Moment of Worship

The broken frame,
Beyond this life,
A silent prayer,
The bridge to beyond.

Along the frame,
The timber strong,
A peaceful moment,
Despair begone.

A reflection deep,
Echoed within,
Worshipped silence,
A moment gone

 

Poetry © Mira Sophia Chrysostomou

One town, One mile, One camera – Macclesfield

Back to my one-one-one project for this post. Macclesfield is the nearest big-ish town near us, and we often find ourselves there for one reason or another. On this occassion, we were there for the Treacle Market, on the last Sunday of every month. Traders are out selling their wares and the people are out to buy, but also to get in touch with their community. And this was a first real outing for my new X-Pro2.

Buskers and a town crier are as you’d expect in a market town.

Three days in Vienna

In September of 2017, we travelled to Vienna for a city break. Our daughter was about to go off to University and so we asked what she wanted to do before going, she said a city-break in Vienna.

I had been to Vienna before, but it was many years ago when I was a student. I still carry many fond memories of those two weeks spent with my cousin, who was a student in Vienna at the time. But when you’re a young student, your agenda and timetable are a bit different to when you reach your middle ages! So we had different things in mind.

One town, One mile, One camera – Den Haag, The Netherlands

Earlier this year I was at a meeting in The Hague, or Den Haag, in the Netherlands. I took my x100s with me thinking that I might have the chance for some street photography while I was there. It was a busy two-day meeting, and I only had one chance to try and take some images of the streets in Den Haag (I like saying it the Dutch way!), and that was at the end of the meeting as I walked between the NWO offices, and the train station.

This was my first time in Den Haag, so I had no idea what to expect. But that just added to the experience. I had no expectations and I would just try to see what I could see in the streets as I walked through the town towards the station.

The pictures in this post are what I could find. A mixture of architecture both old and new, classical and avant garde, and one or two characters.

One town, One mile, One camera – Lincoln

Driving through the county of Lincolnshire it is tempting to think of it as one of the flatest counties in the UK. There are flatter counties and those in the East Anglia region are the flattest of all, according to Wikipedia. But you are easily misled into thinking this when driving into Lincoln. And then you park (if you can find a spot!) and decide to walk to the Cathedral quarter. The gentle ache you feel in your thighs and calfs as you do so tell you a different story.

I took my trusty Fujifilm X100S on this walk, from the University campus, on the banks of the River Witham, up to the Cathedral.

To get to the Cathedral, you walk along an aptly named street – Steep Hill.

After taking images of the Jewish House I was later surprised to learn of the Jewish Heritage that is present in the city, especially in relation with the Cathedral. When reviewing my images, I was struck by the triptich that I put together. Nothing to do with Jewish heritage, but more to do with the symbolic ascent of young man through life who then returns back down from the summit, well…. changed, and with a new perspective on life.

We walked past The Pot Shop. As we were not in Amsterdam, all we found inside was a man making and selling pots.

You are thankful when you reach the top. We will return to Lincoln soon. I shall have to bring my wider lens.

Visit to the Jansky Very Large Array

(click on images within grids for a bigger image)

When you’re building the world’s largest radio telescope, then you need to go and see how other observatories have done the same and learn what lessons you can – which are the good operational practices and what are the mistakes you should try to avoid.

Early in September, we went to visit the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, in New Mexico, USA. The JVLA is an iconic radio telescope with its distinctive ‘Y’ shaped configuration and featuring in various film and TV shows, most notably perhaps in the movie Contact.

At the time of our visit, the 25-metre dishes were being moved out to their very widest configuration where the furthest distance between two individual dishes reaches over 22.6 miles. They are moved, individually, by a transporter along the train tracks you can see in many of the images here.

One town, One mile, One camera – Bakewell

(click on images in grids for larger versions)

Is Bakewell a town or a village? Nestled in the heart of the Peak District it is certainly a very idyllic and picturesque place. We visited during the busy summer season because, well, Bakewell is a very idyllic and pictureque village nestled in the heart of the Peak District.

Whenever I go into towns with the intention of doing some street photography, I always look at the people around, the situations they find themselves in and the interactions between them. That’s what gets me into the right frame of mind for street photography, which is different to the landscape photography frame of mind I need to be in when we are hiking the hills and valleys.

Luckily, there were many characters on the streets of Bakewell that day.

all you can hope for

You can’t cheat death,
But that doesn’t mean
death can’t cheat you.

No matter what you do,
What details you alter,
What sacrifices you make,

You will always end up there.

Pain is what unites us,
Suffering is our burden.

There’s nothing you can do to change it.

You must accept the inevitable,
accept your fate

For in the end,
All you can hope for;

Is a simple tranquility,
A peaceful bliss.
An end to the strife.

Just like,
a sweet shot of whisky
At the end of a shit-smeared life.

© Mira Sophia Chrysostomou

One town, One mile, One camera – Valletta, Malta

This business trip took me to the capital of the Mediterranean island of Malta, Valletta. This was my first time to Malta and I enjoyed it very much. A typically mediterranean town especially at this time of year – hot, dusty, rocky. I found the language fascinating as it was very difficult, for me, to place. You could hear influences from the Latin and Arabic languages.

A week long meeting where I would spend the bulk of the day within a building listening and talking to people. So inspired by my post from Edinburgh I decided, over the course of the 5-day week, to enter street photography mode for the approximate 1 mile walk from the hotel to the University buildings where our conference and meetings were taking place.

Having never been there, I didn’t know what to expect of Valletta, but I quickly found that I really liked the town. It has character and charm, and more besides. Arguably, the island is most famous for receiving the George Cross from George VI following the great siege it suffered in WWII. A replica of the letter from the King bestowing the award is inscribed on the walls of the “Grandmaster’s Palace”.

The doorways and shop fronts in Valletta are both colourful, expressive and indivudual.

One town, One mile, One camera – Edinburgh

A good friend of mine recently challenged me on Facebook to a 7-day B&W challenge. Take a single black & white image each day, for seven consecutive days, and post it on Facebook, and at the end pass on the challenge by nominating someone else. There are lots of these challenges around and I’m not normally a fan of them, but I felt different about this one.

I was spending the week in Edinburgh for a conference, so I wouldn’t have much time to explore the streets or spend sight-seeing. Opportunities for photography would be few and far between. Instead, the bulk of each day would be spent within the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, listening to people talk and talking to other people.

So there was a double challenge – the challenge itself and the challenge of fitting it into the time I had walking between the venue and my hotel, and the hotel to wherever we may be having dinner that evening.

But I did have a card up my sleeve – this is Edinburgh. Anything is possible from a creative standpoint.