Who Needs A Hoverboard.

[John 2]

Just back from Portugal where we split our time between a few day in Lisbon and the rest down the coast in Estoril. The City provided a rare opportunity for some street photography and I though I would share this. It's a real person, not a statue. He did move from time to time and sitting nearby with beer in hand, I took a few - more with the intention of capturing spectator reaction than just the performer.

Fuji XT-1
18-55mm lens
1/180th sec @f4.4 ISO800

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[gregj1763]

Ok, I'll bite. How does he do it.
Great photo John

[John 2]

Thanks John.
Greg, we were sat there until he packed up. His wife/lady friend/assistant covered him with a large black bag but it was clear from the clanking that a frame of some sort was involved, presumably attached to the walking stick. The real question though is where the other end of it was located.

[Mike Buckley]

Excellent, John! I spent considerable time enjoying the details of the people watching "the statue." It also works well as a monochrome.

[IzzieK]

The spectators' reaction are really priceless, John...good thinking!!!

Greg, there are different characters each week to the right of Flinder's Street Station in Melbourne like this but people are used to seeing them now that they are almost ignored...

[rpcrowe]

Neat image, it shows the reaction of the crowd rather than just a portrait of the statue-man.

I recently saw a video done with Arnold Swartznegger to publicize his new Terminator movie. He is made up as a wax replica of the Terminator in the Hollywood Wax Museum. When people stand next to him to have their picture taken, he puts his arm around them which scares the heck out of most folks. Quite humorous unless someone has a heart attack!

[Manfred M]

Thanks John.
Greg, we were sat there until he packed up. His wife/lady friend/assistant covered him with a large black bag but it was clear from the clanking that a frame of some sort was involved, presumably attached to the walking stick. The real question though is where the other end of it was located.

Looking at the position of the sleeve and hand, I strongly suspect that there is a continuation of the cane; a bent and or welded metal rod that runs up through the left sleeve and onto a harness to his torso. The platform appears to be sized to ensure that the whole thing does not topple over from the off-axis load.

[Mike Buckley]

Looking at the position of the sleeve and hand, I strongly suspect that there is a continuation of the cane; a bent and or welded metal rod that runs up through the left sleeve and onto a harness to his torso.

It's always good to have the analytical skills of an engineer around.

[Manfred M]

It's always good to have the analytical skills of an engineer around.

I always look to see what doesn't look quite right. His left sleeve seems to push up, rather than slide down, so that suggests something is preventing this from happening. Also I suspect there may be a brace running down to his shoes; if he were just hanging there, his feet would tend to dip a bit (toes lower than the heels), so that would suggest another brace.

If something does not look quite right, it probably means there is a bit of trickery going on here; albeit very effective trickery. There must be an easier way to earn a living...

[John 2]

Thanks all for the additional comments. I missed some great crowd reaction due to people standing in front of me from time to time. Children were the best. They had no inhibitions and would get in close to pass their hands under feet etc.

Manfred, it's an interesting engineering problem when you think about it. The pendulum action of his weight on what must have been a cantilever frame supported on just one piece of the frame should have had him swaying all over the place but despite his having the freedom to move quite a bit, everything seemed to stay fairly rigid.

[Manfred M]

Manfred, it's an interesting engineering problem when you think about it. The pendulum action of his weight on what must have been a cantilever frame supported on just one piece of the frame should have had him swaying all over the place but despite his having the freedom to move quite a bit, everything seemed to stay fairly rigid.

Exactly my thought too, John. Making the rig rigid enough without a lot of weight would be the real trick here. I suspect that him not moving is what makes this work; get him into the rig and get the whole thing damped down before he can be seen would be part of it. The fact that the mounting / dismounting is done so things are hidden from sight suggest this would be part of the process of getting him into the setup.

[deetheturk]

I'm a bit late to this one John, but great image mate, well done

[Round Tuit]

It looks to me like his left shoe is connected to the cane. If that is the case then his right shoe could also be secured to his left shoe providing him a platform to stand on. In any case interesting shot.

[Nat]

Really nice capture of an interesting set up. Love to watch people trying to figure things out. I imagine there is a hole in the base and the cane is inserted into the hole. And the shoes are probably metal and welded to the metal cane and he just dresses up, inserts cane and shoes into position in the hole, puts feet into metal shoes and appears to be levitating..ta da.....just my guess. I don't get to see these live sculptures very often, so I am usually fascinated by them. What a way to make a living...I know I could not do it.

Edit: Well I see I did not read far enough...I'm not the only one who thought this was how it was done....

[John 2]

Thank you David.

Andre/ Nat, I have other shots showing a separation between his shoes and the cane however, it might be that his shoes are in some way hard linked as a platform for him to stand on. Any other way of supporting him would I think be both uncomfortable and would cause him to sag.

Thanks for all the comments.