Texture adds something wonderful to a photo, drawing you into the image and creating impact. Texture can highlight details on the surface of an object; macro photography often works with texture in such detail that it is not immediately apparent and not necessary to recognize what the object is. The beauty is in the detail. Texture in relationship with other elements in a photograph can create drama, and it can also provide information about the object being photographed. Here are a few textural photographs I snapped on my travels through the US.
The dramatic patterns in stone of Zion National Park’s Checkerboard Mesa
A San Fransisco rooftop
The splayed end of a fallen redwood in California
A closeup of the spectacular colours of Utah variscite
More of Utah’s rocky wonders in closeup
Peridot up close and personal
Contrast (in tone or colour), curves (more curves!) and patterns are interesting components of textural photography. I’d love to see your take on the theme.
If you’d like to join in, create your own post between now and next Friday, title it “Travel theme: Texture” and put a link to this page in your blog post to make it easy for others to find your post. Don’t forget to check back in next Friday for a new travel theme.
Where's my backpack? 
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Hello Ailsa!
I enjoyed this week’s theme and loved your images as well. Thanks for the inspiration! Here is my interpretation: Man Imitates Nature …http://wp.me/p1RzUf-1wt
Love it, Sunshine. Moss makes the landscape seem a little more romantic, I think. It’s so soft and fuzzy 🙂
Ahh, romance and moss…you just added a wonderful new way to look at the world…Thanks, Ailsa! 🙂
Haha, you are most welcome, Sunshine!
I love your first picture… it looks like elephant skin! Very cool.
Thanks, CTB, it was really incredible to see close up. It does look a little like elephant skin 🙂
My brother drove through that area and was in awe. Fast road trip and he wished he could have taken his time. Amazing pics!
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Fascinating combination of textures, mothergrogan! 🙂
fabulous pictures as ever. Here are mine:
http://wp.me/p18B5-zD
So cool! Love the lichen covered walls and the tiny balls of sand! Fantastic post! xxx
Interesting shots, Ailsa – and the colours! Here’s my shot on texture in nature http://lynneayersbeyondthebrush.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/2944/
Spectacular, Lynne, I’ve never seen a frozen waterfall, wow!
Hah – you know I never thought of that – I guess many people haven’t. 😉
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Hi Ailsa,
Thought I would jump in this week.
http://quotidianhudsonriver.com/2012/09/16/travel-themetexture-9-15-12/
Nice theme. Love your choices particularly the redwood and the Iguana – sorry I mean the Checkerboard Mesa!
Heh heh, I can see the Iguana in that shot, Robert. Love your Hudson River shots, lovely texture! xxx Ailsa
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Hi Ailsa,
Your photos for texture are wonderful. The fallen redwood is my
favorite. The clarity on all of them is fabulous. Excellent shots …!!!
My poor little entry is here. I had never thought about texture when taking
photos. I wil pay more attention now. Thanks for the challenge.
Isadora
http://insidethemindofisadora.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/travel-theme-texture/
Thanks for the compliments, Isadora, and I love your photos – especially the top one of the leaves, really beautiful! xx
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Glorious, Jenn, I adore the juxtaposition of the old and the sparkly new. Quite brilliant. xxx
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Gorgeous shots for the texture challenge, Ailsa! Here is my entry: http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/travel-theme-texture/
Fantastic, Amy, each of these shots of Chateau de Beyanc is stunning!
Here is my entry this week:
http://davidrwetzelphotography.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/texture-in-nature-a-travel-theme/
Wow, I’ve never seen reindeer moss before, David, wonderful capture!
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My first Travel Theme post – oh how I love textures…but I restrained myself and just put a few up, from a quick trip to Philadelphia.
http://bluebrightly.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/travel-theme-texture/
Hurray, welcome to the weekly travel themes, bluebrightly. Wonderful post, it brought back memories of my trip to Philly – I remember being captivated by that exact church you’ve photographed so beautifully. xxx
Wonderful Textures! here’s mine rock tombs in Turkey http://citylifepicture.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/
Gorgeous shot, Dianne, I love how the plants are reclaiming their stake on the land.
http://www.budgettraveltalk.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture-marrakech/
Walls with texture in Marrakech.
I love your photo of the road disappearing into the textured hill.
Jan
Wow, gorgeous texture and stunning colours, just so lovely, Jan. How long were you in Marrakech? xxx
Hi Ailsa (and all you visitors)
Great theme again. And really impressive pictures you posted.
The structure in “Checkerboard Mesa” reminds me of elephant skin.
The fallen redwood is simply majestic.
But as I ‘m crazy about minerals, stones and fossils, my all time favorites are the pictures of the stones…
Here you have my contribution to this weeks travel theme “structure” :
“Ravages of time”…
http://dauwgalerij.blogspot.be/2012/09/de-tand-des-tijds.html
Thanks from before to pay me a visit.
– Dauw –
Fabulous macro, Dauw, I love it, it’s so evocative. I tried posting on your site but it wouldn’t let me log in. xxx
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Great theme again this week Ailsa. My textures in black and white:
http://ronmayhewphotography.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/comment-page-1/#comment-735
Hi Ron, so glad you enjoyed this week’s theme. Stunning black and white shots, all of them, but my faves were the tiles and the stairs, just divine. xxx
Very happy to join your challenge and see everyones contributions ! The Checkerboard Mesa shot is very similar to one in my hoards of USA photos ! You have some fantastic shots 🙂
Here is my contribution which is not a bit colourful but think it fits the Texture Theme Hot springs in Rotorua NZ
Not quite sure how to do the link back to me but have linked mine back to your page if that makes ANY sense lol
Hi Poppy, wonderful photo, my those are some odd looking plumes! – so glad you joined in this week’s travel theme. I’m including a link to your post here so others can find it: http://poppytump.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/
You included a link to https://wheresmybackpack.com/ in your post, but in order to get it to show up in this comment stream, you need to link to the individual post – in this case, https://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/09/14/travel-theme-texture/
Hope you join in again next week! xxx Ailsa
Thank you Ailsa for your nice comment and for taking time to explain & help with the link stuff 🙂
Very much forward to next week for sure ! x
dramatic patterns in stone of Zion National Park’s Checkerboard Mesa!
It was even more dramatic standing right next to it, frizztext, so spectacular!
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You have varied texture here and beautiful photography as always. 🙂 Here is my contribution to the theme – http://mywordwall.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/
Ahh, Imelda, how lovely – weathered time. Gorgeous.
Such great choices for texture!! Love all your photos.
Here is my entry! ENJOY!
http://ceeslifephotographyblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/
Oh Cee, I just love your photography. Incredible textural shots, that moss in the Canby park is heavenly!
Hi Ailsa, this is my contribution! Hope you like it: http://ingriddendievel.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/travel-theme-texture/
Nice closeup of the stone, Ingrid, it really shows the texture!
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Hi! Ailsa!
i almost skipped this week’s theme, because it seemed so daunting. As you know I am not much into photography and ‘textures’ is such a hard core photography subject. Finally decided to pull out some shots from the Ladakh trip and take the plunge! They may not be very “texture” oriented but they do capture texture against subjects, i think. looking forward to your thoughts!
http://justanotherwakeupcall.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/travel-photograph-texture-ed-forever/
Oh I’m so glad you didn’t skip this week, those photos of Ladakh are captivating. That bamboo roof is my favourite, closely followed by the mountains and that sweet little duck. Oh, and they are perfect for the texture challenge! xxx Ailsa
thanks Ailsa! so sweet of you to say this! made my day 🙂
Yaay 🙂
a real gem of a theme – going to have a couple of gos though nothing compares with that 1st shot. Awesome!
http://eljaygee.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/travel-theme-texture-1/
Ooh, I love it, Laura, was this exhibit actually in Seven Dials? It’s my absolute favourite part of London. xxx
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Beautiful pictures! Here’s my contribution to this theme:
http://worldviastandby.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/travel-theme-texture/
Wow, this is stunning. Where was it taken? So glad you joined in the travel theme this week! xxx Ailsa
OK, I got a little carried away. So many textures……..: http://jennifercrites.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/travel-theme-texture. Now to have a fun look through all the other contributions.
Now that I’ve had a good look, so many amazing texture photos from everyone. And I must say I loved your shots Ailsa, especially the colorful rocks. Thanks so much for the perfect theme. We all really got into it 🙂
Ooh, so many delicious textures, Jennifer – all wonderful. My absolute favourites are the wicker whisks and the rusty buoys, just lovely to look at! xxx
Oh, I’m so glad you picked the wicker whisks, and the rusty buoys have two votes now. What a nice surprise. Thank you again for such a marvelous theme. That was one I couldn’t miss!! Textures make us feel good (she says, crunching her toes in the soft carpet).
Pingback: Travel theme: Texture (2) | eljaygee
Beautiful shots – I had to take a week off from participating, but think I can finally put up my post tomorrow. My favorite is the tile – so orderly yet so warm.
And here is my post – better late than never!
http://zhongguojumble.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/travel-theme-texture/
Oooh, great texture, gkm2011, that snake gives me the chills but it’s magnetic to look at. xxx
Thanks! The snake shot is pretty cool 🙂
I loved this one, Ailsa! Here’s mine: http://newsofthetimes.org/2012/09/19/travel-challenge-texture-as-displayed-by-antonin-gaudi/ Missed you and your fun challenges while I was gone!!
Yaay, welcome back, news! Gaudi is the perfect choice for this theme, his work fascinates me. Wonderful shots, the Casa Battlo rooftop photos are my favourite, especially that last one! xxx
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Hi,
Loved the idea.
Here is mine http://imagenesencontradas.com/2012/09/19/la-textura-del-bosque/
Hi Arturo, lovely textural photo, so glad you joined in the weekly travel theme, hope to see you joining in again! xxx Ailsa
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Your first pic totally took my breath away, just amazing. Thanks Ailsa. http://rainbowbakery.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/travel-theme-texture/
Hya Georgia, wonderful textural shots, that first photo is my favourite, and the Fes photo is really intriguing. Great captures! xxx Ailsa
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Wonderful ripples in the sand, Jody, lovely shot. xxx Ailsa
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Wonderful, Isadora, texture in writing too, I love it!
I love this theme so much I thought I would have another go!
http://quotidianhudsonriver.com/2012/09/20/travel-theme-texture-take-2-9-19-12/
Ooh Robert, these are fantastic. That top one of Quetzaltenago is spectacular. So glad you had another go! xxx Ailsa
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I love your textures! All are amazing – love the various rock formations – and that fallen redwood. I am VERY late (been travelling), but here’s mine! http://theretiringsort.com/2012/09/20/leading-a-textured-life/
Oh TRS, I love this post, and how you weave texture and water into paddling through life. Wonderfully written! xxx
Thanks, Ailsa!
This was great fun! Here is my first attempt: http://beachtreasuresandtreasurebeaches.com/2012/09/20/travel-theme-texture/
Really lovely, Jody, makes me want to kick off my flip flops now! xxx
One last entry for this weeks challenge.
http://pictureperfectmemoriesforlife.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/travel-theme-texture-2/