Last photos from June

Totals for the month, 8 rolls of 135-36 black and white and 60 gigs of RAW files, nearly 2 gigs a day on average and I have little or no idea what I've been photographing. Tomorrow we head to Venice to the Biennale and lots of art to look at.

San Lorenzo market

New Work from Florence

A photograph for Keith.

The concrete beach on the Arno.

Santa Maria Novella.

at the Bardini Garden

My new favorite public garden, we visited in less than ideal lighting conditions and it was wonderful, makes the Bobli garden look like a Walmart parking lot. I ended up shooting two rolls of black and white 35 mm and some images with the Lumix. I'll be bringing my students here Monday if the weather holds.

at the piazza Duomo

Wall photos: Florence part II

Wall photos: Florence

San Giovanni

Watching the Calcio Storico "football" final game
Watching the fireworks.

Its been raining a lot here in Florence

Tuesday in Florence

The day was not a big shooting day, but we did get to the Academia to see the Mapplethorpe show along with the David. It was a terrific choice to put these two artists together and the connection between the two is very clear.

We also made it to the museum at the church of San Marco and saw the fresco's in the small monks cells, which I always find very moving.

This afternoon is my lab time with my students, still massaging the computers, updating software and today installing RAM in some of the labs Mac Mini's and even RAM in one of my students Mac Book, lots of waiting around while software updates download off the WWW.

The light was pretty special this morning but this afternoon a little cloudy, still very cool and comfortable for this time of year. Tomorrow is the festival of San Giovanni and the weather is supposed to hold for us.

more new work

Images from the trip to Lucca

Aperitivo with friends from the USA on the patio

A Hike in the Tuscan Hillside

I was a little apprehensive about today, Regan planned a guided hike thru the hills around Florence. We started in Fiesole and ended in Settignano about 5 miles. The hike took us thru all kinds of varied landscapes, landscapes you might only encounter on foot, and includes some walks thru olive groves. The day was hot, but there was always some shady spot head. The trip ended, like all good field trips, with a great meal a small place Melissia our guide arranged for us.

I got some good work done, mostly landscape, and of course, some great stuff of the students hiking thru some great landscape.

Rosemary on the Ponte de Vechio

Siena day trip with the students

We had a great trip to Siena, thanks to Liliana Leopardi, the WU art historian, who gave some great talks on site. Regan Wheat, as usual, the Capogruppo had the whole machine working on time and without incident.

Here's a little talk outside the Duomo in Siena. My job was to take the students to the top of the wall incomplete Duomo addition and to fill in the holes in between the tour.

at the Bobli Garden with Susan and Kenda

A busy day

Dinner with Kenda and Susan at Mimo's.

At the Duomo with rosemary

This is the view from our deck, the apartment is super quiet and none of the windows face the street.

Lots of thunderstorms last night, and it really rained hard on and off all day, but inbetween, the sky was quite wonderful.

David's

Another cool day in Florence, and we're making the best of it, getting errands and shopping done. I still have not hit the streets with the Nikon too hard. Yesterday, I used the G10 to make this and some other photos while walking around Florence. Today, Sunday, its raining and thunderstorms, so I do not think I'll be getting much shooting done. I still have work to do in the small WU computer lab we've set up for our students. Its a pretty lame set up, I have two Mac Mini's and one of them is an older G4 model with only 1 gig of RAM, so I do not think I can load the new version of Photoshop I have brought with me. I did get the epson R800 cleaned up and running well enough to print on, today, I am going to try to get the older 2200 running.

Dinner on the patio with Susan

Last night a very pleasant evening of great food and wine with Susan on the patio of our apartment. After dinner, a nice walk to get gelato at Neri and of course, the never ending discussion about who makes the best in Florence. 

I have not started to photograph in ernest, thinking I have 60 days here. I've mostly been photographing with the Lumix and only had the D3 out for a little while yesterday. I have always said I like a heavier camera, working with the Hasselblad as an example, but the combination of the D3 and the 24-70 mm lens, may be my limit. Its a heavy combination. Today however, I am working the F100 with my 20 mm lens and actually shooting black and white film as its a little cloudy and I need some film to show the students how to process negatives next week. 

We started the day off by sleeping in a bit (9 am), then breakfast, I caught a capuchino at the corner, then some food shopping at the Central Market (I have a new chicken guy now), then home and a quick stop by the workshop to check email.

Tonight is an aperitivo at Regan's with the students and we're eating out tonight.

with Rosemary along the Arno

Another busy day, getting in the swing of things here in Florence. The apartment is mostly set up, and I'm building the wine collection up. Had my class intro, we talked, went over the course outline, then a walk to the local camera store for an "introduction" with my friend at MB Photo (Mr. "Special Price for you")

Sleep routine still not where it needs to be, but we're working on it. This weekend, no classes, but lots of dinners and aperitivios to attend.

The Bad Hat

The first mishap of the trip, moving into my apartment. I was walking down my street, trucking bags and baggage, and a gust of wind carried my Italy hat off my head and it hits the ground at the exact moment a woman on a bike runs over it. Perhaps a sign I need a Borsalino.

Welcome to Italy!

Arrived yesterday after a long day of planes, trains and automobiles. It was grueling as always, but we're here. The flight on Continental Airlines was good, the aircraft very clean and on time, but the meal was dreadful.

Lots of meetings today and orientation, pictures tomorrow.

Ciao!