Sonel’s B/W Photo Challenge: Nature

This week, Sonel has started a new challenge encouraging us to edit some of our nature photos into black and white. I’ve never thought of doing this before, although I’ve admired many such images in other bloggers’ posts. I thought I may as well have a go at it, and was surprised at how relatively simple it is.

Here are the fabulous curves of the Karst hills which line the Li river between Guilin and Yangshuo. The scenery here has been described as “the best under Heaven,” and I can quite believe it. It was as if I had been transported into an ancient Chinese pen and ink drawing. The elegance was just astounding.

The great Tang Dynasty poet Han Yu (768-824) was inspired to write. “The river winds like a green silk ribbon, while the hills are like jade hairpins.”  Such an apt and beautiful description.

More than 40,000 hills lie along the two sides of the river, which runs for more than 150 kilometres.  Along the route, there are banyan trees and bamboo, as well as pretty little cottages and fishing boats. The sense of peace one feels whilst cruising slowly past this amazing landscape, is indescribable.

To see more entries for Sonel’s black and white theme, just click here.

 

Arrangements for Jake’s Theme.

Jake’s theme this week is to show some photos of our idea of arrangements, be it people, things or places. I guess that most things look better if some thought is given to the way they are arranged. No-one would appreciate their meal being served as a horrible mess of ingredients.  It looks far more appetising like this.

Desserts can be arranged so beautifully too; almost too pretty to eat. 🙂

Whilst we’re on the subject of food, Here is something which I found quite tempting, but not wanting to spoil the careful arrangement of these calorific treats, I managed to resist the temptation. 😉

However, this gorgeous arrangement of healthy fresh fruit, was soon devoured without a guilty conscience.

The art of stained glass windows requires careful placement and arrangement of  hundreds of small pieces of coloured glass, as in these lovely examples at Chichester Cathedral in England.

Retailers need to arrange their wares in an ordered and appealing manner. Vegetables look so much better when thought is given to their arrangement.

Even boring old cleaning stuff and pesticides can be arranged to look attractive.

Of course the absolute and ultimate expert at arranging things perfectly, is Mother Nature. You really can’t fault her judgement, can you? 😕

Karsts along the Li River.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

To see Jake’s arrangement animations, and links to other responses to the challenge, just click here.

Travel theme: Curves

Ailsa’s new travel theme is “Curves,” and if you click on my link, you will see her 3 amazing photos for the challenge.

I was sure I must have something suitable, tucked away in my trusty laptop, and these are what I came up with:

This is the curve in the road where I first set eyes on the most breathtaking sight of Mount Rushmore. It had been a dream of mine to actually witness this amazing spectacle for myself, and I was so excited.

I just love how the curve of this beautiful arch, contrasts with the straight path through the lovely gardens of the 10th century Alhambra Palace in Granada.

Here are the fabulous green curves of the the hills which line the Li river between Guilin and Yangshuo. The scenery here has been famed as “the best under Heaven,” and I can quite believe it. It was as if I had been transported into an ancient Chinese pen and ink drawing. The elegance was just astounding.

 

Here is the beautiful curve of a rainbow at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I put this one in especially for bulldogsturf, who is an ex Rhodie.

Some of you may have seen this next pic, but it does fit the theme very well. How is this for a curvy staircase? Whilst in Rome last year, we went to the Cabiria Restaurant,where we got the elevator up to the roof deck. After dinner, some of us decided that this was a far more exciting way to get back down to ground level. I counted 186 steps, and although I’d only had two glasses of wine, was quite dizzy by the time I reached the bottom. 🙂

I know that the word “curvy” is often used to describe the well-rounded female figure. When we went out walking along our beach path today, I couldn’t resist taking a pic of this painting for the theme. This artists impression of female curves is quite hilarious, don’t you think? 😀

I hope you enjoyed my curvy pics. If you would like to see what other bloggers have come up with, just click here.