Florence

Here is a picture I took in Florence. The page is divided into thirds, each section has a different visibility of the view in the distance. The left most side is a wall, the middle is an open window and the right side is a warped window pane. There are heavy verticals that intersect the horizontal landscape.

Landscape

I was sitting on a bench in a forest in Macedonia, observing the plain, green landscape contrasted with the blue sky and the admixtures of orange, yellow and red highlights of the sunset. The atmosphere was very peaceful, imposing warm and calm surrounding, affecting my own state of mind and bringing complete joy and freedom. Although the colors were contrasted, they were also harmoniously interrelated, creating a compact landscape full of different, flowing hues. The horizon line was interrupted by the arrangement of the trees, incorporating more dynamics in the actual environment and its components. In addition, there were a lot of shadows, actually covering the right half of the landscape in my imaginary framework. It was an ordinary forest view, but the special part was the complex interconnection and mixture of the various colors and their contrast and concord at the same time.

I would capture this photo in color, since there is a great variety of hues and sun highlights. I would use a normal lens and a very closed diaphragm, so that the focus would be the color and the sharpness of the landscape. Therefore, each hue would come out clear, adding to the completeness of the peaceful surrounding.

Kirila      

green, white, and red's Rocca Albornoziana.

This picture was taken later in the afternoon. people in Spoleto were excited for this event and spent the all day looking at it, i did it too. There's a contrast between the natural color of the sky and the bright green, white, and red (that seems pink here). Next to the "Rocca albornoziana" there's an impressive bridge called "Ponte delle torri" or better "Tower's bridge" recalled "The bridge of the suicide", because mentally ill people S.T kill themselves there.

Maria Sole.

Spoleto for the 150°

This is the most important monument with the cathedral and the bridge of the city of Spoleto. This picture was taken in occasion of the anniversary of the unity of the nation, and the city decided to put the color of Italian flag in one part of this beautiful and cultural city. Everything around is very dark, I think this to give more importance to the monument and specially to the day of the unity. Go to visit Spoleto, is an amazing place.

                                                                                                                                        Giuseppe Monini

Newlyweds in The Central Market

My missed photo opportunity came in The Central Market in Budapest, Hungary. The Central Market is a very large rectangular building with a lofted triangular glass roof. Inside the building are hundreds of market stands with people selling meats, cheeses, and produce. People swarm around the stands and within the halls of the market trying to make their purchases. While I was at the market, there was a bride and groom dressed in their wedding clothes posing for photos. The bride and groom were very peaceful, enjoying the moment together. In contrast, the market was very lively and frantic. The image of the serene couple set against the energetic market would have provided a very powerful photo. I would take this photo with a wide angle lens, a short depth of field, and t-max 400 black and white film.

-Jason

moroccan picture i wish i took

We were sitting in the Sahara desert on top of a dune. The dune was one of the biggest in North Africa. We climbed all the way to the top, and were exhausted from the hike. Everyone sat down in the sand and looked over the desert. The sand dunes in the distance faded into the sunset. On our right was the sun setting, but it was very dusty from all the sand. The sun was hidden behind the dust, so it almost looked like the moon, since it was not very bright. There was no moon yet, only the beginnings of stars twinkling behind the curtain of dust and sand. Our group leader asked me to teach him how to meditate, since he had heard that I teach yoga. A few other people listened in also. We sat in a line along the top of the Saharan dune. We were cross-legged with our hands resting on our knees in a mudra for meditation. The wind was blowing strongly since we were so high up. As I spoke to the others, I opened my eyes and looked around. Their faces were calm and happy. They were at peace with themselves, and with the world. I felt so connected with nature. The dunes rolled through the desert like an ocean, while at the same time looming over us like mountains. Everything was interconnected.

The light was very dull, because it was sunset and dust was everywhere. The contrast between humans and nature was interesting, because we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Nobody else was around except for the 9 of us sitting on top of the dune. Although there was the strong contrast between human life and the natural life of the desert, there was a unique unity between the two as well. I think this is because the emotions of everyone were so at peace, content, and genuinely happy with themselves and the world. I wish that I had gotten a picture of it! But that experience is something I will never forget.

To take this picture I would need an extreme wide angle lense because I want to capture clearly both the figures and the landscape. I would also need the diaphragm to be around a 2.8 so that I could capture the image clearly. It was dusk, so the shutterspeed would need to be 1/16 or 1/12 in order to get enough light in the photograph. I would like the picture to be very clear and contrasted to emphasize the contrast of figures/landscape, so Retinol film would be best.

Kelsey

Visiting a Mosque in Turkey

I had visited Istanbul during my spring break and almost every day, we would visit a different mosque that had its own unique qualities. Each time we would visit a mosque, there were many other tourists and prayer services would never be in session at the times we visited. However, on the last day we were in Istanbul, we came across a small mosque called the Little Hagia Sofia. Fortunately, we were right in time for one of the five prayer services that take place throughout the day. Since we were tourists and only observing their traditions and rituals, we were required to stand at a balcony one level above the main altar looking down at the service. Even though I took many pictures, both black and white and in color (to represent the brilliant colors displayed in the mosque), I was not able to quite capture a closeup of the calm emotions on the Imam and the Muslim devotees' faces. I only got a shot of their backs, whereas I would have preferred to capture their actual faces. Overall, I would label this picture as a depiction of religious dedication and unity, since the people who were praying prayed and bowed down to Allah in unison. It was very calm and serene inside the mosque itself and the prayers just seemed to be overwhelmingly powerful.

Because this picture would have been taken inside a mosque, my picture would have a lot of contrast due to the dark colored clothing of the Muslims and the lighter color of the walls surrounding them. Since I want the focus of the picture to be emotion, I would take this in black and white so that the vibrant colors of the mosque would not distract the viewer and the attention of the viewer would be focused on the people praying. I would capture a couple of shots, some using a wide angle lens and some using a telephoto lens. With the wide angle lens, I would capture the whole room of Muslims who were positioned in precise lines. I would stand in a particular corner of the room where it would make the lines in the photo seem diagonal. With a telephoto lens, I would capture one devotee's face and have the rest of the people in the background appear blurry.

-Meera

Quading in Corfu

My last day in Corfu, a Greek island, we rented Quads for the day to ride around and explore the island. It was getting later in the day, close to the time we had to return the Quads, and I realized I wasn't quite sure how to get back to our hostel. I led us in the direction I thought might be the right way, but was pretty stressed out that we would get lost. After navigating our way through this tiny, twisted town, the road opened into this beautiful landscape. The sun was low in the sky, preparing for sunset and we had come to this long straight away, with nothing but open road and mountains in the background. I was filled with an immense freedom that immediately cured my stress. It was a moment of not caring how lost I was or when I was bound to return. The light was vivid and I was comforted by the warmth of the sun. The view was one I never wanted to abandon. I wish I could've taken a picture, but even if I had I wish I could've done it justice. The vast, open land and endless road perfectly mimicked the sense of freedom I was feeling at that moment. I would've used a small aperture in order to have a large depth of field, so that everything was in clear focus, from the grass and road in front of me to the mountains in the background. I would have taken the picture in color in order to use the bring the landscape to life with vivid color provided by the light of the sun at that time of day.

Julia

The Photo I Wish I Took

I was in Rome for a majority of this break because two of my roommates from Rhode Island came to visit. This meant that for most of the week I was running around showing them all of the sights. One day in the middle of the afternoon me and one of my roommates were walking from the forum up the stairs of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. After climbing all of the stairs, we looked up and saw a beautiful bride in her flowing white dress and her proud new husband. Suddenly, a group of eight or nine year olds who were on a school trip turned around and started screaming how beautiful the bride was. I wish I captured the moment of the children surrounding the newly wed couple grabbing their hands and telling the bride how beautiful she was. One would think that this could make the couple upset because they were trying to get their professional photos taken, but they welcomed the little kids with open arms. It was a great moment to see and I wish I could have taken everyone in one of their happiest moments.

I would use a 5.6 or under for depth and I would have taken a horizontal photograph. I would have also had to use a a low iso because it was very bright out. My wide angle would have worked out really well.

Lisbon

This photo is an example of what one street in Lisbon looked like that I mentioned in class. The streets were colored with soft tones, but were highlighted through the streams of lights the hung over head. It was not nearly this crowded when I was there, but this photograph gives the idea of what the streets looked like during the night time.  The streets in Lisbon at night time were chaotic, but this photograph gives an exaggerated example of what it was like. 

Beaches of Brindissi

The sun cast a glare on the windshield, and filled all three of us with warmth. Driving along the sea, each of us from different worlds, backgrounds, coming together to find common ground. We laugh and listen to the Italian radio while the light sets a bright pink ball and gives us a satisfaction that this trip may be the only one of its kind. Pictures flash through my memory of the past three days, and how even if I tried nothing could have came together this perfect. The soccer player from the Netherlands, the bastard son of the King of Belgium, and I, an American girl in search of an adventure over Spring break. We rode in a 1980's model Ford van and cooked fresh fish on the grill. The sun set behind us on the beaches of Otranto, and then rose to see us, the first ones to see the morning in Italy. Boats from every point float on the seas in Brindissi, and we eat fresh clams and shrimp on the key. I have learned the art of doing nothing, fa niente. And as we go our separate ways, each holding visions of our experience together, we know we will meet again.

Riding in the van on the lungo mare to Brindissi I would have used a very wide angle lens, and open up the diaphragm to capture the driver and the inside of the van clearly, while allowing the colors of the sunset to come through the background.

Sarah

Photo I Wish I Had Taken

For Spring Break I went to Tenerife, an island off the coast of Morocco.  On our last day there, we rented a private sailboat to take us snorkeling and whale watching.  As the evening drew to an end, the sun began to set, casting a radiant blood-orange hue across the water.  Off to the east, in stark contrast, dark foreboding clouds sank over the island, luminous and sly.  The mountains rose upwards, swallowed by the impending rain.  The perfect photograph, captured by a wide-angle lens in color with a diaphragm of 8, would show both sides of this contrasting scene - the tranquil sunset in the west, and the coming storm in the east - with the glowing water acting as an indifferent, yet hypnotizing mediator.

George

The photo I wish I took

I was standing close enough to the stage to touch it, with Taylor Swift a mere two feet away from me-- just out of my reach.  I turned to my left to find a 15 year old Italian girl frantically asking me to take her picture.  I took the camera and she and her friend poised themselves for the 5 seconds it took to take the picture.  As soon as the flash went off, they turned to each other with tears in their eyes and jumped up and down while they hugged.  They were so overjoyed and full of emotion that they physically could not contain it.

Mary

OPEN DIAPHRAGM, WIDE ANGLE LENS 28, HIGH ISO, HIGH CONTRAST

The photo I wish I took ...

Over the break I went to the island of Capri. On a cruise around the island, we got to go into the Blue Grotto. Inside the grotto is complete darkness when you first enter but when you turn around you see the water glow a magnificent blue color. Thats all you can see inside is the glowing water; the light from outside the grotto comes in under the water causing it to 'glow'. I captured a picture on my digital camera, but even that can't describe what it was like. I would have liked to taken it with my traditional camera and seen how it would have captured the concept of the incoming light beneath the water in black and white, especially since the most important part of the experience is the blue. I would think using a wide-angle lens would have been the most beneficial.

-Allison

The Picture I wish I had Taken

The most memorable photo that I wish I took over spring break was from the top of the Duomo in Florence. The view itself was breathtaking, but what made it even more memorable was that on the left, you could see the dark grey clouds and the rain falling over the hills in the distance. But looking to the right, the rain had not yet came, and the city was still bright with sun and there were blue skies above the hills beyond. It would have made a great photo not only for the contrast of city to countryside, but also from dark to light due to the shifting weather.
I think the photo would have been most striking in color, because the different colors of the buildings of the city would have popped against the dark sky, and the same for the blue sky against the dark hills on the other side. However, the contrast in color was strong enough that it would have been present in black and white as well.
I would have wanted to use a wide angle to be able to capture both sides of the landscape. It was also low light so I would want high iso also to bring out the contrast of the sky as much as possible so that it showed up in black and white. 

-Anna

The Photo I Wish I Took...

I was in London for spring break and during my stay there were a lot of protests and riots about education, the government, etc. Thousands of people gathered the city in various locations including Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and Covent Gardens. The mass influx of people caused a backup on the underground railway system. I took the tube during the peak of the crowd which meant that the station was packed and it was nearly impossible to move around. I wish I had captured the huge group of people because the variety of ethnicities, races, and genders present would have offered a unique and diverse composition of characters. The scene I am picturing is mostly people with little background to express how big the crowd was. I would have changed the depth of field to make the background blurry to indicate motion.

Mara Schlanger

The photo I wish I took

Over break I spent a few days visiting friends in Perugia. One afternoon they showed me around their favorite view points including a spot overlooking Assisi. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of the  landscape I saw. The hills went far into the distance and they were scattered with houses. From above the contrast between the reddish, brown rooftops and and the green hills below a warm blue sky created a quiet and peaceful image. I would have taken this photo in color.

I would have used a normal wide angle lens, large depth of field, 5.6 F-stop and 100 ISO. 


Phoebe

Micha Bar Am

This is a photograph of a young boy playing on the border between east and west Jerusalem. I really like that the actual subject of the image is very small and the furthest object away from the camera. He is placed on the horizon so it really feels like he's on the border of something, at the very last point before he drops off the surface. The hanging clothes serve to communicate setting as well as frame the subject, so that even though he is small, he is made visible to the viewer. Also, the two sets of hanging clothes provide depth, as one is in the foreground and the other in the background. The photographer probably used a small aperture to gain an extended field of depth, so that the small boy in the background is still clear.

Julia

My attempt at photojournalism.

After wandering around London, I came upon many protests. There were protests against the war and for the war, against the UKs involvement in Lybia and for the involvement, ect. There are a number of things that were protested and a number of ways that these protests were... protested.

This is my attempt at capturing that protest.

- Nicole

During spring break I came by a lot of these protests. While I did manage to capture a few images, there were a few shots that I was unable to get. One that stands out is this lady, along with two other woman, as the three of them stood holding their signs they stared out straight, and strong. They had determined and powerful gazes that were quite striking. I tried to capture it, but couldn't. That's an image that has stuck in my mind. I was capturing photos with my 50mm fixed lens. I would have liked to have captured this image with either that lens or with a wide angle lens. I like that the aperture would be low around 1.8. If I took it with a film camera I would have liked to have had a grainy texture and quality to the image.

Ion Grigorescu, Fences, from City in Socialism series, 1974 - 87

I was in London this past week and an exhibit featuring work from this photographer was in the Tate Modern Gallery. The feature was called Out of Place and showcased work meant to explore the relationship between personal and political history through architecture and space. The above photo uses a central fence and abandoned space to capture the mood brought on by Socialism in Eastern Europe. The fence instantly draws the viewers eye to the center of the page and the contrast of light between the sky and the ground emphasize the barren nature of the scene. I really like how such a simple composition can capture so much meaning and history.

- Mara Schlanger