Category: Photography

Travel Theme: Architecture

Posted on Posted in Ghana, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , 14 Comments

Ailsa has chosen architecture as her theme this week so I’m showing you the mosque at Larabanga, Northern Ghana. It’s said to be 500 years old and the oldest mosque in Africa. I’ve always wanted to see the mosque at Djenne in Mali, supposedly the biggest mud and stick mosque but that will probably never happen, so even on a rainy day I was thrilled to see this one. Of course non-Muslims were not permitted to go inside.

There is a legend about an Islamic trader who discovered the nearby mystic stone

Hoping for a mystical experience - like the rain stopping!
Hoping for a mystical experience – like the rain stopping!

and decided to sleep wherever his spear landed. He dreamt of building a mosque on that very spot and in the morning woke to find the foundations had mysteriously been laid during the night. He saw this as a sign, completed the building and now lies buried under the baobab tree beside the mosque.

What do you think? was the trader the architect?

Join in at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/09/travel-theme-architecture/

The Meon Valley Trail

Posted on Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

The Meon Valley trail wends its way through around thirty miles of Hampshire countryside on a disused railway branch line that ran from Alton to Knowle until Mr Beeching closed it down in the 1960’s. It’s now a lovely walk used as a footpath, cycle and bridle path. On Sunday my daughter and I walked for an hour giving baby Scarlett some fresh air.

There is an abundance of flora and fauna, we saw

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a privet hawk moth which grows to 85mm and had a vicious looking horn on its rear end.

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a Harlequin ladybird, an invasive variety that is a predator to our native ones

IMG_3568and a common frog.

The walk was lovely, come along with me.

Enjoy a ride

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Pick some nuts

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and plan your next walk

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I hope you enjoyed it!

Sidmouth Folk Festival, a bit of a dance!

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , 24 Comments

For one week every year at the beginning of August the town of Sidmouth burst into life and at the seams with visitors to the folk festival. There is music, dance, theatre and story telling in venues big and small all over the town. Market traders line the seafront and everywhere is a riot of colour. Here are a few of the photos I took last night.

Another good reason for you to come to Devon!

Sonels’ Black and White Challenge: Texture

Posted on Posted in PhotographyTagged , , 14 Comments

Sonel tells us that texture is,

1. The characteristic physical structure given to a material, an object, etc., by the size, shape, and arrangement of its parts: soil of a sandy texture.
2. (Clothing, Personal Arts & Crafts / Textiles) : The characteristic structure of the threads, fibers, etc., that make up a textile fabric: coarse texture.
3. Essential or characteristic quality; essence : the texture of a cake.
4. The distinctive character or quality of something : the texture of life in the world.
5. The nature of a surface other than smooth woollen cloth has plenty of texture.
6. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Terms) Art : the representation of the nature of a surface the painter caught the grainy texture of the sand.
7. (Music, other) : the quality given, as to a musical work, by the combination or interrelation of parts or elements.

The photo I’ve chosen amused me because it looks a bit like a coiffured dog, can you see what I mean? Or do you think I’ve completely lost the plot?

Texture

Join in with Sonel’s challenge here, http://sonelcorner.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/black-and-white-photo-challenge-texture/

Travel Theme: Wild

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 15 Comments

Ailsa has chosen ‘Wild’ as her travel theme this week and I’ve chosen Scorhill as my wild destination. The drive up the hill is only around three miles from a little town but it’s steep, narrow and the Devon banks are high some of the way. If you’re lucky and get one of the half dozen parking places then you can walk a little higher before dropping into the valley. At the bottom lies the stone circle in my photo – I’ve never managed to find a way of capturing it so that it looks like a circle I’m afraid. The cirlce is believed to be Bronze age, making it up to four thousand years old but artitacts from eight thousand years ago have been found there.

Scorhill

I hope Scorhill is wild enough for you, but there will be wilder here !http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/02/travel-theme-wild/

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow

Posted on Posted in Flowers, Gardens, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge: PossibilityTagged , , , , , 29 Comments

This weeks challenge is well timed for me. I’ve been trying to record an Agapanthus from bud to bloom for the last couple of weeks. Some of the photos are taken quite late in the evening, some earlier and todays just now at 5.30. There have been days with gloomy weather, some with sun and some rainy so the image quality varies quite a bit. Also getting in the right position has been amusing  today, I had to go from the opposite direction to see the most open parts of the flower and got tangled in the shrubbery!

So the foreshadow,

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Some places along the way.

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and today the finale.

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How will you interpret this weeks challenge? http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/foreshadow/