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08

Oct

Cultural Traditions Passed Down a French Street

by Sheron Long on October 8, 2012

The French village, where I live part-time, opened my eyes last week to the importance in France of passing along culture and heritage, or patrimoine. For French people, patrimoine has to do first with realizing that French arts, history, culture, language, and traditions are the property of everyone French and then with making the commitment to pass that “property” along to the next generation.

French family in a parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Multiple generations of a French family get set for the parade
© Sheron Long

Cultural Traditions on Parade

Passing along cultural heritage and traditions—that’s just what was happening last week on the streets of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a pretty village in the south of France between Avignon and Marseille.

Each fall during the Fêtes Votives, Saint-Rémy remembers its past in a parade of old trades. Proud of their cultural heritage, citizens dress like their ancestors and portray their ancestors’ work roles as they walk twice around the road encircling the village.

Horses and donkeys march, too, and unruly sheep bleat, baaa, and bite at stacks of hay along the way.

Horse neighing in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Horse-drawn wagons recall yesteryear
© Sheron Long

Sheep in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Sheep and shepherds rest a moment during the parade
© Sheron Long

The connection to farm animals is part of the French patrimoine. In fact, everyone in the parade was honoring the agricultural past of Saint-Rémy.  Young women in long skirts and straw hats tossed lavender from the harvest.

Women tossing lavender in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Women tossing lavender to the crowd
© Sheron Long

Farmers rolled rusty equipment through town.

Farmers and equipment in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Farmers and old farm equipment
© Sheron Long

The old winemaker harnessed his horses to haul full barrels of wine on his wooden wagon.

Winemaker in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Winemaker hauling old wooden barrels full of wine
© Sheron Long

The milkman used pedal power to pull two big jugs and one little girl.

Milkman in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Milkman pulling jugs of milk
© Sheron Long

New Generations Connect to Their Cultural Heritage

Every generation participated. In that afternoon together, the French did something more important than putting a smile on the face of the many spectators. They transmitted a love for their French patrimoine to the newer generations. I could see it in the faces of the younger participants.

Girls & donkey in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Younger generations participate
© Sheron Long

Boy on horseback waving in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Proud wave from a boy on horseback
© Sheron Long

And I saw it when I looked at babies who were not sure why they were in a pushcart that day. But I knew why—they were reaching out as if to grasp their French heritage, one that they, too, will soon value and pass along to the generation that follows them.

Oh, I see—if you value your cultural heritage, investing time in traditional celebrations like this one ensures its continuity.

Pushcart babies in parade celebrating French cultural heritage and traditions

Babies ride, too, and travel the road of tradition
© Sheron Long

 More on the Cultural Traditions of France

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. As a special treat, you can enjoy even more images of the south of France in these fun, free ebooks. Just click each image below:

 

 

 

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/France

04

Oct

Imaginative Pictures Play with Your Senses

by Sheron Long on October 4, 2012

Portraits by photographer Giuseppe Mastromatteo showing imaginative pictures that play with your senses

© Giuseppe Mastromatteo with appreciation to
the photographer’s representatives at the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery, New York

How Fast Did You Say “Oh, I See”?

It took me a minute to see how Giuseppe Mastromatteo’s imagination had played with my senses and caused a double-take in my perceptions. These imaginative pictures are surreal photographs, part of  his series “Indepensense.” In the photographer’s words, the series is “about senses and the way we can use them.”

I hope Mastromatteo was talking about the viewer’s senses as well. As I studied these photographs, I was first appreciative of the visual surprise, the feeling I always have when I experience someone else’s creative ideas. “How clever,” I thought, “that our senses could be represented in these illusory ways.”

A Deeper Insight

And then I realized how the photographs seemed to speak a deeper truth to me about people who hide an eye and still see, or those who cover their ears and still hear.

The fact that these faces are without expression leaves the door open wider to the viewer’s interpretation. Is there an open mouth behind the closed lips on the hand? Is the woman speaking words that others do not hear? I listened hard and was pretty sure I heard her voice. What she said was filtered through my own experience and imagination.

I’d like to think the photographer intended  that we each use our own senses in creative ways when he combined the words “independence” and “sense” to create the title of this series, which has traveled widely to New York, Miami, Milan, and Paris.

Connecting with the Work of Giuseppe Mastromatteo

These contemporary portraits, shot against clean white backgrounds and completed through digital technology, are now part of the first retrospective of Mastromatteo’s work, entitled “A Liquid Vision” at the Forma Museum of Photography in Milan. This solo exhibition runs from October 2 through November 14, 2012.

Mastromatteo was born in Milan in 1970, studied law, and worked as a creative director in the advertising world.

His view of creativity inspires me as much as his photography. In a recent interview (Eyes in Photography), he said, “Creativity is a constant research of the things that inspire you—new languages, new things in art. Creativity is staying connected with your world.”

Interestingly, it is our senses that best connect us to the world. Once you say “Oh, I see” on your first or second take of Mastromatteo’s imaginative pictures, keep going and see how much more your senses have to say about his work or how connecting with Mastromatteo’s world inspired  your creativity.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 
 

The World's Photography

01

Oct

The Awe Inspiring “Aha Moment” Defined

by Sheron Long on October 1, 2012

Awe inspiring cartoon about having an aha moment

Watch out! Someone’s having an aha moment!
© xkcd.com

Mathematically, Aha Moments Happen Daily

If I follow the numbers above, it sounds like everyone can learn something new everyday. That’s awe inspiring!

Hey, I’m over 30 and, like the girl in the cartoon, didn’t know about the “diet Coke and mentos thing.” I tried a quick experiment, and it all erupted into an aha moment for me.

Then I found out that not everyone knows what an “aha moment” is. Really? At least, it wasn’t in the dictionary until last August.

Is “Oh, I See Moment” a Synonym?

The concept of the “aha moment” has been around, well, probably forever and in English language usage since 1939.  At least, that’s the date assigned to the phrase in August 2012 when Merriam-Webster added it to its dictionary and defined it as “a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension.”

Now that Merriam-Webster has had its aha moment about “aha moment” and listed the phrase in its pages, we want to see OIC moment (short for “Oh, I see” moment) added as a synonym.

The term came into existence in 2012 with the start of our company. Like “aha moment,” OIC moment is a realization, but on a broader spectrum, from the practical to the epiphany.

The Full Range of OIC Moments

In my view, an OIC moment can be as everyday as the one in the cartoon above. Or, it can be a significant, eye-opening, awe inspiring experience like the one recounted by will.i.am, front man for The Black Eyed Peas, in a statement in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine O. 

Here will.i.am tells how traveling across cultures to countries outside the USA helped him see America with new eyes and decide how to show the world what Americans are like.

How OIC Moments Inspire

Now will.i.am’s new song “Reach for the Stars” has traveled even farther than the famed musician. Transmitted from Mars through the speakers on Curiosity’s rover, the song not only has enjoyed an inter-galactic debut, but surely has become the number 1 song on Mars. Take a listen and see the lyrics:

If the video does not display, watch it here.

The song was purposely recorded with an orchestra to show human collaboration and to present a timeless sound that translates into different cultures.

I love how the lyrics make you question if even the sky is a limit. And I can imagine this song inspiring a long reach for the stars. That’s what will.i.am intended when he said,

“Today is about inspiring young people to lead a life without limits placed on their potential and to pursue collaboration between humanity and technology. . . .”

It is will.i.am’s kind of inspiration that leads to OIC moments or aha moments, whatever you want to call them.

And now that Merriam-Webster has weighed in with official recognition, we can give them their due. After all, here’s the defining characteristic of an OIC moment—when it hits you, your life is never quite the same again. Now something that powerful is awe inspiring.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

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