As promised, the trick for my quasi-drone perspective is here revealed. I just raised the camera a couple of meters above my head by extending the tripod and holding it from the tip... kind of a super-selfie stick...
A word on this lens. I believe there is no 15mm on the market so straight and sharp. And inexpensive. I love it to bits.
Lest I forget, here follows the full story.
***
Once were paper planes
Once were paper planes. They lifted children's eyes up, as high as their fantasy would climb. To see the world from above. Just a little world, well preserved within the four walls of a room.
You launched yours after carefully weighing it, studying the grip and the balance. First, a long breath on the tip, and then a swift motion of the wrist would head your creation to the sky. A little sky, well preserved within the four walls of a room.
There were no drones. A few lucky ones had seen a model aircraft. Much less ever touched or even flew one. Imagination was the camera and books the fuel of our flights. Just little flights, well preserved within the four walls of a room.
None would be allowed to launch one in the living room. Back then, there still were such rooms as the elegant parlor. Not necessary elegant, of course, but the place where the exhibition of all mum’s fragile trinkets was permanently on show...
Not to talk about running behind one down the stairs. Can’t you still hear mum’s sweet words: «if you fall and get hurt, I won’t comfort you, instead I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!»...
With that warning in mind, the world suddenly appeared as an inextricable maze. Flights of stairs after flights of stairs. A stadium, a stage, a gym... but no: «Hold that rail and be careful!»
Unless, finally, you were allowed out. A garden, even the smallest, would then become Mompracem, your paper plane the flying machine of Saint-Éxupery and Lindbergh together.
An empty street would have then been a dream, a playfield without lines and limits.
An infinite playground, for you to invent the games and the rules, free to change them at your heart’s content.
Icarus was not a legend, he was an hero. Your personal hero, flying straight in the face of the sun.
At every launch, you were in suspense. Will it fly far enough, long enough? Or will it hit the head of that lady, or worse, enter that open window? And you couldn’t explain if it was fear or hope.
But most of the times it just landed, sometimes even gracefully, and there was nothing to do but reaching, weighing it, studying the grip and balance, breathing on the tip. And yes, giving it another go.
I wish I never stopped flying my paper planes.
Oh Domenico, thank you for sharing that very thought-provoking story with us, so appropriate for these awful times we're living in. As for you elongated selfie-stick, I'm lost in admiration at your ingenuity, not to mention courage. The shots have been both amazing and intriguing. I've loved each and all of them.
@jgpittenger Well, your comment made my day, Jane. Thank you so much! @adi314 Thank you, Adriana, how are you? @juliedduncan Thanks to you, Julie, much appreciated! @golftragic Thanks a lot, Marnie, I’m so in awe that I manage to express myself in a credible way in a language that is not my mother-tongue... Playing with images and words is an very satisfying experience! @swguevin2 Thank you, Sheila! The only risk here is to angle the tripod such as not to include oneself in each and every shot, with the 15mm! @graemestevens Thanks to you! Nothing too complex... love the expression “jiggery-pokery” (admittedly, understood the sense but had to google it for translation ;)) @kali66 Indeed, much more daring, but my front teeth recommended the tripod , lol! Thank you a lot! @ludwigsdiana Thank you very much, Diana. I tended to use fast shutter speeds... and to shoot one zillion photo for each of the “frames”!
Your grasp of what must be at least a second language never ceases to amaze me Domenico, you aren't phased even by idiom. Because we live on an island we Aussies very rarely have any significant capability in any language other than English. That is, apart from those who have come here from other countries, of course, and some of those first-generation people, particularly women, often don't speak English. Mind you, some native-born Aussies have an appallingly limited knowledge of their own language.
@golftragic and thank you again.... I am constantly on the watch for new words and expressions, I’m a thief, as a matter of fact! @blueberry1222 thank you! @taffy thank you so much!
Splendid narrative. It reminds me of trying walking on a wall with an apex. l'd have been perhaps 10...and keen to at least be as adept as my brother, 2 years younger. I was on the wall, trying desperately to keep my balance and being teased unmercifully. I fell off with consummate ease...into a field of stinging nettles. Death of a Primadonna!
What a wonderful story, so well told through you images and words together. And how clever of you with that tripod! I've done that with my monopod at a parade once because I am so short I couldn't;t see over the heads of all the people in front of me. Although I am late in commenting, this is the perfect time for me to see this trick of yours -- I may see if I can do this in the library!
@s4sayer I see I’m so late in replying to your comment! My apologies! We all had our “death of a primadonna” moment, hadn’t we? @jyokota it would be great in your library. A bird’s view over that treasure! Thank you so much for your kind words.
May 12th, 2020
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
@adi314 Thank you, Adriana, how are you?
@juliedduncan Thanks to you, Julie, much appreciated!
@golftragic Thanks a lot, Marnie, I’m so in awe that I manage to express myself in a credible way in a language that is not my mother-tongue... Playing with images and words is an very satisfying experience!
@swguevin2 Thank you, Sheila! The only risk here is to angle the tripod such as not to include oneself in each and every shot, with the 15mm!
@graemestevens Thanks to you! Nothing too complex... love the expression “jiggery-pokery” (admittedly, understood the sense but had to google it for translation ;))
@kali66 Indeed, much more daring, but my front teeth recommended the tripod , lol! Thank you a lot!
@ludwigsdiana Thank you very much, Diana. I tended to use fast shutter speeds... and to shoot one zillion photo for each of the “frames”!
@pdulis Thanks a lot, Peter!
@blueberry1222 thank you!
@taffy thank you so much!
@jyokota it would be great in your library. A bird’s view over that treasure! Thank you so much for your kind words.