Polyphemus' glare [explored on 2023/10/07]

I was in Messina, Sicily, for a convention - Messina, the city of the Strait. The city of the two seas, the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian - not two whichever seas, but the very stuff of myths and epics. Scylla and Charybdis haunted these narrow, deep, perilous waters.

As you would expect, I had tried to leave my camera at home (it was work, after all...), but it nevertheless jumped into my backpack, along with my Samyang wide angle lens and my tripod. Unfortunately neither of them told the remote shutter, so it stayed safe and cozy within my gear bag at home. Oh my gosh! What was the use of having a tripod while lacking a remote shutter? I just hoped that enabling the Delay exposure Mode would be sufficient to compensate for my awkward finger actually pressing the shutter release button.
So I began my Sicilian days with just as many sunrise sessions. Wow.
The weather was consistently unstable - an ever changing sky enlivened by an endless turmoil of clouds (sometimes benign, sometimes threatening and ominous), sudden showers followed by warm sun, and then again. There was at first a peculiar ambiance - a stormy mood, I would say - an epic character reminiscent of remote ages, when the gods and Cyclops trod these lands and monsters haunted these waters. I could understand the sense of awe the ancient dwellers of these places felt while contemplating such views. I could feel the presence of the gods of old just before me. Just all around me.

Explored on 2023/10/07 nr. 97

My second Sicilian sunrise was kind of a bipolar one: gentle and serene, bathed in a soft light when looking Southeastwards, additionally sporting the elegant, graceful shape of the Amerigo Vespucci, the renowned training ship of the Italian Navy, in the distance. If you are wondering about the gentle side of this sunrise, you might have a look at Definitely NOT Ulysses' galley... and An ominous glow from the forge of Ephaestus.
However as soon as I turned my gaze directly Eastwards... Well, the rising day was dark and ominous, and the heavy clouds looming over the strait and the rugged coastline of Calabria were pierced by a fiery glow - the glaring eye of an angry Cyclops. The Cyclopes (= Circle-eyed) were giant one-eyed creatures from Greek mythology, especially associated with Sicily and the nearby Aeolian Islands.
According to Hesiod's Theogony the three primeval cyclopes were the second brood of Uranus and Gaia - after the Titans and before the monstrous Hecatoncheires (= Hundred-Handers, also called the Centimanes). Troublemakers all the way from such parents, apparently! ;-) Anyway, eventually the Titan Cronus castrated his own father Uranus - a brilliant idea, considering the deteriorating quality of his offspring - and overcame him as the ruler of the cosmos, officially solving the issue - for a while, at least, before being overthrown himself by the Olympian gods.
There are many different traditions and myths about the Cyclopes, none of them flattering in the least: wild, solitaries, lawless, gross, rough, irascible, proud, violent, and ignorant of navigation, agriculture, and many other arts the gods had gifted the humans with. Homer's Odyssey features Polyphemus as the mightiest of the Cyclopes, and I expect that he is the best known individual among his most infamous progeny.
So, I was standing in awe before that incredible sunrise, as the glaring eye of the fierce Cyclops was inspecting the lands that were his in ages past, claiming them again. All I could do in such a situation was to make myself small and smaller and, hopefully, pass unnoticed while capturing the wild, powerful beauty of the Sunrise of the Cyclops' Eye.

I have processed this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-2.0/-1.0/0/+1.0/+2.0 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal" exposure shot).
As usual, I gave the finishing touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Raw files processed with Darktable.

Taken in: Italy / Sicily / Messina / Mortelle (show map)

Taken on: September 27, 2022

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Italia

Italy

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Stretto di Messina

Greek myths

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Odyssey

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epics

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miti

mitologia

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water

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sguardo

anger

morning

early morning

dawn

sunrise

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Camera: Nikon D750, f/16.0, 1/30 sec, 50mm (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	50mm
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	GIMP 2.10.34
Show full info

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