I was back in Camden Town yesterday, as you can see from the image above. I photographed this place years ago, during the lockdown, when it had recently been a functioning restaurant. It's been closed since then, I believe, and now it's looking a bit derelict. I wonder what the long-term plan is?
There's a second restaurant in the shopfront at left, a Chinese place called Fungsun Kitchen that's still open.
Anyway, I think it's a very photogenic building!
So, yes, I was back at Camden Market to talk to my slide dealer. He had another box of slides on hand, which I bought, and I asked him about buying his entire stock. We're talking about it. I know I'm taking a huge headlong plunge into this project, whatever it may eventually turn out to be -- maybe only blog posts and Flickr albums. But hey, it will keep me from becoming a delinquent in my late-middle age.
There's a second restaurant in the shopfront at left, a Chinese place called Fungsun Kitchen that's still open.
Anyway, I think it's a very photogenic building!
So, yes, I was back at Camden Market to talk to my slide dealer. He had another box of slides on hand, which I bought, and I asked him about buying his entire stock. We're talking about it. I know I'm taking a huge headlong plunge into this project, whatever it may eventually turn out to be -- maybe only blog posts and Flickr albums. But hey, it will keep me from becoming a delinquent in my late-middle age.
This is now on what I always think of as the Carmen Miranda wall, across from the market, even though Carmen hasn't been there for years. I love how the artist painted the disco ball. They really captured the glittery effect, didn't they? I'm not sure about the grammar of that sentence but let's not be nitpicky.
After securing my second batch of slides, I walked home from the market, and it was an ideal day for that. The temperature was a perfect 72ยบ F and the sun was shining. London in the late spring and summer can really be amazing. I remember when Dave and I moved here in July 2011, we kept exclaiming about the climate: "People say the weather in England is horrible, but this is fabulous!" And then, of course, autumn came and the long, dark winter and we realized what everyone was talking about.
I stopped for coffee in Belsize Park, and there was a woman ahead of me in line. She ordered a latte and I ordered a white Americano. What emerged from the barista was an oat-milk latte and an Americano over ice. Apparently the woman who took our order wasn't very careful about the keys she was punching, and the barista gave her a stern talking-to right in front of us. "It's not your first day," she told her. Yikes!
Anyway, we eventually got our correct coffees and hopefully the counter woman didn't get fired. I'm not sure what it says about her future job prospects if she has trouble taking orders at a Pret.
Back home in the evening, I heard a knock on our door. It was a delivery guy with the slide-duplicating attachment for my camera. Woo hoo! So I'll be experimenting a bit with that. I've taken a couple of test shots and it seems to work pretty well, though the images are not as sharp as professional scans. They should be suitable for blogging, though.
Yikes on the coffee, perhaps the girl was just having a bad day? The building is eye catching and I like the disco ball painting.
ReplyDelete"I wonder what the long-term plan is?" Possibly the Steve Reed Colour Slide Emporium and Junk Shop? The owner will no doubt drive a hard bargain with his new best friend - a rescued pit bull terrier called Satan by his side - for security and persuasion purposes.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same a new hobby and I'm all in, no half way, can't wait to see your posts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in London last, which was many years ago now, we went to Camden Market. What a place! 72 degrees and sunny is a perfect day!
ReplyDeleteThis should be fun, seeing the slide conversions. I've not been to Camden Town. Looks interesting! And what a glorious day. We'd just like it to get above the 40s here and cut the freeze warnings at night so I can get a little bit planted that I don't have to bring in every night!
ReplyDeleteI remember when my man did that conversion of slides to digital photos. We had tons of slides from years of travel and work overseas and a box of cast offs from various cousins and friends. It took him ages to go through them all. Now, years later, he is back at the digital photos, cleaning them up and removing scratches etc. Clearly a suitable retirement project. You are on to something here it seems.
ReplyDeleteI think this sounds like an excellent idea. It's a project that you have a great interest in and that you are good at. What could be better? Go for it. I like that disco ball too. I said something about a disco ball the other day and Jessie said, "How old ARE you?"
ReplyDeletePretty darn old.
In your retirement, you can open up that photogenic building as a slide and stamp collection shop. :)
ReplyDeleteLol. Go Steve, go!
ReplyDeleteYou know, we had a suitcase full of pictures dating from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The people were from a town called Tidioute. We did not know what to do with them
Post cards from wwi and ii. We dropped them off at the public library in that town. I am ashamed that it never even occurred to me to take pictures of them for the blog.
Wow I remember it like it was five minutes ago- Your dogs in quarantine and ,in spite of their ages ,did pretty good considering the stress. That was a bold move! Be bold , young man! I am excited about the slides, what you will find will be intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that you do all that work with the slides. You reminded me a blog post I did several years ago about an artist who did a whole series of paintings based on some slides he purchased on ebay. You can see it here: https://phxdp.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-muse.html
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see some of the treasures you find.
Hopefully you got a free coffee. That's what happens at Starbucks when they get the order wrong.
ReplyDeleteYour slide project will be good fun and fascinating to piece together content/historic captured in each photo.
The disco ball is nicely done. It is a real throwback and inspires great memories of a special era. Time warps are real. For example, a friend who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, recently found out this area is referred to as the "Yay." When she asked when this happened, her university-aged kid said, about 10 years ago. My friend missed the memo!
There are so many variations on coffee orders and so many people who think they need to be so special that I could never do that job!!
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "My slides dealer" sounds kind of dodgy in a way!
I've heard some pretty crazy orders at Sbux, but those coffees didn't sound very complicated. You've found a retirement project already! 9 years in and I'm still working on it. :)
ReplyDeleteYou've really gone headlong into this new project. It sounds fun. Who knows what treasures you might unearth?
ReplyDeleteI remember in my youth I always got an amazing juice from a shop beside my work (apple, beetroot and carrot if you ever want a fantastic juice combination) and for some reason nearly always coincided with another customer ordering her "skim milk half-shot decaf cappuccino no chocolate sprinkle on top" and I would think "what's the point". Slide project sounds like hours of fun.
ReplyDeleteI like the disco ball AND Carmen Miranda!
ReplyDeleteThe scanning by camera lens is interesting and I look forward to seeing the results. I had never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteThe disco ball is really well done!
ReplyDeleteYour slides project sounds daunting to me, but as you said before, you are very quick at determining whether a slide is worth keeping or not.