{"id":7041493,"date":"2026-08-18T23:36:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/travel-photos-the-textures-series\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T23:36:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:36:49","slug":"travel-photos-the-textures-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7041493","title":{"rendered":"Travel Photos: The Textures Series"},"content":{"rendered":"


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THERE\u2019S A PICTURE I always take. There\u2019s a theme, a theme, that I\u2019m drawn to. Usually it\u2019s a wall or a door or other flat surface, the weatherbeaten elements of which are similar: sun-cracked paint, peeling artwork, crumbling plaster or fissured stucco.<\/p>\n

I call these my \u201ctexture\u201d pictures, though it\u2019s not that simple. It\u2019s a combination of things: textures, patterns, geometry, colors \u2014 with a certain something that pulls it all together. In other words, there needs to be aesthetic merit to the shot. As to which make the cut and which don\u2019t, there\u2019s no formal criteria. In the words of Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re travel photos by default, and I\u2019ll go ahead and label the locations. But contextually they don\u2019t say much. Most of them could be anywhere. Most focus on a single surface, but a few, as you\u2019ll see, such as number 20, are more complicated.<\/p>\n

Click any photo for a full-screen view.<\/p>\n

ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR.<\/em><\/p>\n

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1. Blue window. \u00a0 Accra, Ghana.\"\"<\/p>\n

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2. Remnants. \u00a0 Kandy, Sri Lanka.\"\"<\/p>\n

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3. Shutters. \u00a0 St. Louis, Senegal.\"\"<\/p>\n

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4. Green door. \u00a0 Lisbon, Portugal.\"\"<\/p>\n

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5. Norwegian wood. \u00a0 Oslo, Norway.\"\"<\/p>\n

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6. Brown. \u00a0 Big Sur, California.\"\"<\/p>\n

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7. Splinter. \u00a0 Porter Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.\"\"<\/p>\n

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8. Checkerboard. \u00a0 Kyoto, Japan.\"\"<\/p>\n

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9. Earth Tones. \u00a0 Dubrovnik, Croatia.\"\"<\/p>\n

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10. Wall and Shutters. \u00a0 Cairo, Egypt.\"\"<\/p>\n

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11. Brown. \u00a0 Accra, Ghana.\"\"<\/p>\n

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12. Stones and Moss. \u00a0 Boston Harbor.\"\"<\/p>\n

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13. Bud Light. \u00a0 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.\"\"<\/p>\n

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14. Vive al Paro. \u00a0 Santa Marta, Colombia.\"\"<\/p>\n

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15. Post no Bills. \u00a0 Chapel Hill, North Carolina.\"\"<\/p>\n

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16. Facades. \u00a0 Porto, Portugal.\"\"<\/p>\n

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17. Deicing Fluid. \u00a0 Boeing 757, New York City.\"\"<\/p>\n

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18. French Quarter 1. \u00a0 New Orleans. \u00a0 The wash of the colors make this photo appear blurry. It\u2019s actually in normal focus.\"\"<\/p>\n

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19. French Quarter 2. \u00a0 New Orleans.\"\"<\/p>\n

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20. Lichen. \u00a0 Near Yerevan, Armenia. \"\"<\/p>\n

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21. Fertility Art. \u00a0 Near Paro, Bhutan.\"\"<\/p>\n

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22. Cotraco. \u00a0 Valetta, Malta.\"\"<\/p>\n

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23. Storefront, Ponta Delgada. \u00a0 Sao Miguel island, Azores.\"\"<\/p>\n

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24. Alewife 1: Blisters. \u00a0 Alewife T station, Cambridge, Massachusetts.\"\"<\/p>\n

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25. Alewife 2: Silver. \u00a0 Alewife T station, Cambridge, Massachusetts.\"\"<\/p>\n

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26. Corrugated Wall. \u00a0 Dakar, Senegal.\"\"<\/p>\n

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27. Boy and Doorway. \u00a0 Near Monrovia, Liberia. This is the only picture of the set featuring a person.\"\"<\/p>\n

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28. Granary Door. \u00a0 Noratus, Armenia.\"\"<\/p>\n

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29. Faucets and Feet. \u00a0 Kowloon, Hong Kong.\"\"<\/p>\n

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30. Moss Wall. Morrison Avenue, Somerville. \"\"<\/p>\n

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32. Padlocked Door. Union Square, Somerville.
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31. Copper Blue. Riga, Latvia. \"\"<\/p>\n

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32. Doorway and Thatch. \u00a0 Ada, Ghana.\"\"<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t seek out these shots; if the right one appears, I take it. They more or less happen on their own.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering about enhancement, a few of the pictures have been cropped, and in some cases the shadows and saturation levels have been tinkered with. But only slightly, to replicate what I saw with the naked eye. \u201cNo overdubs or funny stuff,\u201d to quote the liner notes from Zen Arcade.<\/em><\/p>\n

My favorite of the series is number 26, showing the paint-dappled wall of a small shop near the U.S. embassy in Dakar. It was taken in August, 2021, as I was walking to a restaurant with two of my colleagues. The canvas, if you will, is the side of an old shipping container. I remember passing this spot, then backtracking to get the picture, telling my friends I\u2019d catch up with them in a minute.<\/p>\n

My second favorite is number 14, the shot of the myriad posters in Santa Marta, Colombia. Believe it or not this picture was taken at night, with a streetlight providing the illumination.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also fond of number 25, showing the silver-painted concrete inside the Alewife subway station in Cambridge, as well as number 32, last picture in the set, of the doorway in Ada, a waterfront village in Ghana, about two hours east of Accra.<\/p>\n

More of my travel photos can be viewed HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

My Instagram stream is HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

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