Door and legs

Door and legs

You know, while I do recognise those trainers in the background … I can’t remember to whom they belonged.  Or the legs.  My sister, perhaps?

The door, however, I know that: that’s my old bedroom door.

Richard

Richard

While I was between years at theological college institute I stayed for a few weeks in a flat owned by a doctor friend of mine.  During these few weeks another friend came to visit.

Richard had been in the same home group as me at St James the Less, Westminster; the church we had attended in London. It was really lovely to see him again.  We went for long walks, chatted, laughed and prayed together.

I’m pretty certain that this rubbish photo is of the top of Richard’s head, a tree and a large amount of sky above the City of Edinburgh sometime during the summer of 1998.

Cross

Base of a Celtic cross

During the summer of 1998 I spent a couple of weeks in the Argyll town of Lochgilphead, on the west coast of Scotland.

As part of a tour of the area I was taken to an old church, out in the middle of nowhere, where they’d preserved all these ancient standing stones and Celtic crosses.

This is a rubbish photo showing almost no detail of a beautifully carved cross.

Ian

Ian

This is my brother’s good friend Ian.  He’s a musician — you could probably tell that already just by looking at his flowing locks and too-close-to-the-flash pastey white face.  A very good musician too.  He plays … well, just about everything: guitar, bass, drums, vocals, tuba … everything!

When my brother worked as a youth worker he used to put together a house band for various events. Ian and I were usually a part of the band.  We also played together at the Powerpoint Edinburgh events for a while.

This photo was probably taken at one of those events, because it’s definitely taken within St Thomas’s Episcopal Church on Glasgow Road, Edinburgh.  Which is also, incidentally, where Jane and I were married. Ian played in our band too at the reception.

Great memories … rubbish photo!

Ankle

Ankle

The original photograph was rotated 90 degrees to the left, but you can’t read the text as easily that way!

For some reason I have a photograph of someone’s ankle with something written on it. Of course, it’s a really badly-taken photograph so the writing is out of focus, but thanks to the wizard skills of Corel Paint Shop Pro I’ve managed to make out:

FIFA 1998 FRANCE

[Image of someone (Jesus?) with a halo]

OFFICIAL SPONSOR ©

I was at theological college from 1997-1999, so I’m guessing that this may be either Mother Ruth’s ankle or Mother Pamela’s ankle.  For some inexplicable reason I threw out my notebook in which I recorded the make and model of my fellow ordinands’ trainers; what an idiot I am!

I’m disappointed that FIFA didn’t use this image as the official logo of the 1998 World Cup.

Footnote (pun intended!): I want to stress that the appearance of this ankle on the blog in no way implies that I think that it’s a Rubbish Ankle.  This blog is for Rubbish Photos.  I have a completely separate blog for Rubbish Ankles: http://rubbishankles.wordpress.com.

Holding a statue’s ankle

Here’s one rubbish photo in my collection that I can’t take credit for, given that I’m in the picture with my good friend Kenny. The photo was taken by my flatmate Jonny.

This was taken most likely in 1996, while I was living in Eccleston Square in central London (a stone’s throw from Victoria Station); it’s where Sir Winston Churchill had a house trivia fans.

The photo is not taken in Eccleston Square but somewhere in deepest, darkest Belgravia (if I recall) or at least nearby. There’s a lot of paving in the foreground and not a lot of statue … but then I guess that it’s difficult to line up a shot in the dark!

We must be holding on to the statue’s ankles for a good reason … if Kenny wasn’t standing in the way and we could see the inscription all might be clear. But he is and it’s not.

All in all not a great photo.

Claire

Claire on swings

Ladies and gentlemen, if I may introduce to you Claire.

Back in the day when I was at theological college, I went on a two weeks jaunt to the sunny west coast of Scotland to experience ministry in all its reality.  I spent about a week in Lochgilphead, and a few days being eaten alive by midges on the island of Iona.

It was during my time in Lochgilphead that I received a telephone call from Jane and her friend Claire.  They were holidaying in Oban and wondered if they could pop down for a visit.

What fun we had!  We visited a petrol station and a Co-op looking for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. We asked a local where the nearest Megabowl bowling alley was (Glasgow!) and ended up spending the evening at a play park in the dark, on the swings and in the empty swimming/paddling pool.

Anyway, through the mirk you can just about make out Claire (centre) and Jane’s hands (left) in this perfect example of awful photography!

Adrian

Adrian at Bankside

This is Adrian.  He appears to be wearing a comically tall hat, but it’s really a protective cover for the patio umbrella at the table behind him.

I knew Adrian from the church I attended in London: St James the Less, Westminster. We played in the worship band together.

The music was better than the quality of this photograph, which was taken, I’m deducing from the faint reflection from a sign in the background (the sign reads: BANKSIDE BARB…) at the Anchor Bankside — it was a favourite haunt of ours when we lived in South London.

There are so many things wrong with this photo:

• It’s out of focus.
• The rule of thirds has been wantonly disregarded.
• Victoria’s face has been cunningly obscured by someone’s (perhaps Emma’s?) hands. Gosh! That makes for an interesting photo!
• The flash appears to have been set to “Stun”.

The next photo has completely the opposite problem: it’s almost completely in the dark …

Jonny

Now, remember the order of photos in The Photo Album of Doom is about as random as you could get.  So it’s with some degree of delight that I should introduce you so quickly to another friend of mine.

Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, this is Jonny.

Jonny is sensible.

You can tell that because he’s wearing a shirt and tie.  His shirt, by the way, is made from 100% pure light.

I can tell that because I know him.

I don’t think that’s his best side, though. Or tie.

Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to Adrian.

Justin

Is it just me or does Justin here look really tired.

This is another photo from a University of St Andrews Anglican Society retreat, I think this time to Croftcarnock, although it might be Tarfside.

I don’t remember.

It must have slipped my mind to take a permanent record of the bedding in those residences.  I do remember where I slept at Croftcarnock: on the sofa.  It was green, about 7 feet long and you sank into it as soon as you lay down.  So much so that it made it look as though there was just a head in the bed!

It’s not the most flattering photo of Justin, I’m sorry to report.  So rather than just binning it like any normal person would do, I’ve just uploaded it to the internet.

p.s I’d love to hear from Justin Spencer again if anyone know how to get in touch with him.