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Tag: Europe

Overcast

You’d think that living the UK I’d have no trouble whatsoever with the PhotoFriday theme “Overcast.”Except, with so much choice, well, which do you choose?

Ultimately I thought this image from our Christmas in Iceland fitted the bill rather better than anything I could find from the UK.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Blurred.” I’m entry number 263.

Travelling with work

The first few years of my November Plan were all business trips, but the truth is that I rarely get to see much more than the airport, an office and a hotel room when I go away. Oh, and maybe a restaurant if I get the chance.

That made last weeks trip to Paris and Frankfurt the exception. Meetings finished early in France and I couldn’t change my train reservation so I took the Metro a few stops south a hung around Notre Dame for a couple of hours.

Lightness

I had a really hard time finding a suitable image for this weeks PhotoFriday theme, “Lightness.” I note that a few people have submitted sunsets or sunrises. Nice, but that’s light not lightness.

I visited Iceland over Christmas and remember the constant flickering of candles and open fires and the cheer of the locals despite the long hours of darkness. This image, therefore, represents lightness both in terms of the candles and the spirit of all in the parade. (That sort of sounds cheesy when you write it down but I’m being genuine when I say it!)

Square

There are quite a lot of options for a theme like “Square,” but in the end I decided on this one of a square access hatch covered in graffiti. I’m not sure whether “Earth Liberation Front” is a serious organisation or not but the name amused me.

It was taken in Corniglia, one of the towns of the Cinque Terre.

Please also vote for my entry in the last challenge of last year, “Best of 2009.” I’m entry number 188.

Best of 2009

How do you define the “Best of 2009“? That’s this weeks PhotoFriday theme so that’s what I had to work with. It’s hard enough when you have a specific theme but something so broad makes it tricky. Best could mean personal favourite. Or most talked about. Most favourited on Flickr? Most views? Highest rated? (By some measure.)

In the end I went for the above shot, taken in Spain, because it ticks a number of boxes. It’s a bit different from the kind of thing I normally end up with; a few people commented on it; the simplicity makes it one of my favourites; and, finally, I’ve not used it for PhotoFriday yet this year!

My delicious.com bookmarks for November 16th through December 1st

  • The November Plan – Post now updated with my recent trip to Austria.
  • Apple’s Mistake – “How much of the goodwill Apple once had with programmers have they lost over the App Store? A third? Half? And that’s just so far. The App Store is an ongoing karma leak.”
  • The Daily Shoot – A great idea to help people (myself included!) to take more pictures. I think a lot of us have the will, just not the time or inspiration. Time is hard but inspiration just got a little easier.

Vienna, Austria

While there was a very long short-list of places to go, Vienna eventually won the coveted prize of being the destination of my November trip, 2009. Before I stepped onto the plane I confess that I have little idea what there is to see in Austria’s capital city. It certainly has a famous name but you can’t base an entire trip on an Ultravox song and the teenage home of one of the least loved people from the twentieth century.