natural products – up close

FMTSO - February 3 - Macro: Show case your town up close and personal!

Gosh dang-it, I can be so literal.  [1. Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary meaning of a word or words.] It really blocks me.  I read something; I hear something; an idea forms in my mind of what the words mean (to me).  Then I flounder around, knowing or thinking I know what others might have meant by the words, the words don’t mean the same to me and I get stuck inside my literal box.  I dig a hole for myself and I just keep right on digging until I run out of room and have to make a choice. 

I spent last weekend in Rio, digging….. Macro….[1. Of great size; large.] …. Okay that is Rio for sure, with 12 million and counting people, but how to take a photo of it – showcasing it up close and personal! I assumed that the assignee of this topic meant for us to do Macro Photography, to use macro photography to showcase an aspect of our cities – up close and personal…An aspect of a city of 12 million up close and personal…...Okay time to climb out of the whiney hole…..

Just today I decided to use some photos taken years ago instead of those I took this past week…. In mid June of 2010 FMTSO did Rocks – large and small, and a few weeks after that our topic was Urban Macro – Using those two FSO as inspiration, decided I would bring you a few up close shots of rocks and minerals of Brasil.

Out on the Barra – way out almost to Recreio, what seems to be south of the city but is really to the west, a good hour’s drive from Ipanema is a store that we often take visitors to see. Legep an wholesale outlet for stones and minerals from all over Brasil. Many come from their own mines, crafted and polished in their own workshops. They charge based on the weight of the stone and ship for you so you don’t have to lug your artwork through the airports or worry about baggage weight overages. Don’t miss going upstairs where there are bits and pieces of uncut stones that you can use to make into your own designs.  Here is a few of my favorite pieces – up close and personal!

My town Friday Shoot-out / Rocks large and small

One thing that this area of Brasil has is ROCKS – large and small rocks.  While waiting in a traffic jam today I glanced out the car window, looking at the garden center’s selection of decorative ‘stuff’ and there, right in front of me were bags of little rocks.  I thought, only for a second, I should park the car and take pictures.  There were clear plastic sacks of odd sized white stones (rocks), bags of brown stones, and piles of river bottom stone there for the choosing.  I didn’t stop.  Even though they define as synonyms – we say stepping stone not stepping rock, and garden stone not garden rocks…. paving stones not paving rocks…. so stick and stones may break my bones but changing the words will never hurt me…  (As you can see rocks and stones are interchangeable in my vocabulary.) 

Because I am going to be in Rio for the weekend – starting Friday morning - I really want to show you photos of the rock outcrops famous to the Rio skyline.  Geologically these outcrops are “monolithic morros of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro”  You can see these in any movie about Brasil, you never see movies with Sao Paulo or Brasilia in them – always Rio.  Spectacular for taking photos – as I and every movie producer knows.

Taken from atop the platform of the most famous O Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) – from high above the city  you can see that Copacabana sits on the ocean and is encased in ROCK.   The Christ is visible from almost every barrio in Rio, except the Barra, including the lagoa and Ipanema (my stomping ground).  To see him from a new location / a different angle - his presence a constant joy to look at and to photograph.

 

On the south end of Ipanema / Leblon is the rock formation call the two brothers (Dois Irmãos ).  It is also recognizable in commercials and movies.  I have seem them surrounded by fog while the rest of the city is bright sunshine (the Christ and the sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar))also have moments surrounded by clouds).  One very good reason to spend at least a week here when visiting Brasil – increasing your odds of seeing for yourself all the fantastic views of the city.  

  

From the lagoa, on the left is the Dois Irmãos and in the center Pedra Gavea (Pedra = stone).  I think this gives you an idea of what ROCKs you might find in Brasil.  Great topic ChefE.