Plate 30:  The photographer decides to construct a stylized battlement
(This plate added FEB 2004)

HE Collector is a very amiable fellow, and, after listening to the Photographer complain about the lack of a Decent Plinth (see Plate 29 ), the Collector immediately switched on his computer and queried the public Internet for information about Decent Plinths.
The Internet responded instantly with over one thousand responses to his query. Assuming that the first response was probably the most apt, the Collector printed out this response and showed it to the Photographer. --more--
"It appears we're going to require a guitar for this project."  the Collector said, after having glanced at the printed text. Snatching the computer printout from the Collector, the Photographer quickly looked over the text. "No, no, you've got it all wrong!"  the Photographer, an excitable fellow, exclaimed. "This article you handed me was written by someone who needed an amplifier for his guitar, and he evidently needed to elevate this amplifier above the floor by placing it upon some sort of foundation. He decided to call this foundation a decent plinth, just as I need a decent plinth if I'm not going to spend half my time adjusting the height of my tripod!" "In any event,"  the Photographer went on in a less exclamatory tone, "I've decided upon something more suitable than a simple plinth. Since we're going to be taking pictures of your interminable collection of toy soldiers, I thought a stylized battlement might be appropriate at this time." The Collector replied: "Shall I begin searching the Internet for Stylized Battlements?" The Photographer answered: "Actually, there's no need to do that. I've already designed a stylized battlement. I thought of this design as I was looking over your shoulder while you were watching that movie yesterday." Here the Photographer was referring to the 1936 Alexander Korda cinema production Things to Come, which contains a scene showing a small boy looking at the window of a toystore at Christmas time. The store window contained a display comprising a miniature fortress with small metal soldiers. The little soldiers in the store window were similar to hundreds of such toys in the Collector's storage bins. When the Photographer observed this brief scene in the movie, he thought: "...The magic of a store window at Christmas time...Little metal soldiers...Battlements..." The accompanying sketch, made by the Photographer, shows a stage-set model of a battlement in a scale of one thirty-second, which is a suitable scale for displaying most of the toy soldiers in the Collection. Go to top of page