I need to get back to Italy… It’s been too long… I’ve got a lot more places to visit and people to see. I’d love to go out shooting with my good friend Valerio again! Here are a few of my faves from ’round those parts.
The first is from a secret crypt under a church. The second is Mount Vesuvius from the air. The third shot across a farm near Pompeii.
I thought I would take a walk down memory lane and show a few of my lesser-known pictures from inside Italian churches. The colors and glows that come through usually come out quite nice in HDR. Actually, I think it is very hard to go back to shooting churches without HDR because it just doesn’t do them justice without it.
Giant caves were carved into the sea-wall. You can see how huge they are by that tiny-sized Italian man in his Euro-suit.
My hotel room in Naples faced out across the bay of Napoli and Mount Vesuvius, where I could see the sunrise each morning. I always kept my camera charged up just in case there was one of these mornings, and fortunately, there always was. I can’t believe my friend Valerio (Valpopando) actually lives there and gets to see this all the time. I hope he appreciates it!
Did I get that Italian right? I was kind of guessing. I picked up a little - very little. But I do know more than the average Olive Garden waiter, which is something I can be proud of, I suppose.
This was taken after I had walked about 10 miles all over the ruins of Pompeii on a hot summer day. I got away from the other tourists, who I generally dislike for no good reason, and found this spot that I was probably not supposed to be. The clouds were peculiar that day, and you can see them hovering over Mount Vesuvius. It’s interesting that the gap there in Vesuvius is actually what is covering the very ruins in which I was standing.
This second shot was from a small plane, barely airworthy, as it flew over Mount Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
For whatever reason, I found it sneaky and fun to take pictures of nuns from behind in churches throughout Italy. I now have one with a black habit and a white habit. I look forward to getting the Emperor’s special redguard habit on a future trip. I tried two different DOFs, obviously.
I don’t do many things around the house, especially when it comes to things like painting, repair, and other silly things, like flushing. So it always impresses me to see someone that takes the time to actually get up and paint the ceiling, because if I were actually to do anything around the house, painting the ceiling would be way down the list (right after flushing).
And so here is another nicely painted ceiling in Rome…
Here is a shot from a Roman church, where the side walls are lined with tombs and statues. I found this one to be particularly macabre, and a good subject for HDR.
I also included a few shots from the nearby churches as well.
This is from a park in Milan. I forgot the name of it, but like everything in Italian, it sounds like food.
Here is a church in Rome that I grabbed in HDR. The stained glass came out nicely. If you click on the image beneath it, you can see my entire set called Churches of Italy.
This reminds me of my Velerio’s dad in Naples who has the exact same picture, but from about 40 years ago. He has a ton of great pictures in his stream… It’s also interesting to see how he has embraced HDR.
Here is a tiny (actually it pretty small compared to most) church a few minutes away from the Colosseum. They don’t normally let the public in, but I sneaked in behind a wedding party that was there checking it out for an upcoming wedding. The priest that let us in assumed I was a photographer with the wedding. This is only one of many times I have been outright in-your-face deceptive with priests.
Over the weekend we hung pictures up at the gallery. Everything looks pretty sharp and those of you are coming to the gallery opening should see something a bit different, perhaps. I don’t know… impossible to be objective, but I do know it is different than what is usually shown there at Halcyon.
I’ll be showing about 45 pieces. Here is a sampling of the ones at the show. You will notice the first three are exceptionally pointy.
Dark Storm over Vancouver:
Intricate:
Spires of God:
Farewell Holland:
Fourth on Lake Austin:
This is Nathaniel:
Rush Hour in Seoul:
One Night in Bangkok:
Here is another well-adorned church in Rome. If you look at the details of the painting on the left in the large version, they are quite detailed.
Also if you look close, you can see the nun in the black habit in the lower left.
This was shot in Naples in the early morning before all the fog had time to burn off the Bay of Napoli. The volcano in the background is Mount Vesuvius.
