Maybe it’s the ex-librarian in me that drives me to put things into categories. But as a librarian I learned that some things fit into categories more easily than others! That was certainly true of my favourite photos from last year, and when I’d finished sorting them I was left with a set that didn’t neatly fit into a single theme.
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Increasingly as a photographer I find myself drawn to the little things. Even the most ordinary of sights, the places we pass every day, can seem more interesting if we focus on the details. And when travelling somewhere new, picking out those details can add colour and texture to a record of our travels.
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Whether close to home or travelling further afield, one of my favourite subjects for photography is always the people I see. I recognise that some have concerns about candid street photography, and I understand those. But to me these photos of people living out their daily lives tell you so much about a place. On city streets or elsewhere, it’s the people that bring a place to life.
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My travels may have been somewhat curtailed in 2021 but I did manage to visit two beautiful cities abroad. One, Paris, is well known to me (this was my seventh visit, I think), while the other, Seville, was new. They proved a rich source of photos, as did my home city of London.
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One of the many things I find difficult about photography is self-appraisal. Choosing my BEST images is often a challenge; but ask me to choose my favourites and the task becomes a little easier … but only a little!
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Early morning by Lake Atitlà n. A lone fisherman drifts past, checking his lines. Volcanoes dot the horizon. In the distance a small motorboat speeds past; empty now but likely to be full of passengers when the lake’s ferry services start up soon. The jetties too are quiet, waiting for the lakeside villages to wake up.
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Imagine an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony; full of spectacle and colour, involving tens of thousands of performers. Add a good dollop of political propaganda and unashamed messaging. Throw in hundreds of well-drilled cute children, all eager to please. Imagine too that this ceremony takes place every single night for several months. Now you have just a small idea of the scale of the North Korean phenomenon known colloquially as the Mass Games.
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Although we love to travel, we have always spent Christmas at home in England. Not for us the snowy ski slopes of the Alps, or the tropical shores of the Caribbean or Far East. Tempting as the latter sound, we save trips to warmer climes for February, when the long chilly season is really dragging. Christmas is a time for the comforts of home, and for family.
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We visited many strange and wonderful places on our tour of North Korea. But this is a short story about a place we didn’t visit. The Hungnam fertiliser factory was first established in Hungnam by the Japanese in 1927 and reopened by the Koreans after having been destroyed in the Korean War.
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I believe I’ve mentioned once or twice in this blog that I love travelling! It’s the thing I’ve most missed during the past two years, when the world has been turned upside-down. Yes, I know that sadly worse things have happened to very many people than a few missed trips abroad. But the fact remains, I’ve missed travelling, and I know many others have felt the same.
