The clogmaker

Less than a hundred years ago, the standard footwear of rural France was the wooden clog (part of our house used to be the local clogmaker’s workshop). Today, though, traditional clog-making is only seen at expositions of years gone by – as in this example, seen at the Christmas Fair in nearby Lesterps.

 

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: People at work

Thursday Doors: Birkenhead

This is my home town. I lived there until I was 22. To be honest, it’s not the greatest place on earth and I can’t get sentimental about it.

The heart of it was ripped out many years ago to improve road access to the Mersey Tunnel and to construct a soulless shopping centre. When I was growing up, apart from bingo halls, a few insalubrious cinemas and the kind of pub where even the police needed a police escort, there was very little on offer. On the rare occasions I ‘went out’, it would be far more likely to be over to Liverpool.

I was back recently, however, and had time for a wander round downtown. The cinemas have gone but not much else has changed. This gives you a flavour:

But to finish on a positive note, there’s still a little life and colour in the old place, like this restaurant:

Thursday Doors 13 September 2018

Red railing

You could argue all night about what is the photographer’s greatest friend, but I’d have to say that a red foreground object must be among the frontrunners.

Imagine how dull this picture would be without that red railing.

[Taken in Oman in about 2004 with my first ever digital camera, a plucky little Olympus 3mp compact]

Cee’s Fun ‘Foto’ Challenge: Red

Photobombed by a seagull

This detail of a water feature in Sydney could stand on its own as an abstract or geometric image, but the curious seagull brings life to it (quite literally).

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge

Thursday Doors: Doué La Fontaine

Back in mid-July, I went on a coach trip to the village of Doué La Fontaine, in the Loire Valley. The voyage was organised by our local horticultural society (Les amis des fleurs), so I came back with many, many photographs of roses.

And also these few interesting doors:

Thursday Doors 6 September 2018

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Backyard

Not in my backyard…but in my mother’s.

The almost translucent heads of these three stray poppies, sneaking under the fence from next door, stood out really well against the wooden fence. My new(ish) iPhone captured them pretty sharply, I think.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Backyard

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Last week in response to Cee’s Black & White theme of sculpture I posted an image of some statuary from the Basilica San Marco. This week’s topic is glass and here is another image from a religious edifice, in this case the mind-bogglingly beautiful Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Glass

Thursday Doors: Asnieres-sur-Blour (2)

Another set of doors from the nearby village of Asnières-sur-Blour.

This may be only a small door, but it has character to spare:

The next three images are all of the same building:

I suspect that this door doesn’t get much use:

Although these definitely do:

Thursday Doors 30 August 2018

Basilica San Marco, Venice

These carvings atop the Basilica San Marco in Venice are clearly not the originals, but there is plenty of intricate detail to appreciate, especially in monochrome:

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Sculpture

Thursday Doors: Asnieres-sur-Blour

The village of Asnières-sur-Blour is yet another of those little rural communities that can be found within a fifteen-minute drive of Tranquility Base.

I was there last week, primarily to take photographs of old tractors (you can only envy me) for a project I’m working on currently. However, as so often happens, the doors proved a lot more interesting than the agricultural machinery, as we’ll see here over the next couple of weeks.

Just to confirm where we are:

Doors like these – on buildings used to accommodate farm animals – are a common local feature and similar ones have appeared here before:

Just across the road from those old things is a new house (well, the cladding at least is new) but with this older door in it:

It’s not always possible to get up close and personal with the doors you might want to capture for posterity, so finally for this week here are a couple of images snatched through a fence:

Thursday Doors 23 August 2018