Photography: Italy Trip, Part 2

Some more photos from my Italian trip.

 Angera Castle

 Villa Taranto Botanic Gardens

Film Reviews: Porco Rosso (Contains Spoilers)

I wouldn't describe myself as an anime fan as such, mostly because I've not really seen much of it and don't know too much about it.   I am, however, a huge Studio Ghibli fan.   Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away are all firm favorites.   Porco Rosso seems to be a lesser known Ghibli film, for some reason.   I really enjoyed it though.

The plot is fairly wacky, even by Ghibli standards.   It's about an anthropomorphic pig called Porco Rosso (red pig in Italian), who was an Italian fighter pilot in WWI.   Since being turned into a pig by a spell he now spends his time living alone on a hidden island, visiting his friend Gina, who is secretly in love with him, and fighting air priates for cash.   He's always careful not to permanently put the air pirates out of action though, in order to ensure himself a continuous supply of work.  Eventually the air pirates get fed up and hire an american pilot, Curtis, to take out Porco for them.   Porco however, has no intention of fighting Curtis.   He tries to fly to Milan for repairs, but Curtis is waiting for him and his plane gets badly damaged.   Porco manages to get it to Milan and a young female engineer, Fio, plans a complete redesign and overhaul.   Porco is impressed, despite his earlier scepticism about her skills.   With repairs complete Porco and Fio set off for Porco's island, but the air pirates are hiding in wait for them.   They threaten to tear up Porco's new plane but Fio gets them to agree to a duel, Porco versus Curtis, instead.   Their dogfight degenerates into a fist fight when both their guns jam.   Porco wins and Curtis has to pay Porco's repair bills.   Just then Gina arrives with the news that the air force is on the way.   Everyone scatters and Fio kisses Porco goodbye.   It's hinted at that this breaks the spell on him and he and Gina live happily ever after.  

I love how light-hearted and care-free this film feels throughout.   Despite the conflict, there aren't really any villains.   Everyone is essentially nice, they just happen to be on different sides.   As usual with a Ghibli film, the animation is gorgeous and the characters are larger than life.   For me this film has a special appeal because it looks so much like home.   The artists have really made an effort to make their landscapes look like Italy, and for certain locations I even have a pretty good idea where their inspiration came from.   The possible exception here is the canal in Milan.   It doesn't look quite right, somehow.   Too wide, perhaps, or too many bridges.   But this aside, there's still plenty to make me feel homesick.   There are also parts of it that feel pretty dated.   It was made in 1992 and I don't think a film could get away with the kind of sexist remarks that crop up in it today.   All in all though, a very enjoyable film.

 

Revival/Photography: Italy

So I've decided to have a go at reviving this blog, as I did enjoy doing it. Forgive the prolonged absence. It started due to a period of unemployment, and doing nothing, due to too much free time.  Anyway, to kick us off, here are a few photos of my trip home to Italy during the summer:

 Lago Maggiore

 Statue of Apollo on Isola Madre

 View from Isola Bella

 Statue on Isola Bella

 One of the many chapels on the pilgrim route up Sacro Monte

Show Reviews: Rigoletto

As far as I'm concerned, the best way to see opera is outdoors, in the Roman arena in Verona.  As well as being guarantied a great show, it's also a really lovely atmosphere.   Imagine a warm Italian summer night, a magnificent stage, and you sitting on the ancient fossil-strewn stone steps, still warm from the sun.   People are drinking beer, eating sandwiches and relaxing.   My friend said he wasn't sure if he was at an opera or a football match.   The stage might be far away, but everthing is Big, so there's plenty to look at, a huge cast, magnificent costumes....   We saw Rigoletto, which was one I hadn't seen before.   It was very enjoybale, and of course has the very famous La Donna e Mobile, which everyone will recognise when they hear it.  

 Stage of Rigoletto

This one is actually Aida, but I think it shows what I'm trying to get across

Book Reviews: A Venetian Affair

A Venetian Affair is a really interesting book.   It's the true story of an 18th century love affair between a member of the Venetian ruling class and the illegitimate daughter of an English baronet.   They couldn't get married because she illegitimate, foreign and a protestant, but they carried on their passionate affair for many years.   The story was published by one of the man's descendants, and is told through the couple's real love letters, with commentary by the author.   It's a fascinating look at 18th century life, and a reminder that people never change.   Sadly this isn't a fairytale and there's no happy ending here.   The couple end up splitting up. What I enjoyed most about the book wasn't the love affair (bits did get a bit tedious, with jealousy and lovers' tiffs), but the historical aspects.   We get a first hand glimpse of 18th century Venice, Paris, London and people like Casanova and Napolean.   It's a really interesting read.

 

Photography: Rome, Day 6

The 6th and final day of my Roman Holiday included going round St. Peter's and the Castel Sant'Angelo.   The latter is a fascinating building.   It was built as the emperor Hadrien's mausoleum, but was later turned into a fortress!   How odd.   Anyway, here are my favorite photos from the day:

 View of Castel Sant'Angelo from the top of St. Peter's

View of Piazza San Pietro from the top of St. Peter's

 

   Tricolore by Castel Sant'Angelo

Photography: Rome, Day 5

Day 5 of our Rome trip included a trip to Villa Borghese (lovely art gallery) and an evening trip to the Vatican.   My favorite photo of the day was an HDR photo of a statue of a statue at the temple of Asclepius in the gardens of Villa Borghese.   There's a lovely golden quality to the light.   It looks like somewhere straight out a myth.  

  

Photography: Rome, Day 4

The fourth day of our Rome trip took us back to the Palatine Hill for a proper look round there, and to the forum, and to the Pantheon as well.   The two photos I liked best from the day weren't really of any of those things.   I really liked one HDR photo over the roofs of Rome.   The normal version looked pretty mundane, but the HDR version really brought the scene to life.   You can see a little bit of the forum in the foreground, but the focus is on the rooftops.   The other is a photo of the Colosseum from a different angle.   I really like the warmth of it.   It looks almost autumnal.

   

Photography: Roma Night Photos

Taking night photos in Rome was my first attempt at HDR night photos.  I really like the effect.   The way you can have a lot more stuff correctly exposed with HDR is really accentuated with night photos.   They look really bright and vibrant.  I'll definitely be doing this again.  

 The Typewriter by night.   The blue streaks were caused by a police car passing in front of it.   The flashing of the light makes interruptions in the streak.  Pretty!

 And again.   Photomatix has a default setting that removes "ghosts", or parts of the photo that appear in one exposure, but not the rest.   This is very useful for automatically removing things like passers-by that wander in front of the camera and traffic and objects moving in the wind.   By turning this setting off I got a lot more streaks of light from passing cars than I otherwise would have.

Fontana di Trevi.   A very famous fountain in Rome.   It's surrounded by tourists day and night.   If you throw a coin in over your shoulder with your back to it it's meant to mean that you'll come back to Rome someday.

Photography: Rome, Day 3

The photos from the third day of my Rome trip are also from Tivoli.   This time I went to Villa d'Este, a big renaissance villa.   The house itself is pretty forgettable, but the gardens are amazing!   There are stupid numbers of water features.  It's absolutely gorgeous.   Well-worth a visit!   Again, most of the are HDR, but the last two are just ordinary photos.

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: Roman Holiday, Day 1

I've decided to split up my Rome photos by day, seeing as there are so many of them.   Day 1 is mostly HDR, seeing as it was overcast and the light was bad.   The non-HDR photos just looked flat and uninteresting.   We went round the Colosseum and had a bit of a wander around the Palatine Hill as well.   Carrying my equipment round Rome all day for a week certainly took its toll on my shoulders, but I think the results were worth the pain.

 Colosseum, obviously.   I love how the HDR turned boring, grey, overcastness into fierce storm clouds.

Arch of Constantine as seen from the Colosseum.    Also love how the HDR turned mundane tourists-in-the-way to splashes of brilliant colour.

                                                                    Arch of Titus

                                                Colosseum seen from the Palatine Hill

                                                                 Arch of Constantine

 Vittorio Emmanuele monument.   AKA the typewriter.   Most Romans don't like it cos it's so pompous and self-indulgent.  I do though.   The marble glows white in the sunshine.   This was my best attempt to get it without traffic in the way.

      Poppies coming up between the paving slabs in the forum.   The only non-HDR photo from the day that I liked.   There were poppies absolutely everywhere.   It was beautiful.

Photography: Lago Maggiore

I love storm lighting.   You know the kind I mean.   Dark and moody clouds but with the sun still managing to sneak through somehow, casting a strange yellow glow over everything.   The kind of light that can last for mere seconds and when it does appear you of course never have a camera with you.   Well, I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment on this occasion, and I managed to get some lovely shots of Lago Maggiore at home just before a storm broke.   Some of them are HDR and some aren't.

                                                                        The HDR

                                                              And the non-HDR ones