Bellows
Posted on March 18, 2016
This set of bellows hangs next to the wood-burning stove in our kitchen. The shape contrasts well with the brickwork.
Thursday Doors: Epernay
Posted on March 17, 2016
Épernay is, after Reims, the principal town of the Champagne region of France – and well worth a visit. When we went, a couple of years ago, we stayed at a hotel that had been converted from a grand house that had probably once belonged to a wealthy wine merchant. This was the imposing entrance:
Thursday Doors 17 March 2016
Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Week 17 – Calm
Posted on March 16, 2016
If I come out of my house, walk the 25 yards or so up to the road and look to my left, this is what I see. And people wonder why I refer to the petit hameau we live in as ‘Tranquility Base’.
(By the way, this is rush hour.)
Contrasting colours
Posted on March 16, 2016
Well, I learned something today. Did you know that colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, when mixed, produce black? There’s a fact to be added to the store of useless information.
However, on this occasion we’re not looking to mix opposing colours but to juxtapose them. Essentially there are three ‘pairs’ of opposing colours, so here are a couple of images of each set:
Red and Green
Two roses, the first from Monet’s Garden, the second from outside our own back door (this one hs a wonderful, heady scent. Madame’s grandmother had some of these in her own garden and it brings back happy memories).
Orange and Blue
Two photographs taken on the island of Burano, in the Venetian lagoon
Purple and Yellow
I had to get a bit creative here, as I don’t seem to have many images featuring this pairing in my library.
The first is an imposing building in Bruges, where the yellow detail on the columns contrasts with the indigo shade of the reflected sky in the windows. The second is a detail of a window display in a quilting supplies shop in Sarlat. The purple and yellow are among the threads at the top, in case you’re wondering.
Weekly Photo Challenge: One Love
Posted on March 12, 2016
Dried Ferns
Posted on March 11, 2016
These tightly curled dried ferns were in a roadside hedge just outside the hameau last December.
Thursday Doors: Dubai
Posted on March 10, 2016
Think of Dubai and you probably have images of mile upon mile of glass-plated towers. That’s mostly accurate, it has to be said; however, there is still a small part of the old city that gives an idea of what it must have been like before the oil began to flow. It’s the al-Bastakiya area, just by the Creek, where it’s possible to see restored traditional buildings – and their doors:
al-Bastakiya
Not only do I have a photographic record of this piece of history, but Madame – whose talents are boundless – has also made a wall-hanging, which currently adorns our TV room:
Thursday Doors 11 March 2016
Hugh’s Photo Challenge: Week 16 – Behind
Posted on March 9, 2016
Weekly Photo Challenge: Harmony
Posted on March 6, 2016
On paper, the juxtaposition of this medieval stair-tower (in Chartres) with the modern-day aspect of the attached house shouldn’t really work, but personally I thonk it forms ‘a pleasing and consistent whole’ – in other words, ‘harmony’.
One Photo Focus: March 2016
Posted on March 4, 2016
This month’s One Photo Focus Challenge, provided by Nancy Merrill, had me thinking. Here is the original:
I felt that there were two possible approaches:
A matter of record
This first edit sees the image as a ‘record shot’ (absolutely no disparagement intended). Essentially, all this requires is a modicum of straightening and a sympathetic crop to highlight the sign and put it into some context – so here we can see the structure of the theatre and the fact that it is located in a green (or at least non-urban) area.
Abstract form
It looks like this theatre has been built along the lines of Shakespeare’s Globe in London (which I’ve been fortunate enough to attend for quite a few performances over the years). The key architectural characteristic is undoubtedly the black and white ‘mock-Tudor’ effect, which is a worthy subject in itself. Consequently, I cropped down to the bottom left quadrant of the original image, flipped it a quarter-turn clockwise, tweaked for sharpness and added a little grain and a vignette to produce this almost abstract interplay of light and shade, straight and diagonal lines.
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