Last week I paid a brief visit to Liverpool. I stayed only one night and saw only a fraction of what the city has to offer. The weather was dull and grey, best suited to monochrome photography.
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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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A strong contender for the most beautiful city pub in England, the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, commonly referred to as The Phil, has an ornate exterior and an even more stunning interior. There is a large main room, two smaller rooms named for Brahms and Liszt, and highly decorative wood-panelling, stained glass and floor tiles throughout.
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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 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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It’s hard to say why a symmetrical image is so pleasing to the eye. It seems that our brains are naturally drawn to symmetry, finding it aesthetically pleasing and visually satisfying. Symmetry induces a sense of order, harmony, and perfection.
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According to Cicero, the greatest of Greek cities wasn’t in Greece itself but in Sicily. He described Ortigia, the original heart of modern-day Syracuse, as ‘the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all’. Situated on a small island, the city was founded by the Greek settlers from Corinth in 743 B.C.
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Red is a primary colour and a rather schizophrenic one. It represents passion, warmth, and sexuality, but it also stands for danger, violence, and aggression. Red can’t be ignored, it demands to be noticed. From red hair to the red carpet this is a colour sure to turn heads.
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While I try to avoid too many picture postcard souvenir shots when I travel, it’s inevitable that I will take some. I feel the need to record what I see initially, before diving deeper into the sights, looking for details or angles that are less obvious.
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The Romans built the city of Netum on the slopes of Mount Alveria in south-east Sicily. Legend tells that Daedalus stayed in this city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. Over the following centuries it flourished, until in 1693 disaster struck, in the form of an earthquake. Most of the buildings were razed to the ground and over half the population perished.
