Travel
I'm lucky enough to travel a lot but I also aim to understand a place in some depth. So I like to find out about the local history, sociology, wildlife and local arts. I prepare for a trip by looking up photos of the famous sights, they're usually a good guide both about the local visual interest and also a warning of what has already been done or over-done.
I try to use the tools of modern photojournalism and photography to communicate how I feel about a place. You’ll see that I have used Portrait, Street, Interior, Historical, Abstract, Landscape, Historical, Wildlife, Phone-camera and Selfie genres at different times for specific effects.
A comfortable stay in Beaune gave us a useful base to explore Bourgogne (Burgundy) and to enjoy the fine wines and fine food of the region, but not too much - we saw some corpulent tourists also enjoying the town. Fine Aligoté, St Romain and Haut Côtes de Beaune, among others. But not the Nuits St Georges... maybe next time!
Beaune is a major tourist destination so although there was a warm welcome in some places, there was also the distancing of professional hotel management.
Fine weather and splendid food here in Beaujolais and Macon, just north of Lyon. The weather has even been clear enough to see Mont Blanc far away across the valley of the river Saone and several ranges of lesser mountains. Also in my postcard are views of the churches at Paray-le-Monial and Tournus and the golden-coloured vines in the vineyards above Beaujeu.
Postcard of some views of Birmingham this morning: the rebuilt city centre around Victoria Square contrasts neoclassical architecture with a mixture of modern styles.
Birmingham city centre is built on a number of hills: the layout of the streets is far from a regular pattern, following the contours and weaving around its canals, its earliest form of industrial transport. The railway cuts directly underneath the city centre, through tunnels and with New Street railway station under layers of concrete.
Yet Birmingham's architecture is relentlessly rectilinear in contrast, even the sixties cylinder of the Bull Ring tower has a rectangular grid of office windows mapped on its outer surface. Dhruva Mistry's scuptures of monumental sphinxes therefore stand out in contrast.
Some pictures of my neighbourhood around rue Saint Pierre in the fifth arondissment of Marseille. It’s a varied neighbourhood, with a mixture of old and new architecture which supports a similarly varied population.
Three views of Mont Sainte Victoire, near Aix en Provence.
The limestone mountain towers around a thousand metres between the valley of the river Durance and that of the Arc. The surrounding hills were fortresses for the Saluvii tribe around 30BC: the story is that they displayed the skulls of their vanquished enemies on the entrances their dwelling. The Saluvii were subjugated by armies under the command of the Roman consul Sextus, who founded the town which has become Aix en Provence. Mont Sainte Victoire and the Pays d’Aix are nowadays more well-known following the paintings of Paul Cézanne (he used a cabane on Mont Sainte Victoire), and the summer evenings of the piano music festival based in Silvercane abbey near the village of La Roque d’Anthéron.
