Reflective - Thematic Photography

We have had some domestic problems this week with cars and bathroom electrical cord-pull switches, but at least I can reflect on some good fortune in winning our kitty on the lottery jackpot ball.

For a reflective photographic theme I have had to chose some shots from within our home.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks

Multiple kitchen reflections, inside and out

I'm not sure that Joshua Reynolds would have said to find a window 'in' his painting - 

Even if it is a copy

Van Gogh on the other hand would just have said of his sunflowers - 

'What's this ere?

I leave you to think of the reflective gentlemen depicted in a drawing of an industrial scene which hangs on my office wall.

Perhaps, 'It will never work!'

For more reflective experiences search the links at Carmi's thematic-photographic-379.

Put that in your pipe! - Sepia Saturday

I only ever remember one person in our family, an uncle of mine, who smoked a pipe. We have no photos of him, nor of me with a child's pipe for blowing bubbles.

Our prompt picture shows a former Prime Minister (Harold Wilson) well known for his pipe. In 1965 he was British Pipe Smokers Council's Pipe Smoker of the Year.

In 2013 the BBC ran a tribute to mark the 50th anniversary of him becoming the leader of the Labour Party. It was strange to hear that producers of the programme told guests to play down Wilson's pipe smoking habit.

Perhaps they should have listened to Albert Einstein.

Einstein - with his pipe

Einstein once said, "I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in human affairs."

The list of famous pipe smokers is endless and includes artists and literary figures. Van Gogh painted a self-portrait of course.

Van Gogh - Self-portrait with pipe (Sept-Nov 1886)

Renoir's painting of Claude Monet reading showed him enjoying a pipe.

Claude Monet Reading - 1873

Perhaps you do not know that there is even an illustration of the Mona Lisa smoking a pipe.

La Joconde fumant la pipe (Arthur Sappeckikus 1883)

"The Man with the Twisted Lip" appeared in The Strand Magazine in December 1891. I'm sure you will recognise the figure involved. It's elementary after all.

Sherlock Holmes (By Albert Sidney Paget)

The original caption was "The pipe was still between his lips."

But one of my favourite characters has always been Popeye The Sailor Man 

To see pipe smokers that have inspired others check out the links at Sepia-Saturday-235.

Post Early For Christmas - Sepia Saturday

Now they are arriving from people to whom I have I have not sent a card so all I can do now is plead

(LP Cover)

deliver them in time.

Back in 1856 the village postman needed a means to get around.

The Village Postman (copy from a book by JM Carrick)

It must have been an art to make deliveries then as Van Gogh's postman would confirm.

Van Gogh - Portrait of Joseph-Etienne Roulin 1889

I wonder who received a letter from Russia with love in the early 1900s.

Russian Empire Postman (unknown author)

At that time a postman had a hazardous occupation in many places so if your post is late there could be a tragic reason.

Memorial Stone to Robert Cunningham-Postman

Stone located on Killantringan Moor (Photo by Keith Brown: CC A-S A 2.0 generic license)

Robert Cunningham died in a snow storm in 1908

If you should hear your door bell just wait and see because remember the postman always rings twice. If you're lucky when you open your door to see it will turn out to be

Postman Pat

(Photo by Pete Reed - ex flickr: CC BY-NC 2.0)

Merry Christmas one and all. May the postman deliver you lots of cards from the ones you love