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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Let’s have a few days by the sea this summer, we said. Let’s enjoy walks on the beach and cliffs, ice creams in the sunshine, maybe even paddle in the sea! But of course the British weather had other ideas. So while we did enjoy our few days away this week, and did indeed go for walks and eat ice cream, sunshine was in very short supply.
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Some people are passionate that black and white is the only true medium for photography, others that a photo without colour is lacking in something. I’m inclined to take a middle stance, as I believe that both have their merits, depending on a number of factors. Subject matter of course, but also time of day, lighting, composition and, perhaps most important, what story you want to tell.
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Over the last few months since our return from Mexico I’ve covered most of the highlights of our trip in a number of posts, from the sights of Mexico City to the ruins of Monte Alban, and from the Copper Canyon to the whales of the Sea of Cortez. But some favourite photos failed to find their way into those posts.
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Yes, connecting is everything. It is through connecting to others that we find ourselves. And what better way to connect than to travel? But when we meet people from other countries on our travels, it’s usually a fleeting connection at best; valuable but not maintained. My involvement with Virtual Tourist, however, has enabled me to make genuine friends all over the world
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A wonderful sense of design pervades the whole of Japan it seems, from architecture to clothing, household items to gardens … Somehow the Japanese know how to balance minimalism with intricate detail, with an apparently effortless emphasis on simple, natural elements.
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I can remember a time when wildflowers were always just that, wild. They grew randomly in places where they had self-seeded, in hedgerows or on verges. In towns they were too often seen as weeds, not part of the gardener’s plans. If we were lucky they might pop up in odd corners of our urban concrete jungles, softening them and giving us a lift whenever we spotted them.
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A bonus I didn’t expect when joining a local photography group was that one of the members would own a patch of woodland. A wood that at the moment is full not of picnicking bears but of bluebells and other early spring flowers.
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How does it feel to stand in the middle of a living geology lesson? To see for yourself the many ways the world’s surface has been shaped over the millennia into often fantastical shapes? Go to Iceland, and you will find out. There almost every view tells you something about the power of fire or water to carve, split or even destroy rock.
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I have a theory about penguins, which is that no one can watch one for any length of time without smiling. Certainly the truth of that theory was proved when we visited Antarctica and saw them for ourselves. Part of the appeal is that they walk upright, looking almost human. And they’re always so smartly dressed!
