Tuesday Photo Challenge: Quotidian
Posted on December 27, 2017
For this week’s Tuesday Challenge, Frank at Dutch Goes The Photo! has set the theme of ‘quotidian’, in the sense of the normal everyday that could, in photographic terms, repay a closer view or a different perspective.
What could be more humdrum than a drain, you may wonder? But this drain-cover in the gutter of a street in Chabanais is surely worth a second glance, not only for the interesting structure of the ironwork, but also for the contrast provided by the autumn leaves that have become trapped in it.
Domes
Posted on December 22, 2017
So is it arches you want for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week? Or domes?
Here’s an image with plenty of both – from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The figures at bottom right give an idea of scale.
Thursday Doors: Doors Of The Year 2017
Posted on December 21, 2017
As this will be the last instalment of Thursday Doors in 2017, with Norm taking a well-earned festive break until 11 January, it seemed like an appropriate time to review some of my personal favourites that have been posted here over the last twelve months.
With the exception of my ‘official’ Door of the Year these are in no particular order of preference and are just placed chronologically. A full ranking of the 300 or so doors that I’ve put up here in 2017 wouldn’t be possible but would be pointless.
This first one – a striking and well-cared for door in the town of Saint Junien – appeared last February. You could hardly miss that mustard-yellow paint.
By way of contrast, in March I started posting doors from the town of Confolens. This was one of the first I came across on my initial excursion and it’s hardly been bettered.
Both Confolens and Saint Junien are about a 30 minute drive from here at Tranquility Base, but this third door, from June, is much closer – a mere ten minutes away in the village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop. It’s irresistibly bijou
It’s not just France that has interesting doors. This elaborate example, originally posted in July, can be found in Rodney Street, Liverpool:
In September I made another visit to the national monument of Oradour-sur-Glane, where this door can be found in the church:
However, this is my personal choice for Door of the Year 2017. Posted in October it’s to be found in the medieval village of Saint Cirq Lapopie and I’ve never seen anything like it as an example of making the door fit the hole:
Thursday Doors 21 December 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflecting on 2017
Posted on December 21, 2017
The final WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge of the year is to post the ‘most meaningful’ photograph that we’ve taken in 2017.
I was surprised to discover that my Lightroom catalogue has expanded by well over 2,000 during the course of this year, so there’s plenty to choose from. I wouldn’t describe any of them as being particularly ‘meaningful’; I just enjoy ‘spotting’ images and capturing them in photographs.
Probably my favourite subject, though, is reflections, so here are two images (I coudn’t choose between them) that haven’t been posted before.
The first was taken from a boat on the River Lot in the town of Cahors and is of a buoy, which has the inestimable advantage of constituting a red foreground object. I also like the contrast between the sharpness of the buoy and the blur of the reflected trees and buildings. With a bit of post-processing, it’s also possible to see why it’s there.
The second is of the River Vienne in the town of Chabanais on a peerlessly calm and sunny day: in October, no less.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Pets
Posted on December 20, 2017
Frank’s theme this week is ‘Pets’. I don’t have pets, but my children do. This is quite possibly the most pampered dog in the world. Her name is Monza, she’s a mini Schnauser and she belongs to my son and daughter-in-law, who dote on her.
Off The Road
Posted on December 15, 2017
This old Renault just up the road (i.e.three miles away) in the village of Saint Barbant hasn’t moved in all the five and more years that we’ve been living here in France. I think it’s been abandoned.
Thursday Doors: Confolens After The Fall (3)
Posted on December 14, 2017
More doors from my second bite at the door-seekers’ cherry that is the town of Confolens.
To begin with, here are a couple of doors that have clearly been restored at some point in the not too distant past:
And, by way of contrast, this is what can happen when nobody cares:
I liked the symmetry of this particular offering:
Sometimes even relatively modern doors can display an austere kind of dignity:
Finally, just for a change, a residential door, again with the attractive symmetry:
Next week, as it’s the last Thursday Doors before a break for ‘les Fêtes’, I thought I might do a post of my ‘Doors Of The Year’.
When class resumes in January we’ll be back in Confolens (there really are a lot of interesting doors in Confolens), but for the first time venturing across the bridge to the other side of the river that divides the town.
Thursday Doors 14 December 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ascend
Posted on December 13, 2017
This image shows the stairwell of the bell-tower of the restored Abbaye de La Reau, in central France.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Season
Posted on December 12, 2017
This week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge, as set by Frank at Dutch Goes The Photo!, is ‘Season’ and, as he points out, that can mean more than one thing.
In terms of weather, a sure sign of the changing of the seasons is the first frost of the year – it might still officially be autumn but there can no longer be any doubt that winter is on its way.
We had our first frost of the year a good few weeks ago, which produced some interesting, almost abstract, images in our herb bed – so there’s the other meaning of ‘season’.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Season
House of Remembrance
Posted on December 8, 2017
This model house, in the architectural style typical of the Alsace region of eastern France, stands outside the village hall in nearby Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.
This part of France lay just outside the area of direct German occupation during World War II, but the town of Seltz, on the Rhine in Alsace, was one of the first to be ‘annexed’. The plaque commemorates the refugees from Seltz who were given shelter in this locality after they fled the Nazis in 1939.
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