A Few Shots from Italy Today

[David]

Remember--if you're looking for a typical tourist photographer, I'm not your guy. But I enjoyed these particular ones. Especially the first two:

 

A mashed bicycle wheel that plays strange games with your mind:

 

 

The ceiling of the Parthenon:

 

 

Two shots of the Coliseum:

 

 

[beemerman2k]

The first 2 are better from an abstract artsy point of view, but I enjoy the Coliseum shots most. I look at the ornate design of the structure and wonder what Rome was like prior to the arena, during its construction, and of course, afterward. Must have taken a rather large commitment on the part of that government to build it. What was the value they saw in doing so? Could those builders have had any idea that their work would become a global attraction all these centuries later? Amazing.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

 

Somewhere from the great beyond, Salvador Dali is smiling.

 

[Deadboy]

Very nice.....can't wait till I am over there on a bike (2 months and counting)!

[EffBee]

I know you're a lighting and textures guy. But I love the fact that damaged as it is, the owner still felt the need to chain it for security. Seems there must be a plethora of 10-speed rear wheels in Italy, all searching for a good home.

 

What gets me about the second photo is the 360-degree uniformity of the shadows. It's expected with a central light source. But you don't often see it.

[Couchrocket]

 

Somewhere from the great beyond, Salvador Dali is smiling.

 

 

Mitch! You took the words right outta my mouth!

 

David, lovely shots... I especially like the oculus of the Parthenon. The change in shadows, side to side, renders that shot very Escher-like.

[philbytx]

Er! Hate to nitpick David..(Nah! Not reeeeeally ).

 

That was the Pantheon (Yes! It is a Greek word tho!)......but a nice photo nonetheless !

[David]

Yes, you are correct. Albert pointed that out to me, but it was too late to edit the post.

[Joel]

Nice shots, David.

 

The first 2 are better from an abstract artsy point of view, but I enjoy the Coliseum shots most. I look at the ornate design of the structure and wonder what Rome was like prior to the arena, during its construction, and of course, afterward. Must have taken a rather large commitment on the part of that government to build it. What was the value they saw in doing so? Could those builders have had any idea that their work would become a global attraction all these centuries later? Amazing.

 

[slight hijack] It always strikes me as odd, sad and ironic that, back in a time when life expectancy was so much less, people built buildings that have stood and remained useful for centuries, but now, when we think we can live forever, we demolish buildings at the drop of a hat due to structural infirmities and functional obsolescence. Hmm.

[Bill_Walker]

Mitch beat me to the reference, but I was gonna say that Salvador Dali left his bike in Italy.

[AZKomet]

Nice....been there done that.....I think I even saw that same bike???

[Couchrocket]

David,

 

The more I look at this image, the better I like it. First, it is a fresh look at an icon that has become a cliché'.

 

Second, I love the use of negative and positive space in the composition. Nice.

 

[Mike O]

An equally interesting shot could possibly be 'high noon'.

 

Well captured, David.

 

Mike O

[David]

Scott, it was the only way that I could not get the tourists in that shot.

[MikeRC]

Thanks David, really nice shots.

 

Can't let Linda see this thread. Not a day go by withour her asking "when can we go back?" Followed by "I love Siena........." I couldn't believe it when I was actually standing in the Pantheon.

 

We wandered around Rome for 4 days, and found lots of interesting spots by accident. About 200 ft from the Pantheon is an unassuming church (Santa Maria Sopra Minerva) which contains one of the few Michelangelo statues in Rome - "Christ carrying the cross" and a Bernini sculpture outside. When we stepped in, there were maybe 5 people inside.

 

Mike Cassidy

[David]

A few from Pompeii (near Naples). This town was "flash buried" by two days of volcanic eruption in 79 A.D., ca. 50 years after Christ's death. It remained buried under ash and pumice until it was discovered in 1592. It has provided unequaled insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire (thanks to Wiki for this).

 

It really is spectacular to see how everything is frozen in time. This first shot is of a gentleman frozen in lava. Eventually the body is gone, leaving a cavity in the stone. The excavators injected plaster into the cavity and that's what you're seeing here:

 

 

 

 

A drawing of the good ship Europa from the wall of a store of commerce:

 

 

The largely intact coliseum:

 

 

Some sort of grinder:

 

[David]

A few from today:

 

 

 

 

[flars]

Two things surprised me about Pompeii: how big the city was, and how much stuff the other cities in Italy took for their museums. Beth and I did not go to Naples, which is where most of the treasures migrated, but there were some nice examples of the mosaics in the National Gallery in Rome.

Most popular tourist site in Pompeii: the bawdy house. It was built with sex in mind, and nothing else. My kinda place.

BTW - did you guys ride the CircumVesuviana ? It tickled me to see how many people rode it without paying. The last time I rode it the railroad bulls came on board, and about 90 percent of the people got off at the next station, which was in the middle of nowhere. Then when we hit the station after that, I saw all the people (maybe 50 people) on the platform stand up, but when the bulls stepped into the doorway, EVERYONE on the platform sat back down. Too funny.

[David]

Michaelangelo's David, carved from one piece of solid marble 17' high. I had to sit on the floor and rest my camera on my leg and guess at the framing and use the alternate shutter release on the bottom of the camera while I pretended to do something else (pictures are a no no).

 

 

Hopeful candles against the colorful bokeh of the nave:

 

 

All natural colored marble:

 

 

All these were taken in Florence.

[beemerman2k]

David, your pictures are amazing.

 

Were I to make lists of all the people I know who are top notch:

 

- photographers

- motorcycle riders

- theologians

- airplane pilots

- authors

- managers

- leaders

 

You'd be on all the lists! And those are just the skills I am aware of. Sheesh.

[David]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, James! Thanks.

[Patallaire]

Photography in Italy is all about capturing the great colors and teh severe angles that abound. I love all of Italy, a photographers nivana.

Great photo's David.

[John Ranalletta]

Thanks, David. Brings back lots of memories. If you get back to the Duomo, consider a short side trip of 800 metres to the Basilica of Santa Croce. The basilica is not remarkable, but there's an adjacent Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School) where leather artisans make and sell their goods.