View allAll Photos Tagged VisualStoryteller
The superb FMM 714J on display at the Steam and Transport Festival 2019. Historic Dockyard Chatham.
The 1296cc engine in the 13/60 models gave a much needed
boost in performance over the earlier 1147cc and 948cc power units. A long time since I drove any of the Herald models now.
Baya Weaver bird working its nest on a palm tree in a garden near Ludhiana, Punjab.
Once the nest is partially built, the male hangs from it and courts females by flapping its wings. The nest is completed after a female accepts courtship and joins the nest for breeding.
CSF 984L at the Festival of Steam and Transport 2019. Historic Dockyard, Chatham.
The paperwork on the windscreen tells the story of recovering the car from a farm barn, rebuilding it and then driving the Dyane to Kazakhstan rally style, raising money for charity by doing so. All done with a 602cc engine for power.
The area of the central theme of the film A Bridge Too Far, although a different bridge had been used in the film.
John Frost Bridge was opened in 1948, built in the same style as the famous bridge in Operation Market Garden. That had originally been built in the period 1932-35, so a relatively young bridge in 1940 when the Dutch destroyed it and the Germans rebuilt it.
Major-General John Dutton Frost was in command of the small Airborne force that actually made it to the bridge at Arnhem from the drop zones so far away from the town. The battle raged from 17th September until 26th September 1944. The Airborne forces were overwhelmed by the numerically superior and well equipped German Army units in the area.. Had the Allied ground forces working their way up from inside the Belgian border via the other famous bridge at Nijmegen been about 12 hours ahead in their push towards Arnhem the outcome would probably have been different. ¾ of the 1st Airborne Division was effectively wiped out in this one action. A force of over 10,000 men reduced to around 2,000 by deaths, capture or wounded. The bridge at Arnhem was about 60 miles inside the German lines. The Dutch had destroyed the bridge in 1940 and it took the German forces until August 1944 to rebuild it. A pontoon bridge had been used at this important crossing point of the lower Rhine for the intervening years.
The 1st Airborne Division had been formed in late 1941 and disbanded in November 1945.
Photo taken in 2019
BJ11 ECV on the A13 London Road about to head out of Westcliff-On-Sea in to Chalkwell, Essex.
Hadleigh based First Essex 69519 working route 28 from Southend-On-Sea to Basildon, Essex.
Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban 2,
GJN 421N at the Rochford Hundred Agricultural Society's Ploughing Match 2019. Held at Hall Farm, Little Stambridge Hall Road near Rochford, Essex.
The Ford 3000 tractor was produced over a 10 year period in the USA, Belgium and Basildon, England.
In September 1944 the German pontoon bridge was about in line with the building seen across the canal beyond the current bridge. The building was used to house a 88mm gun.
The starting point of the ground offensive element of Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
The bridge photographed here is a post war construction. When the Allied Forces took control of this area on 10th September 1944 a German built pontoon bridge was in place here replacing the original bridge destroyed in 1940 to slow down the German advance.
Crossing the Bocholt-Herentals Canal this is Bridge Number 9, taken and protected by the 615th Field Squadron, RE, known as Joe's Troops. Crossing the bridge the road leads to, Valkenswaard, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. If the ground troops taking this route had not been ordered to stop for overnight resting the result of Operation Market Garden may well have achieved its objectives. Being 12 hours late appears to have been the difference .
In the Protestant Church at Driel, Netherlands hangs this memorial to the 1st Airborne Division for their part in the September 1944 landings and bitter fighting at Arnhem (A Bridge Too Far).
Photo taken in 2019.
Chequered Keelback snake swimming in the lake at Harike Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab.
The snake looked to be six feet long - which is an unlikely size for a keelback - and seemed to be going after an egret foraging on a hyacinth island. That made me think that it was a python. But back home, a closer look at the image presented a different story altogether.
Code For America Summit 2018
May 31 + June 1
Oakland, CA
Drew Bird Photography
San Francisco Bay Area Photographer
Have Camera. Will Travel.
drew@drewbirdphoto.com
This timber framed and weather boarded signal box appears to be from the 1890's. Taken out of service in 1994, and now in very poor condition. Chelmsford Station is in an elevated position above the rooftops of the nearby buildings. This signal box sits above platform 2 buildings, so that makes it around 5 storeys above street level.
A person receiving a roti during langar service at a farmers' protest site near Ludhiana, Punjab.
Roti distributed in langar is referred to as Parshada. This is different from the Gur Parshada which is a golden brown pudding that is distributed after prayers in a Gurdwara.
LFZ 9051 at the Europa Bus Centre, Belfast. The excellent bus interchange leads directly to the equally good Great Victoria Street Railway Station.
Photograph taken in September 2019.
Avro Lancaster PA 474 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at London Southend Airport after an overnight transit stop.
PA474 entered RAF service too late for active wartime duties.
NK 2791 displayed at the Festival of Steam and Steam 2019, Historic Dockyard, Chatham.
The information board for this car says that the 4 seater tourer bodywork is by James Young. It also says that main Bentley production didn't really start in any numbers until 1923, making NK 2791 a very rare car.
The main frontage of this pub/restaurant is facing on to Southend Road, Rochford, Essex. This side view was taken in Sutton Road.
Anne Boleyn herself was a local girl.
Displayed at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent.
Lord Kitchener's Coach was built in 1885 by the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company at Birmingham. It was allegedly used by Lord Kitchener in the 1896/97 period on the Suakin-Berber Railway in the Sudan. Some sources question whether he did actually use it at all. After the Sudan Campaign the carriage and other rolling stock from the Suakin-Berber Railway was store at the MOD facility in Shoeburyness, Essex for a very long time.
Overlooking the area now called City Beach. The new-ish housing in the distance mainly sits on the footprint of the former gasworks. The ugly white tall posts on the right house colour changing lights. To be fair they do look better after dark, but still a poor replacement for the famous Golden Mile illuminations from decades ago.
A986 SYE taking part in the Ensignbus Vintage Running Day 2018. Photographed in Upminster.
The rear engined B15 Leyland Titan was produced from 1977 to 1984.
KX15 EKY outside of its home base at Rayleigh Weir, Essex.
Photo taken through the dirty window of a moving bus, so not the best.
Built in 1903 this stone arch bridge spans the Pétrusse river deep in a gorge that runs across thr city. A lower deck was added in 2018 primarily for cyclist, but does also have pedestrian access.
This is know as the Sevastopol Cannon and is located in Oaklands Park, City of Chelmsford, Essex.
It is one of over 300 Russian cannons captured by Allied forces during the Crimean War, 1853-56. Queen Victoria decided to give some of them to towns and cities in the United Kingdom, including Chelmsford. The cannon was cast in 1806 and just over 100 years later it was fired as a prank by students in 1908. At that time it was located outside of the Shire Hall in the centre of the then town. In 1937 the cannon was moved to Oaklands Park where it has remained.
The restoration of the disused Folkestone Harbour Station and Folkestone Harbour Arm in to a major tourist attraction is well under way. It is starting to look really good.
For far too many years the pavement by this bus stop suffered with a big puddle every time it rained.
GN63 DKY heading across Duke Street in the city centre of Chelmsford, Essex.
This MAN tractor unit is number 82 in the S.T. Challis Ltd fleet. A company that has history going back to 1921.
A water feature seems to have become almost obligatory in most city and town centres now. Beyond the jets of water is the Old Guild Hall which is dated 1671.
Wonderful narrow street in the older part of Aylesbury. The scene is enhanced by the quaint shop called Fruity Tooty.
Kawah Ijen is a group of remote volcanoes in East Java, Indonesia. Getting there is not the simplest task: the one road in and out is only really used at night due to safety reasons. However, this isn’t as backward as it sounds when you take into account the road being so narrow that trees are constantly slapping both sides of your vehicle. While it is technically a two-way road, in the day you can’t see oncoming traffic until it’s too late. At night, headlights help alleviate this fear – somewhat! There were a few points where the driver had to ask our loaded vehicle to empty out while he rebuilt the road by moving a few key rocks into deep potholes and navigating the steep grades with a little less momentum.
In the end, the destination is totally worth it, regardless of the treacherous journey. If you stay at a rustic coffee plantation in a town nearby, you’ll get to try the famous Kopi Luwak for the unbelievably low price of a dollar. In fact, you might even get to meet the little critter who played a part in the creation of the rare coffee.
This series of photos highlights the local sulfur mining operation in Kawah Ijen that few get to see. An active vent at the edge of the sulfuric lake at the bottom of the volcano’s cone is a source of elemental sulfur. Every morning, well before sunrise, the local men hike the many kilometers to the top of the volcano and then down to the edge of this vent. They enter the cloud with a crowbar to knock off yellow chunks of sulfur to fill their baskets with. Some use a shirt to filter out the acidic gas, but most don’t. (I had the unfortunate experience of inhaling the caustic vapours when the wind changed suddenly and let me tell you, it hurts. I can only imagine the toll this takes on the body.) Then the workers climb all the way back out and down with a load weighing somewhere between 75 and 125 kilograms. That is a lot of weight to bear on your shoulders with a thin board! I could barely lift a load on my shoulders never mind climb, or even walk, with one. They sell the sulfur to a local sugar refinery for 625 rupiah per kg (so at 100kg they make ~$6.25 CAD a load for their hard work).
What was more incredible than experiencing this foreign landscape was seeing the pride and dignity with which these people went about their work. It certainly makes sitting at a desk for eight hours a day seem like pure luxury.
Full photo essay on my website:
Code For America Summit 2018
May 31 + June 1
Oakland, CA
Drew Bird Photography
San Francisco Bay Area Photographer
Have Camera. Will Travel.
drew@drewbirdphoto.com
On the Jubilee Beach section of the foreshore also refered to as City Beach.
The name on the makers plate, W and E Moore Ltd, was based in High Street Poplar, East London. Established in 1863 and still trading in the mid 1950's. I don't know about after that. They made hand operated and steam powered winches and are described as ship smiths.
On an exterior wall of De Westerbouwing Hotel near Oosterbeek, Netherlands. The building is situated on high ground in a wooded area overlooking the Lower Rhine. About 4½ miles from the town of Arnhem. Much of the close combat fighting took place here and the hotel building almost completely destroyed in the action of September 1944.