tuscany # 64-65 ~ Cupressus sempervirens

Just down the road and around the corner ~ near Bagnoro, Tuscany • click to embiggenFYI, that's the same lone Mediterranean Cypress (also known as Italian, Tuscan, or Graveyard Cypress, or Pencil Pine) in both pictures.

tuscany # 63 ~ Tuscan morning fog

Tuscan morning fog ~ in the hills above Bagnoro • click to embiggen

tuscany # 59-62 ~ living in a make-believe world, pt. 2

Details ~ Duomo - Pienza, Tuscany • click to embiggen
Madonna(s) with Child ~ Duomo - Pienza, Tuscany • click to embiggenIt would fair to state that in every era artists dealt in cliches of one kind or another. One of the favorite Renaissance era cliched themes was Madonna with Child - if there's one of these paintings in Italy, there's, say, a zillion of them hanging all over the place.

The ones pictured here are in the Duomo in Pienze. They are 3 of the 4 - each by a different prominent Renaissance master from the Sienese School - commissioned by Pope Pius II for his newly constructed Duomo in his newly constructed village in Pienze (named by himself for himself - Pio's town, AKA - pope's town).

The Sienese School of painting (13th-15th century) rivaled that of Florence for a period of time. Its trademark look was toward decorative beauty primarily depicting miraculous events with dreamlike coloration. In a way they were the color-saturated, hue & saturation to-the-max, no-relation-to-the-real, cliched-iconic-image-practitioners of their day. Their paintings were certainly fanciful.

So, who knows - maybe someday in the future all of those color-saturated, hue & saturation to-the-max, no-relation-to-the-real, cliched-iconic-image pictures (photography-wise, Landscape Division) of today will be hanging in our National Cathedrals, AKA (according to Ken Burns) National Parks, where they will be revered as treasures from the past.

man & nature # 241 / tuscany # 58 ~ the light

Adirondack light • click to embiggen
Tuscan light • click to embiggenWhen my brother asked if we would be interested in going to Tuscany with him and his wife, my very first thought was ... oh yeh, making pictures under Tuscan light.

I suppose that it's possible that there might be a picture maker, Landscape Division, out there who hasn't heard of / seen pictures of Tuscan light but I'm not one of them. I owned (it was destroyed in the flood) only one of them - Tuscany: Inside the Light by Joel Meyerowitz - but virtually every one of the Tuscany picture books I have seen make reference to "the light".

FYI, I would not recommend the Meyerowitz book only because the reproduction is second rate - I have seen some of the original prints and they look very little like what they look like in the book. That said, the reproductions in the book do "resemble" the originals that I saw in as much as in both cases the visual results fall into the category of what would be called "delicate and subtle". In that sense, they differ remarkably from the typical Tuscan pictures which are almost always on the color saturated / garish side of things, picture-wise.

That delicate and subtle quality was what I was expecting in Tuscany and for the most part that's exactly what I got. However, I would not attribute those characteristics to "the light". I found Tuscan light to be pretty much just like "the light" here in the Adirondacks. Light is, as they, just light.

Is there a difference in the manner in which the light interacts with the elements that make up the Tuscan landscape as opposed to the manner in which in it interacts with the elements that make up the Adirondack landscape? Absolutely, without a doubt.

I was thinking about how I would explain this difference when I came across an interview with Joel Meyerowitz that touched on just that subject. The interview is well worth a read for a number of reasons but here's the thing about "the light":

This particular valley, called the Vald’Orcia, which is below Sienna, is composed of a kind of white clay ... its got a white base to it, it’s not black earth, or rich American earth, and so when the light rains down in this valley, and because it’s a valley there’s a particular kind of moisture always trapped in it. So, the valley itself has a kind of pearlescent quality its as if the air in the valley is illuminated from within. Because sunlight striking the ground rises up from the ground it doesn’t suck up the light because of dark earth so there is a funny kind of glow around everything ... it infused the photographs that not only I made but my students made.

In so many words, that's about how I see / saw it as well. It's not the light per se that is different, it's a combination of many other factors as well that create the visual character of the place.

The same holds true for the Adirondacks. The light is just light but, just as in Tuscany, it interacts with elements in the landscape to achieve a look that is particular to the place. The Adirondacks is not composed of white clay nor is it an "open" landscape. In most locales the earth is, if not covered by the canopy of the forest, blanketed by a thick cover of vegetation of some sort - there is very little reflected light, the light that adds the luminescent (glowing) quality to "Tuscan light".

In the Adirondacks the light tends to be characterized by a quality that is often described as "Hudson River School light" - a "type" of light that emphasizes the bold contrasts between light and dark. It also is strongly identified with dramatic skies - storms and especially sunsets. FYi, the Adirondack picture above has rather remarkable Hudson River School qualities, both color and light, that are the product of the light and the elements that day, not the result of post processing.

The above Tuscan picture really does illustrate very typical mid-day Tuscan light although it is perhaps not what most picture makers think of as typical.

They are much more familiar with the color-drenched pictures of Tuscan fields cover with sunflowers and the like. A kind of Tuscan light that has been reduced to the same color-drenched light that they literally create for every picture they make no matter the location or the actual quality and characteristics of the light to be found there.

tuscany # 57 ~ living in a make-believe world

Snow White and the Seven ~ in the countryside around Cortona, Tuscany • click to embiggenIn response to yesterday's entry, Anil Rao asked: "Is your disdain with the final image itself (one that bears little or no resemblance to the real world) or is it influenced by the fact that (some) aspects of the photographic process were employed in producing the image? Would you feel differently if someone were to create an equally fanciful rendition/description of nature using painting or writing as the medium of choice?

A CAVEAT - It should be noted that my fulminations, re: pretty pictures, are aimed squarely at those pictures made in/about the natural world, AKA - landscape pictures which feature (but not limited to) the natural landscape and/or its component parts.

That stated, the "final image"(s) that Anil refers to do not create feelings in me that rise to the level of "distain". My general reaction to them on a purely visual basis is, quite simply, blah. Rather, it is the deceptive message (as I and many others see it) - see yesterday's entry , man & nature # 240 ~ I'm just asking - that they convey, intentional or not, that gets me hot on under the collar.

And what gets me hot under the collar is not really all that connected to the medium of photography per se. It is photography related to be sure in as much as it is a picture that strikes the match, but the real issue for me is the bigger issue of life in a "retouched world".

Here in the good 'ole US of America, the bulk of the citizenry has become so addicted to the next big thing (as an example, photography-wise, the next "big" camera) ... an addiction aided and abetted by the constant fanning of the flames of desire by the media and its corporate advertising brethren. And, virtually all of that fanning is accomplished by the presentation of "retouched realities" - the "perfect" car, house, body, hair, vacation, spouse, kids, clothes, toaster, toothpaste, eyelashes, and on and on and on and ......

Our culture has been so saturated by "retouched realities" that most of the citizenry can no longer differentiate between shit and shine-ola - a fact of life here in the good'ole US of America that corporations and politicians in particular use much to their advantage.

So, my question becomes - why would a talented thinking person, photography-wise, want to participate in heaping any more "retouched realities" kindling on that fire?

As for Anil's question re: "equally fanciful rendition/description of nature using painting or writing", let me answer by bringing it back to the medium of photography. Everybody - and that definitely includes me - needs an "escape", a little break from the less fun aspects of daily life. For many people that escape is found in making pictures and that fact is not something that I have a problem with.

However, that said, when living in a state of escapism becomes a full-time pursuit, ultimately it becomes a rather destructive endeavor both individually and collectively - as the saying goes, too much of a good thing.

All of that said, I have a question - I am inclined to think that, as a nation, the good 'ole US of America is inclined to lead the world in many things, many of which fall under the heading of "nothing exceeds like excess". Relative to that concept, I wonder if we also lead the world in the creation of fanciful depictionss of the natural world that bear no relationship to reality?

What do you think?

tuscany # 52-56 ~ an Italian treat

Dante & Company ~ Viliano, Tuscany • click to embiggen
Fried rabbit, a happy camper, & ricotta custard • click to embiggenAbout 1/2 way through our time in Tuscany, I remarked to the wife that the one thing we had yet to do was to met an Italian. We had come in contact with quite a number of Italians - all friendly, courteous, and kind - while going about our daily business but what I meant was to met someone with whom we could have a conversation.

That situation came to a happy conclusion the very next day in the tiny village of Viliano. The wife and I were rambling around in hot pursuit - I was in hot pursuit, the wife was doing more of a slow burn - of the picture postcard Tuscany when we came upon the hilltop village of Viliano which was just a hair bigger than blink-and-you'll-miss-it size. Smaller still was the gated entrance to Piccola Trattoria Guastini which I noticed when driving by only because, playing near the gate, there was a little long blonde haired kid who caught my eye. He wasn't the spitting image of my grandson, Hugo, but he was close enough to catch my attention.

So we stopped and descended the stairs to the terraced restaurant that overlooked a vast stretch of southern Siena/Tuscany. It was open and in we went.

To make a long story short, we met an Italian or, more accurately, several Italians - little Dante and his mom (seated in the above picture) and dad (seated with wine). Emanuela (dad), the owner of Piccola Trattoria Guastini, spoke very passable English - Dante could only count to 10 in English - and he turned out to be a very friendly, gracious, and informative host. We had an interesting conversion - in fact, we had 2 conversations with him because the food was so good that we returned the next day with my brother and his wife in tow to do it all over again.

As luck would have it, I had a picture of Hugo on one of the memory cards I was using. Dante and his dad and mom got quite a kick from the visual similarity between Hugo and Dante. We got quite a kick from the similarity of Dante's and Hugo's energy levels. Meeting the Scortichini family and enjoying their warm and genuine hospitality was a real treat.

And, oh yeh, the food was magnificent - I had the fried rabbit and a ricotta/honey/cinnamon custardy with pistachios thing for dessert that was an absolutely delicious Italian treat.

(firenze) Tuscany # 48-51 ~ what were they thinking?

Approaching Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggen
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggenThe Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the Duomo (cathedral) in Firenze. It is, in a word, insane, or, in a phrase, insanely incomprehensible.

I mean, I've been there, touched it, walked around it, pictured it, stared at it, thought about it but I still can't wrap my head around it. I keep getting hung up on the fact that this massive thing was conceived a little over 700 years ago. What were they thinking? Or, maybe a better question is - what were they smoking?

The sheer scale of the place is fantastic (5 football fields - US football, real football, not that silly soccer thing - long) but throw in the structure's facade(s) detail and the sculpture / statuary and the frescoes and the paintings and the windows and the woodwork and the nearly 3-story bronze doors and it makes one wonder about the sheer chutzpah (I know, wrong religion) that it took to full this thing off.

The structure alone took from 1296 until 1636 to complete and at that point the facade was still unfinished. The facade was not completed until 1887 after undergoing a number of false starts which included a complete dismantling of the facade-in-progress in 1587 (by order of the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici). The facade remained bare until the 19th century.

tuscany # 46-47 ~ here today ...

Roadside votive chapel ~ near Bagnoro, Tuscany • click to embiggenRoadside votive chapels dot the Italian landscape. They contain some splendid religious art, most of which is exposed to the elements. One wonders if anyone has given any thought to some sort of preservation effort. It would be a shame to loose it.