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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • 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
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white buildings bulgaria cffc chile cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa views village wildlife
  • Albania,  Lens-Artists,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: boxing clever in Tirana

    May 14, 2023 / 38 Comments
    Two boys cycling past a utility box painted with a figure from South Park

    Opinion is divided on street art / graffiti. Some consider it vandalism, others (including me) enjoy the way it brightens a city. Great street art can be beautiful; it can make you think; it can transform a district. So of course I was on the lookout for street art in Tirana, as I am everywhere I go.

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    Or what about ...?

    House in a garden with concrete path

    A postcard from Tirana: Enver Hoxha’s former residence

    April 22, 2023
    A large 1960s style home

    The legacy of Enver Hoxha

    May 13, 2023
    Men at small tables, with drinks

    Gallery: the people of Tirana in black and white

    April 26, 2023
  • Colombia,  Monday walks,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Street photography,  Sunday Stills

    A wander through Getsemani

    March 21, 2023 / 59 Comments
    Single storey houses in bright colours

    Historically, Getsemani is the area of Cartagena where African slaves lived during colonial times. The Spanish had imported them (after they’d killed off most of the native population) to build their fortifications: the city walls and the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. They were housed here, outside the city walls, away from the grand homes of the soldiers and merchants who controlled it.

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    Water with a small boat moored and surrounding palm trees

    Beach walks on the Caribbean coast of Colombia

    May 16, 2023
    Two women in colourful traditional dress looking at mobile phones

    Gallery: a February selection (2023)

    March 3, 2023
    Balconies with Comuna 13 in large colourful letters

    Finding peace in Medellín

    March 6, 2023
  • Art,  Colombia,  Photographing Public Art

    The unique vision of Fernando Botero

    March 10, 2023 / 41 Comments
    Sculpture of a large bald head from the rear, with a bald man standing next to it

    You can’t really miss the unique style of Colombia’s most famous artist. Whether on canvas or in sculpture, his figures are exaggeratedly rotund. The innate humour of these people, and animals, is often offset by sharp political commentary or by pensive contemplation of his own life and family. Indeed the theme of family is central to much of his work.

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    Street art with three Mona Lisa inspired murals

    Gallery: art comes in threes

    July 22, 2022
    Bronze sculpture of two young elephants

    A little bit of Nairobi in London’s Spitalfields

    January 22, 2022
    Large wooden curved structure

    Gallery: Seville’s mushrooms, art or architecture?

    December 4, 2021
  • Colombia,  History,  Lens-Artists,  Monday walks,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Street photography

    Finding peace in Medellín

    March 6, 2023 / 57 Comments
    Balconies with Comuna 13 in large colourful letters

    How do you find peace in a city rife with crime and violence? During the 1980s and most of the 1990s Medellín had the reputation of being one of the most violent cities in the world.

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    Or what about ...?

    Face of a sloth among large leaves

    A postcard from Colombia: a three-toed sloth in a city park

    February 17, 2023
    Door knocker in the shape of a lizard

    Gallery: the door knockers of Cartagena

    April 29, 2023
    Large cobbled square surrounded by low white buildings

    A postcard from Colombia: Villa de Leyva

    February 8, 2023
  • Colombia,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the street art of Candelaria, Bogota

    February 24, 2023 / 43 Comments
    Colourful mural street art depicting two women

    If I had to choose a single word to associate with Colombia, it would be ‘colour’. Nowhere else, I believe, have I seen so many brightly painted houses as in some of its villages. And as for street art, I firmly believe the Colombians are obsessed!

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    Or what about ...?

    Large cobbled square surrounded by low white buildings

    A postcard from Colombia: Villa de Leyva

    February 8, 2023
    Colourfully painted houses on a cobbled street

    A postcard from Colombia: a street corner in Guatapé

    February 15, 2023
    Man having his shoes shined

    Exploring the sights of downtown Medellín

    April 4, 2023
  • Colombia,  Colour,  Postcards from the road,  Street art

    A postcard from Colombia: a street corner in Guatapé

    February 15, 2023 / 37 Comments
    Colourfully painted houses on a cobbled street

    Many of the houses in Guatapé are decorated with friezes along the lower portion, known as zócalos.

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    Or what about ...?

    Colourful mural street art depicting two women

    Gallery: the street art of Candelaria, Bogota

    February 24, 2023
    Street of brightly painted houses

    Gallery: an explosion of colour in Colombia

    April 7, 2023
    Steep-sided valley with tall palm trees and other vegetation

    A (steep) walk in the Valle Cocora

    March 13, 2023
  • Art,  Bulgaria,  Photographing Public Art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: some of the many monuments of Sofia

    October 15, 2022 / 25 Comments
    Sculpture of a lion outside a building with columns

    Sofia may have moved its many communist era monuments to a dedicated museum, but that doesn’t mean that the city is short of interesting public art pieces. And there is quite a variety, from the purely artistic to the historically significant.

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    Or what about ...?

    Clothes hanging on a white wooden door

    Gallery: the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St Ives

    April 4, 2021
    Man standing in front of frescoes, talking

    An encounter in Zurich: a person with a passion

    March 3, 2021
    Stylised female statue head

    The art on the Tyne

    December 11, 2021
  • Bulgaria,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: more street art from Sofia

    October 8, 2022 / 41 Comments
    Wall painting of a sleeping purple cat

    It’s no secret that I am a big fan of street art. I don’t mean scrawled graffiti, or even more precisely worked ‘tags’. I mean art. Like many cities today, Sofia offers a dedicated street art tour; we saw signs advertising it in several places. But we chose not to take the tour, instead preferring to seek out street art at our own pace.

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    Or what about ...?

    Low blue house with tiled roof

    Koprivshtitsa: a Bulgarian time capsule

    May 22, 2023
    Sepia photo of Buzludzha Monument

    Buzludzha Monument

    September 4, 2020
    Stone statue of man in an overcoat

    A visit to Sofia’s Socialist Art Museum

    October 10, 2022
  • Paris,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: yet more street art in Paris

    September 23, 2022 / 54 Comments
    Portraits created with black, white and yellow dots

    I never tire of wandering the streets of Paris; there is always so much to see and to photograph. From elegant buildings to quirky details and of course plenty of street art.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Mosaic on a wall with face of Van Gogh

    Gallery: off the beaten track in Paris

    June 8, 2021
    Red Metro sign against a backdrop of leaves

    Gallery: a September selection

    October 3, 2022
    Panoramic cityscape

    A sunny Sunday walk in Belleville

    September 28, 2021
  • Monday walks,  Paris,  Street art,  Street photography

    A stroll through the Marais

    September 19, 2022 / 33 Comments
    Large cafe with pavement tables and teddy bears at the windows

    The Marais is one of the loveliest and most fashionable districts of Paris. The name means ‘marshland’ because the original village here was built on a marsh, but there are no signs of that these days! Instead there are elegant buildings, pretty squares and of course the Parisian staples of great little cafés.

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    Track through small green bushes and slender trees

    Gallery: a walk in a tea plantation

    June 14, 2022
    Sign saying Kapana in Cyrillic letters

    Gallery: a walk in colourful Kapana

    December 18, 2021
    Wintery beach scene

    Gallery: blowing the cobwebs away at Druridge Bay

    January 4, 2023
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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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white buildings bulgaria cffc chile cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa views village wildlife

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You may have missed

  • A postcard from Norway: Roald Amundsen
  • A postcard from Norway: crossing the Arctic Circle
  • Gallery: a May selection (2023)
  • Gallery: London from the top of the Shard
  • Gallery: finding peace while travelling

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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