Sheron Long's Blog, page 21
October 18, 2016
Photographing Amazing Places on Earth
A collision of forces (North Portugal)
© John North/iStock
Lighthouses: A Magnet for the Collision of Nature’s Forces
Some of the most amazing places on earth are at its edges. Drama is inevitable at these gateways to the vast beyond.
Collisions of nature’s forces are expected—at the polar tips and rugged coastlines, at the intersection of earth, sea, and sky.
These are the same places that made the early explorers afraid of the treacherous, cavernous ledges—at the edge of the flat world—as the curves of the earth disappeared from their view.
And it is here—in these natural theaters—that productions are anything but ordinary.
The calm before the storms
© Logoboom/iStock
The Stalwart Lighthouse
Many of these battles of the forces cast the lighthouse as the lead character.
These beacons, by their very purpose, sit on the cusp of land and sea,...
October 10, 2016
Discoveries: Serenity in Cities
The Culture of Urban Quiet
In Oslo, Norway, Marit Krogh’s “Seated Girl with Headphones” evokes sound and silence.
© Joyce McGreevy
Ah, the quest for urban tranquility. “No man should live where he can hear his neighbor’s dog bark.” That’s how ardent ruralist Nathaniel Macon admonished city dwellers.
Macon was born in the 1750s, when 3 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. He also said those words while active in what some consider a major source of annoying noise, the U.S. Congress.
Finding quiet is easy in Bath, England.
© Joyce McGreevy
Today 54% of the world’s population lives in cities. The noises that can drive us barking mad range far beyond barking dogs.
“Noise is not just irritating,” reports Graeme Shannon, a lecturer at Bangor University. “It can have direct human health impacts.” In fact, the World...
October 3, 2016
Twode to a Changing Culture
Emoji emotion
© Tigatelu/iStock
The Language of Social Media
Who says a story can’t be told in 140-character tweets? Here’s a tweeted ode (a twode?) to a changing culture . . .
GAS. “Greetings and salutations” (or is it “Got a second?”) It could go either way. #AreYouConfused?
The language of social media is a universe of its own—a rapidly changing organism.
It’s a dialect of abbreviations, acronyms, emojis, emoticons, and haiku-like prose.
Even a cat can text faster than I can.
© Leo Kostik/iStock
I am not a maestro of text or tweet. #FullDisclosure
The internet is rife with cats and pudgy-fingered babies who can compose more dexterously and faster than I can.
I text with one finger, one hand. #TextWhileNoOneIsWatching
Those smartphone keys are tiny. #OKforDonaldTrumpHands
The new language of social media
© Monkey...
September 26, 2016
Little London
To truly appreciate London, get down into the details.
© Joyce McGreevy
Travel Inspiration: Details That Delight
You’re watching an American TV show when the location segues to London. Yup, there it is again—ye olde stock footage of Big Ben. So much for London in close-up.
By the logic of TV, Londoners from all 33 boroughs enjoy unobstructed views of this English landmark, the better to set their watches. Never mind that Big Ben refers to the great bell housed inside the Elizabeth Tower.
Gold railings along Little Venice Canal in London’s Maida Vale.
© Joyce McGreevy
Travel guides often present London as a checklist of iconic attractions–Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, the Millennium Eye. Yet for 30 million annual visitors, it’s the London details that form our enduring impressions.
Oh, I see: In the sweet-shop of travel...
September 21, 2016
What’s in the World’s Largest Food Museum?
Oaxacan chocolate rivals Swiss and Belgian chocolate in flavor, in uses (mole, hot chocolate,
sweet and savory dishes), and in cultural heritage.
© Sam Anaya A.
Chocolate, Pineapples, and Cultural Heritage—All at Mexico’s Central de Abasto
“Zoooooom!” A cart stacked with mangos tumbles by me, almost taking my right foot along for the ride. Fortunately, Isabel Ramillo, who sells chocolate from Oaxaca, grabs my shoulder to pull me out of the way.
As I regain my composure, my nose catches a whiff of meats, flowers, and spices for Mexican mole sauce. My ears ring with the sounds of “¡Buen precio!”, whistles, and hundreds of shuffling feet.
I’m in Mexico City at the Central de Abasto (“Supply Center”), the world’s largest wholesale market. But, considering the people, produce, and regions of Mexico...
September 12, 2016
World Photography: The Art of the Neighborhood
Untitled, from the i series
© Eamonn Doyle/Courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery
Sometimes the sets and characters of a neighborhood become just a background track for daily life. The peripherals fade from view. Familiar details lose their luster. People pass unseen.
The act of creating through a camera lens can bring a neighborhood back into focus.
That’s exactly what happened when Irish photographer Eamonn Doyle took camera in hand after a 20-year hiatus.
He rediscovered his home turf—capturing the urban landscape of North Dublin within a half-mile radius of his house, often finding his subjects within just 10 meters of his front door.
He stripped scenes to their essence and brought himself—and those who spend time with his photographs—inside the pulse of Parnell and O’Connell streets.
A reverence for the Parnell Street...
September 6, 2016
So Far, So Fab, Sofia!
Russian-inspired and relatively new (1924), Alexander Nevsky Memorial
Church has become the most recognized landmark in Sofia.
© Joyce McGreevy
Wanderlust Leads to Sofia
If you visit Sofia, Bulgaria, prepare for the inevitable response.
“Bulgaria? Bul-GAR-ia? Where IS Bulgaria, exactly?”
The only European country never to change its name, Bulgaria is in the Southeastern European peninsula known as the Balkans.
Balkan means “a chain of wooded mountains,” and Bulgaria epitomizes this. One-third forested and teeming in biodiversity, Bulgaria borders the Black Sea to the east, Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south.
“Why Bulgaria?” This could take a while, given the rich culture, thoughtful people, affordable prices, fabulous food, excellent public transportation, and natural wonders.
...
August 29, 2016
When a Mexican Cartoonist Speaks Your Language
Ni una más (Not One More) speaks out on violence against women.
© Cintia Bolio
Cintia Bolio Fights Gender Stereotypes
At a desk, pen and sketchbook ready, I waited with 50 other people for our teacher to arrive. In walks Cintia Bolio, with black hair wrapped around her shoulders, big hoop earrings, and a giant smile spread across her face.
She was here at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City to teach a course that revealed, through piercing words and pictures, the woman’s role in Mexican culture. The course had an intriguing title: Political Comic and Gender Perspectives.
Libertad de expresión (Freedom of Expression) is an example of
how Bolio picks up a pen for women’s rights.
© Cintia Bolio
I anticipated a language barrier in the class, but soon found that Bolio’s images speak a universal language. With each lesson...
August 22, 2016
WWOOF’s Homegrown Education
Full steam ahead! The traveling farmer plows the ground for a worldwide education.
© Lizzy Eichorn
From Traveling Farmer to Global Citizen
“Evvvvvvvaaaaaaa, tea time!” my New Zealand WWOOF host would sing to me each day at noon. It was time to return from the garden for a full plate of fresh garden yummies. And so our days on this organic farm progressed to dinner followed by guitar and accordion melodies from a French couple, WWOOF volunteers themselves.
WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is a global work exchange program. Volunteers work on the farms, and WWOOF hosts offer food, lodging, and an organic education. You get to meet up with people from around the world and, together, you might do anything from A to Z:
—milk cows and make cheese in Argentina
—plant vegetables at a therapeutic center in Kazakhstan
...
August 16, 2016
Wordplay: Wit and Wisdom in Public Spaces
Hair-salon puns, like this one in Glasgow, Scotland, are permanent highlights of signage.
© Joyce McGreevy
Reading the Language of Signs Worldwide
Maybe it’s a sign, you think. You mean that literally. It’s Day 1 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and you’re staring at a wall of words that may signify the name of the street. Or a local ordinance. Or the route to Romania.
You know this much: it’s definitely in Cyrillic. Suddenly, you’re back in the pre-literacy of early childhood, experiencing the world as a dense forest of language whose mysteries you’re not yet able to penetrate.
Oh, I see: Signs are an indispensable element of our public spaces.
Showing Obvious Signs
Some signs require no language at all to make their messages clear. Glasgow University uses creative visuals to dish up directions to the student dining hall.
At Glasgow...
