#catalogna

House of Light da Didacus67 (Still off, my friends...) Tramite Flickr: As I anticipated earlier, Calella features a lighthouse built in 1859 and still in use. Sitting on a low hill just above Platja des Roques (which includes Cala de la Vinyeta), it is not at all an imposing presence, one of those dramatic lighthouses you often see in posters and picture postcards - it is small, clean and tidy, sporting a kind of discrete elegance. I assume that its refined look is not unrelated to the fact - not so obvious in the 19. century - that it was designed by a woman :-) (some info also here). I was descending from the hill of Les Torretes after my first sunrise session there - from the top of the hill I could see the lighthouse wiping away the receding darkness with its bright beam of light. I was a bit disappointed, since the sunrise had been colourful, but almost cloudless and rather dull. The hills and the sea were bathed in a warm, golden light, but I felt that this was not enough to relieve my despondency. Or so I believed, until I came out of the scrub at the foot of the hill and an unexpected sight appeared before me. The golden glow of the sun was right behind the hillock of the lighthouse, and it suddenly dawned on me that choosing an appropriate point of view I would have been able to get some interesting stuff... The lantern of the lighthouse had switched off during my brief descent and the rising sun appeared to have replaced it :-) We can think of these circumstances as a further confirmation of the UPS - the Universal Principle of Serendipity - I formulated some time ago to celebrate a beautiful photograph by my Flickr friend Rich (take the time to have a look... it is really worthwhile!). Maybe it would be useful to conceive a device by which one could have a generous share of serendipity on demand :-) - is there any mad physicist among us? I have obtained this picture by blending an exposure bracketing by luminosity masks in the Gimp. Not an impossible task - easier than usual, actually, since I was not interested in foreground details - but I have not been able to reach one of my goals... There are some faint, delicate clouds in the dead center of the composition, somehow recalling the fancy wisps and curls of the atmosphere of Jupiter, but with a very low contrast against their surroundings. I have tried hard to enhance them, but with no success at all. My guess is that they could be more or less almost evident depending on your display :-( If someone out there has some hint or suggestion, it would be greatly appreciated :-) This photograph is available in Alamy

Quanto sei triste da 0 a Chiedere asilo politico in Belgio?