Wednesday, 12 June 2013

ciao bella. italy

I went on a four day break to Italy with my Mum primarily for two reasons; relaxation and escape from the end of exams, and secondly; for the picturesque countryside, terracotta roof top scatters and intense architecture. All of which I avidly photographed at every oppurtunity- even when climbing the 463 steps of the Duomo cathedral in Florence! (My absolute favourite memory of the holiday. A typical idealisation of Italy- terracotta roof tops filling the entire city, sweeping infinite alleyways and rustic green countryside on the outskirts)

Click on any of the photos to view them larger.

Tuscany; Casole D'elsa, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Florence

First stop, Pisa. A drink and lunch after the journey from the airport and energy for us to climb the leaning tower

The slanted view from the leaning tower of Pisa


Actual slanted view..


Straightened view!












The roof of a church. Amazing, so incredibly detailed. The photo doesn't do it justice


You guessed it, it's the leaning tower of Pisa


Cute rustic souvenir shop in Siena town centre

Siena

Siena

Siena

Siena

Gourmet food shop in Siena

Gormet food shop in Siena. The Italians one true love (and my one true hate) olive oil!

Siena

Siena



Inside a church


San Gimignano

Museum of Torture, this is the wall of the museum, creepy but cool!
 San Gimignano

Aquaviva Hotel. The gorgeous Tuscan landscape 


Florence

Florence, an artist painting the Duomo which we were later to climb..



Florence, a singer on the market.
 I wonder where I could buy myself his Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat?





Roof inside The Duomo, Florence

463 steps later and we reached the top. Definitely worth the view though!




You can see the shadow of the clouds looming at the top of this photo, the heavens later opened bringing thunder and lightning despite the 28 degree heat and sunshine!


                   
     
                         Love padlocks on the Ponte Vecchio. Similar to the Ponte Milvio love padlock lampost

Along the Ponte Vecchio



       
Next to the Ponte Vecchio
Next to the Ponte Vecchio
         

Florence, town centre
An accidental shot.. zoomed in at the same time as taking the picture. Thought it looked quite cool still though
                                                                                             

Last drink of the excursion (drowning our sorrows to go back to England, school and work boo..) (Except I drowned mine in Diet Cola ha ha) Beautifully poured glass of Chianti in a cute, folksy Italian restaurant

Saturday, 1 June 2013

iPhoneography

iPhonegraphy became a noticeably massive hit mostly when the recognition of Instagram came about. I remember reading a photography magazine a few years back, and a travel photographer was introducing his new found obsession for the polaroid-inspired images he could capture, then edit with the edgy filters on Instagram. At the time of discovering the App, I seem to remember that he was on a Greek island and had put down his Nikon DSLR and swapped it for his trusty smartphone to capture the essence of the Grecian landscapes. I instantly stopped mid-article and downloaded the very App from AppStore- this is when my relationship with Instagram blossomed. I'm constantly refreshing my feed and uploading (pointless) photos on a daily (ahem hourly) basis. Oops. Check out and follow my ever growing collection of images on the link at the bottom of this post if you fancy..

Back to the point about iPhonegraphy. I bought three mini lenses from eBay last week for my iPhone; a fish-eye lens, a wide angle lens and a macro lens. All for just £7.25; everybody loves a bargain. They clip on to a magnet ring that you stick around the iPhone camera. I was absolutely amazed at the macro lens, so so fab. These are a few of my first results.  Photography wise- pretty basic- but you get the idea..


Dandelion bud - Macro lens

Dandelion bud - Macro lens

Greenway, my favourite field - Fish-eye lens

Wide angle lens

Macro lens

The depth of field on a macro lens is the reason I loveeee it so much!

Sunshine in my bedroom #brbchasinglight


The beauty blue eyed monster- my Mum!
I'll add another post with more photos taken with my new lenses once I've had a chance to use them.