patola Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

i miss posting fotos from the philippines and so i went excavate my files and found this one taken at one of my city's open public markets, the santa cruz market.

patola is pilipino for luffa or sponge gourde which is primarily consumed as vegetable. it is called hechima in japanese, sinqua in cantonese, muopkhia in vietnamese, toorai or ghosala in indian. also known as smooth gourd or loofah, grown primarily for the tough fibrous netting that remains after the pulpy flesh is removed from the mature fruit. the fibrous netting makes excellent sponges that are valued for use in the bath or as a dish and pot scrubbers. other important uses of the spongy material are for marine steam engine filters, doormats, table mats, mattress, or shoulder pad stuffing, and for absorbing sound.

nb- i used a +2 lens diopter-converter to capture this image.

info source : www.island.wsu.edu/crops/luffa.htm

stego, riclopes, salvator, JPlumb, parbo, erdna, renerob, levocan, gunbud, rakeshgupta, rigoletto has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

aadilj (17950) 2007-03-14 3:07

Hey this is the only time I find this awful vegetable! looking good. In India we call it Torai. I like the way you have gone close to the body and captured those lines and tones and the textures so well. Nice idea to click it anyways.

Jepoy (32) 2007-03-14 5:44

Love it, great texture and color.

Good job on this one

muscovado (1530) 2007-03-14 7:43

Hola Benedict,
you really are a veggie paparazzi hehehe. Galing 'bay, fine details. Nice to see you back.
Czaldy

parbo (10968) 2007-03-14 8:44

Hi Benedict,

I was thinking this is kind of squash when I saw local market here too. You note is very interesting for me because I never imagined this vegetable used by in many industrial applications. Congratulations.

Friendly Regards,

Ertugrul

erdna (5348) 2007-03-14 11:56

A very nicely taken picture of a popular Pilipino vegetable. After reading your notes, the other may not eat it.

Pare a lalim naman ng Tagalog mo,. Magkakasundo kayo ng Nanay ko! :)

Thank you for your comments on my photo, "Sunrise at the Fishponds". I appreciate it.

Andre'

renerob (601) 2007-03-14 12:11

Hi Benedict,
This is a nice close up of this vegetable with good natural colours, and quit sharp, and what good write up with lots of good information, i didnt think you could do so much with one vegetable, nice one Benedict,
Regards Irene

izmirli (3071) 2007-03-15 1:12

merhaba my friend benedict
beautiful composition and note.very good naturel colours.well done my friend.
best regards.
gürkan akçakır.

JPlumb (3153) 2007-03-15 3:21

Ha, now this is a different kind of still life! Well done Benedict, who'd have thought you could make squash (Patola) interesting. You've got decent colour and texture on this one.

Thanks, John

riclopes (32969) 2007-03-15 6:41

Olá Benedict, you know that I love these closer approaches that give wonderful abstract patterns. It's a great theme and this another very well executed one to join the others. I actually didn't know about this one either. It looks like some kind of cucumber. Excellent definition and textures. Congratulations on this interesting and informative post!
Ricardo

gunbud (27787) 2007-03-15 21:07

Hi Benedict,
Beautiful detail and clors seen in this fine photo of this interesting tropical plant. Very interesting note.
Regards, Tom

rakeshgupta (2670) 2007-03-15 23:46

Hi Benedict,
We at India do not call it is toorai. It is well known as "Gilaki". Toorai is different from it and have many sharp vertical edges extruding outside it.
This is beautiful image with great quality. I think the camera is film based.
Thanks for sharing.
- Rakesh

clnaef (6289) 2007-03-16 4:05

Bonjour,
Nature morte originale.
Bonne journée.
clnaef

salvator (18763) 2007-03-16 4:06

Hi Ben,
Interesting composition of these cucumber-like, patola. The texture, the clarity and the colors are very nice.
Best regards. Salvator.

rigoletto (26172) 2007-03-16 18:16

Sanctus Benedictus in Genus Humanum, the Several Times Baptized Trekearther,

You don't agree with me but i am little by little getting sure that you are working in criminal autopsy.
Tell me now, what chopped of parts are they? The color green cannot hide the shape for sure.

Well, very nice close up btw, yet it would be perfect if you cropped out the pinch of blue texture on the right bottom. Then the frame would be filled completely up by the so called patola. TFS,

Rigoletto