Sorry. The above photograph should have appeared in the previous blog entry regarding the name Jn. Spendlove in the arch of the dial of the small lantern timepiece.
You take very engaging photies Mike, which we, your admiring public, applaud and approve no end. Soft-focus is a fine skill for enhancing emotive pics, but for technical detail you can't beat sharp as a razor with bags of contrast. Prop your camera on something large and unshakable, such as your wallet perhaps, or a Norman rampart if one is available, then take first pressure on the button - treat it like a Martini-Henry Mk IV with a hair trigger - then follow through with abated breath once the auto-focus mechanism has completed its process.
Hi Crowbard. I don't know if you remember, but we practiced with Martini-Henry rifles (resleeved to .22) in the Musketry Team when we were at School, and very good and accurate rifles they were. They were used by the army from 1869 to the early days of the First World War.
I just caught the end of a replay of 'Zulu' on TV and there were the men of the 24th Foot blazing away at the Zulu Impi with recognizable Henry-Martini rifles. Well-done the props department! And then there was the singing... those welsh soldiers sang 'Men of Harlech' almost as well as the Zulu's sang 'Watu wa KwaZulu'!
Given when that excellent film was made, I would think the props department would probably have used genuine ex-army Martini Henrys (Henries?) They have never been rare or particularly expensive. It would be interesting to know how many of them are still in active service. In the nineteen sixties someone (an American I think) tried to work out how many Brown Besses were in active service around the world and came up with a figure of several thousand - I think it was ten thousand, can't really remember, and anyway it's quite unprovable either way, but I would think quite a number of Martini Henries are still in use in places like Afghanistan and the far east.
8 comments:
The handsome timber-work behind the clock is in perfect focus Mike.
Hmmmm, Yes...... I see I shall have to do a bit more work on my photographic focus.
You take very engaging photies Mike, which we, your admiring public, applaud and approve no end. Soft-focus is a fine skill for enhancing emotive pics, but for technical detail you can't beat sharp as a razor with bags of contrast. Prop your camera on something large and unshakable, such as your wallet perhaps, or a Norman rampart if one is available, then take first pressure on the button - treat it like a Martini-Henry Mk IV with a hair trigger - then follow through with abated breath once the auto-focus mechanism has completed its process.
Hi Crowbard. I don't know if you remember, but we practiced with Martini-Henry rifles (resleeved to .22) in the Musketry Team when we were at School, and very good and accurate rifles they were. They were used by the army from 1869 to the early days of the First World War.
Weren't you using the .303 Bren light machine gun in those days Mike?
Yes, in the school O.T.C., but not in the school musketry team. Wouldn't have been considered sporting.
I just caught the end of a replay of 'Zulu' on TV and there were the men of the 24th Foot blazing away at the Zulu Impi with recognizable Henry-Martini rifles. Well-done the props department! And then there was the singing... those welsh soldiers sang 'Men of Harlech' almost as well as the Zulu's sang 'Watu wa KwaZulu'!
Given when that excellent film was made, I would think the props department would probably have used genuine ex-army Martini Henrys (Henries?) They have never been rare or particularly expensive. It would be interesting to know how many of them are still in active service. In the nineteen sixties someone (an American I think) tried to work out how many Brown Besses were in active service around the world and came up with a figure of several thousand - I think it was ten thousand, can't really remember, and anyway it's quite unprovable either way, but I would think quite a number of Martini Henries are still in use in places like Afghanistan and the far east.
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