autofantasia's photos with the keyword: shop

A somewhat later than intended entry for this week's Sunday Challenge . For this we were actually given several subjects to choose from, but in the end I opted to shoot anything to do with pets . This was given as an option because apparently April is National Pet month, or at least it is here in the UK. So, why the tennis ball? Well, our youngest dog Sandy is barking mad when it comes to balls and loves nothing more than going over the nearby fields with me, the plastic launcher and a ball. The trouble is that until recently his eagerness to play ball was costing us a small fortune as none of the ones that you get in the pet shops, which are supposedly intended for such purposes last for any length of time before falling apart. Not sure if it's just him that's too hard on them or if they're simply not fit for purpose, but I've actually seen him destroy one of those balls on a single walk. Anyway, I got to wondering if 'proper' tennis balls would be any good and so a few weeks back we went online and ordered up a set of 6 for £4.99, as opposed to the £2.99 for 3 usually charged for the others. And it has turned out to be a very wise move indeed as nearly a month later and he is still using the first ball. So, if your dog goes through those pet shop balls as quickly as our Sandy then my advice is to try ordering some 'proper' tennis balls like the one pictured. Please view on black for best effect.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the subject title was heart . Right up until yesterday I thought I was going to need to dip into the archives as I'd been unable to find a suitable subject. Then during a visit to Ripley Castle we had a wander around the gift shop where I spotted a lovely heart shaped mirror hanging in the corner of the window display. The light wasn't all that great and I was struggling to get a clean shot, but having ran it through the processing room for a few tweaks I think it works okay. Also for Sight and Sound ... what else but Blondie and "Heart of Glass": youtu.be/gbnbMMCfyoc youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU youtu.be/aa911_8TP2s

For this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of slogans . I found this one on the side of a Boyes delivery wagon/lorry as it was being unloaded outside the rear of their Northallerton store. The shot was taken from the front corner of the truck looking up towards and along the side of the trailer unit. The business was started way back in 1881 when William Boyes opened a small outlet in Eastborough, Scarborough selling odd lots and remnants from merchants. Since then the company has continued to grow, the range of goods they offer has increased dramatically and they now operate over fifty stores. The majority of them are in located in Yorkshire and the North East of England, but they also have stores in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. People looking for "Good Value" (defined by the company as a combination of quality and price) visit Boyes because "they have built a reputation for selling a massive range of quality goods at bargain prices, selling virtually everything for the Home and Family, all with friendly and helpful service". You can find out more about the company by following the link below: www.boyes.co.uk

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we had to use the online random point generator to generate (not surprisingly) a random point that we then had to visit and photograph. Sounds easy, but if you live in a rural location more often than not the random points were in the middle of nowhere and barely accessible. So, I reduced the parameters somewhat so as to hopefully get some points in town that I could get to easily and eventually it sent me to Friarage Street in Northallerton, which is where they are currently building a new Marks & Spencer food store. The shot I've posted was taken from the corner of the building site looking up at one of the gable ends where they've rather interestingly left many of the bricks protruding out. At first glance I thought they were all sticking out an equal distance, but on closer inspection (although perhaps not evident from this shot) I found that the amount they stick out decreases as you get nearer the apex of the building. I'll bet that was a fun job for someone and I can't help but wonder if they were left asking ... what's the point of that then? By the way, I've added a screen shot of this random point from Google into the Notes. Interestingly nearly all of those buildings have been demolished, including the bungalow (top centre) to facilitate the construction of this new store.

Produced for this week's Sunday Challenge , which as you might expect had the theme of Halloween . This is a shot I took of a Halloween costume purchased from our local Wilko store. Although the material looked rather cheap, well it did only cost me £5.00, I liked the mask and felt it offered some real potential for the challenge. So I pinned it carefully to a large tree that stands at the bottom of our garden and took a few snaps before selecting this one to do some processing on. I played about with the levels etc. and added in the eyes using a mixture of PhotoShop and PaintShop Pro to create the final image you see here. For those that are interested in such things you'll find a copy of the original shot in the Notes. And all this goes to prove that ghosts do come out in the daylight ... they just wait for you in the shadows! Please view large ... that's if you dare! ;)

Once again this was taken, but never used for The Sunday Challenge when the theme was middle of the day . This is the last letter on the sign above the entrance to a local coffee shop, namely Costa which is located behind the High Street in Northallerton.

Another from the series of shots I took for The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. Like the shot I entered at the time entitled Jealous Heart this bowl was seen and photographed in Origins on the High Street, which has loads of stunning and interesting items of homeware. If you're ever in Northallerton it is well worth popping in for a look around or check out their website: www.originshome.co.uk

Another from the series of shots I took for the The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This was in the same window as the Victory Bears that everyone seemed to feel were too nice looking to actually eat and comes with added reflections and more traditional processing!

Another from the series of shots I took for the recent The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This beautiful bowl was crying out to be photographed, so I hid the price ticket and moved away adjacent items to try and create what I hoped would be a striking image. The shop in question was Origins on the High Street, which has loads of stunning and interesting items of homeware. If you're ever in Northallerton it is well worth popping in for a look around or check out their website: www.originshome.co.uk

Another from the series of shots I took for the recent The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This is a photo I took of part of the window display in Bettys Tearoom on the High Street. As you can see these were specially made to commemorate the Tour de France coming to North Yorkshire. As some people overseas might not know much about Bettys or realise that these are edible, I've copied the following text from their website: Wearing the iconic yellow jersey that was introduced in 1919, the year Bettys opened, our adorable cyclist bear looks set to take his place at the front of the greatest bicycle race. Handcrafted from Swiss Grand Cru milk chocolate with marzipan decoration, he certainly leads the pack as a uniquely charming gift. “With our heritage, we thought it would be nice to do a vintage cycling bear, so we went back through archives to see what cyclists used to wear,” says our Product Development Manager, Lesley Norris. www.bettys.co.uk