Hastings is a town in East Sussex, England, most famous for the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This town is home to the largest beach-launched fleet in Europe, the ruins of the first castle in England to be built by Willian the Conqueror.
Hastings beach Rock-a-Nore.
Hastings Old Town is a charming mix of beautiful houses, narrow streets, museums, fish market.
Hastings Castle located on a cliff top of the West Hill is a great part of English history from 1066 of modern days. The savage storms of the 13th century brought chaos to Hastings, so the large parts of the castle fell into the sea.
Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve.
Hastings Beach.
Rye
Rye, in East Sussex, is one of England’s most beautiful medieval towns, each street of it has a unique style. If you wander along the Mermaid, Watchbell streets and Church Square you will come across houses declaring they were rebuilt and refurbished in 1450.
Rye Harbour is an amazing place for nature lovers and has a rare coastal landscape. This red roofed hut, also known as Gran’s Hut, is one of the most photographed things. It looks simple but eye-catching. The date it was first built is unknown, but was in use from the early 1900’s to store fishing and shrimping equipment.
Battle
The town of Battle is located in the south east of England, best known for being the site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Each street of this town or even a small corner or a shop has its own unique style and beauty.
Battle museum of local history is set in walled gardens of Battle’s Almonry. This charity-based and independent museum is solely run by volunteers. The museum has a collection covering 125 million years of history in Battle.
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey which was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror and Normans as a penance of killing so many people during their conquest of England. The Abbey is dedicated to St.Martin. Its church was finished in about 1094.
Battlefield is now a peaceful place with the beautiful nature and sheep everywhere.
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill is an ancient seaside town located in the East Sussex.
“And tell me grey seal How does it feel To be so wise To see through eyes That only see what’s real Tell me grey seal” (c) Elton John, Bernie Taupin
International historical reconstruction festival called “Times and Epochs” takes place in Moscow every summer. Hunderd of reenactors from different countries recreated various epochs from Antiquity to the 20th century on the streets and boulevards of Moscow. I took some pictures of “Russians in Paris in 1814” which was dedicated to the foreign campaign of 1813-1814, during which the Russian army occupied Paris. Confrontation gave place to a peaceful life many parts of which were represented at this site including different professions of that time, food, costumes, uniaxial cart, ship and horses.
Maya people from Mexico were also visiting Moscow as a part of that historicl festival.
Hastings is a town in East Sussex, England, most famous for the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This town is a home to the largest beach-launched fleet in Europe, the ruins of the first castle in England to be built by William the Conqueror.
Hastings Castle located on a cliff top of the West Hill is a great part of English history from 1066 to modern days. The savage storms of the 13th century brought chaos to Hastings, so the large parts of the castle fell into the sea.
The Old Town is a charming mix of beautiful houses, narrow streets, museums, fish market and famous local sunken ships.
Pevensey Bay
Pevensey Bay is a beautiful and cozy old fishing village founded in 1600 as Wallsend, the end of the sea wall from Eastbourne.
Pevensey castle
Pevensey Castle has a history stretching back over 1700 years, beginning in the 4th century as one of the strongest Roman Saxon Shore forts, two-third of whose towered walls still stand. Its impressive ruins stand on what was once a peninsula surrounded by sea and salt marsh projecting from the mainland of the Sussex coast.
Lewes
At the heart of Sussex lies an amazing town of Lewes (probably founded in 6th century), a mixture of medieval streets, old English churches, tiny alleyways. Lewes is also a market town of small independent retailers, bookshops, music shops.
Harvey’s Brewery.
Established in 1790 and handsomely rebuilt in 1880 by William Bradford. The only survivor of the town’s seven Victorian breweries.
M Hamid Star Pottery
Star Pottery was established in Lewes in 1989 and since then Mohamed Hamid and his students and associates produce a wide range on amazingly beautiful handmade items.
Lewes Castle
Castle was built soon after one of the great turning points in English history. It is more than 900 years old and one of the earliest Norman strongholds in England.
Ruins of 11th century monastery
Eastbourne
Redoubt Fortress
Fortress dating back 200 years, was built to defend against Napoleon and was used in WWI and WWII.
Wish Tower
Martello Tower Number 66
In the beginning of 19th century the British Empire feared a French invasion so 74 Martello towers were built along the Kent and Sussex coastlines from Folkstone to Seaford between 1805 and 1808.
Beachy Head
The White Chalk Cliffs at Beachy Head were formed between 65 and 100 million years ago when the land was completely covered by the sea.
The light from the Beachy Head Lighthouse first shone on the 2nd October 1902.
Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters
The hills and dips of the chalk cliffs between Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap all have names. The original Seven Sisters now count as eight due to erosion dividing two of the hills.
The view of the white cliffs just makes you feel so amazed!
There is also a lighthouse built on the hill, the light from which first shone on the 11 October 1834.
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. I think it is necessary to leave all famous tourist places and see different ethnic and cultural corners of the city. The architecture, restaurants, museums of every neighborhood are different. I was lucky to explore the city with my friend and my photography mentor Paul Natkin who knows all the greatest places in Chicago! Many thanks to Paul for all the amazing moments and for making that trip unforgettable!
Chicago is known as a home of the blues. So many places here are connected with the blues history. For example, you can visit Muddy Waters house where he lived and played blues from 1954 to 1974. Actually it is only possible to see the house from outside not entering the building. That Red X on the house means that building is unsafe to enter. It is really sad and disappointing that the house of an international music icon was just left to deteriorate. But hopefully someone can buy this historical house and turn it to a museum dedicated to Muddy Waters great heritage.
Pilsen neighborhood is one of the most recognizable and well known places in the city of Chicago. It is easy to find a piece of public art adorning a façade in nearly every block. The neighborhood looks very colorful but what is more important, every piece of art has its own deep meaning mostly connected with serious political or ethnic problems.
Here is mural which impressed me the most. It is honoring an aspiring musician and an artist Jeff Macdonaldo Jr. who was killed at the age of 19 as a victim of mistaken identity. He had never been in a gang, he was just getting back from his barber and someone opened a fire. The mural was his friends’ idea, he was an inspiration for them and did many good things so they wanted to give back to his family, helping his parents to get through the worst times. The mural dedicated to peace and tolerance, and called Safe places. It looks really beautiful. World could be a much better place if people have more opportunities to develop their art skills instead of hating each other for some unknown reasons.
There is also a great museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen neighborhood. It is responsible for presenting exhibitions of artistic, cultural and educational value, which demonstrates the unique depth of Mexican art and history. It was really amazing to see many kids visiting museum with their parents. Art is a bridge between communities and it helps to expand minds, which is really necessary for the world we are living in nowadays.
The DuSable Museum of African American history is dedicated to study and conversation of African American history and culture. It is one of the oldest museums dedicated to this topic in the United States. It was founded in 1961 and has been expanding ever since. The museum has a collection of more than15’000 artifacts, books, photographs, paintings, art objects and memorabilia. DuSable museum became a large part of black social activism, hosting festivals, political and community events.
The exhibitions there are really great and very informative. Actually some parts of exhibitions dedicated to slavery and further segregation horrified me. Of course, everyone knows those terrible moments and events in the American history but seeing all those pictures and artefacts was still very difficult. I can never understand how it is possible to divide people by the color of their skin or their nationality. The saddest part of all this is to realize that we still face the same problems nowadays. The technologies are developing every day, but seems that some people’s minds just stuck with their stereotypes forever.
Paul Natkin enjoying some art while I’m working as paparazzi 🙂
The museum is surrounded by very beautiful park where we met a group of nice kids who were just running around and enjoying nice summer day. We also met some of their parents and a teacher who told us that those kids were studying history and other subjects by exploring art objects, paintings etc which made the studying process much more interesting. It is great that some organizations are volunteering to help kids to get better future, enter good colleges etc. And it was really heartwarming to see black and white kids playing together not knowing anything about those stupid stereotypes. Hope they will be smart enough to overcome all stereotypes in the future.
I also tried Southern-style soul food for the first time which was really delicious! Pearl’s Place is located in Bronzeville and offers a unique experience combining tasty home-style food with the great service. With photographs of African American jazz legends covering the walls inside and outside the restaurant, you are reminded of Bronzeville’s complex and powerful history.
The Museum of Science and Industry was another great and interesting experience! The main mission of the museum is to build public understanding of science, show how science impacts our society and inspire everyone to think critically about world around us. Exhibitions that cover many important topics are very spectacular and interesting for adults and kids.
Chicago is a great city and it is easy to find something that you enjoy there. If you are interested in photography, “The Photographer’s Curator: Hugh Edwards at the Art Institute of Chicago” exhibition is a must see. It is really an amazing experience which makes you understand what the real outstanding photography is. The exhibition is bringing together nearly 200 photographs by more than 70 artists whose works are held in the permanent collection. Some pictures from the collection are available here: http://media.artic.edu/edwards/.
Here are some more pictures (http://robertnatkin.net/) which are really mind blowing and should be presented on any exhibition dedicated to photography and history. It is easy to spend all day looking at those pictures, which are different from each other, but all of them are really beautiful, meaningful and very inspiring!
Jane-M Photography 