Month: June 2013

Travel Theme Challenge

4th Sandworld of Warnemunde 2013

Four hundred tons of sand, and some water …

DSCN2809 sand sculptureWarnemunde, on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, hosts an annual sand sculpture exhibition.  These are not produced on the beach but up by the pier, under awnings, and there’s no admission fee.  It was May Day when we were there and the pier and promenade by the water were crowded not just with tourists but many Germans as well out with families and dogs, strolling, peeking in at all the vendors, enjoying the holiday and the beautiful weather.

The detail they are able to achieve with no other additive except water is remarkable … Continue reading “4th Sandworld of Warnemunde 2013”

Lynne Ayers17 Comments
weekly photo challenge

What are friends for?

I find street photography intriguing – where before I focused [pun intended 😉 ] on landscapes for my paintings, now I find I want to get into the cities to see what I can capture in urban light and shadow, dirt and grime, architecture, traffic and people.  This post focuses [ 🙂 ] on people (mostly), companionable people … except for the last photo they are all strangers to me.  Humans and animals alike seem to seek out companionship … Continue reading “What are friends for?”

Lynne Ayers17 Comments
Black and white

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

I live on 30 acres in the country – this is what lies beyond the hedgerow in my back garden …

1358 My own backyardThe corner store is 2 miles that way, or 5 the other way; the bank is 7 miles away.  Thirty acres are roughly equivalent to 20% of a square mile … in Japan 167 people would live on 30 acres … in China it would be 73 people and in India 191 people would call the same 30 acres home. In Monaco, of all places, it would be 8,428.  On my 30 acres it is just two people and a dog.  No sidewalks and lamp posts, paved roads or corner mailboxes – this is my neighbourhood …. Continue reading “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood”

Lynne Ayers20 Comments
Sunday Post

Two Countries Reconnect

The Øresund Link connecting Sweden and Denmark is 8 kilometres (5 miles) of bridge, 4 kilometres of artificially made island, called Pepparholm, and 3.5 kilometres of tunnel.  This photo shows the approach to the island.

bridge between Sweden and DenmarkReducing travel between Sweden and Denmark to a mere 20 minutes, the link opened in 2000, three months ahead of schedule despite such unexpected hazards as the discovery Continue reading “Two Countries Reconnect”

Lynne Ayers16 Comments
Travel Theme Challenge

Travel Theme: Flow

… blue ice of the Italia Glacier as it flows into the Beagle Channel at the southern tip of South America …

blue ice of glacier in Beagle Channel South America… also the Beagle Channel, the melt flowing from the Romanche Glacier, forming a lace-like picture of a lady sitting on the rocks …
glacier melt in Beagle Channel South America… the ebb and flow of the tide at St Michael’s Mount in the English Channel … tide’s out …

Tide is out at St Michael's Mount Continue reading “Travel Theme: Flow”

Lynne Ayers10 Comments
weekly photo challenge

Arcs and Arches

Architectural arches apparently appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC; the Romans utilized the arch for aqueducts and domes, the Colosseum and the Pantheon.  Through my eye, straight lines may speak strength, but arches and arcs in architecture speak grace and refinement.  These are detail shots of a theatre in St Petersburg, Russia …

arches and ceiling detail theatre St Petersburg Russia Continue reading “Arcs and Arches”

Lynne Ayers23 Comments
weekly photo challenge

Turn around and you’re tiny

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my baby, my own?

Many parents of grown children are heard to comment on how fast the time goes. We proudly and eagerly witnessed their early milestones … and were grateful when we no longer needed to visit the diaper aisle.

Turn around and you’re two, turn around and you’re four

1983We treasured the new-found freedom when the last one entered school full-time and Continue reading “Turn around and you’re tiny”

Lynne Ayers14 Comments
Photography

Salvaging those ‘not great’ shots

More about working with less-than-great photos.  I recently took a (large) number of photos and then had to sort through them all. 😦  I often take several of the same thing, expecting to delete all but the chosen one and having done that, my collection was considerably smaller 🙂  Next I reviewed the shots that offered ‘something’ without quite making it, and began playing.  I found that using two freebie downloads – Fotosketcher and PhotoScape – I upgraded some out of focus shots …

From this taken through the train window:
train station To this:train station From this: Continue reading “Salvaging those ‘not great’ shots”

Lynne Ayers9 Comments
Visual Quotations

Visual Quotations 11: The First Step

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King Jr Drotten Church ruins in Visby, Sweden. Visby is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Sweden’s largest island, Gotland. The name is derived from Old Norse “vi”, meaning sacrificial place, and “by”, meaning city.  So there’s some history there to explore … Related post: Hold Fast to … Continue reading Visual Quotations 11: The First Step

Lynne Ayers5 Comments
Travel Theme Challenge

A Taste of Tallinn

This pretty girl and her co-worker were greeters at the Olde Hansa on Vana Turg in Tallinn, Estonia – a Medieval-themed restaurant in the interesting old town.  She encouraged us to take a peak inside – “you don’t have to eat, just look inside, it’s beautiful”.  We did peak inside and then she was happy to let me take her photo.

girls in costume TallinnI couldn’t resist a shot of her shoes – Continue reading “A Taste of Tallinn”

Lynne Ayers24 Comments