20 Minutes in the life of a beautiful mountain 
We were in South Tyrol in Val Gardena last week. Unfortunately, the weather wasnât particularly good. But when the Sassolungo was visible, the view was breathtaking.
And the most famous Geisler view from Seceda:
To be honest, I donât think thereâs much that can be done except at the margins. You just donât need that many people for agriculture these days. Even a lot of towns are basically the few remaining young people serving cafe lattes to the few remaining pensioners still on defined benefit pensions. Once those pensions dry upâŚ
Thatâs not a problem unique to Scotland. The first question is: who is the âweâ who wants those small towns/villages to survive (let alone flourish). Iâm guessing itâs not so much the people who would have to move to those communities.
The only way to get them to survive is to attract families. And that means employment, in the town or close by. In addition you need entertainment: a common complaint about the smaller towns is that âthereâs nothing to doâ. At the time agriculture was the main source of employment, the question of entertainment wasnât all that important, as most people had a lot less free timeâŚ
At the end of the day we need to let things happen naturally (if we can consider modern life natural). There is a strange modern movement that we must preserve everything that is old or historical but it doesnât make much sense nor is it economically viable. Some cities in Portugal for example, still have to use the historical facade in new buildings, even if a few of the historical ones are enough to preserve the history and architecture. Historical city centers plus a few unique specimens here and there seems enough. I donât know, it seems like the preservation costs will only keep rising.
Our sidewalks(>90% of them) are made with portuguese pavement which is horribly dangerous when it rains (limestone, gets slippery for the old and young), extremely high maintenance, subject to deformities by tree roots, etc. It would be good to keep in historical places and especially the famous patterns we have here and there, but we put it everywhere, it makes absolutely no sense over more economical and safer concrete.
This is not chronological snobbery of course, many old designs are still best and should be used when appropriate, but we need to be smart about it.
In France, there are also restrictions on buildings around historical buildings, concerning style and materials for e.g. windows, usually leading to higher costs for maintenance and upgrading (e.g. isolation)âŚ
On the east coast of the US this is common. Of course, this is where European settlers came to, and agriculture started. I grew up in a very rural area in a very small town but you really canât go more than 5 minutes without seeing some sign of human civilization, even if itâs just a farm.
Now that I live in Arizona, itâs completely different. I live in a huge city, but if you leave that city you can drive quite a ways without seeing much of anything. When I moved out here, the last leg of my trip was from Amarillo, TX to Phoenix, which was about 12 hours of driving. Besides Albuquerque, there really wasnât a whole lot in between.
Anyways I went to the AZ Worm Farm yesterday to buy some dirt and plants. Took a few IR photos while I was there.
The grand scenery in west Texas is all south of I-10, by at least 10 miles or so (mostly far more).
There was research a few years back suggesting that areas bombed during WWII are now more economically productive than areas that survived. Not that Iâm recommending it.
I always wondered what happens in Lisbon with those pavements and those hills when it rains.
Oh good grief, of course I shouldâve remembered to do a bracket. 
Although Iâm not sure if the faffing about afterwards wouldâve been worth it. Might have required a tripod to keep things still, as well.
As for liking it, yeah, itâs not that horrible, but I think I wouldâve liked to see some more detail on the moon.
Yeah, but what a great veiled threat for unruly kids â âDonât make me switch that thing on â Your parents will have to pick you up in the Azores!!â
That is my worry as well.
Agreed, it is happening in many rural areas of the UK.
Also agreed, and with your points about employment and entertainment.
The town I live in does have employment, but mainly in retail and hospitality. There are jobs, ones that support the tourist industry, and ones that support the population (education and medicine). But if your fortĂŠ is engineering, science or even photography, there is little for you here.
As for entertainment, we live some 24 mile north of the county town, where there is a concert hall, theatre, cinema, as well as clubs and pubs. There are visiting bands and orchestras. It is easy to get to, being on a confluence of major roads.
But imagine you live in, say, Lochinver (population 651), your nearest big town is a 4 and a half drive away. You arenât going to get many visiting bands, plays or even those competing in the leagues of the Highland Games.
I am not talking about preservation, essentially freezing places in time. I am talking about rebuilding the communities as viable entities, acknowledging that it is the 21st and not the 19th century.
There is talk about closing the oil and gas industry here in Scotland. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Personally, I think it is obsolescent and should go. However, there needs to be just transition for people working in the industry, to new, high skill and well paid jobs.
OK, rant over. Time to talk about photography again.
Have been trying out AgX more thoroughly after watching @s7haboâs new video 
Nice. Is there a bit of blue in the greens? Looks great
Yes, I got a little heavy handed with the primaries 
I think they look great. Just happened to watch this, with grading that tries to replicate Fuji C200 on a Lumix camera. Seems somewhat similar look:
If the photo was taken in Luxembourg, is it an exotic image?
