Postcard from Monterosso al Mare

In Travel by David29 Comments

Monterosso al Mare, Italy, 2012

Hello from the Italian Riviera and the lovely seaside town of Monterosso al Mare. This town is special to me; I fell in love here last year, not with the town so much as a beautiful woman. We’ve spent the last year traveling much of the world together, sharing some beautiful adventures, but we started our story here. I guess it’s why I like this town so much more than Pisa. If you’re going to fall, it may as well be in love. So it’s a romantic place, but it’s also really beautiful, especially when the light gets interesting. We’ve had a couple days of really amazing skies on these first days of the Liguria Within The Frame Adventure, though yesterday we paid for it in spades after getting stuck in the pouring rain for 40 minutes waiting for a delayed train.

I’m posting this just after sending our students off to make photographs, fresh out of a 90-minute image discussion. I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing students get ignited by photographs, and hearing them talk more excitedly about the thing which we create than about the tools we use to create them. Thrills me every time. And to see their work and the places we’re exploring, through eyes other than my own is a gift. Even if those eyes are a little blurrier this morning. I think we started dinner around 9pm, and got back to the hotel just after midnight, full of wine, seafood risotto, grilled calamari, and other wonders.

Tonight we go back to Manarollo, one of the 5 cinque terre, and tomorrow we take a train north for three days in Camogli, one of my favourite little places in the world.

Comments

  1. Beautiful image, David! Glad to hear that you found love in Italy, and that you all have been having a great time photographing there. It looks like I may be going back to Italy this summer. I hope that works out, as it’s been many years since I’ve been there. If I do go, I plan on visiting and photographing the Cinque Terre, as I’ve never been there before, and have been greatly inspired by seeing some of the work you’ve done there. 🙂

  2. Nicely captured! Great, dramatic sky adds to the image, along with just right shutter speed to get the water movement.

  3. Ah Cinque Terre! That 10k hike between the villages is still one of my highlights from my wife and my trip to Italy last year!

    Glad your heart’s found a good place to rest and looking forward to more postcards from your continuing adventures. Travel safe!

  4. clicking “like” for all, the photo, the news, the place 🙂 Good wishes.

  5. Lovely image, David! I love that curve of sea foam. Not to mention the nostalgia trip – I have such happy memories of Liguria WTF last year. Enjoy!

  6. Thanks for the info, not sure where you were able to position the hard transition on this image, but it worked really well.

    Perfectly understandable on the public/personal thing, we all have a right to privacy.

  7. I was just in the Cinque Terre less than two weeks ago; I especially enjoyed shooting in Manarola as the sun went down. I would love to join the Italy WTF one of these days!

  8. Author

    Tom – Yes, to holding out, no to the Gold-n-Blue polarizer. Just a plain old 3-stop hard transition grad, handheld. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. Don’t take my holding out personally, just trying to walk a fine line line between public and personal, and protect the ones closet to me from being in the spotlight. 🙂

  9. Sweet image, is that using the Blue/Gold Singh Ray filter?

    So, you been holding out on us about the lady friend!
    Cool! Have a great safe time this year…

  10. Actually Brooke, I think it’s David that’s lucky… 🙂

  11. This photograph makes me feel like I’m right there on that beach, being romantically swept out to sea. What a beautiful story. Everyone should be so lucky to experience that kind of love. She’s a lucky girl! 🙂

  12. Hi David,
    that is a wonderful photograph. I am longing for beeing there in Liguria, especially in Camogli! I treasure good memories from our IWTF-workshop in 2010. Please pass my greetings to Jeffrey. You are a wonderful team.

  13. First of all, thanks for the visit two weeks ago. Everyone is still talking about you! We are in the photo lab eating cookies and reading your latest post. We have an interesting photo of you with a box on your head. Take care…Michael says hi!

  14. Well if you wanted to make me jealous it worked. One of these days David I’m going to join you on a Within the Frame adventure and Italy is the perfect spot.

  15. “The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” (Karsh) Your photograph speaks volumes of the tranquility of mind, the peacefullness that your adventure and relationship have brought to your world.

    You both have earned these days…

  16. Author

    Stuart – You sure no one fell of the wagon? As for records, that one might have been broken the moment Cynthia joined the gang. 🙂

  17. Would appreciate the EXIF for this photo. Will be traveling to Sorrento in a few weeks and anticipate working on some evening/morning beach/shore images. Thanks!

  18. Well Stuart, you should have come this year! 🙂 Although it’s pouring rain right now!

  19. @Eli, @Marco Still quite proud of the IWTF record set with you in 2010 for the greatest amount of alcohol consumed on a WTF trip… and no one fell off of or into anything 🙂

  20. Author

    Nate – Funny you say that. I too have been shooting in 4:5 or cropping to that ratio, but this time it just didn’t feel right. Horses for courses, right? 🙂

    Eli, Marjan, Marco – you are sorely missed. Many fond memories here! 🙂

  21. Happy memories of fun filled times with you and Jeffrey in montemare

  22. Looks like Italy is the place! Great image, post and glad to hear your heart is stirred in many different ways! Travel safe David and thanks for sharing!

  23. Great stuff David, the image, the travels and the love that you are obviously beaming about! By the way (photo related) I have been cropping mostly to 4×5 lately if not square but this scene here definitely is of the exception to that where the longer 3×2 crop is perfect for this scene. Wonderful image. Have a good one and stay safe and inspired out there! – Nate Parker.

  24. Say Hello from me – definitely a contrast to the following week that year… ahum 🙂

  25. This story and photograph bring back wonderful memories of the LWTF adventure last year.
    Have fun!!

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