travel – Page 4 – Chasing Butterflies

Travel theme: Statues

So, it´s that time of the week again: time for Ailsa´s travel theme. This week the theme, if you hadn´t already guessed from the title, is statues. I have to admit that I found this weeks challenge a little more difficult than I had anticipated. I spent hours going through the copious amounts of photos I have accumulated over the last few years and, to my amazement, very few of them were of statues.

The vast majority of my photos are of street life or fashion. I seem to just love capturing moments as they unfold before me. I just get caught up in the beauty of life, flaws and all, and, I have to admit, I love aging beauty: the older the better. To me age is beauty; whether it´s a dilapidated old building which is bursting at the seams with history or an older person who, through the wrinkles on their face, you can tell has a story to share. I guess what I´m trying to say is that I find everyday life more intriguing than still life.

That said, I did manage to dig up some statues for this week´s theme. Each one of them coming from Cartagena in Spain. It´s funny, if you read my post on Cartagena, you may recall that I found Cartagena to be a bit of a let down. While I enjoyed my trip there; I found it lacked the usual charm that Spanish cities are filled with. However, I must have loved the statues there as I took quite a few photos of them during my trip.

So, all that remains now is to share them with you. I hope you enjoy my humble offerings to this week´s theme.

If you would like to get involved in Ailsa´s travel theme challenges then here is all the information you need:

If you would like to join in (everyone’s welcome!) here’s what to do:
•Create your own post and title it Travel theme: statues
•Include a link to Ailsa´s page in your post so others can find it too
•Get your post in by next Thursday, as the new travel theme comes out on Friday
•Don’t forget to subscribe to her page to keep up to date on the latest weekly travel themes.

If you would like to see some more of this week´s offerings then check out the links below.
http://geriatrixfotogallerie.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/palacio-de-mateusportugal
http://esengasvoice.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/travel-theme-statues/
Wave To The Mermaid!

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you in my next post.

Giana xoxo

Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life

If your read my post yesterday, Photowalk: Alicante, you will know that I´ve rekindled my love for photography. As I mentioned: I´m not particularly talented or anything, I just enjoy the experience of taking photos.

During the Photowalk through the streets of Alicante on Saturday I became very snap happy indeed, taking near to three hundred photos – as I said : snap happy. In yesterday´s post I shared a mere 50 photos out of this vast quantity but, when I saw this weeks photo challenge, I was inspired to share a few more!

With that said, in keeping with the theme street life, here are a few more of the beauties I took on Saturday. I hope you have as much fun looking through them as I had while I was taking them!

Street Life: Alicante Style.

So, there you have it, my humble entry into this weeks challenge. If you liked it, and would like to see some more, check out these entries:

1. http://dragoneystory.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/daily-post-weekly-photo-challenge-street-life/

2.http://chrisbreebaart.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/weekly-photo-challenge-street-life-oort-bridge/

3. http://shoot2blog.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/weekly-photo-challenge-street-life/

4. http://ledrakenoir.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/street-life/

5. http://myincatrailchallenge.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/weekly-photo-challenge-street-life/

Hope you all are having a great day.

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you in my next post.

Giana xoxo

Photowalk: Alicante

If you read my post last Sunday, “Time to make my return to writing”, then you might recall that I mentioned a new found love for photography. During my absence from the world of blogging I sought pleasure and comfort in photography. I found that photography opened up a new world for me. It allowed me to focus on the beauty and joy that surrounded me.
That said, I started learning about editing photos and then, after humming and hawing for at least a month, I took the plunge and opened an Instagram account. I started off slowly, uploading maybe one picture a week, but as I got more involved in the community I got braver and started uploading one a day. Suddenly I was addicted, my passion for photos and photography had been ignited again.
So, on Saturday, I took this addiction to a new level, did something I had never done before and went along to a photo day in Alicante. The photo day was fantastic. There were some talks in the morning which covered everything from different techniques and editing software to how to make the most of social networks. Fascinating, especially for someone like me; ignorant to the world of social media.

After these talks the photo walk commenced. It covered all the main tourist areas of Alicante. The idea was to apply what you had learned from the talks and, basically, snap to your hearts content. And then, to finish off the day, there was a prize giving ceremony in a winery! What more could you ask for?
To make the day even better they are holding a competition for the best photo taken on the day. So not only did I learn about photography, make some new friends, experience a fantastic day looking at the beauty of Alicante but, I get to enter a competition! Fantastic!
So, still filled with the joy of yesterday, I decided to share some of my photos with you all. Bare in mind I’m not a professional, nor do I believe I have the talent required to be a professional, but it’s something that I enjoy doing; it brings a smile to my face. Therefore, I wanted to share my joy with you. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Photo Day in Alicante.

Hope you all have had a fantastic weekend.

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you in my next post.

Giana xoxo

Travel Theme: Pink.

So, as you might remember, if you think dare to think back to over a year ago, I got involved in Ailsa´s travel theme in September 2012. I loved the concept of this weekly challenge as it combined my three loves – writing, travel and photography. It also gave me the opportunity to interact with so many people who shared my passions. It was fantastic. Ailsa herself was very welcoming and encouraging, which is always so nice. Then, as we all know, life got in the way and sadly, after only two posts, I had to walk away from the challenge.

As I was scrolling through my reader on Monday morning I spotted this weeks challenge. There it was, staring at me ever so boldly, luring me in. Right there and then I vowed that no matter how chaotic my work week got I would find a way, somehow, to fit this weeks challenge in. So here I am, over a year later, finding the time to squeeze this weeks posts in. Let´s face it, doing this challenge is way more rewarding than correcting that pile of corrections sitting on my desk (don´t worry all corrections will get done, no one will suffer for the sake of my joy!)

This weeks challenge is designed to welcome in one of my favourite seasons: Spring. Spring has always been a season that has filled me with joy, apart from those nasty allergies that it brings with it, I love everything about Spring. I love how everything starts to come to live again. The sun is shining brightly, the flowers are dancing in an attempt to show off their amazingly vivid colours and there is a hum of happiness in the air as people take to the street again in celebration of the end of winter.

Ailsa made a great point in her post as she offered up this weeks theme: pink, “It’s a colour you either love or hate, but if you look closely, there’s an awful lot of it around.” And it´s true, the streets are filled with this vivacious colour, there´s no escaping it. So, here is my offering for this weeks challenge. Humble as it may be, I hope you enjoy it.

If you would like to get involved in Ailsa´s travel theme challenges then here is all the information you need:

If you would like to join in (everyone’s welcome!) here’s what to do:

Create your own post and title it Travel theme: Pink
Include a link to Ailsa´s page in your post so others can find it too
Get your post in by next Thursday, as the new travel theme comes out on Friday
Don’t forget to subscribe to her page to keep up to date on the latest weekly travel themes.

To check out some other entries, click on the links below:

http://pathsunwritten.com/2014/03/21/travel-theme-pink/

http://esengasvoice.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/travel-theme-pink/

Travel Theme: Pink

http://loganbruin.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/travel-theme-pink/

http://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/travel-theme-pink/

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you in my next post.

Giana xoxo