Revisiting old shoots!

[James G]

I don't know if you are like me, but every now and then I kind of get nostalgic for my old shoots and trawl back to see what I missed. And I always have overlooked of underrated something.

So, I was looking back at a shoot of a Christmas Fair/German Market in Birmingham a few years back and resurrected these two images. At the time I rejected them, but was not seeing them as monochrome.

I do remember being amused by the concept of 'Christmas Budhha's . Has anyone else any lost gems they'll admit to?

C&C welcome.

[IzzieK]

I like the first shot James...I wonder what rain sticks do?

[James G]

Isabel... you got me with that question ... so. I looked it up

"A rainstick is a long, hollow tube partially filled with small pebbles or beans that has small pins or thorns arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the pebbles fall to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of rain falling.
The rainstick is believed to have been invented by the Aztecs and was played in the belief it could bring about rainstorms. "

So, this stall holder was not just advocating a 'Buddha for Christmas', but offering the opportunity to magic up rainstorms, which I suppose means Snow if you live far enough north.

He must have sold a lot over the last few months ....... Blizzards & Snow in USA and atrocious floods in UK.

If I see him next Christmas I'm gonna have a serious word with him about it all!

[rpcrowe]

I also like revisiting old images, especially with new software. I especially like #2 but, I tried it as a vertical with the vendor looking down at his Buddha figurines and it really seemed to work. His face reminds me of a figurine or statue......

[Shadowman]

Favorite passtime of mine, looking back at old images.

Nice.

[James G]

Richard,
did a quick screen crop and I see what you mean. It does change the dynamic of the image. I never considered the vertical crop.

The booth he was in had a strong red/orange colour cast from the street lighting. His skin tone was oaky as a result. This was what made the original capture a no go, and if memory serves, why I took a second shot without him in the frame. Additionally when I came to process them there was just too much 'brashness' to the colours that I couldn't reduce effectively. I think it this cast that gave his features that figurine aspect when converted to B&W.

[IzzieK]

Isabel... you got me with that question ... so. I looked it up

"A rainstick is a long, hollow tube partially filled with small pebbles or beans that has small pins or thorns arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the pebbles fall to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of rain falling.
The rainstick is believed to have been invented by the Aztecs and was played in the belief it could bring about rainstorms. "

So, this stall holder was not just advocating a 'Buddha for Christmas', but offering the opportunity to magic up rainstorms, which I suppose means Snow if you live far enough north.

He must have sold a lot over the last few months ....... Blizzards & Snow in USA and atrocious floods in UK.

If I see him next Christmas I'm gonna have a serious word with him about it all!

Thanks for your research James...when I saw "rain sticks" I immediately connected it to the Australian aborigine's version of rain sticks. Googling the same words but adding Austraian aborigine rain sticks told me that this is not exclusive to just Australian ones but the idea of the magic is the same. I have both the didgeridoo and the rain sticks here in one of the corners of my lounge room (for show apparently...)