Posted on January 18, 2019
Although there apparently remains only one example in Britain, ‘lanterns of the dead (Lanternes des Morts) can still be seen in rural France and there are a couple of (fairly) local examples.
And what, you may be asking, is a Lanterne des Morts? This is how Wikipedia describes it:
“Lanternes des morts) are small stone towers found chiefly in the centre and west of France, pierced with small openings at the top, where a light was exhibited at night to indicate the position of a cemetery. These towers were usually circular, with a small entrance in the lower part giving access to the interior, so as to raise the lamps by a pulley to the required height.”
This small photo shows the exterior of the top part of the Lanterne in the village of Rancon:

However, Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week calls for unusual perspectives, so this is what you would see if you were small enough to get inside the base of the tower and look up towards the sky.

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Unusual Perspectives
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Lanterne des Morts, Perspective
Posted on January 11, 2019
For Cee’s Black & White theme this week of ‘music’, here is an image of a harp in the music room of the Chateau d’Amboise.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Music
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Harp, Music
Posted on January 4, 2019
In the old cafe at the rural museum in Montrol-Sénard there’s a wood-burning stove range. This is one of the hotplates.

Cee’s B;ack & White Photo Challenge: Geometric Shapes
Category: Abstract, Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Circles, Geometric shape, Montrol-Senard, stove
Posted on December 28, 2018
Cee’s Black & White theme this week is the wide-ranging one of ‘all about nature’
The monochrome treatment of this image of the centre of a round cactus really helps to highlight the inherent symmetry to be found in nature

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: All About Nature
Category: Black & White Tagged: All About Nature, Black & White, Cactus, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Symmetry
Posted on December 21, 2018
I saw this at an exhibition of ancient tractors last summer. I wonder how many miles this one has on the clock.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Engines and Motors
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, engines, Tractors
Posted on December 16, 2018
Although this looks a little like a lunar landscape, in fact this photograph was taken on Sir Bani Yas island in Abu Dhabi. The long shadows of approaching sunset provide plenty of detail.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Rocks, Boulders, Stones
Category: Black & White, Landscape Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Landscape, Mountains, Rocks, Sir Bani Yas
Posted on December 7, 2018
Cee’s theme for this week’s Black & White Photo Challenge is ‘Hot and/or Cold’. Here is an image that encapsulates both. This is a wind tower in al-Bastakiya – what’s left of the old part of Dubai. It works on the principle of drawing in the desert breezes at the top and funneling them down to provide a cooler draught at ground level. Air-conditioning, in other words.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Hot & Cold
Category: Black & White, Travel Tagged: al-Bastakiya, Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Dubai, Hot & Cold, tradition, Wind Tower
Posted on November 30, 2018
The hills around the village of Ay are given over almost entirely to vines growing the grapes that will later be turned into (particularly good) champagne.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Field
Category: Black & White, Landscape Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Champagne, Field, Landscape
Posted on November 23, 2018
I have to admit that this is a pretty free interpretation of Cee’s Black & White challenge this week of ‘public transport’. However, the image – which is really all about the clouds – does include an aeroplane, which is certainly a form of public transport.
This particular ‘plane is on its final descent into Heathrow Airport in London and is just passing over the railway bridge that crosses the Thames at Barnes.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Public Transport
Category: Black & White Tagged: Aeroplanes, Barnes Bridge, Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Clouds, Heathrow, London, Public Transport
Posted on November 16, 2018
The Vienne river flows over the weir on a misty morning in the town of Chabanais.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Flowing water
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Chabanais, flowing water, mist, River Vienne