Heidi flies Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Most people were inside the aircraft trying to find their seats when I decided that I could no longer resist and made some pictures of the “body art” on this Swiss aircraft flying to Munich 15 minutes later, rolling out to rwy 28 and taking off shortly after seven. Benno was a little worried that I would miss the flight but I mean who would leave me standing on the tarmac with my camera :)))

This kind of painting you find in the Appenzell and Toggenburg area in Eastern Switzerland and has a long tradition showing farmers leading their animals to higher grounds to their Alps normally in mid or late June, depending on the weather situation and they would spend many weeks up there making cheese (Alp cheese … nothing tastes better when it comes to cheese for me personally and has certainly nothing to do with what is called Swiss cheese abroad that rather reminds me of … sorry … chewing gum), leaving before the first snow came in fall.

I have seen this scene in real life several times and for me it is a wonderful wake up call normally at 4 or 5 in the morning. The air would be filled with laughter, yodels … and cow bells and I always go outside in my pyjamas, the first signs of a new day in the sky, the air moist smelling of grass and cow dung :))) Very earth bound, very natural, the kids barefoot in their lovely dresses, yes some tradition seems to stay.

“Das Magazin” No. 15 17.4.2009 published 500 short contributions how Switzerland has or could help to improve the world … No. 55: “Her world is no longer the alps: Johanna Spyri’s “Heidi” is after the Bible and the Koran the most translated book in the world” … No. 76: “Who can, leaves Zimbabwe. Prof. Ruedi Luethy stays. He and his team take care of more than 2000 aids patients per year” … or No. 470: Roger Federer’s tears in Melbourne have shown the men’s world: Never hide your feelings, a true buddy can also be a pussy” … It is a pleasure and sometimes very funny to go through all 500, I might come back with one or the other later in the year. I am sure all countries find these things.

Sistercosmo, Floydian, Wanda1, PixelTerror, ciakgiak, phwall, fulvio52, Dyerco, leo61, BlueRaven, ktanska, skippy007, avene, rasto1893, gunbud, Cretense, plimrn, ChrisJ, dareco has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

wolf38 (12525) 2009-05-02 8:34

Hallo Barbara. Heidi flies, baba flies, - irgendwie paßt das zusammen. Wie auch immer, das Motiv ist phantastisch. Heidi bleibt ein Renner, sei es am Rumpf eines Flugzeugs, in den Büchern, Filmen usw. Dein Photo ist toll und ideal für TE. Viele Grüße, Wolfgang.

Floydian (30970) 2009-05-02 8:37

Hallo Barbara,

This is some nice Swiss promotion they are using to decorate their planes. I remember that Quantas also did these kind of things in the past and i always loved to see these colourful airplanes. At first glance i thought it was a kind of gracity painting on a wall, but to my surprise an airplane.
Heidi...pffff, that's a very longgggggggggg time ago since i saw that on tv ;-)

Regards,

Henk

pauloog (6278) 2009-05-02 8:51

Hello Barbara,
Heidi conquers the skies...
Good to share this view of an art form that will not last forever...
Well seen and well executed.
Regards,
Paul

Sistercosmo (2521) 2009-05-02 8:58

Hallo meine Liebe!
Schönes Bild und eine wunderbare Beschreibung dazu, wie immer. Ja, so stellt man sich die Schweiz vor. Und wenn du wieder mal in München bist, dann lass es mich wissen, ok?
Ich wünsche dir ein tolles Wochenende.
Herzlichst,
Linda
P.S. Magst du ein Geheimnis wissen? Meine Mama wollte mich Heidi nennen aber Papa war dagegen. Bin ich froh!! :-)))

Buin (36932) 2009-05-02 9:02

Hallo Barbara!
Wenn das die Johanna Spyri noch erlebt hätte ...
Ein rundherum interessanter TE-Beitrag - begleitet von einem informativen und guten Foto!
Grüße aus dem fast sommerlichen Westfalen - und einen schönen Sonntag!
Frank

Wanda1 (10888) 2009-05-02 10:10

Hi Barbara,
That a nice colourful plane, I like the way they have painted it to promote their country. At least with the overcast weather you did not get any harsh shadows. Cute title!!

PixelTerror (86032) 2009-05-02 10:15

Hoi Barbara,
Looooool, der fliegende Appenzeller, sieht Klasse aus, in der Küche habe ich auch solche Szenen, schafft Freude und nimmt sofort Flugangst weg, also einen guten Ersatz für den Appenzeller Bitter ;-)
Liebe Grüsse, wünsche Dir einen hoffentlich sonnigen Sonntag, im Moment hier seeeehr dunkel, wird bald wieder nass !
JY

yso (3166) 2009-05-02 11:07

SAlut Barbara,
Vraiment sympa cette fresque, fallait effecivement descendre pour nous montrer ça, bien vu !
Bon we,
Yves

ciakgiak (10150) 2009-05-02 11:36

Hello Barbara,
Really great idea to decorate in this way the swiss airplanes, and great idea that you show us this very pleasant image.
POV and perspective are excellent.
Have a great week end.
Warm regards
Giorgio

Jeppo (11624) 2009-05-02 11:38

tja...nettes flugzeug!
mir gefaellt es....aber gott sei dank macht Alitalia sowas nicht, sonst waere es schwierig zu entscheiden, was wir auf dem flieger maelen sollen!

ciao
silvio

Waylim (10717) 2009-05-02 14:35

Hello Barbara,
Even Heidi is catching up with technology, Maybe Heidi is also on TE. I saw them bringing down the cow from the mt twice a few years ago when I was there in late August, and yes I was surprised to see they still dress in their traditional clothes, I understand bringing the cow up and down for practical reasons, but they could easily were normal clothes intead of the traditional one. They are very much fun to watch and it felt like transported back in time. Thanks for making the effort to make this shot. It is nice to see that they are making the air plan looks like it's fun to fly. Happy Sunday.
Way

phwall (5424) 2009-05-02 16:56

Hello Barbara,
Henk is correct, QANTAS painted a 747-400 in Aboriginal art, it was quite spectacular.
I like this typical Swiss scene, although I don't know much about Heidi and her notoriety. Your note is what makes this shot special for me. I agree with your description of other countries definition of Swiss cheese, I think it tastes like cardboard.
I like your shot very much.
Regards
Peter

brandstaetter (13724) 2009-05-02 23:04

Hallo Barbara,
das ist ja wirklich nett und zum Schmunzeln wie die Werbeagenturen heute die Klischees bedienen. Die Kinder freut´s, die Erwachsenen zweifeln etwas an der Sicherheit des Fliegers :)
LG Christian

fulvio52 (8314) 2009-05-03 3:06

Very nice, Barbara. Original, colorful, smooth as silk. Which proves sunshine isn't essential to take good pictures, the photographer IS! Good one, TFS! Have a nice day and a good start of the week tomorrow. See ya soon,
Fulvio.

Silvio1953 (40881) 2009-05-03 6:26

Ciao Barbara, beautiful train with lovely decorations, great colors and excellent perspective, very well done, have a good Sunday, ciao Silvio

Dyerco (8884) 2009-05-03 7:15

Hi Barbara
This a novel shot as we don't usually get to photograph the plane we are travelling in. At least not one as big as this. The painting is unique but becoming more popular with airlines these days. Well seen.
Phil

leo61 (42886) 2009-05-03 8:20

Hallo Barbara!
Tolle Kunst am Flugzeug und gute Perspektive.Kühe sind wohl an Bord verboten,denn die haben meistens mehr als 100 ml Milch dabei......
Gruß,Leo

BlueRaven (35) 2009-05-04 2:18

Hallo liebe Barbara,

Ach Mensch, jetzt hast Du mich richtig hungrig gemacht mit dem, was Du über Käse schreibst... und Mittagessen gibt's erst in knapp zwei Stunden, grrr - und noch dazu hat die Kantine heute überhaupt nichts Leckeres zu bieten! ;o) Das mit dem Kaugummi stimmt absolut - ich krieg' jetzt noch das große Grausen, wenn ich an den fettfreien Käse denke, den ich in Kanada mal versehentlich erwischt habe. Igitt...
Interessantes Foto jedenfalls - ich selbst hätte das Ganze wahrschenlich "frontal" aufgenommen und damit eine wesentlich langweiligere Komposition erwischt. Die vielen Diagonalen passen hier perfekt.

Liebe Grüße aus dem trüben München (sag' Bescheid, wenn es Dich mal wieder hierher verschlägt!) und eine schöne Woche,
Claudia

ktanska (16414) 2009-05-04 5:21

Hi Barbara,
Very nice to see that Swiss has some room to add local ambience under Lufthansa supervision. Good tight closeup, although I'd like to see the landing gear within the right edge.
Kari

cherryripe (18794) 2009-05-04 12:03

Hi Barbara
I didn't know this plane existed. I've been on a Qantas aboriginal painted plane and a Japan Airlines Disneyland one. Of course the outside is preettier than the inside. This is defintely one for TEs' Appenzell resident.
Regards
Nikki

skippy007 (6817) 2009-05-04 18:07

Hello Barbara, Nice shot of this well decorated aircraft, looking at the thumbnail I also thought it was graffiti on a wall, I was surprised to see it on an aeroplane. I enjoyed reading your informative & well written note, I agree with you on the so called "swiss cheese", tasteless. I was pleased to see that Melbourne received a mention amongst the 500 contributions.
Thank you
Regards
Santo

delpeoples (5410) 2009-05-06 3:30

Hi Barbara, one minute it's Baba Flies, the next it's Heidi! I like the title. I like your subject and I like the close-up POV. All nice and crisp with excellent tones. Congrats, Lisa.

avene (10888) 2009-05-06 13:15

hi Barbara,
love the note, especially the part about the early morning, pijamas and cow dung :) for some reason I can easily imagine such a morning, would not mind experiencing it instead of blaring of taxis, smell of burned pretzels and having to navigate the streets of Manhattan on high heels :))
I'm all for colourful airplanes, we all need some cheering up after waiting for hours and hours in stuffy airports. also, all other things being equal, I would prefer flying in such a cute plane, instead of the boring gray tin-can :) do you paint your planes?

best,
Kristine

p.s. we still have to talk about meeting in Utah :)

rikko77 (5582) 2009-05-07 5:10

Hi Barbara
nice catch, it shows us the new frontiers on airlines marketing..with good colors and a good perspective. I like it!
Have a nice day,
Rikk

Nicou (43915) 2009-05-07 5:32

Hello,

mais alors, Heidi prend le train pour de vacances au bord de la mer, géniale ce détail, très belle image, il est bien décoré ce avion, mangigique perspective.

bravoe t amitié

Nicou

rasto1893 (1689) 2009-05-07 8:55

Hello Barbara,
Nice capture and cultural motive at airplane I like the Idea ...
My best Regards
Rastislav

nwoehnl (118) 2009-05-07 10:58

Hi Barbara. Good observation and nice angle to shoot along the delightfully decorated plane. The painted line at the bottom enforces the diagonal perspective, I would even crop a bit at the bottom so it would emerge exactly from the lower left corner. Interesting notes too, as usual :)

gunbud (27559) 2009-05-08 6:10

Hi Barbara,
Heidi the movie used to be an annual tradition on American TV and one year NBC switched to the moive near the end of an exciting football game.
One of the most exciting finishes in sports history was not seen on television. This football game became known as the Heidi Bowl (or Heidi Game). On November 17, 1968, the New York Jets led the Oakland Raiders 32-29, with 50 seconds to go. It was the end of the hour, and even though the score was close, NBC switched over to the movie Heidi. In the next 42 seconds, Oakland scored two touchdowns to win 43-32.
Angry fans blew up the switchboard with complaints.
Great shot of this traditional Swiss art which is far superior to some advertisement.
Regards, Tom

Cretense (54926) 2009-05-10 6:42

Hi Barbara!

:-))) excellent photo, unusual "decoration" of an airplane to say the least! Great framing and composition, great light managment and beautiful colours! Congratulations!

Hercules

plimrn (19558) 2009-05-24 23:00

Hi Barbara,
Great framing of a difficult to frame scene- to say nothing of the fact that my acute airport anxiety would never let me do such a thing.

As always your note is great; I really like the way you link Heidi to yo0ur daily life experience, Thanks for your nice note, I don't know how to reply yet in this new format but I did want to say that Larry and I are having a surprisingly good time. We're both very good at seizing the moment which means I have less time for TE.
HLj, Pat

ChrisJ (69588) 2009-06-01 17:16

Hoi Barbara

This one jumped out at me, in your recent photos. Wonderful colour, & an amusing title. Good sharpness & smart choice of a vertical format. Tfs!

dareco (17024) 2009-06-23 6:45

I was always a HUGE Heidi fan, and dreamed of one day living in Switzerland :) I want so badly to visit there someday. Really great artwork!!! Nice pov and lovely colors and detail. Good depth. I also enjoyed reading your note. TFS