Photography
Marseille from the main railway station: Gare St. Charles. The Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde in the far distance, crowned by the golden statue of the Virgin Mary by Lequesne. Usually this view is against the strong sunlight which so dominates and overwhelms the traveller on arrival from the north that the sunshine and blue Mediterranean sky becomes the view. The sky today is loaded with rain clouds which the strong and clear Mediterranean light somehow manages to penetrate, revealing the architecture and reminding how Marseille is a fascinating mixture of a Provence village and a modern French town.
Kew botanic gardens still puts on a refreshing and colourful show in winter. It’s not an obvious place to visit in January; the Palm House and the many rooms in the Princess of Wales conservatory were showing fine cacti and orchids, the latter flowering well. Snowdrops flowering in the stark winter sunshine outside. The admission ticket is £5 cheaper for January but the Temperate House was closed and the cafes were seriously overloaded.
The shortest day at the winter solstice heralds Saturnalia, the midwinter festival in honour of the god Saturn and fertility. The fresh buds and green shoots of spring are pushing phallicly skywards in search of light whilst catkins, the flowers of the hazel tree, droop curvaceously downwards.
Fishermen on the harbour wall at dawn at Brighton Marina.
Fishing boats in harbour for Christmas and a train of skips.
Lots of colour, shapes and textures.
View from Waterloo Bridge of the City of London and the towers of Canary Wharf in the distance down river. It’s staggering how much the London skyline has changed in the past few years. St. Pauls cathedral no longer dominates the landscape except from a couple of protected viewpoints. New blocks with colourful names now push skywards in the winter sunshine.
