Oct
15

Where thou art, that is Home

When people asks me where I am from, things get a bit complicated. It seems so obvious to tell them the name of a country located somewhere in the world. It is indeed true, I am from Albania, this tiny country in the Mediterranean. Of course I feel Albanian in my heart, and this country will always be part of me and I still hold an Albanian passport. Most of the people connect the question “where are you from” with the country of their origins. In that case Albania is the right answer. The thing is that I left Albania when I was 18, and moved to Italy. It’s there where I’ve studied, I’ve grown up and became the woman that I am today. My stay in Italy has changed me in a way that Albania could never have done. So, my home is Italy too.
For me the question “where do you come from” is as well connected to the country where you actually live, where you work during the day and sleep almost every night, where you pay taxes and where you buy food. So I am from the UK too. I do strongly agree with Dickens: ”Where thou art, that is Home”.
When I first moved here, I knew just a little about this country and I thought that the best way to know more, is to travel and visit it, meet the people, watch the life on its streets. I discovered a country of beauty and great culture.
southampton common2

south western house

snow in southampton2

snow in southampton

sea museum southampton

Mar
20

Arcangeli and their music

 One day I received a call. A nice voice from the other part of the phone kindly requested to be photographed with her friend while they both were playing the harp. That lady was Helena de Rijke, the member of the harp duo Arcangeli. I got surprised, I never thought that there is still somebody who plays this instrument.  Well, I must admit, I normally listen rock music and there are a lot of guitars and drums on the stage, so the harp for me was an  instrument, which belonged to the past. I was wrong. I admit it.
We scheduled an appointment and we met at the South Western House, a wonderful building in Southampton.
I discovered that the harp was regularly used by many baroque and classical composer – Handel, Mozart, Boieldieu, Albrechtsberger, Schenk, Dussek, Spohr, Berlioz, Liszt, Puccini, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Wagner. This was a big surprise for me. I could recognize its magical sound and felt very shy for having gave no name for a long time to the instrument. Now I know this instrument… now I can hear it. What I’ve learned thanks to the photography is that we see what we know and we know only what we see! This is a continuous  lesson… this is what photography always teaches to me. It was wonderful meeting Arcangeli, Helena and Jenny and listening to their wonderful music. 

 

“Arcangeli” Harp Duo | Website: www.harpitecture.com
Jenny Broome | Email: jenny@harpitecture.com
Helena de Rijke | Email: helenaderijke@hotmail.com

Oct
31

South Western House

There is not so much left here in Southampton, the german bombardments have almost destroyed everything. After the Second World War, the city was rebuilt maintaining its style. But there still is a place where the beauty and the grandeur of days gone by, can be visit and touched. Very close to the docs, proud about its history there is  South Western House (before – South Western Hotel), designed by John Norton and opened its doors in 1872. Its grandeur reflected the wealth of the shipping industry at that time. The public areas are particularly beautiful, with a great deal of marble and elaborate ironwork on the passenger lift shafts and the staircases. In fact the main staircase was the prototype for the grand staircase on the Titanic. The building still shows evidence of the grandeur of days gone by.
The building played host to many distinguished guests. Two very notable ones were Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower during the Second World War. The men planned the D Day invasion in one of the small public rooms on the first floor. There is also photographic evidence that the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother visited the Hotel
More recently, Berkeley Homes re-developed the upper floors into 94 luxury apartments and penthouses. The remaining ground floor space has been developed into 15 Studio Apartments by Bayview Homes.

 

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