Capturing the colour of my travels
As part of a new photo competition being run by Travelsupermarket.com, bloggers are being asked to Capture the Colour by submitting their most colourful travel images. Now I was a bit ahead of the game here with my Rainbow of Colours post a few months ago, but this time I don’t need to do the whole rainbow, only five colours – blue, green, yellow, white and red. I was nominated by Travel with Kat to take up the challenge, and if you want to join in then you just need to select a travel photo to showcase each of the colours, post them in a blog post and nominate five more bloggers to take part. So after a lot of deliberation (and changing my mind at least twenty times), here are my choices…
Blue
Somerset House is one of my favourite buildings in London, and was also one of the first places in the city to set up an outdoor ice rink each winter. A pre-Christmas skating (and mulled wine drinking) trip beneath that stunning frontage has become a Christmas tradition for me over the last five years. And last year I arrived just as the light faded and the sky turned as blue as the lights shining on the ice, temporarily deserted as the skaters were cleared off the rink before the next crowd arrived.
Green
Although it took me a while to decide which photo to go for, the green category was always going to feature Costa Rica. It’s the greenest country I’ve ever seen. After ziplining through the cloud forests of Monteverde National Park we stopped for coffee in a lush green garden full of hummingbird feeders. The tiny birds darted between the trees so quickly you could hardly see them, but after a few attempts I managed to capture a photo of this beautiful bright green hummingbird coming in to feed.
Yellow
There were quite a few sunset shots on the shortlist that nearly ended up as my yellow shot, but in the end I decided to go for the more man-made colours of Times Square in New York. The yellow screen, yellow McDonalds signs, and iconic yellow cabs caught my eye while I was wandering around the square one night, dazzled by the bright lights and crowds all around me.
White
After spending six weeks in the Alps last year surrounded by green mountains and sunshine, this year I was hoping to see a bit more snow. And I definitely got it in Méribel-Mottaret this January, with over half a metre falling in just one afternoon. Looking out from the balcony of our chalet, you can see how it blanketed the trees, roads and chalets leading down the valley towards Méribel, almost turning the whole landscape from colour to black and white.
Red
Probably the world’s most famous city park, New York’s Central Park is the green heart of the Big Apple. Or rather in November it was more the yellow, orange and red heart of the city, as the leaves of the oak, maple and elm trees had turned a vibrant range of autumnal shades. There were so many different shades of red reflected in the water of this lake beneath this ornate bridge.
So those are my picks, and to pass it on, I nominate: Arianwen at Beyond Blighty, Alison at See My Travels, Madhu at The Urge to Wander, Cole and Adela at Four Jandals, and Aude at Travels & Traditions. Good luck everyone!
A stunning set of pictures. Especially the yellow one.
Thanks Rachael, that was the hardest to choose as I have so many sunset shots but I thought I’d try something different so glad you liked it.
Beautiful set of pictures! Good luck in the contest!
Thank you – I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed as the standard of photos has been great so far.
Beautiful. I think I like your blue and yellow the most. Or maybe white. It’s hard to choose.
Thanks, it was so tough to come up with just one for each colour, I could’ve done about ten for each!
Lovely images all, particularly the blue and yellow. Good luck Lucy
Thanks Madhu, there have been some fantastic entries so far so the competition’s going to be tough!
Oops, totally missed my name among the nominations! Apologies Lucy
You are right, some of the entries are really fantastic!
These are superb Lucy! Congratulations. So pleased I nominated you… I think!
Thanks for the nomination Kat, I really enjoyed picking out my shots, though it was so tough to choose!
Love them all, but that blue one is fantastic!
Thanks Erik, some lucky timing there as a few minutes later you could hardly see the ice with all the skaters!
Love all of these, but the little green bird is fantastic!
Thanks, I was really pleased to get a decent hummingbird shot in the end – they moved so fast there were about 50 which were out of focus or of an empty feeder!
I love that rink – it’s so grand! Outdoor skating rinks are so blah in Toronto and they always smell awful.
There are a few outdoor rinks in London but Somerset House is my favourite – such a great backdrop and they usually have a huge Christmas tree out front too.
Wow! These are really great pictures. I’ve been to most of these places but don’t have photos anywhere near as good. Thanks for the nomination too – I’m collecting images from Colombia. Just green to go!
Look forward to seeing your Colombian selection. Weirdly green was my toughest one to choose too, I’ve obviously been to a lot of rainy countries with plenty of greenery!
lovely pictures! i think blue has to be my favourite.
Thank you – it’s pretty lovely at Somerset House in the summer but looks even more beautiful with the ice rink there.
Lovely images – gotta love the yellow!
Thanks Suzanne – look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Gorgeous Lucy.
Thanks Anita, have been really enjoying seeing everyone’s picks for the contest.
Love the pictures, I think white is my favourite. The snow covered alps are so beautiful! Good luck in the contest.
Thanks, I really like the white one too, the whole village looked so beautiful after all that snow.
Wonderful selection, Lucy. Apologies for my lateness- I just found your post while backtracking. Love the blue- I often do the same in Market Square, Nottingham on my Christmas visit to my daughter.
Thanks Jo. We’ve tried a few of the London ice rinks but that’s definitely my favourite – perfect setting for a mulled wine and mince pie to get into the Christmas spirit!
Colorful Life !
It certainly is! Thanks for visiting.
Wow, love the white and green especially! Really great!
Thanks, it was tough to choose just one for each colour – glad you like them!