Wherever I Lay My Hat, That's My Home

No, this isn't somebody's sitting room or lounge, but the window display of a charity shop situated down in Hockley.

Although the shop describes the stuff that it sells as vintage, rather than second hand or used, it's still at heart a charity shop. But the prices certainly aren't those of a usual charity shop.

It's strange how these sorts of shops have recently rebranded themselves. Something to do with the fascination these days with the 1950s and 60s.

The old is the new, new.

In A World Of Her Own

If it wasn't for the mobile phone, you could be mistaken that I had taken this in the 1960s, with the girl in her wooly jumper and duffel coat.

Thunderbirds Are Go

I came across the bargain of the year today in Sainsbury's. A brand new DVD release of all 32 episodes of the classic puppet adventure series from the 1960s, complete with postcards for the amazing price of £12.

It only came out last month to coincide with the programmes' 50th anniversary and seems to retail at around £40. So a very good saving, especially as it only really cost me £2, as I had a £10 gift voucher that I used.

Thunderbirds has always been one of my favourite shows growing up, and I think Parker the Cockney chauffeur to Lady Penelope was always my favourite character, with his "Yus me lady". This is possibly because my dad was also a chauffeur and a Londoner to boot.

I'm not sure whether Gail is looking forward to watching the five Tracy brothers rescuing people from dangerous situations from their secret island in the sea, even though all the special effects etc were hand made, rather than computer generated.

FAB

Magical Mystery Tour

Despite the town name on this coach, I'm not actually in Wales at the moment, but at Wollaton Park, and their annual classic vehicle show.

Barton is of course a local bus company and this is one of their coaches, A Bedford VAL from the early 1960s. It doesn't belong to Barton's any more, but resides at the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre in Ruddington.

It's A Winner

The organisation that I work for publishes an in-house magazine every month, and besides the usual work related articles, they run a photo competition. I have never gone in for it before, partly due to either forgetting, or not liking the themes.

But this changed last month, as I read that the theme for March was going to be 'retro', and I know exactly which photo I would enter with.

I took this photo last year during the Pride celebrations in the city centre. These two were standing outside a vintage store in Hockley. Obviously the owners, and they were outside the shop and enjoying the summer sunshine.

Some tweaking in my digital darkroom, to give it an aged look. The only giveaway that it wasn't taken in the 1960s is the fact that the blonde on the bike is holding an iPad.

Anyway I found out today that my photo had been picked out as the winner, and I have won a £20 shopping voucher and a mug. Not a huge prize, but it's the first one that I've ever won with one of my pictures.

Mother's Pride

Gail and I went to Ripley in Derbyshire today to see the new photo studio that a modelling friend of ours has just opened.

You've seen photos of Kelli Smith on here before, and she is having to give up modelling shortly as she is expecting her first child; a little boy that she and her partner Tim are calling Lawson.

Just as I parked my car in a nearby car park, I noticed the flash of a red E Type Jag in the corner of the car park.  So out came my camera and I took a couple of shots.

It was difficult in trying to get a good angle, as there wasn't a lot of space to work in. So I decided to try an aerial view instead, as there was some steps that led to the beer garden of a pub aptly called the Red  Lion.

I must say that Kelli and Tim have done a good job of creating a great photographic space, with many different areas to shoot in; an American diner, a Parisian cafe, a Versace bedroom, a library amongst others. They have nearly finished a shower area for wet shots.

There were quite a number of photographers there when we arrived, including a couple that we knew. So it was good to catch up and see what everyone was doing.

Of course I have to show another photo of Kelli, thai I took at our studio, who's showing of her baby bump. After all it is Mother's Day.

Blast From The Past

For those of you who are of a certain age, or have a passing interest in modern antiques, will recognise the style of painting of the girl, as most homes in the UK had a variation of it during the late 60s and early 70s.

"The Green Lady" was sold as cheap art from many high street stores like Boots, and featured an non smiling Asian girl who had a slightly greenish tinge to her skin for some reason. If I remember rightly, she wasn't even particularly pretty either.

This blown up version features as part of a window display in a large furniture store on Castle Boulevard.

Bicycle Fun

While we were wandering around Donington Park with our two models Sophie and Caroline , Gail and I were constantly looking for things to shoot the girls with, that might make for a good photo.

One of the girls spotted the big black motorbike, which you can see, but there was lots of stuff around which we couldn't move, but I did see this kids bike, so thought it would make for a couple of fun photos, considering all the speed machines on show there.

Motorbikin!

Just got back from a grand day out at Donington Park, thanks to Paul Lush and his girls. This time it was models and motorbikes.

I must admit that I'm not that excited by motorbikes. Give me classic cars or aircraft any day.  But it was fun all the same; especially as we got to work with some different models.

All the girls had dressed as though they had stepped out of the 1960s.  The plan was for the models to pose by some vintage bikes, but for some reason it didn't quite turn out that way. That was a shame, as I was planning on messing around with the photos in Lightroom to give them an aged feels. Still I am quite happy with this shot, which is more or less out of the camera.

Two highlights of the day was seeing the RAF Memorial Flight fly over the circuit, and this George Formby lookalike, who had recreated a scene from the 1936 film 'No Limit', in which our hero wins the Isle of Man TT race.

Lazy Monday Afternoon

I was planning to either go to Wollaton Park, or the Brewhouse Museum today, as they both had events on that I would have liked to have seen. Wollaton had another Napoleonic battle re-enactment, while the Brewhouse had a 1940s day.

In the end, I couldn't go to either, as I had to help a dear friend out with moving, as for various reasons he had to leave the house he was renting and he was leaving some of his possessions with a neighbour. So I spent most of the day helping him to move, as he has rather a lot of stuff. And by the time we had done, there wasn't much time left for a visit.

So instead, I present one of the most unusual names for a canal boat that I have seen so far. For those of you of a certain age, or a keen interest in music, will know that this is the name of an album written by the Small Faces; a psychedelic mod band from the late 1960s.

The 1967 album featured the classic 'Lazy Sunday' and added vocals by Professor Stanley Unwin; with his gobbledygook language. Below is a image of the record sleeve that I found on Google, so you can see how well the artist has done in recreating the album sleeve.

A Touch Of Yesterday

Whilst walking along one of the main routes down towards the river in Chester, I spotted this old Morris Minor. It was in very good condition and is obviously looked after well.

What made it for me was the fact that the owner had parked outside a shop that looked like it belonged in the past as well.

So the three of us all stopped and took some shots of the scene.

I've had a little twiddle with one of mine, and tried to give it that authentic 1960s look, using Picasa.

Blast From The Past

In this age of digital cameras, I was somewhat bemused to see this chap taking a photo of the beach in the Old Market Square using a film camera.

But a special one at that, as I think it is a Rolleiflex. Not that I am an expert on cameras, just remember seeing them being used by the likes of David Bailey in films and documentaries etc from the 1960s.

I had thought about striking up a conversation with him and finding out more about his enjoyment of photography, but I didn't want to break his concentration, while he was composing his picture through the unique vertical viewfinder.

Back to the 1960s

A Saturday morning in Beeston during August can only mean one thing; music in the Square.

This week it was the turn of a band called 60s.R.Us, who played a number of classic songs from the 1960s by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Hollies. And very good they were too.

The audience thought so too, as they sang and danced along to the five piece. I don't think you can beat songs from the sixties to get an audience going; no matter what their ages.

Whatever happens to music styles in the future, I predict that we'll still appreciate and enjoy the songs of that era. And quite rightly too, as the tunes were wonderful; just like the band themselves.