Tag: Italy

Happy Halloween

Kill the Monster
Little Monsters | Cremona | 2016

“All Hallow’s Eve” is the eve before the religious feast All Saints (aka All Hallow’s Day), remembering the dead, saints and martyrs of christianity. Many of the traditions of Halloween are believed to originate in ancient Celtic harvest festivals and pagan traditions. It was mainly Irish immigrants to the USA who brought along the many more secular traditions like  trick-or-treating,  Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns and lighting bonfires.

While in Europe All Saints was mainly celebrated in the religious sense (remembering the dead, lighting candles at their graves), in the last ten years the more “American” way of celebrating Halloween became more popular into what is now a big commercial business for retail.

That said, I still have some candy at home in case there are some trick-or-treating kids at the door (which happens less and less as our own kids and their friends are grown beyond collecting candies) and watch a good classic horror movie in the darkened living room.

I wish all of you a very creepy Halloween (stay safe noneless)

Marcus

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Ghost Rider

Instant Inspiration (10) – Nocturnal Skyline

 

 

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The End is Near

Thunder
Thunder | Camogli | 2013

No, don’t get me wrong, I’m not referring to the end of the world, just to the end of a summer day at the beach of Camogli on the Italian Riviera.

As a series of thunderstorms passed overhead Nuremberg today, I thought I post this one from the archives.

Camogli is an Italian beach paradise in Liguria, just a few miles east of Genoa, and just over the hill from Portofino, which was subject to yesterday’s post.

The photo was shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4.0-5.6 travel zoom. The RAW was shot at 1/320 sec f/9 and ISO200 at the wide end of the focal range. I converted the RAW (that actually looked quite dull) to B&W in Lightroom. I opened up the shadows, increased clarity, played with graduation curves and increased the reds and oranges in the image, bringing out the detail in the buildings. To finish of I sharpened the image, introduced a bit of grain and added a vignette.

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around photography, visit the Leaning Center of this blog, by clicking on the link. It is also accessible from the top menu.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Marcus

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StoNur on the Road – Portofino

Portofino Ligurien Italien
Portofino | Italy | 2004

In contrary to the original forecast the weather was quite gruesome this pentecost weekend. So a good opportunity to dive into the archives, in this case back to a sunny January afternoon in 2004, when we were living in Genoa, Italy.

That afternoon we visited Portofino, a picturesque fishing village on the Ligurian coast just outside Genoa. The town with its colorfully painted historic houses is built around a small harbor.

For some more info about the village that is said to feature the highest real estate prices in Italy, and more photos, continue after the jump… Continue reading “StoNur on the Road – Portofino” →

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A distant sunset

Tramonto
Tramonto | Sardegna | 2003
The start into the working week at home was quite tough, not much time for blogging, and for sure no time for any photography. While driving home I saw a nice sunset, but was unable to capture it. So now, shortly before midnight, I did a quick dip into my vast Lightroom archive searching for sunsets and I came across this one I took back in 2003 on Sardinia, the magic island off the west coast of Italy. Back then I was just three years into digital photography and my camera was a Minolta Dimage A1. Anyone members that?

Sometimes I love diving back into my archive, look at the images and still can recall the emotions of that special warm summer evening on Sardinia. I lived four years in Italy and I have still plenty memories to share from that time.

Hope you all had a good start into the week and have a fun time getting ready for the Easter days.

Marcus

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StoNur on the Road – Italian Sunset

StoNur goes Sub Sea

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Looking Down at Things

Looking Down
Looking Down | Genoa | 2015

This is my entry for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Looking Down at Things. As you probably know from my previous  challenge entries, I want to meet the challenges with a Street Photography image. When I read Cee’s title, I immediately had this photo in mind, that I took in the streets of Genoa in 2015. This obviously meets the requirements….looking down 😉

I probably could enter this also to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge of this week that has the title “A good match”. What matches better than a classic Fiat 500 Cinquecento and the streets of Italy?

Have a great weekend!

Marcus

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15

A Valentine Sunset

Sunset in Camogli
Sunset | Camogli | 2016

I just felt today like I needed to post a sunset photo for all those Valentine Loveducks out there. The weather in Nuremberg during the day was quite nice although still too cold. But with some haze and clouds out and about there was no such thing as a nice sunset. Don’t remember when I saw the last nice one, might have been the one I saw from the plane when arriving to Los Angeles the other week.

As the weather forecast for my next business travel destination (going to Portland via Seattle tomorrow) calls for torrential rain, I decided to go into last years archive and post this beautiful sunset from the little town of Camogli on the Riviera di Levante near Genoa. Not without reason this coastal part of the Ligurian Sea is called Golfo Paradiso. The pebbled beach with the colorful historic town houses (there is an image in this post here) is the perfect swimming destination with crystal clear water and splendid views of the Monte di Portofino, and the sunsets behind the Basilica Santa Maria Assunta and the Castello della Dragonara are one of a kind. And for all you Valentines out there, on the terrace above the beach are plenty of great cocktail bars.

I took the photo with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4.0-5.6 travel zoom. Image specs are 1/320 sec with f/10 and ISO 200, focal length was 22mm (equals 44mm in full frame equivalent). RAW conversion was done in Adobe Lightroom CC where I applied the VSCO 4  Fuji Astia 100F+ preset to warm up the image slightly.

Have a great Valentines Day !

Marcus

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22

Monday Mountains (4)

Monte Rosa
Monte Rosa | Italy | 2004
This week’s Monday Mountains features majestic Monte Rosa (Mont Rose), the second highest mountain in the Alps and of Europe, with its main summit (Dufour Peak)  rising to 4,634 m (15,203 ft) above sea level. The mountain is on the border between France (Valais Region) and Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley Regions).  From the Swiss side Monte Rosa can be reached from Zermatt which also sports the world famous Matterhorn.

I took this photo on a freezing morning (15 degrees Fahrenheit) from the Italian ski resort of Champoluc. The wind was blowing ice clouds off the mountain.

Let me see your Monday Mountains…post a link in the comment section and make this a new WordPress regular category.

The Streets of Nuremberg passed another mile stone yesterday, reaching 1000 followers. A sincere “Thank you” to all of you, that is simply blowing me away. I would have never thought this would happen when I started this blog just about one year ago.

Have a great week!

Marcus

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Monday Mountains (3)

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Monday Mountains

Happy Birthday, Streets of Nuremberg

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StoNur goes Sub Sea

Diving Boy
Sparkling Blu | Isola d’Elba | 2016

The Streets of Nuremberg go sub sea this time. I wanted to share some images I took while snorkeling with my kids on the Spiaggia del Relitto, the Relict Beach, near the village of Pomonte on the Italian Island of Elba. To read more about our little wreck diving adventure and how I took the photos continue reading after the jump…

Continue reading “StoNur goes Sub Sea” →

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To crop or not to crop

Summer Smile
Summer Smile | Genoa | 2016

Purist Street Photographers want go get composition right when they shoot and reject cropping in post production…but why not?  Continue reading after the jump….

Continue reading “To crop or not to crop” →

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StoNur on the Road – Italian Sunset

Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing | Isola d’Elba | 2016
Technically no street photography I would say even though there are persons in the image and there is a road on the far shoreline ;-).  Sunset at a small beach on Elba’s North Shore near Cape St. Andrea. Both images shot with the Olympus PEN-F and the m.Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 . Jpg’s as they came out of camera (Color Profile 3 and Dramatic Art Filter 2).How beautiful is Italy !

Dramatic Sunset
Dramatic Sunset | Isola d’Elba | 2016
Enjoy your weekend!

Marcus

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Street ? Harbor!

Little woes of a traveling photographer

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Street ? Harbor!

Where do they want to go tonight?
Where do they want to go tonight? | Genoa | 2016

In reminiscence to my “Street ? Airport!” series I’m uploading some images I took in Genoa’s Airport Marina last evening. Doesn’t looking at ships always makes you want to hop directly on regardless where their next port of call might be?

On my bucket list is doing a vacation on board of a freight ship crossing an ocean and visiting some distant ports. Probably crazy…but maybe not.

We took a walk in Genoa’s Airport Marina after a fabulous dinner. Brought the PEN-F along with the mZuiko 12mm f/2.0.  As all the super yachts we hoped to see where out to sea (figures, its main travel season in Europe) there weren’t many motives out. I played with the monochrome modes of the PEN-F. Who says you  can’t shoot monochrome in a harbor at night?

Black Bed
Black Bed | Genoa | 2016
Ookmka
Oomka | Genoa | 2016

You all have a great day!

Marcus

7

StoNur on the Road – Blood Mountains

Sorry for not posting the last couple of days, I still need to get used to the concept of blogging while travelling.

I’ve spend the last couple of days in the Dolomites Mountains of Northern Italy. A zone called the “Blood Mountains” after the fierce mountain warfare that took place between Austrian Imperial Troops (Kaiserjäger) and Italian mountaineers (Alpini) during World War  I between May 1915 and November 1918. To learn more about the history and our adventures in a mountain continue reading after the jump.. Continue reading “StoNur on the Road – Blood Mountains” →

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