IN THE WINTER OF 2017

I prepared a post about the winter gloom on this warm, bright day that, despite the summer being close to its official end, still feels like the peak of the season.

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Most of the photographs were taken in Medulin - my hometown.

The year was 2017.

On the 11th of January, I photographed something that rarely happens in the bay.

The shallow, brackish pools of water in one of the inlets near the harbor have frozen during the low tide.

I saw this only a few more times in my life. Three or four times, I think.

You can see a nice piece of ice attached to the Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, an interesting plant that grows in the mud of the intertidal zone.

On the 18th of January, the weather wasn't that cold ...

... but the wind was very strong in Palera.

Palera is the coastal area a couple of kilometers from the village of Liznjan, five or six kilometers from where I live.

I used to visit that beautiful scenic place almost every day back in 2017.

In summer I swam in that sea and in winter just watched it from a safe distance.

My old, partially broken compact camera got exposed to yet another unhealthy dose of sea spray on the day these photographs were taken.

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Since my camera wasn't in good shape and its value was pretty low, I didn't bother to protect it on a windy day, very close to the sea. No chance I would ever use my current camera in the weather conditions shown in this series of old photographs from Palera.

That's one of the advantages a bad camera can offer. You can be pretty carefree when using bad equipment that will probably soon get unusable anyway. I mean, that's probably the only advantage my old camera had to offer.

The scent of the sea is very intense on a day like this.

Here you can see a black & white shot, for a change.

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Later, in Medulin, I photographed some stuff that the same wind brought out in the street. Objects that came out of the overturned garbage cans. In the above photograph, you can see a broken jar made of glass.

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Despite its garbage can origins, this lady beetle doesn't look like garbage at all.

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At one point, I came across a broken mirror that allowed me to get a selfie.

On the 5th of February, early in the morning, the atmosphere was a bit foggy in my hometown.

You can take a look at the main square in this shot.

The street lamps and illuminated adverts looked great in the blue morning.

In this photograph, I put only one lamp in the minimalist type of composition.

That misty morning wasn't very cold.

It was a nice early walk with plenty of things to photograph.

When the street lamps got turned off ...

... I walked to the beach.

The atmosphere was foggier there.

Here you can take a look at the line of street lamps along the road that leads to the harbor and the beach.

This lamp closer to the sea looks like some strange bioluminescent thing. It's kinda hard to tell if is turned off or on.

These trees were photographed a couple of hundred meters from the beach.

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In the part of the bay called Vizula.

Here you see the taller and thicker pine trees of Vizula.

The fog works great when it comes to separating the details in the foreground from the intricate background.

Here you can see one of the small boats anchored in the shallow inlet.

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After this photograph, I probably returned back home.

On the 13th of January, the moon was a beautiful disc in the sky.

I watched it in the evening ...

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... from the Liznjan's harbor.

The full moon was partially hidden behind the clouds when this photograph was taken.

On the 21st of January ...

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... I spent some time with my cats on the terrace in front of the house.

It was a team-building event ... well, kind of.

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The weather was relatively warm around noon.

The results of exposing my camera to the sea spray are especially visible in this set of photographs.

Today I created a not-very-interesting GIF with two of those chaotic, muddled shots.

Here you can see the last, probably the best, photograph of this series.

The 3rd of January was cloudy and humid.

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Here you can see the black & white version of the scene.

This, the following, and the previous two photographs were taken in front of the beach bar that opens only in summer.

This seagull was resting not far from there.

I photographed more seagulls on the 13th of February ...

... early in the morning ...

... on the same beach.

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Today, after a bit of aimless experimenting in Photoshop, I found out that the seagulls look pretty good when the simple "Invert" effect is applied to the picture.

Here you can see some abstract reflections on the surface of the sea.

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And now, before the inevitable end that soon will come for this post ...

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... I would like to show you a few more shots from Palera.

AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS JOURNEY THROUGH MY MEMORIES.AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK