I had nothing to contribute to last month’s contest, as I don’t care about food, but this time I may have a better chance of finding something appropriate. I live in a young country in terms of colonisation, but an ancient one in terms of geology and First Nations culture.
That’s part of why I liked it. (I saw a word for it recently, but I can’t find it at the moment). I think it’s what @Jeff_Lichtman does so well; for instance, in his recent contribution to the “whole lot of ___” topic. It’s artistic.
I don’t have a problem with that. IMO, there’s nothing wrong with a deliberately arranged subject.
Aw, shucks. Thanks!
Yup, like I said, no accounting for taste. Obviously others feel differently about art than I do.
Found the word! Knolling.
It’s kind of neat. I might try it some month if I don’t have anything else in mind for my entry. It reminds me of some books my kids liked:
I Spy (book series) - Wikipedia
That is something new to me, very cool.
mmm
They were arranged that way because they made an attractive presentation for my salads, lol (which we did in fact sit down to eat minutes later!). I thought they were pretty and took a phone snap before I finished making them. Nothing ‘artificial’ about it. 
I had no idea there was a word for that. I do that very thing sometimes with tickets/programs/etc we collect during a trip as a way to have a record of all the things we did during it (and then I can throw all the paper stuff away).
I think it is hilarious and I hope I’ll remember it, because in German knüllen is a verb that means crumpling a sheet of paper into a ball, a Knöllchen (a little piece of paper you have knülled) is slang for a parking ticket (because you crumple it into a ball and throw it to the floor), while being knülle (knülle sein) means being well and truly drunk. I guess the knolling photography has a different etymology, but I still like it.
In particular, every decent gourmet chef artfully arranges every dish he/she serves, knowing that among the things that are important to the enjoyment of great food is appetizing, elegant appearance and pleasant ambience.
Now I’m really curious about the geology behind @GuanoLad 's submission. Usually naturally-occurring geometric pavement patterns like that are hexagons, not rectangles.
Now that I’ve googled Stendhal syndrome, where was that taken, @Frodo? 
At the Acropolis 
OK, Ancient - liking it, I thought. One thing we do have around these parts is plenty of ancient. Thing is, it’s not always very photogentic. Case in point - what do you make of this?
See what I mean? This is actually the London to Brighton Roman Road - yeah, there it is, a couple of thousand years old and just laying about in a field (I biked out that way today). Which I think is interesting and remarkable but …mmm, it just doesn’t make for a great photo. But I thought you’d like to see it anyway.
In the meantime, I’ll keep looking.
j
Did you mean to post that in the competition thread? This is the discussion thread.
No, it was a discussion point and (I thought) a point of interest. It’s a more difficult subject than I thought it would be, given the quantity of stuff that I have to work with..
j
ETA - looking at the timings, I guess that was a case of crossed posts? It’s easier to load a photo directly from my phone but much harder to do the accompanying text that way. Hence the photo appearing alone first and me adding the text later.
The annoying thing about cycling on Roman roads is that they are so damn straight. On a motorcycle it is even worse. I went to Scotland on a motorcycle a long time ago, and the road up there from Hull was the Roman road for many, many miles. It went up the hills, suddenly you could not see further than perhaps 50 meter and then you went over the cusp and experienced very little gravity and then it went down. It was frightening not to be able to see what was behind the cusp, but the roller-coaster feeling was exhilarating. Fortunately the traffic was minimal.
The curves came later, where the sheep live, that was more like it. Sheep are stupid, by the way. I was told their aim in life was to die in the most preposterous way involving a vehicle. I believed it.
I had no camera on this trip. This is unfortunate in retrospect.
I agree with your instinct. It’s not a photo that screams “ancient,” whatever its other virtues.
My other contender for this month’s contest: A Stone Age burial tomb in Ireland. Technically it fits the theme better, but I just liked the other photo more.
I think you made the right choice, particularly with that unfortunately placed person peeking through the gap.
Unless my memory fails me, this is in The Burren in County Clare, yes? I think I’ve got a picture of this kicking around somewhere, too (from a crappy old camera, sadly).