#383984 - Wed Sep 05 2007 08:38 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Wed Oct 17 2001
Posts: 8479
Loc: Hastings Sussex
England UK
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Lovely pics, ClaraSue. One can’t help feeling nostalgia for the age of steam, even if it wasn’t exactly environmentally friendly. I wanted to post this picture in last week’s Signs thread, but (like one or two other members) I had software problems. This little bit of American history in London can be found in a little alley called Pickering Place, off St James’s Street in the West End.. 
Edited by TabbyTom (Wed Sep 05 2007 08:41 AM)
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#383985 - Wed Sep 05 2007 08:41 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Multiloquent
Registered: Tue Dec 28 2004
Posts: 2813
Loc: Hertfordshire<br>England UK
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Quote:
I don't know anything much about canon blasts either, ClaraSue. All I can tell you is that of all the rounds they shot off that day that was the only one that produced a smoke ring. I'd be inclined to say that the conditions just happened to be right (i.e, no wind, etc.) and it was a fluke more than anything, but perhaps someone with more experience with such things could tell us for sure... Picqero???
I've seen hundreds of cannon shots fired from artillery pieces (cannon is only a generic term by the way), from the tiny Robinette or Falcon to the huge Cannon Royale which could fire a 64 pound ball. I've even fired some of these myself, but have never seen a smoke ring like that in your image. Even without a ball, the powder charge gives a ferocious explosion, giving a huge cloud of blue-grey smoke - but almost never a smoke ring. I'd have said 'never' were it not for your remarkable image!
A typical cannon blast would give out smoke such as that in my English Civil War image below
Fired at night, the blast is even more spectacular with a huge sheet of flame erupting from the touch hole and the barrel as you can see in this image from my re-enactment society's web-site - and that's only the primer flame!
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#383986 - Wed Sep 05 2007 12:38 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Mainstay
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 856
Loc: Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
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Here is a photo of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lake National Park, Alberta.  Larger photoI didn't use the telephoto lens of my SLR to give the viewer an idea of how isolated the hotel was. There is a small townsite nearby but the hotel was built where it is to get the full effect of the view.
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#383991 - Wed Sep 05 2007 04:46 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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Wow.
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#383992 - Wed Sep 05 2007 04:50 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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That is amazing TW! He just doesn't seem a bit scared. The ladies employed here still wear the traditional Hakka hat for shade. They needed them yesterday as I sat and watched them trimming the trees in the city centre in Sheung Shui, using a long handled pair of shears.  Here are some more shots of these great ladies.
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#383993 - Wed Sep 05 2007 05:04 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Forum Champion
Registered: Sat Apr 13 2002
Posts: 5473
Loc: South of England
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The fox stayed around for a good while and although some trimming of the photo's background has been done, you can see I was able to get close to it by the detail in the eyes. This was the best of the shots I was able to take before it became bored and wandered off somewhere else.
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#383994 - Wed Sep 05 2007 07:25 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Apr 22 2002
Posts: 5007
Loc: Western Australia
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How's this for a fluke? This shot was taken at the Moondyne Festival in Toodyay. Moondyne Joe was Western Australia's most famous bushranger. These gentleman are from the Volunteer Rifle and Artillery Regiment of 1860 and I believe these are muzzle loaders but I could be wrong as I know nothing about weapons. I've never seen the musket fire like this with the naked eye but the camera managed to capture it. Normally all you see is a puff of smoke. 
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#383996 - Wed Sep 05 2007 10:35 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Multiloquent
Registered: Tue Dec 28 2004
Posts: 2813
Loc: Hertfordshire<br>England UK
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Quote:
How's this for a fluke? This shot was taken at the Moondyne Festival in Toodyay. Moondyne Joe was Western Australia's most famous bushranger. These gentleman are from the Volunteer Rifle and Artillery Regiment of 1860 and I believe these are muzzle loaders but I could be wrong as I know nothing about weapons. I've never seen the musket fire like this with the naked eye but the camera managed to capture it. Normally all you see is a puff of smoke.
They are indeed muzzle loaders. Even in the reduced image the ramrod, used to ram home the charge, is clearly visible directly under the barrel of each musket.
If you saw these fire at night you'd see a sheet of flame over a metre long erupting from the barrels. Musketeers firing in ranks like these, have to be extremely careful their musket is never pointed towards a colleague, as a misfire could cause very serious injury.
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#383997 - Thu Sep 06 2007 12:55 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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OK I just have to put this in:
"Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket !",
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#383998 - Thu Sep 06 2007 04:54 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Apr 22 2002
Posts: 5007
Loc: Western Australia
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Quote:
OK I just have to put this in:
"Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket !",
Ren, please explain. I am not familiar with this.
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Don't say "I can't" ... say " I haven't learned how, yet." (Reg Bolton)
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#383999 - Thu Sep 06 2007 06:13 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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Haha!1 I KNEW someone would ask that. It's from an old poem , or rather a verse, which is most famous for having been one of the monologues of an actor/comedian called Stanley Holloway, which you may have heard of. Here is the poem. Sam, pick up thy musket..
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#384001 - Thu Sep 06 2007 08:42 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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Thursdays must be 'flower day' at the pound shop in town. When I walk past on a Thursday late morning/early lunchtime there is always a swarm of people taking an armful of flowers. This lunchtime was no exception, I looked and to my amazement they had bunches of orchids, ten stems for £1. I bought three bunches then continued on my way to Social Security to sort out my forthcoming pension (I will be sixty in November). The 'pensions lady' exclaimed that they were gorgeous so I insisted that she take a bunch which thrilled her. It is just as well that I did give them to her as I still have two vases full. This is the jug of orchids in my hall.  The carnations I bought from my local pound shop more than four weeks ago are still going strong but getting mear their throw out date.
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#384002 - Thu Sep 06 2007 09:01 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Prolific
Registered: Fri Aug 13 2004
Posts: 1033
Loc: Scotland UK
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This is looking down the stairway inside Elgin Cathedral, going up to the first floor. It dates from the 13th century.  For another look at the writing look here.
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#384003 - Thu Sep 06 2007 10:02 AM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Wed Oct 17 2001
Posts: 8479
Loc: Hastings Sussex
England UK
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Argus, that’s a beautiful view. TW, it’s surprising how tame urban foxes are becoming. I believe these cigar-store Indians are (or maybe used to be) a common sight in the US, but it’s unusual to see them in Britain. These are outside Fox’s shop in St James’s Street, London. 
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#384006 - Thu Sep 06 2007 12:19 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Forum Champion
Registered: Sun May 18 2003
Posts: 7842
Loc: Arizona USA
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Great photo, picqero. At first glance, I thought it was a Ferris Wheel.  I am thoroughly enjoying the history of the powdermills, especially since I work around explosives.
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#384007 - Thu Sep 06 2007 01:05 PM
Re: Photo-a-day - September 2007
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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This is a common sight outside most railway stations here.What you see are about one tenth of the bicycles parked at Sheung Shui on any one day. I have been meaning to take a shot of them since Leau's bike picture. 
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