ad libitum

OSTIA ANTICA

About 20 miles southwest of Rome is Ostia Antica, the ancient port for Rome. It's a very well preserved archeological site.

 

 

 

 

ROMAN STATUES AND FOUNTAINS

Michelangelo's Moses sits in the corner of San Pietro in Vincoli.

Raphael is burried in the Pantheon; his grave is marked by these two doves.

Bernini's statues are beautiful to behold from any angle.

This fountain was outside the Pantheon.

Below is a part of the Trevi Fountain.

And, this angel is on a street corner next to the Trevi Fountain.

The following three fountains  were refreshing places to stop while walking around the city.

 

 

JUST OUTSIDE ORVIETO

Orvieto is in wine country. One afternoon we took a trip to a winery and had a delightful winetasting.

 

On the way to the winery, we stopped at the old cemetery, just outside of the city. There were beautiful and moving statues.

 

PHOTOS FROM THE STREETS OF ORVIETO

Walking on the streets of Orvieto is a constant delight to the eye.

There are gardens on balconies and window sills. There are doors and windows of all kinds.

There are ancient door knockers, covered in a patina made from age and use.

Laundry hangs from the sides of buildings and balconies.

There was a begger who showed up every morning on the street leading to the Duomo.

There are religious pieces on alley way walls.

There are very old, very modern looking statues on the front of the Duomo.

And, there are the bells that ring throughout the day and night.

BACK FROM ITALY

I am back home from two weeks in Italy. The first week was spent at a photography class taught by  Catherine Anderson and twelve incredible fellow photographers (and one charming photographer's husband), organized through Adventures in Italy, run by Bill and Kristin Steiner in Orvieto.

I cannot say enough good things about Orvieto; or about the people who shared their time with me there. 

It's a beautiful hilltop, ancient walled city first settled by the Etruscans.

The city gate is guarded by two ancient eagles.

Orvieto sits on a system of caves used by the Etruscans. We toured a part of the caves that had been used to make and store pottery.

There is an Etruscan Necropolis halfway down the hill. It's peaceful and beautiful and ancient. I found a beautiful web across a door to a tomb.

PHOTOSHOP PHRIDAY

Playing with a photo from the Hindu Center in Kauai.

Below is my original photo:

And then, I played with filters:

 

 

PHOTOSHOP PHRIDAY

I love photos of spider webs. I rarely take  a good web photo; so I was very pleased to get this photo when I was in Kauai, visiting with Connie. 

 

I worked with levels and then used the darken blending mode to make the web more dramatic.

 

It still needs work, but I think I have a good strt here.

KIMONO

When I knew Kate and I were going to Japan, I started hoping to see ladies in kimono. It's such a beautiful graceful dress. I did not expect to see many kimono on the street, but I had hopes of seeing a few. I could not get photos of all I saw (the ladies were on the move), but I did get some. And, we had the luck of going to a kimono fashion show at tare images from he Nishijin Textile Centre in Kyoto.

Below are images from ladies wearing kimono as they went about their business.

Below is an antique kimono that was on display at the textile museum.

Below are images from the kimono fashion show:

PHOTOSHOP PHRIDAY

This time, I'm playing with blending modes. I'm experiencing a big learning curve with Photoshop 6 and it's time to work with bits and pieces.

Below is a photo I took at Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach FL.

Below is my first effort.

Below is my second effort, which I think is a little more interesting.

PHOTOSHOP PHRIDAY

Today's photoshop exercise is pretty simple and straight forward.

I took this photo

and used layers and filters to turn it into this