Exilles C19th Festival
Better known for its fort where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned, every year the small mountain town of Exilles, Piemonte, Italy, celebrates its heritage with a nineteenth century festival and market where the locals dress in traditional and original costumes handed down through their families. Outdoor exhibitions with everyone from blacksmiths to teachers show what life was like; food is served, some houses and gardens opened and musicians play.
Genoa Aquarium
Watching them, watching us, watching them. Built for Expo 92, the Aquarium of Genoa is an educational, scientific and cultural centre. Its mission is to educate and raise public awareness as regards conservation, management and responsible use of aquatic environments. It welcomes over 1.2 million visitors a year.
Here, visitors watch a dolphin in one of the large marine mammal tanks.
Costa de la Luz
The appropriately named Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light) at Conil de la Frontera, Cadiz, Andalucia, Spain, showing the bay and lighthouse at sunset. The Battle of Trafalgar took place in these waters with Nelson and Napoleon battling for supremacy. It is where Nelson famously hoisted signal flags saying “England expects every man to do his duty”.
This image was part of a commission for a tour operator that specialised in classy and unique properties in Spain from Paradores to seaside cottages.
Umbrian Elements I
Individual elements can sometimes give a more atmospheric feeling of the whole than a larger picture encompassing everything. Here, a summer late afternoon casts a long shadow over a wrought iron lamp in Piazza del Popolo, Orvieto, Umbria.
Umbria Jazz
Italian summer concerts are something special – a mix of great world-renown performers, laid-back atmosphere and summer sun. Umbria Jazz, set in the ancient stone capital city of Perugia, has grown from a small gathering to a twice yearly world-class event (there’s winter jazz as well). The atmosphere, with people sitting on stone steps beside the duomo, listening, relaxing; performers everywhere from marching bands fresh in from New Orleans to individuals and small jazz groups and a great ambience, it’s a festival not to miss.
Umbria Jazz this year, 2011, is dedicated to the 150 year anniversary of Italian reunification and features Carlos Santana, Liza Minnelli, Gilberto Gill and Sergio Mendez, Chick Corea, Randy Crawford, BB King and Prince. Yes, the purple one. Amazing artistes all.
The Passion
Procession Votive de la Passion, Roquebrune, France. This Passion Play began life in 1467 as a mark of thanks for the ending of the plague that had ravaged the region. Inhabitants of the village (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin) which sits in the hills between Menton and Monte-Carlo on the Cote d’Azur, perform the play every year on August the 5th through the village’s narrow alleyways.
These images are available for licensing
120 Minutes
120 minutes in possibly my favourite Provençal coastal town, Antibes, Cote d’Azur, France, shooting the people, life, flavour and activity on a hot July morning. Part of the fun of this was the challenge, 120 minutes, not a second over (except to attempt to park which took 45 minutes…), capturing something of the feeling, the spirit of the place in that time…
In common with 60 Minutes were the heat and the sheer amount of people – as you would expect in high season. Great travel shots aren’t usually made at this time of year which made challenge all the more interesting. Ironically, because of the number of people, I find myself wanting “clean” shots, shots without the hordes and, looking back, I’m not entirely sure that was the correct decision.
These images are available for licensing
60 Minutes
60 minutes (of bicycles and benches) on the Promenade des Anglaise, Nice, Cote d’Azur, France, shooting the people, life, flavour and activity of a hot July afternoon. Part of the fun of this was the challenge, 60 minutes, not a second over, capturing something of the feeling, the spirit of the place in that time…
In high season Nice is packed. Heaving. The heat is oppressive. The temptation is to forget doing anything creative, or work orientated, and sit in the shade with a cool drink. The problems were the heat, the difficulty in separating people from the background and the clear, sharp, linear line of the sea (ND filter would have been useful) and the amount of people.
What came out of this shoot was a need to find those interesting people, shapes and views in camera; to isolate them from the frenetic surroundings and hope they say something about life on the Promenade des Anglais in summer. I’m not sure we have that (and equally I’m not sure that we don’t either), but for 60 minutes it was an interesting challenge and one I think further development will come from.
These images are available for licensing
Phoenix Luminaria
Every Christmas the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, lines the paths of its desert garden with thousands of luminaria for “Las Noches de las Luminarias” (Luminaria Nights), lighting up hundreds of species of cactus and, seen here, complementing the blue dusk settling over downtown Phoenix.