Sunday, June 28, 2009

Frown


The power of the facial expression. 


You think no one is looking you drop your guard. Priceless moment for the photographer in the crowd. The elder the subject the more likely for them to have dropped their guard for longer. They move slower and they just don't give a damn anymore. Sick of looking nice for people or maybe oblivious to their expression. 


The bearded men are definitely the best, but still it is the seniors I love. Terribly photogenic in such an odd way.













6


Oh no, dad has spoiled the  fun...What's new?


This family that I have come to grow quite fond of in the last 20 minutes just semi erupted. A family of 6. Mum, dad, eldest daughter, second son and new born twins. They seem peaceful. When I say I know them, I mean I have been people watching and photographing and they are the most interesting and photogenic. 


Eldest daughter, seems to be a little needy though. Always the way with the eldest. Only child syndrome spoilt by the second, never to be regained. Little do they know the boredem they would have experienced being an only child. 


This family, there is something about the that is so obviously different from the families that come through here. There seems to be no excess baggage. No hideous amounts of toys in a massive sack. No push chairs, no tears. Just mum and dad with four kids in tow. The way they stroll is without purpose. 


They have no where more important to be other then with there family. From a distance this is what you see. Up close and under the surface, who knows what demons lie with in?

Solitude

To my right, a couple that have probably been here all day day enjoy the solitude of this hour of night, yet they are not alone, it just feels that there are a lack of people about. A man is fishing for who knows what. 2 surf rods and no surf. I hope he catches his dinner. 


A father and son walk by. Father humouring son, obviously tired after a long day at the beach. The wife, the dog walker I was going to mention earlier has returned and alas the family are reunited for what was probably mere seconds of separation.

The family, mother, father, child. 


Why 1 child? does that 1 child not need a friend/sibling to harass. This is why we have siblings. Never have 1 child.  Think of the boredem you drown them in. Always surrounded by adults. Adults don't have the lack of attention to certain details, the energy, the mobility, the flexibility. You as an adult will never be able to communicate with a child the way a child can communicate with another child. 


Don't deny children the pleasure of sibling unconditional love. It is worth more then having to remortgage the house.

3 men drinking Coffee


Why is it that the Italian men are always the ones sitting in the coffee shops chugging back their 10th espresso, downing their 3rd Spritz?


I'm not sure I can actually answer my own question. But I wonder where their wives are? 

It is the seniors of the tuscan villages dressed in their beige dress trousers and best shirt, despite the fact that it is 40+ degrees out here. THey have been living here for an age , that this day feels cold, like a chill is blowing through. But why is one so prepared for what may be a business meeting or greeting too the pope, when in actual fact all they do is sit on the sidewalk talking Italian jargon to one another. 


If I were to pass in 2, 3 or even 4 hours I could almost guarantee that the same men, generally in groups of four would be sitting at the same coffee house with a glass half full of what ever they so desire. 

Congratulations to them for knowing how to make the most of ones day.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bocce?

A European beach, or an Italian beach to specify.

If your Australian you would never experience having to pay to use a space of sand in your own town. Admittedly, there are 'free beaches', but very few.


What I really want to talk about is the group of seniors playing Bocce on the beach. These people can barely walk, yet they have the ability to throw and collect and carry two balls that I would say weigh in the order of 2kgs, if not more. The gentlemen in their 'European' bathing costumes tanned to a 'well done', with their straw hats upon their heads, bellies hanging over spindly little legs. These people have more spatial awareness and accuracy then I could ever hope for. It is the camera only that does this justice.