Macro Moments – Week 14: Raindrops on Roses
Posted on October 12, 2016
This week, for Musin’ with Susan’s maco challenge, here are some raindrops on roses. Don’t expect whiskers on kittens any time soon.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 105mm f2.8.Macro lens. 10 sec at f4.5 ISO 200. Edited in Lightroom.
Tuesdays of Texture: Rust
Posted on October 11, 2016
These rusting chains and hoops hang over the disused well in the centre of the nearby village of Bonnefont. At a guess, the hoops once held together wooden buckets, which were lowered on the chains to collect water.
52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 10 – Morning
Posted on October 11, 2016
For Week 10 of her 52 Weeks Photo Challenge, The Girl That Dreams Awake has chosen the topic of ‘Morning’.
Naturally enough, ‘morning’ is often equated with ‘beginning’. When we came to France in 2004 to look for a home to buy we stayed in a gite, from the window of which I took this picture of early morning mist. So it also marks a beginning.
Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O
Posted on October 8, 2016
You say ‘water’, I think ‘reflections’, as in this example from the Charente River, near Chaniers.
Under pressure
Posted on October 7, 2016
As part of the wine-making process, in Bordeaux as elsewhere, the young wine has to be drawn out of the big stainless steel tanks into smaller containers under the force of gravity. Given how large the tanks are, it’s not surprising that it comes out at high pressure. That’s what you call letting it breathe.
And if you zoom in closely enough, it becomes almost abstract:
Thursday Doors: Maison de George Sand
Posted on October 6, 2016
George Sand was a noted 19th century French writer, known also for the glittering company (Chopin, Flaubert to name but two) she entertained at her house in the hamlet of Nohant, in the Indre département of central France. You can read more about her here.
Today her impressive residence is open to the public and a very popular destination for tourists and coach parties, which is how I found myself there recently. It’s got some nice doors too.
This is the gated entrance to the house; note the bricked up doors on either side:
The inevitable Gift Shop is housed in what looks like a former stable block. Not only are these doors a lovely colour but it’s unusual to see their inner side:
And here are a few more:
There is a formal garden to the side of the house. Rather incongruously, this ‘box’ of doors is plonked in the middle of the lawn. I suppose it must be art.
Thursday Doors 6 October 2016
Macro Moments: Week 13
Posted on October 5, 2016
This week, Sue at Musin’ With Susan wants us to ‘get real close’. Well here is a real macro shot of the top of the stamen of a lily, I think it’s the closest close-up I have in my collection.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm f2.8 Macro lens. 1/5 at f22
Tuesdays of Texture: Landing Stage
Posted on October 5, 2016
Staying on the island of Burano, where that church door from last week needs a lick of paint, is this little wooden stage that allows boat-owners to avoid getting their feet wet when boarding or disembarking from their vessel. I was struck by the contrast between the glassy (anti-texture?) water and the rough surface of the wood. Complementary colours, too.
52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 9 – Patterns
Posted on October 3, 2016
The Girl That Deams Awake has set the topic of ‘Patterns’ for this week.
Most stained glass windows display overtly religious images. However, this example, to be found in the crypt of the medieval church in the French village of Gargilesse, is an interesting exception.
The geometric patterns remind me of Celtic designs (Celtic knots?). I’m also reliably informed – by Madame the quilter (a.k.a. The Best Girl Ever) – that there are very similar quilting patterns.
In another departure from tradition, the colours are far more subdued than in typical stained glass windows.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgia
Posted on October 1, 2016
Nostalgia? It ain’t what it used to be, is it?
The obvious temptation is to respond to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge by pulling something quaint or sentimental out of the archives. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but as a counterpoint to the rose-tinted glow of memory I thought I would post this less cosy image.
The ‘living museum’ that is the nearby village of Montrol-Sénard has many features that portray a romanticised version of local life a hundred and more years ago. However, it also has this perhaps rather more realistic illustration of the way things were.
It’s a bedroom for a farm worker: a small, rough-made bed, a lumpy, dirty straw mattress and a pair of clogs (note the straw lining: no expensive luxuries like socks). When you see an example of the verité like this it’s possible to understand why the locals seem remarkably unsentimental about their comparatively recent history.
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