Category Archives: Travel

Posts about my travel – real and planned.

Lisbon : First Impressions

Found the hotel, walking around the narrow lanes near the castle, met for drinks at 1am – this city runs late for sure – and a quick visit to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum this morning and here I am at lunchtime looking forward to my first Tango lesson this evening.

 

So what are my thoughts having never been to Lisbon before.

In many ways it seems to be exactly what I expected, a city with so much history but suffering from long periods of neglect, the recent economic problems – and perhaps most worryingly the fact that most young people no longer want to live in the city centre – they are running for the newer, safer houses in the suburbs.

All this creates great potential for just the kind of photography I love to take – I look forward to the next few days.

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My great surprise is the language – just how different it sounds from Spanish. Having an extremely basic vocabulary in Spanish from a long time ago, I expected at least to be able to understand something of simple basic conversations – but no – not a word.

 

 

 

Back in Seville

So good to be back in this welcoming, warm and friendly city – already so full of memories and always offering images of the kind of urban art that I so enjoy trying to capture.

I am thinking about what motivates me to take certain images. There are very obvious themes – on this trip so far there is the obvious attraction to street art:

And then the general urban shots :

People of course, but again always in a more urban setting :

But in a way the images that give me a lot of satisfaction is where I find a particular scene that sets itself up for framing a person. So I have selected two of these in this post.

 

The skill becomes one simply or patience – just waiting for the right person to walk into the shot. They are a nice combination of a statement without being at all posed – at least as far as the subject is concerned.

 

My first Beltain – Impressions

Yesterday I was invited to a celebration of Beltain at Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, right on the border with West Sussex. The site is a working ‘ancient farm’ where archaeologists can experiment to test their theories of now people lived in Iron Age Times.

Beltain itself is the Gaeilic May Day festival – held to celebrate the beginning of summer. As I now understand it Beltain – the beginning of summer – and Samhain – the begining of Winter – are the most important of 4 Gaelic festivals. Beltain seems to have the general positive theme of celebrating light and renewal of life – and is celebrated with bonfires.

In the case of the festival yesterday, the culmination was the burning of a giant Wicker Man, into which during the day everyone could place a small wish – there is something quite moving in seeing all of these hopes written on small pieces of paper, tied to twigs in the Wicker Man – and then to watch them burn and the embers flow into the night sky.

There was much that to me seemed so positive about the afternoon and evening. There was such a range of people, and the underlying themes of folk and Irish music, Jigs and dancing – although always layered with symbolism if you chose to be receptive to it – could just be accepted as a simple celebration of the dawning of summer. There were no priests, no nonsense – just wine food and beer, the making of  wreaths to wear for the evening from vines and plants, music and face painting.

Young and old mingled in this ancient farm, watching small displays, belly dancers or just sitting on the grass and talking with friends – and at the end all watched the burning of the Wicker Man in this ancient site, free to have their own thoughts and responses, and to keep them to themselves.

If this simple, unpretentious, yet quietly respectful celebration is something of the spirit of modern paganism then in my view there should be much more of it in the world.

 

 

 

March 2013 Highlights

March was a great month.

It included the trip to Seville, continuing to learn Tango ( still just awful but having fun and maybe, maybe getting just a bit better?? ) as well as finishing the second 10 week creative writing course. My first novel got over the 15,000 word count – which has been great fun.

I also attended a Street Photography workshop which although just half a day was great fun.

Currently have the next trip booked for June, destination Lisbon – but this is notoriously flexible – both in terms of timeframe and where I end up going!!

 

The calming impact of landscape

I spent a couple of hours walking in the Sussex landscape today -with the hope that it would clear my confused mind.

It was a cold afternoon – especially just after arriving from Seville – just the kind of weather where it is so tempting not to go anywhere,  instead to sit at home and plan moving to somewhere with a decent climate.

But landscape is so healing. After an hour and a half of stupid thoughts and frustrations I just stopped, and carefully watched what was in front of me. I took this image, the only photo I took in the whole day.

There’s nothing special about the image, it just reminds me of how calm I felt. It was starting to sleet, I was totally alone but for the first time my mind just stilled.

It’s an amazing process. I took  all of my emotional baggage into the Sussex hills and walked –  I didn’t fight my mind, I just walked – and eventually something within me responded to the beauty and presence of everything around me.

So healing. I should do it more often.

Tango in Seville

Today is the last day of my vacation in Seville and by far the highlight has been learning Tango with Joao Alves.

I have so enjoyed our time together – Joao was accompannied by Begonia – a talented dancer who has only been learning for 8 months – and the two of them combined to provide the ideal learning experience for me.

I loved the studio – it really is an urban space, somehow that just fits with what attracts me to Tango. I attended a beginners class, a workshop designed for absolutely complete beginners as part of a cultural day at the centre – and private lessons.

I have of course only just started my own journey in learning Tango – but such a positive experience has made certain that I will keep going, and I will certainly be back to continue my learning experience with Joao.

Thank you so much to both of you for making my time so enjoyable and positive! You are not just talented dancers but also great teachers and warm and friendly people – I promise I will both practice hard and learn some Spanish before I see you both again!

 

Intimate Gestures

Seville – Semana Santa – so much is about the processions and the masks, the deliberate concealment of individuality.

But within the crowds and the pageant I find myself always drawn to intimate gestures – the small expressions of ‘myself’ that make such a difference to us all.

I look for these everywhere, and that’s only natural. We are all looking for connections, and meaningful relationships can only be made with individuals who have the courage and integrity to express themselves in a world that so often presents easier options.

Personally I am now on a journey to find that sense of who I am in so may different areas. It is one of the most rewarding and fascinating journeys anyone can take – getting to some basic level of competency in fields that then have enough depth to turn everything back on you – suddenly you are not learning the basics of a discipline, but instead immersed in what that passion can teach you about yourself. There are so many areas of life that are deep enough – art, dance, yoga, writing.. so many creative arts..

Or perhaps teach is the wrong word – it seems to be that you and the discipline move together, illuminating each other – dancing around each other in an intimate circle of discovery.

Religion in Seville

Visiting Seville for the Easter Week ( Semana Santa ) is going to force anyone to confront their impressions of the power of the church here, and their influence on ordinary lives. 

I worry at seeing masked children being led to the parades by devout looking parents. What kind of impact does all this have on such impressionable minds?

How wonderful to see that when the mask slips, children are still children.

I think it is always difficult to be fair and balanced as an outsider – we just have our fleeting impressions. But I can’t help feeling saddened by these dark churches sheltering anonymous, guilt-ridden people, particularly when they make signs of the cross to wax figures draped in gold..

 

 

Another day in Seville

Spent some more time in the twisting and turning streets of Seville.

I am going to post separately on the Semana Santa parades, and the general mixed up emotions the religious side of Seville causes me, so here are just a few images on reflections, thoughts, humour and music to keep things light.

 

 

 

First Impressions of Seville

After my first 24 hours here this is one of the best places I have found in which to get enjoyably lost!

The place is a maze of alleys and sights – images are everywhere. With Semana Santa starting on Sunday – street parades every day for next week – it should be a great chance to get some fascinating shots.

I will also try to get some images from my efforts to continue my beginners Tango lessons – it was great to drop in on an advanced class last night just to say hello and meet the teacher. It’s in a great urban space – I added one image to the set above – which somehow really suits the kind of Tango I would so love to dance one day – but for now it’s all about trying to find a way to learn fast enough, so I can stop laughing at myself every minute ..