Funnies (Part 1 of three)

Wow! it's been a while since I last posted anything. This has been due to my almost constant search for work. Things seem to be improving now with freelance stuff, website building and teaching jobs and I think it's time to post something.

Back in the day when I first started my photographic life, I would be constantly on the lookout for humorous images for the likes of "Weekend Magazine" or "Titbits". these magazines paid £20 - £30 pounds per image. That doesn't happen anymore but I am still constantly on the lookout for something interesting, unusual or funny to record with whatever camera I have available.

The funnies usually fall into one of the following categories: Swiss-German use of the English language, Spelling mistakes and something that I call "Lost in translation".

I have gathered lots of these and don't want to use them all in one blog post so I will present today, the " Swiss-German use of the English language, " section.

I was inspired to do so after seeing the creeping use of English words into Swiss everyday life. Diccon Bewes mentioned this in his Swiss Watching blog here.

I have noticed that the Swiss are using more and more Anglicisms in newspapers, television programmes and amongst themselves. 

If I see something that seems out of place, then I usually snap a picture of it so here we go with my first category.

Anglo Saxon terms (swear words)

 

Not averse to using  so called "Anglo Saxon" language.

This is an actual micro brewery name

Posters for three musical groups.

 

Don't sit in the front row if you go to watch 

"Daddy and the willy Shakers!"

I'm not sure if "King Mastino" and "Call me Peter"

 are a couple of "pretending bastards" or whether 

that's the name of a third act!

This is the ideal basketball hoop for a 

deprived neighbourhood.

 For several years, no-one noticed that 

the sign said Snake instead of "snacks"

 Spunk boutique in Basel

Do you really "Backside Illumination" as a 

feature on your new camera?

Miscellaneous

 

I've been seing this mistake on the Tram ticket machines 

in Basel for over ten years now. 

And finally. if you need an English word that doesn't exist, make your own!

That's it for now. part two will about words and phrases that somehow get "Lost in translation" and will appear next Monday the 29th of September.

Thanks for reading.

New look website

I decided to give my website a complete makeover to concentrate on the business side of things. I've taken out all images that weren't commissioned and produced (in my opinion) a leaner, more streamlined site that (hopefully) showcases the work that I do.  

It's all been done in HTML5 format so should therefore in theory, work with all devices including Apples.

Please take a look. I'd love to hear what you think. It can be found here.

Thanks for reading

Film to burn?

Most of us photographers have heard the expression "film to burn". I thought about it recently when I saw this.

There was a piece on the news earlier this week about the lighting of the Olympic flame before it begins its journey to Sochi for 2014.

I saw the wide shot of the flame being lit but then, as the camera zoomed in, I saw what looked like a piece of 35mm film being used as the accelerant.

Wide shot

 

 Close up

What do you think?

Here's a video of what I saw.

Update: 

This small humorous piece was picked up and reproduced by two of my favourite sites. This resulted in a 50% surge of visitors. The two sites were Petapixel and Gizmodo. Ken Lacouture has also mentioned it on his blog.