Author Archives: Taffysmith
Mechanic Working in a Truck Repair Yard in Delhi India
One of Avebury’s Majestic Stones on a Winter Morning. Wiltshire England
Bhutan Woman praying in a Buddhist temple.
Muslim Man in Calcutta
Calcutta Man I met near the Hoogly River
Calcutta Man Cleaning Teeth with a Neem Stick
Breakdown Man, West Bengal, India
Eco Warrior – seen at the Summer Solstice, Stonehenge, EnglandThe Merry Brief, Legal Sunday, Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire EnglandWomen in Semana Santa (Holy Week) Procession, Malaga, SpainAuchwitz, Poland. The Gateway to Hell!Gypsy Flamenco Dancer, Granada, SpainRajput Traders at the Pushkar Camel Fair, Rajasthan, IndiaAvebury House, Wiltshire, EnglandSolstice Reveller, Stonehenge, EnglandSeagulls at Fuengirola, Andalucia, SpainContemplationYoung boy in Calcutta, India, resting after workHippy Man, seen at the Summer Solstice, Stonehenge, EnglandMusicians and Pilgrims at the Ajmer Mosque in Rajasthan, IndiaMexican Busker in Seattle, USAYoung Woman at the Winchester Hat Fair, Hampshire, EnglandYoung Dancers at the St Benebe Feria in Marbella, Andalucia, SpainChanging the Guard, Forbidden City, Beijing, ChinaSt Peters Basilica, Vatican City, at Christmas
Under Construction
Eco WarriorLittle Emperor at the Great Wall of China
- The Shepherd and his Sheep
- Young Woman at Caceres in Andalucia
- Old lady and her goose
Old Josh
Gypsy Horse Trader at Stowe Horse Fair
-
Gwen
The Fiddler
Whilst I had applied for a media pass some weeks earlier, it was only a few days before the event that I decided to go. This was my third Birdman and will probably be my last. I really enjoyed my two days at Bognor in 2007, the organisers cavalier attitude to health and safety and the great people I photographed made it special. At Bognor I was allowed on the “flight deck”. At Worthing media are herded into one place where it is practically impossible to capture any really special images. That said, I did meet some great characters who had gone to a lot of trouble with their appearance and their “transport”.
It seems pretty obvious to me that if you are going to jump off with some contraption you need to part company with it early in your descent – and it needs to be sufficiently flimsy so that if it lands on top of you you will live to tell the tale! As was reported in the national newspaper the Daily Mail the day after “the seaside stunt by former children’s TV presenter Holly Walsh ended in disaster yesterday”. Jumping with “gravy wrestling champion” Joel Hicks, inside a mock helicopter (see image below) she fractured her elbow and dislocated her shoulder.” They were raising money for the Rainbow Children’s Hospice. How sad that such a brave and noble act should end this way.
Photographically speaking it was not a good day. When the jumping started the sky had turned English grey, forcing up the ISO to keep reasonable speeds with resultant loss of quality and bland skies.
I did have some good luck however. Presumably attracted by the Birdman publicity, a pretty little parrot appeared from nowhere and hung around long enough for me to take a couple of shots before flying off.
The Town Cryer is the real thing!
Between 1909 and 1972 some 81 vessels were beached on the banks of the river Severn near the village of Purton in Gloucestershire in England in an attempt to stop further erosion following a severe storm in 1909. The vessels were tugged from Sharpness docks nearby on the Spring tides and pushed up onto the bank creating the largest boat graveyard on mainland Britain.
]
]
This was my second visit to the annual Birdman event. My first was in 2007 when it was held in Bognor Regis for the last time (photos here), it is now held at Worthing which is a bit further east on the West Sussex coast. It followed the same pattern as before, hang gliders and flying machines on the Saturday and the lovely loonies on Sunday. I don’t find the hang gliders very interesting so I just pitched up on the Sunday. The lovely loonies, as I call them, are the brave souls who dress up and jump off the elevated pier into the sea, having raised substantial amounts for their favourite charities, God bless ‘em! This year they did have a few hang gliders and “things” on the Sunday. One was a huge device from Southampton University, piloted by “Mr Gadget Man” as the gathered press and photographers named him. I have included a photograph here. Another, was having a second attempt to win the £30,000 price for flying 100 meters, having missed it by a few centimeters the day before. With the wind in the opposite direction to Saturday he flopped into the sea right next to the pier, to the relief of the Worthing Borough Treasurer no doubt. The one I will always remember was the device that crashed into the pier right where I was standing, I had to dive onto the floor to avoid it. Nobody was hurt but it did remove a large piece of wood from of the pier’s supports. Better that than my head, some would agree!
Latest News. I entered the photograph of “Laurel and Hardy” and the red airplane (see it below) into the Evrium Software monthly photograph competition, it was judged runner up. Thanks Evrium.
It beggers belief that the national government of Spain and the local government (Junta de Andalucia) contribute no financial nor practical assistance to save the Giant Donkeys of Andalucia, despite listing them in 2001 as being a “breed in danger of extinction”. Were it not for the efforts of Marlene and Steven Byrd, and a small band of volunteers, it might be already too late for these magnificent animals – of which there may be as few as 450 left.
On a few hectares of land alongside their finca (house) in the hills between Marbella and Estepona, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, they care for more than twenty donkeys at their breeding sanctuary. Every day of their lives is devoted to their charges and holidays are a thing of the past. The temperature during the Summer months regularly exceeds 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but the work still goes on.
Most Saturdays of the year, Marlene can be seen at the Peurto Banus market handing out leaflets and soliciting donations, which is where I first met her. Without financial support from the public they would be unable to meet the cost of vets, farriers and the food bill. The sanctuary is open to the public every Sunday and they derive some income from the small number of visitors who leave donations or sponsor a donkey.
In the spare time she doesn’t have, Marlene is President of ANCRA (Asociacion National de Criadores Rasal Asnal Andaluzia) in English, The National Association of Breeders of the Andaluz Donkey. For more information click here to go to the ANCRAA website. The following is her personal description of the Giant Donkeys of Andalucia;
“These are not your average donkeys as fondly remembered from seaside holidays of yesteryear, these beauties are around 1.45m- 1.50m to the wither, which means they are VERY large. Their special gentle character, grey/white colouring and beautiful facial bone structure with their exquisite eyes are their most outstanding features. As mans’ special workmate, they have carried water, olives, oranges, lemons, farm produce, building materials etc and up in the cork forests they were used for carrying huge loads of cork. In the fields they ploughed and harrowed and sowed in perfect harmony with man. After work groomed to perfection and dressed in colourful authentic Spanish headgear and backpack etc they carried the romantic young man to the next village to woo his sweetheart! Who could resist man and beast so handsomely presented!! It is only the advent of agricultural machinery, trucks and the motorcar that has made them redundant and therefore expendable, and sadly forgotten. Suddenly you begin to realize that there are no large donkeys to be seen around and the planet could be losing another member. Please don’t let it happen.”
What I find so strange is that the Andalusians have a great love of horses and like nothing more than parading (read posing) in their national dress astride a beautiful horse, sucking up admiration like a sponge. Yet these same people have no feelings whatsoever for the “humble” donkey that has served Spain, and their ancesters, so well over the centuries. Black bulls don’t do to well there either!
In Spain the donkey is considered stubborn and slow. Second Spanish dictionary descriptions define it as an “idiot”, “oaf” and “stupid”, so it’s not surprising it’s PR ‘aint too good. The truth is much different! They learn quickly, are intellegent and they enjoy the company of humans. Could it be they are only stubborn when human handlers ask too much of them? I call that clever.
If you are ever on the Costa del Sol, taking a break between golf games or recovering from sunburn, then pop along to the sanctuary and meet Marlene and Steven, you might even get to cuddle a donkey. You will be made very welcome, as I was.
Details and a map are on the website.