Personal Photo Challenge February - Street Scenes..............

My personal theme for Donna's February Photo Challenge 

titled "Street Scenes" appears to be 'Ladies'.

Not exactly ladies of the streets which would be quite 

different - although some interesting photos might be captured 

if one hangs out on city streets after dark!

Moscow Ladies - Russia, June 2013

When the morning rain ceased we drove to the Sparrow Hills, one of the highest points in Moscow. On the terraced street at the top of the hill, interesting groups of people were hanging out including several brides. Apparently, before any actual wedding ceremonies take place, it's usual for the bride, groom, family and friends to stop at scenic places for photographs. This bride points to the modern section of Moscow. I love this pic despite it being back views of the subjects.

Camera - Canon 7DSLR, probably set on P as usual!

Vietnamese Ladies - Hoi An, November 2012

Photo ops of people in Vietnamese cities and towns are awesome. The streets are alive with color, noise, action, smiles, unusual merchandise of every description, all are things I recall.

These market ladies enjoyed posing for me, their genuine smiles lovely and friendly. The street scenes always include the markets - life gathers and is lived on the streets day and night. Hoi An was my favorite stop in Vietnam - a stunning vivid place, undamaged during the war so the French influence was still intact and visible in the awesome historic buildings.

Edited: BTW - just received the most recent Anthropologie catalog and it was photographed in Hoi An!

Village lady - Zambia, Africa - May 2010

A street? Perhaps not to us, but here in the village near the banks of the great Zambezi River, this was the main street where you can see my friend Babs chatting with some of the children. Note the older children often carry the younger ones around which we thought was lovely.
This lady was outside her home, her cooking pots on the ground.
Life is hard in such a place, but still the smiles on every face, the laughter of the children, made the street scene alive and a very special place to be privileged to visit.


Umbrella lady - Chiang Mai, Thailand - 2012

I decided to change this photo to black and white for more impact. These unfinished umbrellas being twirled in the street were white, resin coated, handmade paper. When dry, hand painting turned them into gorgeous works of brilliant colored art. To see more of this same lady at her work making these umbrellas, go HERE. For more on the history of the umbrella factories and their beautiful creations, go HERE.

All three photos taken with the Olympus SP-590UZ set on auto.
All editing done in PicMonkey.

Stop over HERE at Donna's blog to see more great entries in the February photo challenge - and join in if you wish, the more the merrier!