Climbing the Marjan Forest Peninsula

These photos were taken on the same day that it stormed in Split as we climbed the peninsula.  As you can see, it was starting to get darker as we climbed and it definitely created an atmosphere. We hardly saw any other people apart from the occasional walkers and the climbers as you can see in the photo which surprised us as the views were spectacular, even in the rain.

We did get over taken by a tourist bus as we reached the top mind, but other than that, it was just us, the views and the weather. All and all, it was pretty perfect.

Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista 200
Location: Split, Croatia

Split Double Dips

Camera: Double Dip
Film: Lomo Xpro Chrome
Location: Split, Croatia

Watching a storm roll in....

Overall our week in Croatia was gloriously sunny and warm - we did have one day where it stormed though (and another storm in a different night whilst we were sleeping which woke us up - I love storms, it was epic).  We knew the weather was going to turn later on in the day, so we climbed the Marjan peninsula before the rain was meant to come which gave us the perfect opportunity to watch it blow across the mountains towards the city.

Even though we knew it was going to storm, I didn't realise it would get so dark and my ISO 200 film struggled a little with my demands, but over all I really love the muted stormy colours in these photos. Even with the weather the views from the top were gorgeous.

Luckily, we were heading down the other side of the hill by the time that the rain really came and we waited for it to pass sat outside underneath the covered seating at the bar with the windows (a bar on the hill you could see from town with a great view across the city, our friendly landlord for the week advised us to go on the first day we arrived)  with a nice cold beer.

Film: Agfa Vista 200
Camera: Refurb LC-A
Location: Split, Croatia

Mestrovic Gallery and Church

These first 4 photos were taken at the Mestrovic Gallery in Split, a gallery dedicated to the Croatian artist Ivan Mestrovic. I love art galleries and museums, we went to to as many as we could in Paris and we did the same in Croatia.

I hadn't heard of Mestrovic before we got to Split but we saw a lot of his work and I am officially converted to a Mestrovic fan. Although these works above are fairly serene, the rest of his work is so emotive, so delicate and precise, yet free flowing with such beautiful forms. The way he captured human expression through the entire body, not just the face, captured something in me and drew it to the front of my whole being and wouldn't let go.

The grief, the calm, the flow, in each sculpture, I felt it all. I am often moved by art - I cried when I finally saw The Weeping Woman by Picasso in person - but it wasn't just my emotions that stirred, it was my entirety, my soul, my identity, my awareness, whatever you want to call it... the fact that his work was new to me, the rawness of my emotions after such a long year - it all clicked together to provide one of the best gallery experiences I've had.

As part of the gallery ticket, you also got entry into the Ivan Mestovic Kastelet-Crikvine church just 200m down the road from the gallery... However, we completely missed it on the day we visited the gallery and walked straight passed it. I don't often feel like things happen for a reason, but I completely and utterly believe that if we'd have visited that church on that day, I wouldn't have seen it the same way that I did the next day.

I didn't take any photos inside the church, partly out of respect but also because I was so busy looking around, but I kind of wish I'd taken at least one, just to cling to that moment some more.  I did get photos of the courtyard and see views though.

Inside and along every single wall of the church there are the most beautiful wood panels showing the story of the life of Jesus. Growing up in a predominantly Christian country, I of course knew the story, however what I'd never seen before, was the whole story told to me simply without words which didn't focus on one particular aspect or lesson.

Since returning to the UK, I've thought about that church a lot, not the religious aspect of it but the delicacy of the carvings, the expressions on the faces, the shine of the wood in the lovely light, the simplicity of the story and what I saw - the impact of one man's life on others, of how he inspired emotions and action within people (in any form) and more importantly, I saw what that story inspired within Ivan Mestrovic himself - love.

Cameras: Olympus OM-10 with Agfa Vista 200 Film
and Refurb LC-A with LOmo Xpro Chrome
Location: Split, Croatia