In Dreams

Zabbar, Malta

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Oscar Wilde

The first impression I got when I see this photograph was 'dreams'. Not the kind we experience while we are awake, but the actual dreams that we experience while we are asleep. The blue border contrasted with the dark background and a lighter sky all for some weird reason or another remind me of a dream.

The church in the photograph can be found in Zabbar. While it's not one of the nicest churches in Malta, I believe there is something around it that makes it all worthwhile to visit. Right in front of the main door (which is the lower middle one in the photograph) there is a street that stretches almost 1km straight down (0.6 miles.) While I have never seen this myself I have heard it several times. If you are standing at the very edge of the street and the main door of the church is open, you can see the altar. The main church door is right in the center of the street and seeing it from a distance is quite impressive.

Even though it slightly resembles (I repeat, slightly) Red Square in Moscow, this church has basically nothing similar to the Kremlin. It's the effects I used on Hipstamatic that are making it look alike.

For this photo I used my iPhone 3G with the Hipstamatic app. Settings were random and I don't really remember what type I used.

Falling Up

Senglea, Malta

"The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted." Georg C. Lichtenberg

Today I am posting a picture that is similar to one I posted previously - Higher - with the difference being that this time we have the town of Senglea in perspective.

Senglea, like Vittoriosa is one of the Three Cities which are found in the southern part of Malta. It's a very small town with only four long major streets. But while it's a fairly small town, the town church is decently sized.

In this church, one could find a very famous statue of Jesus the Redeemer. There are several myths surrounding this statue and a lot of people believe that miracles come true when you pray in front of it. To show their devotion, literally half of Malta goes to Senglea once a year to march behind this statue. You can find people walking barefoot, others walking on their knees and some even walking in small sized shoes as a way to sacrifice themselves for a miracle that happened to them.

Anyway back to the dome. This one is more complex and in my opinion more beautiful that the one in Vittoriosa. It can look a little chaotic but when you closely you can see that everything is in its right place and everything leads to something else. For example take the columns between the windows, follow the way up and they lead you to those lines and the lines lead you towards the inner circle.

Something that always mystified me is the inner circle. When you look at it you can see a triangle that strangely enough looks like the Illuminati triangle.

This black and white photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

Entities

Paola, Malta

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." Plato

Am I the only one that thinks that this picture is most appropriate for Halloween? No it's not a haunted house. It's a church, the biggest church in Malta. It can be found in the town called Paola which is in the southern part of Malta.

What I love about this church is that if you look at it from a distance it looks like a space center. There is a series of smaller silver domes that make it interesting and worth looking at. Another thing that I have always wondered about is how many children can be fed even a structure like this was sold?

Anyway the interior of the church is pretty simple...it's somewhat modern and the interior doesn't compliment the exterior at all. 

The two rows of buildings that are visible in the picture are residential houses. Can you imagine living that close to a church with those huge bells jingling every hour even during the night?

This black and white photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

Grandeur

Vittoriosa, Malta

"I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once again I am posting another picture taken at the St.Lawrence Church in Malta, the church found in my hometown. 

When I took this picture I was totally not planning to take any pictures but as I was walking by I couldn't help but notice the afternoon sun hitting the dome in a way that it was creating the perfect contrast. Add that with the perfect blue sky and the homing pigeons flying around and you'll get what you see here.

In Malta they use limestone as the main building rock and I remember before I took this picture it had rained quite a bit. When it rains limestone, especially really old limestone takes a different texture as you can see in the picture and I think if it hadn't rained this picture wouldn't look as interesting. But either way I am glad I happened to be passing by right when I was.

This black and white photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

This is My Church

St.Lawrence Church, Vittoriosa, Malta

"But I have been in some very beautiful churches, then I've looked outside and seen people starving to death." Don Van Vliet

 

A few days ago I posted the dome of the St.Lawrence church and the St.Lawrence statue at the Victory Square. Today I am posting an exterior view of Vittoriosa's St.Lawrence church itself. As I noted in my previous post this church is the oldest church in Malta. 

Right in front of the church (not visible in this picture, but keep an eye out for future posts) there is the Freedom Monument which was erected on the 31st of March 1979 when Malta was freed from the British Colony. Right in front of the monument one can see a beautiful and modern marina. So looking at all this it's like one is looking at a time-line, with the church of St.Lawrence being the oldest and the marina being the newest.

This photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

Victory Square

Victory Square, Vittoriosa, Malta

"Statues and pictures and verse may be grand, But they are not the Life for which they stand." James Thomson

A few days ago I posted a picture from my hometown - Vittoriosa. It was taken in the town church, the church of St.Lawrence. Today I am posting a picture of square in the town. 

In WW2 Vittoriosa suffered major damage with bombs falling from the sky relentlessly. The church of St.Lawrence suffered intense damage and so did the square. What you see in the picture here is part of the square, that is called Victory Square. In the middle you see a white statue of St.Lawrence, the patron of Vittoriosa. Behind it you can see the local band club and next to it is another club that belongs to a political party. Yes you guess right, religion and politics are a big influence in Malta.

During the day, this square is full of older people talking about this and that and frankly enough, they are the ones who add to the character that this small town offers. You can start talking with one of them, and in a matter of minutes they will tell you in the story of their life and how they fought in the war and emerged victorious.

This photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

Higher

St.Lawrence Church, Vittoriosa, Malta

"Love is not consolation. It is light. " Friedrich Nietzsche

No it is not something from outer space. This is a church dome, the St.Lawrence church dome. I posted another picture from this church a few days ago, so if you missed it you can go read what I wrote on the other post. This church is oldest church in Malta and it's full of interesting history.

Once again, what attracted me to this church dome is the way the light was hitting it.The sun hitting on the right hand side really brings out the texture of the old stone. The perfect circles are all textured differently and it shows how much time and effort they put into building beautiful buildings a couple of centuries ago. While I am sure they had deadlines, I am also sure that their deadlines were not fast and in result we get a building like this St.Lawrence Church in Malta. 

The nicest sight is actually walking into the church. The church is usually dark (dark drapery, dark paintings) and then you reach this dome and see a burst of light that is right above the main altar. 

 This photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV

When Angels Sing

St.Lawrence Church, Vittoriosa, Malta

"Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure." Willem de Kooning

Today I have decided to upload something different, from another country. It's the country I come from, my town in particular. This is a picture of my village church. Malta is a very Catholic country and every town has at least one church dedicated to a certain saint. In total there are 365 churches, exactly one for everyday. In my town, Vittoriosa, the church is dedicated to St.Lawrence.

The church of St.Lawrence is the oldest church in Malta and was built in the 17th Century when the Knights of St.John were still ruling the country.

What you see in the picture is the back part of the church. The organ is all made of wood. What strikes me in this picture is the light. You can tell that the majority of the light is coming from the left side. On the left window you can see light being shined on the two angels painted on the ceiling, but the two on the right side are not as illuminated. It adds contrast and makes the ceiling look more beautiful. The light creating the contrast and the church being basically empty created this eerily peaceful place. I wish I had my DSLR with me on this particular day so I could have more control but  I was only carrying my iPhone with my beloved Hipstamatic app and I think we have done a decent job!

This photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV