Paul Angel, in the UK, has made a project of photographing hearts carved or drawn in public places. A nice project for an urban explorer. Where could you find the oldest graffiti hearts in your local area? Have you ever created one yourself and if so, how did you make it and what did you make it on?
A series Paul Angel, UK, has been working on since 2004, photographing graffiti love hearts and pairing them with the spaces in which they are found.
Travel
There are 52 posts filed in Travel (this is page 4 of 6).
Start Looking for Hand Made Lettering
Here’s something you probably haven’t thought to look for, calligraphy or hand made lettering. Not just for the written page but chiseled into stone or carved into wood or painted onto walls. Where else? Visit the blog and see what you may have been missing. (It’s typography when it’s machine made lettering, calligraphy when it’s created by hand).
Source: Calligraphy as Seen From my Bicycle – Calligraphy in old churches and other places as seen during cycling tours around Europe. By Wlodek Fenrych.
Fake Buildings
I’ve seen at least a couple of small houses which have never been lived in. They were built to disguise equipment/ machinery for the telephone/ power company. It’s not so hard to recognize them because they all look about the same.
The image in this post comes from Google street view. This house is one I see every time I go to the local grocery store, it’s just a couple of streets away, in my neighbourhood.
Faux facades, fake buildings or whatever official name they have been given are interesting to find.
Have you seen any? You may not have noticed them. You may think your town is too small to have one, or any. It’s not the size of the town, however, it’s the location that counts.
- power relay stations
- cell phone infrastructure
- train tunnels
- ventilation
- emergency access
Sources for other fake buildings:
- Faux Facades: Fake Buildings Hide Trains, Power & More
- Buildings That Don’t Exist: Fake Facades Hide Infrastructure
- Faux-ny Phone Towers: Cleverly Concealed Cellular Sites
- Power Houses: Toronto Hydro’s Camouflaged Substations
- Hidden in plain sight: Tricky ways to make industrial infrastructure vanish
- What’s wrong with these Bronx townhouses?
- Stealth Infrastructure
Make Your Own Hinterland Who’s Who Spot
If you are Canadian (not too young) you will remember Hinterland Who’s Who on TV. I think this is a great idea for anyone wanting to make their own programs/ videos.
- Pick a topic (animals if you want to submit it to Hinterland).
- Do some research.
- Make your film/ video.
Now you’ve got your own documentary on video.
The same idea can work for urban, rural or any exploring you do. No need to start with something exotic, look into the history of your own home, an interesting place on your own street, or the local park. Start documenting!
Make Your Own HWW Spot
Materials
- camcorder or digital camera with video and sound recording (optional)
- video editing software, such as:
- MAC: iMovie, Final Cut Pro
- PC: Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe Premiere Pro
- voice recorder
Background
Most Canadians who had television in the 1960s or 1970s will remember it — the haunting strains of a lone flute, the trademark theme of Hinterland Who’s Who. The series of 60-second vignettes was created to educate the public about this country’s native wildlife through excellent film footage, natural sounds, and relaxed narration.
Now, more than 40 years after the series’ introduction, Environment Canada (EC) and the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) have relaunched Hinterland Who’s Who in an effort to connect another generation of Canadians with their natural heritage. The new public-service announcements carry on the classic theme of the original vignettes but also address the need to conserve and protect native species and their habitat.
Procedure
Here are some simple steps to make your Hinterland Who’s Who production a success:
- Decide on a Canadian wildlife species on which to make a video.
- Research basic elements about that species, including information such as:
- appearance
- where it lives in Canada
- how to conserve the species
Information on many Canadian species can be found at hww.ca
- If possible, take your own footage of your chosen species using a camcorder or digital recording device, or find available footage online.
- If possible take pictures of your chosen species, or find available photos online. Make sure you get permission from the photographer first!
- Combining all the above information, write a short (60 second) video script that ties the species information and imagery together.
- Record all audio and combine all elements together, including HWW music and logo, in video editing software.
- Submit your video to hww.ca, and where appropriate, videos will be posted online.
Street Furniture
It may not be an official name, but street furniture is a good name for all the items and objects which make up a city street. Do you notice the:
- street signs
- street lights
- traffic barriers
- traffic lights
- mail boxes
- hand rails
- bus stops
- phone booths
- cigarette receptacles
- fire hydrants
- garbage cans
- benches
- bicycle racks
- parking meters
- sidewalks
and so many other small, old and taken for granted parts of the city streets? What can you find in your own area which has been around awhile and gone unnoticed?
The first telephone boxes, a porter’s rest from 1861 or a street lamp powered by sewage – just a few of the things we can walk past every day in London without often noticing them. Have you ever noticed the smallest Listed structures in London, the K2 phone boxes?
Photographing the Obsolete as it Happens
What could you find to photograph for history? Typewriters, wrist watches, maps on paper… so many things which have been made old fashioned, and obsolete. I miss the mechanical things like the old phones, watches and a compass. Inventions which were treasured while their time lasted.
The Obsolescence Project. 2013 – Ongoing.
Initially begun as a 30 day photographic blog project, it became a 365 day blog documenting things that are obsolete or about to be, about the nature of obsolescence and occasionally a modest and brief history of stuff.
Source: The Obsolescence Project – Photography by Deanne Achong
Tapestries: An Exploration of World Maps
Reprinted from an article directory. I couldn’t resist posting information about maps in history.
Article by: Angela Dawson-Field
People have always been curious about the world around them and the development of maps has echoed this historical fascination. Maps were once considered to be valuable objects and were treasured by their owners and regarded as works of art in their own right. These objects attracted the attention of artists as well as skilled draughtsmen and maps became quite ornate and decorative items, capturing the imagination of those who wondered what lay beyond the horizon.
Early maps tended to reflect what people knew or remembered and were largely topographical in nature. Often, these early pieces depicted myth and lore, combining to create “living maps” that were passed form generation to generation. Formalising the topography into early maps, knowledge became standardised and sowed the foundation of early cartography.
By the Middle Ages cartography had slowed in that accuracy became replaced by religious depiction through maps. Examples of strong belief can be seen in some maps where the Holy Land is shown to be at the centre of the earth. Another example is Europa Regina by Johannes Bucius which shows an early and elongated map, depicting Europe as the Queen of the World.
The Age of Seafaring during the 16th and 17th centuries saw new interest in map making, particularly the British and the Dutch taking to the seas and exploring new lands. At this time maps became increasingly artistic. An East Indies map in tropical colouring with pineapple trees and other exotic flora and fauna, designed to capture the imagination and evoke the scent of spice in the air is a typical example. As the demand for cartographers grew in the 17th century the artistic nature of maps from a purely functional item to a work of art began to evolve.
Maps were often decorated elaborately with sea creatures or mythical characters. Many of these very accomplished draughtsmen created quite unique works of art from map making. Maps designed by Petrus Plancius (1552-1622) or Abraham Ortelius (1528-1598) were frequently found embellished with intricate pictorial content. A successor to Abraham Ortelius was the Dutch cartographer Jan Baptist Vrients (1552-1612) who designed Obis Terrae Compendosia. The world is split into two hemispheres and surrounded by ornate and detailed pictorial decoration. The map brings a perception of how the world looks and a plethora of exotic creatures and landscapes from the far flung shores of the globe.
Another famous example is Nova Totius Terrarum, designed by Henricus Hondius (1597-1622), a Dutch Cartographer. This 17th century map is an ornate depiction of the world and is surrounded by detailed nautical scenes, perhaps reflecting the age and drama of exploration by sea as mythical creatures rise from the ocean and men are seen contemplating their journey.
Antique maps are increasingly popular in the modern home and make elaborate tapestries in home décor. There are a number of ways in which an antique map can add charm and elegance to the home, whether in poster, print or tapestry format and are much appreciated by connoisseurs of good taste.
Copyright © The Tapestry House, all rights reserved.
About the Author: Angela Dawson-Field writes extensively on home
decor and tapestry & textile art. The Tapestry House
http://www.thetapestryhouse.com/products/index.html
http://www.thetapestryhouse.com/
Source: Reprint this free article (318215) by Angela Dawson-Field at Isnare.com Free Articles Directory
What’s Lost in Your Backyard?
I read this post (link follows) about items found by people at their own homes. Some of them dug something up. Some of them found something lost and forgotten and some just got lucky. In every case people took an interest and explored.
An explorer should not neglect their own backyard.
If you found something would you hope it was valuable, mysterious or historical? Would you feel a bit let down without a mix of all of those? I would!
While digging up their backyard, looking for worms to take on an upcoming fishing trip, two sisters from Kitchener, Canada stumbled upon a curious object. Deep in the ground, they found something transparent and shiny, with a bluish hue. At first they thought that it was part of a meteorite, however, earth sciences professor Phil McCausland disagreed, saying that the visible layer of the object should have been much darker if it really was part of a meteorite. Then, a gem expert, Gary Winkler, was contacted and asked to analyze the object. He found that it was definitely not a gem of any known kind. He also speculated that the object was not of natural origins but that a person deliberately buried it. No matter what it was, the sisters were going to keep it.
- gold coins
- a machine gun
- church bell
- ancient stone
- forgotten graves
- fossils
- lost loot
- cursed objects
- rocks from outer space
- unexploded bombs
- jewellery
- mysterious objects
- forgotten shelters
- drugs
- cars
Source: 25 Unusual Things You Won’t Believe Were Found In A Backyard
Exploring Street Signs
Do you notice street signs? I do.
Likely there are the option to buy old street signs, when they are decommissioned in your area too. That would be an easier, and legitimate way to get them. Any well known streets would be expensive. You could get lucky and find the street you lived on for a bargain price.
I wonder if anyone has collected the same street name in every vintage style? That would be an interesting collection. Possibly a small collection in a small town or a very large collection in the big cities where signs are changed out often for this or that reason.
The “acorn” street-name sign is as much a Toronto icon as are City Hall or the CN Tower. Though the design has graced the streets of many municipalities across Ontario and elsewhere for nearly 70 years, it’s thoughts of our city that it conjures up for many people. Its versatility allowed neighbourhoods and business improvement […]
Source: A Short History of Toronto’s Street Signs | cityscape | Torontoist
Choose your Own Map Print Fashion
Design your own map print clothing!
Source: monoch?me — Custom map print clothing and accessories