Friday Photos: South Bank, London

Image: Salvador Dali sculpture on London’s South Bank of the Thames River

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Three images taken during my visit to London in March 2008. Specifically, the shots were taken while walking along the South Bank of the Thames River.

The first photograph is of a sculpture by the surrealist artist, Salvador Dalí. This was part of an exhibition of Dali’s works taking place at the time, although I can’t tell you what the work is called. If any reader does know, please feel free to share the title of the work via the Comments section for this post.

Dali was a highly imaginative, Spanish Catalan painter who liked to take part in unusual and grandiose behavior, in order to draw attention to himself – the most obvious of which was the way he waxed and shaped his moustache to curve upwards towards the top of his head. This apparently irked those who loved his art as much as it annoyed his critics, since his eccentric manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork.

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Image: Foot of light fitting on London’s South Bank of the Thames River

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I am continually fascinated by the way art is incorporated into everyday objects – like the footings of the light fittings along the wall overlooking the Thames River. These objects were produced in an age when building projects often seemed to include an artistic element to them, despite the extra cost of construction that casting something as elaborate as this footing must have entailed. Today, everything seems to be built with eyes firmly fixed on keeping costs as low as possible, with the result that very little excites the eye, or fires the imagination once construction is completed.

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Image: London Eye on the South Bank of the Thames

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I didn’t get an opportunity to ride the London Eye, during my all too brief visit to London in 2008. Even in early March, when I was there, the queues were longer than I had the patience to line up for. From the ground it makes for a spectacular sight though, and if I find myself in the vicinity again with more time on my hands – and patience – I will make the journey to the top.

Schmap Guides

Image: Triumph of The Human Spirit monument in New York City

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Nice to have one of my photographs chosen to help illustrate the City Hall page for the Sixteenth Edition of the Schmap New York Guide. The photograph (seen above) shows the Triumph of The Human Spirit monument located in front of the United States Court House.

Schmap Guides exist for dozens of cities across the United States and around the world, each of which can be downloaded to your computer or mobile device for offline referral. In addition, the guides - which are all free to download - are available in French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and German.

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Image: Schmap website screenshot

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Who’ll Stop The Rain?

Image: Residents in flood damaged Lockyer Valley wait for flood waters to recede

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Long as I remember, the rain been comin' down,

Clouds of mystery pourin', confusion on the ground.

Good men through the ages, tryin' to find the sun,

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?

Who'll Stop The Rain? ~ John Fogerty

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Image: Southbound traffic on the Bruce Highway grinds to a stop due to flooding

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As I write this, I am keeping an eye on a live television stream from the Australian Broadcasting Commission reporting on the devastating floods that have swept across vast swathes of eastern Australia.

It is impossible to get your head around the massive volumes of water involved. Flood waters have not only covered hundreds of square miles of Queensland, but flood waters are slowly traveling along Australia’s river systems into New South Wales, Victoria, and eventually even into my home state of South Australia. To give you a sense of the distances involved, floodwaters from Queensland will take up to three months to reach South Australia, although heavy rainfalls in that state are already causing minor flooding along parts of the River Murray, one of the longest rivers in Australia.

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Image: Cars piled up as a result of flash flooding in Toowoomba, Queensland

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Image: Flash flooding roars down Herries Street, Toowoomba

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While scenes of the devastation are reminiscent of those seen after Hurricane Katrina made landfall over New Orleans in August 2005, that is about the only comparison that can be made between the two events. Australian authorities, including various branches of the armed forces, have had plenty of time to prepare as best as possible for the flooding, as have non-government agencies like the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other charitable organizations.

Those readers wishing to make donations towards the flood relief effort will find a mass of agencies collecting clothing, goods and money for Australian’s affected by the flooding.

Some suggested websites…

The Queensland government’s official website is a good place to start.

Australian Red Cross…

The Salvation Army…

Australian Broadcasting Commission live television stream…