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Untitled

© Peter W. Marks

Untitled

Uploaded: August 07, 2010

Description

Exif: F Number: 6.3, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/125 seconds, Flash: fired, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 200, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 50.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Dale Hardin August 08, 2010

Beautifully well lit image Peter. I can't wait to hear the story behind it. One thing does strike me as a bit odd, that it appears to be hidden behind a bush. Bet the postman is glad it is bright red so he could find it. :o)

I assume the reason for the tall crop is to emphasize the details in the box, but in so doing I feel it looses it's impact as an object of a story and ends up just as an object. You actually would have an outstanding "object" type image by cropping in to include just the box and eliminate the stone on all sides but leave the foliage where it ovelaps the box. #1296144

Michael Kelly level-classic August 08, 2010

Nice detail and great color Peter. I love how the many layers of paint have started to take all the detail from the metal casting. Would love to know how may times this has been painted. #8814051

Jeff E Jensen August 08, 2010

Yup, this is a great image Peter. So, what's the story behind this one? #8814577

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict August 09, 2010

From the thumbnail I thought at first it was a fire alarm!
What a tiny mail-drop box and like Mike mentioned the many coats of paint let us know it has been there a long while...waiting for your story :) #8814764

Kathleen Nealon August 09, 2010

Peter, I'm at a loss on this image. I can't decipher what you are trying to tell me (the viewer). I see a picture of a mailbox taken in very even light. It is built into a stone wall and has leaves on one side. It also displays the last collection times. And although it appears almost perfectly level across its top, the bottom indicates an angle.

What am I missing? #8815427

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

This mailbox has been set into this granite wall for at least 109 years and possibly around 150yrs. As you will have deduced it is still in daily use in a tiny hamlet near Port Holland on the south coast of Cornwall, UK. The 'VR' cast into the box tells us that it was made and installed in the reign of Queen Victoria who was Monarch between 1837 and 1901 . The 'V R' is for the latin Victoria Regina (Victoria, Queen). The first Royal Mail, wall-mounted boxes dates from 1857, hence my estimate of its age. So Kathe you could view this in a similar way to which you might look at a flower image, nice color, or it could arouse your curiosity and so I am happy that you asked.
The angled bottom is just perspective as I shot this with a 50mm fl, at f6.3 lens from one side as otherwise the leaves would have obscured much of the detail.
Dale, I can't help that the hydrangea bush had grown down over the wall so you got what I saw and don't fret for the 'postie' he would know exactly where each village's box is located.
And no, the wall stays, as otherwise you would have no idea that this is a wall-box not one of the pole-mounted ones introduced later in the 19th century. And as for my choice of portrait rather than landscape mode it was my preference but no alternative as with the fixed focal length prime lens I would have lost all the detail if I had been forced to back up to include the whole box and then the image would truly have lost its main point.
So Jeff, that's the history of these things and in the taking of the photo
I had to semi crouch on a narrow lane with no sidewalk and farm tractors and trucks competing with tourist vehicles on their way to the coast as I risked life and limbs for my Phelos. And I am just not appreciated!
And Mike, well observed and I too have wondered how many coats of official 'Royal Mail red' have been slapped on this box over the decades.
I will own up to touching up several chipped area on the door edges, against my better judgement but in the firm knowledge that Aimee would have ordered me to do it so I might as well pre-empt her. lol
And lastly for you dear Susan; If you can't tell the difference between a letter-box and a fire alarm it would be of little use to send you on an errand to send the vacation post-cards. :o)

#8815617

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict August 09, 2010

ha-ha!!! I just thought it was a firealarm before I opened the picture up! lol
And since it's fastened to a wall, I'm guessing there's a drop box behind it...in my mind I was thinking at the time that it just couldn't hold many letters being that small...duh...huh?!?!? #8815787

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

And here's another one of more recent vintage; manufactured sometime in King George Vl's reign. so it could be anywhere from 1936 to 1952 when he died and the present Queen Elizabeth was crowned.
#8816164

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

King George Vl reign Post Office box
#8816168

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

King George Vl reign Post Office box
#8816170

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict August 09, 2010

These could make a cool collection of photos if you had photos of all the different ones! #8816182

Teresa H. Hunt August 09, 2010

I love objects with age and so much history! It makes me wonder who all got their mail from this box. Were they happy, famous, young or old.

I think you've captured this well Peter. I love the vibrant red color. Are all the mail boxes in England red? #8816349

Christie R. Bielss August 09, 2010

These are too cool! I love the little historic items that so many people notice, but never think to take photos of. I think Susan has a great idea - these would make for a really cool collage, if you've got more than 2. #8816598

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

Sorry about the three attempts to show the George VI box. The 'GR' stands for 'George Rex' in latin which translates as 'George, King'.
OK friends, thank you for your interest in these English street furniture icons. Nearly all are red Teresa but there were some painted blue before WW2 and these were specifically for air-mail letters. This color scheme was discontinued after the war. There are or maybe were green ones in use in Northern Ireland.
So now for a different box of the current Queen Elizabeth 2 reign. These are 'pillar boxes' and are free standing in contrast to the previous boxes that are cemented into walls. The one shown is at St Agnes. Cornwall.
#8816757

Peter W. Marks August 09, 2010

Sorry about the three attempts to show the George VI box. The 'GR' stands for 'George Rex' in latin which translates as 'George, King'.
OK friends, thank you for your interest in these English street furniture icons. Nearly all are red Teresa but there were some painted blue before WW2 and these were specifically for air-mail letters. This color scheme was discontinued after the war. There are or maybe were green ones in use in Northern Ireland.
So now for a different box of the current Queen Elizabeth 2 reign. These are 'pillar boxes' and are free standing in contrast to the previous boxes that are cemented into walls. The one shown is at St Agnes. Cornwall.
#8816793

Carla Capra Anderson August 10, 2010

What a great thread this photo has created. I especially enjoy all the history behind this lovely image.

I like the way the postal red is set against the warm tones of the stone and how clear the details are.

Thanks Peter. #8817618

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict August 10, 2010

That last one is another beauty! Can't believe I thought it was a fire alarm :)
If they had something like that here in the good ol' US of A...folks would probably think it was a Netflix drop-off box!
And me too on loving old things with a lot of history to them...always makes me wonder who touched them, what they used it for or what they daydreamed about while using it...like my lil' Italian Grandmother's old wooden rolling pin with the red handles and her Strawberry Tin Serving tray (or like someone said above, what kind of letters were sent in those boxes??? love letters to soldiers at war etc....
Some of the Strawberry and red trimmed serving tray has rusted on it, but I LOVE it...hey, maybe I'll set up a photo with the tray holding a slice of pie next to the floured board with her old red-handled rolling pin covered in flour...A Strawberry Pie to go with the serving tray? Thanks for the RED idea Pete!
We all ought to keep track of photo shoot ideas with the recipes for set up and call it "The Phello Photographer's Guide to Better Photos" !!!! #8817741

Rita K. Connell level-classic August 10, 2010

love the english mail box best, to me it has the best pov. thanks for the the info very interesting, It does make you wonder about what all the messages that was deliver good news bad news to each of theses families..... #8817823

Peter W. Marks August 10, 2010

Dear friends, I think of you all most warmly and thank you for your interest in these boxes. I now wish I had thought about it while I was still back in the old country as there are a number of different styles that I haven't photographed such as the ones that are attached to utility pole where there are no suitable walls to cement them into and in London and I believe some other large cities there are big oval shaped pillar boxes with two slots. We tend to think it is just in this present age that we are impatient but I guess even years ago some folk couldn't bear to wait a few seconds for the person in front to feed their cards and letters through a single slot.
Another , hopefully interesting fact is that after victorian times the slots were made wider as standard envelopes had become larger. And the age of 'make that a 32oz soda and a double cheese burger' was portended through innocent envelopes!
You are so right Teresa and Rita about what must have passed through these boxes over the decades. Just think of all those "Dear John letters sent to soldiers fighting for our futures in the trenches of France and all the 'I am sorry to have to tell you that your Uncle Bill's ship was torpedoed off Falmouth and there were no survivors'. But on the other hand when I first left Cornwall in '57 for college in London I would write long, long letters to the girls I left behind. And that has got me thinking , Judith, Janetx2, Jenny, Juliex2, Jackie, Jill and a Jean. I think I must have had a thing about names beginning in "J". ( OK Jeff, you needn't get nervous lol) So few families had telephones and thank the Lord no texting or emails. If I had spent more time studying rather than writing love epistles who knows where I might be today!
Thank you Susan for your reminiscences, I somehow don't think our great grandchildren will be writing about our toaster-oven or breadmakers with the same affection.
#8817863

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict August 10, 2010

No...I'm sure they won't but my daughter will be the fourth generation to get theat old wooden red-handled rolling pin and strawberry serving tray, along with the hoosier cabinet :) She's already told me she can't wait until she can give them to a little girl of her own some day...awe!!! #8818082

Teresa H. Hunt August 10, 2010

So Peter, why are the mail boxes red? #8818244

Peter W. Marks August 10, 2010

I would like to say it is because we want to flatter the lovely Teresa and match our post boxes and Royal Mail delivery vans to her sweater. However, smooth tongued as I am, I probably wouldn't get away with that explanation.
So Teresa, I have to 'fess up and say I have no idea but they have been red since 1857. A thought has occured to me that just as our military had bright red tunics we can put it all down to "pride". Until you revolting colonists started shooting at us from behind trees we wanted you to know that 'The English are coming', and similarly we invented the postal service before any other country in the whole wide world so we chose red.
Aren't you glad you asked! #8818290

Debbie E. Payne August 10, 2010

Great thread, Peter. I would think that the red has something to do with the postmen being able to see them ; especially on those blustery, gray days!! At least that I what I'm guessing. #8818300

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