Strawberry Fields Forever - a Tale of Central Park

“Let me take you down
’Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever”

— John Lennon

Just back from a great trip to New York, several posts worth here I think, but I'm going to start with a story of Central Park. Looking at the map I discovered there was an area named strawberry Fields with a memorial to John Lennon.

it was clearly a place of pilgrimage so we sat for a while and watched as people came and went.

There were people of all ages and nationalities, families, individuals, groups, all coming to pay their respects.

Then there was the music - all Beatles / Lennon songs of course

and the garland makers who worked diligently until they at finished their task,

Then sat and reflected together for a while,

before laying their garland carefully

and making the final adjustments

until it was perfect

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one”

— John Lennon

We're going to the Zoo - Butterfly House

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Last Sunday I visited London Zoo, I hadn't been for a while, around 18 years in fact, when we took our son. The zoo has changed a lot over the years and I shall say more about that in a future post. For now I will just say that the reason I was at the zoo was because the visit was part of a two day travel photography course that was a birthday present from my husband.

The post gives you a quick look into the 'Butterfly Paradise' exhibition.

This photo was taken with my 55-250cm zoom lens but I soon changed to my 50mm prime lens having left my macro at home. Most of the other shots were taken at f1.8 for those who are interested in the technical details.

There were lots of brightly coloured platforms to attract the butterflies,

but I thought they looked best on a more natural background.

and this was one of my favourites, which is yours?

See you back here soon!

Putting on the Ritz

One of the gifts we were given for our 40th wedding anniversary back in October was a voucher for 'Tea at the Ritz', an eagerly anticipated treat. I thought I would book for sometime in February as this would serve as a lovely treat at the point we were getting fed up with winter weather. So in January I rang up to book and discovered that the first available Saturday (if you wanted to have tea roughly at tea time rather than 11:30 in the morning) was August! At this point we regrouped and agreed the thing to do would be to take a day off work and managed to book for the end of April a couple of days after my birthday for the 5:30 sitting - we were on!

Before going for tea we took in the David Bailey Stardust Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which I shall be writing about in a future post, Then we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and walked along Piccadilly towards the Ritz Hotel.

We passed the Royal Academy at Burlington House, popping into the courtyard to view the fountains, then it was on to the Burlington Arcade which comes equipped with doormen

The Burlington Arcade is home to one of my favourite shops Laduree, home of the perfect macaroon. We first discovered them on holiday in Paris and we thrilled when a shop opened in London, they are an expensive and rare treat however! (and yes we did buy some)

How to choose? (salted caramel is my favourites)

Of course I couldn't resist a little street photography

This lot were trying to figure out where to go

Then we had arrived! The decor was pretty plush as you might expect, rather reminiscent of the Palace of Sans Souci in Berlin

The tea, which started with a glass of champagne, was as you might expect, delicious and there was plenty of it.

The service was, of course, excellent

and we had a wonderful time

Postcards from Berlin 5 - A Wild Goose chase

After our visit to the East Side Gallery and our lunch in the sunshine, we headed off on foot to find Tacheles. Described in our guide book (the Rough Guide to Berlin) thus, ' a taste of Berlin artists' squatter culture is offered in the multi story counter-cultural workshop' the whole thing looked fascinating .

First stop was Hackeschen Hofe 'a series of elegant early twentieth century courtyards with stylish cafes and boutiques' (Rough Guide)

There are some fun shops including one specialising in Ampelmann ( the little chap from the East German crossing signs) nostalgia.I loved the pink saddle protectors on these bikes!

Next stop was a small art gallery where we had a look round and stopped for a coffee - there was an interesting line in taxidermy in the coffee shop

We continued up the street thinking that according to the map we should be able to spot our destination by now, but all we could see was a rather desolate abandoned building which was showing every indication that it was about to be pulled down. It couldn't be? could it? it was!

The now-abandoned and somewhat forlorn Tacheles building stared out at us and we stared back. After the first initial disappointment we spotted some items of interest

A sculpture here

some graffiti there - and finally the proof positive that we were in the right place although sadly we had missed the party! in all it was a bit of a wild goose chase

Postcards from Berlin 4 - On the East Side

On the second day of our visit the weather was as good, possibly even better than, the day before. Perfect for visiting the East Side Gallery.

The gallery is a 1.3 Km stretch of the Berlin Wall covered with political and satirical murals first painted in 1989 just after the wall fell. Time and weather took its toll so that the original artists were invited back to repaint their work for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall in 2009.

Despite notices asking them not to, individuals have added their own graffiti to the murals which unfortunately is mostly of the 'I woz 'ere' or 'Jonny loves Jane' variety, that doesn't add anything to the original works. I have not included the works where, as in this one, I felt the graffiti really detracted from them.

I thought long hard about how best to share the feel of the art on the wall with you and came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to create a vimeo video. Watch it full screen - it really makes a difference to the experience!

East Side Gallery from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Photo Heart Connection March

“God’s in his Heaven -
Alls alright with the world”

— Robert Browning

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!

Extract from Pippa Passes by Robert Browning

This poem sums up what I feel about this month's Photo Heart Connection. As regular readers of my blog will know I have just returned from a short break in Berlin where we had a fabulous time. There was, however, one defining moment when everything came together to produce a sparking moment of joy and happiness.

I am currently taking James Baraz's course 'Awakening Joy'. A part of this is increasing your ability to recognise and savour joy in the present moment and just such a moment occurred during our trip. We had visited the East Side Gallery of the Berllin Wall ( pictures coming soon) and then stopped for lunch in the Hackescher Markt, a square containing a number of open air cafes and restaurants. We choose one, sat down to peruse the menu and I ordered a glass of Gruner Veltllinger, a wine I really like that not readily available outside Austria and Germany. So we sat there in the warm spring sunshine (you know, the first day when sitting outside is not any kind of ordeal because of the cold wind) in a square full of buzzing happy people and a busker began playing the trumpet (an instrument I love), and I just thought 'It really doesn't get any better then this!'

Postcards from Berlin 1 - Willkommen

We have just returned from a five night break in Berlin, in some ways the most mysterious of European capital cities. It is a city where the traditional rubs shoulders with the avant guard, where art is king and above all it is a city that has to live with its past.

This is our second visit to Berlin. The first with our then 12 year old son was around 10 years ago. On that occasion we scurried around making sure we ticked off all the major sites: the Reichstag, the Jewish Museum, Checkpoint Charlie, the Pergamon Museum etc. This trip was to be less frenetic with time for art galleries, a trip out to Potsdam, and other attractions. with a main focus on the galleries. This however was not exactly what Berlin had in store for us.

The visit started according to plan. We had to get up incredibly early to catch our 6.30 flight from Gatwick, so after checking into our hotel we set off to have lunch in the food hall at the biggest and possibly the best department store in Europe, KaDeWe, which was just a short walk from our hotel.

Lunch at the grill counter was delicious and we felt up for a tiny bit of sightseeing despite our early start, so we visited the nearby Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachniskirche. Destroyed by British bombers in 1943 this crumbling ruin serves as a reminder of the destruction caused by war. Presumably it had gone one crumble too far as the scaffolding was up and we were unable to visit the remains of the nave as we had done previously.

The centre tower is the original church, at the front is the new campanile- not sure about the spire!

The new modern chapel with its stunning blue stained glass was open to the public however.

The floor was impressive too

When we came out of the church it was raining and we were feeling pretty whacked so we decided to go back to the hotel. Once there, that was it, and, unusually for us, we didn't even venture out for dinner!

Brighton or Bust!

I was hoping my first post of the New Year would be something profound and inspirational, you know the sort of thing - my dreams for 2014 - how I choose my word of 2014 and its meaning to me (it's 'Courage' by the way), or other grand designs. The fact is, however, I've been stuck at home since before New Year with the worst cold and cough I've had in years and while I'm managing to remain generally quite positive my brain really isn't functioning anything like well enough to do profound and inspirational. So instead I'm going to show you one of my favourite bits of Brighton, where we were staying with my mother-in-law just after Christmas.

For most people I suspect Brighton conjures up images of the Pavillion, the Seafront, the Pier ( or possibly piers though that's a mute point) but for me its the North Laine shopping area. Brighton's Lanes have been well known for decades sporting expensive shops and antique emporia, but within the last 30 or so years an different shopping scene has appeared full of alternative shops and well, fun.

There's fabulous graffiti

Great Signs

Brightly coloured shop fronts

And a host of ethnic, vegetarian and vegan cafes to choose from

Amazingly the sun was warm enough and the street sheltered enough to make sitting outside a positive choice even if you weren't a smoker - and of course here is always a story to tell

Then there are the goods - a huge variety and these are only what you see on the street

The shops are all quite small inside and many were crowded so I thought twice about taking any pictures

and finally the people - the Balloon Man

The Busker

The inevitable mobile phone user

The stall holder

and of course the shoppers

The reason I really like it here is because it's vibrant and varied - and that includes both shoppers and shops. At a time when our high streets (if they still exist), are full of clones and the shopping malls are even worse, it is a real pleasure to see individual enterprises flourishing - and who could resist these feminist, empowered legs?

Deck the Halls

“Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly”

— Anon

I love Christmas decorations especially lights, so it was a treat to go up to London last week and have the opportunity to see some of the street illuminations and store displays.

I arrived at Waterloo Station and looking down on the concourse from the new shopping level I was struck how Lowryesque the scene was and couldn't resist adding a filter to emphasise this look

Then it was off to Oxford Circus for some Christmas shopping, I was particularly struck by these robins in Carnaby Street

Where this shop looked a veritable Aladdin's cave

Then it was on to Liberty's which has been my all time favourite shop since I was a child - you may still be able to catch the documentary that's just been shown about it.

This year their decoration theme was the successful family musical 'Matilda' although I have to say I couldn't always see the connection!

The windows were a bit less glittery than last year with fewer rich colours than usual but the decorations inside were fun.

Then out into Regent Street where it was getting dark by now - difficult to get a good capture without getting mown down by a passing bus!

Having said that I love the lights reflected in the bus windows

Fun though these are they are not the most important decorations in my life, those are on our own tree and have been built up over the years. Some decorations remind me of a particular year, place or event like these pewter mits that I bought while visiting relatives in Norway about 15 years ago.

This nativity in a seed head was given to us by my Austrian Exchange visit friend - we are still in touch after nearly 50 years!

I will be signing off now until after the festivities but very much hope you will

Barbara x

South Bank Saturday

Last Saturday found us on London's South Bank. We were up to go to the theatre, twice! Once at the Young Vic and once at the National, great performances but maybe something for another post.

We arrived in time to have a wander round and for me to practice my newly found street photography skills.

To give a bit of context for those of you who haven't visited, London's South Bank is a huge arts centre with the National Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, Hayward Gallery, British Film Institute and more huddled together next to Waterloo Bridge. The first buildings including the Festival Hall were erected to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951 which was supposed to cheer everyone up in the face of ongoing post-war rationing and shortages. Researching the Festival of Britain I came across this mini documentary that was just delightful and I would urge to to give it a try. It's interesting to compare the visitors then and now!

This is an edited version of the 1952 film in which Sir Hugh Casson and Patrick O'Donovan look back to the Festival of Britain on London's South Bank. We have cut descriptions of the architecture and how it would help design Britain's new towns.

Looking out over the river from the South Bank you get a wonderful view of St Paul's

There are always lots of people at the South Bank on weekends

people chilling, eating, out with their dogs.

Even more than usual because of the Christmas Market

I have a soft spot for anyone with pink hair for obvious reasons!

People are dressed in a variety of styles, there are families

and couples.

And around the back of the Festival Hall away from the river, a 'Real Food' market

Something for everyone on the South Bank on a Saturday afternoon!

A Cornish Interlude - Thoughts on the Nature of Beauty

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul”

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

This week's post is part of a brave blogging link-up that's part of Liv Lane's How To Build a Blog You Truly Love e-course. As a participant, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone and share something with you that felt especially brave.

This is a problem for me as I have just returned from a magical weekend in Cornwall where we went for the weekend to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with friends who were celebrating their fortieth on the same day.

Everything about the weekend was fantastic. The weather was fabulous (sitting out on the terrace in a swimsuit in Cornwall in October!), the hotel as near to perfection as I could ever have imagined and I feel full to the brim with joy and love at the wonderful weekend I experienced.

We have not stayed at many expensive hotels over our 40 years of marriage and I fully realise how lucky I am to have spent a weekend in this wonderful place of both natural and man made beauty. This has lead me to ponder on the nature of beauty itself and the different types of beauty that fill me with joy.

Natural beauty is perhaps the easiest place to start. The hotel had direct views over the beach at Mawgan Porth and the view from our bedroom was just stunning, with the light changing at different times of the day.

The net curtains in the bedroom took on the colour of the sunset and turned from a pale gold into a vivid orange

The design brief of the hotel was 'to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.' This it has surely achieved. I have not taken photos of the outside of the building as it blends in with the environment rather than standing out as an architectural statement. it is rather the interior and the outdoor landscaped areas which stun with their beauty. The fusion of the hotel with its environment is evident throughout but I loved the outdoor natural swimming pool and the path down to the beach.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the hotel was that there was not one jarring note throughout the place (even the rubbish bins were attractive) and that everything was designed to be brilliantly functional. The chairs were comfortable, the balconies slanted to catch the sun (not always easy on the north coast) the lighting design amazing - I could go on - and all of these areas looked absolutely stunning as well! I'm not sure how beautiful I think things are if they look nice but don't perform the function they were intended to effectively. Something that looks beautiful and is well designed is a joy in all ways.

Another feature of the hotel were the works of art, some of which belonged to the owners and some of which were for sale. My favourite was this angel but there were plenty to choose from.

Most spectacular was the beauty of light and space, whether looking out to nature or in to the building

There are of course other types of beauty than the visual. The beauty of celebrating our 37 year friendship with our co-travellers (we are godparents to each other's children) and of the forty years of love and companionship that we have had as a couple.

I 'm not really sure how much this qualifies as a brave post, but it is what is in my heart this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our celebration weekend.

““Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” ”

— Franz Kafka

The Isle of Wight Pulls it Off

Last weekend we went off to the Isle of Wight not expecting anything special or unusual to be going on in Mid-September. Wrong! We walked into the inaugural year of Festival of the Sea, which appeared to be pretty low key except for the Classic cars event where cars had come from all over Europe to take part. Sensing some photo opportunities we decide to go along.

When we arrived at Newport Quay there were literally hundreds of fascinating cars and bikes - many with gleaming engines and shining wheels

Looking at some of the emblems I was reminded of figureheads on old schooners - perhaps that was the connection between the cars and the Festival of the Sea?

And of course I couldn't resist having a go with the grunge techniques

I was really taken with some of the old motor bikes

This bus came in to service just before we left the Island in 1966 - it had an exciting new feature - doors! the conductor's uniform is the one I remember from childhood.

All of this doesn't really give a flavour of the event and the number of cars and people there - nor of the various curiosities and as true to form I didn't take any panoramic shots. I did shoot some video with my phone however, and have combined it with some of the stills to make a Treasure Chest. I haven't captioned it but the very last car you see is a Delorean - very rare and something we haven't seen before. As usual the Island lived up to it reputation of pulling rabbits out of hats with fun, interesting (and free) events!

Classic Cars from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Brideshead Revisited?

I really love York, I think it's my favourite city in the country. Not only is it crammed full of history from Roman times to the present day, it's also stuffed with beautiful buildings, a great selection of independent shops and lovely cafes and restaurants. It has a real buzz about it.

We were there last week for our son's graduation and have been there on a number of occasions over the last 3 years, but I haven't really taken many photos. Why? Partly I think it's the style of photography that I enjoy, in that I don't really do panoramas, or photos of icons unless I can find a new angle on them. Rather, I usually focus on the detail (the more rust the better) and take many more photos of nature than I do of buildings. Also as I have written about in a previous post I don't do pretty. I managed to take one photo of York this time round, mainly because of the glorious colour of the evening sun on the stone of the lantern tower, spotted as we were on our way to have dinner.

At this point I thought I would review previous pictures I've taken in York and include a couple here. When I looked however I only found about 5 and I didn't like any of them very much - they were mostly bits of houses obscured behind flowering trees and didn't really give any sense of place. So I have decided not to include them.

Other than the graduation ceremony itself the highlight of this trip was a visit to Castle Howard - again no panoramic pictures of the grand facade, you can watch either of the versions of Brideshead to see this.

Brideshead Revisited - The Complete Collection (Digitally Remastered) [DVD]

Starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier

Brideshead Revisited [DVD] [2008]

Starring Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Felicity Jones

Instead, as usual, I have focused on the small elements that took my fancy in the house and garden. To be fair, I don't love Vanborough and the Palladian style of architecture or Capability Brown style gardens. I was however drawn to the sheltered rose garden and the rather grand fountain. First though we went round the house which was only partially open due to the filming of a drama called 'Murder at Pemberly' Austen sequel? the mind boggles!

The first room that really caught my attention was a child's bedroom which is not mentioned in the guide book

I loved the old toys especially the ship

I was also drawn to this bust in the antiques corridor, apparently collected by the 4th Earl when on a trip to Italy in 1738, and this detail of a Burne-Jones stained glass window in the chapel

Now to the outside, the view from the Boar Garden was impressive,

but what really drew my attention was the Atlas Fountain installed in 1853.

Its not the kind of thing I normally like but it looked so right in the grand surroundings and the play of the water on the statue is quite magical, as were the vista's on every side of this giant water spout.

Even if I had wanted to take a panoramic view of the front I wouldn't have been able to as there was scaffolding up for the filming and large numbers of white vans parked out front!

On to the Rose Garden - the perfect time to see it in all its glory, though again the prettiness didn't attract the photographer in me, although the gardener was very impressed.

I particularly liked this, with the seeds reminding me of pomegranates, I think it was a peony

Back to York and a couple of final photos I took while having lunch outside before driving home

This is the herb garden by the patchwork museum and co-incidentally our favourite Italian,

and I'm including this one just because I like it!

Introducing Week of Sparkles

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

— Henry Miller

Today I'm trying out what I hope will become a regular feature on my blog 'Week of Sparkles', where I share with you some of my sparking moments of the week and would love it if you would share some of yours in the comments section. Anyway, here goes!

Film

I have been watching an amazing documentary about British photojournalist Don McCullin. It has been hard to watch as he has documented some terrible atrocities, but what gives the sparkle is the way in which his soul and his integrity shine through the horror he is capturing and the fact that someone has had the courage to record what has happened gives hope to the world in the long term.

“I don’t just take photographs, I think”

— Don McCullin

I saw this on the BBC as part of the Imagine series, so it is probably available on iPlayer, otherwise you can get it from Amazon.

McCullin [DVD]

Starring Don McCullin

Discovery

Stuff about the demise of google reader had been all over the net this week with various people suggesting replacement programmes. I didn't use google reader and to be honest I wasn't sure (and still don't know) exactly what it did. I have never been really good about keeping up with other people's blogs and always felt vaguely guilty about it, mostly reading the few that were delivered into my in box. So I decided to give Bloglovin' a try and I'm really lovin' it! It works brilliantly. especially when using the app on my phone or iPad, and makes it quick and easy to keep up with everyone's blogs. You can find it here or by clicking on the Bloglovin' button on the sidebar of this page.

Books

As always I have more than one book on the go, but this weeks sparkle winner is 'Life is a Verb' by Patty Digh. I love the way she interweaves the stories of her life with her quest to live 'each individual, glorious day with more intention', though I have to admit I haven't been doing the exercises, something to go back to perhaps?

Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally

By Patti Digh

Photography

Limited opportunities here this week but I did go to London for an appointment and afterwards got my camera out on the walk between Oxford Circus tube station (having learned that getting the camera out of its bag helps immeasurably with the process of taking pictures!) and one of my favourite clothes shops. These are my favourites of the pictures I took.

I really wanted to see this couple sitting at this cafe!

I loved the fabric on this bag that someone was carrying!

I was intrigued watching this guy prepare the mixture for the bubble pipes outside a Moroccan cafe ( you can catch a glimpse at the right hand side of the bike photo) - I'm sure there is a whole terminology surrounding this, but I have no idea what it is.

I love reading the blue and in this case green plaques on the London buildings. I especially love the idea of a 'Man of Science' even though I have no clue as to who he was. I was getting my husband to proof read this and he was horrified by my ignorance as his college science society was named after him as an alumnus.

I thought this new cafe looked really cool with its iPad on every table and a lovely condiment tray.

These were some of my sparking moments of the week - I would love to hear about yours

Blooming True and Other Stories

This post is mainly about my experience of the Bloom True on-line painting class I have been taking for the last 5 weeks led by Flora Bowley but before I start sharing my experience of the class I have a new treasure chest to share with you. I am still processing my holiday photos from the spring and this short video focuses on our visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Cambodia, Land of Temple, Road and Lake from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of my Bloom True journey just to say its been fabulous - the course has been holistic rather than only about painting and painting techniques and this has worked well, engaging your whole being, body, mind and spirit, in the process. Throughout the course I worked on two paintings and I am going to illustrate the story of one of them from start to finish. Flora's technique is based on adding many, many layers to each painting and practicing non- attachment and intuitive painting to further each canvas - much harder than it sounds!

My first painting started like this

Then progressed to this

Followed by this

Then this

and this

Still going!

nearly there now!

and finally!

I'm not of course absolutely guaranteeing that it is the final final version, so watch this space! What of the other painting I hear you ask - well having been through a tree phase its current iteration is an elephant which I am not loving, lets just say it has a way to go!

A Weekend on the Wight - A Busy Day

Last weekend was a holiday weekend in the UK and for once we were blessed with good weather. We had a fab weekend and I thought it would be nice to relive it by inviting you to join me. First up on Saturday morning we went into Freshwater to shop at the butcher, the baker, and the fishmonger. We do this every Saturday when we are down and each time I feel grateful that these fabulous local shops are still here! While we were there I noticed the Horse Chestnuts were in bloom (very late shows you what a dreadful spring we've had!) and, probably for the first time, really looked at the individual blossoms.

Back home to drop off the shopping before heading for Cowes, we noticed a lot of yachts with brightly coloured spinnakers in the distance; so we went down to the cliff to see what was going on. A race was obviously in progress and though we checked the local paper we never did find out exactly which one we were watching. Both Hurst Castle in the distance (on the mainland side of the Solent) and the much nearer Fort Victoria make a dramatic backdrop for the boats.

We visit Cowes quite frequently, I love the atmosphere, the shops and the general sense of a place dedicated to the sea. I have taken many pictures here over the years and today I decided to focus on things I hadn't noticed before. In the case of the first it's because its not always there, but today the beat lead us up the High Street. You don't often see a good old fashioned 'tea chest' skiffle group these days!

The second thing I noticed was this piece of machinery - I was planning to go into the yacht haven to look around for photographic inspiration but unusually it was locked up, so I had to make do with the quay by the ferry terminal where I don't usually linger.However I did notice this

On the way back from Cowes we stopped off at Newtown which in one of my favourite places on the Island. I lived in a nearby village but my best friend lived here and I was a frequent visitor. I always think of this house, which I have know since childhood, as the 'enchanted cottage' but in a good 'fairy godmother lives here' rather than a bad 'wicked witch lives here' sort of a way. I have however never see it look as amazing as it did last weekend with an absolute riot of clematis and wisteria virtually covering the entrance porch and front door. I know I said a couple of weeks ago that I don't like pretty - well this is the exception that proves the rule!

The outbuildings are scarcely less attractive than the house with this carefully placed boat prow just waiting for would be photographers to come by.

Then on towards the quay, glimpsed in the distance across a sea of buttercups

Walking along the edge of the marsh before crossing the footbridge, enjoying the gold of the gorse in the distance

And finally arrival at the quay with boats marooned on the mud at low tide

Back to the car and home for a cuppa next, but it was such a lovely evening we couldn't resist a final walk to the cliff, where the sea pinks looked misty and the gorse glowed in the evening light

Stay tuned for the next episode where we meet a medieval manor, a hero and a war horse.

A Visit to the Village

As part of our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia we were thrilled to be able to visit Honour Village, a childrens village founded by Sue Wiggans a retired school teacher from the Isle of Wight. More info about the village here

The first challenge was to get to the village from Siem Reap, where we were staying in order to visit the magnificent Angkor Wat temple complex. Sue had sent us detailed instructions which we proved to be incapable of conveying either to the hotel receptionist or the tuk tuk driver. The solution was to ring Sue who asked one of her Cambodian staff members to instruct the driver on our behalf. Then we were off, bouncing along the hot and dusty road sometimes, but not always, missing the inevitable potholes! After about half an hour and a couple of wrong turnings we arrived, hot, dusty and pleased to be there.

Our first impression of Honour Village was of happy smiling children - one that has stayed with us!

After a Welcome from Sue we were taken on a tour of the village. There are over 50 resident children ranging in age from under fives to older teenagers. These are children who have lost their parents or whose families are unable to care for them at present.

In addition to the resident children, more than 300 children come for lessons from the surrounding villages to supplement the education provided by the Cambodian state. It is normal in Cambodia for parents to pay for additional lessons for their children to ensure they pass their grades which with class sizes up to 60 can be a challenge for some. Many parents cannot, of course, afford this and the lessons available at Honour Village help to fill this gap.

Sue told us that they were hoping to get a government sponsored teacher to work at the village and that this would make a significant difference to the status of Honour Village. In the meantime as we walked round we saw several classes in action teaching Khmer and English. Some children were using the small library and others were playing in the garden. More classes would begin at 2 including Sue's kindergarten class.

There was also evidence of the challenge of keeping house for 50 plus, I was glad the washing wasn't my responsibility - as it is there is a line for each of the houses and the housemothers are responsible for the task.

As we were leaving Sue and the Honour Village manager began to look at the children's grade cards from the local school - the idea that education can provide a way out of poverty is a central tenet of the philosophy of Honour Village and the children are given all the help and encouragement possible both in terms of their work at the local school and their lessons at Honour Village.

Honour village is doing great work helping children and families in Siem Riep if you would like to support them in this work you can make a donation here.

A lotus flower is the logo for Honour village together with the words

TRUTH - TRANSPARENCY - INTEGRITY

a visit to Honour Village allows you to see these values in action

Holiday Snaps - Sharing the Fun?

Holiday photographs present an innate dilemma - what do do with them once you get home? In the past, before digital cameras, we used to send them off to be processed and end up with physical evidence of our holidays which we could put in a album or allow to gather dust on a shelf. Of course we can still print off our photos but I suspect most of us just don't bother.

Modern alternatives include make a book of memories using Blurb or similar, uploading the whole lot on to Flickr or a similar platform and sending our friends and family the link, or uploading to Facebook or another social networking site.

This year I have come up with another alternative - the time capsule. As I have mentioned before I am taking a course with the wonderful Xanthe Berkley which is inspiring me to do things a little differently and I plan to make a series of 2 minute films which capture the essence of different parts of the holiday. check out the first one here.

Vietnam Vignettes 1 City Life from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

So far this is proving very successful - when people have asked to see photo's I have sent them the link and a surprising number of them have actually watched it and commented favourably. I think a real plus is that you get get a sense of a place very quickly and can always watch again if you want to focus on a particular aspect.

Holiday Snaps?

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia, our first major holiday since I became really passionate about photography. This has presented me with a number of challenges, the first being why I am taking photographs? What is the purpose of it? The 1,800 or so pictures I’ve taken they can probably be broken down into the following categories:

Photographs of things I want to remember I’ve seen.

These come under the heading of traditional holiday snaps, not necessarily things that are intrinsically beautiful or fascinating, but things that appear ‘different’ or unusual that I want to record so that when I get home I know I haven’t imagined them.

The photos were taken at the tomb of Tu Duc at Hue where dressing up clothes are available for anyone who wants to play at being emperor and concubines. We were lucky enough to arrive just as this group were ready to have their photo taken.

Photographs of famous monuments / beauty spots.

Tricky this on several counts, when you're on a group tour, as we were, you don’t get to pick the time of day or light in which you see places. Plus I’m still saving up for a wide-angle lens. Plus you can almost always get a postcard that is better than anything you can take yourself unless you can inject another point of interest into the photo (other than yourself!) to make it a little different.

The top picture is one of the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the bottom one is from our cruise on Halong Bay - both of these are UNESCO World Heritage sites

Flowers, colours, shapes that may or not speak directly of the place you have been visiting but have a universal appeal

I love these lotus flowers for their colour and shape as they unfurl - they also happen to be the national flower of Vietnam as well as India

People, the life of the country. Photographs of people wearing local dress, national costumes, doing every day tasks or on special occasions

Luckily for photographers most people in Vietnam seem happy for you to take their photo and will often smile and wave to show their approval if, for example, they are passing on a motor scooter (more about traffic in a later post)

The first of these pictures was taken on the Meekong Delta. The other two of women tending rice paddys and a herb garden were taken on the drive to Halong Bay from Hanoi.

‘I woz here’ photos

I’ve never taken very many of these and have always felt slightly baffled by the number of people who seem to feel that a photo of a monument isn’t valid unless they are in it as well, to prove they’ve actually been there. That said, I did take a few of this type of photo this time mainly with my iPhone to pop on to Facebook.

These were taken outside Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum in Hanoi, at the Cu Chi tunnels in Siagon, demonstrating exactly how small a space the Viet Kong were living in during the war, and enjoying a fresh coconut drink whilst travelling on the Mekong Delta

Not taking photographs in France

At last the French holiday post which as you can see I actually started when still there!

Having got to day four of our trip so far we have been to our local small town of Parthenay, the Marais, a marshland with inland waterways and picturesque villages, and La Rochelle a medieval port on the Atlantic coast. I have taken very few pictures! Only 265 Why? On a weekend on the Isle of Wight I often take several hundred, why not here?

Perhaps it is because everything is new yet familiar; pretty houses, stone walls, flowers. New because I have not been to this exact location before, familiar because I have been to many similar places. Some of the best views are panoramic, I can't do these justice without a wide angle lens. Anyway my passion is for the small view, the detail, the sacred in the ordinary.

This is the first time I have been on holiday with my new camera, the first time I have tried to make a distinction between 'holiday snaps' which perhaps can be seen as photos of record of the 'I was here' variety and something I am more emotionally engaged with.

I think this is also related to one’s phase of life and the law of diminishing returns. The first time we took a car to France was in 1976. We were living in Cornwall at the time so we landed in Roscoff and drove first to the Dordogne with its beautiful medieval villages then on via the Corniche de Cevennes to Provence where we stayed for a few days before driving home. I was a fabulous holiday everything was new and interesting. I had previously only been to Paris, Belgium and Austria all of which were very different - there were photo opportunities galore, novelty ruled.

During the nineties and noughties we visited various parts of Europe with our son, seeing familiar places and scenes afresh through his eyes, and visiting some attractions that might otherwise have passed us by. Though happily for us he was always very keen on castles and other old buildings (now reading history at university). Now when we travel in familiar parts of Europe it does feel a bit, been there, done that, still nice, but subject to the law of diminishing returns.

On son joined us for the last few days of our holiday and I realized this was the only point at which we paid to go in anywhere (this was partly because we had saved one of the key trips until he arrived). So we visited the maritime museum at La Rochelle the day of his arrival followed by Fontevraud and Chateau de Breze the following day. I like to think this was partly because we were not in an area with loads of major attractions, but rather lots of pleasant places to visit, but I think we will need to keep an eye on ourselves during our next trip abroad!