Places to walk or hike

A clifftop path beside the sea, Cornwall. Don’t get too close to that unfenced edge …

Walking is the only form of exercise I actually enjoy. And there are so many places to walk! From mountains to beaches, urban to outback, there’s a walk for everyone.

Old cemeteries can be fascinating places to walk. This is Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

A patch of bush in North Sydney.

A mountain meadow near Wengen, Switzerland.

Nothing like getting your feet wet in the surf! (Not to mention your shorts, if you’re not paying attention. I speak from experience.) Umina Beach, Australia.

Trekking in Bolivia. Granted, not something you’d do on a normal weekend!

Don’t forget your local park! Hyde Park is near my employer’s office, and on the days when I’m forced to go in (hiss boo!), I often walk here.

Hyde Park, Sydney.

CBWC: Places to walk or hike

Things that fly

Hot air balloon, Serengeti

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Anything that flies is the inspiration for this post.

Butterfly, Queensland

Kite, Bondi Beach

Aircraft nose reflected in engine nacelle

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Spiky shadows

Which of these photos of windchimes with spiky weights and shadows do you prefer — black and white, or colour?

March’s square theme is Spiky Squares (spiky, jagged, pointy, bristly, serrated, prickly, spiny, and/or barbed)

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Random Fridays: Could I ever have belonged to the heavens?

Icarus Container by Yukinori Yanagi

This photo shows part of an art work at this year’s Biennale on Cockatoo Island. Viewers walked through darkened shipping containers with mirrors on which were etched extracts of Icarus from Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima. (While Mishima’s version is not that of the ancient myth, in which Icarus flew so close to the sun that the wax holding his feathered wings together melted and he fell to earth, it nonetheless evokes that story.)

The viewer’s perception changed as they walked through the containers, turning corners and looking back; the experience was very affecting.

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Red (er, black and white) lanterns

Black and white lanterns

The lanterns in this photo are really a glowing bright red, but I think with the colour removed you are more aware of the shapes. (You can see the colour version here.)

This is my entry in Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Letters K or L.

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Shadows of Goa

Shutters and lattices, Park Hyatt, Goa

Wooden shutters and lattices cast stark geometric shadows (Park Hyatt, Goa, India).

Random Fridays: Caress (Valentine’s Day)

This photo seems appropriate for Valentine’s Day on Sunday. I was initially going to call it “Get a room!” because this couple’s behaviour was far too amorous for a public place! (You can see the ‘public place’ in this photo. They were on a chair on the left.)

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The petty pace of time

You know that feeling when the hands of a clock seem stuck?

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
– Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of The Moon”

You know how it is. You could be at work, or at school or even at home: you have things to do, but they don’t hold your attention. You can’t concentrate. You look at the clock and you can’t believe how little time has passed since the last time you looked. It’s as if the hands of the clock are moving in slow motion, or have stopped altogether. As Shakespeare put it, time “creeps in this petty pace.”

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S for Spider

Creepy but compelling!

This is a St Andrew’s Cross spider, so-named because of the bright zig-zag ‘decorations’ that can form a full or partial cross on the web. (This spider has so far managed only one arm of the cross.) I came across it while walking along Cremorne Point on Sydney’s north shore. The colours and patterns of the markings are beautiful, even in black and white. The feature photo at top is the same spider but seen from below, and looking very monster-ish with this treatment — but don’t worry, the bite of a St Andrew’s Cross spider is not toxic to humans, and they are not aggressive.

Cee’s black and white photo challenge this week is anything that begins with an S.

Random Fridays: Pillows

Pillows and light

I took this photo in a hotel room. In the dark room, the white pillows formed stark shapes when highlighted by a lamp mounted to a polished headboard.

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