Right now I’m in the eye of the hurricane, so I can take a quick break from a big project at work. So, before the rest of the “storm” hits, I’m going to jump into this week’s photo challenge. My shots are eclectic–some taken in Italy and others in the United States. But in all of them, the landscape (urban or rural) is the key feature.
You cannot, in human experience, rush into the light. You have to go through the twilight into the broadening day before the noon comes and the full sun is upon the landscape.–Woodrow Wilson
A Winter’s Evening in Grand Rapids. The Grand River and City Lights. Shot with a Canon 70D.
To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.
― Ansel Adams
Coast near Sperlonga, Italy. Canon 40D with HDR filter.
It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. ‘I am watching you — are you watching yourself in me?’ Most travelers hurry too much…the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not to much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly — but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling…you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still as a needle, you’ll be there.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Spirit Of Place: Letters And Essays On Travel
Hilltop in Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona. Shot with a Canon 40D.
First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Your Italy and our Italia are not the same thing. Italy is a soft drug peddled in predictable packages, such as hills in the sunset, olive groves, lemon trees, white wine, and raven-haired girls. Italia, on the other hand, is a maze. It’s alluring, but complicated. It’s the kind of place that can have you fuming and then purring in the space of a hundred meters, or in the course of ten minutes. Italy is the only workshop in the world that can turn out both Botticellis and Berlusconis.”
― Beppe Severgnini, La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
Mt. Vesuvio at Dawn. Shot with a Canon 40D
It was only in an urban landscape, amid straight lines and architecture, that she could situate herself in human time and history.― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being
Panorama: Urban Landscape High Above Chicago. Shot with a Samsung Galaxy S4.
In winter you wake up in this city, especially on Sundays, to the chiming of its innumerable bells, as though behind your gauze curtains a gigantic china teaset were vibrating on a silver tray in the pearl-gray sky. You fling the window open and the room is instantly flooded with this outer, peal-laden haze, which is part damp oxygen, part coffee and prayers.–Joseph Brodsky
Cinque Terre with Oil Painting Filter. Shot with a Nikon Coolpix
Where do you feel more at home? In the urban landscape or rural? In your native country or a distant land?
As for me, I feel at home in urban areas and in Italy–a country where I have deep family ties.
Have a great week, everyone!
Categories: Photography
P.A. Moed 
🙂 Oh, my! They’re all fascinating!
I can’t say which one I like best – but the one with the oil paint filter is different in a special way.
Have a very HAPPY week 🙂
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Thanks, Happy Face! It is different look. So glad you like them!
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Lovely photos and great quotes to accompany them.
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Thanks so much, bythebriny! Some of them are quite old, but I did a little post-processing magic. 🙂
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Very nice indeed!
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Many thanks, Rajiv. I’m enjoying the Topaz filter collection. 🙂
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Very cool! Love all of them, but gotta say Cinque Terre is the best! Can’t wait to visit there for photography! Thanks for sharing!
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Hi Inherently! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. Cinque Terre is wonderful. I hope you get to visit it soon. We hiked along part of the trail. It’s well worth it. I hear that more recently it’s become crowded, but if you go in the spring or fall it should be quieter.
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I really like that oil painting filter on the last one.
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Hi MK. So glad you like it! It is an interesting effect.
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Beautiful images of Italy, Patti. I love the passage from Lawrence Durrell -absolutely true.
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Hi Jane. Many thanks! Durrell does hit the nail on the head. Traveling with an open mind and senses is so enlightening.
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Hi Patti, I love that quote by Beppe Severgnini. I’ve been meaning to read La Bella Figura, but it slipped off my radar some time ago. If you’ve read this book, would you recommend it?
I’m also interested in reading La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales. I wonder if you’ve read that one too.
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Hi Jackie. Thanks. I think Beppe’s quote describes the complexity of the Italian culture which isn’t immediately apparent. His book is on my list to read. I started Dianne Hales’ book, but honestly, I lost interest very quickly. It was focused more on her joy of the Italian language. Let me know if you read Beppe’s book. I’d like to compare notes. 🙂
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Another thought, Jackie. Luigi Barzini’s book The Italians is excellent. It’s not as current as Beppe’s but it gives great insights.
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The choice to use black and white on Vesuvius is inspired!
Nice work here.
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Thanks so much! It just seemed to work.
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Beautiful landscape work Patti, I love the sense of scale and the oil filter effect!
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Thanks, Maria! I’m catching up on my blogging. We just got back from Mexico! What a paradise down there.
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I don’t know why the “Likes” never registered in these posts.
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Did you turn off the “Likes” button a while back on your site? I thought you had.
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