Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Chris Calohan on December 25, 2012, 09:09:15 pm
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1936 Mercedes Benz replica located in the Grand Promenade.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8213/8307877426_b6ede1c56b_o.jpg)
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Now that's the kind of mini I could enjoy driving.
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Chris, what colour's the car? Perhaps in this case, colour could help it to stand out from the background a little better?
Lovely machines; I saw an Excalibur on display in Miami airport and then also a white one running around Pollensa some years ago, sporting what I remember to be a Florida plate; that could simply be my mind making visual links that didn't exist - but those cars have style. Still wouldn't snub a '59 Coupe de Ville, though! In pink, with a permanent Jerry Lee Lewis soundrack to the effect.
http://youtu.be/igXdVIkPYxY
On the other hand, my genes hint, I might be happier with a shiny black one or even a fine robin's egg blue.
;-)
Rob C
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It's kind of an odd burgandy red. I'll post the color version later today.
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(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8498/8311776495_94d753a7fa_o.jpg)
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O yes, Chris! That one does it very, very well!
I think we used to have a Sparklets soda dispenser that colour in the days when we used to boast a little domestic bar... Well, it all lived in a tiny piece of furniture, nothing grandiose!
Strange how Merc, Jaguar and, later, Excalibur fell for similar styles. In a way, it's all run full circle: today's cars are pretty much clones of one another. I see copies of my own little Fiesta everywhere, from the front lights to the general profile, from makers in France to othere in Japan. Don't you just love originality? I read it all as fear and lack of self-confidence on the part of the makers, certainly not as any lack of designers with the ability to design the exciting; there must be an acute lack of sign-off pencils in those boardrooms.
Rob C
P.S. The colours and feel are great; what camera are you using to create the shots?
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P.S. The colours and feel are great; what camera are you using to create the shots?
Nikon D7000 with the 18-105 kit lens. This was tripod shot at 1/5th sec, f:9, ISO 200
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Nikon D7000 with the 18-105 kit lens. This was tripod shot at 1/5th sec, f:9, ISO 200
Chris, you deserve a medal for taking a tripod along for the ride; I almost never can... it's a head thing: mine.
Waiting for the computer to heat up, my eye caught the latest slip from my gas station: I bought 32.22 litres of diesel and it cost me €45.75, which seems to be $62.49. Off the top of your head, have you any idea what a litre costs in the States or Canada?
Rob C
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Rob, At the moment, in my part of the U.S. at least,, gasoline is running around $3.25/gal. That comes out to about $0.86/liter. At today's conversion that's about 0.65 euro. So your gas would have cost about 21 euros in the U.S.
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Rob, At the moment, in my part of the U.S. at least,, gasoline is running around $3.25/gal. That comes out to about $0.86/liter. At today's conversion that's about 0.65 euro. So your gas would have cost about 21 euros in the U.S.
That's a sobering - if infuriating - thought! Everything is taxed so damned much in Europe - fuel and alcoholic drinks especially in the UK.
I understand the need for tax revenue, but I think that in some cases the tax levels are too high, especially when one considers that gasoline/diesel is involved in pretty much everything in distribution, whether of factory goods or of food etc. that it ultimately has a negative effect on the economy that outweighs the money that it brings in. Adding up all those different stages when fuel tax comes into the equation, I imagine it must make up quite a large percentage of the total price of almost everythng. If 'things' were cheaper, they'd sell more of them, keeping more people employed and able to buy more.
Certainly in Britain, the tax percentage in the cost of fuel is by far the largest slice of the tart!
In my possibly simplistic view, the introduction of VAT (value added tax) which I think is currently hovering at around twenty-something percent in Spain, is to blame for a helluva lot of the country's problems. The black economy simple ignores it and so the exchequer gets nothing because people are frankly unable or unwiiling to be robbed like that; most of the plumbers, electricians, car mechanics etc. need the work to feed their families, so they step outside the law and work black - and who can blame them? Better to get paid for your work than not get any work at all because it's too expensive for your market's pockets; some jobs simply have to get done, so the market ticks over but not all the due tax gets paid...
Maybe politicians make so much money that they are unaware of how many others in the rest of the world have to skimp and save and wriggle about to survive.
Rob C
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That's a sobering - if infuriating...
Not so fast... it shall be noted that distances play a big part in the overall cost of gas. While it might be twice as expensive to fill a tank in Europe, I bet that an average-family monthly gas bill is probably higher in the States, if not twice your monthly bill. By the time it takes me to get to the nearest full-size supermarket here, in Chicago suburbs, I could have crossed borders of several states in Europe (a hyperbole, of course, when it comes to groceries, but not so much for commuting).
Suburban sprawl, lack of decent public transportation, general obesity, all contribute to cars being used more often and for longer distances than in Europe. I've seen my neighbors use cars to check their mailbox, which would be less than hundred feet away from their front door. Heck, there are people who buy golf-carts expressly for that purpose.
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Rob, At the moment, in my part of the U.S. at least,, gasoline is running around $3.25/gal. That comes out to about $0.86/liter. At today's conversion that's about 0.65 euro. So your gas would have cost about 21 euros in the U.S.
Diesel on the IoS is a frightening £1.48 a litre, which works out about $2.00 US a litre, which then works out at $9.00 for a UK gallon - yikes!
Dave
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I've seen my neighbors use cars to check their mailbox, which would be less than hundred feet away from their front door. Heck, there are people who buy golf-carts expressly for that purpose.
Come on, Slobodan, it's just a measure of the fear of getting shot if you dare the great outdoors!
Are you suggesting that if we had more guns in Europe, then our gas would be cheaper? Maybe that's why they stop us from having them - the desire to keep up the revenue stream from the oil stream. Not sure about taking guns to supermarkets, though; to gas stations seems a good idea if you don't so much want gas but, rather, are set upon making a withdrawal.
This gets confusing: perhaps cheaper gas is just cheaper gas, regardess of how much of it you choose to use?
;-)
Rob C
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Not so fast... it shall be noted that distances play a big part in the overall cost of gas.
And that has what to do with the price of gas?
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And that has what to do with the price of gas?
Oh, I do not know, Russ... perhaps indicating the size of the market? Higher volume leading to lower prices? Ever bought things in Costco, in bulk? Ever wondered why it is cheaper to buy bulk? What made Walmart family the richest on Earth? Not selling high volume at low prices?
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... perhaps cheaper gas is just cheaper gas, regardess of how much of it you choose to use?..
Not so... just check the above reply to Russ.
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Not so... just check the above reply to Russ.
I don't understand. Cheaper is just a comparative term insofar as commodities go; however, when we apply it to people, we get into all manner of mischief - that's why I stick to snapping with a cellpone: you can't get much cheaper than that! Suits me perfectly.
;-)
Rob C
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I'm just trying to figure out what the heck all this discourse about the cost of petrol in Europe has to do with a posted pic of a 1936 Mercedes benz?????????????
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Well Chris,
I have to say that I prefer the original B&W image. My imagination ran riot as to whether the car had belonged to a party official or a captain of industry. I craved some provenance. But in that ghastly modern colour the intrinsic qualities of the car and the era have given way to fashioning a mantel ornament out of it.
Well done with the B&W!!
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I'm just trying to figure out what the heck all this discourse about the cost of petrol in Europe has to do with a posted pic of a 1936 Mercedes benz?????????????
Oops, sorry Chris, did not realize that was the first electric car.
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And now we turn to the realm of lies: wasn't it originally billed as a replica? Can't be both.
Rob C
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Yes it was, therefore doubtful there is an engine or a gas tank and thus no fuel costs involved. ;D
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Oh, I do not know, Russ... perhaps indicating the size of the market? Higher volume leading to lower prices? Ever bought things in Costco, in bulk? Ever wondered why it is cheaper to buy bulk? What made Walmart family the richest on Earth? Not selling high volume at low prices?
I've never wondered about any of that stuff, Slobodan. That's why I'm a free-marketer and pusher for capitalism. Capitalism is what saves people from poverty in parts of the world where people and their governments let it flourish. As capitalism shrinks, poverty increases. As Casey said, "you could look it up."
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I'm just trying to figure out what the heck all this discourse about the cost of petrol in Europe has to do with a posted pic of a 1936 Mercedes benz?????????????
Come to think of it... Internet discussion threads are like sex... it all starts rather innocently, then one thing leads to another... ;)
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Come to think of it... Internet discussion threads are like sex... it all starts rather innocently, then one thing leads to another... ;)
That's just an age thing, Slobodan.
I've had innumerable conversations and even Internet discussions these past four years; yet, I'm still in my second virginity, with no signs of an independently wealthy, beautiful lady in her early 50s willing to accompany me in a slow, fancy-following drive through France next spring. Perhaps if I changed it to summer I'd find one, but I don't like busy roads much. Priorities, priorities; I said it was an age thing. Oh - I'd happily leave the cameras at home, if that mattered. More than snaps (or even sexual snacks), I'd enjoy a series of good meals with fine company for as long as it lasted...
Disclaimer: this is not a proposition, because if it were, I'd place it in the Goods For Sale slot.
;-)
Rob C