View allAll Photos Tagged hardest
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost
I have only been here the once to RAF Kenley and so not be fooled , there were hardly anybody here when I took the shot . However , within a couple of hours the place was heaving , some to watch the BBMF flypast of The Lancaster , Hurricane and Spitfire . The date is August 18th - The Hardest Day , and some others were here to remember those that served that day at the Memorial that is just off shot to the right ( please see shot in first comment box ) . I was hoping to meet up with my flickr friend Don who was also here , but as it was we missed each other unfortunately, but we must have been in the same area as we both took an almost identical capture of the BBMF as they flew over .
Because of the virus the event was cancelled this year --maybe next year !!
The hardest fought day of the Battle was Sunday 18th August. On this day the Luftwaffe tried its utmost to destroy our fighter airfields flying 850 sorties involving 2200 aircrew. The RAF resisted with equal vigour flying 927 sorties involving 600 aircrew.
Between lunchtime and teatime, three big Luftwaffe raids were attempted. The targets were the airfields at Kenley, Biggin Hill, Gosport, Ford, Thorney Island, Hornchurch and North Weald, and the radar station at Poling. Although the last wave failed to reach its targets, which were obscured by cloud, the fighting was no less fierce along the route.
The RAF and Fleet Air Arm lost altogether 68 aircraft, 31 in air combat. 69 German aircraft were destroyed or damaged beyond repair
A blast pen was a specially constructed E-shaped double bay at British RAF World War 2 fighter stations, being either 150 feet (46 m) or 190 feet (58 m) wide and 80 feet (24 m) front-to-back, accommodating aircraft for safe-keeping against bomb blasts and shrapnel during regular enemy air-attacks.
Although the pens were open to the sky, the projecting sidewalls preserved the aircraft from all lateral damage, with 12-inch (300 mm) thick, 9 feet (2.7 m) high concrete centres, and banked-up earth on either side, forming a roughly triangular section 18 feet (5.5 m) wide at their base. The longer spine section behind the parking areas usually encloses a narrow corridor for aircrew and servicing personnel to employ as an air raid shelter.
Existing examples may still be seen at the present Kenley Aerodrome and at North Weald Airfield, although some pens have had their second bay removed over the years, thus becoming U-shaped rather than E-shaped. There are also a large number at the former RAF Catterick, and some at RAF Wittering. The Imperial War Museum Duxford has one that is accessible to the public. While common on Fighter Command airfields, other RAF Stations such as RAF Benson and RAF Brize Norton did not have any blast pens.
The hardest decision...
I had the hardest time deciding which should be my project photo (as opposed to some days when I don't have ANY decent!), so I'll post another photo or two of today. I like this one - for tones, bokeh and light. All I need to do is work on my composition skills as they are my weakest point :/
Taken with Canon 50mm f1.4 lens.
ps. a friend of a friend has lent me his really good camera for the entire week! with rather expensive lenses... my-oh-my! madness! :D
Today must be the hardest day for us. After a period of degrading health issues we have chosen to let Pixel rest in peace. He is now galavanting and cuddling away with his brother Willow in that big cat-litter somewhere else.
we'll miss his voice when I’m cutting cheese, asking for a bite,
we’ll miss his warm smell,
we’ll miss his sharp claws in my shoulder when he hugs me,
we’ll miss his big dark eyes, when he looks at me from under his blanket,
we’ll miss his wrinkly skin in which he so graciously walked,
we’ll miss his head in my teacup,
we’ll miss his rough tongue on my head,
we’ll miss his beard cuddles on my face,
we’ll miss all the chewed up cables,
But,
we’ll cherish his pictures we made over the years,
we’ll cherish the lovely memories we have of him,
we’ll cherish the ink I had made, and carry close to my heart,
we’ll cherish the unconditional love he gave us,
Goodbye old friend, may the sun forever warm your skin, may your bowl be forever filled with snacks, may you find washing pins to play with and may you always find rest and love in our hearts. Thank you for your presence in our lives.
One of the hardest things in life may to "learn from one's mistakes". This shot was originally under-exposed when I was shooting outdoors in overcast weather. The light changed suddenly before I was able to compensate. So I was left with a slightly dark shot which wasn't at all exciting. This image was sitting in a collection of photos which I had put aside to use for analysis or delete at a later date. Until recently, when I thought that maybe I should give some of my old images a second look.
But, as with every mistake or misstep comes the chance to correct it. A bit of Photoshop tinkering gave me this final image. Just managed to change the levels and saturation. I considered trying to see how it would look in Sepia or Black and white. I don't know if that would be a wise choice though. Lesson learned! There is always good in every experience and even mistakes can be rewarding....if you're willing to see it!
Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and I wish you a great week ahead!
The Hurricane and nose of The Lancaster as they pass over during the 18th August flypast over RAF Kenley remembering The Hardest Day 79 years ago .
These aircraft are part of The BBMF -
The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) operates from RAF Coningsby, a Typhoon and fighter base, in Lincolnshire.
The mission of the RAF BBMF is to maintain the priceless artefacts of our national heritage in airworthy condition in order to commemorate those who have fallen in the service of this country, to promote the modern day Air Force and to inspire the future generations.
Flown by regular serving RAF Aircrew, the Flight operates six Spitfires, two Hurricane Mk 2Cs, a Lancaster as well as a C47 Dakota and two Chipmunk aircraft (primarily used for training).
From May to September each year, these aircraft can be regularly seen in the skies over the UK celebrating and commemorating public and military events from State occasions such as Trooping the Colour to major air displays and simple flypasts for public events. We are proud to have HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge as our Patron.
The motto of the RAF BBMF reflects our mission and honours the thousands of men and women, in the air and on the ground, that gave their lives for this country in the noble pursuit of freedom.
“Lest We Forget”
PZ865 is a single-engined Second World War Hawker Hurricane fighter operated by the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. It was the last of 14,533 Hurricanes produced and is now flown as an airborne memorial.
Named The Last of the Many serial number PZ865 first flew at Langley, Buckinghamshire on 22 July 1944. Instead of being allocated to the RAF, it was retained by its manufacturer, Hawker Aircraft for trials work.
It moved in 1950 to the Hawker factory at Dunsfold Aerodrome and it was given the civil registration G-AMAU on 1 May 1950. It was flown into second place at the 1950 King's Cup Air Race by Group Captain Peter Townsend. At this time it was painted in Hawker Aircraft's dark blue colour scheme with gold lettering and lining. It was used as a chase plane during the P.1127 flight trials. The aircraft also appeared in the Battle of Britain film in 1968.
In 1972 the aircraft was refurbished and presented by Hawker's successor company, Hawker Siddeley, to the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight then based at RAF Coltishall, reverting to its RAF serial as identity.
Formerly painted as code JX-E to represent "Night Reaper" flown by 1 Squadron fighter ace Flt Lt Karel Kuttelwascher DFC during night intruder operations from RAF Tangmere, In 2010 the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight began a rebuild of Hawker Hurricane PZ865 which will now wear a new colour scheme, faithfully replicating Hurricane Mk IIC HW840, coded ‘EG-S’, of 34 Squadron, South East Asia Command during 1944, the personal aircraft of Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen DFC.
The Lancaster has a story of it's own , but for another day !
The hardest part of this image was getting the girls to stick to the wall like that. The velcro strips just didn't have enough strength -- thank god for duct tape! ;-)
Avro Lancaster PA474 overflying R.A.F. Kenley Airfield with a Spitfre and Hurricane ,one at each wing tip in tribute to The Hardest Day - 18/08/1940 .
Just one last capture from here , don't get to see the BBMF often so have to enjoy it while I can .
One of the hardest and frustrating parts i find about photography is exploring new places,not knowing where the best parts are or where the light hits what, so then it becomes a challenge, you always have the worry of a wasted journey not coming back with any images, but we have to try new places to progress forward with our photography!
Unfortunately tonight's sunset was a bit of a disappointment,but did end of with this image, i have a couple more to add over the next couple of days,so don't forget to check them out,
Id love to hear whatever comments you may wish to leave about this photo, good, bad or ugly!
Thankyou to all my followers, check my Seascapes set out while you are here ;)
May I ask you to spare a thought today for our hardest working Morning Mary who is recovering from a recent operation. This is perhaps one of the most challenging photographs we have ever posted. I will be amazed if you can provide us with any useful information. I have had these thoughts in the past however, and I have been proved wrong! The first person to name the man will be awarded a personalised tag and virtual sticky bun every day for a year.
In a show of investigative brilliance, Rory_Sherlock has identified this as Upper Street in Shere, Surrey, England. The modern StreetView is an exact match. In that, while the shed-like "Norton" building is gone, amazingly almost everything else in this shot lines up exactly. Apart from the man of course. Who, though perhaps a "Norton" of the signage, is not identified. Still, Rory_Sherlock can help himself to as many virtual sticky buns as he likes. As he points out that there were more than a few Masons living locally (including Harry Mason, builder of noted local bridge), one of whom "our" Mason may have been visiting. Whatever the case, it is clear that Shere remains a picturesque location for photographers and film-makers today...
Collection: Mason Photographic Collection
Date: Catalogue range c.1890-1910
NLI Ref: M24/61/4
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Old, never made the cut.
But looking through my past work now, I realize that this photograph means more to me right now than it did back in July.
Everything about this symbolizes something for me, especially the blurry, wilted flowers.
How is everyone doing? You're all beautiful, I hope you know that.
Things have changed so much. I'm just trying to get some of the happy things of old back. Starting with photography.
And that's going to be easier to do now, since today I recieved my 35mm f/1.8 in the mail! Cut my finger pretty bad on the cardboard box (only me), but nevertheless I am so happy and simply cannot wait to try it out. But that will have to wait, because as of now I must get ready for a New Year's party with some of my dearest friends.
I hope you all had a fabulous 2012, and I'm so sorry I wasn't here to share some precious moments of it with you. But I will try my hardest to be around in this coming year.
2012 has had so many up's and down's. And I know, that's true for everyone and it's as cliche as it gets. But I'm not good at putting my personal thoughts out there in simple words, as if I were talking to the person next to me.
I don't know. I can't say that I wouldn't trade this year if I had the choice. So many changes. I now attend a public school, for one thing. I don't like change. I don't like having to adjust. And I definitely have had to this year.
If I say one thing, it's that 2012 has aged me. I have had to hold my chin high and be mature beyond my years in so many situations that I was so unfamiliar with. I will miss every second of my extendend childhood. It lasted much longer than most. And for this, I am truly grateful.
Happy new year!
Like my Facebook Page! 2 LIKES = A BEFORE AND AFTER POSTED ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE
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P.S. New Years resolution = Restore photography as my passion.
This is one of the hardest things I have ever had to write.
Many of you have been around here for a long, long time, and can probably recall Lucy photos and stories of her many adventures over the years; if not, there are nearly 1,000 photos documenting the life of this precious, sweet, and feisty tortie cat for you to enjoy and laugh at, because she really was a character.
While Lu had slown down a little bit over the past couple of years, and was sleeping more than she had previously, she never failed to follow me around and involve herself in everything I did, from bathing to ironing to cooking to working to sleeping to insomniatic returns to the living room to idly flip through a book. When I was working in the gardens or with the birds or something outside, nine times out of ten, Miss Puff was sitting in a window, watching. Lu was always there, an integral, day-brightening part of my life, all day, nearly every day--and I will confess that I only left her for out-of-town events under duress.
We were part of one another, somehow. She was my friend.
Little Princess Puff had been herself nearly to the very end--alternately complaining about and voraciously eating her food, stealing Grant's water and kibble, trying to get into trouble with an attempt to follow me into the garage on laundry day, smacking Grant on the nose when he got too pushy with her, regarding Katie with minor disdain, and, of course, being with me--awake, sleeping, working, reading, sewing, whatever.
Last week, alas, my darling was very suddenly not herself, spending most of her time on the sofa, eating less and less, and, after an emergency vet visit in an attempt to figure things out (we first thought, with good historical reason, she had probably eaten a dried leaf fallen from Grant's coat), even her refusing the chicken I poached for her. I spent most of last week, from the time she began acting oddly, working beside her, Lu snuggled up beneath one of her little pink-striped fleece blankets. After tucking a hot water bottle behind her, I slept beside her on the sofa; every night for nearly sixteen years, she had hopped onto the bed to sleep atop or beside me. I did all I could.
Lucy was too sweet, too affectionate, too good to allow her to suffer. The mobile vet who came to the house (highly recommended if you are able) agreed it was likely Lucy's time to go. Last Friday afternoon, about 3:45, we sent my darling, precious, beloved Lucy Pie on ahead of us.
A piece of me, a piece of my life is gone; there is a hole in my heart, one I can actually feel. The hurt has been keeping me up nights since we let Lucy go. Despite those of us in it, the house feels very empty, very quiet (Lucy had a big personality for such a little cat!) and very, very strange.
I miss my dear little friend terribly. All pet people know this day will come, of course. But still, I am devastated and shattered. Frankly, words cannot express how much I hurt, how much I have cried in the past week, and tomorrow is, of course, the first painful anniversary of her death. My dearest hope is she didn't suffer, for I couldn't bear that. My husband and I truly thought it was just another thing she would bounce back from. Alas, heartbreak waited instead.
Please give your little pet or pets an extra scritch on Lucy Puff's behalf today. She was beloved, and all pets should be. She will be missed, by me in particular, tremendously, deeply, this kitty of my heart.
Gosh. Hardest photography day ever. The wind is up so out of about 500 shots (no kidding) - I got less than 10 that were just okay.
And who knew dead flowers could be so pretty?
Happy bokeh wednesday everyone!
I hope you're all having a great one!
The hardest part when you try shooting in the middle of summer is the lens condensation. I cleaned the lens every 20 seconds...
This is by far the hardest engine, I've ever designed, and I am still not 100% sure whether it'll stay like this (at least for now). There were so many limitations and constraints that challenged me. Using a large flanged wheel was mainly the hardest obstacle.
But, I'm pretty happy with the results. Though the more I look at it, the more I want to change it... For now, I'm going to enjoy running it.
Performance wise it is very smooth, and the large wheel moves gracefully along the track. This engine can even negotiate through points. The only drawbacks that bug me are a) the boiler height b) the tiles sloped on the tender and c) the front bogie.
What's plan next is still unknown. I'm trying to finish the USA class first, then get back to the Scotsman and Schools class. However, I did experiment with the idea of A4 but have found something else that could be the next 'big' project...
Anyway, enjoy this model!
Probably the hardest target I've ever imaged. My location is way too light polluted, I don't have good enough flats, and some of the nights were with the moon out. All of that makes for some really painful hours processing. I'm not really all that satisfied with the result now either but I've processed this stuff too many times by now.
106x240s @ ISO800 lights
110x2s @ ISO800 flats
60x240s @ ISO800 darks
300x1/8000s @ ISO800 bias
Skywatcher 200PDS
HEQ5 PRO
Nikon D7000 (Ha mod)
Orion Skyglow 2" LP filter
Processing in Pixinsight 1.8
This goes out to the man, the myth, the legend - KYUBI!
This round was insane bro - easily the hardest thing I've done with the bricks.
Enjoy your victory and I look forward to watching you take it to the next level!
the hardest battle you are ever going to fight is the battle to be you ~unknown (facebook status shuffler)
I wasn't going to post this...I didn't even want to process it to be honest. It's really depressing...but it's the truth, and that's part of taking a photo everyday, telling the truth no matter how ugly...
I really am ok
no awards or icons please
This was the hardest it snowed during this walk--not much at all. The weather changed so much that the sky's appearance varied from being just a featureless white expanse to more sculpted and colorful cloud formations. Great to go through the entire set and find the uniqueness of each shot though so many were taken in such a relatively short period of time.
In terms of the processing, I am using Luminar 4 as a plug-in a good deal now that I have purchased it and added it to my homebase software. Just my own preset at about a 50% opacity to add just a bit more pop to the clouds.
I also kept the white balance cool here. I don't quite remember the color temp at the time of the shoot though I think this may be pretty accurate. I typically use a standard preset: daylight, cloudy, shade. All of them can miss, even distort, the actual color temp. Maybe auto would be better. Still, my effort is to create an image that pleases me so I will take that latitude and run with it!
One of the kindest, hardest working photographers I know is my friend Tariq Tarey. By day, he helps refugees settle into their new lives in the United States. By night, he documents the lives of the very same refugees he's surrounded by in Central Ohio.
Just being in the same room as Tariq forces me to work better as a photographer. His understanding of light and portraiture are masterful, and I can't help but make portraits when in his company. Today, however, Tariq was the subject!
These are two test sheets of expired TMAX 100 developed as B&W slides. The reversal process is a bit harder to control than regular B&W development, but the end results are something special. Transparencies were scanned to retain the warmth from selenium toning.
Sinar P2 8x10
Schneider Symmar-S 480mm f/8.4
1/125th @ f/8.4 + front tilt
Kodak TMAX 100 Reversal Processed
marrash.com
One of the hardest things on a new location is to find the good spot for pictures. I arrived a few hours before sunset and parked at the recommended spot and off i went to the sand dunes (at Great Sand Dunes NP). I changed my mind a few times on the destination, which is normally non-issue but walking on sand makes the distances feel much longer. At the end, i think i picked a nice spot for sunset, and had a few perspectives I could take advantage of.
Ref: October 06, 2014-D81_4097-Edit
I think the hardest part of this project was trying to uniform the appearance. I covered the wing tips so they didn't look like a skeleton.
(I used 2 Yoda fighter ship sets to complete this most of this)
It was complicated af trying to figure that out. Double sided piece saved the day there.
The turbines are super flexible. They actually help support the wings up in mostly any direction. With out them, they just drop. They wings can turn in any direction as well as bending a spreading. I took some other angled photos to show that will post up soon.
There will probably be updates on this mofo in the future, but it's rockin' out for now. 😎
Hardest flower I've tried to shot in an interessting way - it is so 3D it is annoying looking for good DOF
One of the kindest, hardest working photographers I know is my friend Tariq Tarey. By day, he helps refugees settle into their new lives in the United States. By night, he documents the lives of the very same refugees he's surrounded by in Central Ohio.
Just being in the same room as Tariq forces me to work better as a photographer. His understanding of light and portraiture are masterful, and I can't help but make portraits when in his company. Today, however, Tariq was the subject!
These are two test sheets of expired TMAX 100 developed as B&W slides. The reversal process is a bit harder to control than regular B&W development, but the end results are something special. Transparencies were scanned to retain the warmth from selenium toning.
Sinar P2 8x10
Schneider Symmar-S 480mm f/8.4
1/125th @ f/8.4 + front tilt
Kodak TMAX 100 Reversal Processed
marrash.com
Easily one of the hardest things to pull off in Lego is a dome. I worked on a few concepts this morning and this is the best of them so far. Lots of gaps to fill, but the fit and shape are correct. I don't want to go with too many off the wall techniques as I want to keep this buildable by the public.
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I had to make the hardest decision of my life on Thursday. I've posted a lot of photos of Jack over the last five years, but this one was on the last day of his life. I didn't know losing a pet could hurt this damn bad. He was my baby. I miss you, Jack
Supplemental:
It's been over two months now. This photo isn't an aesthetic masterpiece. The lighting isn't perfect, the editing was done on an iPhone only, the photo is not going to be nominated for a Pulitzer or win a first prize. I submitted this photo into WAY to many groups, and some of them will probably kick it out because of this. It's been over two months now and the gaping hole in my heart still feels infinite and unfixable. If time does heal, than it needs to get busy, because this sucks. He was my bright spot. Jack made me feel special. He was a light in an otherwise dark tunnel. My daily life is now filled with the constant pang of loss and sad memories like this one. I want as many people as possible to see his beautiful, perfect face. To me, he was the embodiment of everything good and pure and flawless. He lit up my darkest places and now he is gone. My soul feels so heavy.
Losing a pet isn't supposed to hurt as bad as losing a human right? So, am I weird, or is that just a bunch of bullshit. Probably both. I think this hurts even more, I don't care what "they" have to say about it, it just is!
:'(
18th August 1940. All 11 Groups Squadrons come to readiness as the Hardest Day of the Battle of Britain is about to begin.
The hardest thing is to capture a white bird without blowing the whites. In the words of Robert the Bruce, 'If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again'.
But how can you resist a Little Egret shaking itself like a dog!
The hardest single shot at Walt Disney World? I'm really starting to think so. Due to various circumstances, this shot is in the end a single exposure. I'm not crossing this one off the bucket list yet, but I hope you enjoy this rendition. If you have time, hit L and view this on Large, it really let's you see the beautiful stars.
*EDIT* Explored #58! Thanks for looking everyone!
"... What have I got to do to be heard
What do I say when it's all over
And sorry seems to be the hardest word.." -- Elton John
Lyrics from Sorry seems to be the hardest word song
Captured in a cold rainy winter day in Bergen, Norway
View us on Black
And here's the promised "after" version of the photo posted yesterday, taking care of "correcting" the main Seessel's logo at least! How was I able to accomplish this? One clue would be that much of the lettering looks kind of similar, a fact I eventually caught on to after playing around with the photo for a while (I was too zoomed in to pay it much attention at first, haha)! So given that there were good parts of the lettering not covered by the mark, I did some creative cut and paste (and flip, and mirror, and paste, and paste again XD) over the marked over sections, then a few other "top secret" things to blend it all together. The 'L' (actually lowercase in the logo of course, but uppercasing it here so it isn't confused with an 'i') was the hardest part, as there was no other 'L' to take good parts from (yikes)! Much of that letter was reconstructed a handful of pixels at a time (as was the last 's'), and it took a few tries at those before I was remotely happy with the end result.
Every day you see one more card.
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart.
The waiting is the hardest part.
Don't let it kill you, babe, don't let it get to you . . .
TP & the HB's right HERE. : )
Yep, packing boxes and waiting around . . . waiting to go for the new life now.
I want to live . . . I want to give . . .
but that's another song! I'll get 'round to that one!! : )
18th August 1940. All 11 Groups Squadrons come to readiness as the Hardest Day of the Battle of Britain is about to begin.
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So I had the hardest time finding really nice Galaxy Blind eyes, so I made some myself. What do you thing? :3
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the hardest part is...
I know you're out there hurting
and I can't do anything about it
can't stop the pain or searching
can't take you in my arms
and make the monsters go away
can't protect you from the world
and be there at the end of the day
waiting for any kind of sign
telephone call, message or maybe a letter
stay strong, still, my weakening love
I promise....things will get better
The hardest part of this shot was waiting to get cars going in the oposite direction for the tracer effect. Sometimes it would be 5 minutes between cars coming towards us over the river. We started to joke about the busy rush hour trafic in Astoria and it fit for a title. Thanks for looking as always.
The hardest part about taking pictures of cats while they're boarding is that they are often nervous and so don't sustain direct eye contact long enough to get a good picture. Thankfully there are some who are relaxed and confident and will look directly at the lens. Dash is one of those cats. You saw him a couple posts back in the "narrow DoF" picture.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 490. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Sophia Loren (1934) rose to fame in post-war Italy as a voluptuous sex goddess. Soon after, she became one of the most successful stars of the 20th Century, who won an Oscar for her mother role in La ciociara/Two Women (Vittorio De Sica, 1960).
Sophia Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone in the charity ward of a Roman hospital in 1934. She was the illegitimate daughter of construction engineer Riccardo Scicolone and piano teacher and aspiring actress Romilda Villani. Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry Romilda, leaving her without support. Romilda, Sofia, and sister Maria returned to Pozzuoli to live with Sofia's grandmother. Pozzuoli was a small town outside Naples and one of the hardest hit during World War II. The family shared a two-room apartment with the grandmother and several aunts and uncles. The shy, stick-thin girl regularly went hungry and had to flee from bombings. At 14, Sofia had a voluptuous figure and entered a beauty contest. She was selected as one of the finalists but did not win. In 1950, she was one of the contestants at the Miss Italia competition. She earned the 2nd place and was awarded ‘Miss Eleganza’. While attending the Miss Rome beauty contest, earlier in 1950, she had met judge Carlo Ponti, an up-and-coming film producer, 22 years her senior. Ponti had helped launch Gina Lollobrigida's career and now began grooming Sofia for stardom. He hired an acting coach to tutor her. At 16 she was in her first film, the Totó comedy Le Sei Mogli di Barbablù/Bluebeard’s Six Wives (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1950) under the name Sofia Lazzaro. She also appeared as an extra in Luci del varietà/Lights of the Variety (Federico Fellini, 1950), the smash hit Anna (Alberto Lattuada, 1951) and Quo Vadis (Mervyn Leroy, 1951). During the early 1950s, she secured work modelling for fumetti magazines. These comic-like magazines used actual photographs. The dialogue bubbles were called 'fumetti' - hence the popular name. At 17, she was cast by Ponti in her first larger role as the commoner who caught the prince's eye in the filmed opera La Favorita/The Favorite (Cesare Barlacchi, 1952). The next year she earned third billing after Silvana Pampanini and Eleanora Rossi-Drago in La Tratta Delle Bianche/The White Slave Trade (Luigi Comencini, 1953) and she played, complete with blackface and an Afro, the lead in another filmed opera, Aida (Clemente Fracassi, 1953) by Giuseppe Verdi. Her singing was dubbed by Renata Tebaldi. Ponti eventually changed her name to Sophia Loren.
Sophia Loren appeared for the first time with Marcello Mastroianni in the romantic comedy Peccato che sia una canaglia/Too Bad She's Bad (Alessandro Blasetti, 1954). They would make 13 films together, including Tempi nostri/A Slice of Life (Alessandro Blasetti, Paul Paviot, 1954), La bella mugnaia/The Miller's Wife (Mario Camerini, 1955), and La fortuna di essere donna/What A Woman (Alessandro Blasetti, 1956). L'Oro di Napoli/Gold of Naples (Vittorio de Sica, 1954), an anthology of tales depicting various aspects of Neapolitan life, was distributed internationally. At AllMovie, Jason Ankeny writes that in reviews "Loren was singled out for the strength of her performance as a Neapolitan shopkeeper, surprising many critics who had dismissed her as merely another bombshell". The film established her persona as a sensuous working-class earth mother. It also began a fruitful, career-long collaboration with De Sica. Sophia’s first film to find international success was La Donna del Fiume/The River Girl (Mario Soldati, 1955), in which she danced sensually the Mambo Bacan. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Through it all, Sophia Loren looks like a million lire - and she even gets to sing and dance!". She came to the attention of Stanley Kramer who offered her the female lead in The Pride And The Passion (Stanley Kramer, 1957) opposite Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra. Sophia played a Spanish peasant girl involved in an uprising against the French. This was the turning point in her career, and the film proved to be one of the top US box office successes of the year. Her next English-language film was Boy on a Dolphin (Jean Negulesco, 1957) with Alan Ladd, where she was memorable mostly for emerging from the water in a wet, skin-tight, transparent dress. With her va-va-va-voom image, she became an international film star and got a five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures. Among her Paramount films were Desire Under the Elms (Delbert Mann, 1958) with Anthony Perkins and based upon the Eugene O'Neill play, Houseboat (Melville Shavelson, 1958), a romantic comedy co-starring Cary Grant, and the Western Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) in which she appeared for the first time with blonde hair (a wig). Most of these films were received lukewarmly at best.
In 1960 Sophia Loren returned to Italy to star in the biggest success of her career, La Ciociara/Two Women (Vittorio De Sica, 1960). She played a widow desperately trying to protect her daughter from danger during WW II, only to end up in a destructive love triangle with a young radical (Jean Paul Belmondo). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "A last-minute replacement for Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren brought hitherto untapped depths of emotion to her performance in Two Women; she later stated that she was utilizing 'sensory recall,' dredging up memories of her own wartime experiences." Loren won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, and also the Cannes, Venice ánd Berlin Film Festivals' best performance prizes. Next, she played in Spain Samuel Bronston's epic production of El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961) with Charlton Heston, followed by the De Sica episode of the anthology Boccaccio '70 (Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, 1962). On the strength of her Oscar win, she also returned to English-language fare with Five Miles to Midnight (Anatole Litvak, 1963), followed a year later by The Fall of the Roman Empire (Anthony Mann, 1964), for which she received $1 million. Among Loren's other films of this period are The Millionairess (Anthony Asquith, 1960) with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples (Melville Shavelson, 1960) with Clark Gable, Lady L (Peter Ustinov, 1965) with Paul Newman, Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966) with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with Marlon Brando. Despite the failure of many of her films to generate sales at the box office, she invariably turned in a charming performance and she wore some of the most lavish costumes ever created for the cinema. Her best Italian films include the triptych Ieri, oggi, domani/Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (Vittorio De Sica, 1963), a comedy that poked fun at a Catholic priest and gently mocked the Italian law on birth control, and Matrimonio all' Italiana/Marriage Italian Style (Vittorio De Sica, 1964) with Loren as the hooker who lures Mastroianni into marriage.
After several miscarriages and a highly-publicized struggle to become pregnant, Sophia Loren gave birth to son Hubert Leoni Carlo Ponti in 1968. She started to work less and moved into her 40s and 50s with roles in films like De Sica's war drama I Girasoli/The Sunflowers (Vittorio De Sica, 1972), Il Viaggio/The Voyage (Vittorio De Sica, 1974) opposite Richard Burton, and reuniting with Marcello Mastroianni in the mob comedy La Pupa del Gangster/Get Rita (Giorgio Capitani, 1975). An artistic highlight was Una giornata particolare/A Special Day (Ettore Scola, 1977) which earned a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Loren played a bored housewife on the day of the first meeting between Mussolini and Hitler. Left alone in her tenement home when her fascist husband runs off to attend the historic event, Loren strikes up a friendship with her homosexual neighbour (Marcello Mastroianni). As the day segues into night, Loren and Mastroianni develop a very special relationship that will radically alter both of their outlooks on life. When a dubbed version of Una giornata particolare/A Special Day found favour with American audiences, Hollywood again came calling, resulting in a pair of thrillers, The Brass Target (John Hough, 1978) and Firepower (Michael Winner, 1979) which offered her a central role as a widow seeking answers in the murder of her chemist husband. In 1980, Loren portrayed herself, as well as her mother, in Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (Mel Stuart, 1980), a made-for-television biopic adaptation of her autobiography. Actresses Ritza Brown and Chiara Ferrari played Loren at younger ages. She made headlines in 1982 when she served an 18-day prison sentence in Italy on tax evasion charges, a fact that didn't damage her career or popularity. In her 60s, Loren ventured into various areas of business, including cookbooks, eyewear, jewelry, and perfume. In honour of her lengthy career, Loren was the recipient of a special Oscar in 1991. She also made well-received appearances in her final film with Mastroianni, Prêt-à-Porter/Ready to Wear (1994), Robert Altman's take on the French fashion scene, and in the comedy hit Grumpier Old Men (Howard Deutch, 1995) playing a femme fatale opposite Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. In 1995 she received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. At the age of 72, she appeared scantily-clad in the 2007 edition of the famous calendar of Italian racing tire giant Pirelli. It made her the oldest model in the calendar's history. The photos by Dutch photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin proved that she was still a major international sex symbol. In 2007 Carlo Ponti died. It had been controversial in her native Italy when Sophia Loren had married her mentor Ponti in 1957. Not only was he 45 to her 23, but he had been married previously, and neither the Catholic Church nor the Italian government recognised his Mexican divorce. Ponti was charged with bigamy, but the charges were dropped when they had their marriage annulled. They continued living together - scandalous at the time - and remarried after his legal problems had been cleared. Ponti and Loren made three dozen films together. They had two children, symphony conductor Carlo Ponti Jr. and film director Edoardo Ponti. After four years off the big screen, Sophia Loren co-starred in a film version of the Broadway musical Nine (Rob Marshall, 2009). She played the mother of famous film director Guido Contini, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis. According to Jason Ankeny at AllMovie, "Loren proved she still had movie star charisma with a role in Chicago director Rob Marshall's Nine - a lavish tribute to all things Italian." Loren made a two-part television biopic of her early life titled La Mia Casa È Piena di Specchi/My House Is Full of Mirrors (Vittorio Sindoni, 2010), based on of the memoir written by her sister Maria Scicolone. At 80, Sophia Loren returned to the screen in Human Voice (2014) directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. At the presentation Tribeca Film Festival in New York, 'the timeless beauty' stunned the press once again when she walked on the red carpet in a chic red pantsuit hand-in-hand with her 41-year-old son to promote the short film. Human Voice is based on the play by iconic French playwright Jean Cocteau and sees La Loren play a woman in her twilight years facing revelations from her past. In late 2014, she also presented her first memoir, Ieri, oggi, domani. La mia vita/Today and Tomorrow: My Life as a Fairy Tale. It includes old pictures, letters, and notes detailing encounters with Cary Grant and other film partners. In 2020, La Loren returned to the screen as Madame Rosa in a new film adaptation of Romain Gary's 'La vie devant soi', La vita davanti a sé/The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti, 2020).
Sources: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Shyam Dodge (Daily Mail), Jenny (IMDb), Wikipedia, NNDB, TCM, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
The Great Turning Point in Mural Art & Politics as Brexit Day Draws Closer & the People of the Borderlands are Uneasy.
I got the impetus and responded to what was before my very eyes.
Talking Politics in Belfast at Crucial Times through the language of vision while pondering over the future of the UK and the EU and all the Brexit eventualities and consequences.
All is constantly in flux and Brexit is just one of many European problems in the Union.
Eνωση,the Greek word for “Union”,means something rather different to Greeks than to the European “Union”:
It means cohesion of the family,the home,its dignity and integrity.The most vital factor affecting any society’s wellbeing is not its economy but its cultural identity,the essential “Greekness” or “Irishness” or Britishness.Out of the deepest must the highest come to its height.
British - Irish Relations – Past, Present and Future
When Brexit happens,the UK will suddenly have a major land border with the EU - the frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.The state of the Hardest ever Border is directly challenged by the Brexit result and at the moment no-one really knows how that's going to work.
Time will Tell ...
Could Brexit bring new troubles to Northern Ireland?
Some say that a customs border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland could reignite "The Troubles".
Oh gosh,Nevermore ... It was a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland that ended in 1998 with the promise of no border between the North and South Irish island.Most people from both sides greatly value it and invest in what brings them closer together and hope there will be no return to border checks and more Categories of Citizens.The Border is there, but it is not there,it's Invisible and the Bombs are History.
When President Higgins spoke in Buckingham Palace during his State Visit in 2014,he said , “ar scáth a chéile a mhairimid”- “we live in the shadow and the shelter of one another”.
Is Ireland the Achilles' heel of Brexit?
Behind the scenes lots of things happen ; the Brexit civil war and the Border skirmishes lead to many controversial solutions,but I want to believe that all the negotiations and the strenuous efforts they make to maintain the Status Quo will fructify.
Although I know that it's a long way ahead and that they will never have a deal that is going to satisfy everyone,I do hope there will be a peaceful and smooth Brexit transition to changes and that all those people who live in homes where they have breakfast in the North and go to sleep in the South will continue to enjoy them both ...
I can't help but remember Charles Stewart Parnell's words :
“Why should Ireland be treated as a geographical fragment of England - Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation"
"No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country – thus far shalt thou go and no further.” Charles Stewart Parnell, 1885
Oh,my Beloved Ireland,you have loaded me down with too many worries,but each time I visit you,I love you more.
This time though,I felt as if I were walking on eggshells,I had to be very diplomatic and inoffensive ...
Well,I hold my tongue,enough of my histrionic tendencies.
I sit "On the Fence",before crossing the 310 miles (499km) long,hardest Border ; politicians can't sit "On the Fence",people expect them to have clear views and take action.
All right,Mr Walker Evans,I know,I couldn't agree more with you,I just stare.
“Stare ; it is the way to educate your eye,and more.Stare, Pry, Listen, Eavesdrop ... “It’s too presumptuous and naïve though to think you can change the world by a photograph or a few lines" ; All right,I just stare,I sit "On the Fence" and read "Erin, to her own Tune " before crossing the Invisible border.
“When Erin First Rose.”
When Erin first rose from the dark swelling flood,
God bless'd the green island and saw it was good;
The em'rald of Europe, it sparkled and shone,
In the ring of the world the most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil, in her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain, her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular, on her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp 'mid the ocean's deep roar.
But when its soft tones seem to mourn and to weep,
The dark chain of silence is thrown o'er the deep;
At the thought of the past the tears gush from her eyes,
And the pulse of her heart makes her white bosom rise.
O! sons of green Erin, lament o'er the time
When religion was war, and our country a crime,
When man in God's image inverted his plan,
And moulded his God in the image of man.
When the int'rest of state wrought the general woe,
The stranger a friend, and the native a foe;
While the mother rejoic'd o'er her children oppressed,
And clasp'd the invader more close to her breast.
When with pale for the body and pale for the soul,
Church and state joined in compact to conquer the whole;
And as Shannon was stained with Milesian blood,
Ey'd each other askance and pronounced it was good.
By the groans that ascend from your forefathers' grave
For their country thus left to the brute and the slave,
Drive the demon of bigotry home to his den,
And where Britain made brutes now let Erin make men.
Let my sons like the leaves of the shamrock unite,
A partition of sects from one footstalk of right,
Give each his full share of the earth and the sky,
Nor fatten the slave where the serpent would die.
Alas! for poor Erin that some are still seen,
Who would dye the grass red from their hatred to green;
Yet, oh! when you're up, and they're down, let them live,
Then yield them that mercy which they would not give.
Arm of Erin, be strong! but be gentle as brave;
And uplifted to strike, be still ready to save;
Let no feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause of, or men of, the Emerald Isle.
The cause it is good, and the men they are true,
And the Green shall outlive both the Orange and Blue.
And the triumphs of Erin her daughters shall share
With the full swelling chest, and the fair flowing hair.
Their bosoms heave high for the worthy and brave,
But no coward shall rest in that soft-swelling wave;
Men of Erin! awake, and make haste to be blest!
Rise! arch of the ocean, and queen of the West!
William Drennan
And steeped in Ireland's turbulent history, culture, and ancient secrets that link the past and the present,I crossed the border.
The only frontier that has ever existed is the self ...