Arkitektur

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #43 – Less is More

/ Leya / 47 kommentarer

Amy challenges us to think Less is More – and that, is always a challenge… In photography we often talk about simplicity, and a photo standing on its own. No need for words. Often Black and White is helping us to achieve that.

So, let us slow down…because “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius

Less is More even when the ground is covered in spring flowers below a blue sky,

or when a lonely path strives to reach the mountain lake – because colours matter here –

The history of the phrase Less is More, is that it was adopted in 1947 by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohem. Since then, the aphorism is one of the most used (and abused) in design and architecture.

Originally though, this is a 19th century proverbial phrase, first found in print in Andrea del Sarto, 1855, a poem by Robert Browning. And it still is a phrase very much alive!

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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”   – Leonardo da Vinci

 

Thank you for all your innovative and creative contributions to my hosted challenge Creativity last week!

 

 

 

 

Friendly Friday – Looking Up

/ Leya / 12 kommentarer

Amanda, at ”Something to Ponder About”, asks us for the Friendly Friday Challenge to look up! When visiting my daughter in Umeå this winter, she made me look up to see this tiny Wolkswagen bubble hanging from the ceiling. Frankly, I loved it.

So, you had better be looking up in order not to miss those funny things!

Lens-Artists Challenge #36: – Around the Neighborhood

/ Leya / 77 kommentarer

Tinas challenge this week is to take us Around the Neighborhood. Your own, someone else’s or maybe from where you stayed on one of your travels. I have chosen our summer paradise in Blekinge, Sweden.

We have a tiny cottage there, where we spend some lovely summer weeks every year.

Our summer house is small, but the area is known for its big and beautiful old buildings.

The park, Ronneby Brunn, is a famous, prize winning beauty, but in the neighborhood you will also find old mansions – some abandoned- but their gardens are kept alive.

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So, what more will you find here? Harmony…

and the sea. Quiet mornings you can take the canoe and paddle along the little stream reaching from the sea to a lake nearby.

Or, you can walk or bike along the country roads and listen to the birds singing and the cattle munching away. You will soon get used to the strange looks you get…

Blekinge is also renowned for its many old oak trees. This giant stands at Gökalv, where we spend much time hiking and watching the sunset. Estimated age – several hundred years old.

When dinner is finished, we walk or bike along the shore to see the horses and the swans showing off their young.

 

And when sunset is approaching, we return to Gökalv for the glorious ending of the day.

Maybe a final swim before going to bed – if it is a warm night…

The longest day of the year, darkness will never fall, so, we walk along the water line and listen to the swallows chasing mosquitos. Being grateful to just exist.

Thank you, Tina, for an inspiring challenge and the opportunity to visit so many neighborhoods around the world!

 

 

 

 

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #35: Architecture

/ Leya / 31 kommentarer

As Amy’s challenge this week is Architecture, I invite you to follow me to Umeå for a visit to a very special hotel.

The Grand Hotel in Umeå, by architect Viktor Åström, was built 1894-95. The facade is in neorenaissance. Close up to this beauty is U&Me Hotel, opened in 2014, by architects from Snøhetta, and interior design by architect- and design Stylt Trampoli.

The more than 120 years old Seafarers’ House and Grand Hotel in central Umeå has been exquisitely renovated, and the concept of historic influences from the seven seas is so unique that the hotel was elected World’s Best New Boutique Hotel 2014.

The whole interior is spectacular…

and some pieces remind you of a shipwreck.

The old Grand Hotel is closely connected to (a real juxtaposition) U&Me, something that feels a bit awkward from the outside – while the inside might be described as a smooth swim through a coral reef…

Thank you, Amy, for an inspiring challenge and the opportunity to follow in your footsteps to one of the new seven wonders of the world!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #29: Cityscapes

/ Leya / 53 kommentarer

”In the visual arts a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area.” This is the Wikipedia definition, and I must express my love for the easiness by which the English language constructs new words, adding – scape is only one possibility.

I must admit, this time I have had to struggle a bit, because I seldom take the time to see a city from a high up vantage point. I am not a city girl – more of a town girl and most of a country girl. I do enjoy visiting big cities for a very short time – for the architecture and all the other arts found in museums, opera houses, exhibition halls and the like. But one week is enough for me. Thus, my photos for Patti’s challenge, are mostly shot from boats, trains or planes. I have to excuse the lesser quality through all those windows…and the biggest city, Shanghai (25 million people), in rain.

Rain, fog and smog – that is Shanghai, and so many other big cities all over the world – in China not the least…but here I found most of my cityscape photos.

We managed to get a short glimpse of Shanghai by night – in heavy rain.

Our ship passed many big cities on the Yangtze cruise – I don’t even remember their names…

…through the windows it seemed to me…they all looked – the same.

Now we are on the other side of the world, Quito (2 million people), Ecuador. The people here are gentle and very sweet, and I loved their friendly and colourful city.

How about returning to Europe? London (8 million people) is an absolute favorite with me, and I have chosen the moment I first saw the Shard – through a dirty train window on arriving from Gatwick. Funny, I was chocked, I did not even know it existed!

Another favorite is Barcelona (1.6 million) – the home of so many of  Gaudí’s architectural masterpieces. I do plan to return to see the Cathedral finished.

I recently found a new favorite city of mine, in Bulgaria – ancient Plovdiv (345000 people, and 2019, The European Capital of Culture). A true gem.

Lastly, my nearest big city in Sweden, Malmoe, with its 312000 inhabitants. A windy city by the sea, just opposite Copenhagen on the other side of the water. Shot through the plane window flying in with a beautiful sunset. The only skyscraper you will see here is  Turning Torso – by the architect Santiago Calatrava.

In the header, the City of Cities – Rome, in late afternoon light.

Thank you to Patti for this wonderful opportunity to dig in the archives for cityscapes I did not think I had… and for the chance to see so many cityscapes I will never be able to visit!

 

CB&W Photo Challenge: Rocks, Boulders, Stones

/ Leya / 13 kommentarer

https://ceenphotography.com/2018/12/13/cees-black-white-photo-challenge-rocks-boulders-stones/

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #21: Splash!

/ Leya / 31 kommentarer

 

This week, Patti is hosting our challenge – and she has chosen an interesting subject –  ”Splash!” for us to illustrate, and relate to. The essential Water. And in order to survive and live on this beautiful planet, we rely on water. (And oxygen…and…)

In the header, the photo shows the bathroom at Casa Battló in Barcelona. (Fake water…)

Memories from the Spanish west coast – a warm and glorious evening!

The sound of a River in Iceland, making its way to the cold winter sea.

Lofoten, Norway, is something otherworldly…

And down to the tiniest spot, we rely on water. To catch fish, drink, but also to play with – and in…Bring your mum if it looks too dangerous!

My students always had to go through several ”tests” when they first started college. One of them meant filling a tube with water, and to cooperate to stop the water from splashing through the holes in it. Using yourself only! And there were several holes drilled in it…. They almost always threw themselves into the game – After some minutes the leftover water was measured, and the winners were…:-D