Amazingstoker's photos

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge' (and Esther): "Brown" Call me old fashioned, but I still use a fountain pen as I like the quality of the writing it produces, and this is the elephant ink blotter that I use to dry the ink. The background is a puzzle box I bought in Japan, to open it you have to slide eight hidden panels around 60 times in the correct sequence. There's a PiP of the guy who makes the veneer for the box, a true craftsman.

Marquetry veneer maker in Hakone, the marquetry/veneers this guy is making are quite astonishing

Happy 500th birthday TSC. And thanks to the admin team for keeping it going, it's a nice place. Made from some local graffiti and a Fiat 500 badge . . .

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Show where you're standing" This is a path in Basingstoke's Holy Ghost cemetery, made from 'redundant' gravestones. The graveyard dates back to 1208. A lot's changed since AJ passed in 1741 when the town would have been supplied by horse and cart, in 1794 a canal was completed connecting the town to London, the railway followed in 1839 linking the town to London and Southampton. In the 1960s the historic town centre was flattened and replaced by a modern concrete shopping centre, an act of destruction that wouldn't be allowed today. The graveyard also has Thomas Burberry's grave (founder of the Burberry clothing empire), Mrs Blunden who was supposedly buried alive, twice, starting a trend for graves to have a bell and bell pull in the coffin in case of mistakes, and to and Victoria Cross holder J A Liddle.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Patterns"

These Mondrian style panels appeared around the town in 2012, each was approx A4 size. I saw these nine, there may well have been more. I've not published them before as the local council is pretty aggressive at removing any 'unofficial' artwork, and the one I did put up elsewhere with location info. quickly disappeared. The location were: Top row L to R 1. End of Mortimer Lane (51.2643652,-1.0915301) 2. Feathers Yard (51.2630959,-1.0859116) 3. Victory Roundabout (51.2665583,-1.0926) Middle row L to R 1. Church Square (51.2645835,-1.0899376) 2. Outside the play area off Churchill Way West (51.26665,-1.0979866) 3. Top of the steps on the lane from Basing View to The Queens Arm / Bunnian Place (51.26863,-1.0831) Bottom row L to R 1. Eastrop Roundabout (51.26685,-1.0839) 2. End of Eastrop Park near the ringroad underpass (51.2668827,-1.0699108) 3. Lane between New Road/Southern Road and Kwik Fit/Lady Susan Court (51.2612,-1.0856) My favourite is bottom left, love the way it so perfectly matches the building behind it. If you know any more about these, or of others, or their artist please be in touch.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Blue" Cornflowers in The Vyne NT gardens.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Seven o'clock"

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Amusement". The All Cash Lounge, what used to be known as an 'Amusement Arcade'

sticker in a Basingstoke underpass. "I still hate Thatcher"

The title comes from a work by the Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni, one of my favourite artists, whose ability to capture the essence of movement was unparalleled. This is the escalator at Bank tube station (in The City) with the crowd rising from the bowels of the station, so the title seemed appropriate, as are the colours of the image. Sadly Boccioni's life was cut short at 24yrs in WW1, I think had he lived he'd probably have gone on to be more widely known as one of the greats.

Taken for "The Sunday Challenge": 'Taken from different PoV to normal' This is Jane Austen's statue in Basingstoke's Old Market Square, the building to the left of the image is the on former site of the old Assembly Rooms where she attended dances.

Not something you see every day

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Green"

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Fly the flag of your country" Outside Laarsen's sports bar, Wote Street, ahead of the England Germany match.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "un-noticed detail" Never noticed these characters on these manhole covers before, wonder what they are/mean? Not sure what the covers cover either, there's a lot of them down this street, maybe one per pair of houses.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Isolate the subject" Using DoF here to separate the subject from the background.

Taken for 'The Sunday Challenge': "Plenty in B&W" There's plenty of seeds in passion fruit . . . I've saved a few seeds this time and will see if I can grow one. Original colour version that I posted in error can be seen in PiP (no pun intended)