Posts Tagged ‘school’
School’s Out October 29th, 2010
Some time ago I had was given an assignment to shoot the newest addition to the Lycee Louis Massignon French school – being the large, elegant building which now comfortably houses class rooms and a library. These were moved from their original location in a building which, due to expansion, was far outgrown.
I was given the run of the school campus and so ended up wandering around the old building where a lot of my friends here in Abu Dhabi had studied. I came across a place in transition. It was being emptied out and work had begun to refurbish the place. Some rooms were empty. Tables and chairs were stacked up in corridors. Paint was peeling off the walls. Notes and children’s drawing were still stacked up on boards in the halls and rooms. Some walls were being torn down.
It felt strange to be visiting a school that was not my own (I attended the International School of Choueifat here) and yet to feel as though the place was familiar and as though the halls and rooms should have been bigger – seen from the perspective of a small child.
Below, a selection of shots from the old school building.
It was strange to visit a place that once was so very alive with scampering children and to see it empty and quiet, yet still bearing evidence of their passing. I felt as though, if I listened carefully, I could hear their shrieks and laughter and pattering of small feet in the halls and the gentle scolding of teachers.
It makes me wonder if the traces of the past can ever be completely excised from a place – or a mind for that matter. Then I am reminded of Ovid‘s Metamorphoses. ”Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.”
The new builds on the old, and the old makes way for the new. It is as it should be.
Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.
On another note, check out the following for:
- awesome scenes from Thailand, click here;
- extraordinary shots from around the solar system, click here; and
- 4 inspirational shots from All Day I Dream About Photography’s latest monthly selection, click here.
More coming soon!
Tags: abu dhabi, french, french school, hard hat, louis massignon, lycee, metamorphoses, nihil interit, omnia mutantur, orient express, ovid, school, skeleton
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Bangalore – Slices of Life – Part I November 28th, 2009
Bangalore is a busy and bustling place. It’s a city that has grown enormously in recent years to become the IT heart of India.
I tried to capture as much of the life and spirit of the city as I could in the short time I was there. Unfortunately, time was very limited and traffic was so frustratingly bad it took forever to get from place to place. The end result was that what I saw of  Bangalore was mostly what zipped, or crawled, by a car window.
I spotted this mother and daughter as they were heading home from school:
Seen off a side street leading onto Commercial Street:
I wonder what he’s got in that sack of his…
It was interesting seeing how Hindu neighbourhoods were followed by Muslim neighbourhoods. The differences between the neighbourhoods tended to range from the subtle … to the less subtle. Take the shot below, for example:
Seems the sun does occasionally shine in darkened places. Seen in an underpass:
This was taken from the car, while waiting our turn at a junction. The tuk-tuk/auto driver and I rolled our eyes at the traffic and exchanged smiles before I took this.
I spotted this man sweeping the streets on the other side of the road:
A fruit stall on Brigade Street:
I loved the brightness of the colours.
We met these friendly people around the bustling entrance to Cubbon Park, by the exit to the courts:
This woman was sweeping away dead leaves in one of the small gardens just off Cubbon Park:
This is probably one of the odder sights I saw in Bangalore. I have no idea why this man why carrying a dummy…
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: auto, bangalore, brigade street, car, commercial street, cubbon park, fruit, hindu, india, leaves, life, muslim, people, photo, photography, pic, picture, school, slices, slices of life, sun, sweep, sweeper, sweeping, tuk-tuk, underpass
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (2)
