1790 - The Dead Marshes

Here’s some more images from Italy, this time from a trip to the Isonzo delta. The Isonzo or Soca, as it is called in Slovenia, was the stage for some of the most deadly battles on the southern front of World War I.

Hemingway’s “A Farewell To Arms” is set in this area or slightly north of it, as these images were taken in the “Riserva Naturale della Foce dell’Isonzo”.

Whatever it was that I saw here in the water, the scene immediately reminded me of the Dead Marshes in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. I only had to use Photoshop to turn a bright sunny day into a scene of nightly gloom.

It took me two attempts, and only the second one, involving a B&W layer in “Multiply” blending mode, some color filters and who knows what else, convinced me.

The other images were taken in the surroundings, only the bike detail later on the street. Northern Italy is surrounded by mountains, but most of it is flat land and there are plenty of bicycles everywhere.

The Song of the Day is “Swampsnake” from the 1973 album “Next” by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Hear it on YouTube.