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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
    • 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
        • 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
        • 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
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Wildlife and nature
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Flowers
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Challenges
    • General challenges
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Photography challenges
      • Lens-Artists
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Thursday Trios
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Ten photos
      • 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 bird_weekly black_&_white buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday gambia history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Architecture,  Themed galleries,  Thursday Trios

    Gallery: building in threes

    May 13, 2022 / 21 Comments
    Three large highly decorated buildings around a central square

    According to Sherlock Holmes, 'There must be something comforting about three. People always give up after three.' Hopefully this isn’t true of architects and builders; we would all be very short of homes, schools, offices, etc. etc. if they were to give up after three!

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
    Banner with photo of a tightrope walker

    Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer

    August 27, 2021
    Yellow Victorian house

    Gallery: the Painted Ladies of Cape May

    October 10, 2020
  • History,  Monday walks,  Portugal

    Faro’s old town: sights and impressions

    May 9, 2022 / 30 Comments
    White dome above a tiled roof

    Some of my best memories of my previous visit to Faro were of exploring the streets of the Old Town especially around the beautiful Cathedral. I was keen therefore to revisit favourite spots and discover new ones.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    'Welcome to Syria' banner

    Once upon a time in Syria: part one

    September 19, 2020
    Bronze statue of a seated man holding a hat

    Looking for Thomas Hardy in Dorset

    November 17, 2021
    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
  • Architecture,  Bulgaria,  History

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022 / 27 Comments
    Stone church and blue sky

    Bachkovo Monastery was for sure one of the most stunning of the many sights I saw in my short time in Bulgaria! Despite all the visitors, the atmosphere was one of tranquillity. The buildings looked so photogenic both in the drizzly weather we arrived in and the sunshine when we departed; and there was so much to see that was both interesting and beautiful.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
    Modern buildings and cathedral dome in dull weather

    Gallery: favourite city life photos of 2021

    January 2, 2022
    Large building with green oriental roof

    A look inside the Grand People’s Study House

    November 18, 2021
  • Architecture,  History,  Seville

    Catedral de Santa María de la Sede: Seville’s cathedral

    January 15, 2022 / 25 Comments
    Part of a cathedral with blue skies

    Seville’s cathedral was built on the footprint of the city’s grand mosque, originally constructed in the 12th century. When the cathedral was finished in the early 16th century it was the largest in the world. Although that may no longer be the case, it is still an awe-inspiring space.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Black and white photo of white building

    Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture

    March 28, 2021
    Three large highly decorated buildings around a central square

    Gallery: building in threes

    May 13, 2022
    Lake with palace on the hill beyond

    The Palace of Bundi: Kipling’s ‘work of goblins’

    November 18, 2020
  • Architecture,  History,  Seville

    A visit to the Real Alcázar of Seville

    December 29, 2021 / 40 Comments
    Ceramic tiles with blue border and brown lion and castle

    Once upon a time, when Seville was the capital of Al-Andalus, the ruling Almohade caliphate built a palace in the city which they named ‘Al Mubarak’ or 'The Blessed'. It was the hub of both the city's government and its artistic and literary life. Little of that palace remains today, apart from some foundations. On these, in the thirteenth century, the conquering Castilians built their own palace to serve as both seat of government and royal residence, a function the Alcazar performs to this day.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Red crumbling ruins

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

    August 12, 2021
    View of New York City

    On the Top of the Rock – twice!

    November 13, 2020
    Red sandstone palace buildings and pool

    ‘He keepeth a great court’: Fatehpur Sikri

    March 26, 2021
  • Architecture,  Art,  Photographing Public Art,  Seville,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: Seville’s mushrooms, art or architecture?

    December 4, 2021 / 26 Comments
    Large wooden curved structure

    In the Plaza de la Encarnación of Seville a strange structure reaches skywards. This is the Metropol Parasol, often referred to by locals as the Mushrooms, Las Setas de la Encarnación. The dramatic forms arch overhead, framing views of the surrounding streets and buildings.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Ornate painted ceiling

    Gallery: ceilings and floors (and pavements and more)

    September 7, 2021
    Looking up at a spiral staircase

    Gallery: monochrome curves

    March 20, 2022
    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
  • Architecture,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 2021 / 48 Comments
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, has been developed as a showpiece for the country, demonstrating to both outsiders and the North Korean people the strength and power of the regime, and making a strong statement about the country’s ambitions to be self-reliant in the face of often hostile challenges from elsewhere – those challenges being of course both political and at times physical.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Sepia photo of Buzludzha Monument

    Buzludzha Monument

    September 4, 2020
    Colourful paper lanterns at night

    Gallery: let there be light

    September 21, 2021
    Looking down a spiral staircase

    Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase

    October 10, 2021
  • Architecture,  CFFC,  Lens-Artists,  London,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase

    October 10, 2021 / 32 Comments
    Looking down a spiral staircase

    Sometimes (often?) photography is more about serendipity than anything else. A purposeful photo outing is enjoyable of course, and often reaps great rewards; but arguably we derive the most pleasure from finding an unexpected subject for our lens just by chance? I visited a London gallery that I hadn’t been to before. The exhibition was not especially inspiring, but I fell in love with the gallery's spiral staircase. Or perhaps more accurately, I fell in love with the photographic possibilities it presented.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Large building with green oriental roof

    A look inside the Grand People’s Study House

    November 18, 2021
    Half-timbered building seen above a hedge

    A misty morning visit to Stokesay Castle

    July 14, 2021
    Lake with palace on the hill beyond

    The Palace of Bundi: Kipling’s ‘work of goblins’

    November 18, 2020
  • Architecture,  Lens-Artists,  Photographic techniques,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: ceilings and floors (and pavements and more)

    September 7, 2021 / 43 Comments
    Ornate painted ceiling

    I wonder which way you usually point your camera? I’m guessing that most of the time, like me, you point it forwards. Maybe you tilt up for a tall building or tree, or downwards to capture a plant or small animal. But what if we were to point it directly upwards or downwards? What would we see?

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Red sandstone palace buildings and pool

    ‘He keepeth a great court’: Fatehpur Sikri

    March 26, 2021
    Black and white photo of white building

    Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture

    March 28, 2021
    Statue of two soldiers shaking hands

    Gallery: favourite miscellaneous photos of 2021

    January 7, 2022
  • Architecture,  Latvia,  Photographing Public Art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the Art Nouveau gems of Riga

    August 20, 2021 / 39 Comments
    Row of elegant buildings in cream, blue and white

    Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil as it is also known, was an art and architecture movement of the late 19th to early 20th centuries, at its height 1890–1910. As an artistic philosophy it proposed that art should be a way of life, and that everyday items could be beautiful too. It was inspired by nature – flowers, animals, natural forms. In the old buildings of Riga it is at times at its most flamboyant and exuberant.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Detail of ornate tiled frieze

    Finding geometry in the buildings of Marrakesh

    July 27, 2021
    Orthodox cathedral at the end of a wide street

    Gallery: Sofia’s St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

    March 7, 2021
    Looking up at a white stone church with several domes

    Le Sacré Coeur de Paris

    April 10, 2022
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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 bird_weekly black_&_white buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday gambia history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

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  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020

You may have missed

  • Gallery: in the Cardamom Hills of Kerala
  • Gallery: the Very Large Array
  • Gallery: some street art in London’s Brick Lane
  • Gallery: building in threes
  • Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

How to join the Friendly Friday Challenge

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2022 ©
 

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