Tuesdays of Texture: Staircase

I think there could be some Health & Safety issues about this ancient staircase in the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop. All very well to admire the textures, but you wouldn’t get me up there.

Tuesdays of Texture 30 May 2017

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Old

If I want to see something old, I just need to look in the mirror. Fear not though, I’ll spare you (and me) a self-portrait in response to this week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge theme, set by Frank at Dutch Goes The Photo!

Instead – and infinitely more interesting – here is an image of a Roman-era funerary statue recovered from archaeological excavations at Argentomagus, in central France. Is it just me, or does he look like he’s wearing a beanie hat?

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Old

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 36 – Simple Things

An artfully rusted bicycle propped up against a wall in the village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop during last weekend’s Fête de la Laine (hence the woolly decorations).

A simple subject framed according to the simple Rule of Thirds.

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 36 – Simple Things

Y is for Yas

This final instalment of Cee’s alphabetical Black & White challenge was always going to be a bit tricky – unless, that is, you have a particular soft spot for yachts or zebras (I don’t).

However, inspiration finally struck when I remembered this iconic hotel (it actually used to be called the Yas Hotel), which is on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, right next to the Formula 1 race circuit.

We stayed there once. Very interesting architecturally, but as a hotel? – meh.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Y or Z

Thursday Doors: Nantes Cathedral

For the final instalment of doors from the French city of Nantes, we are looking at the magnificent cathedral, which has recently undergone extensive – and, I think, very sympathetic – renovation.

The first thing you notice about the external doors is how tall and narrow they are:

As I was snapping away, somebody had the temerity to walk into shot by coming out through one of the doors. At least it gives some perspective on how tall they actually are:

From the inside,they’re even more interesting:

…and any door within a door is worthy of a closer look:

Rather arrestingly, this door is halfway up a wall:

Door-shaped holes rather than actual doors on the Confessional:

Thursday Doors 25 May 2017

Weekly Photo Challenge: Evanescent

What could be more ‘soon passing…quickly fading or disappearing’ – evanescent – than a firework?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Evanescent

Tuesdays of Texture: Wool on the Well

Next weekend, the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop is holding a two-day ‘Fête de la Laine’ – a wool festival. Already, the village is decorated with wool – around telegraph poles, on benches and also, as here, wrapped around the wooden winding piece and rust chains of an old well. Plenty of textures here:

Tuesdays of Texture 23 May 2017

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Street

All the most interesting streets have a bend in them so you can’t see where they’re leading to – like this one in the old part (Cité) of Carcassonne, in southern France:

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Street

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 35 – From Above

This week’s theme set by The Girl That Dreams Awake is ‘From Above’. This can often provide an interesting and unusual perspective when compared with the more conventional ‘straight ahead’ view.

This particular example is looking down from a fifth-floor balcony onto a water feature in the foyer of a nautically-themed hotel in Dubai.

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 35 – From Above

W is for Wrought Iron

This wrought iron balcony dates from about 1740 and is now on display in the Chateau des Ducs museum in Nantes. The pattern is complex enough on its own but the shadows add a further dimension.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: W or X