Super Ordinary Life

As we enter the 9th week of lockdown I came across an article in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2020/may/22/awakening-a-sense-of-wonder-in-ordinary-life-in-pictures on an Japanese photographer, Yasumi Toyoda’s images challenge us to notice more. The aim of super ordinary is to awaken a sense of wonder and ignite that ”seeing with fresh eyes” sensation even in the most unlikely and mundane moments of everyday life. Look beyond the function of the objects in our lives, concentrate instead on colour, form, texture, emotion and context. I was immediately struck by the simplicity of the idea (I had a lot of time and a lot of archive to explore!) and decided to create a page on the site and populate it with a few images to illustrate.

Super Ordinary Life  Yasumi Toyoda  blog 

The water dragon.

Can Tho is the largest city of the magnificent Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam. Situated on the banks of the Hau River, it serves as the political and commercial centre of the Mekong. This water dragon is one of two lovely creatures from the recent annual “Hoa Dang Ninh Kieu” (Floral Lanterns at Ninh Kieu Harbour) Festival, held last year.

Lotus flower fountain, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Fabulous lights in this lotus fountain and the surrounding buildings following the recent Tet celebrations. The building in the background is city hall and you can just see uncle Ho's statue in front of the hall

Sunset, Yarrow valley

Amazing sunset at the back door. Captured on my trusty wee Nikon compact. We had exceedingly clear air below the cloud and thin cloud layers up at about 12-14,000 feet. The sun - reflected off the bottom of the cloud giving those vivid colours. Oh and no filter was added.