The essence of light - Feel the Flow #6
The Val Bregaglia is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Alps. Although it is on the Italian side of the Alpine watershed, the high valley has been in Switzerland since the Italian protestants wanted to be part of that country in mid-16th century, to avoid the Inquisition. However the low Val Bregaglia, often called Valchiavenna, lays in Italy and the river Mera (Maira in the Swiss part) flows into Lake Como. Acquafraggia* is a short and frequently steep stream flowing from one of the tributary valleys on the right orographical side of the Val Bregaglia. Almost at the end of its precipitous course, the Acquafraggia reaches the outlet of the hanging valley where it flows, forming a couple of twin most beautiful waterfalls. Even Leonardo da Vinci was impressed by these waterfalls, and they are mentioned in the Codex Atlanticus (a marvel I have been able to see and touch only once during my years working at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana). Curiously, I have been not able to find any statement about the height of the final waterfalls of the Acquafraggia: they always quote that Leonardo says they are about "400 braccia Milanesi" ( = Milanese unit of lenght, an arm's length; Leonardo was working in the Duchy of Milan between 1482 and 1499).
I have photographed the Acquafraggia waterfalls times upon times, but I have never found those shots even remotely satisfying. At last I have realised that trying to depict the twin waterfalls in their entirety has a reductive effect on their beauty and majesty. So I decided to capture a small series of details, mainly to be processed in bw.
This photo is the sixth in the series, possibly the last one. Contrary to my progam about this series, this one is in colour. And yes, it is the very same photo as Pouring bliss... Feel the Flow #5. I believe that the choice of bw processing is a fundamental one: once made, the original colour version is to be forgotten. Yet I am doing this right now - posting the colour version of a bw shot, having them side by side in my photostream. Well, I think that you can see why I chose to process the bw version in accordance with its preceding sisters. On the other hand, it shoud be quite apparent why I am posting the colours version. There was a steady, beautiful rainbow at the feet of the waterfalls, where the precipitous waters poured into the wide bowl carved into the rock beneath them. The crowding people bathing and sunbathing and playing all around didn't apparently notice it - taking it for granted maybe. I tried to capture it, of course, and this shot has to me a special atmosphere, due to the unusual detail of the rainbow painted on the subject showed by the bw version.
Since I did not expect to engage myself in "serious" photography that day (I had my camera mainly for family & friends candid portraits), I was shooting handheld single RAWs.
RAWs processed with Darktable. Further processing (including the monochrome via LAB channels decomposition) with The Gimp, with a slight titanium tint.
* This apparently silly name derives from the Latin phrase and toponym Aqua fracta, i.e. "precipitous water" or "fragmented water" (because of the many waterfalls it forms during its brief course covering a staggering 2,000 mt drop (more than 6,500 ft))
The essence of light - Feel the Flow #6
The Val Bregaglia is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Alps. Although it is on the Italian side of the Alpine watershed, the high valley has been in Switzerland since the Italian protestants wanted to be part of that country in mid-16th century, to avoid the Inquisition. However the low Val Bregaglia, often called Valchiavenna, lays in Italy and the river Mera (Maira in the Swiss part) flows into Lake Como. Acquafraggia* is a short and frequently steep stream flowing from one of the tributary valleys on the right orographical side of the Val Bregaglia. Almost at the end of its precipitous course, the Acquafraggia reaches the outlet of the hanging valley where it flows, forming a couple of twin most beautiful waterfalls. Even Leonardo da Vinci was impressed by these waterfalls, and they are mentioned in the Codex Atlanticus (a marvel I have been able to see and touch only once during my years working at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana). Curiously, I have been not able to find any statement about the height of the final waterfalls of the Acquafraggia: they always quote that Leonardo says they are about "400 braccia Milanesi" ( = Milanese unit of lenght, an arm's length; Leonardo was working in the Duchy of Milan between 1482 and 1499).
I have photographed the Acquafraggia waterfalls times upon times, but I have never found those shots even remotely satisfying. At last I have realised that trying to depict the twin waterfalls in their entirety has a reductive effect on their beauty and majesty. So I decided to capture a small series of details, mainly to be processed in bw.
This photo is the sixth in the series, possibly the last one. Contrary to my progam about this series, this one is in colour. And yes, it is the very same photo as Pouring bliss... Feel the Flow #5. I believe that the choice of bw processing is a fundamental one: once made, the original colour version is to be forgotten. Yet I am doing this right now - posting the colour version of a bw shot, having them side by side in my photostream. Well, I think that you can see why I chose to process the bw version in accordance with its preceding sisters. On the other hand, it shoud be quite apparent why I am posting the colours version. There was a steady, beautiful rainbow at the feet of the waterfalls, where the precipitous waters poured into the wide bowl carved into the rock beneath them. The crowding people bathing and sunbathing and playing all around didn't apparently notice it - taking it for granted maybe. I tried to capture it, of course, and this shot has to me a special atmosphere, due to the unusual detail of the rainbow painted on the subject showed by the bw version.
Since I did not expect to engage myself in "serious" photography that day (I had my camera mainly for family & friends candid portraits), I was shooting handheld single RAWs.
RAWs processed with Darktable. Further processing (including the monochrome via LAB channels decomposition) with The Gimp, with a slight titanium tint.
* This apparently silly name derives from the Latin phrase and toponym Aqua fracta, i.e. "precipitous water" or "fragmented water" (because of the many waterfalls it forms during its brief course covering a staggering 2,000 mt drop (more than 6,500 ft))