[namllihs]

This sculpture 'The Sock', by Shona Kinloch, cost the local ratepayers £23,000 causing a lot of resentment toward the piece. Personally I like it and not just because I got paid 9 hours at time and a half to stand guard over it before it was unveiled.

Loughborough's Sockman statue at night, 50mm, ISO 800, 1/20s @ f/1.8 manual focus hand held.

[fionaB]

i think i would be most aggreived as well if all that money had gone on that..... i know your photos dont show it in all its glory, but what they do show does nothing for me! ( dont mean your pictures btw just the subject)

Fi

[namllihs]

I know what you mean Fiona, around here he's like Marmite you love him or hate him. Although £23,000 seems a lot, the statue was part of the pedestrianisation of the town centre whose total cost was over £1,000,000.

[Rob Barron]

On Poole Quay, we have a scuplture by Sir Antony Caro and it really did bring out a whole host of strong opinions both for and against when it was first put in situ. It is pretty big and this picture is only a small part of the whole but it cost 4 times the amount of that Sockman thing (which, unlike my taste in marmite, I hate!) at £120,000. However, it was paid for by The Arts Council and not from public funds so they got away with it.

If I am honest, I must say I have got used to it now and would miss it if it wasn't there but hey, you can get used to a blister on your bum if you have one long enough.... so I am told

I have put it in a separate thread out of respect to Nams, I don't want to hijack his thread.

I think this pic of the Sockman statue is taken fine and you have done well to hand-hold it so still at 1/20th. It's a shame the BG in front of the face isn't a different colour so that the face stands out from it better. This is just because of the night-time yellow street lighting, can't be helped.

Cheers,
Rob

[danpen]

The hosiery trade was very important in that area for a long while and I think it's good to commemorate it in some way.

However you didn't post that for a discussion on Leicestershire Socks but for comment on your image, I like the colour one, perhaps would have benefitted from moving the subject a little to the right so that he was looking into the frame and the part street light in the top right was out of frame. I actually like the fact that the background is a similar colour to the subject as it gives it an almost monochrome effect.

cheers

Dan

[namllihs]

Thanks all