Every picture is a memory. Every time we press the shutter on the camera we are freezing a moment of history so we can preserve it forever. It sounds monumentous doesn't it, but it's not: Facebook will certainly tell you otherwise. I log on each day to see the myriad of photos that my so-called 'friends' vomit onto my homepage. Not only do people upload a sequence of the same picture - I have two of them so why not use them - but the other people in the picture will also post their versions of it. The result? Monster albums clogging up the internet providing the CIA with plenty of material should anyone need blackmailing in the future...


It is an age-old question, though. How do we make our holiday photos interesting to the general public? How do we step away from the necessity to have 'been there' to really appreciate someone else's pictures? And, while we're at it, how can we remove this insane fashion for de-tagging and portraying this hideously false image on Facebook? There is no hard and fast solution - no tried and tested method to solve this, but I think I may have hit upon a compromise.


May I invite you to read on...

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

A Very Italian Obsession

Now safely settled in Verona, I began to get to grips with university life. You may have read that my last post happened after this one that I'm now writing, but I felt an introduction to Verona needed to begin with a picture of the city itself.

So what was it that happened before? Readers, the most monumental waste of time on earth.

When British universities organise Freshers' Week, there's usually lots of partying and some fun things to do so that all the sparkling new undergrads can get to know each other. The orientation week for Erasmus students in Verona had the same effect, only for a different reason. It had been so terribly, bone-crunchingly, earth-shatteringly boring that we all bonded out of sheer desperation.

The event I'm principally referring to is the tour of Isola della Scala, the Veneto region's rice cultivation hot-spot. Exciting huh. But it was free and I went on it with my friend. This was a mistake. We spent four hours touring the top rice sights and then another four hours at a rice festival.

Oh my goodness.

The tour guide couldn't speak English, most of the rice sights were no longer in use and those that were, were boring, and the festival was all about rice. There is literally no upside.

Well they gave us a dinner voucher for... you can probably guess this... a risotto. It was nice though and then after having rice cakes for pudding, my friend and I decided to go exploring in the rice festival. It was at this point I decided to take a jumping picture to kill some of the two hours we had left.

Jump if you love rice!
Isola della Scala, Italy, 2009

Ironically, it was only after the picture had been taken that we happened across a large market at the back of the festival and realised two hours would probably not be enough time for a look around...
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Location: Isola della Scala Province of Verona, Italy

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