Hello world!
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It took two days of running and collecting addresses, postcards and handouts, three days to sort out my photographic archives, choose pictures, edit them where needed, four days to send the postcards and handouts to the UK (by snail-mail), one day to showcase it all and another 3 days to resize and upload my photos on the blog. In total, 10 days worth of work. You may ask what I am rambling about. Well, there was a Historical Day fair in Hereford, UK (where Rita resides) and she took active part. From my end, I was helping with my photos and connections from Malta.
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Hereford may not be the biggest village in the United Kingdom, but it has few interesting landmarks that can put its neighbors to shame. One of them is a XII century chapel that was built by The Order of St John, another is a museum dedicated to the Order itself. Rita being a history – lover volunteers at the museum in her spare time and the possibility of introducing more people to the museum at the Historical Day was something she would not miss.
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The Order of St. John is also known as The Maltese Order. So Rita kindly commissioned me (commission being a nice word – she’s recently sent me like 15 books so I owned her a favor in return) to visit few places and to get her some details and contacts. So armed with a sun hat, my faithful Canon, a bottle of water and a veggie sandwich, I went off to Valletta and Mdina. I have visited old hospital Sacra Infermia (now a fantastic Mediterranean Conference Center), The Embassy of The Order, Malta Tourism Authority, Malta Experience and St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta on Saturday. On Sunday, I was in Mdina seeing Herritage Malta offices, Mdina Experience and The Mdina Cathedral. Everywhere I was I asked for contact details for the museum, took hand outs and also bought 5 sets of postcards showcasing Malta and its landmarks. I took a lot of pictures as well in both locations. I came back home dead tired, sunburned and loaded like a donkey 😉
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On Monday I packed all the materials into a snail mail and posted it to the UK. Then the bigger part of the preparations followed. I ran though my entire photo achieves (20 K images mind!) and chosen the best images that would show the beauty of Malta and the legacy of The Order on the island.
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That’s how Malta in 40 clicks was born. The photos in this entry were used as a slide show at the Museum stand during the Historical Day fair. Rita contributed some of her shots as well, so the whole set was around 50 images I believe. I thought that it would be interesting to actually share the set and see if I can get some critique. We even have made our parents famous. Last time they were on holidays in Malta I took a photo of them as they go in Mdina holding hands. When I told my mom that many people in Hereford found that image romantic, she demanded copyrights and payment. 😀
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All in all I had a lot of fun preparing those things and from what Rita says it’s been a blast. She even got to dress as an Edwardian – era maid. But surely she will give her account on the blog sooner or later anyway.
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After the event Rita told me that many people were impressed with Malta and the legacy of St. John’s Order. She also was able to provide Hereford
Museum with like 4 pages of contacts and hopefully some collaboration will be established. That would totally rock!
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From a photographic point of view I am nothing short of being proud of myself. Not only I managed to have my works showcased to 400 people (that’s the amount of people who visited the HerefordMuseum stand at the Historical Day fair) in form of a slide show but I actually managed to find 41 images that I consider worth showing. Quite an ego booster if you ask any aspiring photographer. I also have guts to upload them on a blog and boast (a tiny little bit) about all the work I have put into it. You see, the amount of hours that the photog spends sitting in front of laptop and editing the shots widely outnumbers the hours you spend actually taking photos. Plus you have to go to the location, find the object, frame, it shoot it. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and it is a big passion of mine, but it ain`t a walk in the park. It is a serious business 😉
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So far please enjoy the photos and come to Malta on holidays 😉 (right, this is really obnoxious marketing now, isn’t it?)
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If you have any comments regarding my photographic works, please do share them. I am always open for the (constructive) critique.
After all nothing is more pleasant for an artist to hear from people and to learn how their work affects others. Photographers may hide behind bulky gear, but at heart we are sociable creatures (as long as you don’t get into frame).
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Love and kisses
XXX
malicia
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Indieterria 