Slowly, every so slowly, over the centuries of use the marble of this entryway of St. Peter’s Basilica has worn down. Time reveals the differences in the inset stone of the marble floor, and the strengths and weaknesses of our own selves. You have to get at the right angle to see it though, to notice the difference, otherwise you might just walk right on by and miss what time has wrought. Take a moment today to look at something from a different angle, to see what the light shows. What do you see that you didn’t see before?
Winter in Spring
It’s become normal, each day, for me to pick a photo to post based on a random impulse. Call it my intuition. Then I just write what comes to me based on looking at that photo. While there is sometimes a plan or a “theme” week (like when I show a specific place we visited, or show several pictures with similarities), they are usually just selected based on what calls to me that day. It has worked very well, and I’m often surprised by what comes out.
It’s not intuition that makes me choose today’s photo, it’s my body. I have an icky cold, it feels like winter to me. So I’m going to drink my tea, finish this post and then crawl back into bed. Because my body is telling me to. I guess sometimes you have to listen to your body too.
Purple is the Color of Italy
We noticed it last year when we first got here… purple is everywhere. People wear purple all of the time. Purple sweaters, striped shirts, purple pants and lots of purple shoes. Men, women, children – purple, violet, lavender – all decked out in purple. In the winter it changed to darker purple shades to go with black. So I guess it shouldn’t be completely suprising to have found a purple gondola in Venice, near some beautiful purple flowers in bloom, but I have to admit it was an unusual sight. Italy always has little surprises for me like this.
Drowsing
Time for a little nap, in a warm and comfortable place. Cats know what they are about! My thanks to this cat Burano, who so nicely dozed in a place that was good for my artistic composition. Learn from cats – when in doubt, nap!
What do these colors make you think of?
Today my son Brandon picked out the picture for the post. This is part of a building and window in, where else, Burano! I loved the bright, unlikely color combination and the hint of the items for sale in the shop window.
I asked Brandon what these colors make him think of, and he answered flowers. My answer is: they remind me of a party! How about you? What do these colors make you think of?
Exploring with a Camera: From a Flower’s Point of View
Have you thought about the flower’s point of view before? What is the perspective, near to the ground, reaching for the sun? The answer is found in these photographs. I had a marvelous time yesterday, playing around with my camera from a flower’s point of view. I got a couple of amazing shots, like the one above and the one below. They are delightful because they are so unplanned, they are the results of experimentation and play. And digital photography is a WONDERFUL medium for this, because there is no cost to just play around! 
There is creative power in exploration and play. I’m thinking to post some “Exploring with a Camera” ideas like this from time to time, let me know if you want to participate and I’ll create a Flickr group to share photos so that we can create a little community of explorers!
So here are some tips on how to explore from a flower’s point of view:
1. Hold the camera near the ground, pointing up toward the flower. You are not looking through the viewfinder, at the screen, anything. Depending on your camera/lens minimum focus requirements you will have to play with distance to hold the camera away from the flower.
2. Shoot, review, shoot, review. Move the camera, the angle. After a while you’ll get a better hang of what you are aiming for remotely.
3. If you’re not getting the focus you want (say, on the flower), switch to a manual focus point. For the second image above, I set the focus point for top middle point, then took a bunch of pics moving the camera around a bit to get the one flower in focus that I wanted.
4. Play around with aperture. Higher aperture will give you a better opportunity to get what you want in focus. Lower aperture will really help your flowers pop, but focus will be difficult.
During the whole process, delight in the randomness of the images. Laugh at the ones that came out totally awkward. Swoon over the ones you think that come out amazing. Enjoy the freedom that comes out from letting go of planning, composing, deciding with every shot!
One final image for today, of my favorite stretch of the path in Parco di Monza. You’ve seen it in winter, and here is spring. This was the time of year we moved to Italy last year, and I remember thinking over and over “I need to go over and take pictures of those flowers under the trees” as I drove by the park. I never did, spring progressed into summer and the flowers went away. So I promised myself THIS YEAR I will go do it. And I finally did!