Sunset in Bridgetown

This is a old shot of mine, taken late one evening in our capital city Bridgetown. It was taken from the Charles Duncan O'Neal Bridge, looking over the inner basin of the Careenage towards Independence Square.

Charles Duncan O'Neal is one of our national heroes, hailed for his preeminent role in bringing about deep social reform in the first half of the 20th century in Barbados. Barbados in the 1920s and 1930s was not at all kind to its improverished, black population and men like O'Neal campaigned relentlessly for better working and living conditions for this majority of the island's population.

I will probably do more on him around April, when we celebrate Heroes' Day.

Red Land, White Teeth

It is about time I did a photoblog.

I truly adore the English translations of the Arawak (Taino) name for my native land Barbados- Ichirouganaim. There are several variations but all centred around the imagery of a land made of red soil and surrounded by the "white teeth" of waves breaking over sharp reefs. My favourite translation is...

"Red woman lying on her side, surrounded by white teeth."

If you look at a map of us, you can see her... a woman curled up on her left side , her toes pointing south and her knees east. Lying on the edge of the mighty Atlantic, face turned to look across that vast snd humourless expanse of blue-green ocean. You wonder...why does she lie so?

Does she lie in repose, merely resting? Or is she in deep slumber, till the advent of some great awakening when she will stir herself, stretch luxuriously and rise from the ocean a water-goddess clothed in simmering red and blue and green?

Or does she lie weeping? Did she hear the lamentation  of another great slumbering woman and know that one day she would cradle Mother Africa's children in her bossom and their spilt blood would seep into her own red soil?

Whatever the reason a wandering imagination can devise, she is truly a beautiful land of beautiful people. That is what this blog will be about- capturing the beauty of the land and the people as I putter about my beloved Ichirouganaim with a camera. I will throw in some informative words along the way, so you may learn a few things about her and her history as we go.

The idea is to document a "Shot-a-Day" challenge- my small contribution to the celebration of our first 50 years of independence.

Gayle

P.S.: The first day of the challenge will be obviously the 1st of January 2016. But I will post one or two preliminary shots just to warm up.