charles c ebbets looking cool shooting lunch atop a skyscraper

Charles Clyde Ebbets was the photographer, on September 20th 1932, who took the iconic photographs of the workmen sitting high up on a girder in New York, building the Rockefeller Centre, especially the much parodied  'Lunch atop a Skyscraper'.  Here's a photograph of him on a girder himself, taking the pictures.  Good to see he got dressed up and decided against sensible shoes. What l would like to know is who took the picture of him, and which poor sod had to carry all the equipment up there.  There wasn't too much Health and Safety about in those days, and those people had nerves of steel.

Here's the most famous shot

And here's some more

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central park from above and ali flattens williams

A photograph of New York's Central Park that is new to me and looks fantastic shot from above.

Which reminded me of this poignant and spectacular photo, from when Muhammad Ali knocked out Cleveland Williams (By Neil Leifer)

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the moon photographed from the same spot for 28 days

 

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glastonbury tor photograph

As l live Oop North in the wilds of Sunny Yorkshire, sheep are not that exciting to see, as they are everywhere, and feature in lots of local artists works. I did however, really like this photograph, looking up towards Glastonbury Tor.

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joys of the countryside

Outside my front door. How sweet.
That's lunch sorted, and if it wasn't for the bastard birds chirping away and waking me up at 5.30am each day, life out in the sticks would be great.

Here's my walk home from the pub a month ago.

Plus a cool pub in Bedale that l had been frequenting earlier that evening (The Three Coopers). A pool table surrounded by records you can play, plus a chopper (fnaar). What's not to like?
By the look of the photographs, it looks as though social distancing or the lockdown were already in place.

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eventful walk home from the pub

Always handy to keep your eyes peeled for action on the walk home from the pub (last night)

 As usual - not much traffic about

 The joys of living by an Army Garrison

 Still no traffic

 Beauty trying to escape it's shackles

 Really prominent directions

 There's always one flower that gets too pissed and lets the side down

A bin getting spit roasted

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blair witch comes to richmond woods

I was up to no good around Richmond woods, and came across these rather unusual objects attached to a tree. What for - l've no idea, but some of the locals around these parts have certainly been inbred, so nothing would surprise me. Perhaps it's just a lovely signpost for a dogging site. Purely for research, I'll check it out again at 3am and get back to you.

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liverpool / bootle docks photograph from 1946 and a bootle map from 1935

An excellent photograph of Liverpool docks / Bootle, taken in 1946 (Before even l was born).
It's changed a bit from then, although gentrification and Liverpool's upscaling still has to reach or impact much of this area. It's still pretty poor, but it was what l called (and still consider to be) home, despite now having another home in Sunny Catterick.

Here's a map of Bootle in 1935 to augment it. My childhood home is there for all to see (If you know where to look)

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danny baker's wife at the baftas

So, tonight it's the Baftas, where the great and good come out to party. Just don't believe everything you read though, as this picture from The Mirror site apparently shows Danny Baker and his wife Bonnie. You may well think Danny is punching above his weight, until you realise that he is married to Wendy (who he has gone on about for years) and the lady in the picture is actually one of his daughters.

It will probably be changed at some time, but in the meantime, the article is here.

For his tweets about the occasion, go here

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hyungkoo lee - the objectuals

To celebrate South Korea knocking out Germany in the World cup, and to take my mind off the life sapping England v Belgium 'game', here's Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee's 'The Objectuals'. 
They're strangely disturbing

 

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a bad attitude bird

Rather like me, this bird doesn't follow orders!!

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my hideous children

Thinking about Elvis and Las Vegas (post below), reminded me of these monstrosities which were done in hotel photo booths in Vegas a few years ago. They photograph you and your partner, and then mix it up a bit to supposedly show what your children would look like.

Put me off having kids, l can tell you - it'd be like The Village of the Damned.

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iggy's pants and his footwear choices

You have to have confidence to wear a pair of pants that Iggy Pop is sporting in this photograph.
It makes me admire him even more.
Despite the fact that l'm not too keen on the shoes and no socks look he is also sporting, he was ahead of his time not just with his music, but his footwear as well, as that's what the fashionista are wearing these days (Idiots).

Here's the trailer for the Jim Jarmusch documentary on Iggy and The Stooges - 'Gimme Danger'.  I'm biased as l'm besotted by them, but it's highly recommended!!



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al perman found in a book plus david essex and the stray cats

It's funny what you can find stashed away in old books bought from charity shops. 

Here's a recent example - a photograph of a singer who looks a bit like David Essex in 'Stardust', but the back of the photo has 'Al Perman 1966' written on it. That could be the photographer or the singer, as l have no idea. I tried a quick Google search but with no success, so it is likely to remain a puzzle.

Here's David Essex playing Jim MacLain with The Stray Cats in 'Stardust'



Here's David Essex's 'Rock On' (a favourite of mine)



And here's the later day Stray Cats doing the 'Stray Cat Strut'



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everyone was young once - part 34 - my parents

When l was around at my sisters yesterday, she showed me a wedding album from our parents marriage day in sunny Bootle that she had dug out. Someone is doing our family tree, so l wanted some pictures of our grandparents mainly, but while l was scanning them, l thought l might as well do copies of the ones from the wedding as well.
It's hard to believe our parents were ever that young, and l don't recall seeing my father that skinny ever.
Both are dead now, so l am officially an orphan, and therefore demand sympathy!!

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another trip to ikea

I was out and about in Richmond yesterday, and was just about to drive home when l crumbled and headed to Gateshead Ikea to buy some more record storage. Of course l then had to build and erect it (Fnaaaarr) as soon as l got back, but l am now chuffed that l made the effort, as l'm very pleased with it. Plus l was there and back in no time, as it's dead easy when you live by the A1. 

I'll be on one of those hoarding programmes in a few years. It's only a matter of time.

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another fine day out in the boro

Myself and Robbo went out a couple of weeks or so ago in the Boro to watch the football. Here's two of the sights from that day. Possibly the best toilet in the land, and a toilet door that someone has obviously taken out their frustration on.
Another fine day for all the family.

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the addams family home in colour

This just does not look right. A colour photograph from inside the home of  The Addams Family.
Because l've always seen it in black and white on the old TV series, it seems weirder than usual. However, l did notice they have the same Hookah pipe as me (the green and red thing at the bottom of the picture). My one's from Turkey).

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