IN THE PINK

Its been a while since I was here, but I found these Pink shots for this weeks Thematic Photography.

Three horticultural ones - all from my garden.

 

And a sunrise with early morning flight trails.

Go to Carmi to see what others have posted pinkwise!

ARCHITECTURE

Architecture, or human created structures is this weeks theme for Thematic Photography.    Architecture is really all round us, and even the blandest shop fronts, for example, can carry amazing architecture above, where old houses have been converted at ground level, but the remaining floors are as originally intended.    Even if it is only the exterior which has remained!   Sometimes, where big, Victorian rooms have been divided, it has been done without regard to the original decorations.   My dentist, for example, practices in a lovely old Victorian house, but the rooms have been divided into very much smaller rooms, and the lovely plaster work round the tops of the original walls suddenly ends at where an interior wall has been put in.   Looks a bit odd when you are lying back looking at the ceiling while he prods your teeth!


Anyway, here are my shots of architecture, or man-made creations!

Portuguese pavements are usually beautifully decorated with tiles, which makes walking along quite an experience!

I love the patterns made my the repetition of windows and balconies.   These are in Barcelona

Even drinking fountains are beautifully built and decorated.   This is in Nerja, Spain.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is quite spectacular.   The shapes of the roofs and walls change as you walk round the outside, so that first of all it looks compact and solid, and then from another angle looks as though it would fly away!

The Watts Chapel in Surrey was like nothing I had ever seen!

So I will just quote from the official info!

"Landscape, art and remembrance are beautifully blended together in this Grade I listed building. Visitors are drawn to the bright red brick of this Arts & Crafts masterpiece. Up close, the extraordinary design and decoration both fascinate and overwhelm all who venture up the winding yew tree paths.
Mary Watts was the artistic force behind the creation of Watts Chapel, and she dedicated it to 'the loving memory of all who find rest near its walls, and for the comfort and help of those to whom the sorrow of separation remains.' G F and Mary Watts both rest in Watts Cemetery, as do many other people who have played a role in the Artists' Village over the years.
In 1895 Mary began to run evening Terracotta Classes at Limnerslease, the Wattses' nearby residence and studio. At these classes Mary would teach local villagers how to model tiles from local terracotta clay with the beautiful and symbolic patterns that she had designed to decorate the walls of the Chapel."

Do go over to Carmi at written inc. to see what others have posted, and of course, post your own!

GARDENS GALORE

With Spring springing fast and furiously, well here, anyway,  Carmi asked us to take our cameras into the garden.

It being very windy here at the moment, and quite a lot of the early spring flowers having finished, I took this shot of the early morning sun shining through the tulips I have in a pot.    The wind seems to be shredding anything else!

To see what others have posted, go to Carmi at writteninc.  and maybe post your own!

REFLECTIONS

Sometimes, just seeing things 'back to front' as it were in a reflection enable us to see things quite differently, or spot things we hadn't noticed before.

So over at Thematic Photography this week its all things Reflective.   Most of my offerings are watery: probably because water offers the most variations, from flat calm to a fair amount of movement, which can give us lovely shots.

Reflection of a clump of harts tongue ferns in our small pond

An abstract picture of reed stems reflected in a lake.

Off Cobh waterfront in Ireland

Another waterfront, this time in Tromso, Norway.

A very still day in winter at the end of the lake in our Park

A backwards glance at a following car in a narrow lane in Derbyshire.

Do go to the link above and see what other reflections have been captured, and maybe post yours as well!

ORANGE

Its all things ORANGE over at Thematic Photography this week.   Carmi has started us off with some multicoloured carrots, but there are other things orange around!

Go to the link above to see how orange is shaping the world of others!

A nice bright orange tulip cheers me up in the early Spring!

Terracotta pots at the Garden Centre.    They look awfully bright when I first put them in the garden, but luckily they soon get dirty!

Sometimes we do have decent sunrises!   This is looking from the back of our house.

And you can't get more vibrant than a good orange nasturtium!

As for Carmi's carrots, does anyone know if they stay purple or white when they are cooked??   Not sure if I fancy a purple carrot!

PICTURE OF A PICTURE

I'm still stuck with a camera phone, and I don't find it very easy to hold still!   However, in my office I have a whole battery of family photographs, so decided they would be great subjects!   Had a lot of trouble with reflections, but they still show portraits of people long ago!

My Grandfather and Grandmother, possibly on their wedding day, but certainly somewhere in the 1890's.   Don't you love those big sleeves?

My Grandparents had six children, these are the four girls, the date at the bottom of the photographs is 1925, I think my Aunt Vi, at the back woiuld be early twenties, the others probably still teenagers, only that word hadn't been invented then!

And this last is one of the embroideries my daughter did for her Art Degree Finals at Manchester.   She loved the countryside around the Chilterns where we lived then, and was inspired by the fields at the back of our village.

Go to this link to see what other pictures of pictures have been posted.

ELECTRICAL & INFRASTRUCTURE

Still trying to catch up with Thematic Photography, having missed out on Tyres etc!   However, I squeezed myself into the cupboard under the stairs and took a not-very-good shot of the fuse box, and then thought of the terrible tangle of wires behind my computer!

So that's what I've posted!

Not the most gripping of shots, but go over to Thematic Photogry  (typing's awful, link is fine!)  and see what others have posted on this tricky theme!

RETAIL

Having been camera-less for a few weeks, and still am, for that matter, I have had to delve into my archives for this weeks thematic Camera theme - RETAIL.

I do have a smart phone, but although I am fairly happy using the camera, I have not found any way of getting the shots off the camera, and onto the computer, except by sending them in an email to myself.   Which then means downloading them etc. etc.

However, archives have come up with some retail therapy!

 At our monthly Sunday market, known as the Treacle Market, you can get some really nice plants at this stall.  And help a good cause!

A lovely selection of bags and baskets outside a shop in Menorca.

This is one of the pedestrianised streets in our town, must have been a very quiet day, or very early!   But I can't for the life of me think what those weird things are hanging outside the shop!

The fish market in Funchal, Madeira.   It was towards the end of the market morning, it would have been packed earlier with both fish and customers.   Those long black fish, centre bottom, had nasty sharp teeth and looked very fierce.   They were called Scorpion fish!

And lastly, not one of my photos, but one taken by my father in about 1933  when the "Stop me and buy one" Ice cream man came around.   Very nice ice creams, but not sure if Health and Safety would allow it now!

Go to to see who else has posted Retail photographs over at Thematic Photographs and post yours too!

YELLOW

We need something to cheer us up these grey days in the back end of winter!   So for his Thematic Photography this week Carmi has chosen a YELLOW Theme.

Everything yellow round my neck of the woods is connected with Spring!   So here are three nice cheerful yellow shots!

You can't beat a good old English daffodil for good bright yellow!

These are some unidentifiable, but lovely, flowers in Madeira Market

And these are some really beautiful yellow tulips I had in a pot last year.

Go to the link at the top to see more cheerful yellow pictures!

FAVOURITES

Well, here I am back to Thematic Photography again!    And this time Carmi has asked us to send in our favourites.   Well, that was quite a hard task, my photography goes back quite a long way!   But I've managed to whittle it down to five or six, so here goes!

This was my very first glimpse of the Arctic as we sailed past Longyearbyen very early in the morning.   I have better shots of the mountains, but this was the very first time I had actually been to the arctic, way past the arctic circle!

This is one of the four statues of dogs at the main square in Gran Canaria.   The Canary Islands are named after the dogs which were found there, Canis being Latin for dog.   Nothing to do with the birds!   You can guess I love dogs!

 

I like trying close-up photography, I'm not always very successful, but I do like this lemon!

This are the drops of condensation underneath the saucepan lid of some soup I was simmering.

And these are the coloured pens of my 

Great granddaughter as she puts them back in the box after using each one

We are in the famous market in Barcelona, which almost overwhelmed me with the colours, smells, the fruits and vegetables, and the evil-looking fish!!   These are a gorgeous array of spices.

For other favourite photos, go to Carmi's blog - I can guarantee these will be great, and very varied - shots to look at

MESSY

This weeks theme for Thematic Photography, is MESSY!    Well, what messier than my so-called office, so here are two un-photoshopped pics of a very messy office!

Go to This link to see if anyone else has owned up to being messy - or has found evidence of others' messiness!

LETTERS

I'm late again with my Thematic Photograph which is for LETTERS.!   Where does the time go to?

Typography has always fascinated me, and I especially love decorated initial letters that you find in old manuscripts.    I love to imagine the old scribes enjoying themselves making tiny little inserts of animals, usually doing something extraordinary!

This is from Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 229, detail of f. 133v. Arthurian Romances [1) Le livre de Lancelot du Lac, part III.  Don't you just hate it when someone chews your ear when you are reading!

This one and the following are from a very old family Bible from my husband's family.   Every single capital letter at the beginning of each chapter is decorated.    There are illustrations on nearly every page, and it is a fascinating picture of how the Victorians viewed Biblical events.

In case you are wondering, this is a capital 'W'.   The pages are old and discoloured, and these shots are really the best I could do!

LANDSCAPE

The Thematic Photograph sub ject for this week (and I am more than a bit late, is LANDSCAPE.

So here is a canalscape, its an old mill, called Clarence Mill, on the banks of the Macclesfield Canal at Bollington.    The wharf where coal and cotton were taken on is just under the big tower.

It has now been turned into apartments, of a superior nature, and underneath is an excellent cafe, and a shop that does interior design and also reupholsters chairs.  And very well they do it too!

Go to the link above to find other landscapes, though you will have to scroll the blog down a bit to find them!