This is my favourite kind of posts: a compilation of shapes and styles from here, Italy, and there, Slovenia. No wonder I couldn’t stop before I hit 30 photos.
I did my best to pair my photos in a way to create some sort of structure, while marvelling at Patti who was able to select just a few representative photos for her Lens-Artists photo challenge post, including a lego portrait. I just can’t. Over here it’s always a flood.
But this is what I do anyway, daily: select forms, shapes, styles and patterns for you to enjoy and transport you over and we can all pretend that you’re here. Welcome!
A look down. Giardino del Tarocchi, by Niki de Saint Phalle. A look up. A cross on top of Monte Amiata, not entirely dissimilar to the Eiffel Tower. Trees in the flooded Lake Podpeč one December years ago. This summer in Ljubljana. An old favourite. The flying carpet of Monticiano. This is the style of Rome. You hang out your bedding and create a masterpiece. The (Etruscan?) beasts of Pitigliano in Tuscany. The beasts at Orle above Ljubljana. Nude art of Ostia Antica. Really old. Nude art of Lucija on the Slovenian coast. Mom looks interested. New shopping centre Aleja in Ljubljana with a pump track. Father has new shoes. An old window of Santa Fiora in Tuscany. The eucalyptus pattern right here. Self-styled in Val d’Elsa. The tenderness of a larch in my childhood hood. Ljubljana, Slovenia. My Tuscany now. Actually in June 2018. A strange bush near Izola on the Slovenian coast this summer. By the Ljubljanica river. Four architectural styles of Ljubljana. A new growth as of this summer. Vurnik House reflected in a hairdresser’s salon. Miklošičeva St. Behind World Trade Centre in Ljubljana. “Atom Venus” by Janez Boljka. The Delo newspaper building, called “Black Widow”. Once at the top, now in demise like newspapers everywhere. Tuscany again. In the Capalbio tower I found this surprisingly gorgeous setting with Puccini’s piano. Giardino Viaggio di Ritorno, “The Garden of Return Journey”, with art by Rodolfo Lacquaniti. Two glimpses of a fancy hotel in Portorož on the Slovenian coast. I didn’t dare to enter. Piran is nearby, down to earth and much preferable. Whereas here in Tuscany this is the growth around the corner that I pass daily. An eatery in the hills of Sabina. The waiter greeted me by saying that my shirt matched their table-cloth. Just a square but Italians do it better. Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Patti at P. A. Moed: Shapes and Designs
This day in my blogging history
2018: Memento mori post with The Final Poem by Tone Pavček
Translated by Manja Maksimovič:.
How neat are Slovenians as we go,
our search for perfection drains the cup,
in dying persistent and far from slow,
we perish before our time is up..
Moreover, our death has Slovenian flair:
by fire or water, poison or gas,
it’s all such a grave and solemn affair,
as if country or god were calling express..
One day, maybe soon, we’ll go to the last,
but before we can rot and turn into pus,
new names will be given to everything fast,
while death will be named after us…
I think you have outdone yourself with this post, Manja. Laundry day, the almost Eiffel Tower, Bestia not eating the bread, and then finishing with Janis and TJ…!! Whew! So good–all of it.
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Ahhh, I’m glad you like it all, Lois. 🙂 I had not heard this particular version of this song before posting it 5 years ago. I was blown away. Thank you!
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Tom Jones & Janis Joplin: what a superb performance!
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I’m really glad that you can feel it too, TAB. She blew him away as much as us. Thanks!
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What a set of images!
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Thank you, Sue! They wished to be together like this. 🙂
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And you enabled it!
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Brilliant! Wow! And Bestia resisted…
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Thank you, Leya. 🙂 Yes, miraculously he did. 😀
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♥
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Great photos, my favourite was the wood stack, but I’m going add that the poem outshone them all. Brilliant 😀
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Ahh, thank you, Not Pam. I believe you’re the only one who mentions the poem. Lovely to hear. 🙂
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It was wonderful, I really enjoyed it 🙂
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Some people just can’t do minimalist, Manja. I really liked stylish Rome, and eucalyptus trees are beautiful. And that bread that Bestia is ogling looks kind of wonderful, too.
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Haha, thank you, Jo. I can’t believe he didn’t pounce. Father made that bread. 🙂 And yeah, I’m a Meximalist. (The next blog name?!?)
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Great idea 🤣💕
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Wow, all of them.
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Good, Bojana, thanks. I feared they were too many (said she never). 😉
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Never say never.
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Great selection of photos Manja 👍😀
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Thank you, Bushboy! Just couldn’t say no to all of these. 😀
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The trees, especially. (K)
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Thank you, K. They tend to win, don’t they.
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I love the flying carpet too. I created a masterpiece of my own in San Francisco years ago when a woman poked her head out of an upper story room then retreated and came back with a comforter she began to shake out the window to air it out I suppose. It’s one of my favorite Decisive Moment images. 😀
Lovely collection of images, Manja!
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Thank you, Deborah! I love it how you call them, Decisive Moment images. 🙂 That should be a challenge. 😉
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I’m sure there are lots of “decisive moment” challenges for Photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson a French photographer coined the phrase. His first published book he gave this title. 😀
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Ahhh, I see. 😀 And you can see that I really have no insight into the history of photography. 😉
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You’re a natural so, it doesn’t matter. 😀
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❤
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I really like the way you’ve paired your images 🙂 Like you I find it impossible for these challenges to post just a few shots!
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Thank you, Sarah. I did my best to make them make sense. 🙂 And yes, some people can stick to so few. How?
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I know – I just don’t get that! I do always edit some out but I’m always left with quite a few even after doing so 😀
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Manja – this one IS an embarrassment of riches (LOL re not really embarrassed ). Absolute proof that shapes and designs are everywhere – wonderful variety!
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Yeah, thank you, Tina! 🙂 I like to be true to my name. 😀 (Which you gave me!)
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Me?!???!!!
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Ahh, I see that you forgot. 😉 Have a look at my About me.
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We’ll Manja, I LOVED your comment about my influence and also love that phrase so I’m so glad you embraced it! And I also love that you added “not really embarrassed” it’s perfect!!
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I think so too. 🙂 Thanks again!
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Wow, Manja. You’ve done it again. Mexcessive and wonderful! I also like how you paired the images. The comparisons were great and really worked. How could I not love that shot of Bestia not eating the bread!!
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Thank you, Patti! I’m glad my pairings work. Haha, that bestia and bread shot was a coincidence and not chosen for this challenge. Even though they form a pattern too. 😀 Bestia loves his bread!
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😀😀
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Some great shapes there, and I see you like the treetops too!
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Thank you, CSR. I’m glad you came to look. 🙂
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Excellent. The first five are my faves.
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Thank you, John. I suppose I started out with the most effective ones. Cheeky. 😀
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Oh..the shapes and designs in the windows of Monticiano. Thats was one of my favorite towns in Tuscany and for that reason. The bedding in the window generated a funny memory for me. When we lived in Spain, the sheets were also hung out to dry. Wanted to do it the way the Spanish did, so I followed suit. I found they got dirty, and I had to rewash. So the trick is to have a clean windowsill. And then there was a time when I hung a dress on the line, and a lizard got inside. I was over it after that. But I never tired of looking at the beautiful old building with the laundry handing out. I love that culture, and everything about it. Donna
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Thank you, Donna. Hihih, a lizard!! Now I’ll be in fear of that. 😀 We have many of them around. You were in Monticiano and remember its name, how lovely! There are so many similar sounding names around (Montiano, Manciano, and on and on). Then I suppose you also went to see the San Galgano Abbey nearby. One of the most spectacular sights in Italy for me so far. I hope you return one day.
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I hope we return one day as well. I kept my photos in separate albums of the town names. I didn’t want to mix them up. Every town has it’s own “culture” if you will. I just loved sitting at a table with some wine and watching the day go by.
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Applause for all of them. The first photo reminds me of the glass house in Kuwait. the osaic is wonderfully done and I like your approach of the shapes and designs, quite eccentric but reflects your taste.
Manja,Is there ever a time you don´t took photos while you wander?
thank´s for making me smile today, the moment I read your profile, it made me smile.
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Ahh, this is SO great to hear, Just Blue, this last bit. If this is what happens when people read my posts, it’s all I could ask for. Smile. 🙂 And I loved hearing that my eccentric taste shines through. That’s the idea. I must say that usually I don’t take my camera on my dog walks these days. It’s humid and the lens is heavy and I’m fed up with seeing always the same things around me. :p This is the most boring time around here, nature-wise. But also when the sun is out, I don’t go far. I prefer to do it with another human.
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WONDERFUL SHOTS. Love the tree tangle view. And the reflections, and the one of Bestia and the bread and the heart-shaped stones – so gorgeous! I wouldn’t have noticed your mom’s reflection in that picture with the nude, but it’s made so hilarious by your caption 😀 😀 So funny!
Yes, I’ve noticed that about Italians too, they all hang out their washing ever so freely. Just blustering in the breeze. Love that shot with the ceramic nude in the window, such a clever piece of art. And of course, a lovely poem translated. Impressive that it’s rhyme was so tight even though translated! Great job 🙂
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Thank you for careful reading and viewing, Sunra Nina, always. ❤ I'm especially glad that you like that translation. And you call me funny too. 🙂 So supportive. All well to you!
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