Salamanca

On Travail

Image | | andy townend

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

St. Augustine

The clue to this post is in the title, which is a clumsy attempt to wrap multiple concepts into a single pithy phrase.

Among my resolutions this year were to write and shoot more. Rather dismally I have failed to respond well to my own resolutions. This does of course make choosing next year’s resolutions so much easier, as I plan to have another go.

However, I am happy to report that I have read a lot this year. And I will write about that also. In due course, the fullness of time, and so on.

I have also travelled a great deal. A very great deal. And, that is also something I intend to write about on the same terms as above.

I am not comfortable with my personal carbon footprint this year. So, trees will need to be planted. Probably enough to stock a decent sized hillside.

What prompted this post was my need to share (other than on my FB page) my journey home.

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lloviendo

Image | | andy townend

a poem, some unedited rain, and a slice of plath

salamancastreets

i woke to the sound of rain
― sylvia plath, the bell jar

see me

the face

in the rain

see me

the fingers

on the pane

see me

before

i am

wiped

away

*one of a series of shots made in salamanca with my ancient olympus om10, with zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens, and loaded with ilford xp2 super ISO 400 film*

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plaza

| andy townend

Another shot at this week’s WordPress prompt on the theme of ‘I’d rather be’ which features the streets of Salamanca, words by Murakami and some unedited mono photos from me and my trusty old Olympus OM10.

salamancastreets

“Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you gradually feel your body falling loose, shaking free of the world of reality. Rain has the power to hypnotize.”
― Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

We often spend time wondering who, where, or perhaps what we are.

What we’d rather be.

Maybe, our lives would be better if we simply accepted who we are, where we are.

And what we have.

Let the rain wash over us, cleanse us.

Make us whole again.

And maybe then, we’d rather not need to be anything that we are not.

Already.

A thoughtful piece for this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo challenge which posed the rhetorical question ‘I’d rather be’

And, in an odd way, the fact that each of these shots was captured, in Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, with a 35 year old Olympus OM…

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I’d rather be

Image | | andy townend

‘what was the thing, who was the one?
i’d tell you if I had the chance
all over the city, the suburbs and towns
i’m begging someone, please look up’
– lyrics from ‘everybody wants to sin’ sarah blasko

for wordpress weekly photo challenge ‘i’d rather be’

*shot in salamanca, españa, with 35 year old olympus om10 and zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens in aperture priority mode with ilford xp2 super iso400, developed by ilford, after I dropped it on a cold tiled floor and bent the filter ring, gotta love film…*

story

Image | | andy townend

‘whispered something in your ear
it was a perverted thing to say
but I said it anyway
made you smile and look away’
– lyrics from ‘nothing’s gonna hurt you baby’, cigarettes after sex

once upon,
a time
each story
began

in gentle tones
no broken bones

later,
gingerbread,
blood red
tales of death
and terror

stalked my,
dreams

later, still
each story
began, in torchlight
and fright

what right,
had i

and now,
each story,
ends before,
it begins

as life,
unwinds

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – story
*image shot in salamanca, españa, with fujifilm x100f with 23mm (35mm fill frame equivalent) lens at ISO500, f/4 and 1/300s with added effects applied in analog efex pro 2*

pedestrian

Image | | andy townend

…places where, if you die, you may simply die with the knowledge that your killer was in the wrong
― Lucy Wadham, The Secret Life of France

For WordPress weekly photo challenge – pedestrian

*Shot with Fujifim X100F with fixed 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent) lens at ISO 200, f/4 and 1/120s with a smidgen of editing in Lightroom CC and (my old favourite – and free – plugin) Analog Efex Pro 2*

windows

Image | | andy townend

Strangely transparent, they seemed like windows to a world beyond, but however long I peered into their depths, there was nothing I could see
― Haruki Murakami

For WordPress weekly photo challenge – Windows

There are a lot more windows here and here.

*Shot with Fujifilm X100F with 23mm (35mm fixed frame equivalent) fixed lens, ISO 200, 1/140s at f/5.6 with some added mystery applied with Affinity Photo which, along with Affinity Designer, I’m exploring as a credible Photoshop CC replacement*

layered

Image | | andy townend

In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost, and what you had, and what you lost
Dreams – Fleetwood Mac


I took this shot during a walk back in Salamanca before returning to Africa.

Even at the time I took the shot, I was captivated by this painting. Had the artist been there I would indeed have taken it there and then.

But, it was not to be.

There were at least three paintings, each with a dreamlike quality, each stacked against each other, seeming to peel back a layer of the beautiful city which formed a backdrop to the canvases.

And, in preparing this image, I couldn’t resist adding another layer of my own.

For WordPress weekly photo challenge – Layered.

*Made with Fujifilm X100F and 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent) fixed lens, ISO200, f/4 at 1/1500s with an extra layer of oil applied in Photoshop CC*