Seeking for the "hidden" light

(For a while I will post here what I post in the other English blog... might happen that there I won't post something that will be put here that is supposed to be a more "informal" blog).

Going out carrying my camera means a lot of things for me.

One of these is: forcing myself to look at this world, to focus my mind on what is around me in order to avoid to lose a detail that might enrich my day or, if I am lucky, my life in general.

This picture, that someone likes, that someone commented saying:”It looks lit from inside”… wasn’t shot in a studio (I have never been in a photography studio), I didn’t take it with “special” instruments. It’ just a picture of a (small) rose of a plant on my balcony in a little city on the East Sicilian cost. Nothing more.
That light isn’t a post production artifact, I just “helped” it with a little light level adjustment, it’s natural. It was the sun shining on it… the same sun that all of you know.

A simple detail, a definitely unnecessary picture… it reports nothing, nothing important.

It can just testify that someone, somewhere, a day of a certain year, has gone out on the balcony, just after lunch, holding a camera in the hope to be able to find a reason more to smile, to find a reason more to make someone smiling, to find a reason more to remember that even the smallest and simplest thing (or person) can shine with the Light that is necessary for our lives.

Taking pictures, for me, is a good exercise to practice my eyes to seek for that Light, to learn to find it.

Next step?
Being able to understand why God created mosquitoes that keeps me awake at night ;D

P.S. New pictures: "Flowers-->Roses"

Happy Easter

And again, Beauty makes things work out :)

Few minutes ago I had written a really bad post, something like a complain.

When, later, I opened the picture I want to use for the post..
I changed my mind.
I thought:"Oh boy! How could I waste this present with such a bad post?" :)

The bad post was anyway necessary, due to it and the picture I understood that even if life has its "imperfection" alike the flare in this picture (that, despite the flare, turned out as I wished) it's life, a present, something to love given by Love.

Ok, there's too much sense in this post (mebbe).
I have to go to sleep, tomorrow might be a really bad day of "fighting" with classmates. HELP!

Have a wonderful Monday!

P.S.
A question for, both English and Italian speaker, or for just English speaker if they can understand why I am surprised by the sentence: "to get on like a house on fire".
In the dictionary I've read this sentence is the translation of "andare d’amore e d’accordo"... I am still trying to fully understand the reason. House on fire is an house that it is going to be destroyed, isn't it? House aren't supposed to love to be on fire!.

Ahaha, I do love learning these idiomatic expressions! :)

Looking up

Thinking about today... only this picture comes up to my mind... ...of a little bird that is looking up to the sky, just few instants before taking off. Do I feel this way? I guess that, at least, I would like to feel so!

Or probably it's due to the fact I recall with pleasure the moment I took this picture. At that time I was studying Analysis I, well that wasn't really pleasant, but I remember that in those weeks I used to study in front of the window, with my camera ready to take a picture of what these young birds were doing.

A day, just for coincidence, I had the chance to take this picture. I think pretty few people would think it has been took inside a kitchen of an apartment, belonging to a building located in the middle of a city.
This little guy was standing on the pine (the Christmas Tree in vacation) that there is on my balcony.

I think that, if there's something of good that I had the chance to do, often unintentionally, is to be able to catch the positive and unusual/unplanned aspect of the reality, of that reality that surrounds us but that, for some weird reason, we are not observing with pleasure...

But it's fine, if we start again to observe our world,we can be surprised and we can cheer up.

Freedom to be serene...

Today my mother told me about something happened when she was coming back at home at about 6.45 pm. She was getting into the building, and a woman living here too got scared to hear my mother steps. When this woman realized it was "just mother" she said to her: "Oh, I am sorry. I was a little scared, there was a boy at the gate and..".

My mother just smiled because the boy at the gate was "my boy", so no danger for anyone... but she understood that we are all scared to go out, especially if alone and at night (lights here not always work).

I thought it was a situation as true as sad.

Tonight, I am not feeling very well (I don't know the reason) so I just wanted to post this picture:

Yep, to create a contrast to the evil that torture this world that could be a really amazing and peaceful place.

Indeed, when I took this picture I was being a part of a bigger world life frame that could show only serenity.
There were seagulls flying all around, the sea was calm, there were no clouds in the sky, there were people enjoying the sea practicing sport on it (I guess canoe) or just look at it from the dock.

I remember that when I was shooting exactly this shot I thought: "wow, cool! I am lucky! I couldn't have been able to take a picture of such a situation if, for example, I was in land plagued by the war..."

I don't know why I thought this, but it made me to realized that even if this land is "plagued" by problems that goes from criminality to really little chances to get a really good and interesting (honest) job and consequentially a serene life, it is still able to show such great scenario that talk about the chance to be serene and free.

We all aim to being happy and serene, but this is not always possible... and this can became quite impossible if we don't remember Who we should follow.

Isn't the Pope Cool? ;)

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE 43rd WORLD DAY OF COMMUNICATIONS

"New Technologies, New Relationships.
Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship."

May 24, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

In anticipation of the forthcoming World Communications Day, I would like to address to you some reflections on the theme chosen for this year - New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship. The new digital technologies are, indeed, bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of communication and human relationships. These changes are particularly evident among those young people who have grown up with the new technologies and are at home in a digital world that often seems quite foreign to those of us who, as adults, have had to learn to understand and appreciate the opportunities it has to offer for communications. In this year’s message, I am conscious of those who constitute the so-called digital generation and I would like to share with them, in particular, some ideas concerning the extraordinary potential of the new technologies, if they are used to promote human understanding and solidarity. These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavour to ensure that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals and communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.

The accessibility of mobile telephones and computers, combined with the global reach and penetration of the internet, has opened up a range of means of communication that permit the almost instantaneous communication of words and images across enormous distances and to some of the most isolated corners of the world; something that would have been unthinkable for previous generations. Young people, in particular, have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to foster connectedness, communication and understanding between individuals and communities, and they are turning to them as means of communicating with existing friends, of meeting new friends, of forming communities and networks, of seeking information and news, and of sharing their ideas and opinions. Many benefits flow from this new culture of communication: families are able to maintain contact across great distances; students and researchers have more immediate and easier access to documents, sources and scientific discoveries, hence they can work collaboratively from different locations; moreover, the interactive nature of many of the new media facilitates more dynamic forms of learning and communication, thereby contributing to social progress.

While the speed with which the new technologies have evolved in terms of their efficiency and reliability is rightly a source of wonder, their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human beings and cannot be adequately understood as a response to technical innovations. In the light of the biblical message, it should be seen primarily as a reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying Love of God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we find ourselves drawn towards other people, when we want to know more about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to God’s call - a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion.

The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others. In reality, when we open ourselves to others, we are fulfilling our deepest need and becoming more fully human. Loving is, in fact, what we are designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I am not talking about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about the real love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" and "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (cf. Mk 12:30-31). In this light, reflecting on the significance of the new technologies, it is important to focus not just on their undoubted capacity to foster contact between people, but on the quality of the content that is put into circulation using these means. I would encourage all people of good will who are active in the emerging environment of digital communication to commit themselves to promoting a culture of respect, dialogue and friendship.

Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.

The new technologies have also opened the way for dialogue between people from different countries, cultures and religions. The new digital arena, the so-called cyberspace, allows them to encounter and to know each other’s traditions and values. Such encounters, if they are to be fruitful, require honest and appropriate forms of expression together with attentive and respectful listening. The dialogue must be rooted in a genuine and mutual searching for truth if it is to realize its potential to promote growth in understanding and tolerance. Life is not just a succession of events or experiences: it is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this - in truth, in goodness, and in beauty - that we find happiness and joy. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by those who see us merely as consumers in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.

The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always been seen as one of the greatest goods any human person can experience. We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialize the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.

Friendship is a great human good, but it would be emptied of its ultimate value if it were to be understood as an end in itself. Friends should support and encourage each other in developing their gifts and talents and in putting them at the service of the human community. In this context, it is gratifying to note the emergence of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace and justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of creation. These networks can facilitate forms of co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared responsibility for the good of all. We must, therefore, strive to ensure that the digital world, where such networks can be established, is a world that is truly open to all. It would be a tragedy for the future of humanity if the new instruments of communication, which permit the sharing of knowledge and information in a more rapid and effective manner, were not made accessible to those who are already economically and socially marginalized, or if it should contribute only to increasing the gap separating the poor from the new networks that are developing at the service of human socialization and information.

I would like to conclude this message by addressing myself, in particular, to young Catholic believers: to encourage them to bring the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. In the early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately. It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2009, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.

BENEDICTUS XVI

_____________________________________________

I wrote a post in italian some days ago, but it's pretty long. I wish I will find the time to translate it some day. But, let me tell you that this message can be really enough! :)

Lazyness or activity?

Today it's rainy, as it has been rainy for the last month... but Saturday 17th January it has been a great day, with almost no wind and a sun shining in a cloudless sky.
That day I took the picture of the previous post (19th Jan) and many other as this one:


You should know that I live in Catania, it's a town on Sicily east cost so you can understand how it has been surprising for me to see the sun reflecting on the sea at sunset time. (Even if it isn't exactly a sunset at the sea! :D ).

How it possible? The dock is linked to the north part of Catania gulf so I had the chance to see this amazing show.

Saturday morning I woke up without knowing where I was going to go, I just I was going out with my boyfriend for a walk. Than, close to lunch time, we decided to not came back home and have a quick lunch somewhere close to the sea and than come back to take picture. As soon as we got out from the fast food, we saw a lot of seagulls flying all over the sky, so we decided to follow them till we reached the port. There were thousands of seagulls! We spent something like 3 hours at that dock.
Three amazing hours where I had the chance to discover amazing scenarios of my town. I am a little ashamed I didn't know them before, but... when, after sunset we left the dock i did take a last look to that panorama I have been looking at for ours and I thought:
"Wow, Sicily, I will probably have to leave you to improve my life but... COOL! How amazing you are! How much I will be missing you if I leave!".

What about the picture I am showing here?
I was at about on the dock at almost 1.3 km far from the starting point, there were structures floating on the sea that were occupied by seagulls that were probably getting ready to get some sleep.
While I was shooting picture, a group of seagulls, coming from don't know where, started to fly all around and I... just took that picture :)

A screen shot just to show you were I was (more or less). I intend to come back there soon. I want to take some pictures at sunset again (with charged battery... I run out of energy just for the most amazing moments of sunset) and I want, if it's possible, to reach the end of the dock...

The Real always wins

B: "In this picture it looks like a star"

N.O.: "What's new? Isn't the Sun a star?"

M: "Looks like it was night!"

N.O.:"It wasn't, have you ever see such a thing at night?"

M: "well, actually... to be the moon is too luminous..."

N.O.: "And that line of light at centre..."

M: "Yeah!" 

Company

Yeah! I am crazy! A crazy idiot!

I am an idiot because I wasted the whole day for the pain that I let win on my will to study.
I kept having pity of my self for being so "weak" and this made me close my eyes, as always.

I am crazy because while I was writing an endless post with thousands of words that said nothing I realized how to say something i have been wanting to say for 2 weeks or so.
The concept, in my mind, is linked to this picture

that I took in August 2008 during a walk I had with some relatives. There were me, my parents, my aunt and my grandma, we went out to pick some blackberries.
That day was cloudy and annoying, I had taken almost no pictures but when we went out for that (unplanned) walk the sun come out and I had the chance to take some pictures.

This picture recall me some concept that are the main themes of the thought of these last months, of course when I am not too busy with complaining! ;)
Recently I have been thinking a lot about the value of a family and of a "company" and how both are necessary to be happy... and because I have to start from some point my mind picked up to think about family and the movement my family belong.

Indeed, I grown up in a family belonging to a Catholic movement (Comunion and Liberation) and it's clear what importance they, at least theoretically, give to the fact of being a "company".
I guess it is normal that when I was a child that group of people meant "home" for me... but with the passing of the years I couldn't stand most of them anymore, as well as I couldn't stand almost any other human being.

So, I guess it's normal that the last time in my life I felt really at home was in March 2002 while I was being confirmed in the Cathedral of my town.


During the Mass the choir started to sing something. I cannot remember what it was but it called me back while I was getting lost in not really good thought alike:
"Tomorrow I have that annoying Latin test, today it's cold, I am nervous and some "creative guy" had the unhappy idea to make 7 people sit on the same bench... it's symbolical I know, but half of me is sitting on nothing, i am suspends it's so uncomfortable, beside the cathedral is full of people but except my parents no one of them is a friend or a relative of mine.. I feel so..."
the song changed the thought in: "... Wow! COOL! I feel at home, everything is fine!"

The beauty of the singing, the beauty of the place I was being in, the beauty and the importance of what was happening made me find back serenity, and erased from my mind any bad thought. Well, it helped also to see that my religion teacher came for me. She didn't knew me and I didn't have a great esteem of her but she proved I was wrong, she showed me that despite she wasn't able of witty speech she had what is really required to be a great person: A good hearth.

In the following years I forgot all these church-related events, i focused only on my problems and let only some "chat friends" to help me...
I let you imagine my surprise and my pleasure to see that, finally even on that "devilish web", there were member of that"company" I had missed for years. And I let you imagine that one of them is actually a member of THAT choir that made me feel me at home some years ago.

I still think that I won't feel "at home" as that day anymore, that there is actually no home for me... but, now, at least, I feel a lot of steps closer to that "home" I am looking for...

There is still a lot to say and to do, but it's late, it's better if I go to bed in order to avoid to waste another day, even if I am starting to think that I didn't waste this friday at all, thanks to love and friendship that surrounds me...

...and sorry if I have bothered you.

:)

Immaculate Conception

"Sicut lilium inter spinas,

sic amica mea inter filias"

Peeking Kitten

The 16th September 2008 I went with my boyfriend to take some pictures to the ruins of a roman amphitheater that there is in Catania... well, I guess that the first lesson of that day is: "Taking pictures to monuments isn't something you should keep doing".
Indeed, I enjoyed more to take pictures to some kittens that had their "house" there. These little cats gave me the chance to take a lot of pictures and of different kind: from the happy to the gloomy type.

Today, I choose a picture, that, according to me, belongs to the second group... or at least, it seams so to me and I feel kinda of "represented" from this kitten.


This little guy used to be peeking from its home t to see if it was safe to get out, its siblings did alike but this one was probably the most prudent kitten.... then, I set with my camera a little further and I started to watch and wait.

All the kittens came out 3 or 4 times, giving me the chance to take some nice shots. Later, alas, came a numerous group of tourists that scared the little cats a who run to their home

After few minuets my boyfriend showed me that there were grinds on the floor, from these grids you could see part of some tunnels... the cat of the picture was watching us, at a first moment I thought to take another picture of this cat but the kitten behind the grid seemed in prison so I gave up the idea to take this picture and I went away in order to leave at peace that little cat.

Reflected Love

Me: "Close your eyes, think about a picture of mine and tell me which is".
M1L: "The one with the rose that seems lit from inside"

Me: "Why?"
M1L: "I love the strange light there".

This is a part of a conversation about pictures I had with my boyfriend, few minutes before he left to go to sleep.
I wanted a picture to dedicate to him for a post. Tomorrow he will have the spoken part of a test to start the PhD in Nuclear Physics, that he, hopefully, will get in 3 or 4 years.

I am glad he chosen this picture. I like the light effect too and today I like it more because it made me realize that Beauty in things is like a light, that seems to be coming from inside but instead it is just a reflected light.
For this reason, probably, even such a "common" thing alike a little rose I have seen growing up year by year, can became something of amazing... something that I will probably we'll ever get bored to look at.
I think that by instinct everyone of us look for this "reflected Eternal Beauty"... we have just to look at things and let this Beauty feels our hearts.

Thinking about this picture another idea came up to my mind... an idea that probably "solved" a "problem" I have been thinking about for years: "What makes so special the person we love and we see everyday. Why are we so amazed in seeing their friendly faces that we already know very well? Why don't we get ever bored by them?"
I think that such an amazing love or friendship came when both side open their heart and let that Beauty, that Eternal Love, fill their souls... so everyone we love is a source of "that reflected Love", and we can be such a source for them as well... and, by the nature of that Beauty, we will never get bored even of the people we know through and through.

My dear, it is one of the most important reason that make me look forward to see you again, to hug you again.
And I hope we will be able to celebrate a good result in the spoken test your going to have in few hours.

You are doing a great work for both of us.

Please, pray for us too!

The sun shines less, it's getting cold outside, but...

It’s probably me unable to do it, but I don’t use to take pictures in this period of the year because it’s often cloudy (so no good lights) and it’s wind.

The period I prefer is spring-summer when the sun often shines and this allow me to take colorful pictures alike this one:

I took this picture the 15th April 2008, that day it was warm outside and the and the shining sun helped me a lot taking this picture.
The flower in the picture is a Passiflora (Passion flower), it’s among my favorite ones.

By the way, when I bought this plant (in March) the information I read about this said that it used to bloom only in a period of the year alike “late spring” or “summer” according to the plant… if it works really this way my plant isn’t well informed! It has been blooming from April with almost no rest. ;)

Yep, Thursday had been a great day, full of new events: joining SOL group and finding a lot of wonderful people, my boyfriend did an important test and I had also the chance to see such an unusual but amazing event that made my day looking nicer, a lot nicer.

So… even if I was tired, I was in a hurry and outside it was windy and cloudy I wanted to try try to take a picture to the brave (or reckless?) flower that bloomed on Wednesday (I think) and was going to close… fortunately mom showed me in time!

This isn’t surely alike the picture I took on April, colors aren’t vivid, I couldn’t play with camera settings to get the black background (this was due to the flower position too) but I think that, despite all, I am satisfied by this picture.
I think it’s AMAZING that a flower blooms in the period when the whole nature is going to sleep for some months, don’t you?
I hope that this won’t kill the plant, though! Outside it is getting colder!

Well… that day someone probably didn’t enjoy my presence on the balcony:

Here you are who was observing me, standing on the gate of the balcony of the apartment that is above mine, I guess they were waiting me to go in order reach the little dish where we leave some food for them.

As soon as I noticed them I wondered if they were thinking something such as: “This one has to annoy just at lunch time?”

Nostalgia is... missing the chance to take pictures.

In these days I have been sick, so I didn't go out, I missed almost a week of lectures and I didn't go to the Mass too. I did nothing of what I usually do.
Despite this "bad" situation, something nice happened: I had the chance to talk more with my friends, and to discover new-old ones and this made me turn back into a positive mood.

This positive mood makes me willing again to do thing alike going out to take pictures!
Alas! In the next months I have to study a lot so I won't be going out for a very long while and this makes me feeling a big sweet nostalgia for shooting.... but I am happy!
Why happy? It's a long story, just know that for a while I did want to do NOTHING, absolutely nothing, and I reached the pretty annoying (or worrying for friend) point that I didn't want to care about my passions too...

Everything is fine now, so... I am going to show you one my last work... hum, these words make the picture seeming an important one and it isn't... but I cannot think of other ways to express the concept that "this the last picture I shot".

I took this picture at my country house on 19th October 2008. It was a really cloudy day so light wasn't the best one and everything looked monochromatic, all the same... but I knew it must have been something of interesting so I forced my eyes to find something that was nice, and after few minutes I found this grapes.
I took some pictures at the standing grapes, later my mother asked me if she could picked the and I said to her smiling: "Only if you allow me taking the pictures to you while you are picking them!"... she agreed of course and here your are the result!

Yeah, those are my mother's hands, aren't them amazing too?! :)

Later I have been able to fin a couple of interesting things... I may post these pictures in the next days.

Today I just wanted to show you one of the reasons that make me love (and miss) "photography" so much: the fact that this is a way to force yourself to "look for beauty" and "to not just stop at a the first impression of the reality you have".

Wouldn't you miss such a joy too?

Cold and cool!

What have I been doing in these last days?
A lot of tiring things, the main one is lying on my bed. Don't you think it's tiring?!
It is when you have high temperature, you have to blow your nose, and later when temperature goes down and you think "I am going to get well" you start coughing every 4 seconds...and you feel like you have to do your best to keep your lungs inside your chest... but, it's getting a little too macabre!

Maybe it's better if I talk about another (pleasantly) tiring aspect of my life: Friends! ;)
Why tiring? Because when I just want to be LAZY they call me back to "active" life!.
Yep, I have really amazing friends that are extremely bothering: they made me keep doing "something" even in these days!
This mean that in these days, when I hadn't a too high temperature, I have been trying to do thing using my iMac.
I have to admit that this attempt has been productive (or harmful?) because I STARTED to work on the Italian version of this blog, just to make happy Italian web surfer. (But the Italian blog is NOT opened yet, I have to complete some works!)

I had also discovered new realities and even a new aspect in my behavior: the ability to keep calm.
It has been strange but in these last days I have been able to keep calm in front of problems that few days ago would have made me really furious or sad. Problems alike illness, annoying people, bad events in general (like the last chaotic days at the university) seemed less difficult to be solved.
I wish this "coolness" it is not due to my cold only!
I hope I can keep improving the ability to not get angry too easily and to do my best to avoid any arguments and so on...

I am glad I can say or, at least I HOPE I can say that in these days I had the luck to see another good, but apparently, hidden aspect of my life... despite all the bad events where surrounding me.

Thanks to my friends and to my Love for being so supportive (and patient of course) :).

P.S. Well... looks like I am still really good at being delirious even if I have a normal temperature!
Sorry! :D

A couple of reason to go ahead...

Even in the darkest places there is Light.

Yesterday I went to my parents little country house, it's a pretty nice place if you want to observe an almost undisturbed nature.

It wasn't that late when we reached it, I was pretty sure I was going to shot some pictures but only there I realized that in that places sunset come early (due to an hill on the west) so I had only few minutes rest of direct light and than I had just to "be creative".

It's cold there now and there aren't the typical autumn signs yet... but there was a group of lilies (at least I think they are lilies) that fascinated me.
I think it is a strange period time for blooming but they were there and so fascinating, I decided to try to shot them some pictures even if sun was already gone and they were in a pretty dark side of the yard.

I am enjoying the result.

I love this weird situations and their result!

I am probably crazy and visionary, but when I notice this little beautiful shows in the places and in the time where I would not expect, I start thinking if it is just "a coincidence" or if it's something else.

I love to think that it's something else, that this little shows are more like post-it left for us to remind us that "it's not as dark as it seems", "it's not as impossible as you think"...

Forcing myself to keep my eyes opened!

I already wrote this post in a previous blog where I used to write posts both in English an in Italian, I am closing the English side there and "moving" it on PhotoN Message.

In a previous post I told you how some of those friends and relatives were surprised to "discover", through the picture I was showing them, that there was something of beautiful even where they didn't notice any beauty.
It was very pleasant to see their smiling faces and their surprised eyes. I loved this!

It was during the following months that I realized how easy was to "lose" those "beautiful" details of our reality, an example?

It was the 16th or 17th July 2004, when I was walking in a park in Rapallo (Genoa) and I heard a loud twitter. I looked around for some minutes and at the end I found a very little bird on the street...so I bended on it an tried and after I got surprised by the fact that it was "so small" I tried to take some pictures...It was too dark there so I hadn't been able to take "good picture" but this little bird made me able to notice something else...

As soon as I bended down, the passersby turned curious too and at the sight of the little bird they smiled and went away smiling... I was surprised, because during those minutes I spent to find the source of that twitter I had seen no one else trying to find the source of that sound...
It seemed like, for those people, it was a "too small" detail of the reality to care about.

That day I realized that the simple act to just focus my attention on something, made some one else want to focus on it too and appreciate that detail of our reality.

Reflecting on this event I realized that what happened to those passersby could happen to me too! This scared me a little, I didn't want to be blind, to close my eyes in front of reality!
In order to avoid, as much as I could, this behavior I tried to do my best in forcing myself to look at the world that surrounds me... I am not sure if I can do it often enough, but I am sure I am still trying...

That day, I understood that taking picture was a good way to "force" myself to look for the world (even smallest and hidden) beauty!

Wonder that moves

I already wrote this post in a previous blog where I used to write posts both in English an in Italian, I am closing the English side there and "moving" it on PhotoN Message.

"You look like a paparazzi! Why do you take so many picture?!". That's what usually people I know (not friends) say to me when I am shooting some pictures. I always try to explain them why I don't just "shot one picture"but it's very difficult, for me, to explain the reason of that behavior in such a little time to such not really "interested" people.

In order to find an explanation I decided to write some posts about "what makes me loving photography". I actually don't know what I am going to say, and if I will repeat myself... I guess a good starting point is trying to explain HOW I have fallen in love with photography.

Despite the fact I got my first camera for my 6th birthday, I started taking (really) a lot of picture of what I could see around me when I was about 14. In that period I got my first compact camera and I started talking with people from all over the world, I wanted to share with those distant (but so close) friends the wonderful sights I had the chance to see day by day.

I started showing them some sunsets pictures, the Etna eruption (Fall 2002) effects on my town, and how the volcano looked like in those says. I also shoed to my friends some pictures I took during short summer trips on the Dolomites (Summer 2002).

Usually people who saw those pictures commented them in a very positive way...well, probably most of them were just being kind friends, they were being nice with the "little girl" but I hope that some of them really appreciated the "beauty" I tried to "record" on my pictures...

Sometimes I have also shot some flowers pictures, those flowers were usually in some parks or just in some pots on on my balcony. It was amazing to discover, almost each time I showed those first pictures, that people who lived in my town or in the same house (as my brother) couldn't believe that those flowers were just under their noses but they hadn't been able to see such a beauty.

Their smile caused by a pleasant surprise really made me happy! :D OK, I have to admit I was happy also because they were appreciating my "work" but, please, believe when I say that in those days I started to discovere what became one of the first reason that makes me taking "so many" pictures...

The "wonder" that a detail of our reality arouses in me.

I think that without this wonder, I would take no picture and probably I would be a little more "blind"...

Here you are some of those pictures. Etna Eruption during October-November 2002.

This picture was shot the 3rd November 2002, from my country house.

For a better understanding, considere that Mt Etna is about 3,000 meters high and the place where I shot this picture is about 800 mt above the sea level.

The ash clouds coming up from the Volcano is made up of what some people in Catania call "Etna sand", it covered all city, the surrounding town and if I am not wrong wind brought part of it in North Africa.

The picture on the left shows the city panorama during the Eruption, on the right you can see a normal day sight. (I shot both picture from the "Cittadella Universitaria").

This is how the beach looked like those days...I guess it's enough if I say that it's 33Km far from the Volcano.