Corner View - By the Sea

Jeju-do, South Korea

Grand Harbour, Malta

Night & Day in the City

Busan

Bucharest

Grey morning. Scurrying, heads down, isolated together
A moment's eye contact with a stranger
Walls that move in and out
A moan, a whisper, a fearful cry, an angry shout

It's not all bad, it's not all bad
A madman muttering underground
Heads bury deeper into papers
Night descends, dark suits replaced by neon ravers.

Emotion-drained faces framed by windows
Shuddering pipes and throbbing floors
3am, the time for new love and old death
Is when I wake up and decide that tomorrow I will try to leave

The city

Korean Portraits

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Senegalese Portraits

Latvian Portraits

Vietnamese Portraits

Yemeni Portraits

Iranian Portraits

Indonesian Portraits

Indian Portraits

Bhutanese Portraits

Guatemalan Portraits

Corner View - Street Photography

The theme of this week's Corner View is Street Photography.

Corner View - Personal Style

The theme of this week's Corner View is Personal Style. To be honest, I don't think I have one, but these are the most stylish photos of me, possibly the only photos of me from recent years. I've noticed something doing this: I always seem to lean to the right, which as I am politically left-leaning is slightly disconcerting, but I found out today that I have 20% hearing loss in my left ear, so maybe I'm just trying to listen.

Merry Christmas

One day I should sit down and count how many different countries I have spent Christmas in. I guess that it would be around twenty, including one, Saudi Arabia, where Christmas was actually illegal, and I was an outlaw Father Christmas wearing a contraband Santa Claus outfit borrowed from a Saudi princess. One of the best Christmas Days was in Kiev when the worst of times turned into the best of times, after my passport, credit cards, keys to my home etc, which had been stolen on a crowded metro, were returned to me. This made the blue and red Santas competing for business of any kind in the main square seem more appealing.

I once saw one of the guards at the eternal flame in Moldova being kissed and hugged by his girlfriend to keep him warm, while the other one stood to attention, but perhaps the strangest sight I ever saw was in South Korea where I saw a smoking Santa standing in front of a place called the F--k Club, watching a performing dog being warmed by a portable heater.

This Christmas was spent on a beach in Oman, with Swedish tourists, eating king prawns, mussels, roast turkey and an outstanding Christmas pudding cooked by an Indian chef, whilst watching Russian and Philippina entertainers.

Merry Christmas!

Corner View - Contrasts

The theme of this week's Corner view is Contrasts. See how many you can spot between these two scenes on other sides of the world. What, for you, is the most obvious one?

Picture A: Street scene, Daejeon, South Korea

Picture B : Street scene, Montevideo, Uruguay

More contrasts here:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, jodi, gillian, travelingmama , athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene, dominique, shokoofeh, cole, jenna, podane, grey-lemon, line, nihal, urbaNiche, inner toddler, puna, lucylaine, adrienne, emily, lynn, skywriting, elian

The No. 1 Blog in the World

This blog is now ranked No. 1 in World Top Blogs, as voted by bloggers around the world! A big thank you to all of my readers. You've been great.


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PS The photo is of Daejeon, where I used to live in Korea, one of my favourite countries.