Shooting with what you have: Expressions of the 35mm lens

Art to me is expression, and that specific artistic expression – as well as interpretation – has allowed me to be creative on both the front (camera) and back ends (photoshop, etc) of every picture I take. I don’t take any of this too seriously, of course – simply because I can’t imagine enjoying it as much as I do if I lamented the shot, or if I’ve post-edited something in a shoddy way.

Before my California trip (where these shots were taken), I picked up a 35mm lens for my Nikon DSLR – a first “prime” single-focus lens in the mix of my growing list of lenses. I’d read it’s a great choice for street photography and an overall good entrance to the class of wide-angle lenses. Granted, as for street photography, it can mean getting rather close and intimate with any people you may want to be the focal point. That I didn’t do so much this go round, but instead again decided to just get a sense for the limitation it forces upon the photographer – me, who is used to adjusting my usual all in one zoom lens to suite the subject in a jiffy. 35mm too can lend to some of the best color renditions in photography. Perhaps power of suggestion, but I was in fact pleased with more than a few of the shots that were color inspiring to begin with.

None are edited, only the file size reduced for web presentation. Some are “meh” to  me, but the exercise here was shooting as though I had film in my camera, fixed focal length, with no chance of edits before or after “processing” them. I will admit, some give me the itch to really want to use even subtle post-editing features 🙂

For a bit of perspective, I posted the same images all in monochrome in a separate gallery. *Update – I now posted the monochrome first, as it gives a better sense of the color! Thanks Manja for that suggestion 🙂

I don’t typically photoblog in mosaic, but 80 photos can be tedious presented individually. You can click on the photos itself to view in larger format, as a side note. I’ve not captioned them, they are from around San Francisco, specifically the Financial District, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, and Embarcadero neighborhoods.

So first up: Monochrome set.

 

The same gallery, as shot in color.

A bit of a shuffle,  colorless….

 

 

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Gems of Italy: Swoon-worthy Cinque Terre, +1

When I first discovered we wouldn’t be staying in any of the five dreamy villages of the Italian Riveria region the Cinque Terre, I was a little disappointed. Levanto, a town just north of the “fifth” town, Monterosso al-Mare, isn’t technically part of the Cinque Terre. But, as our trip had gone, and how Italy had not disappointed even one iota, Levanto – I quickly discovered – was the place to stay while visiting this ever growing tourist attracting Italian coast.

Between lazily swimming in the Ligurian Sea, hiking the cliffside trail between Vernazza and Corneglia, and gazing upon cliffs of grapevines and olive trees – oh, and eating the out of this world local seafood/food – our two days in the Cinque Terre and Levanto were utterly magnificent.

As a side note, it’s incredibly difficult to discern which photos to post, as I took so many throughout Italy. Cinque Terre was no exception to this dilemna!

Our first stop, the northern-most of the 5 villages, Monterosso al Mare.

Monterosso al Mare

 

Monterosso al Mare

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North of Monterosso al Mare was our town of Levanto. We arrived late in the afternoon, and for dinner had one of the best meals there, a delightful Tuscan feast of local seafoods (and rabbit, and pesto that the chef made for us as a demonstration beforehand!)

 

Fresh mussels, anchovies, calamari, crab, bruschetta, pasta with pesto, risotto with porcini mushrooms. Profiteroles and limoncello. A very memorable meal.

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Levanto

 

Levanto

Levanto

Morning in Levanto

We were up very early the next morning to get the train to hike the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia. The train here runs thru tunnels to connect the 5 towns, and beyond, and was built in the late 1800’s – fascinating when you see the engineering feet required to do so!

 

Cinque Terre: Vernazza

A few pretty pictures in Vernazza while walking to the trail head entrance (above).

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In about 2.5 miles, and ~60 flights of stairs later, we would be in Corniglia – just in time for breakfast and more beautiful views!

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Leaving early gave us the narrow trail mostly to ourselves. We were told it can get quite busy, and my hike mates Paulette and Charlie were early birds like me; we made for pretty decent hiking partners 🙂

 

Vernazza

Vernazza

Vernazza

Vernazza

Tiered vineyards

Looking back at Vernazza as we ascend the beginning of the trail. Stunning!

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Gorgeous Ligurian Sea

Charlie checking out the Olive tree grove

Lots of interesting flora along the way.

Most of the trail was narrow like this, with lots of up!

A section of train tracks thru the hills

Some highlights from our hike (above).

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Olive tree nets, which sure looked like hammocks to me!

Baby olives!

The olive tree nets (sprawled out when harvested) sure looked like hammocks to me!

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Pretty Cinque Terre

Corniglia

Corniglia in sight! Fortunately it was mostly downhill from here 🙂

 

My hiking buddies, Paulette and Charlie

The hills of Corneglia.

Gorgeous Ligurian Sea

The bathroom we used had quite the view!

Oratory of the Disciplinati of Santa Caterina

A well deserved breakfast in a little village in Italy. Who could ask for more? And the coffee – every cup, everywhere, was wonderful (my usual, cappuccino). Also, I discovered Spremuta d’arancia – wonderful fresh-squeezed orange juice. That too became a ritual for me in Italy!

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Lovely Corniglia

Heading down to the train (about 1/2 way there), which we took back to Levanto. I believe for those coming up, it’s about 33 flights of stairs 🙂  We’d already paid our dues on the other end!

Back in Levanto, enjoying a lovely evening by the Mediterranean Sea.

Exploring the fringe of Rome with new friends

Emily, Me, Manja and Marco (Shawn behind the camera). Can you tell we loved our gelato? Marco is the only one taking his time 🙂

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Who’d have thought we’d get the royal treatment from two people we’d never met in person? And yet, here were Manja and Marco (now our good friends, I should add) spending a delightful day by driving us all around to some off the beaten path, and amazing, sites in Rome.

First up was the Protestant, or Non-Catholic, cemetery (“Cimitero Acattolico”)…

The “Angel of Grief” is an 1894 sculpture by William Wetmore Story which serves as the grave stone of the artist and his wife.

John Keats is one of the more well-known people buried here, though his tombstone, paired with this nearby plaque, is a riddle that requires both to identify him.

Very lush with trees, shrubs, flowers; tiered with eclectic nooks and crannies all around the grave sites.

 

The cemetery is also a cat sanctuary.

After the cemetery, Marco using his mad Rome driving skills, we headed for Gianicolo Hill, as every day at noon a cannon fires. We didn’t make it in time, so instead went to Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. The 25 or so churches we saw were phenomenal – there are more than 900 in Rome alone!

Girls with cameras rock!

Entering St Paul’s thru a gorgeous, massive marble columned walkway.

The Basilica, built around the 4th century AD (finished ~1800)

Small font – most baptismal fonts we saw were large and elaborate.

Beautiful art and architecture.

Basilica selfies 😉

I almost forgot – the most important highlight of the day (and every day): FOOD!

We ate at a yummy Sicilian restaurant (serious dining here, can’t you tell), Marco’s work lunch digs!

And conveniently, where we ate lunch was a pasticceria too (pastry shop!)

Macchiato.  I broke the golden rule of having milk in my coffee in the afternoon. It’s all about digestion in Italy (espresso/alcohol after a meal)  Aside from a cappuccino or the like at breakfast, it’s espresso or bust after that! Also, there is a very clear reason why Starbucks doesn’t exist in Italy.  I’ll speak more about Italian coffee in a future post, as it clearly deserves its own accolades!

Granita for Emily and me – Shawn – fancy iced coffee I think!

Chillin’ with the best world travelers one could find.

We ate gelato. Oh, did we eat gelato. But walking 7-10 miles a day warranted it!

We finished a long and awesome day with pizza. It was delish!