The New York Fifth Avenue was alive on Sunday, June 24 when millions of people celebrated the 2012 world biggest Gay Pride. This year, attendants celebrated also the first anniversary of New York’s legalization of same sex-marriages.
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Big muscles
European Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships gathered all the biggest muscles of the continent. Ladies especially showed up impressive bodies, making a interesting contrast with the make-up, swimming suits and long nails.
Zagreb Classics
The Croatian capital, compared to its close neighbours Budapest, Belgrade, Vienna… is neither very known nor popular among tourist destinations. When someone thinks of Croatia it rather thinks of the Adriatic seaside and numerous islands than the Croatian main city : Zagreb.
However, since 10 years, this city became step by step a touristic destination in itself and during spring and summertime more and more foreigners come to visit it. The city counts many attractions as the old city located on a hill (Gornji Grad), the cathedral, Jelacic square, Zrinjevac Park, National theatre or Modern Art Museum… Therefore, these pictures are an invitation for discovering the charm and the beauty of Zagreb!
All these photos were taken through HDR technique. Even though I’m not very keen on this post-photographic skill; it gives a realistic effect to the picture, close to human eye, when there is a big contrast between lights and shadows on the scene.
Greetings from Budapest
The Hungarian capital has nearly 2 billions inhabitants and is the biggest central Europe metropolis. Budapest concentrates all Hungarian economical, industrial, political and culture life. The second national city, Debrecen, is 10 times smaller! This gap between the first and the second National cities is the widest in whole Europe.
Budapest is built on the Danube. The river divided once Buda and Pest, until the first bridge : Chain Bridge was edified in 1873. Thus, the unification is quite late: West and East-bank got developed at the same time. Both sides are covered by prestigious buildings. The hilly Buda counts Hungarian National Palace, Matias church, Fisherman bastion, the Citadel, Gellert baths… On flat Pest you can visit the National Parliament, the Opera, Heroes Statue, Applied Art museum… All Budapest monuments and sights give to the city a very nice charm and atmosphere. Many people consider indeed Budapest as one of the most beautiful European capital!
Yamato Japanese drummers
Yamato drummers are touring in Eastern Europe in this beginning of 2012 and they stopped in Zagreb for a week end.
Besides their amazing show and their impressive performance, i would like to emphasize how difficult it is to live by their art. Every morning they run 10 kms followed by weight training. Then, they practice drumming till night, individually and with the other group members. Except biological needs, their time and their life is devoting to their art.
Living for something you love might be sometimes hard, but the best reward is sharing your work and giving happiness and smiles to your audience. Yamato is successful!
Rijeka Carnival
Rijeka carnival is the biggest carnival in Croatia and one of the biggest in Europe. This year, the city celebrated its 29th carnival parade on February 18th and 19th. On saturday, the festivities were dedicated to children and on Sunday, to adults. Despite bad weather conditions, a lot of participants paraded through Rijeka main street : Korzo. The carnival brings together many locals but also more and more foreigners.
Ice hockey fever
Zagreb ice hockey team, called Medvescak (the Bears) plays in Erste league among Austrian, Slovenian and Hungarian clubs.
In January, the Bears move from their traditional ice rink to join the biggest Croatian sport hall for seven games. Every match is sold out and gather 15 000 people. In few years, Medvescak became very popular especially toward kids.
These pictures were taken during the “Arena Ice Fever” event and show a different point of view about ice hockey. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being part of the games!
Another ecological disaster in Brittany
On December 15th, Joachim storm swept of western France. During this night a cargo from Malta named Tk Bremen left Lorient harbour to spend the night in a nearby island despite naval authority warnings. Few hours later, the Tk Bremen badly damaged by the storm, ran aground on the beach, 20 kms far his starting point. At 3am, the 19 crew members were airlifted off the ship by a French Navy helicopter. The cargo also lost a lot of oil giving many damages for the natural ecosystem.
On December 20th, the authorities decided that the vessel would no longer sail and would be broken up on site. This costly operation is set to last several months.
Today, the general public doesn’t understand why the Tk Bremen did not stay in shelter in the port of Lorient. In one week, around 100 thousands people went to visit the cargo…
Kiril and Ghetto Priest concert
Yesterday night, on thursday, Kiril Dj with Ghetto Priest were performing in Zagreb at Aquarius night club.
Bojana and the kissing tradition
February. It is a cold Friday afternoon in Bojana, a little village lost in the Croatian countryside. Antonija Putić, my friend and movie director asked me to join cinematographer Darko Herič and her to shoot a movie documentary about an old strange tradition.
Fifty years ago, the Bojana summer ball gathered all the neighboring people in order to process a seducing ritual. First, one of the participants had to choose a person in the crowd and lead him/her in a hidden place for few minutes, exchanging kisses. Then, when they came back, this chosen person had to bring another one at the same place. All night long, the participants celebrated the ball with this kissing ritual including different partners.
Stanislav and Franica are married since 70 years and explain to us how do they lived this tradition. Despite the love they had to each other, these balls brought about jealousy and anger. Antonija asked them if they can kiss today as they did in the past. Stanislav got up and bothered, kissed his wife. Franica doesn’t want to kiss anyone else… Old times are gone…
julien duval photo 