Thursday Doors: Lesterps (Part 1)
Posted on December 22, 2016
Lesterps is yet another of those charming old villages that surround Tranquility Base at a distance of an approximately twenty-minute drive. It’s best known for its very large 11th century church (more specifically, it’s an Abbatiale, which means there must once have been an Abbey there), which dominates the village, to the extent that it’s virtually impossible to get a proper photograph of the whole edifice. The image from Google Earth at the bottom of this post gives some idea of its relative scale.
This is the main door:

and this is one of three substantial archways, which I think qualify as doors for this purpose:

This walled up doorway on a building just acrooss the road from the church could well be a remnant of the accommodation of the monks who must once have lived here:

Elsewhere, this house (also opposite the church), with its massive beam, looks like it might once have been a byre, housing livestock:

We visited Lesterps last weekend for the Marché de Noel, so here’s something in the Christmas spirit. You’re welcome.

And this is quite possibly the smallest door in the entire commune. It’s at about head height but it certainly doesn’t look like a shutter, and I can’t imagine it’s the meter cupboard:

Next time, more from Lesterps – including some very strong contenders for Ramshackle Door of the Year.
Thursday Doors 22 December 2016
PS here’s that screenshot from Google Earth:

Macro Moments: Week 23 – Purple
Posted on December 21, 2016
Don’t ask me what plant these berries are from. All I know is that this photograph was taken a few years ago in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney.

Nikon D300 with 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm, 1/100 at f5.6 ISO 200. Cropped and edited in Lightroom.
Macro Moments Challenge Week 23
Tuesdays of Texture: Rope
Posted on December 20, 2016
I really liked the contrast between the black and white plaited ropes and the stainless steel whatever-it-is-that-they-wind-rope-round on this catamaran, moored at Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. We were about to embark on a sunset cruise, so the low evening light also enhanced the texture.

Tuesdays of Texture Week 52
52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 20 – Coffee
Posted on December 19, 2016
Confession time: since my photo library is not exactly bulging with pictures of coffee cups, here’s one that I’ve posted before, albeit in a different (monochrome) edit.

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 20 – Coffee
Mundane: But Who Will Frame The Framers?
Posted on December 19, 2016
The’Mundane Mondays’ Challenge asks us either to find a kind of beauty in, or find a beautiful frame for, the commonplace. This one might be a bit off-piste, as it were, but for a challenge where framing is important I couldn’t resist this sign, outside a picture-framer’s workshop (‘encadrerie’) in the village of Gargilesse, in central France.

Mundane Mondays
Weekly Photo Challenge: Anticipation
Posted on December 17, 2016
With its half-closed eyes and its nose working overtime, this giraffe in the game rerserve on Sir Baniyas Island in Abu Dhabi appears to be looking forward to its next meal with great anticipation.

The Boxer
Posted on December 16, 2016
This Bonobo monkey at Valleé des Singes looks like it’s squaring up to the knotted rope:

Thursday Doors: Honfleur
Posted on December 15, 2016
Honfleur is a small port in north-west France, at the mouth of the Seine. Now dwarfed by its neighbour Le Havre, back in the Middle Ages it was a key European trading entrepôt.
We made a detour on our route back from Zeebrugge to home to have a look. Unfortunately, it was the middle of a long bank holiday weekend so, despite it being the end of October, the harbour area was very crowded.
In the back streets, though, and more specifically in the rather menacingly named Rue de la Prison, I came across some interesting old doors, the first one with a highly topical question posed outside:





And finally, with a welcome splash of colour:

Thursday Doors 15 December 2016
Macro Moments: Week 22 – Poppy
Posted on December 14, 2016
I didn’t even notice the wasp until I’d downloaded this close-up image of a poppy onto my desk-top:

Nikon D800 with Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens at 48mm. 1/125 at f8, ISO 100. Cropped and edited in Lightroom.
Macro Moments Week 22
Tuesdays of Texture: Weathered Sandstone
Posted on December 13, 2016
This piece of sandstone down by Circular Quay in Sydney is not only a lovely colour but has also weathered very attractively.

Tuesdays of Texture Week 51




