Monday, December 14, 2009

MISS WORLD 2009 = MISS GIBRALTAR


Miss Kaiane Aldorina, a beautiful girl from Gibraltar, won the Miss World beauty contest. She "put Gibraltar on the map" making them very proud. On Saturday evening the Gibraltarians went on streets celebrating their Queen of Beauty. From South Africa she gave an interview to Gibraltar Chronicle: "I'm extremely happy but I just have no words to explain how I feel !....I am just so, so happy !". Speaking with the Chief Minister, Mr.Peter Caruana, she confessed she's eager to come back home and celebrate with all Gibraltar.
Don't worry Aldorina, Gibraltar is waiting for you !!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

UNTITLED ( 6 )


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

TARIFA AS I'VE SEEN IT

A couple of weeks ago, we decided....ah, I decided, to make a little trip to Tarifa, a small town not too faraway, just a 40 minutes drive. I didn't know much about the place, only that it's very crowded during the summer, due to the strong wind which allows all types of surfers to enjoy the sea, the sun and... the girls !!!! Also, all the electricity consumed by Tarifa's 15 000 inhabitants, plus the tourists, is provided by the wind via lots of windmills, located around the town. I found out later there are many interesting birds resting here on their way to Africa; Tarifa is a famous place among the ornithologists, especially those interested in migration of the storks, twice in a year, in spring and autumn. Our day was lovely, sun, 32 degrees Celsius ( October, he, he, he....), no wind at all, a perfect day for a trip. Like all tourists arrived in Tarifa, first we visited the castle of Guzman El Bueno. In fact the castle was built by the Moors in 960AD, under Caliph Abd al-Rahman III orders. After the Christian Conquest in 1292 by Sancho IV el Bravo (which statue can be seen in front of the castle), in 1294 the event which made Tarifa known worldwide was the feat of Guzman el Bueno who preferred his own son to be sacrificed rather than surrendering the castle he had been entrusted with by his king. He threw his sword from the high of the castle to the Moors to kill his child what they did!!!. Nowadays the castle considered the most well preserved in Spain, can be visited for a change of 2 Euros; you don't have access inside, but even wandering through the alleys or going up on different levels and different terraces you can get a image of the ancient splendour of the place. Most interesting I found, the foundation rocks they used taken from the sea and containing fossils of sea creatures.
Also the view was magnificent, either we looked towards the windmills shinning in the sun up on the hills or we looked to La Puenta de Tarifa, located on Islas de las Palomas, where it is the most southern point of Europe. Only 14 kilometres by sea are the rising Rif mountains of North Africa; that day they looked blue surrounded by a yellow fog.
Next, we followed the city's wall built by French in XVIII century, rest in a park taking photos of Africa's shore, ate in a little tapas bar and then wandering the streets till we met another lovely park next to the municipal library and in front of the police, where we spent some wonderful and peaceful moments surrounded by silence, flowers and singing birds.
On our way back we stopped at a miramar, a belvedere point, very popular there, where one can admire the windmills and the Rif mountains. It was only a 4 hours trip, we want to go back soon, to visit the rest of the city, because there are still many beautiful things to explore and discover. And many photos to take.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

TARIFA IN OCTOBER


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

DIANE ARBUS - AN INTRIGUING PHOTOGRAPHER

Reading about something else I came across Diane Arbus' name and her intriguing photos. Continuing to search on net I found a fascinating story. As I'm not a biographer and I didn't read any of her biographies I can't comment much, but I can make a briefly resume, waiting to find and read "Diane Arbus: A biography" by Patricia Bosworth.
Diane was born in 1923 to a wealthy Jewish family in New York. Her father, David Nemerov was the son of a Russian emigrant. His wife, Gertrude, was the daughter of the owners of Russek's Fur Store. David, with imagination and perseverance, transformed his parents-in-law business in a very flourish one, located on Fifth Avenue (and specialized in fur). He had a good intuition knowing as nobody else which way the next season trend will follow for women's clothes.
Diane, the youngest child of the couple, was brought up by an absent, busy and loving father and by an absent, loving and depressed mother. In these circumstances at 13 she met Allan Arbus, an employee at advertising department of her parents store. Soon she fell in love with him and after she turned 18, they married despite her parents opposition. But Allan was the one who gave her the first camera and shared with her his acknowledgement about photography accumulated due to the training as a photographer for the US Army. In time they became appreciated fashion photographers and they shared the fame .
They had 2 daughters together, Amy Arbus who's a photographer and Doon Arbus, a writer and art director.
They separated in 1959, but remained friends. His laboratory assistants used to develop her photos till he remarried in 1969 and moved to California pursuing his actor career. He played in many movies, one of them was MASH, he played in as the psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman. She died in 1971 when under a bout of depression she took many barbiturates and cut her wrists. A movie about her life was released in 2006 with Nicole Kidman as Diane Arbus, but it's not an accurate biography, more a fictionalized story.
Her art shows a strange world populated by midgets, transvestites, twins, asylum inmates, people on the streets, etc. It's not the traditional way to represent people in a photograph, trying to caught them in the right light and the right position for their advantage. Instead of this, she put under light the deepest hidden secrets of their life and their real character. She spent a lot of time with her subjects, talking, accompanying them at their homes or at their offices, trying to find the right moment when they forget about the camera and the purpose of her visit. The portraits she took are very expressive, the subjects always look directly into the camera, as they want to prove who they are, totally in the light as they are completely fascinated by the flash, almost starring to the photographer.
Her photographic career started in fact when she studied under Lisette Model who encouraged her to develop a documentary style. She was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships twice, in 1963 and 1964. In 1967 her work was exhibited at Museum of Modern Art. After her separation from Allan she studied with Alexey Brodovitch and Richard Avedon and beginning with 1960 she worked more as a photojournalist for Esquire, The New York Times, Harper Bazaar, etc. Her ex-husband said recently: "I always felt that it was our separation that made her a photographer. I couldn't have stood for her going to the places she did. She'd go to bars on the Bowery and to people's houses. I would have been horrified."
After her death, "Aperture" magazine produced an influential book containing her work, reprinted 12 times and sold in 100.000 copies.
One of her pictures "Identical Twins" is tenth on the list of most expensive photographs, having sold in 2004 for $478,400.
She said about her intriguing subjects:"Most of the people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. They were born with their trauma. They're already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats."
Some of her pictures can be seen at:
http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogallery/photographers/diane_arbus_03.html.
Sources:
http://photography-now.net/ and http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

AUTUMN AS IT IS...


Sunday, November 1, 2009

SCARECROW

"In the summer of '71 Clive, Dave and John were playing together in a five piece when their lead guitarist went home from a gig one night never to be seen again. This sudden departure dropped them in it as they were due in the Channel Islands the following week. Nothing daunted, they went round to see Bill, who had gone into hibernation studying classical guitar and dragged him back on stage to play electric so that hey could meet their commitments until a permanent replacement could be found.
However, before they got anything sorted out, their lead singer set fire to himself, during his fire-eating act, and reduced them to a four piece....and someone had to sing. They all looked to John who surprised everyone, including himself, by revealing a hidden talent in this department." - this is a part of Scarecrow presentation written for a charity gig held in January 1973 at Notre Dame Hall, London.
The four boys were:
Bill Puplett - lead guitar
Clive Yeats - bass
Dave Rumsey - drums
John Stewart - lead vocals and guitar
and they had a fruitful 10 years career together. Young, talented, charismatic, the boys played all over England and Europe. In London they had gigs at Oxford Tavern, The Brecknock, The Telegraph, Thomas a Beckett, The Lord Palmerston, etc, to nominate only few. Also, they did most of the clubs, including The Marquee and many universities as Westfield College, Goldsmiths College, Chiswick Polytechnic, etc. They made heard their music not only in London and surroundings but as well in Scotland and Wales followed everywhere by their faithful fans. And they didn't stop here, they travelled in Germany, Holland and Austria being welcomed and maybe better appreciated.
Managed by Hun ans Sul Enterprises they released a record called "Lovely to see you" before becoming the well known four piece Scarecrow, a live album was recorded at different venues and to this day has been seen on ebay selling for over £3oo.
John's special voice, Clive's remarkable technique, Bill's amazing lead guitar and Dave's timming on drums made these four boys a unique pop-rock group in musical circles from Europe. They loved to perform, they enjoyed to create a different sound and promote their own music. As a recognition they started to play at the openings of Jimi Hendrix concerts or YES, or Uriah Heep. Even Garry Moore used to come down to some of the London pubs where the boys were playing to jam with them, being a good friend of Bill. Appreciated, loved but not famous enough, always bridemaid but never bride, after 10 years of intense musical life, one by one, decided to go there own way and Screcrow came to an end.
But their name is still whispered as their fame never faded, their record can still be found, their music can still be listen, I found it here:
Now, Dave is retired living in Devon with his wife; John lives in East London and he never ceased to compose music; Bill lives in Harrow Wild repairing all the famous guitars; Clive (who told me the story) lives in Gibraltar and still plays in a blues band, called EastSide Blues Band ( http://www.eastside-blues.com/).