Have I mentioned food lately? Living in Italy and travelling in Europe has been such a sensory experience, a delight for the tastebuds in addition to the eyes. It’s often difficult to capture the beauty of the food – the lighting, the crowd of people, reflections of glass – but this window display in Assisi let me capture it beautifully. All I can say is – Yum!
Contrast
Behind the Basilica di San Francesco (Basilica of St. Francis) in Assisi is this courtyard. I’m not sure if it’s a cloister or what exactly it is, but it’s a beautiful little place full of contrast. I like the contrast of lines and curves, sun and shade, near and far, bright color and subdued neutral. See how many contrasts you can find in this one image!
Spring Glow
A beautiful spring scene in Assisi. I love the contrast of tree practically glowing in the sunshine with the stone buildings in shadow. How the rock wall on the left turns into the rock of the hill, blending seamlessly. How, in a town made of stone and built on stone, little patches of trees and flowers bloom.
Nature always wins
It must be spring, because I am seeing flowers everywhere. Flowers on the bushes and trees, flowers for sale from street vendors, flowers on our balcony. I love it. These flowers for you today are with some Roman ruins of Ostia Antica near Rome. Ostia was the first colony of Rome, a port town on the Tiber river. We spent a day exploring these interesting pathways and buildings.
Seeing the spring flowers in the setting of the Roman ruins makes me think. Everything man builds, once complete, starts to decay. It’s amazing that, two thousand years later, even this much of the Romans remains with us. But in nature, there is an ongoing cycle of renewal. After the darkness of winter comes the flowering of spring. After a severe forest fire comes the new trees. Nature’s creative energy always wins. It wins over these ruins, where the plants and trees have taken root and have been transforming the place back to a natural state. While for man, our creative endeavors begin a slow decay as soon as they are completed, we are constantly fighting nature.
Just something to make you think…
Night Lights
You just never know what you might find when you look up. A beautiful spring garden, growing over the street lights on a street in Rome. One evening on our trip we wandered around the old city, to get a feel for it at night.
This year of travel I have fallen in love with night photography. There is such a different feel at night. Different illumination and shadows. More contrast between light and dark. A challenge of it’s own. But the result… beautiful.
Beautifully Backlit Boy
Occasionally, when I look through photos from a trip, something just jumps out at me. Something different, striking and wholly of my own vision. The Kat Eye View.
This photo of Brandon at the bottom of Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick’s Well) in Orvieto is one of those photos. A new favorite. I saw the light, I saw the opportunity, I asked Brandon to pause for a moment and… magic. To me, this photo is magic.
When all of the elements of your art come together in a new, creative way you just have to enjoy the moment. Of the thousands of photos I take in the course of the year, I might only get a couple of these moments. I’m happy to share this one with you today.