“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil“. Do they want to show us that they are not responsible for the evil deeds of the Hollywood villains scarecrows, or is it a “code of silence”? Anyway, it seems like the scarecrows do want to live a human-like life. Miley Silage in the image below shows all the passions of her human prototype, and has a very similar success here at the Festival.
Some scarecrows are confident and have a career…
Some are lost and confused…
Some walk past a stranger and never look back…
Some are happily married, and enjoy their cinema dates…
Some are just having fun…
Some are grumpy…
It is not easy to live a human life if you are a scarecrow, but as we all know, “One that would have the fruit must climb the tree.”
I saw a few little dogs there, one of them might be Toto. What do you think?
Mrs Brown was a favorite of children …
…and I loved Mrs Brown’s boys … or was it “buoys”?…
They even had a pyramid there…
…and a mummy!
There was a nun on a mission: them bugs are no good for the straw.
Almost everything was covered; the humans only provided music…
…and transportation ( Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?)
Durrow Scarecrow Festival Community Organisation have a Facebook page you can visit. The program is huge! So many events, it is impossible to see everything. Well done, guys, you rock!
Hope you enjoyed these two posts from the festival. Click on the images to enlarge them and see the details. All the images are always resized so that you can easy open them.
Beautiful village of Durrow, Co Laois are hosting their annual Scarecrow Festival this week. It officially opened last Sunday afternoon, but a fantastic job of preparation and scarecrow making started long before the day. Colorful and happy looking scarecrows sitting on the perches, trees or simply on the ground follow you on your way through the village and promise a good time and lots of fun.
Oh, even the President and the First Lady are… wait… never mind…
The Scarecrow glorified by L. Frank Baum is one of the most loved characters in children’s literature. He is gentle and kind, honest and wise. Seeking to get a set of brains he still appreciates the straw he is stuffed with, and his logic is unbeatable:
Scarecrow: I haven’t got a brain… only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain? Scarecrow: I don’t know… But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking… don’t they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you’re right.
I will try to not do an awful lot of talking. The pictures will talk by themselves.
Scarecrow: Witch? Hmph, I’m not afraid of a witch. I’m not afraid of anything – except a lighted match. Dorothy: I don’t blame you for that.
Who is the famous Scarecrow’s of Oz predecessor? It must be a Feathertop, the main character of the short story of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1852. It is an almost Kafka-esque, thought-provoking story.
“Poor Feathertop,” Mother Rigby said, looking at the heap on the floor. “He was too good to be a scarecrow. And he was too good to be a man. But he will be happier, standing near the corn all summer and protecting it from the birds. So I will make him a scarecrow again.”
There is a long forgotten, but nevertheless brilliant movie Scarecrow (1983) directed by Jerry Schatzberg. It is a drama starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. I was sure there is a comedy related to scarecrows, and I did find a 1920 short comedy The Scarecrow. You can watch it here on Youtube it is just a few minutes of laugh 🙂
When did scarecrows become the horror icons? Some say that it all started with the 1981 horror mystery thriller Dark Night of the Scarecrow,directed by Frank De Felitta. I haven’t seen the movie, and to be honest, I haven’t seen ANY scarecrow horror movie. I would be terrified, I hate creepy things like murderous clowns and scarecrows. I’d better stay with this cute Snow White 🙂
There is so much to see in Durrow this week. Humans are watching the scarecrows ( you never know…) and…
..Scarecrows are watching humans…
There is even a local war going on!
Cowardly Lion: Come on, get up and fight, ya shivering junkyard! Put your hands up, ya lopsided bag o’ hay! Scarecrow: Now that’s getting personal, Lion!
Children are actually very quiet here. I cannot blame them: the real and the surreal are tangled and unclear 🙂
Watching the performance I thought I would take a picture of these fire red hair owners.
Suddenly all three of them turned back 🙂
That’s all for today. More pictures coming Friday.
Hattie Wilcox is a terrifically talented composer, singer, poet, songwriter, photographer, and most humble and hard working person. Please check out her website and blog.
Photography tip of the day: Use the White balance feature of your camera. Take pictures with different settings and chose the result you are happy with.
If you want to live a happy and fulfilling life focus on the best in people and in yourself. Sometimes the same rule goes for street photography:)
There are a few images from Dublin Pride 2013 (unfortunately I didn’t make it to Dublin this year). The images were taken after the parade was over.
Gardai look tired. It was a busy day.
I liked that hat, it is why I asked them for a picture:)
This lovely dog came to Dublin from Brazil.
Coachman and his son are amused by the fluffy Brazilian:)
I have got many images of this lovely old lady. I like this one for a reason: follow her eyes, they are staring right at the bare chest of that hot Brazilian fella in the right corner:)
This sweet couple enjoyed themselves, especially the gentleman: He was chatting with everyone in his reach ( I put a picture of them in my previous blog post)
Some people were rushing through the crowd as fast as they could. Locals want to get home, they are tired of the crowded streets.
Late evening. This texting street performer is too tired of real people. With no one around it is nice to share a quiet company, at last.
Hope you like this evening in Dublin. Click on the images to enlarge them a little: they are all reasonable size images. I didn’t post pictures from the parade: people’s faces tell more stories than their fancy dresses ( except that cute yellow hat :)…). But my next post… It is about something very special, and plenty of elaborated garments too 😉 Talk to you Friday!
Photography tip of the day: Black&white images focus on the story with no distractions. Great for portraiture, architectural details, lines, shapes, textures, light/shadows, mismatched colors in your composition, and for improving bland uninteresting images you still want to keep.
Have a great weekend!
Making memories 