Bela Lugosi's Dead, Jim - Out and about

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August 7th, 2005

05:31 pm

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Out and about

I started the day delivering an emergency mouse, and ended up doing some impromptu computer repair. I'd brought my camera and so took an exceptionally indirect route home, heading out along Riverside. I've long been a fan of the spiky postbox:

The chimney of the industrial museum is visible from all sorts of places; Arbury Rd, which I often cycle down, points straight at it. Intentional or not? Here it is from closer up, anyway.

I looped up around Tescos, which had pasted a notice regarding an application to extend the hours in which the can sell alcohol on all sides of the building, though there can't be many people who go along the back of it. More visually intereting than that was their signage, which could have done with a better choice of paint:

Along similar lines the entrance to Stourbridge Common has degenerated to the point of resembling fridge poetry:

I headed across the comon towards the railway. There were several crows pottering around on the path, though as I approached they flew a fairly exact semicircle round to the path behind me. I decided to switch to a zoom lens on the way back and continued to the railway bridge. (I did later snap a passing train but I didn't have time to think about shutter speed and it was just a little too blurred.)

That shot's actually through the fence at the top of the bridge, and took quite a bit of fiddling before it looked vaguely natural. The sky suffered somewhat. Switching to just the fence and the sky produces a nice effect:

I'm not sure what the significance of the graffiti here is. A boat club logo? I like the criss-crossing structure, anyhow.

An essential camera accessory:

A bit after that I switched to a zoom lens (borrowed from terryfish) and turned round. I spent a while trying to shoot small birds (swallows?) swooping over the river, without much luck. The crows proved better subjects though - the shots of them on the path aren't very interesting but I got a few snaps of one in flight:

ISO 1600 may have been excessive, but given both the camera and the subject were moving pretty fast I didn't feel like risking anything slower.

I also spotted this fellow:

(The URL says “bee” but we think it's probably a hoverfly in fact.)

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Comments

From:	senji
Date:	August 7th, 2005 04:34 pm (UTC)

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The spikey postbox is looking a little worse for wear around the edges there :-(.

I think the boat club wheel might be Catz.

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From:	rillaith
Date:	August 7th, 2005 04:37 pm (UTC)

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I think the boat club wheel might be Catz.

I was just about to say that; it is (St Caherine's)

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From:	lark_ascending
Date:	August 7th, 2005 10:47 pm (UTC)

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It's the college crest rather than just the boat club though, I think.

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From:	rillaith
Date:	August 7th, 2005 11:32 pm (UTC)

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That's true, but given the location, it's because of the boat club that it's there.

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From:	ewx
Date:	August 8th, 2005 09:54 am (UTC)

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Disgraceful what the lower orders get up to, isn't it?

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From:	lethargic_man
Date:	August 7th, 2005 08:57 pm (UTC)

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Cool pictures; wish I could photograph that well!

I think the world needs more municipal fridge poetry.

The chainlink fence is nice and shiny; the photo reminds me of this postcard (credit: Jasper Manchipp), which my brother bought ten years ago and gave to me 'cos I liked it, but unfortunately have now put a crease in:

(It should be as bright as your photo; it's suffering from not being photographed under natural light as well as reflections and having my finger in the way (ooops).)

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From:	ewx
Date:	August 7th, 2005 09:23 pm (UTC)

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photograph that well

You should see the ones that got away. I filled a 1G flash card and then selected the ones worth putting up.

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From:	ronebofh
Date:	August 7th, 2005 10:20 pm (UTC)

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The Stourbridge Common sign is a Freemason steganographic message!!!11

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From:	ewx
Date:	August 7th, 2005 10:22 pm (UTC)

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Sssh! Don't tell everyone!

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From:	sion_a
Date:	August 8th, 2005 10:44 am (UTC)

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Very impressed by the crows—what length lens were you using there?

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From:	ewx
Date:	August 8th, 2005 10:55 am (UTC)

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File name    : photos/2005-08-07/crow1.JPG
File size    : 282203 bytes
File date    : 2005:08:07 16:57:32
Camera make  : Canon
Camera model : Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
Date/Time    : 2005:08:07 14:31:21
Resolution   : 640 x 427
Flash used   : No
Focal length : 200.0mm  (35mm equivalent: 1751mm)
CCD width    : 4.11mm
Exposure time: 0.0003 s  (1/4000)
Aperture     : f/9.0
ISO equiv.   : 1600
Whitebalance : Auto
Exposure     : aperture priority (semi-auto)

The reduced CCD width field makes more sense for a crop!

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From:	pm215
Date:	August 8th, 2005 04:58 pm (UTC)

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I started the day delivering an emergency mouse

For a second there I thought this was a post by one of the vets on my friends list :-)

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From:	gareth_rees
Date:	August 8th, 2005 06:28 pm (UTC)

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It's clearly a hoverfly: the body is smooth (bees are furry); and the antennae are short (in bees they are long, like those of ants). I think it may belong to the species Episyrphus balteatus, which is common in these parts.

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From:	ceb
Date:	August 9th, 2005 05:38 pm (UTC)

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(bees are furry)
Of a teatime, my old research group would often ponder the question "if you shaved a bee, what colour would it be?"

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From:	gareth_rees
Date:	August 9th, 2005 08:16 pm (UTC)

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If you shaved a bee, what colour would it be?
If you shaved its back, the skin beneath is black.
If you shaved its head, I think you'd find it's red.

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I deny everything