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 p.2684 #1 · Leica M/X/T/S/Q/CL/SL Picture Thread | |
airfrogusmc wrote:
Steve you have been killing it lately with these street scenes. I really am liking the color and overall look of these images. Reminds me a bit of the street paintings of Gustav Caillebotte. Well done brother. Could be a book in these. 
Thanks, your mentorship over the years is meaningful to me and it has helped me immensely learn somethings about myself and my photography. It is much appreciated as always.
So, since you brought it up I will explain what I am doing, and what these images mean to me and why I have developed this style for my images. It is a bit of a long story so I apologize for polluting this thread with text. I will include an image at the bottom of this post to compensate.
As many of you know my Wife and I recently relocated to make Parma, Italy (where I am also a citizen) our primary home. My Wife has been dreaming of living in Italy her whole life. She has also been involved at various levels with a very famous beauty brand based in Parma Italy. She has been negotiating with them to work there for over a decade. It is her dream company, dream job, and dream location.
In January of this year I had the last in a series of 6 surgeries to deal with an injury to my legs. This was the big one and was designed to get me fully mobile again. That part of the surgery went well. However, post surgery due to a bad decision to cut off my blood thinners I developed a massive embolism in my lungs. The Doctors did all of the tests and came to us with a prognosis. Unfortunately, it was not positive. In their opinion it was so massive that I was not expected to survive. Of course this was dramatic information to receive. Even more dramatic was that on the very same day we were told I was expected to die, the company of my Wife's dreams finally made her the offer to be the head of the division she always wanted. Her dream job. But, she can only get the work permit fast enough to take the position if I move to Italy, then as my Wife she gets an instant permit. But if I am dead this is obviously not possible. Needless to say she was and an emotional wreck, and I felt really bad that this may be how I last saw her.
I made a decision. I told her I loved her, and wanted her to have her dream. We agreed that I would do my best not to die and fight hard. Hope is a powerful healer. If I managed to survive then I would retire (73 is too young to retire I thought but hey things were desperate) from active roles in the businesses and we could move to Italy and she could finish her career living her dream. I know, such drama...
Well as you can all see, I managed not to die. I kept my promise to her and we now live in the amazing city of Parma, Italy. My Wife works hard with long days, and know few people here, and I have way too much free time . What to do. I came up with a photography project where I document my first year here to give me enjoyment, help me learn my new city, its history, its culture, and its people. This has proven to be so valuable to me in adapting to my new life. I now have many friends I met while taking their portraits, and my days are full of beauty and some purpose even if at a more leisurely pace compared to my former work life. This project now has a good local gallery that has seen the first few Months if images. They will host a private show when it is done. This will include a collection of prints, and a book.
The title I have chosen for the project, the show, and the book is "Innamorarsi di Parma" . Which translates from Italian as "Falling in Love With Parma".
What I am posting here on FM are some of the images I am making for the project. I hope you are all enjoying them. Now that you know the back story maybe you can share a bit of the adventure with me. You should all know that the FM community has been my main photographic training ground. I am grateful for that. Many of you should recognise a piece of this community in these images.
Again, sorry for the intrusion of so much text. Here is another image from yesterday of my new City, Parma, Italy...
The man in the picture below is an antique painting and furniture collector here. His whole enterprise is behind this one small door. He was standing there smoking as I went by so I made this spontaneous image. He laughed and invited me to see what he was doing. He owns the whole building and lives upstairs. Once inside the narrow entrance hall opens up into huge room after huge room of "stuff". Reminds me of that TV show American Pickers but Italian style. he says that the market for antiques now is slow so prices are low. He says he has bough a lot over the last 20 years. I pointed out that we were both getting pretty old so he had better turn from a buyer to a seller. He laughed and said he doesn't plan on selling. He said one day it would all be very valuable so he is planning on leaving it all to his children as a legacy gift to make them rich. I think I see one hell of a garage sale here one day...
Leica M11, Leica 35mm Summilux ASPH FLE II
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