverpool
Mildred Shaw Briers - 23 Spinster of The Vicarage, Sankey
Groom's Father: Thomas Hayward, Glass & China Merchant
Bride's Father: James Briers, Farmer
Witness: John Clifford Rundle; Hilda Briers
Married by Banns by: Daniel H.C. Bartlett, Vicar St. Nathaniel, Windsor, West Derby
Register: Marriages 1897 - 1913, Page 110, Entry 220

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Job done ...

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:12:59 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

The sun gives the Autumn leaves a last chance to show their beauty.

Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, one or many colors that range from red to yellow. The phenomenon is commonly called fall colors and autumn colors, while the expression fall foliage usually connotes the viewing of a tree or forest whose leaves have undergone the change. In some areas in the United States and Canada, "leaf peeping" tourism between the beginning of color changes and the onset of leaf fall, or scheduled in hope of coinciding with that period, is a major contribution to economic activity.

A green leaf is green because of the presence of a pigment known as chlorophyll. When they are abundant in the leaf's cells, as they are during the growing season, the chlorophylls' green color dominates and masks out the colors of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf. Thus the leaves of summer are characteristically green.

In this leaf, the veins are still green while the other tissue is turning red.

Chlorophyll has a vital function: that of capturing solar rays and utilizing the resulting energy in the manufacture of the plant's food—simple sugars which are produced from water and carbon dioxide. These sugars are the basis of the plant's nourishment—the sole source of the carbohydrates needed for growth and development. In their food-manufacturing process, the chlorophylls themselves break down and thus are being continually "used up." During the growing season, however, the plant replenishes the chlorophyll so that the supply remains high and the leaves stay green.

In late summer, the veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf are gradually closed off as a layer of special cork cells forms at the base of each leaf. As this cork layer develops, water and mineral intake into the leaf is reduced, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. It is during this time that the chlorophyll begins to decrease.

Often the veins will still be green after the tissues between them have almost completely changed color.
Courtesy: Wikipedia: Autumn_leaf_color

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Failed self-portrait in a lift - oh well ....

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:55:37 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Happy Monday, everyone. Thought I would post a bit of light fun to start the week ...
Hope everyone has a great week!

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Medusa Flower

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:11:12 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Happy Sunday! I don't know what this plant is, but if you imagine the red stems waving about a bit, then it reminded me of Medusa. Any suggestions for the real name of the plant are welcome.

UPPDATE, thanks to Andrew - 'keartona' - www.flickr.com/photos/27955898@N07/
It is a member of the ginger family, possibly a 'Hedychium Gardnerianum'.

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Virtual Offices

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:24:31 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Non cogito ...

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:25:25 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman (3 March 1918, New York, NY —6 June 2006, New York, NY) was an American photographer, noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians. He was also known for his carefully composed abstract still life images.

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Eye Candy

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:22:50 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Harvest Time

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:19:21 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Fountain Fun

nobody@flickr.com (Sony200boy) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:37:25 -0700

Sony200boy posted a photo:

Central Manchester, hot day, kids playing in the fountains. Summer fun ...!
(Hand-held - 1/15 sec - Sony Super Steady Shot image stabilisation on.)

Explore: August 21st, 2009 - #154

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Uploads from Sony200boy, tagged sony200boy, with geodata

New Year's Eve

Evening Path

Autumn Leaves

#5 - Ricky

Model Shot

Worlds Apart

Moving On (thanks to *c h r i s* for the title)

Japanese lunch

Bluebell Path

Isle of Skye

Coffee Time

Times Gone By

Job done ...

Failed self-portrait in a lift - oh well ....

Medusa Flower

Virtual Offices

Non cogito ...

Eye Candy

Harvest Time

Fountain Fun

Moving On (thanks to c h r i s for the title)