If you visit a city only to see its famous sights, you are missing out on much of what makes that city what it is. The people who live there may do so against the backdrop of its grand buildings, iconic monuments, parks and so on, but for the most part those things are of secondary importance to their daily lives. If you want to really get to know a city you need also to observe those people.
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Clouds can look beautiful, enhancing any photo of the sky. They can inspire us to see animals, palaces and more hidden in their shapes. And they can give us welcome shade on the hottest of days. But clouds also bring storms, rain and snow. They turn a summer picnic into a dash for shelter, and they hide a view you climbed a mountain to see.
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Language differences may make it challenging to communicate with the people we meet when travelling, even if we have made the effort to learn a few words. But music transcends spoken languages, and the enjoyment of music becomes a shared experience irrespective of our different native tongues and cultures. It’s the most universal of languages, speaking to all of us no matter from where we come
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When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along any lines within it. By thinking about how and where you place any lines in your composition, you can influence the way people view the image, pulling us into the picture, towards the subject, leading us on a journey through the scene.
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It is relatively easy to photograph a landscape. It doesn’t move as wildlife does, it doesn’t object as a person may do. But to photograph a landscape and be happy with the result is much more difficult. So often the grandeur of what we see fails to translate itself to the image and we are disappointed that the result doesn’t stir in us, or in others, the feeling we had when we were there. But we keep trying!
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Halloween today is largely a commercial festival, and a bit of fun for children, but it has dark origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain. At that time, people believed, the barrier between the living and the spirit world was thinnest. Maybe that’s why we choose as fun decorations at this time of year things that would terrify us at any other time.
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We enjoyed our first visit to San Francisco back in 1991 so on this California trip included a day there at the start. After some early morning fog we enjoyed a beautifully sunny day, although the clouds descended again briefly in the afternoon, just in time for us to get some atmospheric shots from the viewing area on the north side of the bridge, near Sausalito.
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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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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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Our images don’t have a particular job to do, they can stand alone. And the viewer is free too, to interpret them as they wish. They can follow the image’s ‘suggestion’ or search for other meanings – or none. With that in mind I have selected some favourite black and white shots to share.
