Monday 20 July 2015

Meccano guys

I love visiting antique shops while I'm in the States, and last week's prize find was this excellent vintage toy...





I remember my little brothers playing with construction sets similar to this in the 70s - the UK version was Meccano. This one is the Gilbert Erector Set; I'm not sure whether or not the 1927 on the lid is a date or not, but it probably dates back to at least the 1930s. I loved the colours and the instruction booklet, and I was particularly touched to see that there were some little constructions in the box that must have been made by a previous owner.

I used these as inspiration to make some creatures of my own, incorporating the vintage parts into my own Meccano family. Here they are...

Gilbert

Gladys

Jack

Sparky 

Monday 13 July 2015

Actaeon

Summer holidays - a great time to pursue random fantastical photo projects. Like this one - a deer skull we found in the woods, with some Queen Anne's lace to prettify him. Actaeon was the guy from Greek mythology who was turned into a stag, as punishment for something he may or may not have done to annoy the goddess Artemis...







A slightly mouldy wooden tray, a tin and a nice wide aperture made him seem a bit more magical in camera than he looked to the naked eye.

Tuesday 7 July 2015

Not the tall ships

I was gutted that I missed seeing the Tall Ships in Belfast this week - though plenty of people have taken fabulous photographs of them. I took a sorrowful walk round the harbour instead, imagining all the glory I was missing. And in fact I cheered up rightly and found plenty of interesting little things to shoot round the Titanic buildings, both the new visitors' centre and the old drawing offices. I hope you like them.