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 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.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged amphitheatre, architecture, Colosseum, Italy, marble, Rome, stone on January 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Colosseum Close-Up” : Rome, 31st August 2010
There’s a reason millions of people each year queue up to get into the Colosseum: it’s a spectacular sight, not dimmed in the least by our modern-day ability to construct similarly-sized arenas.
Impressive as it is now, one can only imagine how amazing it looked when it was constructed nearly two thousand years ago and was encrusted in marble, able to seat fifty thousand people and even had a giant awning to protect the audience from the elements.
Interestingly enough, the term ‘Colosseum‘ is a misnomer – this name originally belonged to the giant statue of Nero which stood outside until the fifth century or possibly later. The correct name, for all you pedantic types, is the Flavian Amphitheatre.
A larger version of this photo can be found here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged abstract, clouds, dome, installation, Italy, metal, Rome, sky, Vatican on January 11, 2012 | 2 Comments »
“Dome and Sky” : Vatican City, 12th March 2011
I needed a break from the arduous toil of going around the Vatican Museum, and found an escape from the round of dimly lit chambers in a beautiful garden somewhere outside.
Just at that moment the weather changed for the better, the rain clouds dispersed, and I discovered this enormous metal dome, a kind of modern installation, sitting incongruously in proximity to all of these remnants from bygone ages.
Somehow the colour and shape of this artefact was just begging to be contrasted with the blue sky, and here it is – a highly unorthodox and unrepresentative memento of the Holy See!
A larger version of this image can be seen here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged "Temple of Hadrian", architecture, historical, Italy, monochrome, night, photography, Rome on November 28, 2011 | 2 Comments »
“Temple of Hadrian” : Rome, 10th September 2010
The Temple of Hadrian is one of my favourite buildings in Rome.
Overlooked by many tourists, despite its massive proportions, it lies on a pedestrian street between other famous attractions.
This superb building survived by being incorporated into other structures, or rather, other structures were built within its imposing columns.
It really shines at night when it is floodlit.
Here, I lay my camera on the ground and hoped for the best, setting the white balance to ‘cloudy’ to get even warmer colours.
Just for comparison, here’s another shot I took, exactly six months later…
“Temple of Hadrian” : Rome, 10th March 2011
Which version do you like best?
Larger versions of these photos can be found here and here.
