The problem with the alphabet is that it bears no relation to anything at all, and when words are arranged alphabetically they are uselessly separated. In the OED, for example, aardvarks are 19 volumes away from the zoo, yachts are 18 volumes from the beach, and wine is 17 volumes from the nearest corkscrew.
Mark Forsyth, The Horologicon: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
The above quote has very little to do with the subject of this post, I admit. But when I came across it, it made me smile, so I felt I had to share it!
Even close to home a market will be a great source of photography inspiration. There is always something happening in a market and the scenes will be different every time you visit.
Today I am focusing on just one letter, P. Why P, you ask? I had no Particular Purpose in choosing it for this week’s Monochrome Madness challenge to be honest. I Possibly Perceived it as a fairly challenging letter to express through a Photographic Process. It’s not as common as A or E for instance, or as S or T. Wikipedia ranks it as appearing in 2.8% of words (E, the most common, appears in 11%; Q, the least common, in 0.19%). Perhaps Participants will disagree with me, but hopefully you’ll all be able to find some images of subjects beginning with P to Present in monochrome.
Joining Monochrome Madness
Pingbacks don’t usually work on my site so if you’d like to join in please leave a comment below with a link to your post so I can check it out. And to find out more about Monochrome Madness have a look at the information on Leanne’s blog.
My feature photo was taken in New York’s Meatpacking district and like all the images below was edited with Nik Silver Efex Pro
P is for …
POPPY
At Stokesay Castle in Shropshire, England
PAPYRUS
In the Okavango Delta, Botswana
PARAKEET
In Boston Manor Park, Ealing, west London
PEACOCK
At Cape Weligama Resort, Sri Lanka
PENGUIN
Gentoo penguin, Antarctica
PELICANS
In St. James’s Park, London
PEOPLE
On the Cobb in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England
POLICEMAN
On Broadway, New York City
PIRATE
Fishing boat at Point Pedro near Jaffna, Sri Lanka
POTTER
In a jar factory in Vigan, Luzon Island, Philippines
POST BOX
In Jaffna, Sri Lanka
PEBBLES
In Whitstable, Kent
PIG
On a farm in Sussex, England
PARIS
The Square du Vert-Galant, Ile de la Cité
PANORAMA
Paris (again!) from the Generali Balloon in the Parc André Citroën
72 Comments
Marsha
Pretty Pictures, posed, potentially pretentious (proud peacock), public, private, preposterous (pigs) – my personal favorite. This is a very fun post, Sarah. Have a great week.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you for this equally fun response Marsha 😄 The pigs have gone down well!
Marsha
Funny, and we see that they are exiting the stage. Great post.
equinoxio21
Excellent choices. I like the proximity of the NYPD gentleman with the Pirate.
Also liked the “saule pleureur” in Paris. (I can almost visualise the bookbox where you took your picture from.)
Great stuff, Sarah.
(When i see your selections, I wonder how I dare post my own pix. LOL)
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much 😊 Pleasedo continue to post yours too!
equinoxio21
🙏🏻
leightontravels
Lovely, lovely shotS Sarah and such a fun “p”roject to “p”articipate in. The police officer is one of my favourites, I can literally see how much he’s thinking about that next donut, and indeed the donuts he has already homed. Love the Sri Lankan letter box too, what an impressive piece of history.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Leighton 😊 I suspect you’re right about that police officer!
DailyMusings
Penguin! Didn’t think of that! All great choices
https://dailymusing57.com/2026/04/24/monochrome-madness-the-letter-p/
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – and thanks for joining in 😀
grandmisadventures
great collection of P things- but the piggy bottoms are probably my favorite, a good giggle for the morning 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg 🙂 Those piggy bottoms seem to be popular!
Pepper
I just realized that I forgot to link my photo to your post. So sorry. Here is my contribution – https://heavenssunshine.com/an-unsuspecting-photographer/
The Mindful Migraine Blog
all great – but I do like the piggy butts!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – they do seem to be the favourites this week 😀
The Mindful Migraine Blog
💕🐷
Dawn M. Miller
Great “P” images, especially those pelicans!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Dawn 🙂 I always love seeing the pelicans in St James’s Park!
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Image Earth Travel
Great opening quote and I love the piggy photo – it’s excellent! My other favourite is the pirate photo, being an ex-pirate of course… 😉
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, thanks Nilla 😀 So glad that an ex-pirate approves of that choice!
Image Earth Travel
😀
bushboy
A wonderful gallery of P’s Sarah. Isn’t it funny that after you do a post there’s others posts with great ideas you wish you thought of.
I like the Penguin and Paris of course with the enamel pigs rounding out my favourites.
Here’s my MM#58
https://bushboy.blog/2026/04/23/a-selection-of-ps-in-monochrome/
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian 😊 Oh yes, that’s so true, ‘after you do a post there’s others posts with great ideas you wish you thought of’! I’ve seen several great Ps in other posts that I wish I’d included in mine. Off to check yours out now …
Paul
What a great gallery Sarah. Hard to pick a favorite but I’m going to go with the Potter and the minion of the law. The latter has that “I’m trying to maintain my patience expression” – classic.
Here is the link to my contribution: https://lifeinmyyears.com/2026/04/22/monochrome-madness-it-begins-with-p/
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Paul ☺️ Glad you like those two shots – as I mentioned to PR below, that policeman was trying to control the Manhattan traffic which might explain his expression! Good to have you join us, I’m off to check your contribution out forthwith …
PR
Nice ones Sarah! The policeman looks annoyed, probably by someone’s idiocy 😂. I like the silhouette of the people too! And in the immortal words of Rick Blaine – “We’ll always Paris!”
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂 That policeman was trying to control the Manhattan traffic – a thankless task no doubt!
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Fab Four
Hi Sarah
We really like your first picture of the three (Porcelain) Pigs?
We think that the quote fits to your gallery.
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 😀 I think those pigs are enamelled metal – porcelain wouldn’t survive long on a Manhattan pavement! But I agree porcelain would fit the theme better.
Anonymous
https://geriatrixfotogallerie.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/gallery-with-p/
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margaret21
Here I am! Up with the lark! Or should I say pee-wit? https://margaret21.com/2026/04/22/posing-as-passerines/
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you could make it 😆 Off to see what you came up with now …
margaret21
👍
Monkey's Tale
Picture perfect Ps. Of course I love the penguin getting ready to leap, and the pottery hand is very intimate, but most of all it’s the pig-nose! Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Maggie ☺️ That pig nose is a very old photo but seemed a ‘must’ for this post!
Anonymous
Great pictures. I had some P-roblems to find pictures with P, since I just had to translate the German words to English. But I found some pictures and I hope, you will enjoy mine a little.
https://juckplotz.de/2026/04/22/monochrome-madness-58-the-letter-p/
Thank you for hosting.
Sarah Wilkie
And thank you for joining in, especially with the language differences to deal with 🙂 Although German P words would have been fine too!
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Leanne Cole
Wow Sarah you found so many P’s, I love them, I just found a road block in my head when tried to think of ones. I wish I had seen your amazing post first. Thank you for being our host.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Leanne 😊 I enjoy setting these alphabet challenges as you never know quite what people will come up with!
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the eternal traveller
That is a fun quote and this is a fun post. And it includes several places we’ve been to, and that always makes me smile with a happy memory or two.
Sarah Wilkie
Many thanks Carol 🙂 I’m glad to have given you some happy memories!
Suzanne
I love the piggy images 🙂 The cover photo made me smile.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Suzanne 🙂 That cover photo is an old one but I do rather like it still!
restlessjo
Papyrus and penguin, for me, Sarah. And Johnny Depp! xx
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jo 😊 I thought Johnny was a fun spot in Sri Lanka! And I do love penguins 🐧
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Proving it’s perfectly possibly to produce a post with only P! Perfection prevails.
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, clever comment Anabel, much appreciated 😀
wetanddustyroads
This is such a fun post, Sarah! I can’t believe how many p-photos you have (and I’m sure you don’t walk around all day with your camera taking as many pictures as possible of every letter of the alphabet … or do you?) 😉. The pigs are definitely my favourite – your featured photo – but I also like the papyrus in Botswana.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much 😊 No, it’s probably simply the case that I take so many photos that there are bound to be plenty for most letters of the alphabet! I’d struggle with X, Y and Z I suspect, but I had lots of Ps. As I said to Sandy below, many more were left on the cutting room floor, like peppers, pansies, petals, pies …
Marie
Alphabet challenges are great – you’ll never know what you’ll end up with! I love the opening quote!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Marie 😀 I loved that quote too! And I agree about alphabet challenges – they’re very like colour ones in that respect.
Egídio
This was a great post to read and see. The photos are beautiful, and your text was lots of fun.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Egidio, I’m glad you enjoyed the text as well as the photos 🙂
sandyjwhite
I have just a few; https://outofmywritemind.com/2026/04/21/peony-petunias-pansies/
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you for joining in 🙂
sandyjwhite
My pleasure!
sandyjwhite
Wow…you found lots of great P’s.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you (many more were left on the cutting room floor, like peppers, pansies, petals, pies …)
eklastic
So many p-ictures, Sarah! I think my favourite is the people photo. And the pelicans. But I got a peacock, too. Two, actually. https://picturesimperfectblog.com/2026/04/21/p-is-for-pea-and-other-phings/
Sarah Wilkie
Many thanks for joining in 🙂 I’m glad you liked the pelicans, it’s a favourite shot of mine. Off to see your peacocks now …
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Anne Sandler
Yours was the first post I opened this morning–even before coffee–and what a joy. Those pigs were a laugh and so were your opening words. Now to make some coffee. Thanks for my rainy morning chuckle.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Anne 😊 I’m honoured to have been prioritised over coffee!
Teresa
Love your choices Sarah but the featured photo is adorable. Love it. Here is my entry: https://wanderingteresa.com/p-is-for/
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Teresa, also for your mouth-watering contribution!
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