When we think of Chinatowns we think of big cities: San Francisco, New York, London. I was surprised then to read that the historic Gold Rush town of Weaverville in Northern California was once home to approximately 2,000 Chinese gold miners and had its own Chinatown. Many of the town’s buildings from that era remain, including California's oldest active Chinese temple. That sounded like somewhere worth exploring!
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This weekend in Europe the clocks are being turned back. The already dark evenings will be darker as days are starting to shorten and nights lengthen. Finding light where we can becomes ever more precious.
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There’s something about both windows and doors that draws many photographers to capture them, isn’t there? Maybe it’s the intrigue of not knowing what lies within. Or perhaps it’s simply that their geometry is pleasing to the eye.
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The Torre dell'Elefante was built in 1307 when Cagliari was under Pisan rule. It takes its name from the small carving of an elephant on a ledge part way up.
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What is it that attracts photographers to capture so many doors and windows? Is it because they stand out from the rest of the building? Is it something less conscious, being drawn to exits and entrances as offering adventure (or a way out)?
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I enjoy photographing architecture in black and white, especially more modern architecture. So here is a selection of architectural images, most relatively new (that is, twentieth or twenty first century).
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When the Shard opened in London in 2012 it did so to quite a fanfare, and to a rather damp squib (in my view) of a laser show. But despite the laser show disappointing, the tower never has. Although not to everyone’s taste (the fractured ‘shards’ at the top that give it its name divide opinion), I have always found it striking.
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When I visited Lviv in 2010 I described it on my Virtual Tourist page as a beautiful city ‘waiting in the wings’. By this I meant that it was ripe for tourism but hadn’t yet been discovered by the masses, nor did it yet have the infrastructure to deal with them. What it did have was beautiful churches with elaborate interiors; a lovely main square surrounded by historic townhouses; broad avenues and narrow winding streets; quirky cafés, a striking opera house and monuments of all kinds and styles.
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There have been many times when travelling that I’ve stared up at some steps. I’m not the best at climbing stairs, but the incentives to do so are often great. A wonderful view, an interesting building, a slice of history … Any of these is likely to entice me to climb.
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One of the (many) things I like to photograph when I travel are the various buildings I see. Buildings tell us so much about how people live, how they work, how they worship. Or, if they are old buildings, how they once lived/worked/worshipped.
