Photography 101: Mystery

Q: What lies in the blackness to which the eye is irresistibly drawn? A: The basement. This was taken (with a Blackberry) leaning over the emergency stairwell on the 23rd floor of my old office building in Abu Dhabi. The idea of depth – and therefore mystery –  depends crucially on the sunlight shining in through the glass exterior from the right, producing the shadows on…

Photography 101: Warmth

Although I’m as secular as they come, I do appreciate the architecture of churches and cathedrals. Typically, though, the interiors of these buildings  are largely of grey stone and emanate anything but warmth. However, this church, in the medieval town of Chauvigny, is an exception, especially when, as in this image, natural sunlight streams through the high windows above the altar.

Photography 101: Nature

This certainly comes under the category of nature. Despite appearances, it’s not a cartoon octopus but actually a chrysanthemum bud, which I took in early September this year in our garden. Thinking about looking at common things from a different perspective, I rotated the image 90 degrees clockwise, which I think makes it a bit more interesting.  

Photography 101: Landmark

Another image from Petra. This time, the famous Nabataean Treasury but from a more unusual perspective (as per the suggestions in the assignment). I also like the juxtaposition of the carved monument and the rough stone on the right: like a particularly spectacular  ‘before and after’. I’ve posted some more abstract images from Petra here.

Photography 101: Connect

This bridge connects two parts of the site at Petra and is the only feasible way of reaching some of the largest rock carvings. Madame, who has a fear of heights, was not happy having to cross over this rather ramshackle affair, especially with the shadow pointing to the bottom of the fifty-foot deep ravine that it spans.

Photography 101: Solitude

This image was taken in Abu Dhabi and is the exterior of the building in which I used to work. Luckily, I wasn’t a window-cleaner like this poor guy, suspended about 200 feet above the ground with an awful lot of windows to clean. I can imagine he felt rather alone.

Photography 101: Bliss

‘When we bought Brokedown Palace almost ten years ago, we were also fortunate enough to acquire a few acres of attached agricultural land. This picture is of the field directly behind the house. Just to be able to look out on a sunny day at this tranquil, unspoiled scene, with no sound but the birds, certainly counts as `bliss’ as far as I’m concerned.

Photography 101: Water

Where there’s water, there’s a good chance of a reflection – nature’s buy-one-get-one-free. Today, an image from my visit earlier this year to Monet’s Garden.    

Photography 101: Street

Here’s a street scene I captured on my recent visit to Venice.

Photography 101: Home

Almost ten years ago, we bought a ruin – and I do mean a ruin – in rural France as a retirement home. There was rather a lot of renovation involved, as you can see from these ‘before and after’ photographs, but it was well worth it, as I’ve written about here. And we still call it Brokedown Palace. Brokedown Palace