Achilles' back Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is one of the two statues of Achilles that you can see in the beautiful gardens of Achilleion, a "palace" in Kerkyra, a few km outside the town of Corfu, connected with Empress (Kaiserin) of Austria, Elizabeth of Bavaria, better known as "Sissy, the sad princess", personated in cinema by Romy Schneider. Well, it seems that Kaiserin Elizabeth, had something with the hero of Iliad, that's why the palace took its name. Not knowing which one, the left or the right, was "Achilles' heel", I went for the whole back, and doing some steps backwords, I decided to include the paths and the palmtrees, too.

MORE PHOTOS FROM KERKYRA

MORE INFO ABOUT ACHILLES FROM WIKIPEDIA:
In Greek mythology, Achilles (also Akhilleus or Achilleus; Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme the Wrath of Achilles.

Achilles also has the attributes of being the most handsome of the heroes assembled against Troy,[1] as well as the quickest.

Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the first century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. These legends state that Achilles was killed in battle by an arrow to the heel, and so an "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a person's principal weakness. (MORE ...)

MORE INFO ABOUT ACHILLEION FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Achilleion (Greek: Αχίλλειο or Αχίλλειον) is a palace built in Corfu by Empress (German: Kaiserin) of Austria Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi after a suggestion by Austrian Consul Alexander von Watzberg.[1] Sissi was a woman obsessed with beauty and very powerful but tragically vulnerable since the loss of her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in the Mayerling affair in 1889. A year later in 1890, she built a summer palace in the region of Gastouri (Γαστούρι), now the municipality of Achilleion, about ten kilometres to the south of the city of Corfu. The palace was designed with the mythical hero Achilles as its central theme. Sissi spoke Greek better than any of the Greek queens that were her contemporaries and she expressed a desire to further immerse herself in the Greek culture. Like every other European royal, she had some Byzantine emperors among her distant ancestors. (MORE ...)

isabela_sor, luighi, azaf1, vasilpro, Vames, bostankorkulugu, lc4giala, dareco, AiresSantos, portmanndominic, Budapestman, dip, aimiliospet, Dyerco, elendim, delkoo, trekks, stelli, Emile has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

luighi (4056) 2008-11-18 11:40

Perfecto disparo en blanco y negro amigo Hercules .Me gusta la excelente profundidad y la comopsicion , buen trabajo.

Un abrazo.

Luis

isabela_sor (41913) 2008-11-18 11:41 [Comment]

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Manamo (3468) 2008-11-18 11:52

Hello Hercules,
interesting interesting. I've been on and off for a long while from TE (more off than on) and I had in mind that most of your gallery was made of twilight or night shots...but now, in the first page of your gallery, the night shots are rare!!
Achille, going to war...the statue place in the middle of a circle with a sign of peace in it...very interesting!:)
You turned this picture well. The tones and contrasts of the b/w are very good. Achille is prefectly framed with the trees on each sides and lines all around him.
Very good!

burGu (4528) 2008-11-18 12:18

B&W in Cretense's gallery? Vaow!!!
Amazing nightshots and landscapes are very usual in your gallery, but amazing B&W? That's very new :)
First of all I like the point of view at the center of the road branched into three ways and looking directly at "Achilles' back", I also like the wide effect. But most imporant of all I like your rare B&W approach, why not to make it more often???
Best,
Burcu

JLG (2086) 2008-11-18 12:19

hello Hercules
tres belle cette compo
la statue d'ACHILLE se detache parfaitement bien
et elle est idealement bien placée
congratulation
jean louis

vasilpro (8055) 2008-11-18 12:27

Ηρακλή και εγώ έχω φωτογραφίσει τον Αχιλλέα πισώπλατα, πολύ καλή η επιλογή σου για ασπρόμαυρη παρουσίαση.
Φιλικά Βασίλης.

Vames (4356) 2008-11-18 12:57

γεια σου Ηρακλή,ωραίοι φοίνικες γύρω από το Μυρμηδώνα Θεσσαλό βασιλιά!και μονο στη λήψη που τον κοιτάζω νιώθω ρίγος ένας πραγματικός Ελληνας γιος του Πηλέα και της Θέτιδας θεάς αυτη Ηρακλή είναι η ομορφιά και το όνειρο που μας κρατάει σαν έθνος και ιστορία πρέπει να την αξιολογήσου εξυχρονισμος οκ συμφωνω αλλά είναι η κουλτούρα μας και τα πολλά καρβέλια που τρώμε τόσα χρόνια από τον τουρισμό ,πρέπει και αλλο ομως .εμέις εγώ εσύ το μονο που μπορούμε να αναδείξουμε από εδώ μέσα το πολιτισμό μας την ομορφιά μας .σε ευχαριστουμε για τη λήψη αυτή Ηρακλή!

bostankorkulugu (33334) 2008-11-18 14:14

...and bostani is back for achilles's back!... at least you have better manners than me dancing scorpio mou, you show the buttocks of statues not the family jewels like i do!>:P...
i like the date palms here like fireworks better than the bubble cheeks of our hero...

hugs from the cold cold heidelberg...

lc4giala (2186) 2008-11-18 15:37

Kalispera Irakli
edw h optiki pou exeis dwsei ston Achillea moiazei me tin voitheia tou palkostrotou na vrisketai stin oura enos aeroplanou ..me ligi fantasia:) h epilogi b&w kanei tin istoriki anafora pio amesi
eyge!
George

dareco (17024) 2008-11-18 15:46

Great symmetry! Very nice in b&w and very good contrast. An interesting note and picture. TFS

gneufeld (15007) 2008-11-18 18:25

Hi Hercules,
Great to see several black and whites today, and this one is excellent. The contrasts you achieved are exceptional and the sharpness and clarity superb. WEll done and TFS. Gerald

TopGeo (21433) 2008-11-19 0:11

Kalimera Hercules!
Anedikses me ton ksexoristo ayton tropo ena simio toy anaktoroy! Spoydaia skeftikes alla kai oi idioktites ixan agapi stin clasiki Ellada! Bravo
xaireto se
Georgios

coco (27604) 2008-11-19 0:13

Kalimera Hercules!!

Ti kaneis, simera?

Achilles es el nombre de uno de los hijos de una amiga mía de Grecia.

La ejecución es perfecta y, modestia aparte, me recuerda a una foto que tengo de Burgos (aunque poco se parece, claro).

Tu foto es buena... y también la nota. Aunque a la nota añadiría lo siguiente: nuestra reina habla muy bien griego... pero lo que es español: mejor que el rey.

Ta leme, file mou.

barrufeto_77 (25619) 2008-11-19 0:41

Hola Hercules.

Me encanta el POV con ese camino que nos enseña esta tremenda simetría.

Un abrazo!

Nessie (897) 2008-11-19 0:43

Καλή σου μέρα Ηρακλή!
Πολύ όμορφη σύνθεση και καλή επιλογή το α/μ! Όπως καταλαβαίνω δεν ήταν εφικτό να έχουμε "Achille's face" αλλά η θέα που έχει ο Αχιλλέας φαντάζομαι είναι εκπληκτική!
Σε χαιρετώ,
Αγνή

azaf1 (15541) 2008-11-19 1:10

Kalimera Irakli
Poli omorfo orthio kadro pou dinei emfasi sto agalma kai to a/m thimize entona palia cardpostale. H prooptiki apo to plakostroto exairetiki
na pernas kala
Argiris

...to Nature apithano

AiresSantos (41418) 2008-11-19 2:39

Hi Hercules
Beautiful black and white composition with the statue in the gardens of Achilleion. I like your POV and the paths. Graphical view
TFS and have a nice day
Aires

Gerrit (35493) 2008-11-19 2:48

Hi Hercules,
excellent composition. The famous hero has a great view here and is sheltered by the palmtrees.
Regards, gerrit

portmanndominic (2388) 2008-11-19 3:03

Irakli Geia sou

super BW picture with a very good composition beetwwen the palm tree the path on the ground and Achilles on the focus
TFS
Filika
Dominic

Budapestman (41066) 2008-11-19 3:15

Hi Hercules,
I remember this beautiful park. We sat around until clocks on the terrace and in the view we took delight. It's a superb photo with a spectacular composition. The sculpture embracing palm trees beautiful. Wonderful mood. Congratulations. Have a nice day!
George

dip (12410) 2008-11-19 5:22

Geia sou Irakli,
oraia A/M foto apo to Achilleio,poli kalo simeio lipsis me kali prooptiki kai kadrarisma,
Xaireto,
Dimitris.

Dyerco (8884) 2008-11-19 6:58

Hi Hercules
Nicely done with the paths creating both a pattern and a leading line. The B&W was a good choice.
Phil

elendim (1677) 2008-11-19 8:50

Γεια σου Ηρακλη!
Μου αρεσει ιδιαιτερα ο τροπος που μας παρουσιαζεις το θεμα σου!Το πλακοστρωτο δρομακι μας οδηγει κατευθειαν στο θεμα!Επισης το ασπρομαυρο ηταν το ιδανικο γι'αυτη τη φωτογραφια!

Χαιρετω,
Ελενα!

*Τα χαιρετησματα στο bohem δε τα εχω δωσει ακομη..δε σε εχω ξεχασει ομως..!!

delkoo (33976) 2008-11-19 12:33

hi hercules
great b&w photo, nicely framed with the statue in the middle of the trees, as well as the cobbled path leading the glance to Achille.

well seen didier

trekks (14260) 2008-11-21 3:00

hi Hercules

Very impressive graphic symmetry even for the palm trees and pattern of walk path to show this statue. Well, good for you to watch his back :)

tfs, bill

stelli (2939) 2008-11-22 2:47

Unique POV, very good framing with the use of palm trees and excellent choice in B&W! Thank you for sharing! ΦΙΛΙΚΑ Στέλλα

Emile (19807) 2008-11-25 12:26

Hola Hércules.
Una buena foto en blanco y negro con la escultura de Aquiles, hay muy buena iluminacion así como muy buena definición. Una foto así en B&W es raro ver en tu porfolio pero has logrado una excelente composición.
Abrazos.