Creating impressions with the use of ICM (intentional camera movements) has been for a long time one of my favourite camera techniques. It’s what I start with when I go to a photoshoot or what I end up doing just because I like it so much. I find these photos very soulful and very satisfying and I’d like to encourage you to take similar shots for deeper breathing and deeper connection with nature. I took these photos while I was in Poland during Autumn. Perhaps there are still some autumnal shots that you’d like to submit to out Soothing Photography Competition? See through your phone or your folders, I am sure there is something that you would like to share with others. Go to www.tgiuk.org to submit your entry.
P.S. It’s La Befana today – the Feast of The Three Wise Men. In Italy, an old Lady arrives in the middle of the night and leaves small presents in the socks for children. Have your socks been filled today too?
P.S. 2 If you don’t want to submit anything, just have a pleasant stroll through the photographs and vote. You have as many as 10 votes to spread around.
I have never been dead in a bathroom at an airport / Non ero mai morto in bagno in aeroporto. These words were reassuringly sung by Tiziano Ferro as we were on our way to Bergamo airport in northern Italy. Neither have I, I thought to myself. Happy that I found a connection with Tiziano Ferro. I like leaving Italy with a CD of Italian pop music. Not so much for the music itself but for the simple language that comes with the tunes. When we were saying goodbye to Italy, I promised myself that I will make a greater effort this year to learn the language a bit better and I am keeping my word. My Italian lesson will start in 30 minutes… which means that I have just a little bit more time to tell you more about our stay in Italy.
In short, these were very odd holidays. We didn’t have the accommodation that we initially hoped for and the luxuries that we looked forward to. Neither were we pampered by the breeze of the mountain air normally granted with staying at high altitude. Instead, we were frequently scorched by the Italian sun. It’s the price that you pay when you forget to check if your reservation was all in order. We had to quickly look for alternative accommodation and take what was available at the last minute. We didn’t die however in the bathroom at the airport and that makes up for the unexpected inconveniences quite well, I think.
One of the tourist places that we looked forward to seeing was the little island of San Giulio, situated on the lake Orta in the Piemonte region in northern Italy. Since we were staying in the tiny mountainous region of Aosta it took us a while to drive and reach the lake. We drove, and drove, and drove, and there was a curve, and another curve, and yet another curve, and there seemed to be no end to those curves until of course there was an end to them and what a beautiful one too. Worth of all the curves put together. A very deserving place. I had been terribly impatient with the slow mountain road that we had taken and regretful that we avoided the swift motorway. Sour about the lost time. And then when we reached our destination I was rewarded with the beautiful corners of the island and gorgeous buildings of an old town. And I had to become remorseful about my childish impatience and firmly reproached myself for being such a grump. The routes to great destinations are frequently like that. Full of stops, curves and turnings. But apparently it is the tourist that mainly focuses on the arrival point, the real traveller keeps her eyes open to it all.
I definitely need more practise in travelling.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
When I’m going through a period of strong self-doubt I always reach for my camera. My camera is my reassurance tool. It always makes me bounce back from failures and depressing news. The lens works for me as a bad-to-good news filter. It allows me to remember that really there is so much sweetness in life, sweetness that we make ourselves oblivious to when our minds are anxious. When I take my camera out, I re-focus. I see the treats and the treasures of our daily life and at times I even look at myself with a more positive eye – have you noticed that smiling to the camera makes us more playful almost instantly? And ironically, play makes us find more solutions to our problems then anxiety does. How do you cultivate a playful mind?
Postcards Without Stamps 