photography – Page 189

Travel Theme: Ancient

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” wants us to show her our most decrepit, worn and torn, antediluvian shots this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

One of England’s oldest sites is the Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire. Believed to have been started around 3000 BC it was probably used as a religious and ceremonial centre, but no-one knows by whom. The nice thing about Avebury is that you are allowed to wander freely on the site and get close up to the standing stones.

The main circle covers approximately 28 acres with two smaller circles inside. The henge is also split by the village of Avebury and a road. There is an avenue of stones leading away from the circle towards Overton Hill a mile and a half away, and it has been speculated by some archaeologists that the avenue was constructed to form the body of a snake, with the circle as the snake’s head.

A steep bank and ditch surrounds the circle, together they form a 60 foot barrier.

Just a few miles away is the strange conical mound of Silbury Hill, across the road from West Kennet Long Barrow. In the other direction is Windmill Hill causeway camp, the finest hilltop camp in England.

A Word a Week Challenge: Frame

Every week Sue from ‘A Word in Your Ear’ dips into her English Oxford dictionary and picks a word on the page that it falls open at. The challenge is to post a photograph, poem, story – whatever the genre you like best to describe what that word means to you.

This week’s challenge is FRAME (click to join in with the challenge)

There are lots of ways to frame a photograph including using branches of trees or shrubs as above when I took this photo of the Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

Or you can use a doorway or archway to frame a particularly nice view like this one at the Carbiere Winery in Franschhoek.

Using a tree and part of a wall on the right to frame this lovely whitewashed Drostdy Museum building in Swellandam, I included another tree and smaller sign to use as the left-hand frame.

Another way of framing a photograph is to get some of the foreground into the picture as I did here at Boulders Beach, using the boulders at the right-hand side to create a curved frame around the blue water.

You could, of course, use software to create a different frame around one of your photos – as I did here with a close-up of a cheese shop display to create the old Polaroid effect.

And finally whilst staying in South Africa, I managed to frame one of my obsessions (beach huts) using the round window in the promenade wall.

if you would like to see more of my images of South Africa and read about my travels there then please visit these posts:

A Lingering Look at Broad Street

This weekly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.

Broad Street (header photo) in Ludlow is renowned for its Georgian façades with lovely Georgian sash windows lining both sides of this wide street leading from the Buttercross down to the only surviving gate in the town walls – Broad Street Gate – a narrow medieval gate-passage.

From the north side you can see the Gothic crenellations and details probably by T F Pritchard, an architect from Shrewsbury, (better known for his involvement in the Iron bridge project.)

(Note the multi-paned sash windows all have twelve panes: 3 x 4 in varying sizes except for the central window top right which for some reason has twenty four panes: 4 x 6)

Built in the 13th century the gate was an important entrance into the town from the Ludford Bridge crossing. It is now partially encased by a large Georgian House.

(Note the lovely Regency gothic bay windows on the left of the gate)

From the south side you can see the Gate arch and twin round towers typical of Edwardian castle building. The west tower is hidden behind the house added in 1824 -1829.

St Mark’s Basilica, Venice

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: This black and white challenge is topic related and this week the theme is Man-Made.

(click to enlarge and see the detail)

St Mark’s Basilica dominates Piazza San Marco. It is an example of Byzantine Gothic architecture with lavish mosaics. The four bronze horses were captured from Constantinople.

H for Harbour Bridge (Sydney)

frizztext hosts a weekly A – Z Challenge

Event Type: General Blogging

Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly

Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.

If you would like to join in then please click here.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. Opened March 19 1932. Wikipedia

I have walked across it, driving across in a car, taken a train over and driven under in the tunnel. I have climbed up one of the towers you can see at either end to get some lovely photographs, but I have never climbed the bridge, and I never will!

If you have a spare AUS$200 then maybe you’d like to try it? Or perhaps you have.