Delighted to be back home and writing again after a three-week break. During my vacation, I spent time with my family in Brazil. There, my mom and sister live in a house in Petropólis, Rio de Janeiro (click here to read my previous posts about my trips to Brazil). The family house is on a hill surrounded by a piece of the Atlantic Forest.
The streets in much of Petrópolis are paved with smooth, polished rocks known as “paralelepípedo” (cobblestone). These rocks can become very slippery when wet, and in areas with high humidity, mold tends to grow on the rocks near the sidewalk, creating the potential for pedestrian accidents.
One evening, as I was walking home, the cobblestone street shone brightly in the fading daylight, inspiring me to capture the image above.
Do all successful photographs need to depict beautiful places? What about the ordinary? What about images that lack any particular allure, except for the everyday magical interplay of light that often eludes our notice?
And for my followers who understand Portuguese, here’s a poem I found on the internet.
“RUAS DE PARALELEPIPEDO
querendo fugir do inferno,
os passos apressados e pesados
eram barrados
pelas ruas de paralelepipedo.
o piso irregular e liso
ditavam a minha marcha.
sem estar chovendo,
percebia o chão molhado
e meus pés ficavam mais inseguros.
percebi que eram minhas lagrimas,
por causa do corpo
arcado pra frente,
elas chegavam primeiro
que meus passos.
tudo desabava
de maneira incontrolada.
clamava por uma velocidade maior
para deixar pra trás,
uma metade
que parecia um chão de paralelepipedo.”
di camargo, 10/01/2011
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Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous
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It is all about the light 
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