At the dead of night of the 11/12th December, 1602, a French army, led by the Duke of Savoy, tried to invade the Swiss city of Geneva.
They didn’t get away with it.
Some alert guards raised the alarm and an old woman on the ramparts, who happened to be cooking vegetable soup in a cauldron, poured the boiling mix of carrots and potatoes and heaven-knows-what all over the attackers. Apparently she managed to kill one of them, and the rest fled, further raising the alarm.
Ever since then, on the weekend closest to the 12th December, the Genevois celebrate the ‘Escalade’ (as it is called) with the largest military re-enactment in Europe. They don 17th century costumes and march about the old town of Geneva to the sound of pipes and drums. They fire cannons and muskets, drink cups of hot vegetable soup (trying not to pour it over anyone) and break chocolate cauldrons, called ‘marmites’, filled with marzipan vegetables to loud cries of "Ainsi périrent les ennemis de la République!" (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic!)
It is a very photogenic event.
And I was there, taking photographs of the festivities ...
But I was also watching the spectators. Two little girls were sitting on their daddies’ shoulders, high above the crowd. And then it happened. Their fathers moved off in different directions and ...
I consider it the best shot I got all day.
Capturing instants like that are what makes photography special for me.
They didn’t get away with it.
Some alert guards raised the alarm and an old woman on the ramparts, who happened to be cooking vegetable soup in a cauldron, poured the boiling mix of carrots and potatoes and heaven-knows-what all over the attackers. Apparently she managed to kill one of them, and the rest fled, further raising the alarm.
Ever since then, on the weekend closest to the 12th December, the Genevois celebrate the ‘Escalade’ (as it is called) with the largest military re-enactment in Europe. They don 17th century costumes and march about the old town of Geneva to the sound of pipes and drums. They fire cannons and muskets, drink cups of hot vegetable soup (trying not to pour it over anyone) and break chocolate cauldrons, called ‘marmites’, filled with marzipan vegetables to loud cries of "Ainsi périrent les ennemis de la République!" (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic!)
It is a very photogenic event.
And I was there, taking photographs of the festivities ...
But I was also watching the spectators. Two little girls were sitting on their daddies’ shoulders, high above the crowd. And then it happened. Their fathers moved off in different directions and ...
I consider it the best shot I got all day.Capturing instants like that are what makes photography special for me.
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