Truly abstract I think. Love the subtle muddy colours and the starkness of the image.
This is a piece of graffiti on a wall in London’s East End (Brick Lane area). It’s a wonderful place in which to make artistic discoveries. This one comes from the camera of London photographer Steve Moore who has given me permission to use it.
I’ve recently moved house and am still coming to grips with making a new garden. This year I’m trying to grow roses in pots but if this doesn’t work I shall replant them next year in a new rose bed I hope to make. I had a large rose garden in my former home which I can’t hope to replace as I’ve downsized drastically.
However, roses are my favourite flowers, and I’ve bought ten super plants, all highly perfumed Old English species, mostly repeat flowering and with their heady scents they shall have pride of place on my bedroom balcony.
This is my future. Whether they will bloom as the labels show is a moot point, but ……………. we live in hope. Wish me well.
My favourite rose (for its appearance and sunny look from early June until nearly December where I live) is Tequila Sunrise. I thought I had an image of this from my old garden but it seems to have disappeared from the folder. But here is another of my favourites, Gertrude Jekyll, which I’ve bought again and if it shows blooms like this one, my future will indeed be bright.
Some of the other roses I’ve bought are Thomas a Beckett, Grace, James Galway, the Alnwick Rose, Iceberg. Rose aficionados will recognise some of them.
Took me a while to think about some landscapes, and unfortunately, I was unable to get out and about to photograph some, so here is a selection of some of my favourites.
This was taken on a fairly good day in Chicago from the top of the famous landmark, the Sears’ Tower. The skyline is probably more impressive from ground level, but I found the view from above quite exciting. See another Chicago photo, bottom.
Citiva is in Lazio Province, within driving distance of Siena, Rome. and Orvieto. Inside the mountain fastness is a quaint old town of cobbled stoned streets, a couple of good restaurants serving rustic food, and a Bodega where the wine flows very liberally.
This was taken from a cable car as we floated over the mountains in Switzerland. I seem to remember that it was quite a long cable-car trip, longer than most I remember. It was a magical journey over the mountains and villages below, the brown and white cows hardly visible and their cowbells muffled by the distance.
One of my favourite places in Sicily, the National Park of Madonie, where wild figs grow along the roadside and just a few locals are left in near-deserted villages to sit outside their doors and chat to whoever passes by. Now and again one sees a thriving village like this one, which is being slowly restored to its former glory by returning families who have made some money working elsewhere and now are coming home to reclaim their birthright.
I’ve racked my brain to think of something I regard as a treasure but apart from books there is nothing I really treasure. I’m not into possessions too much, although I seem to be surrounded with souvenirs, pictures and odd things I wouldn’t want to lose.
However, none of these would I class as a treasure, but I do treasure the flowers in my garden and feel upset when things go wrong there. Last night, for instance, like most of the UK, the storm we had in my area (winds of apparently 106 mph), wrecked havoc in my garden. I won’t mention the fence that’s down, bags of rubbish upended, the missing furniture, etc.
I’d just invested in eight new rose trees from David Austin and these were still in pots but blew over, losing half their soil and damaging the tips. I hope they will survive but who knows. The daffodils were flattened, the camellia is now a mess of brown-tipped blossom and will need to be dead-headed when I can summon up the energy, and my new pansies will take a long time to recover.
But I’m cheered when I look at some of my photographs and remember how earlier pansies looked. At least I have a photograph!
I didn’t dash out today with my camera to find a subject that would fit the title of Mystery because as soon as I saw the subject I remembered this photograph taken some years ago on a trip to Switzerland. There was no time to think about lighting effects, or exposure, or ISO ratings. It was enough that I had the presence of mind to take the photograph.
It was September and we had been driving with our Swiss friend, Werner, in the Bernese Oberland, searching for a farmhouse he’d heard about, where the mountain cheese was the best in the Canton – if not in the country – and which would be perfect for the planned supper.
The mist was heavy in the mountains, deadening all sound, and we could only see a few yards ahead at this point. We had parked the car and got out to peer over the barricade at the side of the road and to listen to the distant sound of falling water. No other sound broke the stillness, no dogs barked, no cowbells jingled, no birds sang: then came the faint, ghostly clip-clop, clip-clop of horses’ hooves and out of the mist that swirled around us, came the Victorian carriage and horses you see in the photograph below, four horses and two coachmen. Neither the horses nor the coachmen appeared to notice the three mesmerized people who stood by the side of the road, and it passed by, silently, and turned the corner.
My husband, a born sceptic, decided it was some actors from a film set, but I’m not so sure. We were, after all, just by the Reichenbach Falls…………
Photo by Mari Nicholson
This story is true and I remember it well. The recollection and telling of it can still send shivers down my spine.
Having difficulty in keeping up with the daily stint and due to other work commitments am not free to wander out and about with camera. Frankly, even if I were, the bitter cold is enough to prohibit my photography excursions, as I find cold hands do not for good photos make!
I have just returned from Rome and when I saw BIG, the one thing that sprang to mind was the Colosseum, that massive elliptical shaped theatre of blood lust and killing, where in the first hundred days of the inauguration games in 81 AD, it is said that over 9,000 wild animals were slaughtered. During another festival in 240 AD 2,000 gladiators, 70 lions, 40 wild horses, 30 elephants, 30 leopards, 20 wild asses, 19 giraffes, 10 antelopes, 10 hyenas, 10 tigers, 1 hippopotamus and 1 rhinoceros were slaughtered. In fact, so many wild beasts were killed in the Roman arenas that some exotic animals became virtually extinct.
Here are a few of my images of that iconic spot in Rome. Maybe I haven’t covered point of view so well, but I hope you will enjoy the perspective anyway.
N.B. It is generally accepted that the Ridley Scott film The Gladiators is a very true depiction of what the Colosseum arena looked like in those days as the research was meticulous.
Connections between rooms in castles are well documented, less well known is the connection between the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome and the Vatican City.
The Castel of Sant’Angelo, the massive fortress-like building on the right-hand side of the Tiber, was originally built by the Emperor Hadrian (117-13 AD), as a monumental tomb for himself and his successors, not far from the Mausoleum of Augustus near the edge of the Vatican fields.
By the 5th Century, the Mausoleum had been included in the defensive system of the city walls, and from the 10th century onwards it had become a fortress, the Castel Sant’Angelo, its purpose being to defend the Vatican, to which it was linked by a special passageway (the Connect). Originally the Mausoleum was surmounted by a gilt bronze statue of the emperor in a chariot.
Below is a photograph taken from the cupola of St.Peter’s at the Vatican and the Castell is quite some way from it, on the left-hand side just beyond the patch of dark green trees that can be seen.
Looking Down from the Cupula of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, towards the Castel S Angelo. Photograph Copyright Solange Hando.
The Mausoleum was incomplete when Hadrian died but he was buried there one year later in 139 AD. The bridge connecting both sides of the Tiber had been built by Hadrian to facilitate direct access to the tomb, a more elaborate bridge than any other Roman bridge at that time: it survived until the end of the last century by which time it had become known as the Ponte Sant’Angelo. The two end spans were rebuilt at the end of the last century and only the three central arches are originals from the period 130-134.
Ponte Sant’Angelo, Rome: Photograph copyright Mari Nicholson
I was away last week but managed to log on to my tablet and saw that the subject was Street. I hope I’ve got this right because I cannot now remember how to get the rest of the week’s Photo Challenge words up. I thought they were to be emailed to me, obviously I’ve got it wrong. I’ve gone into Photograph 101 but all I see there is the Weekly Photo challenge and Daily Prompt Word, so if anyone can steer me in the right direction I’d be obliged.
So, hope I’m right about last Tuesday’s subject being Street, and here are two from Rome.
I’m not sure if I’m posting in the right place. I had the email about the start of the new course this morning but it seems to have disappeared from my computer, completely! I seem to remember reading however, that the post should go as a Post in the normal site and would then be removed to a Photography 101 site. Am I right?
Anyway, in great rush as I am off on a short trip today until next Saturday when I’ll pick it up again. I will be able to take photographs but not post while I am away.
Meantime, this was home to some young birds during the winter but they have now flown away to warmer climes I presume. I have cleaned the birdhouse out and now it awaits a new family.
CAMBODIA:
Life is hard if you have a disability in most of S.E. Asia, probably a bit worse in Cambodia which is still a poor country, but this group of blind musicians are making the best of things by performing close harmony songs by the roadside and collecting money from passers-by.
Blind Musicians by the Roadside in Cambodia
HALONG BAY, VIETNAM:
One of the lovliest places in Vietnam, a short drive from the capital Hanoi. It is peaceful and harmonious, massive karsts thrusting up out of the sea and junks and smaller boats moving slowly on the calm green waters in and out between them. Inside some of these karsts are caves full of stalactites and stalagmites, well worth a visit, but do take a guide because they can also be dangerous.
On the calm waters of Halong Bay, the junks and the Karsts make for a very harmonious image. Despite the storm clouds there is a sense of harmony here and as night falls the boat people cook their meals on deck and the smell of spices and fish roll across the waters.
