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WE TOOK THE FALL by STORM!
Autumn is a season tinged with the beauty of colours and yet also with some nostalgia...
Another Summer gone, the 'dark' months upon us, with the season of light nearing!
The weather is quite gusty, we did not have the colour for very long, some leaves still hanging on for dear life, others have let go...
Keep well and thank you for viewing and commenting, M, (*_*)
For more of my other work visit here: www.indigo2photography.com
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Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth, find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
Rachel Carson
Pink and Purple!
One of the last Peonies' of the season, combined with Mauve Campanula, the bellflowers.
Pure joy to work with, trying different angles and compositions.
I wish you a good day and thanK you for your visit, so very much appreciated, Magda, (*_*)
For more: www.indigo2photography.com
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY images or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission.
If you do, without accreditation, it is STEALING © All rights reserved
Campanula, flower, purple, mauve, blue, peony, pink, petals, mix, studio, black-background, colour, design, square, NikonD7000, "magda indigo"
IMPORTANT: for non-pro users who read the info on a computer, just enlarge your screen to 120% (or more), then the full text will appear below the photo with a white background - which makes reading so much easier.
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.
This flower is also known as Nigella. It was growing in my garden for the first time ever so of course I had to photograph it.
Background by FairyTaleBackground .home .pl
PERSONNAGES & ANIMAUX by Adika from Digital Créa
Texture by Christabelle du Guesclin ( poésie )
In 2022 28 Chimpanzee Sculptures were unveiled between London Bridge and Tower Bridge on the south side of the river. The sculptures demonstrate 18 different behaviours and emotions shown by chimps — with whom we humans share 98% 0f our DNA — including love, grief, friendship and conflict.
gillieandmarc.com/blogs/news/28-chimpanzee-sculptures-unv...
The exhibition is the work of British and Australian artists Gillie and Marc known worldwide for their innovative public sculptures and paintings. Coming from very different backgrounds, they both share a profound love of wildlife and their art has raised many thousands in donations for wildlife charities.
In 2023 10 Chimp sculptures were moved to Kingston upon Thames.
Gillie and Marc have designed the sculptures to be interactive and engaging. We're encouraged to get as close as we want, touching their faces, examining their hands — even hugging them — so you may well struggle to drag your own little chimps away.
"Are you in or out?" asked the Great Egret. "Do I have a choice?" answered with the question of its own side-blotched lizard... :-) @ Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
music:
"After the Fox" by Jim O'Rourke, in 'All Kinds of People ~Love Burt Bacharach~ (2010)
open.spotify.com/intl-es/track/2hwoBYsbpRGxYWnvwFqIJi?si=...
Una ripresa del Lago d'Orta (Novara) in una fredda giornata invernale. Sullo sfondo l'abitato di Orta San Giulio e l'sola di San Giulio.
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A shot of Orta Lake in Northern Italy, Piedmont region, taken in a cold winter day. On the background the municipality of Orta San Giulio (from which the lake takes its name) and the San Giulio Island.
Left: traffic sign bus driveway, in the background: station, timetable, traffic signs, Buseinfahrt Station, Verkehrszeichen Right: Station Sign, and in the background an abandoned bowling alley Stationsschild (Ortsangaben retuschiert) und links davon, im Hintergrund eine Kegelbahn, lange außer Betrieb
Part of Forlorn Places - Forsaken Buildings Lebensborn - zwei der ersten Bilder - im Zielgebiet angelangt dank meiner map for guidance mit den Stichworten von Hygiene bis wachs - und ab hier wirds schon interessant, obwohl wir das eigentlich gesuchte Gebäude noch gar nicht erreicht haben - die Recherche trägt Früchte und die Exploration beginnt. Ein Ort geschichtsträchtig, mit bewegter Geschichte, den man nicht im Museum vorgesetzt bekommt.... und Esoteriker bilden sich ein hier Geister wahrzunehmen, ihre Präsenz zu spüren, etc. (auch darauf stieß ich im Zuge meiner Recherche) // kein Meer der Stille genausowenig wie ein Webstuhl ein Instrument ohne Ton ist - das Foto ist ohne Ton, der Webstuhl ist nicht aus Ton gemacht - ein Musikinstrument, das nicht gespielt wird ist sozusagen ohne Ton (außer es ist aus Ton gemacht, z.B,: Okarina) auf einem Webstuhl läßt sich Musik machen und weben ist nicht geräuschlos, nicht tonlos nicht still - hören zuhören hinhören bewußt wahrnehmen Aufmerksamkeit im Gegensatz zu ausblenden blocken Scheuklappen es sich in seiner Bubbel gemütlich machen
diptych 2 photos 916, 917 2017-06-28 #entdecken #entdeckung #recherchieren #finden #forschen #erforschen #erkunden #explore #explorieren #unterwegs #ausflug #outing #trip #reise #bowling #kegeln #ruine #abandoned #decay #derelict #verfall #zerfall #aufgelassen #verlassen #geschlossen #closed #ruine #zerschossen #schild #station #bus #busstation #haltestelle #endstation #deadlock #fahrplan #plan #map #einschuß #einschußloch #loch #hole #damage #sprung #zielscheibe #einfahrt #ausfahrt #baum #tree #forest #wood #holzstoß #holz #house #haus #kiesweg #schotterstraße #kopfsteinpflaster #kopfstein #exploration #erkundung #schatten #shadow #licht #light #summer #sommer #sonne #sun #sunny #midsommer #hochsommer #green #grün #vor #verkehrsschild #straßenschild #schild #sign #yellow #vergilbt #gelb #braun #brown #red #rot #broken #zerbrochen #stern #star #starry #night #nacht #grey #gray #grau #weiß #white #offwhite #blue #blau #sky #himmel #window #fenster #erinnerung #memory #spiegel #mirror #spiegelung #reflection #urbex #lungenheilanstalt #pfosten #band #stele #parawissenschafte #parapsychologie #entlarvung #pseudowissenschaft #corner #ecke #sonnig #bahnhof #banhofcity #west #westbahnhof #natur #nature #landscape #landschaft #frame #rahmen #rand #umrandung
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There's a dream in every shadow of sunlight.
(Gary Lemons)
Looking close... on Friday! - Shadows
(photo by Freya)
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Our big magnolia came in at a bad time this year, with a hard freeze predicted for the next day. Fortunately, Mickie cut a few branches off and put them in a vase in the dining room, so I moved them to the studio - just the other end of the dining room these days! - and photographed them. I like the different stages of blossoming represented here. Tiring a bit of plain black backgrounds, I thought this blue-green complimented the blossoms nicely. Hoping you agree.
Helios 77M-4 50mm f/1.8 M42
If you want to see more awesome pictures you can check out my group Only Awesome Photos
I had some reasonable shots of a Kingfisher but they had a pretty uninspiring grey background due to a dull overcast day. So for the very first time I decided to find out how to change the background of the shot, this is the result not perfect by any means but more pleasing to the eye than grey. There is also a slight vignette, it's obviously not a natural background and I would always say if I had done this. Any thoughts ?
A train of ladles on the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (FCAB) skirts the Salar Ascotan on its way to the coast as the Volcano Ollague looms in the background.
It has just passed Cebollar station and will soon climb to Estacion Ascotan, the summit of the line at 3,965 metres altitude. The leading loco is formerly from Queensland Railways and the second was bought from Colombian Railways.
Atacama, Chile. December 2024 © David Hill
A beautiful hen Wood Duck. Not at outlandish as her mate but she definitley has charms of her own. Her mate is in the background.
For licensing see: Getty images
Tsumago é uma cidade antiga bem conservada no Vale de Kizo, Nagano, Japão.
During my time off this holiday season, I rearranged and organized my studio. I have been wanting to have a corner designated for floral photography and now I finally do.
I was inspired by an exhibition of Mapplethorpe's photography when I lived in Southern California a few years ago.
He has a very distinctive style. I am using it as my baseline inspiration and look forward to seeing where it leads me this year.
Anyone have any recommendations for simple, basic photography background kits?
The wall ain't cutting it! LOL
HSS!