Photo Scavenger Hunt

End of summer and time to wrap up Rinda’s summer photo scavenger hunt.  With this photo of me holding a cushion with the Scottish flag I have captured all items on the list, using a sub for the hanging swing.

And here is the double spread in my Project Life album showing all of the items

I really enjoyed hunting for the items and looking at the variety of images that were found for simple things like a washing line. And I love how these photos tell some stories about my summer as well as collecting the items.  Thanks Rinda, looking forward to the next one.

through the window

I love to watch city life while we drive to and from the office and often have my camera out.  About a third of my shots manage to capture what I intended without blur or obstruction.  Here are some from the past week.

many people walk to work.  Here you can see the traditional wrap worn by men. 

For those who don’t walk the common transport is very crowded buses or cycle rickshaws or diesel tuktuks.  Children are taken to school in these contraptions (normally 8 in each), pulled by a man on a cycle – I can’t help thinking of the childcatcher in ChittyChitty BangBang

Traffic is chaotic with the only road rule seeming to be ‘if I’m bigger or ahead of you then I have right of way’.  At some junctions the road police regulate the flow so that cars can turn across the oncoming flow.  They wear blue camouflage uniforms and are armed with rifles although I’ve never seem them being used or held anywhere other than down their back.

I’m always amazed and delighted at how green the city is with trees along most roads and plants all around houses. With all the rain plants thrive

The lake looks beautiful but is highly polluted.

I’m intrigued by this scene from my office window

A bored man on a bamboo bridge (the water is coverer in weed) with a large umbrella for shelter from rain and sun.  No-one in the office can tell me why a guard is needed on the bridge – it leads to a field and a shed.

summertime scavenger hunt takes wing

I finaly came across an angel – after the wedding stalking this was my least predictable item.  During the Fringe festival many different buildings are pressed into service as theatre space and one show that I went to was in the Art College where the corridors are filled with sculptures – including this angel.  No head or hands but the wings were intact so I was satisfied.

So I have found all the items – just the final item to reveal as summer comes to an end.  Thanks Rinda for another fun hunt.

around my Dhaka office

For the last week I’ve been in the office preparing for the workshop that starts on Tuesday.  I thought I’d share some photos of the office.  The photos I used last Monday were what I see out of my office window.  If I turn the other way looking into the room I see my desk.

Bangladeshi tend to eat tasty snacks mid morning and afternoon and we often have these tasty fried treats – like a very spicy samosa that is round rather than a triangle.  I pass on the fresh chilly that is served with them

For lunch we sometimes go the the canteen in a nearby building and sometimes have it delivered from that canteen.  Always a big helping of plain rice and then a curry – this is chicken and potato - which comes in a plastic bag stapled shut.  There is always a piece of lime, and green chillies for those who want.

On Thursday we had birthday cake for afternoon snack as two office colleagues had celebrated a birthday that week.  Heavily decorated cakes are popular and can be seen in many bakery windows.

There is a tradition that the birthday person is fed some of the cake – I think borrowed from seeing the sharing of cake on USA weddings on TV

I think it interesting that the women wear traditional Bangla clothes (long tunic and trousers and a scarf) but the men have all adopted the western norm of shirt and trousers – albeit often in bright colours.

So there you have some tasters on my office at the moment.  I plan to share some shots taken while driving around the city, later in the week.

self portrait of a digi photoartist

Bonnie of Pixle Dust Photo Art really set us a challenge for our photoart this Friday – create a 7 word sentence that describes your evolution as a digi photoartist and match it with an image.  I enjoyed this challenge and having mulled it over on several walks this is what I came up with

Really looking forward to seeing what others have created. 

photo scavenger hunt–movie poster

I see lots of movie posters on the sides of buses in Edinburgh and was in danger of missing this item on Rinda’s scavenger hunt list because I saw it so often.  I finally snapped one when I was in town – the first I got a clear shot of just happened to be for Ted.

Today I am

Outside my window is the skyline of central Dhaka, Bandladesh

I am hearing constant sound of car horns, the steady hum of the aircon and background chatter from the other people in the office space.  About twice an hour I hear a helicopter take off or land.

I am thankful for the opportunity to work here again with a team of good people.  Back for a second train the trainer workshop with the Bangladesh Election Commission

I am wearing brown cotton trousers, a red work top and purple pumps.  My brown linen jacket on the back of my chair but ready to put on for meeting

I am remembering the last time I was here in March and noticing the changes – the aircon is installed and the lift now goes all the way to the 9th floor so we do not have to walk 3 flights of stairs. The office staff has grown from 6 to 11

I am reading the checklists for the workshop preparation
I am hoping that sometime today the three people who need to meet for the next stage of preparation are all in the office at the same time so that we can actually have the meeting

I am pleased that I decided to use this meme from Simple Woman as the basis for a quick post during my lunchbreak  (rice with lots of pieces of green chilli which I picked out and chicken curry with onion and tomato).

the digiart is moving

Moving as in the suggested theme for PhotArt Friday this week – not any other kind of moving.  When I saw this suggestion from Bonnie my immediate idea was to use some (not very good) photos that I had taken of my TV when then 100m race from the Olympics was showing – Bolt and co really are moving. 

But then I also wanted to play with a partial blurring technique that I saw on blogland (and now can’t remember where). 

 

The original photo is of a theatre group (Oxford University Dramatic Society) trying to drum up business during the Fringe Festival – it worked as we went to see it and thought they were fabulous.

So whether you are doing the moving or it feels like the world around you is moving – have a great weekend. I’ll be doing some moving – over 8 000 km in a plane. 

photo scavenger hunt pier

I spotted this pier on a lovely walk along the coast – I’ve looked in that direction many time before but the knowledge that I was looking for a pier made me pay attention to what I was seeing.  Another scored off my list for Rinda’s scavenger hunt list.

Mad digi skills on the washing line

When I posted my washing line photo for the photo scavenger hunt last week Sian suggested it was a candidate for 'my ‘mad digi skills’ and some other agreed.  Now how could I resist such a prompt.

Prior to playing I removed the car, added some colour to the sky because it just looks white here, and cropped in two different ways.

Then I played with some textures for a ‘back in the day’ look

then I changed the bright pink trousers to beige and added some different textures for an more  historical look

then I turned to the artistic filter tools in Photoshop Elements for these two

I so enjoy this kind of playing but had not notice the potential of this photo until those comments – thank you.

Which version is your favourite?

Storytelling Sunday– my first taste of the Fringe

I relish August in Edinburgh because of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which sees the city filled with thousands of performers for three weeks of live entertainment buzz.  While waiting to see a show I was thinking back to my earliest experience of the Fringe and thought it would be a good story for Sian's Storytelling Sunday where we are all invited to share a story each month.

Come with me back to 1982.  I had finished my second year at University of Edinburgh but this story involves my old school.  During my secondary school years I’d enjoyed being involved in creating the costumes for the annual musical production and had continued to be involved when I left for University.  In 1982 we staged a little known musical called The Apple Tree which comprised three linked stories and so allowed for the 3 female singing stars to all shine.  I even have some photos of the production

For reasons now lost in the mists of time, the teachers decided that we would take the production to the Fringe. Thinking back is was quite an undertaking to take so many pupils to Edinburgh.  We staged the musical in a school and had good audiences for the week of our run.  The actors also did some singing stints to the crowds on the Royal Mile as part of the normal display to attract audiences.

So my first experience of the Fringe was as backstage crew to a production – my handwritten note on the back tells me my assistants were Angela, Linda and Dawn. 

The production went smoothly and I don’t recall any mishaps.

The real excitement came a few weeks later when we learnt that we had won a Fringe First Award.  To be eligible the production has to be the UK premier and although the musical had been written and debuted on Broadway in the 1960s it had never before been produced in the UK.  I was part of the group that went to receive our reward – and very proud and thrilled we all were.  This photo is not great quality but it does show us all celebrating afterwards with the award (and bubbles and cake). I’m on the far left.  Our musical director (and music teacher) Jimmy Reith is on the far right and the woman 2 in from him is the producer (and my English teacher) Celia Strachan. 

Good times and a fabulous introduction to all the energy of the Fringe Festival.