Category: Travel

Taken on vacation trips

Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria

Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria
Happy New Year to everyone! I didn’t have anytime to take pictures of any New Year Countdown this year as I was busy at work on New Year’s Eve. Continuing with my recent series on Italy and Switzerland instead…

The statue of Hercules and Cacus overlooks the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. From the Wikipedia:

The white marble statue Hercules and Cacus is one of the statues lined up on the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. This work by the Florentine artist Baccio Bandinelli (1525-1534) was commissioned as a counterpart for the other statues David, Fountain of Neptune and Judith and Holofernes. These (original statues) had been commissioned by the republican counsel of Florence to commemorate the victory over the Medici.

The mythologican Hercules had killed the fire-breathing monster Cacus during his tenth labor. Hercules had become the symbol of strength and integrity, a symbol used by the Medici. This marble group shows the basic theme of the victor (the Medici) and the vanquished (the republicans).

I caught this view of Hercules and Cacus at dusk during our honeymoon trip to Italy. By the time the shot was taken, the skies were almost pitch-black. The blue skies you see here were added on from another shot that I took earlier at the same place.

Colosseum Shooter

Colosseum Shooter
While this man was taking a shot of the view from the great Colosseum in Rome, Italy, I was busy taking a candid shot of him! 😛

Ten years ago, people might have wondered what this man was doing. Taken in today’s context, it is obvious that he is taking a picture with a digital camera. As with most point-and-shoots, I find that the design of these cameras (relying on the LCD for composition and doing away with an optical viewfinder in many cases) does not allow or encourage proper hand-holding technique. Holding a camera with outstretched hands can never ever be stable enough compared to the traditional “tuck your elbows close to your body while holding the camera viewfinder to your eye” way. Maybe that’s why I still enjoy my DSLR more than any point-and-shoot, even though the small size of a P&S can sometimes come in handy!

Wispy Wistfulness

Wispy Wistfulness
Taken from the observation platform of the Jangfraujoch Sphinx Observatory at a freezing minus 7 degrees Celsius, there was certainly no time to be in a wistful mood then!

When I finally post-processed the photo back home, my initial instinct was to boost up the saturation of the blue sky a fair bit. CY thought that the original muted colours was more appropriate for the wistful-looking mood of this shot though; the boosted colours brightened up the mood too much. I have decided thus to stick with the duller colours from the original in keeping with title of this shot. What do you think?