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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All of us have places where we feel at home and are comfortable. Places where we can find all the necessities of life. And animals are no different. A sloth must live in a tree, a whale in the sea, a lion on the plains of Africa, a bee where there are flowers.
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Genovesa, also known by the English name of Tower, is unusual among Galápagos Islands in having not a volcanic cone. Instead most of the volcano is submerged and surrounds an ocean-filled caldera on the south west side of the island. Due to its remote location and lack of fresh water the island was less visited in the past and has remained unaltered by man; there are no introduced species on the island.
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If like me you live in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s something magical in discovering the world of the Southern. Africa in particular seems to draw us to explore, with its vast plains and forests, still-wild spaces, fascinating animals and very different cultures. Maybe too there’s a lingering romantic sense of the continent as an unknown frontier to be opened up, despite the somewhat negative associations attached to our historic explorations there.
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The centre of Cagliari is divided into four districts. While Castello was traditionally the home of the city's nobles, neighbouring Stampace at the foot of the hill was home to its merchants.
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Shapes and lines are important elements in photographic composition, but how often do we stop to consider them? I think I am more aware of lines than I am of shapes, to be honest. I look for leading lines and for dynamic diagonals in particular, but I’m less likely to look for specific shapes.
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There is something rather haunting about standing on a spot occupied by people millennia ago. Stone circles such as that of Stonehenge, the Treasury and other tombs of Petra, the pyramids and temples of Egypt …. Sardinia too offers just such an experience, or rather, 7,000 of them!
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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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There’s a common mistake most of us make when starting out in photography. We spot an interesting subject, point the camera and take the picture. Great, we think, but what we often fail to do is take notice of what is behind our subject. The problem is that our brain has a habit of filtering out unnecessary information seen by our eyes, but the camera captures everything.
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The appeal of black and white portraiture lies in the way it simplifies the image. Without the distraction of colours, the focus shifts more to the subject’s face and expression. The eyes in particular seem to stand out more, and consequently as a viewer you often feel more connected to the person.
