29 July 2018

Selection

Shirley has a smartphone. She often uses its camera facility. Perhaps accidentally, the resulting pictures will frequently finish up on the hard drive of this computer. How that happens I do not know but what I have discovered is that she never edits these pictures or deletes any of them. In fact, I don't think she realises that they are there - building up like logs in a Canadian river..

Perhaps I should explain to her how to review these pictures and sort them out. Sometimes there will be twenty pictures of the same scene - taken in such rapid succession that they appear like a moving film. I think her finger sometimes sits on the camera button when it should be removed and the result is these multiples of roughly the same image.

Anyway, this Sunday morning I woke up far too early and came downstairs to kill time on the laptop. I found myself looking through some of Shirley's accidental smartphone files and picked out three of her photographs to accompany this post.

At the top you can see Stanedge Lodge - the highest residential property within Sheffield's city boundaries. I rather like that picture. It might as well be Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, located similarly on a moortop. Stanedge Lodge was built in the nineteenth century as a base for upper class grouse shooters.

Below - back in 2014 - there's our old friend Fred Fox brazenly sitting on one of our privet hedges in the middle of the day. Though Fred is now in fox heaven, he is not forgotten. Little did he know that I would spend countless hours painting his image. You can see paintings of him in Florence (South Carolina), Coussa (France), Wood Green (London), Ludwigsburg (Germany), a little town in southern Sweden  whose name I forget and a couple of other American towns whose names also escape me. 
 You don't see many pictures of me in this blog. That's usually because I am behind the camera. Customarily I avoid being the subject of photography but I like the picture below that Shirley snapped in Gran Canaria back in September 2014. Clearly, I am relating an amusing tale and our Ian's body language suggests that he is gripped by my lively narration There is obviously nowhere else he would rather be than in  that family restaurant in Maspalomas... In truth, he really enjoyed that late summer break and didn't at that moment foresee that his exciting "Bosh!" ride was about to begin.

28 comments:

  1. Nice photos Shirley. Ian definitely is wishing to be elsewhere ! You, Mr. Pud, look very like a younger version of a Yorkshire friend of ours!

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    1. Would your friend have a blood test Frances? I need to prove that he is not my father.

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  2. Lost your email can u email me a quick hello

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  3. Ian certainly gives the impression that 'bored' would be far to mild a description of his feelings.

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    1. He had just been reading Eagleton Notes on his phone.

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    2. More fool him. That's voluntary.

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  4. It's wonderful to be able to capture and hold your son's attention. He was so rapt! lol I love it!! :)

    Dear old Fred...gone but not forgotten. He was the subject of much pleasure.

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    1. I always have that effect on people. It was the same when I was a teacher.

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  5. You look exactly how I had pictured you.
    I have an iphone but usually its not charged up and when it is I only take picures with it.
    Tom has an iphone and he is such a goody that his is always fully charged. But this means that I can always use his. lol

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    1. That is the measure of a good husband - when he will lend you his i-phone. I haven't got one.

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    2. I must add, we do not buy them, our Daughter passes them on when she renews. We do not have a contract either, we just buy £10 pounds for calls, lasts for ages.

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  6. Now I wonder if Shirley knows that you're looking through her photos and worse than that using them on your blog. I hope that nobody tells her about it.

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    1. Oops! I hadn't thought about that Red!

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  7. I can never quite figure how photos get from my phone to the computer. It's all magic to me. I am more than happy for my personal Help Desk man to sort them for me.

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    1. Is your personal Help Desk man called Paul?

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  8. Oh, Fred! I wonder what he would have thought if somehow he could have known that he would be famous far and wide? My copy of his painting is one of my prized possessions!

    I love the expression on Ian's face! Priceless.

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    1. I wonder what that expression says..."Why the hell am I on holiday with my folks?"

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  9. Oh. I remember good ole' Fred. Gave my son Bosh! last night at his birthday dinner. I'll bet he is going to cook from it this week.

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    1. On Ian's behalf, thank you for your support... Auntie Donna. I wonder how old your prince is?

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    2. I can't believe it, but my wonderful Prince is 46 years old today! Acts like 26!

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    3. But his mother acts like she is 18 - in "The Spring of My Life".

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  10. Three very different but excellent shots -- you have chosen well, O Yorkshire Pudding. Kudos to Shirley.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Jenny.

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  11. How nice to see Fred again! I can see his paiting right now, sitting at my desk and looking across the room to my mini hallway.
    If you (or Shirley) don't want to have her photos automatically sent to your computer, go to the settings on her smartphone and switch off the sync function.
    The multiple pictures of the same scene could be "live" pictures. That is what they are called on iphones; if Shirley's phone is of a different brand, it may have a similar function but by a different name. "Live" photos on an iphone are also taken in quick succession and can later be displayed like slightly "moving" pictures in a loop, for instance a person waving hello over and over and over again, instead of a static photo.
    The setting to "live" pictures can be turned on and off in the camera app of the smartphone.

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    1. Thanks for your helpful advice Meike.

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  12. Haha. However, I think Ian loves your company :)
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. They say that every picture tells a story but so etimes pictures can be deceptive - as in this instance.

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