Liguria Explored – Bellissimi

Bellissimi Church and Balloon Mural
Bellissimi | Liguria | 2025

As promised in my last post, today I will take you along on a walk through a little village in the Ligurian Appenin mountains that run along the coast of the Mediterranean. What ties this little mountain village, called Bellissimi, to the balloon vendor I photographed in Genoa’s Porto Antico the other day, are well…balloons. Bellissimi (which means “the most beautiful”) is full of murals of balloons. To see a selection of the artworks, find out why Bellissimi’s claim to fame are balloons, and last but not least see a picture of the four Bellissimi who visited this village, click below for the full story of “Liguria Explored – Bellissimi”

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Up

Up | Genoa | 2025

Up was the motto of the day! We went up the map, driving from Genoa north (up the map ) back to Nuremberg. The drive was uneventful, and even going up San Bernardino pass in Switzerland while crossing the Alps was on clear roads under a blue sky through snow capped mountains.

“Up” is also the name of the heartwarming Pixar movie about an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen, who ties thousands of balloons to his house to fulfill his late wife’s dream of adventure.  Obviously the four balloons of the “balloon man” in Genoa’s Porto Antico are not enough to make him levitate. But the balloons will be the perfect segway into my next post, that will be about a little mountain village on the Ligurian coast that has made balloons its claim to fame.

This street photograph is a snapshot taken with my iPhone 14 Pro with some post processing in Lightroom Classic.

If you are looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus

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Oregon International Air Show (and how I photographed it)

StoNur on the Road – Vintage Propliner

PNW Explored – Olympic Peninsula

A nightly view of our city

Genoa by Night
Genoa | 2025

Last night, The Significant Other and I have enjoyed a fancy dinner. We’ve cooked the handmade pasta (flavored with Red Beet) that Big Boy has produced as Christmas gift for parents, sister, grandparents, aunts and cousins. It was really yummy. We added some ricotta cheese, lemon zests and olive oil and had a bottle of Barbera d’Asti Riserva to go with it. Sure enough we needed to go for a walk after dinner. It was helped by the fact, that the heavy rain that had plummeted on Genoa all day, had subsided to a light drizzle. Taking the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR along, we walked over to the nearby Belvedere San Rocco di Principe for a nightly view of our city. Aside from an unobstructed full view of the Old Town and the inner harbor, called Porto Antico, the little Belvedere also features a little wall to put the camera on for the long exposure night shots. For a couple more detailed images and to see our 500 year old lighthouse at work, continue after the jump….

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With the Fuji in the Centro Storico

Christmas Decorations in Via San Lorenzo in Genoa's Centro Storico
1/50 sec | f/4.5 | ISO 3200 | 41mm

The Significant Other and I are spending the first days of the year in our “Southern Home” in Genoa. Yesterday afternoon we walked from our place into the historic center to see the exhibition of Genoa born photographer Lisetta Carmi in the Palazzo Ducale (will do a separate post about the exhibition). Her black & white street photography work is really inspiring, and as I was with the Fuji in the Centro Storico, I dialed in the ACROS film simulation for some monochrome shooting of my own. For the resulting images (all jpgs out of the camera) continue after the jump….

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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

Related Posts:

Genoa from above

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A weekend in La Superba

Luna Park with an iPhone

Happy New Year from the Streets of Nuremberg

Happy New Year | Steindorf | 2025

I wish all my friends a blessed, happy, marvelous, successful, beautiful, inspirational, creative, wonderful and healthy 2025. May all your wishes and dreams come true!

Have a great year!

Marcus

Final sunset of the year

Last sunset of 2024
Final Sunset of the Year | Lungau | 2024

This is it – we’re (almost) done with 2024. The final sunset of the year has happened, and I captured it. I’m soooo ready to turn the last page and close the book on the old year. And this picture is my epitaph for 2024. Too many people we know have passed away. Too many people we know have fallen seriously ill. The corporate rat race has exceeded any previously known limits and has drained us more than ever before. And I wouldn’t say the world at the end of 2024 is a better place than at the start of the year. While also many positive things happened to us and we for sure realize that we are much privileged in many aspects (and we are totally grateful for all of that), The Significant Other and I won’t shed much tears for the old year.

We will spend the evening celebrating friendship over a relaxed dinner and with some good drinks. And then we will welcome 2025. May it be a better year for all of us! And let’s all do whatever we can to make 2025 a truly better year. For all of us!

Happy New Year

Marcus

Lungau Landscapes with the Fuji

Sonnenuntergang an den Niederen Tauern
1/210 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | 18mm

With the skiing slopes much too crowded, The Significant Other and I are doing a bit of winter hiking through Austria’s Lungau region between Mauterndorf and Mariapfarr. Along came the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR travel zoom. The color photographs in this post are all jpgs out of the camera with the Fuji Velvia film simulation, the monochrome jpgs were shot with the Acros B&W analogue simulation. To see more Lungau landscapes with the Fuji, click below…

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“Silent Night, Holy Night”

Joseph Mohr - Stille Nacht - Silent Night
Joseph Mohr | Mariapfarr | 2024

“Silent Night Holy Night”. I’m fully aware that we are already a few days after the silent and holy night where Christ was born. And no, I’m not the die-hard Christmas fan who drags out the festive season as long as possible. Still, there was a good reason to write a blog post about the world’s arguably most famous Christmas carol. Because today, The Significant Other and I visited the place where it all started with the song that for all of us is the epitome of Christmas: “Silent Night, Holy Night”. To find out more, continue after the jump….

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Smoked Up

Kiss the Hand
Kiss the Hand | Nuremberg | 2024

Nuremberg’s historical Christmas Market has been closed for the year on Christmas Eve. But there is still time to share some street photographs I took at the “Schaschlik-Bude”, were the staff was working hard and all smoked up to prepare little meat skewers that were one of the culinary attractions of the market.

Fore some more images of the steamy food stall continue after the jump…

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Merry Christmas from the Streets of Nuremberg

Merry Christmas from the Streets of Nuremberg
Imperial Castle | Nuremberg | 2024

To everyone out there, but particularly to all the many magic people I’ve had the blessings to meet virtually and face-to-face during my eight years of blogging on the “Streets of Nuremberg”,  I wish a peace- and joyful Christmas and much love and laughters together with your family and friends.

Merry Christmas from the Streets of Nuremberg

Marcus

Portraits at the market

Monochrome street portrait of an unknown girl
1/15 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 3200 | 135mm

Finally on Christmas break. And finally some time for photography. The Significant Other and I headed into Nuremberg’s Old Town this evening. Main event was the performance of the wife’s trombone choir on the stage of the Christkindlesmarket in the main square. But I brought my (almost) vintage Fuji X-T2 together with the much less vintage Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. I did recently acquire a used copy of this zoom lens, as I wanted to have a bit more focal length on my X-mount Fuji. And 135mm where there was only 55mm before makes a lot of difference.

And the buzzing market provided plenty opportunity for some 135mm (about 200mm full frame equivalent) street portraits shot through the passing crowd.

Fore the second image click below…

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