Best Buddies

My lunchtime amble took me down Hockley today. It's a good area for shopping, people watching and events.

Unfortunately none of those things happened whilst I was there, but I did notice this photograph on the pavement that had been thrown away for some reason.

I casually picked it up to see if there was any names on the back. There wasn't. Only the word 'Agfa', just to prove that it was a real photo.

So I wonder who these two girls are, when it was taken, and how their picture ended up on  the pavement of a Nottingham Street?

They are probably school or college friends. Possibly taken several years ago, when thin eyebrows were popular. Now girls have brows that look like they were painted on with a bingo dobber. Thick lines. I don't think it's a good look at all, but women keep doing it. Why?

Posing

Here's another scanned negatives from the collection that I got the other day.

Another great photo showing what clothing from the 1920s looked like, together with that really delightful parasol.

Face From The Past

Browsing around one of the many charity shops in Beeston that I like to do on a Saturday morning, I came across a paper bag containing some old photos and negatives from the 1920s.

Twenty seven negatives and eighty eight small, black & white photos, were in the bag for £2.49. None of the photos were that interesting. But for such a small price, I just couldn't resist. A shame that they weren't like the Vivian Maier collection that someone bought from an auction that she took in the 1950s & 60s, but it's still an interesting find.

I wondered how I could turn the negatives into positives. Then I remembered that on some  photo software that I've got, there's a program that can change photos into negatives. So I wondered whether it would do the opposite. So after scanning the negative, I found what I wanted, and clicked the button, and if by magic, this image appeared. Possibly seen for the first time.

It's not a particularly exciting photo, but it is interesting from a social point of view, and with the fashion of course.  I've got no idea as to where it was taken. Some of the photos have Ilfracombe and Lemington Spa written on them. While the packets from the developers come from Bournemouth and Felixstowe.  Despite its age, the negative is in quite good condition. I've hardy touched it at all in Lightroom, except for a bit of darkening and sharpening. More to come.

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.

Special Guest Appearance

Had an interesting bit of action on Twitter yesterday. I took a photo of the Wheel in the Old Market Square with my iPhone and Tweeted it. One of the producers at Notts TV contacted me and asked if they could use it as part of their news programme.

Of course I said yes, as long as they credited me. No problem they said.  So as you can see, my name's proudly displayed for the world, well Nottingham for all to see.

In The Frame

An art exhibition has just opened at my local library in Beeston. And of course I had to put in an entry.
As I very rarely print any of my photos,  I put in my rusting bike photo, that I took last year in Wales.

There was a bit of an opening party tonight, as the library had invited the artists to meet up and share their work. There was around 40 pieces of art, including, of course photography, some paintings, sketches and needlecraft.

I was talking to another photographer about my picture and where I took it. She saw the rusting bike as a metaphor for the destruction of the British cycle industry, especially that of Nottingham's very own Raleigh.