The Louvre Abu Dhabi displays art from very early civilisations up to the present day, in chronological order. And unlike many others, it presents various contemporaneous cultures alongside each other. You follow a thread from early self-contained kingdoms through conquest and expansion into empires.
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Without the distraction of colours, the focus shifts more to the subject’s face and expression. The eyes in particular seem to stand out more, and consequently as a viewer you often feel more connected to the person. And the absence of colour results in an emphasis on shape and form, often making the people seem more significant than their surroundings.
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I am very definitely a 'cat person'. I admire the independent spirit of cats. They can be affectionate but always on their own terms, and unlike dogs, don’t constantly seek attention. Their behaviour can be quixotic, their thoughts hard to fathom, whereas most dogs are open books. And I find cats really beautiful to look at: elegant, with expressive eyes and distinctive colours and patterns on their fur.
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First, a disclaimer: in calling this gallery ‘colours that complement’ I don’t mean 'compliment'. They won't be telling you how great your latest blog post was or how good you look today! No, today we are looking at colour theory.
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There is little I like more than the chance to see the world, or at least a tiny part of it, from a different perspective. And that often means getting high up to look down. Whether from a plane, a hot air balloon, a tall building or a mountain (preferably reached by cable car!), things always look different from above.
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Is resilience something we are born with, or can it be developed? The answer seems to be, a bit of both. We all have an innate level of resilience, but our attitude to life and the knocks we receive along the way can strengthen or decrease it. Perhaps surprisingly, many people who have faced the toughest challenges demonstrate the highest levels of resilience; they have needed to.
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The choice between colour or monochrome for a photo is a very subjective one. Some people simply don’t like black and white photography, seeing it as old-fashioned, unnatural and unnecessary. Why remove the colour from a scene, they ask, when we see the world in colour. Why show things as less vibrant, less varied, less colourful than they really are?
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We all have photos that didn’t make the final cut when selecting the best from a day’s shooting, but which weren’t so disappointing that we discarded them. Maybe they are significant to us because of the subject matter even if we don’t feel they represent our best efforts. Or maybe we keep them planning to try to work on them in the future because we feel they have potential.
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I confess I’m not a fan of winter, it’s my least favourite season. Yes, I love Christmas: enjoying festive celebrations with family and friends, decorating the house, seeing the lights in London. And I can get pleasure from crisp sunny days, perfect for a walk whether in London or on a Northumberland beach. But I don’t like grey skies, and I especially don’t like the shorter days and longer nights.
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The Periodic Table tells us that our world is made up of 118 elements. But the elements of nature are different from chemical elements. They were used to simplify the complexity of nature and matter by ancient people.
