Saturday Photo Hunt Theme - POINTED

The theme this week is "pointed" so I took a look through my digital photos and came up with a few that I thought would fit. Be sure to click on the photos to see the details.

First up is this church spire that I photographed as I was going past on the train to Cardiff. We don't see a lot of churches like this in western Canada, although there are some in the East. I really love the villages in the UK as you can always orient yourself according to the location of the local church. Its spire rises above everything else.

Next, I decided to show you a shot of a sailboat with its masts proudly erect. There are loads of people with sailboats in and around Vancouver and on almost any day you can see sailboats floating around Burrard Inlet in amongst the ships that sit waiting to be loaded. This shot was taken in north-west Italy, but it's quite typical of scenes here, too.

The next two shots are of wrought iron fencing I saw in Italy. I discovered a book online called "The Italian Masters of Wrought Iron" or in Italian "I Maestri Italiani Del Ferro Battuto" by Giuseppe Ciscato. It states: This book is in fact a portfolio of sixty-four Italian Master Smiths. Every photo is a professional catalog or portfolio quality image of work that is outstanding. The images are rich with details to inspire architects, decorators and other smiths. There are numerous pages showing how something is forged step by step. These are not detailed forging instructions but are designed to educate those unfamiliar with the the processes of forged ironwork and how it gets from a plain lump of iron to a work of art. Other than the supplement the entire book is in Italian except the biographies of the artists, which are in both Itialian and English. Being a book primarily of beautiful images there is no language barrier.

Here we have the obelisk located at the Vatican. In 1586, the Italian engineer Domenico Fontana moved it to its present site in front of the Vatican in St. Peter's Square. "Fontana's plan for moving the obelisk was chosen from among hundreds of others. It relied heavily on pulleys, some as large as five feet in length, to lift the obelisk off its base and then lower it to a horizontal position by pivoting it on its lower end. Five huge levers, each 51 feet long, were used to help lift the shaft off the base. A variety of pulley blocks were required to work in conjunction with the 40 winches, each of which were powered with horses and men to supply the main lifting force. It took Fontana one year to complete the task. On September 28, 1586, the

scaffolding and tower had been removed. The obelisk appeared in full view, in the same position as it appears today more than 400 years later. "

Finally, closer to home, we have the ultimate pointed object, the most treasured and valuable teacher's tool - the lead pencil and its sharpener. Notice I have my personal pencils so that the kids can't use them.

I'll be around to see other participants' photos and for anyone else who would like to view them or join in the fun, please check out tnchick's site here. Also, for early entries you can check carver's site here.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!