Thursday 29 August 2013

late summer in Bologna



























































and for those of you who die to see the colours :-)


















































































22 comments:

  1. some tourist photos -

    but these places are so magical that i couldn't resist sharing a bit of their incredible beauty with you, this way :-)

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  2. Ah, Italy, my homeland ( i say this of all unfamiliar places, since the unknowable is our one and true home).

    Are you really in Italy? (seems unlikely)

    Poland at midday probably looks a lot like Italy (at midday). Oh, you're not from Poland. i could have sworn it. Still, i stand by the astuteness of my observation, that all big cities are essentially the same—it’s only in the mind of the agitated city dweller, once capable of imparting an indelible individuality to his soft-as-a-susurrus existence, where a difference is wrought. Do you see what i mean?)

    But i bet that an architect would really love this place (yawn).

    It may surprise you to know that i prefer some of these touristy but magnificent pictures in B&W rather than in late-summer color. Yes, even Italian color, the brand that Caravaggio (oh--those divine ochres) bathed his subjects in, is somewhat inferior, in certain remarkable instances, to the starkness of a colorless depiction.

    But this is all academic since you never left Kraków in the first place. Or was it Craiova? i'm really just an architect. What do i know about geography? Or color, for that matter.

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    1. ah you prefer the b&w!!!!! what a surprise, no, a shock :-) actually i had started with the idea to post only colourful ones (how can one not fall in love with these colours!) but then after working on the b&w, i fell in love with their starkness, as you say, so i posted both of the series :-)

      Bologna is the city of deep red and bordeaux - so i was in paradise, as you can imagine... it is one of her three sobriquets, the red one, la rossa (says Wiki: "Over the centuries, Bologna has acquired many nicknames: "the learned one" (la dotta) is a reference to its university; "the fat one" (la grassa) refers to its cuisine. "The red one" (la rossa) originally refers to the colour of the roofs in the historic centre, but this nickname is also connected to the political situation in the city, started after World War II: until the election of a centre-right mayor in 1999, the city was renowned as a bastion of socialism and communism in particular the Italian Communist Party."). and now you see the connection with south-eastern Europe, be it Krakow or Craiova! (it must have worked subconsciously during your ponderings about the nature of big cities, of course :-)

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  3. these are absolutely stunning photos, Roxana. Thank you for sharing them. Look forward to more (as always!)

    salams,

    b.

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    1. thank you for remembering the Bridge, b! :-)

      there will be plenty, yes, you will beg me to stop at some point :-P

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  4. Moi qui adore l'Italie, j'adooore tes photographies !!! Je ne sais pas comment tu fais pour avoir ce contraste si particulier et qui caractérise nombre de tes photographies ? Retouches j'imagine... mais s'il te plaît, je te le demande à genoux... comment fais-tu Roxana ??? ;-)
    Sinon, tes prises de vues sur l'architecture italienne sont la belle représentation d'un passé glorieux et cela laisse encore de nos jours des traces... Ensuite, pour y avoir passé quelques jours cet été, c'est clair que la crise économique frappe ce pays de plein fouet !!! !!! !!! Mais bon, nous sommes là pour rêver sur Le Pont Flottant Des Rêves et pas pour examiner le CAC 40 !!! ;-)
    Tes couleurs sont sublimes et tes noirs et blanc souvent "orageux", très beaux, d'une pureté incroyable... Pour ma part, je préfère les premières photos en noir et blanc, contrastées, et les dernières photos couleurs également très contrastées... Tu as un talent certain... et je sais ce que tu vas me répondre ;-)
    Belle journée belle Roxana...
    Amitiés
    Bisous ;-)

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    1. :-)

      moi aussi j'aime ce pays, c'est impossible de ne pas tomber amoureuse avec de telles villes, non? meme les villages sont magnifiques...

      (pourtant, je dois l'avouer, si j'avais a choisir ou vivre, je choisirais la France, elle occupe une telle place dans mon coeur que ni meme la magie italienne ne peut la surclasser :-)

      je suis restee etonnee a quel point la vie est chere la-bas, c'est peut-etre l'effet de la crise, comme tu le dis, je ne sais pas - mais en comparaison avec l'Allemagne, par ex., j'ai trouve les prix impossibles, et pourtant les salaires sont beacoup moins la-bas.

      je suis heureuse que tu aimes tant mes photos, Jeff le Fidele, merci, de tout coeur, et bisous :-)
      (je garde mes secrets, bien sur :-)

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  5. se pare ca astazi nu am noroc la comentarii,fiindca mi-a disparut,ca si de pe shining,uh

    spuneam ca daca asta inseamna turism, atunci merita mai mult decat orice :) si ca sunt minunate, ca ma intreb care,cati turisti pot vedea un soare ce pare mistic strapungand zidurile vremurilor; ca aceasta vara va incremeni,prin ele, in amintirile timpurilor noastre si ca vad in aceasta postare un dar al neuitatei veri bologniene ...

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    1. am mai lucrat eu la ele să redau atmosfera asta, deci e trişat puţin - sau, indulgent, poţi să spui că abia acum ele corespund viziunii mele interioare :-)

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  6. Superbe; si B&W si color.

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    1. Mulţumesc!!!

      sunt curioasă, anon, te cunosc? întreb pentru că nu există români care să intre pe blogul meu, în afară de 2-3 prieteni apropiaţi. aşa că trebuie să întreb, vezi! :-)

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  7. 1.Bravo Roxana!!!thankyou for your beautiful masterpeice of one of the countries of my nationalities that I have visited well Rome and Naples.what varied music in your photographs and architecture well especially the slant that you have presented, close to a symphonic representation.
    I love it. I will return soon with a couple more comments.
    sending you italian kisses.

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  8. 2.I don't feel like writing a long one today so I will number them I don't know if this is part of the dream network of my italian dream well my dream anyway.your photographs are soooooooooooooo musical.the first photograph has a varied musical texture the richly segmented stone pillars and floors and vase the iron grid with its own tempo and the stone vase and the living plant with its own pauses and the balanced beat of symmetry.
    in the second photograph,the variety of the rythm is a circular music like the stars music orbiting in its space- the eight pointed stone star ascending the aesthetic scale of the stone steps.and the horn shaped adagio running beneath the staircase.
    musical kisses to you.

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  9. i can feel the weight of stone and brick. earthly hues. history. order
    and thunder. somehow it all grounds me. momentarily. i smile.

    thank you for this treat.

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  10. 3. the rythm of the alcoves in the next couple of photos-beautiful resounding from the alcoves of the soul and the black and white lamp resting on the semblance of a musical staff and the signature is the light
    and the swishing sacrosanct music of the italian fountains following the movement of resurrection despite the darkening skies

    and finally yes the colour the brilliant red passion of the italian opera under a deeporange sun and the timbre of my grandfather's operatic voice.

    thankyou for this masterpeice my friend.
    orange kisses.

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    1. i will answer here for all the three comments, dear Madeleine, you do me a great honour and joy by analyzing my pictures from a musical perspective - as i have no musical abilities at all, but i have always dreamt about having them :-)
      i am so happy that you see so much into my photos, and that you can make out such patterns and repetitions which build a symphony - what else or what more could i desire?

      i deeply love Rome, i must return there one day, i couldn't go there this time. it is perhaps the most fascinating city of all, for me.

      bises :-)

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  11. Replies
    1. thank you, Lea, for coming to the Bridge and for your words of appreciation, i am glad you liked what you found :-)

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  12. Of course, I love them all, but the red shades on the geometric structures just knock me out. As do the warm colors and light in the final explosion. How can brick and mortar have such personality? Beautiful rhythms of another place, that looks like another time, though thoroughly familiar somehow. Perhaps, I recognize something that touches my soul deeply. Yes, that must be it...

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    1. the red shades are gorgeous, no? this wonderful deep-red, all over the historic center, many lovely hues of red on the walls, on the marble colonnades bordering the sidewalks as well... have you ever been to Europe, Stickup?

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