On a street wall in Stokes Croft area of Bristol, shot in May, amusing at the time, a “not to be missed shot”, but…after recent events could this partnership become a reality?….who knows, the world is currently a changing place…
Arriving home in Cyprus on 18/6/16, driving along the motorway to Paphos around mid-day, a column of smoke was visible in the distance for many miles.
I watched it on and off during the day, seeing there was a fire and thankful for myself that it was over the mountain, the temperature was 40, and windy, ideal conditions for a fire to spread.
This shot was taken at 7.15 pm, the fire was still raging in Argaka on the north-west coast. All day helicopters and planes flew overhead carrying water.
After a mammoth effort from the Cypriot fire services, RAF Akrotiri, and Israel, the fire was settled after 2 days. The link explains how the fire started…. Check out the heat in the sky…It was a Skywatch day….
Subsequent fires over the last few days in various areas of the island have resulted in the deaths of 2 members of the fire service. Blessings for those who lost their lives….
Driving up the coast of Oman from Shannah to Sur in the aftermath of a major storm early May, the small towns along the coastal road are weatherbeaten, fishing towns.
Many hundreds of miles from main centres, (Muscat is an 8-hour drive from here) the pace of life is slow and traditional.
Traditionally doors in Oman are of the metal type, with simple embellishments, check out the heart door, but occasionally you get a bit of variety….
I spend a lot of time being a car photographer on these long journeys, especially in these lands, but occasionally I get spotted!
Linking with Thursday Doors and the Discover challenge The Story Behind a Door
Modern and old architecture in Dubai features curves. The mosques always have curves in their domed roofs, the contrast of the angular lines of the minarets with the elegant curve of the roof and windows is very pleasing to my eye. The most well known curved buildings are the Burj Al Arab hotel and the Jumeirah Beach hotel, featured below.The header shot is of the Atlantis hotel on the Palm Jumeirah islands, the curved opening in the design makes an iconic feature…. Continue reading
A recent visit to Wells Cathedral in Somerset, Great Britain gave me the chance to see the magnificent stained glass windows around the cathedral. Continue reading
Magnificent doors at the imposing Wells cathedral in Somerset, Great Britain. Built between 1175 and 1490, it is a wonderful place to visit. Continue reading
For over five thousand years henna has been a symbol of good luck, health, and sensuality in the Arab world. The plant has been associated with positive magic and provides us with a link to an ancient age full of good and bad spirits, baraka and jnoun. Continue reading
How we each imagine a visual portrayal of Pure is the challenge.
My instant reaction is white, clean-cut, symmetrical and aesthetic lines of religious symbolism.
Shots from a recent visit to the British Museum in London, sadly including some reflection of my pure, aesthetically contoured handbag….
A hot, hazy June sunset over the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai….
On the way through Soho, passing on the other side of the street, I spotted this amazing doorway to a London pub, The Salisbury in Covent Garden. Continue reading
Clifton is an inner suburb of the English port city of Bristol.Clifton is one of the oldest and most affluent areas of the city, much of it having been built with profits from tobacco and the slave trade. Continue reading
Trawling through my Reader, I came across One Word Photo Challenge hosted by Jennifer Nichole Wells .
Intrigued I went off to look and well… given my location and the theme for this week being “Camel” and the fact that I take rather a lot of camel photos, I just had to join in….
https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/05/31/one-word-photo-challenge-camel/
My entry for this week’s photo challenge comes from England, featuring some 14th-century clock faces with beautiful numerals…
The Wells Cathedral clock is an astronomical clock in the north transept of Wells Cathedral, England. The clock is one of a group of famous 14th to 16th-century astronomical clocks to be found in the West of England. The surviving mechanism, dated to between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century and was eventually moved to the Science Museum in London, where it continues to operate. The dial represents the geocentric view of the universe, with sun and moon revolving around a central fixed earth. It may be unique in showing a philosophical model of the pre-Copernican universe.
Another dial is mounted on the outside wall, driven by the same mechanism. This was first installed in the 14th or 15th-centuries but has been restored a number of times.
Information courtesy of Wiki
A fairly perfect sky, all things considered… somewhere on Palawan island, May 2016, the Philippines….
After a little break, joining back into Ailsa’s travel theme for this week’s theme of Neutral.
My location in the Middle East is perfect for neutrality. Outside of the city, the hues of the country are neutral , but with their own tints and in my quest for seashore life of this region, shots of interesting underwater life blend into a neutral hue…
Hugh asks us to share our representation in photographs for “Vintage” this week.
Vintage can describe something old or old-fashioned.
Vintage adjective (HIGH QUALITY)
My photo’s selected for the theme below, a small capsule of vintage Britain seen through my eyes on a whistle-stop tour….
Bristol, home to the SS Great Britain, a monument to 19th-century engineering. Isambard Kingdom Brunel rejected using conventional paddle wheels to drive his iron ship. Instead, he gave the SS Great Britain a screw propeller…vintage engineering from circa 1842….
Agatha Christie’s play, The Mousetrap, now in its 64th year of West End Theatre performances, qualifies as vintage….
Christine Keeler, the iconic beauty from the 1960’s whose sultry allure caused the downfall of eminent men in London society and government. Photographed by Lewis Morley in June 1963 , a vintage silver gelatin print, on display at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
So, come on, who remembers these buses, I mean the green ones if you didn’t live in London! If you recall skipping up onto the platform, paying the conductor with his wind up ticket machine slung around his neck, scooting up to the back seat on the upper deck, well, you get to qualify as vintage too, be it a green or red bus!
The Penny-farthing was the first machine to be called a bicycle… definitely a vintage mode of transport. also known as “The Bone-Shaker”, for reasons which are probably fairly obvious…
A vintage example of the water-closet or modern day toilet, originally invented by Sir John Harrington at the time of Queen Elizabeth the first and not, as widely believed by Thomas Crapper…
Sir Winston Churchill, portrayed in bronze at the National Portrait Gallery, London. A vintage statesman….
Soho, vintage style. I couldn’t resist adding this picture of an older gentleman making his dapper way along the street, the purple suit is just so eccentrically British, wonderful….
Pietro Annigoni’s serene 1969 portrait of Queen Elizabeth, now a vintage nonagenarian…..
This week, a floral extravaganza around the entrance doors of the Bloomsbury Hotel, Great Russell Street, London. Continue reading
Travelling across the desert in the Al Gharbia western region of the UAE, from White Sands to Liwa, the landscape is almost devoid of life. Occasionally small bushes break through the sand, a welcome sight contrasting to the ochre hues in this spare landscape. Not too many camels this far out into the desert either, but I did find a mother and baby….
Linking with Skywatch Friday, head on over to see some sky!
Early morning in May in Dubai, from my window, the rising sun reflects off one building’s windows on the trunk of the artificial islands of Palm Jumeirah. Continue reading
Jubilant:adjective
1.showing great joy, satisfaction, or triumph; rejoicing; exultant:
Linking with Skywatch Friday , drop in to see some sky!
Jaffna, capital of the Northern province of Sri Lanka, has been a contested city since 1619. The more recent civil war was not considered as ending until 2009.
Visiting in July 2015, it’s obvious the rebuilding of the ravaged region is still continuing and will for a long time. Not a top of most people’s list as a tourist destination to visit, but as always somewhere off the beaten track lures me into its web. Continue reading
Joining back into Hugh’s weekly photo challenge after a couple of months of blogging courses and April’s A to Z challenge.
This month Hugh asks us to consider distance, focusing on an object in the distance or a scene from a distance which shows up really well in a photo.
Resisting posting yet more pictures of the iconic Dubai buildings which are the ultimate distance shots in this region, I chose instead some aerial photos, taken over Java on the flight to the island of Lombok.
My focus is on the distance scene, the patchwork of colour created by farming, irrigation, bright roofs of houses and the linear abstraction from the air.
Lastly, the striking gold mosque amidst the patchwork conurbation of Mataram, the capital of the province of West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat). The province is administered from the provincial capital of Mataram in West Lombok.
Want to join the fun? Here’s what you need to do.
1. Take or choose a photo that you’ve taken which defines Distance.
2. Create a new post on your blog entitled “Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Week 26 – ‘Distance’
3. Add the photo(s) you have taken to the post and tell us a little about what you are showing.
4. Create a pingback to Hugh’s post or leave a link to your post in the comments section on Hugh’s page so other participants can view the post.
Travels in the Middle East and beyond 