The Minted & West Elm Challenge

And now here's already a new contest: the Minted & West Elm Challenge!
Both Minted and West Elm are looking for all kinds of new art (including photography) to add to their wall art collections. I have submitted mainly photography this time, so I'll focus on this for today.
Minted has announced a special "Around the World" award – a good chance to show off some of my travel photography …
Please vote for my entries if you like them! Thank you! Just click on the title of the image to go directly to my submission on Minted. Here are my favourites in the challenge:

"Devon Beach Tea"

I loved this café in a wooden beachhut, selling fine teas to the bathers at a beach in Devon. It seemed so quintessentially english to me! Quirky, a bit old fashioned and romantic, a little bit melancholic, but friendly and inviting at the same time … Composing the image I left a lot of space for the sky – lots of blue for a real "seaside image".

"The Evening Bath"

This shot was done on the Isle of White, England, on a beautiful evening after some days of heavy rain. I loved the small hub of energy of this group of bathing children against the quietness of the vast turquoise sea. The water was icecold! They really could only dash in and then right out again. The image makes me think of youth, carelessness, high spirits, and the summers of my own childhood.

"Bird on Stonehenge"

I guess this image of Stonehenge is dear to me partly because it didn't come so easy. When visiting Stonehenge, I was very disappointed at first. With a big motorway in the background, the distant but persisting sound of cars and pretty bad weather on top there was next to no atmosphere … But playing with close ups sparked my interest – these stones really are majestic! I then decided I needed a living accent, but it took a while to convince the bird to fly to the right spot … I like the contrast between huge and small, ancient and living/ moving, and the fact that the image is a bit more unusual than other Stonehenge photographs.

"Approaching the Royal Albert Hall"

Speaking of the unusual: my motivation for the picture above was to find a new view on the famous Royal Albert Hall in London. The allegorical statues of Asia in the foreground are part of the Albert Memorial, and I pictured them in a dynamic composition, as if moving towards the hall. I used another set of spells on the pigeons … and they obeyed ;-)

"Connemara reflections"

Well I simply had to squeeze in a shot from Ireland! One of my favourite destinations ever. This picture shows the amazing reflections on Lough Kylemore, Connemara. Mountain becomes water becomes land again. And oh this little his house … what an amazing place to live! (Have I mentioned yet that I am a romantic soul? Just can't help myself!)

"Old Town Bruges"

This view on Bruges/ Flanders is a calm and modest picture, but I think it captures the essence of this historic city quite well. It quietly speaks of old paintings, the times of the Hanse, of rich merchants, old traditions and hardworking craftspeople. To me, it is a strong image of the "Old Europe".

I hope you'll like this little trip in pictures! I as well have listed ALL my entries on the "Voting now!" page, if you'd like to vote for more … or simply to have a peek :-)
Voting is open until Friday, February 12. Thank you so much!