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  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Colombia
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Nepal
        • Oman
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
    • Art
      • Crafts
      • Street art
    • Colour
    • Dark tourism
    • Eco-tourism
    • Food & drink
    • Gardens
    • History
      • Ruins
      • War
    • Landscape
      • Coast & seascapes
      • Deserts
      • Mountains
      • Rivers
    • Nature and wildlife
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Plants
        • Flowers
        • Trees, forests and woodland
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Travel in general
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Trios
      • Thursday Doors
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

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Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Costa Rica,  Monday walks,  Photographing Public Art

    A short (hot) walk around Guiones

    March 31, 2022 / 43 Comments
    Rough wooden sign on the edge of a beach

    While the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica’s southwest is remote and wild, the Nicoya Peninsula in the northwest is rather more developed as a tourist destination. Nevertheless Pacific waves still pound its shores and there are quiet corners to be found. After all, ‘developed’ in Costa Rica is a relative term!

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Abstract view of sparkling blue water

    Gallery: water, water everywhere …

    February 20, 2022
    Large red bird with white face and beak

    Gallery: a February selection

    March 1, 2022
    Looking over tree tops to a cloud covered mountain

    Hanging bridges and butterflies

    March 15, 2022
  • CBWC,  Street photography,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: capturing photographers in black and white

    March 30, 2022 / 19 Comments
    Black and white silhouetted figures in front of an ornate domed building

    It seems to me that holding a camera gives a lot of people a sense of freedom. They appear more relaxed, less constrained by their surroundings. So what a great opportunity that is for the rest of us who are also carrying a camera with an eye to some street photography!

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    Or what about ...?

    Black and white photo of a sculpture of horses and a woman in classical robes

    Gallery: centred in monochrome

    July 10, 2022
    Black and white photo of sea stacks

    Gallery: reflecting on black and white

    July 24, 2021
    Black and white photo of man with rickshaw

    Gallery: people at work in Kerala and Rajasthan

    August 5, 2021
  • Architecture,  Street photography,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: what makes a perfect city?

    March 29, 2022 / 59 Comments
    Looking across a park to an historic building with a river and modern skyscrapers beyond

    When Beatrix Potter adapted Aesop’s fable about the town mouse and the country mouse, in her picture book The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, she concluded that tastes differ. Some of us seem born to city life, others are happiest in the country. I fall firmly into the first group.

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    Red crumbling ruins

    ‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

    August 12, 2021
    View of cathedral on far side of river, with large crane

    Rising from the ashes: Notre Dame in 2021

    September 30, 2021
    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
  • History,  Landscape,  Lens-Artists,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: earth’s story told in its rocks

    March 27, 2022 / 50 Comments
    Rock arch with rock stack

    Earth’s story is told most clearly in its rocks. There the layers of the past are revealed to us, viewing in the present. And each of those rocks is shaped by the elements, evolving over time into natural sculptures, often of great beauty.

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    Or what about ...?

    Small church on a wooded mountainside

    Asen’s Fortress and the Church of the Holy Mother of God

    August 18, 2021
    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
    Rock with petroglyphs of animals

    Reading messages from the past

    January 29, 2023
  • Flowers,  London,  Themed galleries,  Writers' Quotes Wednesday

    Gallery: inspired by spring blossoms

    March 26, 2022 / 25 Comments
    Cluster of pink flowers

    Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire. This quote from Virgil, who lived in the first century BCE, is a reminder that spring has inspired writers throughout the centuries. I wonder if it’s the most written-about season of all?

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    Or what about ...?

    Narrow path between flower beds

    Gallery: some favourite English flowers

    October 17, 2022
    White flowers with dark purple centre patches

    Gallery: a July selection

    August 2, 2022
    Purple flower on a long stem

    Gallery: roses are red, violets are blue …

    April 19, 2021
  • Friendly Friday,  Photographic techniques

    Friendly Friday Challenge: framing your subject

    March 25, 2022 / 77 Comments

    In setting my previous Friendly Friday Challenge about the ‘rule of thirds’, I should perhaps have started with a disclaimer. We talk about the rules of photography but what we really mean are guidelines. Guidelines that help you to create compositions pleasing to the eye; guidelines that help you create impact and draw the viewer in.

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    Or what about ...?

    Banner with photo of a tightrope walker

    Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer

    August 27, 2021
    Rain spattered window with blurred landscape

    Learning to dance in the rain: Iceland’s Golden Circle

    October 23, 2021
    Two elephants in long grass in black and white

    Two ways: black and white or colour?

    November 6, 2020
  • CFFC,  Culture & tradition,  Uzbekistan

    A blacksmith at work in Bukhara

    March 24, 2022 / 26 Comments
    Man sitting on a rug using a hammer and anvil

    In the ancient streets of Bukhara history weaves itself effortlessly around the present-day lives of its people. Here you get a real sense of continuity. The world of the Silk Road caravans isn’t preserved in the aspic of Khiva; nor tucked into islands among the modern-day bustle of Samarkand; it is an ever-present backdrop to daily life. To walk these streets, duck through the low arches of the caravanserai and trading domes, sit for a while over green tea by the pool of Lyab-i-Huaz; this is what people of this…

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    Or what about ...?

    Forest in the mist

    Barking up the right tree in Costa Rica

    March 4, 2022
    Sign on boarded-up window

    Gallery: London, off the beaten track (urban erosion)

    January 17, 2021
    Row of impala drinking from a river

    Monochrome in colour: creating an impact

    November 1, 2020
  • Flowers,  London,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: the magnificent magnolias of March

    March 23, 2022 / 34 Comments
    Pink and white flowers against a deep blue sky

    When I included some magnolia flower images in my recent monochrome spring flowers post it was to celebrate their sculptural forms in particular. But while black and white really emphasises those forms, draining them of colour isn’t to everyone’s taste. And to be honest the shapes are just as beautiful and distinctive in colour; while the different shades from pure white through delicate pinks to deep reds and purple are equally worth celebrating.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    White flowers with dark purple centre patches

    Gallery: a July selection

    August 2, 2022
    Cluster of pink flowers

    Gallery: inspired by spring blossoms

    March 26, 2022
    Dark red flower

    Gallery: looking closely at Nepal

    January 6, 2023
  • Flowers,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: spring sunshine, but in monochrome?

    March 21, 2022 / 41 Comments
    Black and white photo of a single magnolia flower

    It may seem contradictory, as we pass from winter to spring, to try to present that colourful season in black and white. Flowers are appearing, in shades of pink, yellow and more. Green leaves are sprouting on trees and bushes. Nature is coming to life in glorious technicolour!

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    Or what about ...?

    Small purple blossoms

    Gallery: a bouquet of purple flowers

    August 11, 2021
    Large red poppy

    Gallery: is it wild if we plant it?

    July 2, 2021
    Two white bell towers

    A stroll around Tavira

    April 29, 2022
  • Architecture,  Lens-Artists,  Nature and wildlife,  Photographic techniques,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: monochrome curves

    March 20, 2022 / 50 Comments
    Looking up at a spiral staircase

    The world is full of curves. A bend in the road; a gently drooping flower; the arch of a bridge; a spiral staircase. Animals curl up to sleep or to feel safer. Leaves gradually unfurl. The wind shapes a sand dune daily into new curves, and with time water does the same to hard rocks.

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    Or what about ...?

    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
    Large yellow building with white window details and ornamentation

    Rundāle, the Baltic Versailles?

    August 18, 2022
    View of New York City

    On the Top of the Rock – twice!

    November 13, 2020
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By Marsha of 'Always Write'

And my answers to Bren’s ‘five at five’ questions

Lady in a hat and red top sitting on rocks

Some favourite photos

Man in a turban with fishing nets
Fisherman in Fort Kochi, Kerala
Two elephants in long grass
Okavango elephants
Blue glacier edge
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Elderly woman in black hat and sunglasses
In Santiago, Chile
Very large statues of North Korean Leaders
Statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang
Water reflecting the sky with clouds and low sun
Approaching sunset in the Okavango Delta
Feet of huge metal sculpture, with man standing beside
The feet of the Angel
Large moai with row of more behind
The ‘travelling moai’ and Ahu Tongariki
Man in knitted hat by water, black and white photo
Waiting for the ferry, Banjul
Mountain reflected in a lake
On the road to Dyrholaey
Sunset at Wahiba Sands, Oman
Squirrel with a conker in his mouth
In Walpole Park, Ealing
Silhouette of a man in a gateway
Looking out from Bundi Palace
Blue and pink bird on a dead tree
Lilac-breasted Roller, Chobe NP, Botswana
Buddhist monk in orange robes with mobile phone
Monk at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang, Luang Prabang
Man sleeping in a tuk tuk by a carved stone wall
Tuk tuk driver by the Terrace of the Leper King
Close up of flamingo with head tucked under
Flamingo (Jersey Zoo)
Lady with baskets of fruit sitting by a canal
In Hoi An, Vietnam
Small fishing boat with a man in it, on a large lake
Lake Atitlan
Wet street and two people with bright pink umbrella
Street in Lucca, rainy day – edited

Some topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

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  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
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  • September 2020
  • August 2020

You may have missed

  • A postcard from Colombia: Villa de Leyva
  • A postcard from Colombia: finding gold
  • Gallery: a January selection (2023)
  • A walk in Patan, the City of Beauty
  • Gallery: blackness against the light

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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