I know very well two specific places on this planet of ours and I love them both dearly :
- a small mountain village in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps, Samoëns;
- a big international city by the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, in Northern California.
I take pictures, lots of pictures, because this is my way to celebrate life and to communicate with my neighbor...
I looked at some of my most recent photos and saw an interesting theme emerging,
a sort of "odd pairing" of various subjects in these two locations, each one very important (or interesting or valuable) but the pairing brought a common thread.
Bridges and Stairs: man-made solutions for the journey:
- the wooden bridge on the river "le Giffre" between l'Etelley and Samoens attracted me because of the beauty of its lines under the weight of perspective.
- the steps in the hills of the Sunset district, attracting tourists all year long, can be found between 15th Avenue & Moraga; with fantastic mosaic designs but only visible when you go up.
The crucial importance of Fuel. The essential need for Energy!
A very clean and lovely wood pile in the mountains vs a bunch of sticky buns at Costco....
Both will keep you warm and contented, at least for a while.
Water, water and more water.
A field of snow in the Alps, last winter. The waves of the Pacific at Ocean Beach, last week.
Go West, young man!
You get the whole history of travel and progress right there in these two
pictures... Well, I'm being facetious. But the truth is that there is something
so simple and natural in the cart on the left that you can't automatically
say that "material progress is better"... Plus I'm not being fair because
I'm not comparing apples to apples here, the photo on the left is a tool (and
works very well, thank you very much) and the other one on the right is a
show-off toy, a sort of personal trophy.
Wood styles: the work of human hands and the work of nature.
This little road shelter is between Samoens and Sixt and the walls and beams
are typical of the local carpentry style vs Twisted tree trunks by Stow Lake,
in the Golden Gate Park, in the City.
The soothing impact of arched doors and windows in spring time.
A side door in the Church of Samoens and the Bus station at Forrest Hill.
Walls and climbing plants.
I was attracted by the growth of the plant on the wall on the left, in winter, and how it "clothed"
it in some ways, how naked and dried branches transformed a simple wall and changed it - just like
the right accessory can change the way we look (just like a smile can make
a world of difference for the mood of the day); vs a wall in the Spring in San Francisco and how Birds of Paradise, tips of Palm leaves and a long shadow can enrich this grey wall from plain to lovely and attractive.
