korcula

Croatia (Part 2: Korcula)

 

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Korcula, Croatia

The second part of our Croatian adventure was to the island of Korcula.  Korcula is a sleepy, beach-y island, much quieter and humbler than its glitzy neighbour Hvar.  We wanted to go to one of the Dalmatian islands and seeing as Ma, Pa and I are all pretty introverted, we chose the quieter island.

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The island ended up being a vacation within our vacation.  We’d met back up with Pa on our last day in Dubrovnik and decided to take it easy on this tranquil rock.  As you can see, the waters are just as beautiful and inviting as they are outside of Dubrovnik.  IMG_8031

The climate was Mediterranean – warm, some palm trees, rocky and the architecture Venetian – lots of red tiled roofs.  Korcula was fun to photograph because of not only its stunning natural beauty, but because of the whole laid back feel there.   The locals love to talk about their maybe native son Marco Polo and you can visit his perhaps birthplace.  It wasn’t too crowded so you weren’t rubbing elbows with everyone like we were in Dubrovnik and not cursing every clueless selfie sticky-carrying doofus who ambled into your shot.

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Like Dubrovnik there were plenty of laneways and staircases, just without the people, so you could get mysterious shots like this one.  I often think back to Croatia and if I had to choose only one part to go back to and spend more time, it would be Korcula.  Maybe.

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Stormy Weather

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The Story: This was our final day on Korcula, the sleepy, wallflower island compared to its ritzy, bustling larger island neighbour Hvar in the Dalmatian archipelago.  Korcula is also thought to be the maybe birthplace of possibly real person Marco Polo.  The weather had been fantastic, sunny and warm without being hot.  In this photo however, a storm was a-brewin’.  The wind picked up in the evening, then the pizzicato of rain drops, then my midnight it was a full on rager – torrential rain, high winds, thunder and lightning.  We woke up to catch our 0600hrs ferry and there was not a cloud in the starry sky.

Why I Love It: I love the different shades of blue and grey in this one.  I also love that sense of impending doom with how dark the clouds are.  As a pluviophile, the thought of incoming rain warms the cockles of my chilly heart.

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The Story: November of last year Ma and I had decided to go to Vancouver Island for some storm watching, so we chose to stay in Ucluelet, a darling little one-street hamlet placed on the tip of a peninsula on the south-west part of the Island.  Our full day there we decided to hike the Wild Pacific Trail, a walk that takes you along the west side of the coast line and passes a historic lighthouse.  I was determined to get some gloomy, rainy shots of the coast and Pacific Ocean and Mother Nature brought her A-game.  Both wind and rain were strong, persistent and pervasive, soaking both Ma and I down to the skin through our water resistant gear.  Although the weather could have been considered miserable, Ma and I were in our element in the rain, by the ocean.

Why I love It: As previously mentioned, I love the rain so looking at this photo brings me great comfort.  I love how unsettled the sea looks with the spray on the rocks.  I also really like that I shot this in colour, though it looks washed out and I feel like the monochromatic feel of the shot makes it feel like the ocean and the sky are bottomless/limitless, they go on forever but you cannot tell what is lurking in the depths/past the horizon.