photography – Page 195

A Word a Week Challenge: Context

THE SAYING “A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS” is never more true than with a photograph. Photographs have tremendous power to communicate information. But they also have tremendous power to communicate misinformation, especially if we’re not careful how we read them.

- Who or what do you see?
- When was this photograph taken — what is happening in the photograph?
- Where was this photograph taken?

and finally

- Why?

So how do YOU interpret the context in this photograph? I’d love to hear what you think.

D for Decorative Details (on the Taj Mahal)

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.

On the lower walls of the tomb there are white marble dados that have been sculpted with realistic bas relief depictions of flowers and vines.

The marble has been polished to emphasise the exquisite detailing of the carvings and the dado frames and archway spandrels have been decorated with pietra dura inlays of highly stylised, almost geometric, vines, flowers and fruits. The inlay stones are of yellow marble, jasper and jade, polished and leveled to the surface of the walls

Given that Islamic Art forbids the use of the human image, the work of Mother Nature is the obvious spotlight. That, and transcripts of The Koran that run around all the doorways, makes the delicacy and the detail of all the decoration of this lovely place a true joy to behold.

In line with the Islamic prohibition against the use of anthropomorphic forms, the decorative elements can be grouped into either calligraphy, abstract forms (geometric and herringbone patterns) or vegetative motifs.

Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Bad Weather

Ed is a truck driving photographer from Tennessee who hosts a photography challenge blog called Sunday Stills here on WordPress.

This week Ed would like to see any BAD WEATHER pics.

And what better weather photos to show you after all the rain we have experienced in the UK this month than floods – these are the River Severn overflowing in Shrewsbury.

A Word a Week Challenge: Undulate

A man of thought must feel the thought that is parent of the universe: that the masses of nature do undulate and flow.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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 Undulate (click to join in with the challenge)

un·du·late v. un·du·lat·ed, un·du·lat·ing, un·du·lates
v.tr.

1. To cause to move in a smooth wavelike motion.
2. To give a wavelike appearance or form to.

The wavy line on these doors at Mission San Juan Bautista (St John the Baptist) signifies the River of Life.

Californian Mission: Santa Clara de Asís (8)

My third Mission is Santa Clara de Asís, founded on January 12 1777. It is the eighth Californian Mission and located in the grounds of the University of Santa Clara. Whilst staying in the city of Santa Clara, some 40 miles south of San Francisco, I decided to investigate a few more Californian Missions, this one being the closest.

Named after Saint Claire of Assisi, a thirteenth century Italian nun, this mission was the first to be named after a female saint. It has been destroyed and rebuilt no fewer than six times and the current church is a modern interpretation of the fifth church which was built in 1825 and later destroyed by fire. Its layout is the traditional quadrangle. Continue reading Californian Mission: Santa Clara de Asís (8)