Amateur Sports Photography
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The great tit got the nut from our window board. When I hear the little feet klicking on the metal it's time to get the camera...
No photos without adequate payment, that's an iron law in Cleo's world. :)
I add another capture in the comments. It's only a quick snapshot and the quality is horrible, therefore only the small version. I have been asked for a photo showing Fynn and Cleo together and here it is. The situation is one I see almost every day but usually I don't have a camera at hand. This is something ONLY Fynn can do. Everybody else, including me, would end up with a bloody nose.
I ran into this paring meter while on a walk during blue hour in Manayunk, PA. It caught my eye and I took several dozing pictures from different angle, mostly with my Nikon 28mm AiS. I used Lightroom for processing.
|| IC Photo taken at Mischief Managed ||
Grinning, Everett listens to Zaira go over the specs of the garden like the expert she is. Something about her passion amplifies his smile even more, so when she moves to pat his arm, he attempts to grab it. "You know I don't work for free," he returns swiftly. "Not in this economy. I'll be your beast of burden, but it's gonna cost you." He wiggles brows. "On completion of course, I'm not greedy," the boy adds.
Zaira pouted a bit, not that he could see it but she did. Holding his hand she blinked and pouted "Can't it just be a graduation present? I only have so many chocolate wands left!" she whined clearly not getting any hints. "Or! We can sneak some ingredients and I'll make you a lovely dinner? I think I can talk the elves into letting me use the kitchen, or we can use the homemaking magic room, that's always empty." her head was going a mile a minute trying to find ways to pay Everett for his help.
Everett snorts, then snickers, as the girl scrambles to come up with some form of payment. "How do you even function," he teases, turning towards her. "That's in, payment in full, /up front/." The boy reaches a hand up to guess at Zaira's cheek and catches her temple --close enough-- grasping with both hands and angling her gaze upwards. Grinning, the boy tilts down and attempts to capture her in a kiss, his heart pounding in his ears; it had been far too long since he'd attempted it, and was bursting at the seams to get some already!
PULPERIA "EL PALOMAR"
En Chivilcoy hay una calle que tiene mucho que contar, "El camino de la Tradición". En el, se encuentran varios edificios que son un tesoro para la gente de esos pagos y que forma parte de una cronica que todos deriamos conocer. Parte de esa historia se encuentra en la vieja pulperia "El Palomar" fundada en 1866.
TRASLATOR
PULPERIA "EL PALOMAR"
In Chivilcoy there is a street that has a lot to tell, "El camino de la Tradición". In it, there are several buildings that are a treasure for the people of those payments and that is part of a chronicle that we all know. Part of that history is in the old pulperia "El Palomar" founded in 1866.
When I used to do concert photography more regularly, it seemed so easy for me to bike way across the city, shoot shows without payment and do this multiple times per week sacrificing sleep just to get the photos in earlier and then going to a very demanding day job. This was one such night...I believe it was a Tues. I biked in pouring rain 8 miles each way to photograph The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at The Aragon Ballroom and then biked all the way to The Empty Bottle to photograph the Norwegian band I Was a King and then came home and edited photos all night and went to work the next day. I should also mention that, on this particularly night, I vividly recall how I got THREE flat bike tires throughout the bicycling which made this almost beautiful tragic quality to the evening.
Anyway, I digress...this is some more rambling because I often get younger hipper people asking me "Oh my God! How did you get that photopass!" And then I tell them that I've invested $25,000+ of my own money which I will never recoup, sacrifice all my own sleep, time, and energy, and half the time have publicists either blank out or make me sign a photo contract and I slowly see all the envy fade from their eyes. The highs are high but the lows are way too low.
*All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
The digital image can be purchased from the NFT Gallery MakersPLace. Credit card payment possible. You can find me in the gallery under my name: Jörg Schubert or link:
makersplace.com/joergschubert/
Das digitale Bild ist in der NFT Galerie MakersPLace zu erwerben. Kreditkarten Zahlung möglich. Zu finden bin ich in der Galerie unter meinem Namen: Jörg Schubert oder link:
makersplace.com/joergschubert/
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Street Art / Graffiti in einer Reihe
Jörg Schubert / Galerie MakersPlace Künstler
Beim Fotografieren des Wochenthemas „in einer Reihe“ von der Flickr Makrogruppe Macro Mondays fielen mir die attraktiven Holzperlen ein.
Ich dachte, das wäre ein weiteres reizvolles Motiv für ein Street Art Bild.
Es entstand das Problem, die Holzperlen spannend darzustellen.
Probierte vielerlei Positionen, Ausschnitte und Entfernungen zu den Holzperlen aus. Fotografierte dann in scharf / unscharf Einstellung die Holzperlen.
Dann der Konflikt der Darstellung der Fotografie. Holzperlen farbig darstellten oder in Schwarzweiß.
Fotografie digital bearbeitet.
Im Prozess der digitalen Bearbeitung gesehen, dass ich auf einem positiven Weg bin.
Am Ende ein digital gemaltes Makro Crypto-Art Bild entstanden, mit dem ich zufrieden bin.
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Street art / graffiti in a row
Jörg Schubert / Gallery MakersPlace Artists
While photographing the weekly theme „in a row“ from the Flickr macro group Macro Mondays, the attractive wooden beads came to mind.
I thought that would be another attractive motif for a street art picture.
The problem arose of presenting the wooden beads in an exciting way.
Tried different positions, sections and distances to the wooden beads. Then photographed the wooden beads in focus / out of focus.
Then the conflict of the representation of the photograph. Depicted wooden beads in color or in black and white.
Photograph digitally processed.
Seen in the process of digital editing that I’m on a positive path.
In the end, a digitally painted macro Crypto-Art picture was created, with which I am satisfied.
As soon as I saw this set I knew I had to try something like this, if time permits I'm gonna try to expand it and add a few things.
All in-camera just cropped.
“ Well I know it's just a matter of time,
When the fun falls through and the rent comes due, ...”
—Billy Joel,Somewhere Along the Line
I’ve posted a lot of digital collages, but this one is a straight photograph of a physical collage.
2 Mar 2021; 08:10 CST
Here's a poor quality image from an impromptu rainy morning out to meet a friend from out of town. Earlier this year I shared this photo: flic.kr/p/2qLiTJi and now finally she is back operating in revenue service. I need to get out on a nice day but I don't hate the saturated rainy look to this scene, though the brush does annoy me.
Anyway Grafton and Upton Railroad train GU-1 led by GP35 3604 and a pair of MP15ACs has just departed southbound from North Grafton yard as comes off the short causeway over the marsh and Big Bummet Brook at about MP 1 as measured from the north end of the line at the junction with the Keolis Worcester Mainline, the former Boston and Albany.
Still dressed in the image of its former owner this locomotive was built in January 1965 for the Pennsylvania Railroad and was acquired by the Housatonic from Conrail around 1992 when the road expanded with the acquisition of the Danbury cluster from CR. The unit was sent here a couple years ago for contract repair work and underwent an extensive rebuild/upgrade including all new wiring and modular electrical systems.
For whatever reason after spending a substantial sum the HRRC ownership decided not to invest any more money and purchased newly rebuilt GP15-1s and GP39-2s instead. In exchange for outstanding payments due, the G&U was offered and accepted this unit in trade and now owns it.
Grafton, Massachusetts
Monday October 20, 2025
With grateful thanks to First Hadleigh Engineering.
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
I do not want my images linked in Facebook groups.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
I just received payment for this photo which I have sold to Scholastic Canada for a children's book about careers. That makes 2 sales in one year. Does this mean I have to turn professional?
8^)
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
I do not want my images linked in Facebook groups.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
Almost done with the first texture base pack you get with the purchase (fitmesh one size object) .
My RL net company dumped me after just paying my bill then tried refusing me a refund, after much fuss they finally gave me my full refund back. (Btw americans do NOT go with Clear internet... 3yrs of loyal payments to them and they screw me over taking the tower away and never telling someone!)
So right now I'm on my parents internet while I finish this project up, I think I'm about done! I love love love how this is coming out and I couldn't be happier as a month of meshing this beauty out and I have worked so hard to every little detail!
I hope you guys like, there will be different HUDS available for the skirt, sweater, tie The shirt base color HUD will come with the base package to change into like rainbow o colors. I might eventually do striped versions of the shirt! Let me know what you think!
<3
iO
tall lady is getting ready for the payment at a restaurant counter kolalambur, Malaysia.
image has been taken at kolalambur, Malaysia.
thanks for every one for views, faves, comments.
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
I do not want my images linked in Facebook groups.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
I do not want my images linked in Facebook groups.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
Darby, MT.
Polaroid 680. Impossible Green Duochrome.
Today is the last day of my store's 10% off discount. Code: MAKERENT - Please have a look. Since losing my job it has been incredibly hard to make ends meet and right now, I need to get *something* to my landlord for rent and I also need to refill medications and make a payment on Suttree's vet bill.
At the dawn of the Nineteenth Century, Christmas was hardly celebrated – at least, not in a way we would recognise today. Many businesses didn't consider it to be a holiday. Gift giving had traditionally been a New Year activity, but moved as Christmas became more important to the Victorians. By the end of the century, Christmas had become the biggest annual celebration in the British calendar. Victorian advancements in technology, industry and infrastructure – as well as having an impact on society as a whole – made Christmas an occasion that many more British people could enjoy. From Christmas cards to decorated trees and Christmas crackers, many of our best-known Christmas traditions are products of the Victorian era.
The theme for "Smile on Saturday" for the 21st of December is "get in the festive mood". Anyone who follows my photostream knows that I love and collect 1:12 size miniatures which I photograph in realistic scenes. The artifice of recreating in minute detail items in 1:12 scale always amazes me, and it’s amazing how the eye can be fooled. I have created such a scene here, where everything is comes from my 1:12 miniatures collection. Therefore I have decided to use them to illustrate a very Victorian Christmas, which I think exemplifies being in the festive mood. I hope you like my choice for this week's theme, and that it makes you smile!
As this is the last "Smile on Saturday" before Christmas, I should just like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in the group a very happy Festive Season. May it be filled with happiness and joy for you all.
This scene is comprised of 1:12 miniatures from my 1;12 miniature collection, ranging from artisan pieces acquired in the last couple of years, to items I have had since my childhood. Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The Christmas tree is a 1:12 artisan miniature made by an unknown artist. I bought it via E-Bay from a seller in the United States. The tree came full dressed, complete with little gold angel on top, the apron at its bottom and all the baubles and bows between.
The Christmas presents you see beneath the Christmas tree and scattered around the room were made by husband and wife artistic team Margie and Mike Balough who own Serendipity Miniatures in Newcomerstown, Ohio. The Christmas garland hanging from the fireplace was also made by them.
The New Year cards you see on the mantlepiece of the fireplace are all 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of his work that I have come in the form of books, which he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection. What might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. As well as books, he also designed other paper based artistic items. This includes these New Year cards which are 1:12 copies of genuine Victorian New Year cards! To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make them all miniature artisan pieces. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.
The other Christmas cards seen around the room are artisan miniatures made by an unknown artist and came in their own presentation box. They came from kathleen Knight's Doll's House Shop in the United Kingdom.
The delicious looking plate of iced and decorated Christmas biscuits, which is a miniature artisan piece gifted to me by my dear Flickr friend and artist Kim Hagar (www.flickr.com/photos/bkhagar_gallery/), who surprised me with it last Christmas.
The antique velvet drawing room suite with its button-back upholstery I have had since I was a child of eight. The sofa, grandfather armchair and grandmother slipper chair were a gift to me that Christmas. The small salon chair in the back right-hand corner of the photo also comes from my childhood and I have had it since I was about ten.
The tall Dutch style chest of drawers to the far left of the photo was one of the first pieces of miniature furniture I ever bought for myself. I chose it as payment for several figures I made from Fimo clay for a local high street toy shop when I was eight years old. All these years later, I definitely think I got the better end of the deal!
The two wine tables and the demi-lune tables come from Kathleen Knight's Doll's House Shop in the United Kingdom.
The two cottages orné pastille burners sitting on the demi-line table have been hand made, painted and gilded by Welsh miniature ceramist Rachel Williams who has her own studio, V&R Miniatures, in Powys. The ornate Victorian ruby glass epergne between them is an artisan miniature made of real spun glass and came from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering.
The gilt Art Nouveau tea set, featuring a copy of a Royal Doulton leaves pattern, comes from a larger tea set which has been hand decorated by beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering as well.
The ornate white plaster fireplace with its wide mantle, the fire screen in front if it, and the hand embroidered pole fire screen to the left of the fireplace, the black leaded fire surround and brass fire tools also come from Kathleen Knight's Doll's House shop in the United Kingdom.
The grey marble French barrel clock on the mantlepiece is a 1:12 artisan miniature made by Hall’s Miniature Clocks, supplied through Doreen Jeffries Small Wonders Miniatures in England.
The two ornate fluted Victorian ruby glass vases standing to either side of the clock between the New Year cards are artisan miniatures made of real spun glass and came from Kathleen Knight's Doll's House shop in the United Kingdom.
The family photos on the mantlepiece and on the walls are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are from various suppliers, but all are metal.
The four miniature silhouettes featuring a Georgian era gentleman and lady, and two top hatted Victorian gentlemen come from Lady Mile Miniatures in the United Kingdom.
The central portrait of an old Victorian woman in its gold frame also comes from Kathleen Knight's Doll's House shop in the United Kingdom, whilst the Regency portrait of the gentleman to the right-hand side of the photograph was made by Maria Makes Miniatures in the United Kingdom.
The wallpaper is William Morris’ ‘Poppies’ pattern, featuring stylised Art Nouveau poppies. William Morris papers and fabrics were popular in the late Victorian and early Edwardian period before the Great War.
The miniature Victorian style rug on the floor is made by hand by Pike and Pike in the United Kingdom.
If you want to look at a medical paper with pictures, then this is your lucky day! Any doctors want to comment on this study?
“All of the abnormal blood samples of injected persons, the 948 cases, showed tubular/fibrous formations and frequently also crystalline and lamellar formations with extremely complex but consistently similar morphologies across all of the patients with abnormal blood samples. Our results are so similar to those of Lee et al. (2022) that it could be claimed that, except for our innovative application of dark-field microscopy to mark the foreign metal-like objects in the blood of mRNA injections from Pfizer or Moderna, we have replicated the blood work of the Korean doctors with a much larger sample. Our findings, however, are bolstered by their parallel analysis of the fluids in vials of the mRNA concoctions alongside centrifuged plasma samples from the cases they studied intensively. What seems plain enough is that metallic particles resembling graphene oxide and possibly other metallic compounds, like those discovered by Gatti and Montanari (Montanari & Gatti, 2016; Gatti & Montanari, 2012, 2017, 2018), have been included in the cocktail of whatever the manufacturers have seen fit to put in the so-called mRNA “vaccines”. In our experience as clinicians, these mRNA injections are very unlike traditional “vaccines” and their manufacturers need, in our opinions, to come clean about what is in the injections and why it is there.”
ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/47/95
Ezekiel 6:12 “The one who lives far away will die by pestilence and the one who is near will die violently. The survivors and their surveillance details will die by famine as I exhaust My rage against them.”
Now here’s a bonus! Isn’t it interesting to watch as the stage is being set to fulfill End Time Bible Prophecy? Don’t forget your biometric digital ID, don’t leave home without it tattooed to your face!
Gates Foundation: $200 million to expand global Digital Public Infrastructure:
“This funding will help expand infrastructure that low- and middle-income countries can use to become more resilient to crises such as food shortages, public health threats, and climate change, as well as to aid in pandemic and economic recovery. This infrastructure encompasses tools such as interoperable payment systems, digital ID, data-sharing systems, and civil registry databases.”
www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases...
Bill Gates: “The world today has 6.8 billion people—that’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtkfWaCzsas
2 Timothy 3:13 “Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Repent, for the end is near!
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
I do not want my images linked in Facebook groups.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.
The present-day structure was mainly built in the 12th century. Since there are no quarries in the area, the stone for the construction had to be purchased from an abbey in Peterborough and delivered by boat to Ely. The payment terms were 8,000 eels a year - because the Peterborough monks liked to eat them and before the fens were drained, catching eels was a major industry in Ely and the source of the town name which means Isle of Eels.
The cathedral is known locally as "the ship of the Fens", because of its prominent position above the surrounding flat landscape.
"from the family album: from right to left: the child is my grandmother Ninitta, then there is her mother and my great grandmother Anna, her sister Concetta, finally their mother and my great-great-grandmother Nina, respectively daughter, wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law of the photographer Gaetano D'Agata, whom in a photograph of him (location Mazzarò-Taormina)"
“dall'album di famiglia: da destra verso sinistra: la bambina è mia nonna Ninitta, poi c'è la sua mamma e la mia bisnonna Anna, sua sorella Concetta, infine la loro mamma e mia trisavola Nina, rispettivamente figlia, moglie, cognata, suocera del fotografo Gaetano D'Agata, cui in una sua fotografia (location Mazzarò-Taormina)”
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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;
or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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The photographer Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden: and some "secret stories” of Taormina ...
At the age of about 11-12, I made a very particular discovery, I found a fair number of ancient photographs (they had been well hidden by my grandmother) inside an ancient chest of drawers in our house in Taormina, for me it was a huge surprise, the a taste for the forbidden appeared in me for the first time, they were black and white photographs, they portrayed naked boys, or only partially dressed in drapes or sheets, they were posed to imitate certain statues (or drawings) of the Greco-Roman period; I was very intrigued by them, every now and then I went to look at them, without ever feeling discomfort, I did not consider them vulgar photographs. Some of the photos were the size of a postcard, others of various sizes increasingly larger, up to a format similar to A3; on the back there were stamps, there were also, inside small red cardboard boxes, glass plates, not large, looking at them against the light, they let us glimpse images of naked boys, or only partially dressed: they were photographic negatives made on glass plates. What was that particular photographic material hidden by my grandmother in the dresser of our house? Let's take a step back in time let's teleport to April 2, 1787 when the German poet, narrator, playwright Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) lands in Palermo, following his Grand Tour in Italy (the word "tourism" derives from it) he will say of Sicily that it is a place of splendor, beauty and harmony, but at the same time a place of poverty, suffering, misery and social injustice; Goethe wrote the book "Journey to Italy", revealing himself to be one of Italy's most passionate admirers, stating that "Sicily is the key to everything" (the incredible resemblance of thought with the great Sicilian writer and journalist Leonardo Sciascia (1921-1989) who published in 1979 the book entitled “Sicily as a metaphor”). At the time of Goethe (and for a long time to come) the knowledge of Sicily was made up of stereotyped ideas, it was considered a land of mysteries, a den of brigands, which aroused fear in travelers, tourism did not exist, very few knew a foreign language, journeys with carriages were slow, nothing strange therefore that Taormina was an unknown village at the time. Garibaldi, in the year 1860, frees Sicily from the domination of the Bourbons. In February 1863, Count Ottone (Otto) Geleng (1843-1939) arrives in Taormina from Germany, he is a landscape painter, he begins an intense pictorial activity, thus succeeding in making Taormina and its landscapes known in the various cultural circles of Germany and France. Count Otto thus invites the then painter (who later became a photographer) Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856-1931) to come to Taormina to treat his "subtle ache", pulmonary tuberculosis, which would have benefited from the mild climate of Sicily. Von Gloeden, twenty-two, arrived in Taormina in 1878, became passionate about photography by taking lessons from the local engineer and photographer Giuseppe Bruno (1836-1904), perhaps also a teacher of Giovanni Crupi (1859-1925), landscape photographer friend of von Gloeden, Crupi himself could also have contributed to the training as a photographer of the young von Gloeden. Like Otto Geleng's paintings, the photographs of the young Wilhelm also began to entice the then bourgeoisie across the border to come to Sicily: in the last 20 years of the 1800s the foundations were being laid for tourism in Sicily. The photographs taken by von Gloeden had as their subject young Sicilian adolescents dressed in the old-fashioned way with drapes, or completely naked, at most adorned with wreaths of flowers or laurel leaves placed on their heads, the young models assumed well-studied poses under the directed by the photographer baron, designed to create scenes that wanted to reconstruct the atmosphere of the mythical Arcadia (bucolic landscape of ancient Greece). In his poetics we can find the interest in disguise and transvestism, the young fisherman is made ambiguous by making him wear a wig, made resembling a young Sicilian girl; the images are not produced for the sole and mere trade, they are works that will be published in various famous magazines (such as "The National Geographic Magazine" or "the photographic progress", A. Stieglitz publishes his nudes on “Camera Notes"), also participating in international photographic exhibitions. The young models are filmed among ancient ruins, in rocky environments, outdoors, eliciting a spiritual feeling full of nostalgia, which follows pictorial models of German romanticism. In the photographic book "Verga photographer" (created on the discovery of 327 glass plates and 121 celluloid frames), in Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) great Sicilian narrator, it is possible to observe his photographs interwoven with "realism", while in the photographs of von Gloeden the symbolism andthe spiritualism predominate, however Wilhelm will also produce documentary-type photographs, photographing the terrible earthquake (and tsunami) of Messina (and Reggio Calabria) of 1908. Von Gloeden seems fully integrated into the Taormina society , nevertheless suffers heavy homophobic attacks from the local press and from important characters from Taormina, including Otto Geleng himself, who will be sued by the baron, which will then be withdrawn upon payment of 896 lire, and a restorative declaration published in the "Gazzetta di Messina" . Von Gloeden worked in his house-studio in front of the Hotel San Domenico Palace, with him lived his sister Sofia Raabe (1847-1930), daughter of his mother's first husband, who helped him manage the house-studio, and in the to receive the illustrious guests who visited him (such as Oscar Wilde, FA Krupp, Richard Strauss, the German emperor Wilhelm II, Eleonora Duse). Von Gloeden died on February 16, 1931 at the age of 74, he was buried in the non-Catholic cemetery of Taormina, his heir was his all-around assistant Pancrazio Buciunì known as "il moro" (1879-1963) ("u 'moru", family nickname), which continues the activity, selling the prints: he undergoes two searches in full fascist regime with partial seizure and destruction of the photographic material that belonged to von Gloeden (fascism persecuted homosexuals, the repression of homosexuality was entrusted to the fascist police, which confined many homosexuals to the islands of the Mediterranean, Lipari was one of these, see the beautiful film by Ettore Scola "a special day"), Buciunì undergoes two trials for detention of obscene material, and, despite an adverse appraisal by the appointed expert prof. Stefano Bottari, holder of the chair of history of medieval and modern art at the University of Messina, who declares much of the seized material obscene, the Court of Messina, demonstrating tolerance and open-mindedness, acquits Buciunì. At this point in the story we return to my grandmother's dresser and reveal the little mystery: the hidden photographs belonged to my great-grandfather Don Gaetano D'Agata (1883-1949), von Gloeden's assistant photographer, also on the baron's teaching, he made nude photographs, as well as landscape or portrait photographs; Don Gaetano was a globetrotter, in our family album he is portrayed in various parts of the world, always in the company of beautiful women: but I will never know if those "forbidden photos" were taken by my great-grandfather Gaetano or by Von Gloeden himself, because my grandmother, having understood that I was going to peek at them in secret, made them disappear permanently, and I never heard anymore of that photographic material. For my part, it is only right to mention other figures who contributed to making Taormina the current destination for international tourism. Lady Florence Trevelyan (1852-1907), was Queen Victoria's lady-in-waiting, she was then sent into exile in various parts of the world by Queen herself, she arrived in Taormina and stayed there forever, she was a woman of exceptional gifts, endowed with great sensitivity and humanity, animal rights activist, philanthropist, passionate about esotericism, she was married to the then mayor and doctor of Taormina dr. Salvatore Cacciola, she were one of the first women admitted to world Freemasonry (her husband Cacciola also belonged to Freemasonry): I have already talked about it previously in one of my photographic stories. On the occasion of the XXI festival of the two worlds in Spoleto, in 1978, the essayist and literary critic Roland Barthes (1915-1980) curated an exhibition entitled "Wilhelm von Gloeden", with interventions by artists such as Andy Warhol, M. Pistoletto and J. Beuys. Finally, Raffaella Perna, Researcher in History of Contemporary Art at the University of Catania, underlines in her book on "Wilhelm von Gloeden, disguises, portraits, tableaux vivants", of how LaChapelle, Witkin, Mapplethorpe are the contemporary artists who they are indicated as heirs of von Gloeden's poetics.
P.S. Von Gloeden's photographs were made by photographing both the large panels with gigantographic reproductions of von Gloeden's works, which are located at the entrance of the Mocambo bar in Taormina, and in the shop-bazaar of the photographer from Taormina, my late friend, Nino Malmbrì (owner of the baron's original photographic material). The photographs of Gaetano D’Agata, were taken from my family album: in a photo a little damaged, but exceptional for its historical and emotional value, my great-grandfather, the photographer Gaetano D'Agata, here very young, holds his daughter "Ninitta" (a of the four children, had by three wives), she is my paternal grandmother; in another photo, the photographer Gaetano D'Agata poses next to her a few years later, with my grandmother already a young girl; always made by great-grandfather D'Agata there is both a portrait photo, a close-up, of my very young grandmother "Ninitta", and there is a photo of her posing as a peasant girl, with a painted backdrop behind her, as if used in studio photos; finally I put two photos taken by my great-grandfather Gaetano "en plein air" of bathers, "the location" is the beach of Mazzarò (Taormina). The photographs of the tombstones of the characters mentioned in the story were taken in the Catholic and non-Catholic cemetery of Taormina; the monumental funerary complex of Count Otto Geleng at the top presents the bust of his son Ermanno, the presence of symbolisms such as the hourglass, the rooster, the book (the Holy Bible) and the god mercury, makes me believe that Count Otto was part of the Masonic lodge of Taormina, at the time the mayor of Taormina was also part of it, dr. Cacciola and his wife Lady Florence Trevelyan: in his palace, Dr. Cacciola, built a temple, which became the first Masonic lodge in Taormina: the "Renaissance" (1904).
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Il barone fotografo Wilhelm von Gloeden: ed alcune “storie segrete” di Taormina …
Io, all’età di circa 11-12 anni, feci una scoperta molto particolare, trovai un discreto numero di antiche fotografie (erano state ben nascoste da mia nonna) dentro un antico comò in casa nostra a Taormina, per me fu una enorme sorpresa, il gusto del proibito si affacciò in me per la prima volta, erano fotografie in bianco e nero, ritraevano ragazzi nudi, o solo in parte vestiti con drappi o lenzuoli, messi in posa imitavano certe statue (o disegni) del periodo greco-romano; io ne ero rimasto molto incuriosito, ogni tanto le andavo a riguardare, senza mai provare disagio, non le consideravo fotografie volgari. Alcune foto erano della grandezza di una cartolina, altre di varie dimensioni sempre più grandi, fino ad arrivare ad un formato assimilabile all’A3; sul retro c’erano impressi dei timbri, c’erano anche, dentro dei piccoli scatoli in cartoncino di colore rosso, delle lastrine in vetro, non grandi, guardandole in controluce, lasciavano intravedere immagini di ragazzi nudi, o poco vestiti: erano i negativi fotografici realizzati su vetro. Cosa ci faceva quel materiale fotografico, così particolare, nascosto da mia nonna nel comò di casa nostra? Facciamo un salto indietro nel tempo teletrasportiamoci al 2 aprile 1787 quando a Palermo sbarca il poeta, narratore, drammaturgo tedesco Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), in seguito al suo Grand Tour in Italia (turismo deriva da esso) dirà della Sicilia che essa è luogo di splendore, bellezza ed armonia, ma al tempo stesso luogo di povertà, sofferenza, miseria ed ingiustizia sociale; Goethe scrive il libro “Viaggio in Italia”, rivelandosi uno dei più appassionati ammiratori dell’Italia, affermando che “la Sicilia è la chiave di tutto” (incredibile la rassomiglianza di pensiero col grande scrittore e giornalista siciliano Leonardo Sciascia (1921-1989) che pubblica nel 1979 il libro dal titolo “la Sicilia come metafora”). Ai tempi di Goethe (e per molto tempo ancora) la conoscenza della Sicilia era fatta di idee stereotipate, era considerata terra di misteri, covo di briganti, il che incuteva timore nei viaggiatori, il turismo non esisteva, pochissimi conoscevano una lingua straniera, i viaggi con carrozze ertano lenti, nulla di strano quindi che Taormina fosse all’epoca un villaggio sconosciuto. Garibaldi, nell’anno 1860, libera la Sicilia dalla dominazione dei Borboni. Nel febbraio del 1863, dalla Germania giunge a Taormina il conte Ottone (Otto) Geleng (1843-1939), egli è un pittore paesaggista, inizia una intensa attività pittorica, riuscendo in tal modo a far conoscere Taormina ed i suoi paesaggi nei vari circoli culturali della Germania e della Francia. Il conte Otto invita così l’allora pittore (poi divenuto fotografo) barone Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856-1931) a venire a Taormina per curare il suo “mal sottile”, la tubercolosi polmonare, che avrebbe tratto giovamento dal clima mite della Sicilia. Von Gloeden, ventiduenne, nel 1878 giunge a Taormina, si appassiona alla fotografia prendendo lezioni dall’ingegnere e fotografo locale Giuseppe Bruno (1836-1904), forse anche insegnante di Giovanni Crupi (1859-1925), fotografo paesaggista amico di von Gloeden, il quale Crupi stesso potrebbe anche aver contribuito alla formazione come fotografo del giovane von Gloeden. Così come i dipinti di Otto Geleng, anche le fotografie del giovane Wilhelm incominciarono ad invogliare l’allora borghesia d’oltre confine, a venire in Sicilia: negli ultimi 20 anni dell’800 si stavano gettando le basi per il turismo in Sicilia. Le fotografie realizzate da von Gloeden avevano come soggetto giovani adolescenti siciliani vestiti all’antica con drappi, o completamente nudi, tutt’al più adornati da coroncine di fiorellini o foglie d’alloro messi sul capo, i giovani modelli assumevano pose ben studiate sotto la regia del barone fotografo, atte a realizzare scene che volevano ricostruire l’atmosfera della mitica Arcadia (paesaggio bucolico dell’antica Grecia). Nella sua poetica possiamo riscontrare l’interesse per il travestimento ed il travestitismo, il giovane pescatore viene reso ambiguo facendogli indossare una parrucca, reso somigliante ad una giovane ragazza siciliana; le immagini non vengono prodotte per il solo e mero commercio, sono opere che verranno pubblicate su varie riviste famose (come “The National Geographic Magazine” o “Il Progresso fotografico”, A. Stieglitz pubblica i suoi nudi su “Camera Notes”), partecipando anche ad esposizioni fotografiche internazionali. I giovani modelli sono ripresi tra antichi ruderi, in ambienti rupestri, all’aperto, elicitando un sentimento spirituale carico di nostalgia, il che ricalca modelli pittorici del romanticismo tedesco. Nel libro fotografico “Verga fotografo” (realizzato su ritrovamento di 327 lastre in vetro e 121 fotogrammi in celluloide), in Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) grande narratore siciliano, è possibile osservare le sue fotografie intessute di “verismo”, mentre nelle fotografie di von Gloeden predomina il simbolismo e lo spiritualismo, purtuttavia Wilhelm produrrà anch’egli fotografie di tipo documentaristico, andando a fotografare il terribile terremoto (e maremoto) di Messina (e di Reggio Calabria) del 1908. Von Gloeden sembra pienamente integrato nella società taorminese, ciononostante subisce pesanti attacchi omofobi dalla stampa locale e da importanti personaggi taorminesi, incluso lo stesso Otto Geleng, i quali verranno querelati dal barone, querela che verrà poi ritirata dietro pagamento di 896 lire, ed una dichiarazione riparatoria pubblicata sulla “Gazzetta di Messina”. Von Gloeden lavorava nella sua casa-studio di fronte l’Hotel San Domenico Palace, con lui viveva sua sorella Sofia Raabe (1847-1930), figlia del primo marito di sua madre, che lo aiutava a governare la casa-studio, e nel ricevere gli illustri ospiti che lo andavano a trovare ( come Oscar Wilde, F.A. Krupp, Richard Strauss, l’imperatore tedesco Guglielmo II, Eleonora Duse). Von Gloeden muore il 16 febbraio 1931 all’età di 74 anni, viene sepolto nel cimitero acattolico di Taormina, il suo erede è il suo assistente tutto fare Pancrazio Buciunì detto “il moro” (1879-1963) (“u’ moru”, soprannome di famiglia), che ne prosegue l’attività, vendendone le stampe: il quale subisce in pieno regime fascista due perquisizioni con parziale sequestro e distruzione del materiale fotografico che apparteneva a von Gloeden (il fascismo perseguitò gli omosessuali, la repressione dell’omosessualità fu affidata alla polizia fascista, che confinò molti omosessuali nelle isole del mediterraneo, Lipari fu una di queste, vedi il bellissimo film di Ettore Scola “una giornata particolare”), Buciunì subisce due processi per detenzione di materiale osceno, e, nonostante una perizia avversa da parte del nominato perito prof. Stefano Bottari, titolare della cattedra di storia dell’arte medioevale e moderna dell’Università di Messina, che dichiara osceno gran parte del materiale sequestrato, il Tribunale di Messina dimostrando tolleranza ed apertura mentale, assolve il Buciunì. A questo punto del racconto ritorniamo al comò di mia nonna e sveliamo il piccolo mistero: le fotografie nascoste appartenevano al mio bisnonno don Gaetano D’Agata (1883-1949), assistente fotografo di von Gloeden, anch’egli sull’insegnamento del barone, realizzò fotografie di nudo, oltre che di paesaggio o ritratto; don Gaetano era un giramondo, nel nostro album di famiglia lui è ritratto in varie parti del mondo, sempre in compagnia di belle donne: ma io non saprò mai se quelle “foto proibite” erano realizzate dal mio bisnonno Gaetano o da Von Gloeden stesso, perché mia nonna, avendo capito che le andavo a sbirciare di nascosto, le fece sparire definitivamente, e di quel materiale fotografico non ne seppi più nulla. Da parte mia, è doveroso citare altre figure che contribuirono a rendere Taormina l’attuale meta del turismo internazionale. Lady Florence Trevelyan (1852-1907), era dama di corte della regina Vittoria, dalla stessa regina Lady Florence fu poi mandata in esilio in varie parti del mondo, giunse a Taormina e qui vi restò per sempre, era una donna dalle doti eccezionali, dotata di grande sensibilità ed umanità, animalista, filantropa, appassionata di esoterismo, fu sposa dell’allora sindaco e medico di Taormina dott. Salvatore Cacciola, fu una delle prime donne ammesse alla massoneria mondiale (apparteneva alla massoneria anche il marito Cacciola): ne ho già parlato in precedenza in un mio racconto fotografico. Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873-1947) era un pittore britannico omosessuale, egli lasciò l’Inghilterra a causa dell’emendamento Labouchere, che rendeva illegale qualsiasi atto omosessuale nel Regno Unito (1885), giunse a Taormina e qui si stabilì, costruendo nel 1905 Casa Cusani, una villa con vista sull’Etna, oggi casa museo; nella sua sala da pranzo si trovano gli affreschi “proibiti” realizzati da Frank Brangwyn, essi narrano dell’amore omosessuale tra Kitson ed il suo compagno Carlo Siligato: nel 1908 in seguito al terremoto che distrusse Messina (e Reggio Calabria), essi adottarono un bambino che era rimasto orfano, divenendo di fatto una famiglia omosessuale, all’epoca assolutamente proibita; gli affreschi di Casa Cuseni sono ispirati alle fotografie di von Gloeden, così come nella villa, si trova una “autocromia a colori” del 1910, realizzata da von Gloeden, documento eccezionale che testimonia la volontà del barone di sperimentare nuove tecniche. In occasione del XXI festival dei due mondi di Spoleto, nel 1978, il saggista e critico letterario Roland Barthes (1915-1980) cura una mostra intitolata “Wilhelm von Gloeden”, con interventi di artisti quali Andy Warhol, M. Pistoletto e J. Beuys. Infine, Raffaella Perna, Ricercatrice in Storia dell'arte contemporanea all'Università degli Studi di Catania, sottolinea nel suo libro su “Wilhelm von Gloeden, travestimenti, ritratti, tableaux vivants”, di come LaChapelle, Witkin, Mapplethorpe siano gli artisti contemporanei che vengono indicati come eredi della poetica di von Gloeden.
P.S. le fotografie di Von Gloeden sono state realizzate fotografando sia i grandi pannelli con gigantografiche riproduzioni delle opere di von Gloeden, che si trovano all’ingresso del bar Mocambo di Taormina, sia nel negozio-bazar del fotografo taorminese, compianto mio amico, Nino Malmbrì (possessore di materiale fotografico originale del barone). Le fotografie di Gaetano D’Agata, sono state prese dal mio album di famiglia: in una foto un pò rovinata, ma eccezionale per il suo valore storico e per me affettivo, il mio bisnonno, il fotografo Gaetano D'Agata, qui molto giovane, tiene in braccio sua figlia "Ninitta" (una dei quattro figli, avuti da tre mogli), lei è la mia nonna paterna; in un'altra foto, il fotografo Gaetano D'Agata posa accanto a lei qualche anno dopo, con mia nonna già ragazzina; sempre realizzate dal bisnonno D'Agata c'è sia un foto-ritratto, un primo piano, di mia nonna "Ninitta" molto giovane, e c'è la foto di lei mentre posa come contadinella, con dietro un fondale dipinto, come si usava nelle foto da studio; infine ho messo, due foto realizzate dal mio bisnonno Gaetano "en plein air" a delle bagnanti, "la location" è la spiaggia di Mazzarò (Taormina). Le fotografie delle tombe dei personaggi menzionati nel racconto, sono state fatte nel cimitero cattolico ed acattolico di Taormina; il complesso monumentale funerario del conte Otto Geleng in alto presenta il mezzobusto del figlio Ermanno, la presenza di simbolismi come la clessidra, il gallo, il libro (la Sacra Bibbia) ed il dio mercurio, mi fa ritenere che il conte Otto facesse parte della loggia massonica di Taormina, all’epoca ne faceva parte anche il sindaco di Taormina, dott. Cacciola e sua moglie Lady Florence Trevelyan: nel suo palazzo il dott. Cacciola, realizzò un tempio, che divenne la prima loggia massonica di Taormina : la "Rinascimento"(1904).
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Copyright © John G. Lidstone, all rights reserved.
I hope you enjoy my work and thanks for viewing.
NO use of this image is allowed without my express prior permission and subject to compensation/payment.
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It is an offence, under law, if you remove my copyright marking, and/or post this image anywhere else without my express written permission.
If you do, and I find out, you will be reported for copyright infringement action to the host platform and/or group applicable and you will be barred by me from social media platforms I use.
The same applies to all of my images.
My ownership & copyright is also embedded in the image metadata.