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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

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Entries in tuscany/firenze (7)

Tuesday
Dec082009

tuscany # 98 - 100 ~ variations on "the light" in Tuscana

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Jewelry shops on Ponte Vecchio ~ Firenze, Tuscana• click to embiggen
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Arno River from Ponte Vecchio ~ Firenze, Tuscana • click to embiggen
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Arno River from Ponte Vecchio ~ Firenze, Tuscana • click to embiggen
IMO, it would be rather ludicrous to deny that light is a prime ingredient of the medium of photography. After all, the word "photography" itself comes from the Greek / Latin words for light and write, as in, writing with light. In addition, it should go without stating that, without light striking light-sensitive media, there would be no photography.

That said, I find the idea that light, because it is a prime ingredient in the process of the medium, is what photography is "about" - as in, photography is about "the light".

Picturing making is no more "about the light" than picturing painting is about the paint.

Sure enough, "the light" can (and does) have a dual role in picturing making - both as part of the process of the medium and as a potentially significant index / sign (amongst other indices / signs) regarding a picture's meaning. No question about it, but ...

... if all that a picture "is about", is "the light" ... well then ... I guess that's all its about. Which, to my eye and sensibilities, is a rather narrow emotional and intellectual framework on which to hang a hat.

Picture makers whose exclusive M.O. is that of "chasing the light" are, IMO, both intellectually and emotionally lazy - cheap-shot artists who rely on the rather easy one-trick-pony technique of a time-worn and schmaltzy / sentimentalized troupe that is guaranteed to get a pavlovian "wow" from the great unwashed masses.

Now, it must be stated that "chasing the light" is most definitely not for the physically lazy crowd nor is it recommended for the technically lazy amongst the picture making throngs. Light-chasers go to great lengths (literally traveling across continents and oceans to iconic locations) to be in the "right" spot at the "right" time where they can then work feverishly to apply gnd / polarizer / warming filter techniques to "dramatize" something or another that is never quite dramatic enough for them as it '"naturally" presents itself. After which there is the virtuoso performance / application of a plethora of post-picturing techniques that serve to further "dramatize" the apparently undramatic and emphasize their preeminent position amongst the ever-swelling ranks of Photoshop Pinball Wizards.

Ok. Fine. Sure. Everybody's got to have a hobby. But, what I can't help but wonder about is that so many fantasy-makers are attracted to a medium that has as a primary distinguishing characteristic, which separates from the other arts, its intrinsic relationship with / as a cohort with the real.

I find it very disconcerting and highly ironic that so many picture makers of the landscape variety - who profess to love and appreciate the natural world - want to make pictures that offer very little regarding the truth and reality of that world.

FYI, the picture of Ponte Vecchio - the bridge street scene - illustrates the fact that the entire bridge street level is lined, wall-to-wall, with small jewelry shops. The wife can be observed looking (longingly?) at some of the wares on offer. None of it was "junk" jewelry, at least not in price.

Monday
Dec072009

tuscany # 93 - another stunningly beautiful day

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A piazza ~ Firenze, Tuscana • click to embiggen
4 frames auto-stitched + some hand stitching in Photoshop.

We were making our way back to the train station after a day visit to Firenze (Florence) when we came upon this piazza. After a rainy day, the early evening / late afternoon light was nice and warm.

Monday
Sep282009

(firenze) tuscany # 25-28 ~ signs

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Self service ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
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Self service ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
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Buca Mario ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
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Pizzeria ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick
I'm basically clueless as to why I became so enamored by/of Italian signs. Maybe they subconsciously spoke to the designer in me - the signs were simple and to the point. One might even use the phrase "classically elegant" to describe them.

It goes without saying, or at least it should, that Italians rank amongst the world's best designers of all kinds of things - clothes, cars, typography, graphics, architecture, and wide variety of "things". I would even go as far as to opine that, to my eye and sensibilities, most of Italy (at least the parts I saw) seems to be well designed in the sense that there is a rather constant look and feel to the entire place.

That characteristic struck me immediately. It took the wife a few days before she stated that she was definitely beginning to understand what I meant by that observation. I think it had something to do with the fact that, for the most part, Italians have managed to avoid the relentless, slapdash, visually oppressive / ugly sprawl that we seem to passively accept, if not embrace, in the name of "progress" here in the US of A.

Friday
Sep252009

tuscany # 23 ~ Italian weather # 4 (and a superb picture surprise)

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David has no umbrella ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
Without a doubt, the single most disappointing thing that I experienced in Tuscany was my time spent with Mr. David.

As dutiful tourists should, we made ticket reservations for our visit with Mr. David - the real Mr. David, not the life-size replica pictured here - at the Galleria dell’Accademia months before our actual visit. We were advised to do so in order to avoid the long ticket queues that are a daily feature of waiting to see The Man.

Unfortunately, avoiding the queues is the least of the problem when spending time with the big guy because all of those people in the queues end up being a mob inside the exhibit hall where Mr. David hangs out (just standing around). And, like all mobs, they are noisy, pushy, and generally unsympathetic to the notion of quiet contemplation. In other words, whatever it was that Mr. David was trying to tell me, I just couldn't hear it over the din and clamor.

But ... surprise of all unexpected surprise - I was struck dumb by a display (literally and figuratively) of pure genius:

The naked bodies in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, home to Michelangelo's David, strain and contort and flex their muscles. Athletic flesh is posed in spectacular acts of prowess, the body constrained and tested in ways that have been part of the tradition of the nude since ancient times. But the flesh that shines in these images is not the work of Michelangelo. I am looking, in these proud surroundings, at photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. ~ Jonathan Jones On Art

Genius. Pure genius.

Yep, right there, displayed right next to David and a variety of other Michelangelo pieces were large (30×40-ish?) beautiful prints of Robert Mapplethorpe nudes - part of the exhibit, Robert Mapplethorpe ~ Perfection in Form.

What an utterly marvelous display of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with a sum that is much greater than its parts. There were more Mapplethorpe nudes and non-nudes pictures on exhibit in a small gallery adjoining the David gallery which was nice touch and very notable by the fact that it is the first ever exhibition of a modern artist in the Galleria dell’Accademia.

For me, the effect of this pairing was twofold - simply stated (Art-wise), 1.) Mapplethorpe's nudes helped vulgarize / humanize Michelangelo's David, and 2.) Michelangelo's David helped legitimize / elevate Mapplethorpe's nudes.

Or, put another way (personhood-wise) - 1.) more than a bit of Mapplethorpe's regular-guy "personhood" rubbed off on Michelangelo, and, 2.) more than a bit of Michelangelo's iconic artistic stature robbed off on Mapplethorpe.

Either way (or any way) one might one choose to view it, the primary benefit for me, in situ, was to let me in on (above the din and clamor) at least a bit of the conversation that Mr. Michelangelo and Mr. Mapplethorpe were engaged in.

Quite a delightful surprise, indeed.

Friday
Sep252009

tuscany # 20-22 ~ Italian weather # 3

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Bridge on River Arno ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
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2 views from Ponte Vecchio on River Arno ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
A light mid-afternoon rain in Firenze (Florence) made for some nice light on the River Arno.

And, guess what? It rained twice on the day we were in Firenze and, sure as rain water's wet, the umbrella guys showed up - this time there were so many it resembled a plague of swarming locust.

FYI, the padlocks on the iron fence around the monument - according to an old Italian legend, if a couple of lovers write their names on a padlock, chain it to the Ponte Vecchio and throw the key down into the River Arno, their love will be everlasting.

PS to wife - Now that I know this, I guess we'll just have to go back.

Wednesday
Sep232009

tuscany # 15 ~ trompe l'oeil (ok, shoot me; that's French - I don't know the Italian phrase)

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River Arno ~ Firenze, Tuscanyclick to embiggen
This fresco of the River Arno, which was painted on the wall in an arch on Ponte Vecchio - the oldest of Florence's six bridges - was one of nicest I saw while we were in Firenze (Florence).

Tuesday
Sep222009

tuscany/firenze # 10 ~ just like home

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A ceiling in Firenze (Florence)click to embiggen
So we're thinking of having our livingroom ceiling painted. Anyone know where I can get this guy's number?