Old Man Florence (Italy)
f/3.5 ISO 3200 1/15 10-24mm@10mm
I get the feeling that this old man standing silently on a quaint street corner in the Oltrarno district of Florence, Italy, has been keeping an eye on things for a loooooooooong time. If you do get to Florence, make sure you venture across the Arno river and get lost in the streets of the Oltrarno. Eat, drink, stroll, and fall in love all over again!
Ponte Vecchio Bridge, Florence (Firenze) Italy
f/11 ISO 400 1/250 55mm
First, I want tho say that IT’S GREAT to be back. I have been “offline” for quite some time and have neglected this blog that I had come to enjoy so much. I had some pesky cervical spine discs that decided to herniate over the years, and finally they got the best of me. Pretty much anything, even computer time, became an unbearable “pain on the neck” (and back, shoulder, arm, and hand). Also, carrying a bag as light as a camera bag was too much. The offending discs have since been removed, and I now have three fused vertebrae in my neck to show for it all! I just got clearance to carry more that a few kg, so hopefully carrying the camera will keep me motivated to pick up again with the blog.
This is a shot of the Ponte Veccio Bridge over the River Arno in Firenze (Florence) Italy. My wife and I visited for a few days last summer, and had a fantastically fun and romantic trip to the “Cradle of the Renaissance “. As Rick Steve’s says, Florence is a “Super Market Sweep”, and the groceries are the best Renaissance art in Europe! (and home of Italy’s best gelato! ). I was most focused on a tour of as many Michelangelo’s works as I could see, which Florence hosts many.
This is an HDR that I created from one source image. Three copies were created at 2 f-stops intervals, merged with Photomatix, and tuned in Aperture.
The Cinque Terre of the Italian Riviera
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- Colors of Vernazza
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- Colors of Monterossa
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- Manarola , the the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre
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- Passages of Vernazza
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- The Walk of Love
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- When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
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- La via dell’amore, Riomaggiore (“Love Walk”)
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- Girl in Riomaggiore
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- Riomaggiore
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- Monterosso Beaches
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- Via Dell’Amore
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- Dusk in Vernazza
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- Colors of Riomaggiore
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- Monterosso Street Musicians
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- Vernazza
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- Buildings in Riomaggiore
This is my last photo post on Vernazza and the Cinque Terre. Read my last posts on this region to read about the flooding disaster from Oct 2011. And please consider visiting the Cinque Terre some time in the future. They will surely appreciate your tourism dollars.
p.s. I usually load full size images, but I suspect that they may be too large and may load too slowly. Please let me know what you think.
Vernazza Harbor by Day
f/8 ISO 200 1/250 -0.33ev 18-200@24mm
On 25 October 2011, Vernazza was struck by torrential rains, massive flooding, and mudslides that left the town buried in over 4 metres of mud and debris, causing over 100 million euro worth of damage. The town was evacuated and remains in a continued state of emergency. Click here to read more about the disaster and to see images and videos. And please consider visiting Vernazza at some time in the future. They will surely appreciate your tourism dollars.
Vernazza Harbor by Night
f/16 ISO 200 30s 18-200@26mm
On 25 October 2011, Vernazza was struck by torrential rains, massive flooding, and mudslides that left the town buried in over 4 metres of mud and debris, causing over 100 million euro worth of damage. The town was evacuated and remains in a continued state of emergency. Click here to read more about the disaster and to see images and videos. And please consider visiting Vernazza at some time in the future. They will surely appreciate your tourism dollars.
Help Save Vernazza
f/25 ISO 200 30s -1ev 18-200@48mm
As I mentioned in my last post, my family traveled to Cinque Terra on the Italian Rivera in 2010. While there, we stayed in the village of Vernazza. Vernazza is the fourth town heading north, has no car traffic , and remains one of the truest “fishing villages” on the Italian coast. While doing a little background reading for this post, I was horrified to find out that on 25 October 2011, Vernazza was struck by torrential rains, massive flooding, and mudslides that left the town buried in over 4 metres of mud and debris, causing over 100 million euro worth of damage. The town was evacuated and remains in a continued state of emergency.This is an epic disaster which has seriously damaged one of the most beautiful villages I have ever visited in all my travels. Click here to read more about the disaster and to see images and videos. And please consider visiting Vernazza at some time in the future. They will surely appreciate your tourism dollars.
Boats in Cinque Terre’s Riomaggiore
f/7.1 ISO 200 -0.33 ev 18-200@66
Boats floating in the bay in Riomaggiore, a small village on the Cinque Terra coast of the Italian Rivera. Cinque Terre is a collection of “The Five Lands” , or 5 villages, which are built into the cliffs of this rugged coastline.
This is an absolutely beautiful region which is so breathtaking that it becomes a sensory overload. The area, including the Cinque Terre National Park, are actually UNESCO World Heritage sites. A huge part of their charm is their remoteness and their “car-free” environment.
AND THE FOOD….COME ON!! Our family is agreed that this is one of the two best culinary samplings that we have had in all of our travels through Europe! And if you LOVE seafood, you may never leave!
This image, and any more that I may post from this trip, are before my RAW days, so they are JPEGs untouched by post-processing.
Snaps from Venice, Italy
Since it seems that Venice is such a popular topic, I wanted to post a few more random images before I move on to another location. I hope that these will bring back fond memories to those who have visited and inspire those who have not to perhaps start planning their next holiday itinerary. It truly is a unique destination!
Serenity on the Grand Canal
In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier;
Her palaces are crumbling to the shore,
And music meets not always now the ear:
Those days are gone--but Beauty still is here;
States fall, arts fade--but Nature doth not die,
Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear,
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy!
~ George Gordon Byron
Colors of Venice
ISO 200, f2.5, 1/30 sec, 50@50mm
The island of Venice, Italy, is an art gallery lovers dream. There are hundreds of small galleries all throughout the island, many located on hidden side streets, off the normal tourist paths. While walking down one of these small side streets (I guess you call them streets, however there are no cars on the island), I came across a small hardware store which doubled as an art supply store for the locals. On the far wall was this collection of photogenic pigments which the store owner told me were used for everything from coloring textiles to making paints. In addition, he just happened to be an artist himself, and had a show across the street in a very unique stone-walled gallery. If only I had disposable income!
The lesson that I learned from this shot was to ALWAYS have your camera with you when you travel. The first time I walked by, I didnt have my camera and rushed back to the hotel to get it. The following day, he had taken down the mask, and the shot was gone!
Ciao for now…
Rialto Bridge, Venice Italy
Nikon D90, ISO 200, f/9, 310sec, 18-200@20mm
My family and I spent a few cold January days in Venice last year. The bright side of the cold weather was that there were VERY few tourists, and we seemed to have Venice all to ourselves. This shot was a 5min exposure taken using a 9 stop ND filter. This enabled me to capture the light trails of the few boats that traveled beneath the bridge during the night. I created three duplicated bracketed images which I then HDR’d in Photomatix , then tweeked it a little in Aperture.
