Last year I
had to visit a couple of Doctors for two minor health problems. Each one said that
as part of the cure, I had to walk half hour every day. Seems to be a cure all these days.
There is a
linear park near where I live that follows, what we all consider to be, a
rather squalid little torrent called “Il Crostolo”. In the Summer it is bone
dry for many weeks, whilst in the winter it can be a raging torrent. Over time
the river has been regimented with flood prevention works at various points.
The Park starts here and my walks/bike rides finshed here as the furthest point up the river.
The torrent
winds its way between the houses where the well-kept park starts. As one
follows it out of town the houses slowly disappear and it starts to be
surrounded by farmland. The thin park each side of the river gets ever more
like a wilderness as one climbs the torrent. At certain points it is difficult
to imagine you are in a very urbanised area.
To make my daily
walk, or as it evolved bike ride a bit less boring, I decided to carry a little
camera to document the torrent over the year. I also wanted to try to see if I could
make some interesting photographs of a nondescript place like “Il Crostolo”.
I found to
my surprise that this linear park along the river had a certain subtle beauty.
I also found this little photographic challenge that I set myself quite
fascinating.
The year
started well with the river frozen over, which was very photogenic. Soon it was Spring
with its fresh greens and flowers. The Summer brought a barren dried out
riverbed. Autumn brought the first rain and water to the torrent again, together
with the Autumn leaves.
Now I have
come to the end of the year I have put together a little Ebook and I will make
myself a Blurb book with results I got with my little camera. I used a Panasonic
LX100 which is very compact, but also has a largish sensor. The limited zoom
range and the simplicity of operation made this a perfect tool for this task
for some reason.
Crostolo year2? I am thinking about it.
