Alright everyone, my cards are done and will be mailed out tomorrow. Apologies for the delay - the aircon unit in my darkroom has died and with the heat (38C+) and humidity I've had a hard time working in there. But a recent bout of insomnia, which has had me up most nights, proved most beneficial, as I could work when the temperatures were more reasonable and not have to worry about a closed door which increases the temperature of my darkroom to an unbearable level.
I've been remiss in commenting on the great cards I've received so far, so without further ado, here we go:
The first theme I noticed this round was the flora: the delicate "Bleeding Heart Plant" by
Howard Earl, the lovely "Rose in Glass" by
cramerj, the sharp looking "Double Clematis" by
Luis F. Sosa, the excellent "Fungus Ladder" by
drpsilver (I can never seem to photograph this kind of fungus well), and
jvo's "Arboreal Spirits" - which almost looks like a dance between the two main branches.
The next theme was that of people -
BSP's quirky grinning skeleton,
MattisS' "Mennesket ved Havet" - a monument I had never heard of but would like to see the next time I'm in Denmark,
Hkbenji's climbers in "Climbing" which looks amazing but is something I could never do (thanks vertigo!), and of course
iandvaag's poignant "Covid Kiss" - a beautifully captured moment that shows what life has been like for so many people during this crisis.
The final theme seems to be based around structures:
hwv's "Toy Blocks" reminds me a lot of the crowded nature of Japanese homes and businesses as well,
astroclimb's dry "Gig Harbour" and
mfohl's wet "Town St. Bridge" have two very different looks but also work together, and
Terry S' "Lloyd's Building" which looks amazingly futuristic and has so much going on in it that I could look at it for quite a long time. Then there is the specific focus of
Arvid's "doors", a subject matter that I quite enjoy photographing myself, and
vedostuu's "Coffee and Cigarettes", aka the car which looks beautiful and leaves me wanting to see the rest of it! Finally, there are the ruined or abandoned structures, from
Lucid's "Under Destruction" which works so well, especially with the upside-down sign, to
oxleyroad's "Roadworks" which reminds of the roadworks I saw myself while in Birmingham last April (a year too late to be coincidence unfortunately), to last, but not least,
rst's (good to have you back!) lovely cyanotype of an empty playground. I can't remember the last time I got a cyanotype in the exchange, so this was a pleasant surprise (well, not really, since you told us this is what you were going to do).
I think there are a couple more postcards that have been mailed out but I haven't received yet, based on the comments in this thread. I'm not sure how fast my cards will get to everyone (there's a bit of a backlog with JP Post at the moment) but hopefully they'll get to you sooner rather than later! In the meantime, I'm off to sign up for round 51. Cheers everyone.
