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The color version of the photo above is here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
So far there's only been one photo in my gallery that hasn't been taken in my garden ('The Flame Rider', captured in the Maggia Valley: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/53563448847/in/datepo... ) - which makes the image above the second time I've "strayed from the path" (although not very far, since the photo was taken only approximately 500 meters from my house).
Overall, I'll stick to my "only-garden rule", but every once in a while I'll show you a little bit of the landscape around my village, because I think it will give you a better sense of just how fascinating this region is, and also of its history.
The title I chose for the photo may seem cheesy, and it's certainly not very original, but I couldn't think of another one, because it's an honest reflection of what I felt when I took it: a profound sense of peace - although if you make it to the end of this text you'll realize my relationship with that word is a bit more complicated.
I got up early that day; it was a beautiful spring morning, and there was still a bit of mist in the valley below my village which I hoped would make for a few nice mood shots, so I quickly grabbed my camera and went down there before the rising sun could dissolve the magical layer on the scenery.
Most human activity hadn't started yet, and I was engulfed in the sounds of the forest as I was walking the narrow trail along the horse pasture; it seemed every little creature around me wanted to make its presence known to potential mates (or rivals) in a myriad of sounds and voices and noises (in case you're interested, here's a taste of what I usually wake up to in spring, but you best use headphones: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfoCTqdAVCE )
Strolling through such an idyllic landscape next to grazing horses and surrounded by birdsong and beautiful trees, I guess it's kind of obvious one would feel the way I described above and choose the title I did, but as I looked at the old stone buildings - the cattle shelter you can see in the foreground and the stable further up ahead on the right - I also realized how fortunate I was.
It's hard to imagine now, because Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world today, but the men and women who had carried these stones and constructed the walls of these buildings were among the poorest in Europe. The hardships the people in some of the remote and little developed valleys in Ticino endured only a few generations ago are unimaginable to most folks living in my country today.
It wasn't uncommon that people had to sell their own kids as child slaves - the girls had to work in factories or in rice fields, the boys as "living chimney brushes" in northern Italy - just because there wasn't enough food to support the whole family through the harsh Ticino winters.
If you wonder why contemporary Swiss historians speak of "slaves" as opposed to child laborers, it's because that's what many of them actually were: auctioned off for a negotiable prize at the local market, once sold, these kids were not payed and in many cases not even fed by their masters (they had to beg for food in the streets or steal it).
Translated from German Wikipedia: ...The Piazza grande in Locarno, where the Locarno Film Festival is held today, was one of the places where orphans, foundlings and children from poor families were auctioned off. The boys were sold as chimney sweeps, the girls ended up in the textile industry, in tobacco processing in Brissago or in the rice fields of Novara, which was also extremely hard work: the girls had to stand bent over in the water for twelve to fourteen hours in all weathers. The last verse of the Italian folk song 'Amore mio non piangere' reads: “Mamma, papà, non piangere, se sono consumata, è stata la risaia che mi ha rovinata” (Mom, dad, don't cry when I'm used up, it was the rice field that destroyed me.)... de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaminfegerkinder
The conditions for the chimney sweeps - usually boys between the age of 8 and 12 (or younger, because they had to be small enough to be able to crawl into the chimneys) - were so catastrophic that many of them didn't survive; they died of starvation, cold or soot in their lungs - as well as of work-related accidents like breaking their necks when they fell, or suffocatig if they got stuck in inside a chimney. This practice of "child slavery" went on as late as the 1950s (there's a very short article in English on the topic here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spazzacamini and a more in depth account for German speakers in this brief clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gda8vZp_zsc ).
Now I don't know if the people who built the old stone houses along my path had to sell any of their kids, but looking at the remnants of their (not so distant) era I felt an immense sense of gratitude that I was born at a time of prosperity - and peace - in my region, my country and my home. Because none of it was my doing: it was simple luck that decided when and where I came into this world.
It also made me think of my own family. Both of my grandparents on my father's side grew up in Ticino (they were both born in 1900), but while they eventually left Switzerland's poorest region to live in its richest, the Kanton of Zurich, my grandfather's parents relocated to northern Italy in the 1920s and unfortunately were still there when WWII broke out.
They lost everything during the war, and it was their youngest daughter - whom I only knew as "Zia" which means "aunt" in Italian - who earned a little money to support herself and my great-grandparents by giving piano lessons to high-ranking Nazi officers and their kids (this was towards the end of the war when German forces had occupied Italy).
I never knew that about her; Zia only very rarely spoke of the war, but one time when I visited her when she was already over a 100 years old (she died at close to 104), I asked her how they had managed to survive, and she told me that she went to the local prefecture nearly every day to teach piano. "And on the way there would be the dangling ones" she said, with a shudder.
I didn't get what she meant, so she explained. Visiting the city center where the high ranking military resided meant she had to walk underneath the executed men and women who were hanging from the lantern posts along the road (these executions - often of civilians - were the Germans' retaliations for attacks by the Italian partisans).
I never forgot her words - nor could I shake the look on her face as she re-lived this memory. And I still can't grasp it; my house in Ticino is only 60 meters from the Italian border, and the idea that there was a brutal war going on three houses down the road from where I live now in Zia's lifetime strikes me as completely surreal.
So, back to my title for the photo above. "Peace". It's such a simple, short word, isn't it? And we use it - or its cousin "peaceful" - quite often when we mean nice and quiet or stress-free. But if I'm honest I don't think I know what it means. My grandaunt Zia did, but I can't know. And I honestly hope I never will.
I'm sorry I led you down such a dark road; I usually intend to make people smile with the anecdotes that go with my photos, but this one demanded a different approach (I guess with this latest image I've strayed from the path in more than one sense, and I hope you'll forgive me).
Ticino today is the region with the second highest average life expectancy in Europe (85.2 years), and "The Human Development Index" of 0.961 in 2021 was one of the highest found anywhere in the world, and northern Italy isn't far behind. But my neighbors, many of whom are now in their 90s, remember well it wasn't always so.
That a region so poor it must have felt like purgatory to many of its inhabitants could turn into something as close to paradise on Earth as I can imagine in a person's lifetime should make us all very hopeful. But, and this is the sad part, it also works the other way 'round. And I believe we'd do well to remember that, too.
To all of you - with my usual tardiness but from the bottom of my heart - a happy, healthy, hopeful 2025 and beyond.
Two layer macro.
Hollyhocks (Alcea) are a genus of plants in the mallow family (Malvaceae). The approximately 60 species are distributed throughout Eastern and Southern Europe, Southwestern and Central Asia. Some varieties are cultivated as ornamental plants.
Alcea species are upright, annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial herbaceous plants. The vegetative parts of the plant are covered with stellate hairs (trichomes), and sometimes also with long, simple hairs.
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Makro aus zwei Ebenen.
Die Stockrosen auch Stockmalve (Alcea) sind eine Pflanzengattung in der Familie der Malvengewächse (Malvaceae). Die etwa 60 Arten sind in Ost- und Südeuropa, Südwest- sowie Zentralasien verbreitet. Einige Sorten werden als Zierpflanzen verwendet.
Bei Alcea-Arten handelt es sich um aufrechte, ein-, zweijährige oder kurzlebige ausdauernde, krautige Pflanzen. Die vegetativen Pflanzenteile sind mit Sternhaaren (Trichomen) bedeckt, manchmal auch zusätzlich mit langen einfachen Haaren.
Detail of the roofline of PRYZM, a nightclub on Brighton seafront. It originally opened its door back in 1965 as the Top Rank suite.
It was simplicity that was the goal of this shot. A rock, a cloud, and the ocean. "Less is more", they say when it comes to life. Until it was discovered that a very wealthy individual coined the phrase, attempting to convince the less fortunate to accept their lot in life.
However, this simple phrase is true in photography. eliminating clutter does remove distractions. This is what the phrase is meant to illustrate. These are the simple goals that any photographer desires.
... logo de manhã, passar um sonho pelo rosto. É isso que impede o tempo e atrasa a ruga."
Mia o Couto no "Mar me quer"
Simple things like...
... first thing in the morning,
cleanse the face with a dream. That's what stops time and delays the wrinkle."
87 STOLEN FAVES!
"Simple gestures go a long way"
Thanks to all for the warm partecipation on my previous image about solidarity to Greece.
MAY WE HAVE A PEACEFUL WEEKEND!
Οι δυο πιο ισχυροί πολεμιστές είναι η υπομονή και η ευψυχία
The two most powerful warriors are patience and fortitude
-> www.translatum.gr/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=f4cbfe56e20bb...
www.translatum.gr/forum/index.php?topic=40936.0#ixzz1n1ls...
Somehow I bypassed this simple, single rose in favour of more colourful blooms but I think that sometimes, less is more.
I've been working on my original shot from this set on Wastwater and thought I might give this one a go! I like the fact that you can see the mother's face and the splash as the paddle hits the water! The canoe's wake spoils the reflection a little and it's central position is not the best for composition but I like it!
Towards the light. Stratosphere, a new East London residential development designed by Stockwool for Telford Homes,
pine needles, leaves and water on a smooth surface shot with a shallow depth of field at a 45 degree angle
SE203757m
Providence Tower and Ontario Tower at New Providence Wharf in East London - Architects: Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Il Tempio di Cerere o Atena (500 a.C.)
Costruito circa cinquant'anni prima del Tempio di Nettuno e 50 anni dopo quello di Hera ha delle particolarità che lo distingue dagli altri due templi e lo rendono uno dei più interessanti dell'architettura greca. Il frontone alto rende questo Tempio unico; il fregio dorico composto di larghi blocchi di calcare è anch'esso di tipo unico. La pianta interna, più semplice di quella degli altri due templi era composta dal pronaos e dalla cella nella quale non ci sono tracce della camera del tesoro (adyton).
Il pronaos aveva otto colonne con capitelli ionici, quattro sul fronte e due su ciascun lato. Delle colonne ioniche del pronaos si vedono solamente le basi e due capitelli ( i più antichi in stile ionico rinvenuti in Italia) sono custoditi nel vicino Museo Archeologico.
Il ritovamento di numerose statuette in terracotta (ex voto) raffiguranti Atena nelle stipi votive prova che il Tempio non era dedicato a Cerere ma alla dea della saggezza e delle arti Atena. Infatti il tempio sorge sulla parte più alta della città, luogo dove sono sempre stati eretti i templi in onore di Atena nelle città greche.
Built about fifty years before the Temple of Neptune and 50 years after that of Hera, it has particularities that distinguish it from the other two temples and make it one of the most interesting in Greek architecture. The high pediment makes this Temple unique; the Doric frieze composed of large limestone blocks is also unique. The internal plan, simpler than that of the other two temples, was composed of the pronaos and the cell in which there are no traces of the treasure chamber (adyton).
The pronaos had eight columns with Ionic capitals, four on the front and two on each side. Of the Ionic columns of the pronaos, only the bases can be seen and two capitals (the oldest in Ionic style found in Italy) are kept in the nearby Archaeological Museum.
The discovery of numerous terracotta statuettes (ex voto) depicting Athena in votive containers proves that the Temple was not dedicated to Ceres but to the goddess of wisdom and the arts Athena. In fact, the temple stands on the highest part of the city, a place where temples in honor of Athena have always been built in Greek cities.
This is a square version of flic.kr/p/2mXZLEf.
London architecture in the twenty first century. This is 'Canopy Hotel by Hilton' in Aldgate which opened in November 2021. Architects: ACME.