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.... Etnea avenue, the 2018 evening of February 5, the day of the feast of the Patron Saint of Catania, St.Agatha, it happens that ....
.... via Etnea, la sera del 5 febbraio 2018, il giorno della festa della Santa Patrona di Catania, Sant'Agata, accade che ....
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Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
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Fear of the unknown, the fear of losing own physical or mental health, or worse, having already lost it, possible problems with work (if a work has it), old age advancing, awareness of the existence of a Higher Being, are just some of the reasons that push people to search for a contact with the Divine, with the supernatural, leading them to plead for help, but this is not enough to completely explain the close link fact of absolute devotion and enormous affection that the people of Catania (province) have towards their young martyr Agatha; an entire city partecipate in these days to ceremony and procession, one can not help but ask this question, what binds in such a profound and peculiar citizens to their Patron Saint Agata? Maybe I was lucky enough to capture photographically what is a partial response (see my photos of the 2016 feast): a child at a very early age is brought to the window from her mother while passing the float of St. Agatha, so it's easy to understand... the devotion and attachment to the Martyr starts very young , transmitted by their parents as a treasure to be preserved and grow throughout their lives, which leads you in the days of the feast to a great collective.
This is a short-long report I did this year 2018, in the city of Catania (Sicily) in occasion of the feast of her patron saint Agatha, which took place on the 3, 4 and 5 February (this dates commemorates the martyrdom of the young Saint), and on 17 August too (this date celebrates the return to Catania of her remains, after these had been transferred to Constantinople by the Byzantine general Maniaces as war booty, and there remained for 86 years), when the Sicilian city is dressed up to feast, with a scent of orange blossom and mandarins, and its citizens show that they possess an extraordinary love and bond with the young martyr saint Agatha.
The religious sicilian feast of Saint Agatha is the most important feast of Catania, its inhabitants from five centuries, during the three days of the feast in honor of her "Santuzza" (young Saint), create a unique setting, with celebrations and rituals impressive, which means that this event is regarded as the third religious festival in the world (some say the second ...) after the "Semana Santa" in Seville and the "Corpus Christi" in Cuzco, Peru. Unlike other religious holidays, more sober, to Sant'Agata highlights a vocation exuberant typical of the south Italy, who loves to combine the sacred with the profane.
The cult of the young Santa dates back to the third century, when the teenager Agatha was martyred for refusing the roman proconsul Quintiziano. One year after the death of the young Agatha, on 5 February of the year 252, his virginal veil was carried in procession, and it is said it was able to save Catania from destruction due to a devastating eruption of Mount Etna.
The festivities begin with the procession of Candlemas (this year were in greater number, perhaps 14 instead of the 11 years of the other years); the "Candlemas" are giant Baroque wooden "candlesticks" paintings in gold, each representing an ancient guild (butchers, fishmongers, grocers, greengrocers, etc.), which are brought by eight devotees; the "cannalore" (candlemas) anticipate the arrival of the "float" of Saint Agatha during the procession. Devotees, men and women, wearing a traditional garment similar to a white bag, cinched at the waist by a black rope, gloves and a white handkerchief, and a black velvet cap, and it seems that such clothing evoke nightgown with the qule the Catanese, awakened with a start by the touch of the bells of the Cathedral, welcomed the naval port, in 1126, the relics of the Holy which fell from Constantinople. On float, consisting of a silver chariot sixteenth of thirty tons, which is driven by a double and long line of devotees with the robust and long ropes, takes place the bust of Saint Agatha, completely covered with precious stones and jewels. On February 4, the parade celebrates the so-called "external path" that touches some places of martyrdom in the city of Catania; the next day, the 5 instead the procession along the "aristocrat path", which runs along the main street, Via Etnea, the parlor of Catania. On this day the devotees carry on their shoulders the long candles of varying thickness, there are some not very big, others are fairly heavy, but some skim exceptional weights.
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La paura dell’ignoto, il timore di perdere la salute fisica o psichica, o peggio, averla già persa, possibili problemi col lavoro (per chi un lavora l’ha) o peggio non averlo dovendo così “inventarsi” la giornata, la vecchiaia che avanza, la consapevolezza dell’esistenza di un Essere Superiore, sono solo alcuni dei motivi che spingono gli uomini a cercare un contatto col Divino, col Sovrannaturale, portandoli ad invocare il Suo aiuto, ma tutto ciò non basta assolutamente a spiegare lo stretto legame fatto di assoluta devozione ed enorme attaccamento che gli abitanti di Catania (e provincia) hanno nei confronti della loro “Santuzza” la giovanissima martire Agata; nel vedere partecipare quella che sembra essere una città intera a questi giorni di rito e processione, non ci si può non porre questa domanda, cosa lega in maniera così profonda e peculiare i cittadini Catanesi alla loro Santa Patrona Agata? Forse ho avuto la fortuna di cogliere fotograficamente (vedi le mie foto della festa del 2016) quella che è una risposta parziale e certamente non unica alla domanda: un bimbo in tenerissima età viene portato alla finestra dalla sua mamma mentre passa la vara di S.Agata, ecco… la devozione e l’attaccamento alla giovanissima Martire inizia da piccolissimi, trasmessa dai propri genitori (e non solo…) come un tesoro da custodire e coltivare per tutta la vita, che porta che nei giorni della festa ad un fantastico rito collettivo al quale nessun Catanese sembra non possa o non voglia rinunciare.
Questa è un breve e lungo report, da me realizzato nel febbraio di quest’anno 2018, nella città di Catania (Sicilia) in occasione della festa della sua giovane santa patrona Agata, che ha avuto luogo come ogni anno il 3, il 4 ed il 5 di febbraio (questa data commemora il martirio della Santa giovinetta), festa che viene ripetuta anche il 17 agosto (questa data rievoca il ritorno a Catania delle sue spoglie, dopo che queste erano state trasferite a Costantinopoli da parte del generale bizantino Maniace come bottino di guerra, spoglie che ivi rimasero per 86 anni); per questa occasione la città siciliana è vestita a festa con profumi di fiori d'arancio e mandarini, coi suoi cittadini che mostrano di possedere uno straordinario amore e legame con la giovane martire Agata.
Gli abitanti di Catania, oramai da cinque secoli, nei tre giorni della festa in onore della "Santuzza", danno vita ad una scenografia unica, con celebrazioni e riti imponenti, che fanno si che questo evento sia considerato come la terza festa religiosa al mondo (qualcuno dice la seconda ...) dopo la "Semana Santa" di Siviglia ed il "Corpus Domini" a Cuzco, in Perù. A differenza di altre feste religiose, più sobrie, quella di Sant'Agata mette in luce una vocazione esuberante tipica del meridione, che ama unire il sacro col profano.
Il culto della giovane Santa risale al terzo secolo, quando l'adolescente Agata fu martirizzata per aver rifiutato il proconsole romano Quintiziano. Un anno dopo la morte della giovane Agata, avvenuta il 5 febbraio dell'anno 252, il suo velo virginale venne portato in processione, e si narra esso riuscì a salvare Catania dalla sua distruzione a causa di una devastante eruzione del vulcano Etna.
I festeggiamenti iniziano con il corteo delle "candelore", queste sono dei giganteschi e pesanti "candelabri" in legno, in stile barocco, dipinti in oro, ognuna rappresentante una antica corporazione (macellai, pescivendoli, pizzicagnoli, fruttivendoli, ecc.), che vengono portati da otto devoti, le quali "cannalore" durante la processione anticipano l'arrivo della "vara" di Sant'Agata. I devoti, sia donne che uomini, indossano un tipico indumento simile ad un sacco bianco, stretto in vita da una cordicella nera, guanti ed un fazzoletto bianchi, ed infine una papalina di velluto nero, sembra che tale abbigliamento rievochi la camicia da notte con la quale i Catanesi, svegliatisi di soprassalto dal tocco improvviso delle campane del Duomo, accolsero al porto navale, nel 1126, le reliquie della Santa che rientravano da Costantinopoli. Sulla vara, costituita da un carro argentato cinquecentesco di trenta quintali, trainata da una doppia e lunghissima fila di devoti tramite delle robuste e lunghe funi, prende posto il busto di Sant'Agata, completamente ricoperto di pietre preziose e gioielli. Il 4 febbraio, il corteo compie il cosiddetto "giro esterno" che tocca alcuni luoghi del martirio nella città catanese; il giorno dopo, il 5, il corteo percorre il "giro aristocratico", che percorre la strada principale, la via Etnea, salotto buono di Catania. In questo giorno i devoti portano in spalla dei lunghi ceri di vario spessore, ce ne sono alcuni non molto grossi, altri sono discretamente pesanti, ma alcuni sfiorano pesi eccezionali.
LC-A+RL
Fuji Sensia 200
Cross Process
Kodak Chem
Inside Ikea getting frames for my show 2 weeks ago. The arrows are everywhere, and I love arrows. The wall of nightlights was too much not to grab, too. The arrow was white but sensia 200 gave it the yellow tone.
Back track to the center of this year and the fireworks where I started the string with "Roger's Last Stand" that I snapped by the river on my way to these festivities. Gad, that makes a carnival ride, a Christmas shot and finally another fireworks "action" shot in the string. I have a pile to clean up as usual. This one looks like... I don't even have a clue. Apparently there was a great deal of motion and the usual shakes as the fireworks erupted. I don't know what created the white bloom. What day was it? What day was it? ...It was the Fourth of July!
It has been three years since Phil and I enjoyed the Frogmont fireworks when we got a spot on the hill. This time I parked over at Golden Ponds and walked over to Roger's Grove to be the closet to the launch site. Longmont bagged fireworks in the forest fire year. I got stuck some distance across Hover for last year. I was determined to get a lot closer this year. After switching to hand holding long exposures for the carney and Christmas lights, I had great luck so I had that in mind this year. I started out just after 7:00 in the evening but I only managed one of the last two spots at the park.
This is like a box of chonklits; you never know what you gits. After slipping this into Photoshop, I adjusted for the exact perspective for better presentation. The fine coloration was really untouched. I tried to maximize the light streaks. I didn't even need to jamb hell out of color balance and pump the saturations. I left them untouched.
This shot is clearly zoomed even though the EXIF relates 70mm. That must be logged at the end of an exposure. The zoom effect increases at the perimeter of frame and the jiggles were milder at wide angles but because I got tight, lights were kept out of wide shots. I got a lot closer. I did a zoom along with intentional jiggles AND movement to add to the action. I am going to try as many as I can snag. Reality is highly overrated.
I never have finished my previous color lights or rose garden experiments. I will take the opportunity to try out more tricks before the next fair rides. I am still not out of snaps of other subjects but I hope my breadth has expanded. I did vewwy, vewwy wittle warping and editing, for me at least, to present these the way I wanted. I have learned to slow the camera down even further to three seconds this time but I boosted the lens setting to f:/22. Three seconds is about enough to accomplish a wide array of tricks if prepared and prepanned so to speak. Of course this digital experimentation is cheap. I had fun shooting all of these and they were a breeze to edit! I get mostly muted colors in the ag settings I have shot, so I revel in JUST COLORS. And this title DOES have a nice touch for the actual scene, don't you think? I spent hours giving this stuff titles.
As I said I would 1st two of my standing Empire Wizards,
My Celestial Wizard ... He has mint Eyebrows lol
SASEBO (Aug. 05, 2020) Quartermaster 2nd class Justin Ladrillono from Oceanside, California, aboard mine countermeasures ship USS Patriot (MCM 7), demonstrates how he would input positional data into electronic charts in order to navigate at sea with celestial navigation. Patriot, part of Mine Countermeasures Squadron 7, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response platform for contingency operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Alexander Fairbanks)
The moon and Venus shining brightly this evening.. Mars is out there nearby as well although not visible at this point.. a bit of a celestial show for us Earthlings
...are what I planned to post today...
Didn't quite manage to achieve what I aimed for, so I guess the duck will have to represent the celestial in this picture. It could be, if it just flies high enough...
Magenta-to-gold multichrome shimmer and gold-to-indigo multichrome glitter in an army green base. Four thin coats.
March 2015 releases
www.celestialcosmetics.com.au/
Blog review: thepolishedhippy.blogspot.com/2015/02/celestial-cosmetics...
*sent by the maker for photography and review*
One thing about photography that never ceases to amaze me is how diverse it can be. Light painting is a prime example of this because it allows the photographer to manipulate each image in very distinct ways using a variety of methods.
Mirror's Edge (PC, 2009) - created by DICE
Full spherical panorama of the training course from the tutorial, equirectangular projection.
360x180 panorama, 40 frames at 4K (3840x2160), fov 90, stitched with Hugin.
In-game virtual camera with invisible tripod and panoramic head (FlyCam, FoV, TimeStop) via Unreal Engine 3 INI config.
Shutter via SweetFx.
Image enhancements (SGSSAA) via NVidia Inspector.
Note: Celeste could not find any control points to be removed in this panorama, because (she was busy with keeping her balance) everything was frozen with TimeStop :)