towns & villages – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Summer Vacation 2020

This year, summer vacations are going to be very different from years past. My sister did a 10-day virtual summer vacation on Facebook, posting pictures from vacations past and asking people to guess were they “where” that day. It was great fun, so I did the same thing. Here are the photos I included. They span 9 years of vacations, and I would love to go back and see each and every place. So, if you could visit anywhere in the world this summer, where would you go?

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OR… THAT SHOW YOUR DREAM SUMMER VACATION.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Thankful November 18th: Traveling

I know that I’ve already expressed gratitude for the earth and its beauties, but I am also very grateful for the chance I’ve had (and continue to have) to travel many places around the world and also close to home. When my husband and I got married, he hadn’t traveled much. A couple of years after we married, I convinced him that we needed to take a trip to Great Britain to visit a nephew who had been transferred to London for a year, along with his wife and three boys. It was the best thing that could have happened to us. Since then, we have made a few more trips across the pond to the east, across the pond to the west, and headed down south for my first experience in Mexico (besides Tijuana). I’m looking forward to many more adventures around this amazing globe we live on in the near and distant future.

Thankful November 2nd: The Beauties of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1835-1917

I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling around this amazing planet on which we live (that sentence structure is a nod to all of my English professors at the University of Utah). I’ve been to Asia, Europe, Mexico, Great Britain, and most of the United States of America. Everywhere I go, I find beautiful things to photograph and wonderful people who fill my heart with happiness.

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Signs

Blauer is a family name, so I couldn’t resist getting a photo of this sign in Regensburg, Germany last year.

For more from this challenge, visit Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Signs.

A Photo a Week Challenge: View

As photographers, we get the chance to take a lot of pictures of many things: scenery, family, scenery, buildings, scenery, pets, scenery. You get the picture (pun intended). I can’t think of anywhere that I’ve ever been where I thought “Wow, I never want to take a picture of THIS place.” And I’m really glad about that. The world around us is amazing. Every place has it’s own type of beauty. These pictures are from our trip last summer to Europe. The top one is looking through a convenient “National Geographic” frame at the windmills at Kinderdijk in The Nederlands. The pictures below are from stops in Germany along the Main and Rhine Rivers. So this week’s challenge is to find the beauty in your view, whether it’s just outside your kitchen window or from a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF YOUR FAVORITE VIEW OR VIEWS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Small Subjects

cbw_small_stuf_nmp

This is a to-scale model of Rothenburg, Germany.

For more from this challenge, visit Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Small Subjects.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Cityscape/Townscape

I love taking photos of cities. It’s a lot of fun to walk around while looking up at tall buildings, trying to figure out the best way to get a really cool picture. For smaller towns and villages, I love finding the town center to get that shot that makes everyone go “Where did you take that?” For this photo, it’s Rothenburg, Germany.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) FEATURING CITIES OR TOWNS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Colorful

colorful1_nmp

I’ve done several color challenges lately, so this time I decided to go for the whole shebang. I’m looking for the most colorful thing you can find to photograph. This amazing building is the Old Town Hall in Bamberg, Germany. From Bamberg’s tourism site: “According to legend the bishop of Bamberg did not grant the citizens any land for the construction of a town hall. This prompted the townsfolk to ram stakes into the river Regnitz to create an artificial island, on which they built the town hall they so badly wanted.”

The Hall includes an archway (shown below) to the bridges that allow people to cross the Regnitz River.

colorful2_nmp

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT HAVE COLORFUL SUBJECTS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Vanishing Point

vanishing_point_nmp

A vanishing point, also known as the point of convergence, is a key element in many works of art. Think of the vanishing point is the spot on the horizon line where the other lines diminish. It allows us to a create three-dimensional look in drawings, paintings, and photographs.

When shooting perspective images, sometimes the vanishing point visible. Sometimes it’s not, as in my image. The curve of the vanishing point gives you the feeling that you know what is just beyond the bend in the road.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT FEATURE A VANISHING POINT.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Music

music_nmp

In most countries, culture is infused with music. It is part of history as well as current events. Like other art forms, music not only tells the story of an era, but also helps to shape it. During times of war and conflict, popular music becomes more nationalistic and patriotic. During the Great Depression, popular music not only lifted people up, but also spoke of the struggles of many. When a place is experiencing peace and prosperity, popular music is usually more bubbly and lively. One thing that popular music has always done is shock the older generations. My parents didn’t like our music. Their parents didn’t like their music. And on back throughout the centuries. Johann Sebastian Bach (ah, Bach) was an underpaid, little-recognized chapelmeister in Leipzig, Germany for the majority of his professional career. His music wasn’t “discovered” until Felix Mendelssohn conducted a performance of the Saint Matthew Passion in 1829 (it was the first performance since Bach’s death in 1750).

On our recent trip to Europe, we caught this fun, live band in Regensburg, Germany on Corpus Christi Day at a Biergarten. The food was amazing, and the band was even better.

So what’s your favorite music?

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT INCLUDES MUSIC IN SOME FORM OR OTHER.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.