During my stay in Aix-en-Provence I went on a drive to a number of small villages nearby. I stopped in this village, which has a chateau at the top of the hill. Unfortunately, the Chateau was closed for renovations but I still enjoyed wandering around the town.
You won’t see a lot of black and white photography from me but for some reason it felt like this was the only way this photo worked… and I’m not sure why. What do you think?
This impressive archway leads the way to Tu Duc’s tomb just outside of Hue Vietnam. His mausoleum is actually more like a large park. There’s a number of similar mausoleums dotted about the countryside in this area.
The Moorish influence on the architecture of Seville is incredible. Even the giant Gothic Cathedral relies heavily on the original mosque on the site for one of its wings. When I go to post photos from this city, I often have to pause and figure out whether they were taken in Spain or Morocco.
Rome is beautiful, but when you really start to look at your surroundings you realise that everything is rundown… perfectly. I really liked this little alleyway and spent ages standing there waiting for the little gap at the top to turn blue. In the end I gave up and took the photo with white cloud. In the end I don’t think it made that much of a difference.
This arch seems to be the number one landmark to pop up when searching for Antigua, Guatemala. It’s understandable, its bright orangey-yellow color and placement in front of the Volcán de Agua make it very distinct. It was built to allow cloistered nuns in the convent to reach the school without having to set foot in public. The arch will certainly be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s visited the first capital of Guatemala. Considering that the capital was moved due to the regularity of earthquakes in the area, it’s quite amazing that it’s even still standing.
It seems like in every photo of this arch the photographer has stood a distance away using a telephoto lens to let the volcano loom large in the background. I was determined to do something different with the volcano so I decided to get close to the arch and frame the volcano beneath it. It was pretty overcast the whole time I was there so the volcano was quite obscured. When it did decide to peek out from behind the clouds, this is the shot I managed to get.
Washington Square Park does not list amongst the usual tourist attractions of New York City, but it’s well worth a visit – at least in summer. There’s just so much going on there. Entering from the shady Northwest corner I was met by a three-piece jazz band. Moving on it seemed like there was a new band jamming away every twenty feet. Upon arriving in the middle, the fountain became the center of attention. A portly gentleman was stood in the middle getting soaked while people sat around the edges watching.
Then, to the left I saw what I thought was an amazing chalk drawing. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a sand painting, a really big sand painting. This was the work of Joe Mangrum. He’s created a huge number of sand paintings in New York. You can see more of his work here.
Behind him, under the arch, a street performer was doing something I’ve never seen a street performer do. He was sitting on a bucket and playing a baby grand piano. I have no idea how he got the piano there and wonder if it stays there overnight or if he has to take it home every day.
***Edit: Joe just e-mailed me and directed me to this video, I now know how the piano gets there***
