My photojournalism book, “Tre Primavere di Seguito” (Three Springs In a Row), is available now in six languages (English, Italian, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and German); it attempts to tell—through images—the story of what was perhaps the most fascinating experience of my life and Daniela’s.
Preface
I hate winter and I love summer.
It is not just about cold feet, blood circulation and cervical
arthritis when the weather is bad.
No, it is much more than that.
The days getting horribly gloomy with the drastic decline
of daylight hours make me grow very sad. It is like
witnessing the winter of the soul in which life is
suspended, only to come back in spring.
The worst period for me is not between December and
February but, rather, from late October to late January:
that is when I feel like I am falling into a bottomless pit.
For those of you who are wondering, I am not depressed
and I have never suffered from depression. I also wish to
add that the geographical latitude I have lived in all my
life (that is, Naples and the Sorrentine Peninsula), has
never experienced remarkably harsh and/or implacably
cold winters. No, as I have just stated above, this is about
a constellation of events related to life on Earth which
share the idea of sunlight receding….
I would not mind living in a place with incredibly cold
winters, as long as it has a great number of daylight hours.
But, unfortunately, there isn’t such a place on Earth.
Even the darkness of the night is darker in winter.
It is as if a huge black hole swallows us only to bring
back the light in spring.
The worst moment is late October, when days get much
shorter and daylight saving time ends: it is like tumbling
in the thread of a night that will last for many nights.
Well, I really can’t stand this, and that is why one year
ago Daniela and I decided to experience the thrill of three
“springs” in a row: the first was in Naples in 2015, then
we moved to Cape Town from late October to late
January 2016, living our second spring, and then we will
come back to Naples just in time to enjoy the beginning
of our third spring in a row. In fact by late January I have
already started preparing myself for the “miracle” of
increasingly longer days, and whenever I see blossoming
almond trees and flocks of loud swallows flying over my
head in early February, my soul opens up to a new,
wonderful season.
It may be clear by now that, if I had to say which are my
favourite months, my pick would be the months that in
the northern hemisphere range from May to July – the
prelude of summer.
The reference to Giacomo Leopardi’s Saturday Night in
the Village is no coincidence: for me waiting for the feast
day is a great joy, far greater than the one you feel on the
CAPE TOWN: THREE SPRINGS IN A ROW
5
feast day itself, when your mind is already on the
following working day.
At the end of July the magic is nearly over and the
evenings are considerably and inevitably shorter.
This explains our choice.
Perhaps in the near future super fast trans-continental
flights will be more affordable, and then I’d be sorry I
will not be able to repeat that experience again and again:
the flight between Europe and South Africa is one of the
longest direct flights – nearly 12 hours – and it is not
among the cheapest either.
It is possible that in the mid-21st century retirees could
accomplish one of the oldest dreams of humanity: to live
an eternal spring or summer… But since this is not
possible for the moment, this is why this experience has
given me a very great joy, the joy you get from unique
experiences, either small or big.
Many people in the US spend their winter in Florida, and
some Europeans do the same in the Canary Islands, but
this is obviously different. In both places the climate is
temperate all year round, but the plummet of sunlight is as
inexorable as in Milan, Dⁿsseldorf or Gaeta…
Since I started taking pictures again after over 45 years in
the summer of 2014, this mood of mine has clung to one
more reason for loving spring and hating fall. Colours are
a thousand times brighter and more beautiful in the
summer, and as I am no fan of black and white pictures…
We could also mention summer fruit, the summer as
described by Cesare Pavese, the beauty of men and
women alike when summer comes… We could go on and
on, but I guess you have understood very well what I am
talking about, and I believe many of you will agree with
me.
You will find the pictures of the “first” of my three
consecutive springs in my first six books of photography,
all published in 2015. Then you have the pictures from
my first book on South Africa, the one you are holding in
your hands now, which probably shows all my happiness
and enthusiasm for my second consecutive spring spent in
one of the most evocative places in the world.
Finally, in 2016 you will find one or more books
testifying through pictures my third spring in a row…
Year after year I feel I am getting younger, and maybe
only my pictures can bear witness to the joy that three
springs in a row have brought to my soul.
CIRO DISCEPOLO
