Take another one. Another fig, another photo.
The fig, dependent on a lush soil combined with a dry and sunny climate, doesn’t thrive anywhere. As it captures the nutrients of nature, the photography captures the essence of a scene, a moment, a mood. Like a fruit or flower, photography is a product of its surroundings, but still, they all - photographs and flowers - provide a different perception for their observer.
In refining a product lies endless possibilities, and in defining a photograph the same. Refine and define. Explore and adore. To take a photograph is to refine a single moment of time, with a specific angle and capture a certain atmosphere. The photographer’s state of mind can be crucial for understanding the photograph. To experience a foreign culture is a special thing.
The people of Zadar have a long tradition of refining figs into a variety of products. A coastal town of fishermen and figs, where the people live slow, the figs do grow, as the jazz tunes flow. How the Zadrani people use the fig, in jam, traditional dishes or to enjoy on its own, has become a tourist attraction; the Fig Route.
Zadar itself is a cultural contrast to its natural surroundings. Mountain slopes and a horizon of sea, meets the ancient old town on a peninsula packed with history. The fruit of the very tree whose leaves were the only clothing of Adam and Eve, and in Indian mythology were the origin of human speech. Which roots saved Romulus and Remus from a certain drowning death. An ancient fruit thriving in the oldest city of Croatia.
This collection of photographs attempts to refine and define an impression of Zadar and its adjacent Ugljan Island. To describe its rhythm and atmosphere, and act as a window into a leisurely town on the Dalmatian coast. For thousands of years the streets have never been empty - where the figs are plenty.
The fig, dependent on a lush soil combined with a dry and sunny climate, doesn’t thrive anywhere. As it captures the nutrients of nature, the photography captures the essence of a scene, a moment, a mood. Like a fruit or flower, photography is a product of its surroundings, but still, they all - photographs and flowers - provide a different perception for their observer.
In refining a product lies endless possibilities, and in defining a photograph the same. Refine and define. Explore and adore. To take a photograph is to refine a single moment of time, with a specific angle and capture a certain atmosphere. The photographer’s state of mind can be crucial for understanding the photograph. To experience a foreign culture is a special thing.
The people of Zadar have a long tradition of refining figs into a variety of products. A coastal town of fishermen and figs, where the people live slow, the figs do grow, as the jazz tunes flow. How the Zadrani people use the fig, in jam, traditional dishes or to enjoy on its own, has become a tourist attraction; the Fig Route.
Zadar itself is a cultural contrast to its natural surroundings. Mountain slopes and a horizon of sea, meets the ancient old town on a peninsula packed with history. The fruit of the very tree whose leaves were the only clothing of Adam and Eve, and in Indian mythology were the origin of human speech. Which roots saved Romulus and Remus from a certain drowning death. An ancient fruit thriving in the oldest city of Croatia.
This collection of photographs attempts to refine and define an impression of Zadar and its adjacent Ugljan Island. To describe its rhythm and atmosphere, and act as a window into a leisurely town on the Dalmatian coast. For thousands of years the streets have never been empty - where the figs are plenty.
text by Eskil Roll-Hansen
