The colour red

I thought it might be fun to theme one of these entries around not a subject matter but a colour. Red is a wonderful colour to use in photography – it pops off the page or screen, adding not only vibrancy but also a sense of perspective.

Look at the way the tourist in the red dress and hat leaps out at you in this photo taken at the Shah-i-Zinda in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This photo is of course predominately blue as are all the mausoleums there, rich with complex mosaics – this one is the Emir Hussein Mausoleum, but all are similarly rich in their decoration.

The remaining photos here though will be dominated by the colour red. Let us see where that theme takes us …

Japan

This is the country that I associate most strongly with red. I have already included lots of photos in my Japan blog so I’ll only add a handful here.

Plant life

Red flowers, red leaves, red berries – all great subjects for photos that ‘sing’. These berries were photographed in December at Druridge Bay on England’s north east coast:

And here is the vivid red of a ginger flower at Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica:

And of course we can’t forget poppies, one of my favourite flowers. Italy is a great place to find them, as in this display outside the ancient town walls of Bevagna in Umbria:

Or these by a roadside in Marche:

This poppy however was growing in the grounds of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz, Germany:

And this one in a cottage garden in Adlestrop in the English Cotswolds:

[Have you worked out by now that I especially love poppies?!]

But here’s a dahlia for a change, photographed in Pashley Manor Gardens in Sussex, England:

Back in Italy, look at how this red geranium glows against the grey stone steps of Corinaldo in Marche:

And a cyclamen on a windowsill in the old town of Monopoli:

Bougainvillea is most often seen with bright purple or deep pink flowers, but there are red varieties too. I came across this one in Faro, Portugal:

And this at Ngala Lodge in Gambia:

Where I also photographed another of my favourite flowers, a beautiful red hibiscus:

When it comes to edible plant-life, red is often the colour of heat, as in these chillies drying in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

And in Sorrento, Italy:

Or chilli powder in a Jaipur market:

Around and about

I found this vibrant red bench in Rapperswil on Lake Zurich:

And here is a brightly painted Parisian door:

A red Harley in Deming, New Mexico:

And also in New Mexico, these classic red cars in the Route 66 museum in Santa Rosa:

In the Route 66 Auto Museum, Santa Rosa, NM

And one from Havana, Cuba:

A bright red chair for sale in an antique shop in Rye, on England’s south coast:

And a cheerful red fishing boat in nearby Hastings:

Closer to home, an old fire station just around the corner from my house in Ealing, West London:

Red to wear

What about some colourful red clothing? Such as a scarf wound round the head of a villager in Gambia:

And a beautiful dress worn by a visitor to the Qutb Minar in Delhi:

The red turbans of some elderly residents of Narlai in Rajasthan:

And the dress of a Morris dancer at Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire (northern England):

And finally

The centenary of the outbreak of World War One was marked at the Tower of London with an amazing art installation, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. A tide of 888,246 ceramic poppies filled the Tower's famous moat between 17 July and 11 November 2014. Each poppy represented a British military life lost during the war. The individual poppies were later sold, raising millions of pounds which were shared equally amongst six service charities. I was fortunate to see them in place at the Tower – a powerful statement about the loss of lives, especially young lives, during that war.