Explore the Elements

One of the reasons I started my blog was to share my photos, because more than anything else it is the photos that tell the story and keep the memories alive!  We have tens of thousands of photos and I love an afternoon looking through them! Thomas Cook have put purpose into this week’s photo viewing with their ‘Explore the Elements’ travel photography competition.  They have asked bloggers to represent each of the four elements with a favourite photo – no easy task!  Enjoy!

Water

Water

As a sailor all my life, water is the element that I’ve been closest too, but that strangely I don’t like to go underneath (I hate water in my ears and still cannot jump into a swimming pool).  As a result I am incredibly aware of the power of water and the respect it demands.  A still shot of raging waves is never as terrifying as the actual sight of watching a storm rage at sea, however a photo of the aftermath does illustrate the power of the sea.  This photo was taken after the 2014 Valentine’s day storm, on Hurst Castle Spit.  The spit is a 1.5mile shingle spit that connects to a lighthouse from Henry VIII’s time.  It is normally solid shingle and about 5 metres above sea level.  After the storm it was broken up all along – it is hard to imagine quite how big and powerful the waves coming up the English Channel and into the Solent must have been that night to do such damage.  It looked so peaceful the next day in the glorious sunshine (absent the controlled explosions of washed up WW2 bombs), but even with the damage, the spit had still protected the yachts in its lee.

Air

Air

Air can cause storms however I think my picture from the Empty Quarter desert is a far more representative way of showing what the wind can do in a good mood, and what incredible beauty it creates!  Climbing to the top of the dunes behind the luxurious Qasr al Sarab hotel wasn’t easy (one foot up and two back down at times) but the vista from the top was draw dropping and changing at all times.  It isn’t only that the sand is always on the move, but also the light from the setting sun that changed the characteristics of the dunes as it set.  I have never been anywhere on land so remote and untouched by human hands and watching the dunes move was a unique way of seeing something at work we can’t see or touch!

Fire

Fire

We don’t have a fire in house, but our next house will have one, I love watching the flames jump from a fire with a glass of red wine in hand while the wind rages outside.  But as you might have guessed from the last photo, I’m also a sunset hunter! For me, perfect sunset conditions are when it appears as if the sky is on fire and the colours are deep and change by the second.  This is one of my favourite sky-fire photos as it isn’t ‘just’ of sun and sea (we have hundreds of them!).  I’ve captured 4 fisherman walking along the dyke ridge at Brancaster Beach in Norfolk.  It was a gorgeous evening in one of my favourite places!

Earth

We don’t tend to take many trips inland!  So I have chosen a picture that includes a sea view, to represent earth!  This is taken in Cornwall.  I am proudly Cornish and in recent years I have enjoyed rediscovering the country with Mr P.  Wheal Prosper at Rinsey Cliff is one of my favourite spots and it is an outstanding and largely undiscovered beauty spot.  Most importantly it embodies just how important the earth has been to Cornwall.  At one point Cornwall was the richest part of the world from tin-mining and of course it is an important part of anyone’s Cornish heritage.  I think the engine houses and chimney stacks are just beautiful and the mind boggles as to how they were constructed on the cliff-edge!  They are dotted across Cornwall and are just a small hint of the level of mining and tunnels below the ground!  Without tin-mining there would be no pasties – so we have to be thankful for the earth in Cornwall really!

Earth

My nominations are:

Martha and the Meadow

Around the World in 80 pairs of shoes

Travel Photo Discovery

On the Luce

Chasing Clouds