[spring] in q8

It is quite astonishing when you think of the time... 'spring' and Kuwait. I always read, on blogs, newspapers, travel magazines, etc. that the climate of the country was as hot as a fire ball. Almost throughout the year, the scorching sun and its rays settling upon the floors of fine sands in the deserts, making it shine like gold. However, I never heard of people dying of heat waves. So I always wondered how people carried on with their day to day lives in such an extreme weather.

So here I was… in Kuwait,

The time when everything seemed to blossom. 

The flowers in parks, the people's lives in their secluded dens, the cars roaring around on roads, the silence in the desert, the blue waters of the Persian Gulf, and last but not the least the 'Shurtaa's' (traffic police)… they all seemed to cherish the bloom of the spring time.

The only thing that did not blossom were the attitudes… the attitude of the community. 

Somebody once told me, the only thing consistent in the country will be their instincts towards non-natives.

© Sameer Aftab

burning [Liverpool]

This chapter of the blog revolves around an area that had a glorious past but now just another district that calls for regeneration. Mostly, residential but with empty terraced houses, some dilapidated churches and empty streets howling with gentle winds.

"It is just one of those days, when you feel like doing nothing, when you feel wasted, when you just feel to be all on your own… and then you decide to take a walk in wilderness."

But… I decided to go to Liverpool 8. I guess, one of the most silent walks that I ever did during my stay in Liverpool. The time was somewhere close to the sunset… yes, fortunately the sun did shine for the whole day.

Theme of photography 

[ Losing Glory ] 

Photography tip - the idea was to photograph the area in silhouettes. The lens of my camera faced the sun directly giving me some wonderful images showing outlines of houses, trees and some people.

If talking conceptually - I believe the sun is a symbol of 'hope' in all of these photographs, highlighting that the area can rise to its full potential one day if the authorities are considerate enough to invest in regenerating its past.

[scottish] highlands

Its been quite a while that I have not uploaded anything but here I am with a story from the very first day of the new year, 2014 when we were on our way to #Glasgow in #Scotland. Its a bit late though but its better late than never.

I always had a wish to travel to the highlands.
Why? Because of 'Loch-Ness' - when I was a child I had read about a monster, I had seen him in some documentaries as well and that was none other than the 'Loch-Ness monster'. A myth or maybe a reality, but this notion, the urge to see it with my own eyes was always there. However, this was just not the right time I guess.

These photos are from that journey.

[bidston]

12:52 hrs

Yellow: indicates the area that I covered by walking, 

while my visit to Bidston.

I had arrived in #Bidston. The most unattractive, smallest stations I had ever seen in England till now,  even the #Edgehill station did not seem to me so inadequate. I was a bit lost because there was nothing in between anything. I saw no houses around, no people, no cars, the only thing that I could see was the sign that said, "Temporary Ticket Office"and even that was closed.

Anyway I started walking towards a bridge that stood so lonely that I could even hear the whistling of air as it passed through the hollow bars. As I was standing on the bridge, I could see the lighthouse on a hill that was considered as the highest point on the Wirral Peninsula.
"It is going to take me ages to reach the lighthouse," this is all I could think of because in order to reach there I had to cross a highway and since I did not know anything about the place so had to find my way to it.

Why... always a lighthouse?? To me they symbolize 'hope'.

I decide to walk along the Hoylake road which met Worcester road on the right and lead me to Vyner road north. Yes, I was using the maps from my i-phone otherwise I would have been completely lost.

 The walk took me to the entrance of the Bidston Hill Park, a natural reserve.

The illustrated map at the entrance showed me a wind mill. 

"This brick built tower mill replaced a wooden 'peg' mill that was destroyed by fire in 1793, and was used to grind corn into flour for 75 years up until 1875. Although access was difficult for a horse and cart laden with sacks of grain or flour the top of the hill was the ideal place to catch the wind. In fact, it is believed that there has been a windmill on this site since 1596."

I knew I will not be able to find it on my own so I took help of a couple walking in the same direction. These locals of the place told me that a fifteen minute walk will take us to the mill. 

There it was, gorgeously standing in one of the remote areas in #England, I suppose. I was standing close to it in order to take the best shots from my camera. There was plenty of light but still I used long exposed techniques to take pictures using my tripod that I was carrying as well.

Ahhhh!!! there was some special essence in the moment that I was in, the smell of the bricks that were not adhered well with its surface, the texture of the mortar that I found extremely historic... seemed like I was not standing in 2013. 

This was not it... there was a walking track that led to an old observatory.

"The Observatory was built in 1866 when Liverpool Observatory had to relocate due to the expansion of Waterloo Docks. The building is made using the stone mined during the creation of the cellars, the deepest of which (36 feet or 10.97 meters) maintains a constant cool temperature.In 2004-5, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory relocated to a new building at the University of Liverpool."

Behind the observatory was the Bidston lighthouse constructed in 1873. It is part of the observatory, not accessible at all.

"There has been a lighthouse on Bidston Hill since about 1771, when the first Bidston Lighthouse was built, further from the shore than any other lighthouse in Britain. The tower was octagonal, and the lamp room featured a massive parabolic reflector, 13’6″ in diameter, developed at the Bidston Signals Station. The present Bidston Lighthouse and Cottages were built by Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1873, after the original lighthouse was damaged by fire and demolished. The building is Grade-II listed and privately owned."

It was getting dark, so had to rush to the station. 

[ keep walking - New Brighton awaits you ]

Remember - the main purpose of the trip was to find lighthouses across the Mersey river on the #Wirral side.

1310 hrs
I was at the #Liverpool Central (station), rushing towards the Wirral line tube and hopped in after waiting for ten minutes. It is quite ironic that sitting in the train usually reminds me of end of times. I am saying this because the journey from the station to #Birkenhead Park was almost underground. The train was almost empty. No one going to New #Brighton... I suppose.

1330 hrs
I got off from the train at the station and started walking on the Atherton street towards the sea... the Irish sea I am talking about here and reached the King's Parade. Now by looking across the road I realized that I was standing at the Marine Point. I could very well see the #lighthouse from here. I had read before it was the Perch Rock lighthouse that stood there since 1827 and now it was not being used anymore. The point seemed to be a complex of high-end retail brands. Anyway I started walking towards the tower.

I was walking...

... walked a little more.

... and finally I reached the tower. "Errr!!! Not a pleasant day to come out" I kept saying this to myself all the time. The sun was shining and I could feel the warmth of it but then nothing seemed alright because of the howling wind.

I stood right in front of the tower, close enough to get a feel of the environment. Aaaahhh!!! what a pleasing view. I could see the white tower wearing a red hat standing amongst the blues of the sky and water... the water did not seem that blue maybe because the clouds had covered the sun now.

I remained there for an hour, clicked loads of photographs. I had brought my tripod along as well but was almost useless because I did not have a ND-filter to take long exposure at the daytime. I walked to the pathway that lead to the tower. I thought I could make it but then the waves were aggressive and I remembered what my friend had told me about the weather forecast in the morning, "There will be a thunderstorm, do not go out (in a squeaky voice)." At that time I could only see the sun and the storm but thunder was missing, then I decided not to go any further.

There were people everywhere now. Trying to run on the stones and guess what... no one succeeded to reach anywhere near the site.

1500 hrs
I left the site and started walking towards the New Brighton Station to catch a train to #Leasowe - another lighthouse to explore.

Hmmmm!!! It was one bright corner of #England I must say, which was not that vivid historically as this part was hugely owned by smugglers and thieves.

You can look at the coloured images on Facebook.

blurry [Lisbon]

I just wanted to capture another moment of sunset but this time the location was at the edge of europe, the farthest I could travel in the western part. I took these photographs in Belem (#Jardim da Torre de Belem) area in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal.

"To me sunsets have always been emotions rather than moments. The feeling of being free, the notion of doing something that narrates a story, the feeling of looking at life with positivity."

It seemed another ordinary sunset but then what made it beautiful was the surroundings, the silhouettes of the objects that seemed so flawless, the waters of river Tagus that glittered like gold.

My photographs are the impressions of that time on that fine evening when the sun was disappearing.

I must say, my lens (#Tamron 28-300mm) came in handy this time.

Ps: to catch up with the rest of the photographs, kindly follow my Facebook.

[Masarellos]

Purpose
I made this video one fine day in Porto while roaming around the Masarellos District along with my mates. Masarellos was the site we selected for our final project for masters.
The video is a reminiscence of the site visit in the city that highlights many aspects and problems that the place is facing right now.

Aim
To design a master plan and come up with sustainable strategies for the inhabitants of the area and its surroundings.

Landmarks
Some of the landmarks on the site are worth mentioning:

- Arrabida Bridge

 Sketch - I drew this while sitting somewhere around the waterfront from where I could see the bridge clearly. 

-Porto School of Architecture


Video

New Project 14 from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.