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Gallery: seeing Chicago in black and white
As one of my abiding memories of Chicago will be of the architecture, especially the variety in age and style of its skyscrapers, I can’t help but agree with Frank Gehry. He said of the city that, 'Chicago’s one of the rare places where architecture is more visible'.
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Gallery: seeing more of Paris in black and white
On our recent visit to Paris much of the time we simply walked. With no need to tick off the famous sights we instead strolled some of our favourite streets, explored new ones and checked out some less well-known places.
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Gallery: what is monochrome, exactly?
The terms ‘black and white’ and ‘monochrome’ are often used synonymously in photography. But when you consider the meaning of the latter you quickly realise that they need not be the same thing. A black and white photo can be described as monochrome, but a monochrome image isn’t necessarily black and white. Monochrome simply means ‘one colour’, so any photo dominated by shades of a single colour can be said to be monochrome.
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Gallery: seeing the English coast in black and white
It’s August, so where better place to be than the English seaside? Although truth be told I like our coastal areas much more in the winter months and maybe even more so in spring and autumn.
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Gallery: seeing Newcastle in black and white
When I first started visiting in the early 1980s Newcastle did seem like a city in black and white. Once a great industrial hub it had been hard hit by the closure of the shipyards and coal mines of the region.
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Gallery: seeing the Norwegian landscape in black and white
Much of the Norwegian landscape looked a little unreal to me even in its natural colours. The drama of its mountains, the almost eerie light around midnight, even the snow and rain. All these lent it a magical air.
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Gallery: seeing Lviv in black and white
When I visited Lviv in 2010 I described it on my Virtual Tourist page as a beautiful city ‘waiting in the wings’. By this I meant that it was ripe for tourism but hadn’t yet been discovered by the masses, nor did it yet have the infrastructure to deal with them. What it did have was beautiful churches with elaborate interiors; a lovely main square surrounded by historic townhouses; broad avenues and narrow winding streets; quirky cafés, a striking opera house and monuments of all kinds and styles.
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Gallery: staring up at the steps
There have been many times when travelling that I’ve stared up at some steps. I’m not the best at climbing stairs, but the incentives to do so are often great. A wonderful view, an interesting building, a slice of history … Any of these is likely to entice me to climb.
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Tallinn’s TV tower in black and white
On 20th August 1991 the Estonian government declared the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. In retaliation the following day Soviet troops wanting to seize control of the country’s communication channels stormed the TV Tower on the outskirts of Tallinn. Four employees working there locked themselves in rooms on the 22nd floor and kept the troops at bay by inserting a matchbox between the door of the lift and its frame to stop it working.
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Gallery: seeing Japan in black and white
There’s a restraint, a rejection of what is not necessary, in Japanese art and architecture. What is left out is as important as, if not more important than, what is put in.
