#15 Levadas

Madeira has been in the back of my mind for many years. It was a place that intrigued me, but only at some subliminal level. It fits in well with my obsession / affinity for islands, but I never really had any realistic idea of going there. However, a few weeks before Christmas I was faced with an obligation to take two weeks vacation, without having any plan or any attractive destination in mind. One evening, having gone through the list of usual suspects, discarding things like northern Norway on grounds of “been there, done that”, “too cold / dark / miserable”, Madeira popped into my head. Two days later it was all sorted out, but then we had many other things to do, and by the time we finally made it to a terrifyingly early flight from Zurich two days before New Year, we were in fact totally unprepared for what was awaiting us.

It turns out that Madeira has a lot to offer. Away from the hotels clustered around Funchal is a steep, mountainous, thickly forested island criss-crossed by 1000km of aqueducts carved into precipitous cliff sides, known as levadas. The levadas an incredible feat of engineering dating back to the 16th Century, and making Madeira habitable. They continue to fulfil their original function of irrigation, to which power generation has been added. They also provide the basis for a fantastic network of trails.  Madeira, and the levadas, made an immediate and lasting impression on me. The next trip is already booked.

All photos taken handheld using the Olympus E-M5 MkII and m.Zuiko 12-100 f/4 lens.

#14 Il Molino

Passing by the grain store and elevator at Giubiasco, Ticino.

#13 Parghelia

Parghelia is small town on the western coast of Calabria, overlooking Stromboli and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Parghelia has been flattened by several earthquakes, most recently in 1905, which led to it being almost completely reconstructed following a semi-grid plan. This gives the town a very untypical layout for Italy, especially southern Italy. It is sometimes reminiscent of the planned colonial towns of South America. This, with the slightly faded ambience, the Calabrian light, and a general air of detachment from the very nearby seaside, not to mention the subtle relics of the Fascist era, adds up to a very photogenic location.

This set was taken in August 2018. Shot on Portra 400 with the Cosina/Voigtlander Bessa III 667.  Film developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab.