Photography with an occasional poem
When gods are angered
Lava and ash fill the air.
Nature proves a point.
A close up of Mount Etna, taken from the coach on the way to the base camp. It was a little concerning to see it smoking to this level, but according to the Etna monitoring site it was calm. Definitely not an extinct volcano, and it had caused a lot of disruption only a few weeks before with a significant eruptive phase.
It seemed about time for another haiku.
Not a real goodbye, more a symbolic farewell to Venice.
Yesterday I did something risky – I asked ChatGPT to analyse my blog photos. Apparently I am a competent hobbyist photographer. I can live with that. It also gave lots of constructive criticism of individual photos and suggested a future direction. To be honest I was amazed by how personalised and ‘human’ the interaction with ChatGPT was. And also, just a little bit scared of where it can go. I might even make a few changes as a result, or I might not.
Venice is one place from our trip that I would possibly like to go back to, out of season though. Just wandering the back streets and canal bridges, and staying until the lights come on. In the meantime, who doesn’t like a nice calm period of reflection?
Still in Venice (again), we found St Mark’s square a bit of a disappointment. A bit of a nothing. However, as we sat at a cafe on the square drinking an 18 euro beer, which would have cost 4.50 euro round the corner, I was taken by the view of the architecture through the cafe parasols. It ended up being one of the few photos from San Marco that I liked.
By popular vote, 100% of respondents wanted to see more of Italy. So…
On the subject of skewed statistics, have you seen (possibly UK only) the advert where 91% of 30 people liked a product? Do the maths silently in your head, and then join me in wondering how on earth these marketing people got a job! I really despair at TV advertising, but I digress.
A nice tranquil scene on the backwaters of Venice.
By the way, if you like any of my posts please click the like button. I have put it in a very obvious place and it means a lot to an old man. You know who you are,
Finally? Well finally I get to the end of sorting through the photos from Italy, and now need to cull them to a level I can make a book of memories. Finally, this is the last stop on our tour of Italy, the magnificent ancient theatre of Taormina. Originally built by the Greeks, it was rebuilt by the Romans – as is much of Taormina.
Interestingly, the G7 meeting of 2017 was held in Taormina. All the world leaders stayed in a particular hotel, except one who stayed at a different hotel. Can you guess who that was? I can give you a clue – he is orange.
I may post more from Italy if anyone is interested (you can leave comments) or I will move on to my normal photography. We will see.
Our last stop was Taormina on the island of Sicily. Built on top of a hill, and virtually traffic free, the architecture is a rich mix of styles, and there is an amphitheatre, still used for performances. But forget all that… I saw a paraglider!
Still going through the photos from our trip to Italy! Looking at how long it has taken me I am now dreading next year when we go to Africa on safari. The journey ended in Sicily. Obviously Sicily is known for Mount Etna, and there well be more images from that region to come, but this one really summed up the other-worldly atmosphere of being up amongst the minor craters of the volcano.
When you least expect it, the clouds line up in their own distict shapes, and the sun turns the sea to a pool of molten metal. Although we were on our way up to Mount Etna, this sight could not be overlooked, and at least it makes a change from the touristy travel photos.
The site of the old city of Pompeii is huge, and the amount that has survived is really impressive. Along the streets there are these stepping stones, presumably allowing people to cross without treading in the garbage of the street itself. These streets were also used by chariots, and if you look carefully you will see there are ruts between the stones. This is where the standards come in. The guides will twell you that each chariot was built with a standard distance between the wheels, corresponding to the standard gaps between the stones. Of course we all believed him, but it is in fact a myth, and measurements within Pompeii itself reveal several different distances between the ruts. Unfortunately I did not look this up until I was writing the blog post, which was a bit silly. So, to make up for it here is some of the wall decoration that was still intact on the site.
