Looking up a very sparkly staircase…..
Look Up
Tag Archives: photography
Monday Window: 11/7/16
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh and Wise Men feature in our earlier bible study memories……. this week I found Frankincense, sadly no Gold or any really Wise Men, but I suspect some Myrrh is around the region. Continue reading
Skywatch Friday: 8/7/16….
The Khareef or Monsoon season in Southern Oman transforms the countryside into a land of mist and rain. The heavy cloud that hangs over the Dhofar escarpment is pervasive and constant for the months of Khareef. As the route from Salalah to the Yemen border reaches 1000 metres, the sun has a chance to break through the cloud.
A setting sun over the mountains of Dhofar….
Linking with Skywatch Friday, pop on over to check out the sky……
Thursday Doors: 7/7/16….
A very typical Cyprus door, note the high, round handles, operating an inner latch… you see these in mountain villages on the old houses…often a door to a courtyard entrance rather than a house, hence the solid wood structure.
Offset by pink bougainvillea, a traditional pot and some rather lovely stonework, I wouldn’t mind a set of these at my house!
Traditional doors….
Linking with Thursday Doors , pop over and see doors for this week….
Wordless Wednesday….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Opposites….
A shot from in a night market in Vietnam of a tank full of live shells to be chosen for dinner. The opposite colour and pattern contrasts of the plain outside of the orange Baler shell and striated clams behind, against the vibrant, zebra-striped mollusc seemed to fit this week’s challenge….
Opposites
Monday Window: 4/7/16
Traditional Cyprus stone village houses are so appealing to the eye, especially when there are blue skies and fluffy clouds to offset the background. Continue reading
Saturday special…. 2/7/16
Driving through the vast wilderness of Oman during the night, capturing an oil or gas well in the distance…a welcome beam of light on the remote gravel plains…
Skywatch Friday: 1/7/16
Thursday Doors: 30/6/16
Fifteen kilometres below the summit of Mount Olympus in the Troodos mountains in Southern Cyprus lies the picturesque village of Omodos. One main, wide cobbled street runs down the centre towards the Monastery of the Holy Cross. Flanked by mulberry trees the road is lined with cafes and restaurants and it is a popular mountain village to visit. Continue reading
Cee’s Compose yourself challenge: #23 Black and White: The Basics…
Jumping into Cee’s compose yourself challenge with the Basics Contrast and Texture theme, several shots from earlier this year, firstly, cumulus high over the Western Ghats, India.
Turning all of these to black and white in post processing offers a whole different aspect….I’m enjoying this challenge, but being a B &W novice I’m open to any criticism or helpful hints…
Cumulus high in the sky, over the Western Ghats, India, just before sunset, shot from the plane window….
Contrast of the pier at Con Dao, Vietnam against a hazy background….
A portrait contrast, small boy on Palawan, turned to black and white, I think it works….
Texture is more defined in black and white…these sand dollars, in the original shot don’t show the beatiful flower shape in the centre…. being an echinodermophile, black and white is perfect to portray the sand dollar structure…
Palm trees show such a texture in B&W….
A washed up puffer fish, B&W shows the incredible structure far more clearly than the original colour photo…,
Caught this lady on a bumpy jungle trail in the Philippines, like a ghost she appeared and disappeared into the jungle….. B&W makes the contrast evocative…who knows why she was there or where she was going…
This gorgeous girl spent her morning before the school bus came, trawling for brine prawns..we watched her and her sister every morning back and forth with a wooden structure in the sea to catch minuscule prawns for drying and selling, shot taken just after sunrise..they had been out there since 4am….
Wordless Wednesday….
June: The Essence of Summer
Sliding into June’s challenge a little late this month. There is no essence of summer in the desert, so after a visit home to Cyprus, I can add my summer essence….only the Stephanotis had a fragrance but all of the flowers are indelible to summer in Cyprus…. Continue reading
Cambodia: Angkor Wat, truly breath-taking…
Early in the morning, Angkor Wat beckoned, the reason for being in Cambodia.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, originally constructed as a Hindu temple for the Khmer empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century, certainly time for me to visit. Continue reading
Monday Window: Window to a shrine….
Off the beaten track in Cyprus, away from the tourist areas, out in the beautiful countryside, you often find small shrines on the road-side. Small religious icons inside, behind little glass windows with candles and melted wax from the years of lighting… Hints of religion playing an essential part in village life. Shot in the foothills of the Troodos mountains near Omodos a couple of days ago…. Continue reading
Weekly Photo Challenge: Partners…..
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…
Skywatch Friday: 24/6/16…
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….
Smoke from the burning forest fills the sky….. view from my roof….
Thursday Doors: 23/6/16
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!
Plenty of gazebo’s scattered along the coastline, for shade, no doors though!
The weather isn’t kind to wooden doors in this region….
Green shutters to lock up the shop seem to be the standard design….
Typical small town shops in the remoter parts of coastal Oman…suspect there is a door shop close churning out the standard design!
I loved these odd little doors and surround, glad I caught it before the elements do….
Great wooden doors in that archway….
More green doors, the place to hang out… and yes, I was spotted!
A long-abandoned villa, left to the elements, but check out the over-door design…an influence from where? …..
Well, I just loved these ones, talk about wearing your heart on your gate ( door) !!!
Yup, spotted, but they were pretty cheerful over the long lens out of the car window!
Linking with Thursday Doors and the Discover challenge The Story Behind a Door
Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve
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
Monday Window: Windows at Wells….
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
Skywatch Friday: 16/6/16….
Sky over Lombok, Indonesia….
Thursday Doors: 16/6/16
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
Wordless Wednesday….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure
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 massive white marble figure of Amitabha Buddha from the Sui dynasty around 585 bc, height 5.78 metres…
Moon Vase from Korea c 1947….
Tirthankara , British Museum, London .The Tirtankhara in the Jain tradition is a prophet who at different times came restore fair knowledge of the Jain doctrine. This sculpture is from the 12th century BC.
Skywatch Friday :10/6/16
A hot, hazy June sunset over the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai….
Thursday Doors and CFFC: 9/6/16…. A London pub…
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
Wordless Wednesday…..
Monday Window: Clifton, Bristol, UK….
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
One Word Photo Challenge: Camel
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….
Chewing the cud down in Dhofar, S.Oman…
Not quite sure what to make of the “man”….
Look at those lashes….
Going for a ride….
In Oman there is alway’s a camel in a truck to be seen…this time Mother & baby….
Preparing the camels for racing at Lisali camel track, Dubai….
At the start line, the race robots strapped on….
and they are off…..
https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/05/31/one-word-photo-challenge-camel/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Numbers
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
Travels in the Middle East and beyond 