Welcome to week 162 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!
Vacation time in Ireland was fantastic, but it’s great to be home again, as we got greeted very warmly by our dogs! As I’m catching up on all the things that didn’t get done during vacation, I will post last week’s round up on Wednesday.
For this week’s theme, the inspiration is two-fold: there was a wonderful example close to our last place where we stayed in Ireland and it provides a great opportunity for catching a vista… This week’s theme of Tower can be taken in various directions, as it can be a verb or a noun… I’m looking forward to seeing your creative minds and hearts explore the Tower that is Towering!!
I hope that you’ll have fun with this week’s theme, and that the Tower is not looming over you!
Here’s the barn that inspired this week’s theme…
The Wonderful Barn
This structure is known as The Wonderful Barn and is located in Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland. It was built in 1743 and there are a number of theories about its purpose (cf. Wikipedia); the prevalent theory that was explained to me is its use as a granary, not only to stave off the famines that were common, but specifically for the Guinness breweries. Its height is 22 meters, which makes it a significant climb with a bag of grain on ones back.
When I first saw it, this structure reminded me of the Tower of Babel in the painting by Pieter Bruegel. It has this feeling of something that was lost in translation…
The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!
A Fresh Perspective
Photography is more than just a vehicle for capturing the world around me; it provides me with a palette and a set of brushes, with which I paint not only what I see, but also look to express the emotions that are evoked by the scene in front of me in that moment.
Growing up in the Netherlands exposed me to a wide cross-section of visual arts that laid the foundation of my photographic view of all that surrounds me. Early influences were the Dutch Masters of the 17th century, to whom I was introduced by my grandfather during museum explorations; favorites among them are the scenes of quotidian life depicted by Jan Steen and Frans Hals and the vivid landscapes of Jacob van Ruisdael.
My classical high school education was supplemented by the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, where I spent many a lunch hour exploring its great collection. Here I was introduced to surrealism with a particular love for the approach taken by Salvador Dali; Dali also rekindled my appreciation for the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who often showed the folly of us mortals.
Universal Connections
My approach to any photographic subject is to look for understanding first; in this I look to establish either a connection between the viewer and the subject or capture the connection of the subject with its surroundings. The captured image then aims to portray this connection from a perspective that is part of my personal interpretation.
This interpretation is often a form of externalized introspection, which may alternately display the connection of isolated beings and items with their environment or highlight the whimsy of the profound world, in which we find ourselves. The universe is full of connections, many of which are waiting to be discovered; part of my journey as a photographer is to document these connections.
Any assignment, be it an event, a product shoot or a portrait session is always approached through communication with the client; this is where the first connection is established. Ideas are exchanged and a collaborative plan of action forms, ultimately resulting in a set of images that aim to exceed the expectations of each client.
And, lest we forget, it is important to have fun while practicing the serious business of photography!
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That is an amazing structure to be still standing after all of these years. Thank you for sharing the history of it as well as a picture. Welcome back home, hope your trip was wonderful. I’m sure you doggies were tickled to see you!
Welcome back Frank and glad to hear you had a fantastic time on the Emerald Isle! The tower in your photograph reminds me of the Tower of Babel too. We’ve gone for the verb ‘tower’ in our contribution for this week: https://whippetwisdom.com/2019/05/28/haibun-natural-balance/
I completely agree with your Bruegelish impression. When I saw this in the reader I thought you have a picture of the Tower of Babel from that painting. Beautiful.
That’s a great looking tower, Xenia, although it may have seen better days. It looks vaguely familiar and I wonder, if I saw it during my travels in Scotland.
Wow! I wanna climb that barn (sans sack of grain …) — what an amazing construction, contraption, whatever-uption!
I’m adding here my contribution for this challenge–a day late but hopefully not terribly tardy–of a bell tower of a house of worship in NYC, where sanctuary and sustenance is offered, and no where hate has no place. https://naamayehuda.com/2019/05/29/tower-story/
Na’ama
Oh well. I’d probably STILL wanna climb it … but I’d respect their rules, of course. And … yes, sanctuary is necessary. Always has been, but some times during history it is more pronounced just how much we cannot take for granted and how kind we need to be to each other. For if we’re not, what are we? ….
oops – sorry for typos above … Migraine day makes Typoese more pronunced …
Thanks! I already felt better the next day. I’m fortunate that I have stuff that works to cut most of the misery short, even if it does not do much for reality that migraines affect my stamina and clarify (and sometimes word-retrieval and spelling ….) for that day. It’s a brain thing. I already forgot about it … 🙂
Dutch goes the Photo! 
great post 🙂
Thank you!
https://mvobsession.com/2019/05/28/tuesday-photo-challenge-tower/
Wonderful post!
That is an amazing structure to be still standing after all of these years. Thank you for sharing the history of it as well as a picture. Welcome back home, hope your trip was wonderful. I’m sure you doggies were tickled to see you!
It was a wonderful homecoming 🙂
I laughed when I saw this week’s challenge. Could you have made this any easier for me?? We were just in Pisa last week.
https://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2019/05/dutchs-tuesday-photo-challenge.html
Looking forward to your photos of Ireland, my birth place and a place we visit often.
Ha! Yes, this one was easy for you 🙂 I’ll be working on some of my photos this weekend, and will share them.
Welcome back Frank and glad to hear you had a fantastic time on the Emerald Isle! The tower in your photograph reminds me of the Tower of Babel too. We’ve gone for the verb ‘tower’ in our contribution for this week: https://whippetwisdom.com/2019/05/28/haibun-natural-balance/
Thank you, Xenia! That tree really towers! Awesome!
Not exactly a tower Frank, but pretty damn high!
https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/tuesday-photo-challenge-tower/
Love it!! Those locks can tower!
Those on the canals were a lot shallower, but the Hatton Flight was awesome!
Unusual barn construction! You would get a good work out hauling sacks up or down.
I can only imagine the back-breaking labor that it was to carry them up…
I completely agree with your Bruegelish impression. When I saw this in the reader I thought you have a picture of the Tower of Babel from that painting. Beautiful.
In case the pingback doesn’t work, here is my entry for the week: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/imagination-valley/
Thank you! It was an unusual sight to see!
Here in the country towers sometimes look a bit different. https://photographyocd.com/2017/11/25/topping-from-the-bottom/
Those are some rocking towers!!!
The photo is great!
I like this photo
The photo is great
Just love the barn picture! Here’s mine – https://myheart2heart.blog/2019/05/29/how-clouds-tend-to-change-lifes-perspective/
WOW! That is amazing!!!
Thank you so much 😊
Hello again Frank, our second contribution is a ‘real’ tower: https://tranature.com/2019/05/29/wordless-wednesday-castle-in-the-rain/
That’s a great looking tower, Xenia, although it may have seen better days. It looks vaguely familiar and I wonder, if I saw it during my travels in Scotland.
Thank you so much for your kind words dear Frank 🙂 The castle is at Loch Assynt and if you travelled this far North you may well have seen it 🙂
I have not been all the way up there. Another one for the list!
What a fantastic tower – the staircase adds a hint of spiral. I had never heard of this place before – it’s great 🙂
I’ve gone with an ancient and somewhat mysterious tower from Azerbaijan. https://travelwithintent.com/2019/05/29/maiden-tower-baku-fire-azerbaijan/
That tower is very mysterious… the more I see from Azerbaijan, the more I want to visit!
Great tie-in with last week!
I love that barn, Frank. So unique!
Thank you, Sandy! Your post is stunning as always!
Thanks, much.
Wow! I wanna climb that barn (sans sack of grain …) — what an amazing construction, contraption, whatever-uption!
I’m adding here my contribution for this challenge–a day late but hopefully not terribly tardy–of a bell tower of a house of worship in NYC, where sanctuary and sustenance is offered, and no where hate has no place.
https://naamayehuda.com/2019/05/29/tower-story/
Na’ama
I really wanted to get up there too, but the entire site was locked down; probably not exactly up to current safety standards…
Love your post! Sanctuary is so key nowadays.
Oh well. I’d probably STILL wanna climb it … but I’d respect their rules, of course. And … yes, sanctuary is necessary. Always has been, but some times during history it is more pronounced just how much we cannot take for granted and how kind we need to be to each other. For if we’re not, what are we? ….
oops – sorry for typos above … Migraine day makes Typoese more pronunced …
Hope you feel better!
Thanks! I already felt better the next day. I’m fortunate that I have stuff that works to cut most of the misery short, even if it does not do much for reality that migraines affect my stamina and clarify (and sometimes word-retrieval and spelling ….) for that day. It’s a brain thing. I already forgot about it … 🙂
magnificent!!
Here’s my contribution. It’s not a lighthouse, it’s a tower.
https://davidmsphotoblog.com/2019/05/29/tuesday-photo-challenge-tower/
Gorgeous photos, David!
Thank you.
Hi Frank, I so adore your photo for this week. 😀
Since my area doesn’t have any classic towers, here is my entry for the week.
https://ceenphotography.com/2019/05/31/tuesday-photo-challenge-tower/
Another great set of photos, Cee! I feel pretty lucky to have been able photograph that barn.
Went into the archives for this one. Which makes me glad I saved all those archives 🙂
http://oneletterup.com/2019/06/01/tower
That’s a rather famous tower! Great photo!
Thank you!
Cool tower!
Here’s my submission to the challenge: https://kgphotostudios.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/a-different-perspective-nyc/
Wonderful entry, Kelly! I really enjoyed your approach to this theme!
Thanks!
Steeple: https://islandinthenet.com/steeple/