Weeting Steam Rally- Day 2

If you have heard me wax lyrically about my first day at the Weeting Steam Festival, well... let's just say the second day didn't disappoint. With the arrival of a few more engines I heard someone mention the figure of over 50 for the attendees. There was more smoke, more noise, more people, more fun. My newfound friend in the traction engine community, Rob Shorland-Ball, was again most gracious to me in sharing his knowledge and love of traction engines and endured yet another string of questions about this and that. I would also like to thank for fine folks who were kind to me at the threshing display, the mill yard, and the water pumper section for educating me into this world I have grown greatly fascinated with.

If you want to see even more, consider a quick hop over to my gallery at Zenfolio. So, without further adeu, my second day at the Weeting Steam Rally:

Lensbaby and the Weeting Steam Rally

Living here in England offers some of the most unique opportunities one could ever imagine. Case in point: the Weeting Steam Rally and Country Fair. Held just outside the small village of Weeting, Norfolk (pop. 1750) it is celebrating 40 years of shows in which steam powered vehicles (called traction engines) gather to show their stuff. Today I took my 4 children and my Lensbaby 3G mounted on a Canon 40D to Weeting to look around and I have to say, it was really an incredible time.

We parked in a huge field and as we approaced the main event area you could see plumes of grey sooty smoke rising from numerous locations, the smell of sulfurous-coal thick in the air. As we rounded a huge white tent we saw example on example of huge, lumbering machines. What a fantastic sight, some of these monstorous vehicles were 100 years old but looked as if they rolled out of the shop only last week. You have never seen or smelled so much Brass-o in your life!

At one engine we stopped to talk to a very nice gentleman named Rob who kindly took the time to explain what a traction engine was, what they were made for, and how they worked. The children were even asked to step up onto the platform and shown the controls. What a fantastic learning experience. He would explain how the coal fire heated water in the boiler and as he did, a lumbering 8-10 ton machine would go by, gigantic masses of cast iron spinning and stroking about with a speed that nearly defied belief. The ground shook, flecks of coal soot invaded every inch of body. It was grand.

I'm going back tomorrow with my serious gear to get even more images. Enjoy Weeting as seen through the Lensbaby, you can view more and larger images at my print order website.

Now at PhotoShelter... ME!

I'm always on the lookout for an organization that explores areas for my imagery I have yet to reach... and here's another one: Photo Shelter Collection. I enjoy being part of an organization that looks at what I have to offer and edits down to what they feel is a sale-able product for their customers. AWESOME!

And as you might have noticed, they have a nifty little widget just to the right that will loop what is available for licensing. There is a whole pile of files in the works to be uploaded, many of which haven't been seen before so keep your eye on that little box. Cool stuff awaits.

TinEye coolness- AGAIN!

Heather Williams over at Ide'e just sent me another cool demonstration of how TinEye not only locates an image across the internet but also variations (from mild to wild). I've posted the link below which will show you what I mean. Cool, very cool.

http://tineye.com/widgets/display?tux

Got Airplanes?

Check out the images I captured yesterday of the RAF practicing their formation flight for the Queen's birthday celebration over at my Aviation Blog!