Photography challenges
Posts published in response to photo challenges appear here
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Gallery: an ode to beautiful Northumberland (shhh!)
Are there places you know and love which you hesitate to tell others about, because you are tempted to keep them to yourself? Places relatively unknown that you fear might become spoiled if discovered by too many? And yet, they are so lovely you can’t resist singing their praises!
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Gallery: pick a word (November)
Oh dear! How many times have I fallen precisely into the trap of marvelling at the beauty of terraced fields, forgetting how tough it must be to farm these hillsides.
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In ancient Bhaktapur, a royal capital
Bhaktapur lies a little to the east of Kathmandu. At its heart is a series of lanes and squares that seem little changed for centuries. Here more than anywhere in the country I felt immersed in the ageless atmosphere of Nepal.
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Gallery: textures of Nepal in monochrome
When I travel I always want not just to capture the big ‘sights’ but also the tiny details. I often photograph something that perhaps could be found anywhere: a leaf, a stone wall, a ripple on the water. But I found it here in THIS place and I want to capture it.
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Gallery: on the Narayani River
In the early morning mist we drifted slowly with the current, our boat man using his single oar simply to steer us. Here on the Narayani River, which skirts the northern boundary of Chitwan National Park in Nepal, the setting was beautiful, the atmosphere tranquil.
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Gallery: a stroll around Thamel
Everyone will tell you that Thamel isn’t the REAL Kathmandu. It was once backpackers central, and today is home not only to hostels but to increasingly smart hotels. But between the tourist-focused delights is enough local colour to demonstrate that you are indeed ‘a long way from home’.
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A postcard from Nepal: Manakamana
We rode a cable car to the top of a mountain to find a Hindu temple that draws thousands of believers. The small town that has sprung up to serve their needs is full of shops selling garlands, offerings and even chickens and goats for sacrifices.
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Gallery: through a glass darkly
Arguably it’s the fragility of glass that makes it so beautiful. Not only does it look lovely, we know how easily we could lose it. Glass has two main properties; we can look through it, or we can see the world reflected in it.
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Mount Paektu, the revolutionary mountain
Straddling the border between North Korea and China is a still-active volcano, Mount Paektu. Its last eruption was in 1903 and scientists consider that another one could be imminent, based on a trend of eruptions roughly 100 years apart. The crater lake, Lake Chon (‘Heaven Lake’) was formed in the 946 AD eruption.
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The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia
To leave a monument standing, to mothball it or to destroy it? That is a question that faces many countries right now, as they face up to an uncomfortable past. Maybe values have changed, better understandings emerged, or political systems been rejected. Do we want still to be surrounded by reminders of that past? Or is it justifiable to remove them, hide the memories?
