“What on earth are you doing?”
My husband was bemused that I had whipped out the phone to take a photo of a pile of rusty chains on the quayside of St. Ives Harbour. “So many other things to take a picture of and you photograph old chains?”
Yes. Yes, I do.
They had not been left there “artistically”. This is a working harbour and all the detritus of a working life involving fishing was stored along the sea wall that runs down to the harbour lighthouse. To me, an unimaginably hard life. The chains speak of years of faithful work, rusty patina formed by exposure to sea water and time. I love the textures and the shapes and the imagined idea that this is one long, continuous chain and not just a pile of old iron in a discarded heap. I wonder how old it is and whether or not something like it is still made in exactly the same way today. I wonder if anyone else had ever stopped to take a picture before. Surely they have- the texture is far too inviting not to want to capture it!
There are other things to be seen in St. Ives Harbour.
You can smell the sea air.
Balancing rocks- are they really balanced or has someone been at them with the super glue?
The tide is out- and we got lucky with the weather.
The tide is in and, yet again, having the time to stand and stare is just one of the greatest gifts of all.
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Quotidian 
I would love to see what a photo of chains looks like after I run it thru my kaleidoscope app. Beautiful thoughts and photos. I hope you enjoy your trip. ~JJ
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