Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged art, classical, girl, history, Italy, marble, monochrome, museum, photography, Roman, Rome, sculpture, statue, still life, woman on March 12, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Ladies of Rome : photographed August 2012
An assortment of wonderful stone females I found hanging around the Italian capital.
I love taking pictures of statues. More so than of real people, because you can take your time to concentrate on the lighting and framing which you might not be able to do with pesky fidgety living subjects…
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, art, arts, clouds, Colosseum, cubism, design, EUR, fascism, Italy, modern, Mussolini, palazzo della civilta italiana, photography, Rome, sky, urban on February 23, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Palazzo della Civilta Italiana, EUR, Rome : photographed August 26th 2012
The EUR district of Rome is often overlooked by most tourists, which is probably just as well, since this crumbling collection of monolithic concrete buildings are slowly decaying and apparently empty, testament to the insanely grandiose designs of Mussolini who created them in the 1930′s. The whole mad experiment is redeemed, however, by the wonderful Palazzo della Civilta Italiana, an imposing cubist makeover of the colosseum. I was there on a stormy day, but got lucky when a ray of sunlight illuminated the edifice against a backdrop of threatening clouds.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, arts, classical, fountain, grotesque, Italy, night, photography, renaissance, Rome, sculpture, shadow, statue on January 6, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Piazza della Rotonda, Rome : 23rd August 2012
This particular piazza in central Rome is most famous for one of the city’s star attractions, the imposing and ancient Pantheon, but it is also home to an obelisk, at the base of which is an intriguing sixteenth-century fountain. Here are two of the four sides captured at night, and given different post-processing treatments. In both cases the non-use of flash allowed the fountain’s lighting to cast eerie shadows over the somewhat grotesque figures…
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged fountain, frozen, high speed, Italy, monochrome, Rome, water on March 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Frozen Fountain Flow” : Rome, 28th March 2011
Another shot from my last day in Italy almost a year ago (see Photo of the Day #304).
This time I went for monochrome as it seemed to highlight the sheet of water more, and by now I was pushing the shutter speed up 1/3200th of a second to really freeze the flow (technical aside – I had to increase the ISO to be able to shoot at such high speeds, which resulted in slightly poorer image quality).
Hmm….this reminds me that I don’t do enough experimentation in my photography these days. Let’s try to remedy this soon…
You can find a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged archeology, architecture, building, history, Italy, Rome, ruin, sky, temple on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Tarnished Temple” : Rome, 31st August 2010
My favourite part of Rome is not one that is frequented by most tourists. I get it, you’re on a tour or you don’t have much time, so you just traipse around the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Nothing wrong with that, but the city really does warrant getting lost in, wandering round without a map and discovering all manner of amazing things.
I love the area around the Theatre of Marcellus. Clustered here, in the Jewish Quarter, are a host of interesting sights guaranteed just a percentage of the visitors to the other places, leaving you free to gaze upon the like of the Portico of Octavia, whose time-ravaged exterior stills retains dignity and splendour, especially when set against the deep blue of a summer sky…
Click here to see a larger version of this picture.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged fountain, frozen, Italy, Piazza del Popolo, Rome, time, water on March 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Fountain Frozen in Time” : Rome, 28th March 2011
It was the final day of my three-week trip to Italy last spring, and I was back in Rome with just a few hours to spare, finding myself in that strange transitional state between the freedom and excitement of holiday and the dread of returning back to the mundane routines of ‘real’ life.
I did a final loop around the central sites of my favourite city, then found myself on the Piazza del Popolo, where I became intrigued with the fountains at the base of the Egyptian obelisk in the centre of the square, and spend ages working out how to get the exposure right for freezing the water in the air.
Here’s one of the results : far from perfect, but quite satisfying nonetheless.
I suppose in a way, my sudden idea to delve into the world of high shutter speeds was an echo of my desire to freeze time itself and thus prolong my stay in the Eternal City…
You can see a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged cathedral, church, Italy, Milan, roof, silhouette, spires, statues on February 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Saints and Spires” : Milan, Italy, 27th March 2011
I’ve been to Milan twice. The first time was about fifteen years ago in the company of a good friend of mine who had lived in Italy for a time and was going to show me around. This ‘showing around’ amounted to getting ripped off in a crappy touristy pizzeria, then drinking beer out of plastic cups in the mosquito-infested gardens of some great fortress or other. Not the greatest of impressions.
My next visit was an impromptu one a year ago. I had been based in Bologna and was nearing the end of a three-week trip to Italy. I’d planned on my final day being a trip out to Ravenna on the Adriatic coast, but as the morning dawned the weather looked dicey and I couldn’t face the prospect of a rainy day stuck in a small town with nothing to do.
At Bologna station I was very pleased to find that for a relatively modest fee I could get a high-speed train up to Milan in only an hour and a half, and even if the weather didn’t cooperate, it didn’t matter, since my goal was a prominent art museum.
When I got their, although it was cloudy and hazy, I couldn’t resist dropping by the extraordinary cathedral, which is quite jaw-dropping in its beauty. I wasn’t interested in going inside, though – my target was the roof. For a fee you could clamber up the stairs and find yourself on the marble-glad top of this enormous edifice, providing some remarkable views despite the poor weather.
A riot of hundreds of spires, statues, gargoyles and ornate stonework, it was worth the trip up to Milan just for this, let alone the excellent art museum I visited shortly afterwards.
I still don’t like Milan too much, especially when compared to Rome, Venice or Bologna, but this was a wonderful end to my holiday.
See a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged bird, Campanile, fog, Italy, pigeon, tower, Venice, winter on February 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Venice Fading” : Italy, 15th March 2011
It may be true that Venice is fading if we think in terms of its shrinking native population and their fears that the unique maritime city will soon become a dead museum. One can also see unmistakeable evidence that the place is crumbling, gradually making way before the power of nature against this very unnatural of habitats (a whole city, built on wooden stilts pushed into the marsh).
However, on this foggy day as I sped past the main square, thinking that the inclement weather would be affording me few photographic opportunities, I hadn’t reckoned on the mist being so low as to partially erase the top of the Campanile, or the obliging pigeon who appeared exactly at the right moment.
Incidentally, this very tower, originally built in 1514, suddenly collapsed one morning in 1902, mercifully not injuring anyone, before being reconstructed ten years later. So it really did disappear from view for a decade:
You can see a bigger version of my photo by clicking here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, castle, Ferrara, Italy, moat, photo, photography, reflection, sky on February 6, 2012 | 2 Comments »
“Castle Reflections” : Ferrara, Italy, 25th March 2011
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wasn’t particularly bowled over by the Italian town of Ferrara when I visited last spring.
However, it cannot be denied that the centrally located Castello Estense is an impressive structure whose sublime tones compliment a blue sky perfectly.
Just think yourselves lucky that you can’t see the hundreds of annoying schoolkids charging about everywhere on their bicycles nearly knocking you down at every turn…
Check out a larger version of this picture here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, Italy, marble, monochrome, night, Rome, sculpture, statue, Trevi fountain, water on February 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Famous Fountain” : Rome, 4th September 2010
OK, tonight we’re getting really touristy and I’m throwing out a shot of that Roman magnet the Trevi fountain.
In my defence, I’ll say that in comparison with another well-trodden sight in the city, the Spanish Steps, this one really is quite wonderful, as long as you go at night when the floodlights and the good-natured international crowd that swamp the place make for a very pleasant atmosphere. Keep a close watch on your valuables, though…
This shot was nice in colour, but turned out even better in monochrome, the particular treatment I used bringing a strange look to the cascading water.
You can see a larger version of this photo here.
