Folkestone

I haven't found an "E" so I will skip to "F".

This shot was taken at Folkestone Beach on the West Coast. It is a popular picnic and swimming spot, especially for locals. 

When I took this shot, it was the first time I had been there in many years. So I was taken aback by the very nice pedestrian walkway along the beach and the sprinkling of seats. 

It makes the beach side more appealing for just popping over and hanging out for a while or maybe taking a stroll or a jog. Some of my shock also came from the extent of beach erosion. Twenty-five years ago, the water's edge would have been much farther away. Where you now see a people swimming, those same people would have been standing on dry sand with no danger of getting their feet wet, even at high tide.

This shot was edited in the phone and I was impressed with how the phone handled the conversion to black and white. Ironically this was achieved by dialing back the saturation to zero. For the non-photographers, this is considered one of the least effective ways to create a monochrome image. The phone editing software, while it has impressed me as much as the phone's camera, did not do a good job with its black & white filter, I think.

I know a few people who would prefer the colour image so I added the shot in colour below. You can decide.

Dusk at Oistins

It took a bit of searching but I fond a "D". A shot of the small coastal town of Oistins. Its really more village sized but it is a major economic and social centre on our southern coast by virtue of history, the services available and the traffic it gets.


Its famous for its weekend "fish fry". A number of vendors set up small shops or stalls of varying sizes and sell food. The main menu dish will be fish- grilled or fried- with various sides. Add the music, beer and conversation and you have a recipe for fun. 

If you are visiting Barbados, try to get over to Oistins on Friday night. It is as popular with visitors as it is with locals, whether they come business or pleasure.

Oistins holds a lot of historical significance for the country. The Treaty of Oistins, signed between the local Assembly and the British Crown at the Mermaid Tavern in 1652, recognised the island's Assembly and its right to "...liberty of conscience". Ask Wikipedia what that means but I do recall hearing that there are historians who question whether Barbados was ever a true colony, because of this Treaty. It has also been claimed that the Treaty of Oistins influenced the American Declaration of Independence. 

This shot was taken in the late evening as the sun was setting across the bay from the town. I thought the evening colours made for an interesting palette. I must find the original shot and process it again to try something new.

Coastline

For various reasons, I only have access to my phone for pics for the next few days, so the A to Z Blog Challenge that I signed up for is some jeopardy.

I am still trying to piece together the rules of the challenge, so I have just realised that I should announce a theme. So I will stick to my theme of Barbados and make Landscape a sub-theme.

Today C is for Coastline. Yes, I really had to work for that one! But today's shot was taken from plane as I was flying back into the country. I like it because when I look at it, it communicates a lot about the island to me. Good and bad.

Its a patch of green in a deep blue sea. That's because its a shot of the south coast looking to the east. So instead of the light and gentle turquoise of the Caribbean Sea which bathes our western coastline, we have the deeper, stronger blues of the Atlantic Ocean.

There is a lovely strip of buff coloured- we are proud of our beaches despite the ravages of time, man and rising sea levels. The beach is deeply ingrained in the Barbadian psyche as a national heritage. You want to start a riot or lose an election in Barbados? Establish a private beach.

Behind that strip of sand is a largish patch of undisturbed greenery. For us this is rare. We have only two coast wetland areas remaining. Over the course of our history our wetlands were lost, removed to make way for development, especially tourism.

The green of the landscape is liberally strewn with little pale dots of houses and other buildings. Even though this is a shot of what would be considered a more rural area. To my eye its signifies the population pressure we have. Compared to other Caribbean islands, even the bigger ones, a lot of people live on tiny Barbados.

Lastly, the best part. The white crests of waves approaching the coastline. This is the white teeth in the blog title- waves breaking on the dark patches of reef below.

 

Bathsheba

I took this shot on the east coast of Barbados, at one of the most historic spots on the island. It was shot with my mobile and I opted for a sepia filter when I edited it in phone, because this place always has an "old world" presence in my mind.

I

ts a small coastal community, located on one of the few relatively calm beaches on our eastern coast. It has been popular with locals for weekend picnics and getaways for more than a hundred years.

I took this shot from the famous Atlantis hotel. Its Sunday buffet, with a spread of local dishes, is a national rite of passage. You go there for a relaxing afternoon of family and friends and food. Go with people you like and love.

The hotel has had its ups and downs. But I was pleasantly surprised last christmas to find the it had recently been bought over by one of our hoteliers and has been thoroughly renovated. The rooms are open again for rental.

If you want a quiet moment in the afternoon, take a leisurely winding drive through the hilly, wild country of the rural east coast to the Atlantis Hotel. Get there about 5:00 p.m., order a little coffee and some dessert, if you wish...and watch the dusk fall.

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.