This is sunset over the Moray Firth via Google Meet. With thanks to my friend Jamie who was being “eaten alive” by midges while I photographed the view. Seems virtual holidays may have some advantages!
Video chat holidays Mark ii, another sunset but this time over Vernasca in Emilia Romagna, Italy. For this one I was helped by my sister in law, @molinari.giuli , who was standing on her balcony.
Sunrise, rather than sunset, was my googlemeet holiday destination this morning. Thanks to Matt who got up early to share his view over Bognor beach with me.
I love what the combination of the phone and zoom did to this view of the beach at Eastbourne in Southern England. Thanks very much to @elizabeth_lovegrove for sharing her vacation view with me a couple of weeks back. Why does the summer already feel like so long ago?
Harriet had just a tiny bit of phone battery left when she called me from the Olympic Park but we still managed to make this picture.
So after sneaking off for a real life holiday to the Lake District in the UK, I was delighted to be invited for a Zoom holiday in California by @yosemitesamurai via Twitter. Matt lives in the Lompico area of Felton, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains. All around his very cool, Buckmeister Fuller designed, dome shaped house, is a wonderful array of Redwoods (some of them up to 120ft tall), Madrones and California Live Oaks. Matt and his family were evacuated recently because of the wildfires which came within 4 miles of his house. Thankfully he's back now and grateful to be able to enjoy the trees in his 5 acre garden once more. We couldn't go far because there wasn't much wifi beyond the terrace, but I still felt like I'd been for a walk in the woods once we'd finished. Thanks Matt.
Last night I went to Præstø in Denmark for a Zoom visit. Ed, who's been living there for the last year, gave me a wonderful tour around his small town. He showed me beautiful coloured houses and cobbled lanes and the harbour, but in the end, the thing that was most entrancing was the still ocean with the evening light.
I love the way the combination of the camera phone and the limited broadband at Mother Iveys Bay in Cornwall caused the pixelation on this image. I’ve also realised that because of Zoom’s mirroring function, whenever I try and help people to straighten the horizon by saying left hand down a bit, or right hand down a bit, they always do the opposite. Does that meant these images are all the reverse of what I would get if I was there with my camera? I need to do further research…or just switch the mirroring off in Zoom.
This is Norway as well. Einar called me on FaceTime while he was out with his 9 year old daughter orienteering. I was amazed by the contrast between this landscape, and the dramatic fjord he also took me to. This was only ten minutes drive from his home, and a 1.5k walk.
I took a quick evening trip to the village of Gatebeck. Nestled between the Lake District National Park and the Yorkshire Dales, it's a hidden gem. My brother @lovinglyartisan lives there, and this is the view from his living room. Not bad! I've not seen him in person since lockdown began in March, but he has been incredibly busy baking sourdough for much of the North of England. I'm not sure how much time he's had to enjoy the view, although the veg patch was pretty impressive, so maybe a little.
My friend @jerichostudiopottery has been shielding in Dorset for six months with her husband, because they are both high risk. Every morning they climb up one of the hills near their house for breakfast. They decide which one based on where the cows are. We planned to do a picture first thing, but the sea fret (or mist) got in the way, so Hannah called me later from her extremely windy hill top of the day. We had a lovely view over St Catherine's chapel at Abbotsbury, where Hannah tells me her husband proposed! I could almost feel the sea breeze in my hair!
I went on FaceTime vacation to Ålesund Norway. It was so blue! Einar was really kind to take me for a walk to his local shore, just 5 minutes from his house. Wow! Now I actually want to go to Norway!
It's all gone a bit crazy on my Zoom Holidays.... this was a stormy shot from Waterloo Bridge on Monday evening. That's Big Ben in scaffolding in the distance, and the Millennium Eye on the left. Since then I've been to Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and around the UK and back. Lots more Zoom holiday photos are on their way!
Another Google Meet holiday snap from Bognor Beach this morning. After chatting with Matt and enjoying the view for a while, it really felt like I'd had a little morning seaside walk!
Last night I got to visit Long Strand beach in County Cork, Ireland, by Zoom. I have to admit that I was envious that I couldn't join @sleemanabad on her swim, but it was wonderful to see the waves from this beautiful l part of the world.
I have never been to Kenya in real life, so it was pretty exciting to go on a little Zoom holiday there yesterday evening. My very kind friend @vanilla_africa walked up into the Ngong Hills near Nairobi, where she lives, to show me the view. It was so windy we could hardly hear each other, but in some ways that made the experience feel more multi-sensory than the usual video chat experience. Please let me know if you also happen to live in a tourist destination and would be happy to show me the view one day.
Somewhere in the environs of Poitiers in West-Central France is a chateau which I was able to visit yesterday evening via FaceTime. Thanks to my always inspiring friend @donna_de who is normally resident in Paris. Like most people who have managed to go on holiday this year, Donna has stayed in her own country. It was lovely to see the warm tones of the French countryside.
My lovely friend Hannah took a break from lunch with her family to snap this view over Lake Geneva.