52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 36 – Simple Things
Posted on May 30, 2017
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.
Y is for Yas
Posted on May 26, 2017
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.
Thursday Doors: Nantes Cathedral
Posted on May 25, 2017
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
Posted on May 25, 2017
What could be more ‘soon passing…quickly fading or disappearing’ – evanescent – than a firework?
Tuesdays of Texture: Wool on the Well
Posted on May 23, 2017
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:
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Street
Posted on May 23, 2017
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:
52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 35 – From Above
Posted on May 22, 2017
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
Posted on May 19, 2017
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.
Thursday Doors: More From Nantes
Posted on May 18, 2017
This is the third instalment of doors from the French city of Nantes (and there will be more…), but this time without a specific theme.
According to TripAdvisor, the top attraction in Nantes is the Botanical Gardens. This is the rather grand greenhouse:
Less exotically, a couple of doors from the immediate environs of the Chateu des Ducs, which was featured last week.
I like the contrast of black door and red shutters in this example:
Speaking of black(ish) doors…
I was drawn by the unusual ‘font’ of the number on this door:
And finally a well-worn old wooden door:
Next week, some rather grander doors (again) – this time from the cathedral.
Thursday Doors 18 May 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge: Heritage
Posted on May 18, 2017
We live in a very rural part of France, where agriculture remains a crucial element of the local economy.
As most farms remain family businesses, they are typically much smaller than the vast agri-industrial enterprises to be found elsewhere. Modern methods are used, of course (nobody uses a pair of horses for tilling any more, apart from at the annual ploughing competition), but there is still plenty of heritage, in the sense of evidence of the way things used to be done.
In particular, there is the open-air museum of rural life at nearby Montrol-Sénard, which includes this barn, still containing old cattle byres. There were some just like these in our own barn when we bought it, but they were too far gone and disappeared during the restoration process.
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