Wild Crocus in January, a photo from Bolzano, Trentino Alto Adige

Photographer's Note

Winter 2003, few snow on the Dolomites and all around the eastern Alps (meters of snow on the western Alps). In mid January there were crocus flowers, at least one month before than the usual blossom time, and the mounts were green and not white.

Crocus is a genus of perennial flowering plants, native to a large area from coastal and subalpine areas of central and southern Europe (including the islands of the Aegean), North Africa and the Middle East, across Central Asia to western China.
The genus Crocus is placed botanically in the iris family (Iridaceae). The plants grow from corms and are mainly hardy perennials, and are found a wide range of habitats, including woodland, scrub and meadows.
There are about eighty species of crocus (of which approximately 30 are cultivated). Their cup-shaped, solitary, salverform flowers taper off into a narrow tube. Their color varies enormously, although lilac, mauve, yellow and white are predominant. The grass-like, ensiform leaf shows generally a white central stripe along the leaf axis. The leaf margin is entire. All crocuses typically have three stamens. The spice saffron is obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus, an autumn/fall-blooming species.
The name of the genus is derived from the Greek κρόκος, krokos (attested in Homer's Iliad, Book XIV, verse 347), this in turn being a Semitic loanword (Hebrew karkom, Aramaic kurkama, Persian and Arabic kurkum, all meaning saffron or saffron yellow).

Ahrntal (Valle Aurina) is a municipality in the province of Bolzano-Bozen in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 120 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 70 km northeast of the city of Bolzano (Bozen), on the border with Austria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,633 and an area of 187.0 km².
It's one of the northest point of Italy.

From Wikipedia

Muse, edytungkal, kiwi_explorer, nwoehnl, Budapestman, besnard, andante, Guenther, Emile, Cricri, Manamo, atus, fayeulle, isabela_sor has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Muse (35030) 2007-07-06 1:03

Hello Paolo,
Très joli ce champs de crocus et la vallée au fond.
De belles couleurs.
Best regards
Denise

rigoletto (34279) 2007-07-06 1:04

Ciao Paolo,
Beautiful tones of green in this half/half compo. Charm of the flowers increase the attractiveness. Informative note too. TFS,
Deniz

edytungkal (4551) 2007-07-06 1:16

Hello Paolo
A superb colours from wild crocus, very well composed and using the light. Colours and sharpness are very well. tfs

best regards
daniel

jurek1951 (42198) 2007-07-06 1:35

Hi Paolo,
Surreal colors! Very nicely done with great depth of field and wonderful saturation.

barrufeto_77 (28888) 2007-07-06 1:52

Hi Paolo.

Excellent colorfuled picture! It's great how you used the Crocus as an introduction.

Well done!

Rgs, Oscar

kiwi_explorer (12209) 2007-07-06 1:53

Hi Paolo,
I find this composition very interesting because it breaks the usual 'rule-of-thirds' yet this photo looks great. Wonderfully captured and composed. Very good image quality ... excellent work! tfs
Cheers,
Renier

nwoehnl (122) 2007-07-06 1:58

Nice photo, Paolo. Good half-and-half design for the frame with the foreground array of fresh crocuses, and the greenery of the valley. The vivid natural colors make for a delightful viewing. Interesting notes, too.

Budapestman (82620) 2007-07-06 2:20

Hi Paolo,
Fascinating spectacle, indeed. Colours are beautiful, composition is excellent. Very attractive and fine shot. Have a nice weekend
George

Nicou (193806) 2007-07-06 2:22

Hello,

mangifique ce cchamp de crocus ces couleurs diversifées, et cette ligne qui coupe la photo en fond, superbe.

Bravo et belle journée

Nicou

besnard (59196) 2007-07-06 2:32

Bonjour Paolo
Il est très beau ce tapis de crocus avec des couleurs qui se marient bien avec le reste de la végétation et la vallée.
Merci pour le partage et bonne journée.
Nicole

Guenther (10915) 2007-07-06 6:34

Ciao Paolo,
alle capriole climatiche ci siamo quasi abituati, ma sei sicuro di aver fatta questa a gennaio in Valle Aurina?? Tutto così verde, incredibile... comunque una bella foto, i crocus (come si chiamano in italiano?) con grande profondità, il verde saturo in sottofondo ... Have a nice weekend, TFS.

Emile (20352) 2007-07-06 7:17

Hola Paolo.
The presence of the dark green in the back enhances the beautiful crocus flowers, great colors and perspective. Good composition.
Well done. TFS.
Best regards.

leo61 (0) 2007-07-06 9:06

Hi Paolo!
Great shot with this carpet of wonderful colored crocus and these nice green tones.I like how they converge in the center.Good light and great contrast.I scolled a bit and think without the two cm of dark blurr on top it would look better,only maybe.
Regards,Leo

Cricri (176) 2007-07-06 10:41

ciao Paolo,
Un Joli tapis de crocus sous une lumiére qui fait resortir les couleurs, simple et parfaitement bien réaliser
ciao
cricri

Manamo (3710) 2007-07-06 10:52

Hello Paolo,
the flowers seem to be in 3D:D Beautiful!! The top is definitely too soft. I don't know, it's not blurry, it's just soft. Did you use neat image or ninja or some noise reducer software? I think that a good way to improve would be to crop the darker section at the top. It would be more luminous, the top section would take less space, so less apparent and finally, the mood would be happy-happy joy-joy all over:D
Have a nice day,
Marc

devimeuxbe (58557) 2007-07-06 13:11

Hi Paolo
this is an interesting cropping on the crocus; It give nice touchs of colors in the field.
The sharpenss and the DOF are beutifull.
Excellent
Bertrand

Pascale (10456) 2007-07-06 13:37

Bonsoir Paolo
magnifique composition avec ce tapis de fleurs.Superbe cette harmonie de verts ponctuée de tâches bleues.
Amitiés
à bientôt

atus (15878) 2007-07-06 15:32

Beh, il verde è il colore che preferisco e qui c'è nè tanto e di diversa tonalità. I fiori blu/viola poi legano benissimo con il colore dominante ed assieme formano una piacevole visione. Complimenti e buon weekend!
Attila

lestans (17258) 2007-07-06 23:58

Meravigliosi crocus!
strati di colori e il blu emerge dal verde e dal bianco.
Tutto ben nitido, tutto a fuoco.
Strano vedere i crocus a luglio, quando tutti tirano fuori le loro foto marine!
Bellissimo!

Livia

fayeulle (27827) 2007-07-07 0:29

Super shot Paolo !
I never seen before such an huge quantity of crocus. I am amazed!
Cheers
JP

carper (96) 2007-07-07 10:43

it is a nice one Paolo,
the pov is orginal, the balance is good and the qauality is great, very good photojob here, have a good day.
gr. jaap

Burberry1 (6041) 2007-07-08 7:15

A wonderful, artistic shot Paolo:))))...with a great, mysterious mood and very good composed.
This is a photo which catches the eye.

Agnieszka

xavshot (69835) 2007-07-08 7:30

Bonjour Paolo
elle est superbe cette photo. Je suis impressionné par le nombre de ces crocus et ton cadrage rend l'endroit très graphique avec la bande verte au-dessus de la photo. Beau travail
Xavier

isabela_sor (47748) 2007-07-16 6:32

The Italian spring is soo beautiful!!Beautiful and artistic image with all these green tones and the flowers in foreground
Lovely .....