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Searching an image without knowing its name
The Ochre Riddle
by
published @ searchlores in June 2003
The task
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...after reading in the dictionary the several meanings for the word ochre, i would at first guess that the man is crushing 'ore' clay for producing ochre powder however the tool seems rather small and light for that so i am probably wrong -- but as i say-- it was my first 20 seconds of visualization; will read some more about manual crushing later to see what track i might take in evaluating that image... jeff
The Ochre Riddle - Solution
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The image is somewhat deceptive here. It looks interesting and
unique. So I felt that the key to the riddle is in the image.
Like most others initially I concentrated on it and largely
ignored the surrounding text. by looking at the image, following
comes to the mind:
1) some agricultural activity
2) possibly for a crop that needs to be grown indoors/needs
controlled sunlight
3) some kind of rare/interesting crop worthy of being put on a
postcard
4) asian fellow, doing hard labour
Most of these point nowhere and nothing similar is found.
Nevertheless some good learning on diverse topics.
Seems like I am missing something.
When I looked at the surrounding text, the phrase "ochre
colored" appears thrice.
So it looks like some kind of clue (like Jeff said it jumps
out of the page. ).
Actually I had never really heard/used the word "ochre"
before. From the usage on the riddle page and the color of the
image, i had concluded earlier that it must be some shade of
yellow. But then I felt like finding the exact meaning of the
word. So I tried webster:
http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=ochre
Main Entry: ocher
Variant(s): or ochre /'O-k&r/
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English oker, from Middle French ocre, from
Latin ochra, from Greek Ochra, from feminine of Ochros yellow
Date: 14th century
1 : an earthy usually red or yellow and often impure iron ore
used as a pigment
2 : the color of ocher; especially : the color of yellow ocher
Since the tool that the person is using looks ancient/old-fashioned/
traditional and the setting and the general feel is also like
old-times, I decide to concentrate on etymology of the word,
thinking that if some ancient activity is depicted then it will
most likely be called by its original name.
English "Oker":
Websearch on Google leads to all sorts of sites "ochre
records" etc.
Decide to do google image search. Tried all combinations of
Oker, Ochre, England, UK. Few interesting links but nothing
significant.
France "Ocre":
Image search for : ocre France : nothing
Image search for : ochre France
(http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ochre+france)
: 2 Interesting Images
1) http://sasik.sasprg.cz/~stoupa/wallpaper/evropa/francie/Shades%20of%20Ochre,%20France.jpg
2) http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/~workman/pictures/france/tara_and_me.jpg
On visiting these pages, I find that the first one is like a
wallpapers page.
But on the page http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/~workman/pictures/france/france.html
the text below the 2nd image says "Tara and I at the ochre
mine in Rousillon"
Now "Mine" seems interesting lead.
So I decide to do a websearch for ochre+france+extraction:
q=ochre+france+extraction&btnG=Google+Search
It leads to:
http://www.provenceguide.com/gbcdt/ocre.htm
http://www.provenceguide.com/gbcdt/baocre.htm
the text on ocre.htm describes the process and at the end mentions
"A Former Ochre Factory has been Rehabilitated" -
the description seems worthy of further examination.
baocre.htm gives the address of last ochre factory:
"To know more about the ochre extraction and production techniques,
visit the last ochre factory in Europe:
Paul GUIGOU
Les Ocres de France
84400 APT
Tel. 04.90.74.63.82 "
last ochre factory (some kind of rarity) : Images from it can be
put on a postcard!
so I try to look for a website of it - websearch of Ocres de
france on google
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ocres+de+france
and the 1st link is http://www.ocres-de-france.com/
(search for ocre+france also leads there:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ocre+france)
looking at the image on the index page i feel like I have
got it. I read thru the processing related page
(http://www.ocres-de-france.com/uk/fabrication.htm)
at the botton there is a link to photo gallery (7 images in all).
A look at the 7th image : http://www.ocres-de-france.com/images/usine.jpg
and there is no doubt.
(similar kind of lighting and a person wearing the same
dress!)
Regards,
RA
ra_in_2003(at)yahoo(dot)com