Photography: Italy Trip, Part 2

Some more photos from my Italian trip.

 Angera Castle

 Villa Taranto Botanic Gardens

Photography: Fields of Gold

On a family trip to the beach at Berwick upon Tweed we stopped at a service somewhere along the way.   There was a glorious view of an oilseed rape field.   It put me in mind of Sting's Fields of Gold.   Take a look around you!   There's plenty of beauty to be found in everyday unglamourous things.   Shame the sky wasn't blue, but you can't have everyone in the North of England.

Photography: Other People's Pot Plants

I went round my neighbourhood with my camera and took macro photos of other people's pot plants.   This was my favourite.   No idea what it is, but it's very pretty.

Photography: Rome, Day 2

There's a town outside Rome called Tivoli, and it's well-worth going there for two or three days if you're in the area.   Getting there on Italian public transport was...interesting, but we made it, and spent a happy day going round Hadrien's Villa.   It was his summer palace, and was a shrine to decadence.   It's an absolutely enormous site, and does pretty much take a day to explore fully.   You'll find pools, baths, barracks, complete with mosaic floors, massive storehouses, Hadrien's private study, surrounded by his own moat, and his incredible outdoor banqueting area.   It's a fascinating place.   I'm very pleased with some of my photos from the day, but to honest, most of them aren't of the ruins themselves.  

 Poppies, poppies, poppies, poppies!

  This statue is part of the outdoor party area.   This pool would have been surrounded by columns and statues and the whole thing would have been draped with vines and candles.   At the far end you can see a covered area where the feast itself would have taken place.  Can you see it?  The rich food, the wine, the musicians, the peace of a warm Italian summer night, the candles, the slaves, the Roman nobles in their togas and gold and the emperor Hadrien himself?

Photography: Summer Flowers

I tried to take some HDR photos of some of the lovely summer flowers in my mum's garden.   Oddly, I found that somehow, no matter what I did, the HDR photos just didn't look as good as the JPEGs.   This hasn't been a one time thing either.   Whenever I've tried to take HDR flower photos they never seem to quite work.   So that being said, here are the JPEG versions.   A touch of summer for you.   All taken with my macro lens.  

 Notice how the fence in the background is hardly noticeable?   I used a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus.   handy trick for hiding unsightly fences!

                                      Irises are so gorgeous.  Such rich colours and textures.

Blossom and Flowers

In April/May Edinburgh is carpetted in cherry blossom.   I, of course, like to photograph it.   Here is a cherry blossom photo I took last year in George V Park near my flat:

 Ah, lovely pinkness.   I love how it's so thick, and just everywhere.   Notice the new signature in the bottom left-hand corner, added after this incident.   


This is another one taken the same day and same place.   Possibly my favorite ever cherry blossom photo I've taken.   It's a different type of blossom.   It's not the pale pink one that's everywhere, but the bright magenta one.   What I like most about this one is the contrast of the magenta against the bright blue sky behind it.   Gorgeous!   To get this shot I had to find a low-hanging branch with the sky behind it and shoot straight upwards.

And just for good measure, here are some blue bells in someone's garden right by the park.   All three photos were taken with my macro lens.