i trulli ....

rain rain rain ..... so a post about " trulli"
here are some I shot earlier ... (Julia Childs voice)

"i trulli" are ancient beehive shaped houses built a very long time ago ...

They believe the trulli were first built in Puglia in the neolithic age and continued being built from then on .... however the first written and documented evidence of them is from the 15th century

now they are used as places to store farm equipment and pesticides (not so romantic ) but alot of them have been converted into sweet little holiday houses dotted around the countryside ...
The trulli are built in the "dry stone" technique ...no mortar ... like the old walls around the countryside here ...they seem like mini castles with crenellations on the tops and little spiral steps to the roof which often has a grass cap...
inside there are niches for altars and small fireplace alcoves...





my found trulli

sunset in the ancient olive groves .....

so ......now I know how to work my dynamo light on my bike I am not so worried about riding on the provincial highway at night .... 

well ...

its not ideal considering Italian 

" just be ingenious and make a new 3rd  lane into oncoming traffic on a 2 lane highway ..., driving " 

but.....

eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh   cosi! ......

so I caught the most incredible peachy sunset through ancient olives with grass fields around their roots

so amazing !

colour today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the tricksy smartypants face .....

isnt he so beautiful  ?!!!!!

ancient faces ... day 15 olive tree project

mosquito bites

creaky bike butt

constant photographer dirt knee 

basket full of fresh herbs and flowers collected in the fields

the bike and me looking a bit rough having fallen off a couple of times with the weight of all my equipment and old stone rubble cobble roads
not to mention climbing over drystone walls that collapse under your weight and throw you into a patch of thistles ..... I hope no one saw that fall...  :(

but so happy with the research so far...

collecting hearts ....

once upon a time 
many many years ago

in an enchanted forest
in the Schwartzwald in Germany....

fast forward 

through centuries untold and family history lost in the European winds of time

franz ...franzisca...franz...fran... frances...franchee...francesca and finally it is frances

......................who takes a quick jump to the East coast of Puglia...  

in between squally rain showers....and finding my first Nonna ( la Nonna Ana) picking wild ciccory on the sea coast and telling me the first recipe.....

"la grotta della poesia" ...... a huge and beautiful natural swimming pool with caves from out to sea and internal caves with words carved everywhere...

 old houses cut into the limestone seafront at San Foca

 "amore"... Italia....

 love is all around

at this moment i would like to thank my next 3 backers who have got me up to 54% of the project target !!! thank you so much !!!!

thank you to

Jana Trupovniece a very talented jewellery designer from Kotka Finland who works under the title Helmitarha ... thank you Jana!!!!

Pamela Angus whose work I adore ... Pamela breaks glass in the French Alps and creates beautiful hand blown stained glass garlands for your windows ... they are to die for !!!!

Mark Bannerman a total creative genius-slash-guru who is a master of 3D imagery and brilliant sillyness, not to mention a really good painter , and he quite frankly has the funniest sense of humour in the land ...!  

thank you !!!!

day 11 .... the most incredible discovery

the days are flying by ....

today I am "customising" my bike so I can carry my mono rail camera and tripod around ... :D

at the end of the day just as it started raining (again) , Uccio the Geometra from the village and his wife Antonella, came over to take me to a secret olive grove... 

we went on a merry-go-round tour to find the owner ...who would then direct us to the actual property ...

wowowowoow brilliant!!!!

an Olive so enormous 4 people can fit inside it ....

another that has a kind of natural armchair inside !!!

these are the absolutely best trees I have ever seen and as soon as my film arrives...I will be a permanent fixture at this secret grove !!!
(I bought the last 2 boxes of 5x4" TMAX film in the USA and it is in transit now ...still searching for more, maybe in Germany I can find some...)

I seem to be continually dodging torrential downpours of rain .... 

and they say it never rains in the south ...

hmmmmm...

a taste of Napoli ....

13th October rushed off to Napoli to friends, to get my tooth fixed after a filling fell out while eating a piece of ... mmmmmm my favourite bread ...pane pugliese

the only way to see Napoli is with a true blue Napolitano on a motorbike ...or you will sit in stinky traffic shouting at each other for hours

Driving Napoli is not for the faint hearted ... get ready its like a kind of dance,

always expect the unexpected !!!... 

you cannot drive in the sort of autodaydream most of us go around in....

Vesuvius... trying to look innocent
here is a whirlwind fast tour of what I have seen ....

Pompeii under alot of rain ....

 

photographing this crazy eye statue was accompanied by huge thunder claps and lightning ... it was very theatrical...

um.....             "Romans go home" ....?

poverini " i fuggati" ... those caught in the Vesuvius eruption

while I was photographing here all the church bells in Pompeii all rang and rang...

 sad so sad

half way there !!!!!!

and I want to say thank you to my first 14 backers who have so generously brought my project target to half way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a huge huge thank you to 

Megan E ... a very dear friend

Ingermaaike ... who is a total legend in my book and makes a wonderous felted world

Jetty Kolobaric ... who makes beautiful haunting photography 

Rita Juse-Cirkse ... who finds beautiful treasures in Latvia for jewellery crafting

Sherry ... a new friend crafting amazing knitwear

Ira Grant ...who makes seriously beautiful eco friendly bags in Switzerland with beautiful Japanese fabric linings ...I adore them (I have 2 of her pieces !!!)

Paula E... a very lovely friend

Lisa F... who needs a smack :D

Petitplat who makes the most utterly incredible miniature food jewellery..I just want to eat it all !

Alessandro B ...a most excellent friend and brilliant music critic

Keith Archer ... who makes magic hair for shoots ....at his salon Strobe in Sydney

Peggy Hartzell ..who is a new friend and I thank her very much

Joanne Zammit ..who makes wonderful jewellery under the name Gr8jewellery

and the mystery backer called DLDL a complete unknown ...but who has super generously given me a huge jump ahead in the kickstarter project race for the target ....

I thank all of you so very much !!!!!

this is the latest tree found .... little faces looking out ...

day 3 ... olive tree project .....wobbly biking alone exploring day

mmmm

10 years since I was on a bicycle...

I notice the locals being very hesitant to pass me on the roads.... :D

today I found an elephant and a chain of children hanging on to each other as the top one flies away and some lady lamps....and alot of bare bottoms  inside the trees ... 

eyebrow raised ....

not one glass of wine had passsed my lips ! 

ti duro!

today is 10.10.10 I made two ink sketches of wierd ancient Olive trees and signed them with 10.10.10 ...auspiciousness ..... mmmm

o and a filling fell out while I sat on the rooftop and ate a piece of toast this morning .... 

anyone know a good dentist in Puglia?

*remember these are the digital research and location scouting photos....while I wait for my equipment and film to arrive.

day 2 the first really spooky tree ....

.... what can I say .....

it spooked me  and Paola... luckily little Joel was sleeping in the panda...

day 1 .... olive tree project

just brilliant !!!!

5.30am wake up .... (not on purpose) one mosquito decided to target my face

7.00am straight to Danilos bar for 2 cappucini one after the other and an insane brioche that had not only liquid melted hot chocolate inside but also custard .... hmmm

The town square has an old olive right in the piazza... I notice a little face looking out 

7.30am find supermarket for emergency supplies and start talking to the nice ladies inside

The ladies, Gabriella and Clara decide theyre going to show me their olive groves and Alberi Secolari  when they are not working ... and mention the location of local trees

must find topographical maps to mark out where they are 

9.00am off to Lecce ...an utterly beautiful town full of artworks everywhere ..the town seems dedicated to art and full full full of huge crowds of teenagers everywhere getting ready to start university

10.30am meet the Director of the Academia delle Belle Arte Lecce and the head of the photography department ... they have decided to help me and give me darkroom access  and all assistance to complete the project ...on the one condition that I find a 500W incandescent lamp for the professional enlarger they have there ... 

Academia delle Belle Arte Lecce

11.30am visit the exhibition space at the Academia ...we are having the show in November there 

its fantastic ...an old convent converted into a University of Art

our show space is a long galleria of vaulted ceilings and magical arched windows

wandering  around in Lecce looking at random pencil sketches on street walls and feeling the ancient town which is full of energy and life ... to be a teenager here must be absolutely brilliant! I have never seen so many bands of kids hanging out and roaming , outside of an open air concert in my life ....

meeting more and more people and trying to source materials and ..."the magic lamp"

lunch in the piazza ...which has an ancient arena in the centre ... cant believe ...no one takes any notice of it ... tourist season is well over ...and now it is just locals

3pm off to visit a property (terreno) of Paolas cousin... as we drive by the dry stone walls i spot an amazing Olive tree leaning out over the top and want to jump immediately out of the car to photograph it ...Leo says "this is my Olive grove ... you can come here whenever you want and photograph anything as you want "

I spend the next 2 hours roaming and photographing trees and working out "how" my photographs are going to be made when my old school equipment arrives

5.30pm meet with the head of the Commune who is going to supply me with  all the topographical maps I can ever need.... his wife gives me 3 bottles of diverse local wines for us all to try out at the residency !!! How good is my day ?

6.30pm meet a photographer in another town and check out darkroom potential there

7.00pm go and talk to ladies in another supermarket 

7.30pm fruit and vegetables shop "non solo frutta" ... the owner a little old man gives me a cooking lesson for what to do to Betole .... and tells me the Nonna I talked to on the day I arrived is one of the best cooks in town !!!

8pm all the artists in residence make a big combined banquet meal and we drink a vino rose together ...

these guys are all really really good cooks .... Ive got to find some things to cook and not let the side down ....

10.30pm fall into bed with sheer happy exhaustion