Rajan Parrikar
pro member
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Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Palm Fronds and the Church
Ruben Alfu
New member
Hi Rajan, what an enjoyable photo, welcome aboard!
Cem_Usakligil
Well-known member
Mike Shimwell
New member
Welcome!
Mike
Mike
Charles L Webster
pro member
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Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Rajan Parrikar: Palm Fronds and the Church
Rajan,
Welcome to OPF! I like the way you have started with such a flourish. This is an interesting picture. The palms would make a great giant picture even without the church, but the church needs the palms.
"The 17th C. Church of Nossa Señhora Assunta in the village of Velsão is ensconced in a swath of palm trees. This soothing sight typifies the landscape of coastal Goa. I made several early morning rounds spread over many months to the hillock at Cuelim until I got the lighting just right."
Was this built by the Portuguese and do they still have people there? Have you pictures from close up and inside?
What about 17th Century houses and other buildings?
Asher
Rajan Parrikar
pro member
Asher and others,
Thank you for the warm welcome.
Asher, now on to your questions.
Yes, it was 'built' by the Portuguese. I put built in scare quotes because the labour and skills were all supplied by Goans. Goa had skilled builders, masons and craftsmen at the time. These churches also reflect a synthesis of the existing Goan traditions as well as the input brought in by the colonialists.
I don't understand the second part of your question. If by people, you mean whether the church is an active place of worship, then yes, it is very much. The Portuguese left in 1961.
I have shot extensively in Goa over the past 4 years and done a great deal of documenting of our heritage (before it all vanishes in the current madness of concretization and destruction of land). Some of it is on my blog, some of it is on my main website at http://www.parrikar.com (drill down to Goa-->Religion). In due course, I expect to bring a lot more material online.
Warm regards,
r
Graham Harris
New member
Rajan,
I can only iterate what others have said. A really great image. I have spent quite a time looking at the church seeing if I can see more by studying it closer. I bet it would look great printed big.
Graham
I can only iterate what others have said. A really great image. I have spent quite a time looking at the church seeing if I can see more by studying it closer. I bet it would look great printed big.
Graham
Rajan Parrikar
pro member
Yes and no. The joy of the scene and the capture was tempered by the knowledge that these sights will soon be laid to waste. Unlike Alain Briot who can do his wonderful work knowing that his subjects in the American southwest will remain unmolested (*), my work in Goa is essentially a race against time. Indeed, when I was last on the hillock I saw ugly concrete jutting from some areas of the foliage.
This ongoing destruction was in part my motivation 4 years ago to take up photography seriously. To illustrate my point, look at the two images below, taken only 6 months apart, in the village of Guirim in Goa. The Church of St Diogo will never again be the same for us.
Sept 2007 -
April 2008 -
(*) That fight didn't come easy, and we must thank the conservation visionaries who allowed Grand Canyon and other wonders to remain out of bounds of human 'development.'