This House is on fire

This house is on fire - La Lanterna, the historic lighthouse of Genoa
La Laterna | Genoa | 2024

This house is on fire – as a lighthouse should be. Only that the backlighted illumination of Genoa’s historic lighthouse, La Lanterna, is natural, with the sun setting directly behind the almost 500 year old structure guiding to the entrance of the port of “La Superba”, as Genoa is also known since medieval times. The photo is a throwback to last November, when, during the first days of the month, the sun is setting directly behind the Lanterna, with 77 meters height the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean and still the second tallest in Europe.

The Significant Other and I left Austria on New Year’s Day to spend the last days of our Christmas break at our “Southern Home” in Genoa on the Ligurian Coast in Italy, enjoying the perfect weather, as beautiful as on that November day when I captured the lighthouse on fire with my iPhone 14 Pro while strolling along the Porto Antico.

I hope you all had a great start into 2025.

Wish you a great Friday

Marcus

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La Lanterna – revisited

Lanterna - Genova's historic lighthouse
La Lanterna | Genoa | 2004

With the two-week holiday break behind us, The Significant Other and I returned to the jobs that pay the bills today. But we’re still fueled by the memories we made visiting with friends in the Austrian and Swiss alps and, in between, spending the first days at our new “second home” in Genoa. As decoration for our living room we decided to put up a large photo of Genoa’s historic lighthouse – La Lanterna – printed on a 47×32 inch (120×80 cm) canvas.

One of my favorite images of La Lanterna is one I took back in 2004 during a winter sunset with my first digital camera, a Minolta Dimage A1. Revisiting the image in Lightroom Classic, I realized that the quality of a 18 year old digital photograph might not be up to todays standards, and could be unsuitable for a large scale print. Thankfully, Lightroom Classic offers the possibility to upscale any image to double its original size, so I could increase resolution to a modern 5210×3840. Changing the calibration process (in the development module) from the original V1 to the current V5, I was also able to use the modern day capabilities of Lightroom to clean up the noise in the original photograph and enhance clarity and the colors. Exporting the old image to its 2023 clone, I got a clean 10,4 MB file with 300dpi, perfect for a large print.

La Lanterna, as we still see it today, was built in its current shape in 1543, replacing a previous structure on the same rock. It is the world’s third oldest lighthouse and, for more than 350 years, was also the tallest lighthouse in the world.

Have a great start into the week!

Marcus

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