September | 2013 | R. Doug Wicker — Author

The Doors, Windows, and Roofs (and No Other Stuff)

Santorini Window Shutters

The photographs shown both this week and last are not a part of some vast collection that accumulated over many years. They are, in fact, examples shot during just one 54-day period, on a cruise that took Ursula and me across the Atlantic Ocean twice and throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

Azores Window

Oh, rest assured that I have from that expedition a fair share of more-or-less boring and uninspired landscape shots taken in typically boring landscape orientation. The problem is that those are the expected shots — the scrapbook photos you use to bore your friends out of their skulls.

Tropical Victorian — Azores

If you’re going to take those type shots, at least intersperse them with the occasional unexpected gem that focuses on but one detail bobbing around in a sea of familiarity.

Doing Laundry in Batumi

Doing so with give your scrapbook-viewing friends not only a sense of the sights, but also the flavor and color of a destination.

Colorful Santorini

Otherwise you run the risk of having people skip your dinner invitations for fear of having to sit through another typical vacation rendering in which their eyes glaze over and their minds start wandering to more exciting and fun pursuits, such as an upcoming root canal procedure.

Lisbon Roof Tiles

There is not set rule of thumb as to how many panoramic landscapes you can get away with before hitting the boredom wall, but you should have at least one or two frame-worthy offerings on each and every page of that scrapbook, I would think.

Traditional Enclosed Wooden Balconies of Malta

Fun Photo Friday will conclude with another half-dozen of my favorite architectural detail shots from this voyage. Meanwhile, enjoy today’s slideshow (click on an image to bring up the show for viewing):