This morning I was transfixed by the sight and sound of the waves crashing against rocks off Laguna Point, just north of Fort Bragg in northern California. Trying to capture the sight I stood waiting for a bigger wave to create more spray, I remembered being told as a child that the seventh wave is always bigger than the others.
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The discipline of selecting just seven images for my various #SevenforSeptember Squares posts has been good for me, as I know I sometimes go over the top and present more shots than is really necessary! However, that restriction to seven shots has been the only acknowledgement of the ‘sevens’ theme – until now!
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Where the River Brent flows into the Thames west of London lies the suburb of Brentford. Its name is a clue to the origins of what was once a small settlement pre-dating the Roman occupation of the country. Today, like many London suburbs, it has interesting pockets of history squeezed between more recent and not always attractive developments.
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Orange is an attention-grabbing colour, shouting ‘look at me’! You can’t easily ignore an orange. It suggests optimism, vitality, happiness, warmth. For many it is a spiritual colour, worn for instance by the Buddhist monks of Southeast Asia. But it can be aggressive and harsh at times, and overpowering if used in large amounts.
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Who doesn’t love a bridge? There’s something special about being able to cross from one side to another, knowing that without the bridge this would be impossible. Crossing one is like moving into another world, where each step carries you from the familiar into the unknown.
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On the first day of our most recent visit to Paris we got wet – very wet! But we had a lot of fun too and found some places to explore out of the rain that made the day memorable. After all, what is a bit of water if you’re in your favourite city?
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A recurrent theme in this blog is my contention that people are pretty much the same the world over when it comes to the basics. We all want to feel safe, to have enough to eat and to feel connected to others whom we love. What I have mentioned less often, is that we all also want to have fun from time to time.
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One of the things I most enjoy when exploring a city is photographing the little details of the buildings. Carved stone, wrought iron, weathered wood; all these things add to the picture of the city streets I hope to create. Doors especially are full of such details: knockers, handles, decorative features.
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It’s not Christmas and I don’t have seven swans a-swimming, only the lone one above photographed in a local park during a Covid lockdown. But I do have seven other birds from various locations across the world. I hope you enjoy this ornithological world tour!
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Is there such a thing as an ordinary object? And is ordinary the same for everyone? One thing that travel teaches is that one person’s ordinary can look extraordinary to another. The things we take for granted in our lives, the little things that make life easier, may not be the same in other parts of the world, or may not exist at all, at least for the average family.
