Tag: rock

leisure, photography, seasons, summer, vacation, world

Throwback Thursday: Shona-Art

solaner

 

A few days ago, I was scouting a location. When I arrived, I was welcomed by a number of stone sculptures, like the one above. In size, they ranged from about 1 meter small up to the gorilla above in nearly life-size. I was impressed by the material, the details, and the kind of craftsmanship.

All of the sculptures were made of only one single serpentine stone. One of the artists was working on one of the sculptures. He was working on the glossy black part of one sculpture with a paste  (similar to shoe polish)and a gas burner. Thus, I talked with him. Because black men are quite rarely seen here, I asked him about where he’s from and why he’s here. The answer was quite simple, he’s a member of a community of artists from Zimbabwe and in Germany on invitation for a couple of months to present their art. As I only saw those sculptures standing in the parking lot, he directed me to the inner part of the building, the atrium, where a lot more was presented and offered for sale. Pieces of art made of stone, driftwood, old and rusty metal, as well as from metal sheets were there.

According to a leaflet I got, the relationship lasts already for a number of years. In 1966 a former tobacco farmer who had serpentine stone on his land, founded an artists colony. While the artists initially only worked with serpentine stone, other kinds of art emerged. The artists keep their legacy, spiritualism, legends, and myths alive in their art. It is called Shona-Art after the predominant people living in Zimbabwe.

I was really impressed by their artistry and craftsmanship. I loved also their sculptures. Unfortunates, nearly all of them are too big to set them up at home.

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landscape, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, world

Travel Tuesday: the coast and the sky

solaner

Already bored of the images of the castle ruins? Ok, but for today you have to be brave. I have on more 🙂

This panorama consists of 27 single images assembled with the wonderful open-source software Hugin and covers about 270°.

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landscape, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, world

Travel Tuesday: opposition

solaner


You might wonder about this image. Please look at the image for a couple of minutes and try to find all the opposites.

  • nature vs. man-made structures
  • high on the hill vs. low at sea-level
  • bright water vs. dark stone
  • soft water vs. hard stone
  • sky vs. earth
  • foreground vs. background
  • heal nature vs. ruined house
  • full foreground vs. empty background
  • water in the clouds vs. water in the sea

I guess you can find a couple of more opposites in it. Share them with us and write them in the comments below!

Take care!

 

landscape, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, world

Travel Tuesday: Sheep? Sheep!

solaner

While preparing for my first trip to Iceland, I was told the landscape of the Isle of Skye in the north-west of Scotland is quite similar to Iceland. And I have to admit, those people were right. Not only the untamed landscape, low bushes, and sparse ground covering, it’s also the huge amount of rock laying around everywhere and the free-running sheep. Only the colors are different: in Iceland, the rocks are black instead of gray and the ground covering has a very intense green which looks a bit unreal.

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