autofantasia's photos with the keyword: stone

For this week's Sunday Challenge for which the subject was walls . This is a section of the outside wall on St. Andrew's in Starbeck, Harrogate, which had been decorated with hundreds, if not thousands, of these little crocheted flowers as part of this year's Starbeck In Bloom competition. Although I went relatively close so as to also capture the lovely old stonework there were as I've said many, many more of these flowers attached to large areas of the church exterior. And there were similar displays and beautifully crafted flowers attached to several other buildings along the town's High Street as well as to fences and railings. Starbeck in Bloom was formed 19 years ago after a spate of vandalism had reduced morale within the community and a small group of people and businesses got together determined to make improvements in the town. They decided initially to brighten the shopping environment by putting some flowering tubs along the High Street and then they entered the Yorkshire in Bloom gardening competition competing in the Urban Category. Within a couple of years of entering this regional competition they were starting to win awards for their efforts and that success has continued to grow as has support for the initiative. So much so that this year, after many years of winning Gold awards in Yorkshire in Bloom , they were asked to represent Yorkshire by competing within Britain in Bloom , the much respected community gardening competition organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. In addition to the efforts to brighten up the main shopping areas there are a wide range of events held throughout the town and the flowers you see here were created as part of the Starbeck is Special community art project which involved making flowers out of trash to decorate the High Street. www.starbeckinbloom.co.uk www.rhs.org.uk/communities/campaigns/britain-in-bloom Also for Sight and Sound ... how about Peter Gabriel and "Wallflower" - enjoy: youtu.be/D04KqzH8480 youtu.be/wOHBjpjDsio

For this week's Sunday Challenge for which the subject was straight lines . This piece of public art which reputedly cost around £760,000 was created by artist David Mach to celebrate the rich railway heritage of Darlington and is officially named "TRAIN", but it's more often than not referred to by locals as the brick train . Commissioned by Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC and Darlington Borough Council supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England it can be found on the outskirts of the town adjacent to the A66 where it has stood since the summer of 1997. It's modelled as many of you will have spotted on Mallard , which in 1938 set the world speed record for steam locomotives at an astonishing 126 mph (203 km/h). A total of 185,000 bricks were used to create this amazing sculpture along with 170 cubic meters of concrete. The train weighs 15,000 tonnes; covers an area of 600sq meters; is of hollow construction; measures 23ft high by 130ft long; and took a team of 34 brick layers, labourers and apprentices 21 weeks to build. In addition, there are even 20 special ‘bat’ bricks built in at various places to encourage the nocturnal creatures to use it as their home, which might explain the whitish deposits that now cover much of the structure. It is now regarded by local officials as a much-loved local landmark despite concerns initially about its cost and is certainly an impressive sight. However, I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed by the surrounding area as it felt somewhat neglected and forgotten, which is a shame given that it has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. The planting around the site felt somewhat overgrown, signs were missing or damaged and the gravel path up to the supposed viewing platform was riven and rutted by rain meaning I doubt it would be easy to navigate with a pram or wheelchair. That said it's still worth a visit if you're ever in the area if only to marvel at how the artist has managed to recreate a speeding train complete with billowing clouds of steam from ordinary straight-lined rectangular house bricks. You might need to view this on black for best effect though to fully appreciate all those hundreds of straight lines.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we were asked to find an S-curve . We were told if we were really struggling we could simply photograph the letter S , but ideally we were to find something that resembled the S-curve . Sounded straightforward, but when it came to getting a suitable subject like many I found it to be a more difficult challenge than it first appeared. In the end I managed to come up with a couple, both taken this week at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire. This ornate bit of stonework was found on a wall within the grounds, whilst the one in the Notes is of a Willow tree that I noticed had a bizarre S-like twist to the trunk. Apologies for the late posting and being behind with comments, but the Bank Holiday weekend has been very busy ... so a big thank you to Chris for keeping the 'door' open so that I could still post an entry this week!

Went on a visit yesterday to Jervaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire and spotted these tiny little snails on one of the outer walls. Then as I looked more closely I saw there were dozens, if not hundreds of them. No idea what type they are, but I thought they were an interesting find and it helped remind me that you never know where the next shot might come from. Best viewed large on black for best effect. As for Jervaulx Abbey, it was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire and is now privately owned. It's well worth a visit if you like looking at old ruins and they have an excellent tea room too where they sell the most beautiful home made cakes. www.jervaulxabbey.com

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature considered to be an especially powerful and majestic animal which people believed could be found guarding treasure and priceless possessions. Most representations of griffins depict them with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's legs and talons as its front feet. However, some older illustrations show the griffin to have both the front and hind legs of a lion as seen on this statue, which I came across in Harrogate recently. It was one of a pair sat atop the entrance pillars to one of the buildings I passed close to the town centre.

No, not a sign that I'm going back to flickr, just another one from the 'processing room', which I hope some of you will enjoy seeing. Three images blended with some 'brushy wizadry' on top!

An interior shot, looking up at the sky above, of the fascinating beehive shaped Dovecot located within the grounds of Aberdour Castle in Scotland. Aberdour is among the oldest masonry castles still standing in Scotland and hidden within the complex, aside from the Dovecot, are the remains of a two-storey hall-house, which may date from the early 12th century. According to the plaque fixed on the outside wall of the Dovecot it provided a valuable source of meat in the winter months. The stone nesting boxes around the walls, of which there are many, were originally reached by a revolving ladder called a potence. You can find out more about Aberdour Castle by following the shortened link below: goo.gl/ipcrz1 Also for Sight and Sound : Imagine Dragons with what else but "Round and Round" ... youtu.be/JD92Ui_PWKQ youtu.be/i9zTi0Ctspk youtu.be/jaLh7lV5APQ

Called "Le Monument" this artistic dry stone wall sculpture was created by Gordon Simpson, Master Dry Stone Waller. It was erected in 2014 and unveiled by Brian Robinson to commemorate the Tour de France, which passed the spot between Ripley and Harrogate where this piece of public art can now be admired. The shot was taken by me a few days ago for this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the theme was sport or anything to do with sport . You'll find a shot of the overall sculpture in the Notes and you can learn more about the man responsible for creating "Le Monument" by visiting the site below: www.dry-stone-waller.co.uk Or, check out this short little video on YouTube: youtu.be/urou7pxKw5o Oh, and if you're wondering, as I was, who Brian Robinson is. Well it turns out that he was the first ever Briton to finish the Tour de France and the first to win a stage in the race way back in in the 1950s.

Another bit of fun based around a shot I took within Brompton Church cemetery itself. I was looking for something I could use at the time for the Sunday Challenge when the theme was pareidolia . As I wandered around, I couldn't help but notice the way the back of the very oldest headstones had been eroded over time with the wind and weather. Such beautiful patterns and colours not to mention this little 'soldier' who'd been frozen in time. Not sure what was getting him all excited, but he was certainly shouting about it to anyone in his vicinity. Done some basic adjustments to bring out the colours of the stone to best effect and added some texturing, but otherwise pretty much how I saw it on the day.

Sadly, due to security fears, that's true of so many rural churches here in the UK. However, the padlocked fence here at Brompton Church wasn't to keep people out of the building, but instead being used to screen off a section of the perimeter wall that surrounds the cemetery and which has a massive large crack in it ... presumably in case it collapses. Pretty sure it's been like that for years, but I guess when congregations are dwindling such maintenance issues are way down the list of priorities. Anyway, I took the shot into the 'processing room' and here's where I ended up!

For this week's Sunday Challenge , which has the theme of broken . I spotted this collection of stone masonry propped up against a crypt outside one of the churches near where I live in North Yorkshire. I couldn't decide if they were all from the same grave or not, but I felt the grouping was an ideal subject for the challenge, even if it was a rather sad sight. Probably best viewed large on black if you have time.

I was going to use this for the recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of pareidolia , but unfortunately manipulated images weren't allowed. Still, I thought it might fit into "Sight and Sound" so decided to post it after all ... two possible tracks to accompany this one: The Rolling Stones - Heart of Stone: youtu.be/nX0pB1Szgmk Iko - Heart of Stone: youtu.be/Ixsrw0cx2h8

One of several that could best be described as being a 'nearly ran' for a recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of shadows . As with my official entry this is based around a shot I took of an external metal staircase that was casting some interesting shadows onto the pebble dash rendering.

One of several that could best be described as being a 'nearly ran' for a recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of shadows . As with my official entry this is based around a shot I took of an external metal staircase that was casting some interesting shadows onto the pebble dash rendering.

One of several that could best be described as being a 'nearly ran' for a recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of shadows . As with my official entry this is based around a shot I took of an external metal staircase that was casting some interesting shadows onto the pebble dash rendering.

One of several that could best be described as being a 'nearly ran' for a recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of shadows . As with my official entry this is based around a shot I took of an external metal staircase that was casting some interesting shadows onto the pebble dash rendering.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , which has the theme of shadows only . Whilst passing a building in Northallerton I noticed that the external metal staircase was casting some interesting shadows onto the pebble dash rendering. This is one of the shots then that I took that day. I must admit to having done some mild processing, mainly to try and create the impression that the shadow was being cast onto water. Best viewed large for maximum effect.