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  • About me
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    • My love of travel
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      • My photography journey
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    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • 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
        • Madagascar
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Colombia
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • Chicago
          • 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
      • Lens-Artists
      • Monochrome Madness
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Happy Place Happy Space
      • Monday walks
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Life in Colour
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • 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 bulgaria cambodia chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife
  • Architecture,  Chicago,  Happy Place Happy Space

    Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago

    October 7, 2023 / 43 Comments
    Long low brick house

    My interest in Frank Lloyd Wright was sparked by Paul Simon's song on 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. Over the intervening decades I’ve seen many images of his buildings, read a bit about them, and visited one, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. But only one.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
    Cluster of skyscrapers both old and new

    Gallery: the skyscrapers of Chicago

    October 16, 2023
  • Culture & tradition,  History,  Lens-Artists,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: kitchens in time and place

    July 4, 2023 / 56 Comments
    Bright yellow gourds on a wooden bench

    A kitchen can tell you a lot about a home. Whether it’s a basic one in a simple home or a much more elaborate one in a grand mansion, the kitchen will reflect not only the physical nature of the house but also the lives of the people who live or lived there.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Large illuminated reindeer model

    Celebrating Christmas in London and (a little way) beyond

    December 6, 2021
    Looking over an Italian hill town

    The Palio della Balestra in Gubbio: a centuries-old tradition

    November 26, 2020
    Lady in bright carnival costume

    Carnival parade in Praia, Cape Verde

    January 18, 2021
  • Architecture,  Monday walks,  Norway

    A summer evening stroll in Trondheim

    June 12, 2023 / 61 Comments
    Colourful buildings reflected in a river

    In Viking times this was the capital of Norway. Today it is a busy modern city with an impressive cathedral. It lies where the Nidelva river meets Trondheim Fjord, creating an excellent sheltered harbour. Although south of the Arctic Circle and therefore experiencing neither Polar Night nor Midnight Sun, in the summer months it remains light enough all night for artificial lighting only to be needed in poor weather.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
    Imposing stone cathedral facade with towers

    The northernmost Gothic cathedral in the world

    June 14, 2023
    Modern white building with moat

    Gallery: cool architecture, cool colours

    May 24, 2021
  • Architecture,  Bulgaria,  History,  Monday walks

    Koprivshtitsa: a Bulgarian time capsule

    May 22, 2023 / 30 Comments
    Low blue house with tiled roof

    Koprivshtitsa is no ordinary town but rather a time capsule. Several of its houses are associated with significant players in the 1876 April Uprising against Ottoman rule. The uprising failed, but a fire had been ignited. The brutalities committed by the Turks while suppressing it led to widespread condemnation across Europe which was the trigger for the Russo-Turkish War. This ended in Turkish defeat. Thus the April Uprising can be regarded as having eventually achieved its original aim, the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Panoramic cityscape

    The best views of Paris?

    September 12, 2022
    Jumble of flat roofed buildings with distant castle and glimpse of sea

    Gallery: looking back at buildings

    January 15, 2023
    River view with modern city buildings

    Gallery: city living in London

    February 15, 2021
  • 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 ...?

    Straw hat with pink hibiscus flower

    One of Colombia’s most famous crops

    March 28, 2023
    Dense jungle with birds circling above

    A walk in Tayrona National Park

    April 18, 2023
    Street of brightly painted houses

    Gallery: an explosion of colour in Colombia

    April 7, 2023
  • Culture & tradition,  England,  History

    Stepping back in time: living history at Beamish

    September 23, 2021 / 29 Comments
    Old bus and motor garage

    How does it feel to step back in time and immerse ourselves in the world our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents knew? There are places where we can do just that, living museums that collate and preserve not just objects but the buildings that housed them and the environments in which those buildings sat. One such place is Beamish, in north east England.

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    Stone and wood built temple surround a square with children and pigeons

    In Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

    November 19, 2022

    A postcard from Nepal: Sadhus

    October 27, 2022
    Two images of narrow city streets

    A walk in Seville’s picturesque Triana district

    December 2, 2021
  • Architecture,  Bulgaria,  Friendly Friday,  History

    Stepping back in time in Bulgaria

    June 5, 2021 / 37 Comments
    Rustic blue house

    Koprivshtitsa is not a regular sort of town; all the buildings of the town centre constitute a museum. Together they form a sort of time-capsule, encapsulating the atmosphere of the Bulgarian National Revival period of the 19th century. Wandering its streets you can feel yourself transported back in time; and exploring its historic houses opens your eyes to a difficult period in the country's past.

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    Or what about ...?

    Colourful houses built over water

    Chiloé: a place of witches and gnomes

    August 4, 2022
    Row of elegant buildings in cream, blue and white

    Gallery: the Art Nouveau gems of Riga

    August 20, 2021
    Looking up at a white stone church with several domes

    Le Sacré Coeur de Paris

    April 10, 2022
  • Culture & tradition,  Deserts,  Just One Person,  Oman

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021 / 28 Comments
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Salma is an Omani Bedouin. She lives part of the time in a tent on the fringes of the vast Wahiba Sands; and part of the time in a modern house in the nearby town of Bidiyyah. She wore the traditional Bedouin face mask, designed to protect from sandstorms and the elements in general, as she and her daughter in law served our lunch of traditional bread, rice, dhal, chicken, fish and salad.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Huge blue statue of seated figure

    Lord Shiva statue in the hills above Pokhara

    January 7, 2023
    Two images of narrow city streets

    A walk in Seville’s picturesque Triana district

    December 2, 2021
    Street with low houses and woman carrying a basket

    Weird and wonderful: forbidden culture in Cuenca

    October 24, 2021
  • History,  Kenya,  People

    Out of Africa: visiting Karen Blixen’s home

    March 16, 2021 / 18 Comments
    Faded photo of low stone house set in a garden

    'I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.' With this sentence Karen Blixen opens her account of life on a coffee plantation just outside Nairobi. It was the 1920s, and this was British East Africa, not Kenya - part of the (by then fading) British Empire. The book presents a vivid, if at times uncomfortable, picture of African colonial life and the relationships between colonists and native inhabitants.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Large cobbled square surrounded by low white buildings

    A postcard from Colombia: Villa de Leyva

    February 8, 2023
    Path through green woodland

    Ruislip Woods: ancient woodland in suburbia

    November 15, 2021
    'Welcome to Syria' banner

    Once upon a time in Syria: part one

    September 19, 2020
  • Architecture,  History,  Travel galleries,  USA

    Gallery: the Painted Ladies of Cape May

    October 10, 2020 / 24 Comments
    Yellow Victorian house

    Until I visited, all my images of New Jersey came from song lyrics - Paul Simon's traffic-clogged turnpike and Bruce Springsteen's urban working class childhood.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Small clapboard house

    A stroll in Chicago’s Old Town

    October 23, 2023
    Man having his shoes shined

    Exploring the sights of downtown Medellín

    April 4, 2023
    Black and white photo of white building

    Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture

    March 28, 2021
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By Marsha of 'Always Write'

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 bulgaria cambodia chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife

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You may have missed

  • Gallery: pick a word (November 2023)
  • Gallery: an October & November selection (2023)
  • A last walk in V.O.I.M.M.A. reserve
  • Gallery: empty spaces
  • A day out in Tana

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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