We all know pink as the colour of romance, and most of us think of it as girly. It is also considered calming; paler shades of pink are sometimes used in prisons to calm inmates. And apparently sports teams have been known to paint the opposition changing room pink to make their players passive and less energetic.
In recent years there has been something of a back-lash against the idea that ‘pink is for girls’. And understandably so, as we strive to eliminate gender inequalities and stereotyping. Not everywhere, however, as you will see …
But there is another side to pink: vibrant, energetic, not taking itself too seriously. And I’m not embarrassed to say that I love pink in that guise, even if it does make me seem girly (surely not possible at my age?!)
Blogging colour challenges are some of my favourites. Some months back I had fun sorting through my photo archives for images that were predominantly yellow; and arranging them in descending order of size. Yellow Big and Yellow Small was posted in response to a Lens Artists Challenge theme set by Patti. I said at the time that I might repeat the exercise in the future with a different colour.
Pink big and pink little
Now, with Terri’s Sunday Stills theme of the Pink Side of October in mind, the time seems right for that repeat. Terri asks us to share pink images in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So let’s flood our blogs with as much pink as we can!
I have to start with a sunset, even if it’s one I’m sure I’ve shared before, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
And a sunrise, with the unmistakeable silhouette of the Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia.
Getting a little smaller, here’s a group of old houses in Tallinn, Estonia.
And a single terrace house in Whitstable, Kent – as far from girly pink as it’s surely possible to get?
Talking of girly pinks, this is a girls’ bedroom at the Songdowon International Schoolchildren’s Camp in Wonsan, North Korea; and yes, the boys’ bedrooms are all in blue. No concerns about gender stereotyping there!
This sign in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, makes its choice of colour very clear, although I have no idea what sort of business it is advertising!
A pair of pink doors. The one on the left is in the old town of Tallinn, Estonia; that on the right at the Musee Tiskiwin in Marrakesh.
I wasn’t quite sure where in my descending size order to put this shot, taken on the prom in Brighton, East Sussex. The girl’s hair and top are relatively small, but the painted games court in the background rather large; certainly larger than a door! So here she is, somewhere between the two ‘correct’ spots.
This is the uniform worn by Ringo Starr on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper LP, on display in the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool.
I spotted the lady on the left in the beautiful Kerala Backwaters in India. Her sunshade is quite small, but you can just make out the vibrant little house among the trees, so I bumped her up the list.
The twins on the right were enjoying a Sunday afternoon in Bei Hai Park in Beijing, looking for carp in a fishpond.
Here’s a row of piglets outside a shop in the Meatpackers District of New York; a nod, I assume, to the area’s previous trade?
And back to Tallinn for another pig, this one carved in wood. I found him outside a shop in a more suburban part of the city.
Who wouldn’t want to stop and buy one from this ice cream stand in Washington State?
Here’s a cheerful display outside a gift shop in Tynemouth, north east England.
We can’t take a look at pink without including a flamingo! I photographed this one at Jersey Zoo. I’m not always a fan of zoos but Jersey Zoo, founded by the naturalist Gerald Durrell, has an impressive record in conservation and really looks after its animals.
And this is a flamingo of sorts, spotted at the Little Venice Festival in London
Here’s a smaller pink bird, an inquisitive Chaffinch at Kielder Water in Northumberland.
Once the sun rose I was able to photograph this waterlily in one of the pools at Angkor Wat.
I had to smile at this little soap dish in the ladies’ room of the Panmunjomkwan Restaurant at the DMZ in North Korea. The rhyme reads: ‘Take my heart and hold it ture [sic, I assume ‘true’] / forever I’ll stay close to you. / Seize my words and listen well / then forever I will tell.’
Getting smaller now with this pile of dried rosebuds for sale at the Place des Epices in Marrakesh.
And I’ll finish with the smallest pink things I could find in my archives, these little pink berries in the rain at Kamikochi National Park in the Japanese Alps.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this whistle-stop tour around the different pinks of the world. Maybe one day I’ll repeat this ‘big to small’ exercise again, with a third colour!
16 Comments
restlessjo
Fabulous pinks and a great cause, Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jo 😊
Rose
The sunset and sunrise are amazing. We had a gorgeous fiery pink/red sunrise this morning, but my photos didn’t capture its intensity or beauty, as yours did.
Like you, I’m also not a fan of zoos. People ask me why, I don’t completely know – the idea that wildlife is meant to be wild, not in cages trapped for people to gawk at…? Unsettles me somehow, and makes me intensely aware we should be doing considerably more to preserve their natural habitats…
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Rose 🙂 My problem with zoos is really only with those that don’t house their animals well. I know a lot of them do important scientific research and that some breeding programmes have led to animals being released into areas where they had become extinct, and I’m all for that. But I hate to see animals in small enclosures and/or with nowhere to go to escape the public gaze. Or intelligent animals not given anything to occupy themselves, for instance. If I ever get the feeling a zoo is putting the visitors first and animals second, then I’m uncomfortable, but if it’s the other way around then I’m happier.
wetanddustyroads
Wow, how amazing are your pink photo’s Sarah! The one as beautiful as the other – and difficult to choose a favourite (I always do that with your pictures for some reason 😉).
But if I have to choose my 3 favourite photo’s, it will be as follows: The sunset photo in Botswana, that lovely pink door in Tallinn and how amazing are the pink berries with the rain drops!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much 😊 Glad you like all the photos and were able to find some favourites among them!
maristravels
Your photo archive must be amazing, Sarah. What a great collection you’ve got here and I loved all of them, each one a surprise. Incidentally, your blog isn’t opening in the normal way. I tried twice earlier to click on the Read More from the email (which is how I normally access blogs) but each time I got “This page is not available”. It wasn’t until I clicked on your name which I hoped would allow me to send you an email alerting you to the fact, that I managed to get the blog. You might need to look into this.
Sarah Wilkie
I do have rather a lot of photos I have to admit – the challenge is finding them! And thanks for alerting me to the problem. I did know about it as my husband, who also gets the email notifications, told me about it. What I don’t know is how to fix it! What happened was that I started with a very different title and introduction. I decided I didn’t like the direction I was going in, so completely revised the first two paragraphs and thought I’d changed the title too, as it no longer fitted. After hitting publish I noticed that the title was wrong, so I went back to edit it. Then of course the slug was wrong, so I changed that too, and that was my mistake, as all the emails meanwhile had gone out with the wrong slug! I could change the slug back but then it wouldn’t fit the title and also would mess up pingbacks and the link I left in my comment to Terri and shared on social media. Rock and a hard place 😆
maristravels
I seem to remember reading, way back when, that you should never, ever change the title in a WP post as this throws the whole system into chaos. Maybe this was what happened.
Sarah Wilkie
Yep, exactly that! A shame I hadn’t read the same thing 😆 I suspect there’s nothing I can do now as changing it back will just add to the chaos!
CliffClaven
Pink? Didn’t Palermo play in pink when you were there a few years ago? Stunning photos, as always. Chapeau – pink of course.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Michael 🙂 Yes, indeed Palermo played in pink. The story goes that they used to play in red and white stripes until someone put the shirts in the wash on too high a setting. They came out pink and with a match that day the team had no choice but to play in them. They got a great win and have played in pink ever since, considering it lucky. Sounds more like something a fan would do, but it’s a good story 😂 Unfortunately I don’t think I have any photos of their players and although I have some of their fans (we had a great vibe with them), I don’t recall anything other than the odd bit of pink on their scarves. Ah, those were the days … But maybe one day again…?
Terri Webster Schrandt
What a spectacular and international array of pink images, Sarah! Just when I spotted a favorite, I scrolled and there was another and another. I love your big to small gallery and a great idea for sharing so many images. I always appreciate knowing what I’m seeing in the pictures, too. Those Japanese berries are gorgeous, but if I had to choose another, I loved the first sunset. I also enjoyed the people, pigs and animals, and the flamingo! Thank you for helping us flood WP with pink images to provide hope for positive outcomes for breast cancer awareness and treatment!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Terri, I’m glad you liked my ‘flood’ of pink 😊 I know there are a lot of images here but believe me I did edit some out!
Terri Webster Schrandt
I have a lot too, we must be drawn to the colors of pink like moths to flame 😉
Sarah Wilkie
Haha yes, maybe 🦋🕯