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Once Bitten, Twice Shy.
Back to the sun in Dahab, Egypt.
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A Very Small But Public Beach.
The beach behind the Château De La Napoule in Mandelieu-la-Napoule in the Alpes-Maritimes Department of France. The castle was built in the 14th century by the Countess of Villeneuve. In 1918 it was purchased and restored by American husband and wife, Henry Clews Jr. and Marie Clews. In 1951, in memory of her late husband, Marie Clews founded the La Napoule Art Foundation, a non-profit organization which houses the Clews Collection and hosts international programs in the arts.
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An Attention Seeker Hovering Around The Beach.
A colourful moment at Weston-Super-Mare.
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A Hot Day In Dahab.
A typical day on the beach at Dahab, a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
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Hey, I’m Not Using The Back Door!
The beach behind the Hotel Excelsior, Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi, 41, 30126 Lido VE, Italy.
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A Walk South Along The Beach In Dahab, Egypt.
Dahab is the Egyptian Arabic word for gold and may be a reference to the colour of the sands to the south of the town itself.
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A Snapshot Of Bagpipes In Venice.
A rare sight captures everyone’s attention as the gondola with the brightly dressed bagpipe player passes the Palazzo Bembo, Riva del Carbon, 4793-4785, 30124 Venezia, built by the noble Bembo family in the 15th century. The building is now one of the European Cultural Centre’s contemporary art exhibition venues in Venice as well as housing a hotel on the top floor.
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Gianni Aricò’s Monument To Antonio Vivaldi.
“Le putte di Antonio Vivaldi 16-10 2006” by Gianni Aricò outside La Stazione Marittima di San Basilio, Fabbricato 248 30135 Venezia.
“Le putte” is a reference to the young ladies for whom Vivaldi composed and directed music at the “Ospedale della Pietà”. The Pietà Hospital, an institution for orphaned or illegitimate girls, foundlings and the female children of poor families was founded in Venice in 1346. The church of the Pietà, Santa Maria della Visitazione, which stood next to the orphanage was replaced by the present church which was built from 1745-1760. It was in the original Ospedale della Pietà that the Venetian priest-composer, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed music for the putte or maidens. The ability of the Pietà girls for whom Vivaldi wrote and to whom he taught musical skills was regarded as the highest in Europe.
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Music – A Question Of Timing.
This man looks as though he’s instrumental in the theft of a cello from the Museo della Musica in the restored neoclassical Chiesa di San Maurizio, S. Marco 2603 30124 Venezia. In fact, he’s this side of the rope barrier and the cello is firmly placed on the red display stand. The Museo also hosts an exhibition dedicated to the life and the work of Antonio Vivaldi, the world renowned Venetian composer.
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Street Performers By Grey’s Monument In Newcastle
Grey’s Monument was built in 1838 as a monument to Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who passed the Great Reform Act of 1832.
These street players were good so I decided to video them, albeit with my digital camera on low-res, uncertain of the amount of disk space I had. I wasn’t sure what the sound quality would be. In the event, I captured an interesting 58 seconds.
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Corfu, On The Coast Road Between Messonghi And Petriti.
A landslide had caused the road to fall away towards the beach below. I climbed over the landslide and under this lorry, which had been placed there to stop traffic. When I looked back to take the photo, it looked as though the lorry had skidded and slid into that position.
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A Note Of Sadness.
Last year, I saw in the newspaper that my girlfriend’s father had sadly passed away. I sent her this note (full names removed) after not having contact with her for over forty years.
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1 – The Novel, The Poetry & The Screenplay Notes.
“I was always tense” and up all night doing three things at once!
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2 – The Novel, The Poetry & The Screenplay Notes.
“Shot Myself In The Foot With A Smoking Gun” Well, that’s one way to finish things, even if glaringly clichéd!
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My photograph of the entrance to the Arsenale in Venice, featured in Visconti’s 1954 film Senso.
The lion above the Porta Magna and the Rio dell’arsenale entrance towers to the Arsenale di Venezia, Castello, 30122 Venezia from the 1954 film ‘Senso’.
The film starred Alida Valli as the Contessa and Farley Granger as Mahler and was directed by Luchino Visconti who had hoped to cast Ingrid Bergman and Marlon Brando in the lead roles. In the film, the Contessa searches for Mahler at the Porta Magna. The site is now the home of La Biennale di Venezia, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years. https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/554f8cbce4b0c0082b0da72b/1517633
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An Arrow Is An Arrow In Any Language.
An arrow pointing the way to the Museo Civico Di Storia Naturale, Fontego dei Turchi, Venezia or should I say the Natural History Museum in the Turkish Foundation Building in Venice – with some street art thrown in for free.
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Blue Beach Club, Dahab.
We’ve arrived! Now for some yoga!
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Mangrove Swamp, Sinai Peninsula.
Salamba Sirsasana Pose with earth, water, air and space. The fire remains within.
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The Yoga Shala at the Blue Beach Club, Dahab.
Tranquillity, harmony and … Where is everyone?
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Mandelieu-La Napoule.
The water reflects the evening blush as evening draws in on the French Riviera. Nightlife is about to begin.
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Salisbury Sky.
A late afternoon blush in November turns into an early evening blood red sky in Wiltshire.
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My Best Friend’s Garden.
Come any closer and you’ll really make me blush!
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Blue Moon, Piazzale Bucintoro 1 – 30126 Lido Di Venezia.
The Oxford Dictionary defines one meaning of symmetry as “similarity or exact correspondence between different things”.
The ‘Blue Moon’ was designed by Giancarlo de Carlo (1919-2005), professor emeritus at the Venice School of Architecture (Università Iuav di Venezia), founded in 1926 as the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia.
Giancarlo de Carlo saw the role of the architect as inherently political and lectured on the need for the inclusion of users in the design process. He criticised contemporary architectural practice and academic society for being preoccupied with form and glossy image over social and life experience. His designs exemplify the dynamism of what he saw as consensus based physical and cultural necessity. In designing social housing, for example, he took into account the wishes of the intended occupiers – perfect symmetry.
For me, he is the Beat Poet of Modern Architecture.
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James Sapsard - Writer for a Generation. 