On the final day of our expedition cruise we enjoyed enjoy a final walk on Spitsbergen and, as on every day of this trip, some special wildlife sightings. Our last full day on board started well, with a sighting of a large pod of beluga whales off the port bow.
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To be able to see the wonders of the world abroad; what a privilege that is. And perhaps most of all when those wonders are ancient. To stand among the ruins of buildings that have stood for hundreds of years allows us to witness history brought to life in a way no book or film can ever do.
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People have been using clay and similar materials to shape objects both ornamental and practical for millennia. Today every culture has its ceramics traditions: forms and styles, decorative techniques, purposes. These often sculptural forms lend themselves to monochrome processing.
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When you only have one day to explore a city, being ‘small enough to be easily understood’ is a real plus point. And one day was all we had, on this occasion at least. But we really took to Helsinki, so maybe in the future we’ll come back for a more in-depth look.
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The soft delicacy of flower petals can give them an ethereal, dreamlike quality. And a bit of creative photo editing can enhance that impression, A blurred background, combined with soft focus, can make the flowers seem to float in a hazy, dreamy space.
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Overnight the Ocean Explorer had left the smaller islands of Edgeøya and Barentsøya and returned to the main one in the archipelago, Spitsbergen. We rounded its southern tip to moor in the fjord of Hornsund. The landscapes were particularly stunning but for me our arrival here was tinged with a little sadness as it felt as if we were on the home strait back to Longyearbyen.
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The theme at last night’s meeting of the Ealing group of London Independent Photographers was ‘Light and dark’. We each showed a series of images with our own interpretation of that theme. For my contribution I decided to edit some of my travel photos in high contrast black and white. The theme that tied them together as a series was the use of an arch to frame the scene.
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Today the weather played a trick on us and pretended that it was still summer. The sun shone and the temperature climbed into the low 20s. Where better to take a walk than in one of our favourite London parks? Well, maybe in two parks!
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We have had plenty of warm September sun this year, but also some chillier days, reminding us that winter isn’t too far away. By the end of the month it was looking, and feeling, quite autumnal. We were home for much of the month but did make our usual anniversary visit to Paris near the start.
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It’s a sombre thought that even the most modern and stable of structures may one day become a ruin. Did the builders of the Inca cities, of the Egyptian pyramids or of the temples of Angkor stop to consider that they may not stand for ever?
