Saturday Self-Challenge
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Taken for Saturday Self-Challenge ~ Abstract
You aren't suppose to recognise the original subject, however, I was not very successful in that department - at least the EXIF ties in with the time that it was taken!
Saturday Self Challenge - Chocolate
'Give Twirl a whirl'
'A Mars a day helps you rest work and play'
'A finger of fudge is just enough'
Studierenden-Service-Center (SSC) der Universität zu Köln:
Schuster Architekten aus Düsseldorf gewannen den Wettbewerb 2004 und errichteten ein Gebäude mit geschlossenen Kanten zu den Straßen und einer vielfachen Staffelung der Baumassen zum Grüngürtel hin. Eröffnung war nach langen Bauverzögerungen 2013. Ausser den Service-Einrichtungen beherbergt das Gebäude einige Institute.
And in the right order , words can create one of the world's most significant documents ( even if it is in Latin of some form ! ).
Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 09/08/2025 - Letters .
Of course all of you will know of and maybe recognise the Magna Carta of 1215 sealed by King John - however , the original document John reneged on and he had the Pope annul the charter he sealed with the Barons . After John died and a young King Henry III took the throne but was too young to rule at that time so William Marshal (a family ancestor of ours ) became Regent until his death in 1219 , and in this time he took the Magna Carta and reissued it in Henry III's name having made some alterations and it took it's place in history as the cornerstone of many of our laws and rights of the people .
Here is an easy to read overview of Magna Carta -----
schoolhistory.co.uk/notes/magna-carta/
And here is a translation for any academics to plough through found in the National Archives web site ---
www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/magna-carta/...
So for the purpose of SSC , I hope my shot helps to show the importance of " Letters " .
After that mind bending lesson - relax with a tune called -
" Letters From Earth "
This started out as a diptych of a scene at Spring Grove Ponds for a challenge shot for Saturday Self Challenge 18/05/2024 --- Seasonal Diptych .
Well I chose Spring Grove for my shot having taken shots here at all times of the year in the past and an advantage here is that I can stand at exactly the same spot as I did in the past . The bank of the ponds have around the edge areas for the anglers to sit in separate bays while the rest of the pond edge is just natural and not easily got at . So chose a good shot and in this case from back in Janurary at a time when the trees were bare and there was a thin layer of ice on the water . Now locate the correct bay to stand in with the same camera set at the same focal distance and take another shot last weekend after Stoker had set the challenge .
Next job was to get both shots and roughly crop them with just a small amount of overlap , reduce the opacity of one side and with the branches of one specific tree I could overlap the scenes exactly - bring back the opacity and job done ! Technically I was happy with the two seasons in one shot joined together exactly , but it seemed to lack something so with a bit of help from my daughter and her craft editing programme we put the whole scene as seen through a window - even the latch on the window was created from a fancy belt buckle cropped down .
So here we have the scene through the plain glass of the window taken last weekend with all the trees in leaf and the scene on the right of the cold and the leafless trees as viewed looking through the Time Dilation Glazing !! ( just a shame the joining is not visible when it went so well ) .
Going back even further through time through the windows here is " See Through Windows " and Family !!
Ich habe ein Foto von letzten Herbst aus dem Freilichtmuseum ausgewählt und mit Analog Efex bearbeitet.
- a first bloom on my Christmas cactus
SSC: Light
Thanks for your visits. I'm currently coping with health issues so will mostly leave faves rather than my usual comments.
If you're tired of seeing photos of me online, then you can go to page 078 of this month's Wired magazine. It's the one with a former jailbird on the cover.
Shot taken for SSC 21/02/2026 -
White .
One half of a geode in white , I have posted a shot in the past of the other half as seen in the first comment box . Please click on the image to see more info and how well the two halves marry up to each other !!
Another week of iffy weather which stopped me going to where I grew up where there is a large white old weather boarded painted white and called " The White House " . Looking at google maps , these days parked cars make a clear shot a bit tricky !!
So it is the little white geode full of I guess quartz crystals which is placed upon a crystal cube .
Talking of crystals , here is one from Mike Oldfield ---------
Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 23/03/2023 -- Wood
Thought hard about this challenge and most of the woody things with a grain on it here are I think is mostly veneer and not sure if that fits the bill so much . One idea was a Surrey AONB pole with it's distinctive design on the top , but getting to one meant walking on the edge of a very fast road with no footpath and the other one quite is a bit further away at Newlands Corner and time did not permit , an older shot of the pole at Newlands Corner can beseen in the first comment box . Drove past a huge rotting tree stump on it's side by the River Mole in Cobham but again time and lack of anywhere nearby to park put paid to that one! However , Stoker did say it could be burl or so , well this shot is a small part of the twisted hazel in the garden and while there is no grain visible or a burl , there are no end of curly twisted branches and a lump distorted trunk of sorts . Come the summer , the leaves will cover all the interesting parts of the tree .
I am hoping this will pass muster for for Saturday Self Challenge - if not give me a shout and I will take it down ---
In the meantime here is a bit of Wooden Music ( not wooden music like when Neil Young when he plays acoustic ) ------------
Don't hold your breath - if a Cornishman says he will do it " Dreckly " it will get done , but who knows how long it will take . The term " Dreckly " is some what like Manyana is in Spainish .
The term "dreckly" means at some point in the future; soon, but not immediately. It is often used in a casual context to indicate that something will be done directly, but without a specific time frame, implying it may take a while. For example, someone might say, "I'll do it dreckly," meaning they will do it soon, but not right away.
So time plays a big part in this phrase - literally !!
Taken for Saturday Self Challenge - 13/09/2025 -- Time
The clock was given to my wife and myself for our 50th Wedding Anniversary by our daughter and it came with a dedication printed on the back to make it special .
Of course the title had to be this by Yes -----------
Did tell Val I wouldn't submit this week, but overcame my objections when I snapped this lot at the corner shop.
MY THANKS TO ALL WHO VISIT AND COMMENT IT IS APPRECIATED
This week in SSC: Using Autumn (or spring) as the theme create a card to commemorate SSC's One Year Anniversary!
It's hard to believe it's been a year already. So many good challenges done and so many more to come. Here's to another fun year. Thanks to all of our members for being a part of SSC! :)
...and for Sight and Sound:
Little River Band from their "Diamantina Cocktail" album (1976)
Live: Happy Anniversary
Album: Happy Anniversary
Eltz Castle
I love this place near my hometown. It is a beautiful castle which has never been destroyed.
A walkway at the Eden Project in Cornwall gave me the opportunity to capture the shadows of my family. I thought it had a certain film noir quality, but I may be wrong..
Yup , it is all unhinged here looking at doors , gates , laptops and even gizmos to hold an embroidery hoop plus in fact not forgetting the little door on the camera to get at the SD card !! If it opens on a hinge , it has been considered for this weeks SSC hinges week . There is even the laptop that we know has a hinge to open up the screen and keyboard but it is not so visible , although , the page open is the brief for Jan's Challenge !!
Oh , in case you ask , the background was taken at the same time I was hunting hinges when a flock of murmurating pigeons did a bit of an airshow !!
I´ve made a box for my friends birthday for her sewing patterns. I used old patterns from the 1950s and some french magazines from the 1930s which I´ve bought on the Portobello Road Market in London some years ago.
I hope she will like it.
This week in SSC:
In honor of our 2 year anniversary in SSC this week we could choose a challenge that we learned something from while being in our group.
I chose "ICM" (Intentional Camera Movement.) I really like playing around with this technique just to see what I can come up with. It has taught me that you can actually paint with the light by using a longer shutter speed. My image is of our yard along the driveway from an upstairs window. You can just make out the fence and the ghosts of the trees as they transition from summer to fall and the days get shorter. There are some large fir trees, a dwarf dogwood and the yellowing Jacquemontii birch with its beautiful white bark.
Happy 2 year Anniversary, SSC! Thanks to all our members for your wonderful contributions each week. It's always fun to see what each of you come up with. :)
...and for Sight and Sound
There's something a little haunting about this photo to me so I chose this song to go along with it.
Concrete Blonde from their album "Bloodletting" (1990)
Saturday self challenge this week was Harmony. I have these two climbers growing outside my front door and felt they fit the brief. I particularly like the symmetry of the bricks and trellising and the purple clematis and yellow black-eyed Susan go well together being on opposite sides of the colour wheel.
Saturday challenge - Summertime collage
From my photos in the neighbourhood, New South Wales, Australia.
Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 17/10/2024 -- Hinges .
After a number of shots I settled for this one just because of the angle rather than all the straight shots . This is on one of three pairs of gates at the Entrance / Exits to The Mansion House in Leatherhead . There are a few more hinges in the first comment box .
As to the Mansion House , personally it has scarred me for life as the school dentist operated from here back in the 50s/60s and the mental scars of those visits , well do not do me any favours !!
The Mansion House has a bit of history to it so here is an abstracted article by the Leatherhead & Local History Society .
With the dissolution of Leeds Priory by Henry VIII, the original property was granted to the
Stydolf family of Mickleham and Pachesham and it was leased by one of Henry’s yeoman
falconers, Robert Cheseman. In 1588 Edmund Tylney, Master of the Revels to Queen
Elizabeth I took up occupancy. The Queen dined with him there on 3rd August 1591. Shortly before the Glorious Revolution in 1688, James ITs Chancellor, the notorious Judge Jeffrey’s,
came to the Mansion to see his dying daughter. The house was rebuilt in 1739 by Alexander
Akehurst in warm Flemish brick, well proportioned and evenly fenestrated with nine twowindowed bays.
In about 1846 Dr Thomas Payne founded ‘The Mansion Grammar School for Boys’ there.
The school was a boarding and day school for about 50 boys from 10 years upwards. He
taught the Jacotot system of education based on the principle that because all men have
equal intelligence received from God. The school continued until some time during the
1870s.
When it was sold to Herbert Reeves in 1922 it had 10 acres of grounds and a boathouse. In
1949, LUDC agreed with SCC to compulsory purchase the building for use as a public library
and health clinic. The building was also used later as a youth employment and careers
centre.
In May 2000 the ground floor rooms underwent restoration to become the Registry Office
and the library was moved to another part of the building.
A quick Sight & Sound - Gates of Babylon
Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge -13/06/2020 -- Frame filling bright & bold colours .
Well for my shot I raided my wife's stack of balls of wool - or should I say Yarn , but that will only open up a fierce debate on is wool yarn and vice versa and what about all the other fibres that are used like acrylic !! However , I am no knitter ( or as I say knotter cos that to me is what knitting is ! ) .
Trust this little stack is colourful enough to brighten up a day !!
Well for Sight & Sound we will assume it is balls of wool - and wool comes from Sheep . So a track called Sheep and a rock song that refers in part to Psalm 23 .
Haven't got out much lately so took the opportunity to revisit some old shots. This one one I took back in January, whilst on a sunrise shoot with Flickr friends Andrew, Rob and Sally
Electric cable clips, taken for 'Saturday Self Challenge: "White"
Bit of an oops this week for SSC, took a whole load of photos of snow drops, then when I came to submit to SSC realised I'd forgotten the the challenge was for a +mainly+ white image, so had to hurriedly come up with another idea . . .
Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 11/04/2020 - Easter or Spring .
Well I have done an Easter challenge in the past , so this time I am doing the Spring capture . And Cherry blossom is a sure sign of spring , this is a Prunus " something " growing in our garden and looking rather lovely at this time of year . As a tree though it is not the most elegant with branches going this way and that making it look more of a rambling bush . However , it does blossom well and the birds are always stopping off for a perch on the branches .
For a tune how about an oldie I heard again the other day on Planet Rock ? I did have this back in the day on cassette - by the Groundhogs and Cherry Red - even if the blossom is pink !!
Saturday challenge
It's raining, so this is home made, using water in a glass bowl over a silver tray, and some handy Marguerite daisies..
Spotted and taken for SSC -14/02/2026 -- Cracks !!
Well , here is the proof - this bit of pathway is in a right state and this is not the only area covered in cracks and crevasses .
As you can see , nature is quickly taking over with signs of green growth taking root !!
I guess it is not just me , Sammy Hagar seems to have noticed a Crack In The World as well -----------