The Big Wheel

The Big Wheel
I appear bigger in real life.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Port Perry Fair (part the second)

 
Actually the clown in the car from the previous post was the official 'balloon lady' and I was told that she is something of an institution at these events. Clowns and institutions, hmmm.  There’s something in that combination of words that is worrying. Doctor, I don't want to talk about the clowns right now, okay?

Anyway, as I was saying, because things go in circles, there just had to be a carousel, and there just had to be a cute girl and her mom riding it, and they were nice enough to let me photograph them. I was already in the process of taking pictures of the ride itself. Look at that face.


Now look at these faces.


One of the things that fascinates me about carousels is the look in the animal’s faces. I see things there that are not all nicey, nicey.  I see panic, and fear, and sometimes other emotions. The people riding the ‘pretty ponies’ are oblivious to that fact. Odd, isn’t it?



The bonus round at the Port Perry Fair:

There was actually a 2nd carousel there as well, this one in miniature. 




And  I spent a while talking to it’s creator, Gord Fraser, about carousels and other things. I told him that I really liked his work. I also, of course, spent more than a little time photographing the wonderful menagerie of animals that he had carved, painted, and set in place, like this dragon...



... stork


... tiger

...goat


...and camel.


But you can also see in the pictures a number of other animals that he had done a remarkable job on as well. Way to go Gord.

Pretty cool, eh?

All the photographs in this and the last posting are mine by the way.


3 comments:

Sid Plested said...

Sadly, due to a childhood mishap involving a carousel ticket, a pocket with a hole, a lost ticket, and an unsympathetic operator, the Bracebridge Fall Fair also left me with a long-standing disaffection toward carnival rides. Sad, isn't it.
- Sid

Sid Plested said...

My compliments on taking the perfect archetypal child-on-the-merry-go-round picture, right down to the missing front teeth.
- Sid

Sid Plested said...

I agree, there's that odd aspect of terror in the deportment of some merry-go-round horses, something in the eyes that make them look like they're being chased.

But, just to confirm - Gord Fraser carved his own merry-go-round animals? Wow - now THAT'S a hobby. (No hobby horse jokes, please.) Although, strictly speaking I think that may be a cockatrice rather than a dragon in that picture.
- Sid