Photographic prize

It is not for me to compare myself with a polymath such as Leonardo da Vinci. It is therefore with enormous modesty that I inform you of my recent award.

As background, I remind you that in 2003 I won first prize in the Ballydehob Busking Competition. This triumph was underlined a year or two later by winning second prize, an accolade even more to be valued for the fact that, unlike 2003, the competition now had multiple entrants!

But now we move our focus from music to photography. Last night, at the high point of the village summer feast, it was announced that I had won the first annual village photographic competition, with the theme of “La Pietra” – “Stone”.

Here it is:

(You can click for higher resolution)
The title would be “Crava Morta”, which is the name for the section of river that flows past 50 m from the bottom of the garden. It means something like either “Dead Goat” or “Goat Death” in local dialect. As far as I know, however, that is just a name whose origins were lost long ago. The frequency with which goats turn up dead there does not appear to be unusual. I did go down to the river several times looking for exactly the right stone in the right light. But don’t worry – the risk of injury I took for the sake of my art, clambering around the river in rubber boots that only leaked slightly, tripod and camera in hand, was minimal.