So what's my approach to capturing images when I'm on holiday?
Well the first thing I need bring to the forefront of my mind is that these are family holidays and not Photo Workshops. I can take chances to capture some potentially interesting images, but should not do so at the expense of others on the holiday. That would defeat the object of the holiday.
I knew, going into our long weekend in Florence, that I was very unlikely to get that killer shot of the Ponte Vecchio of the Duomo or any other Florentine landmark. What I should do is concentrate on having a splendid time and making the best of whatever opportunities came my way. Maybe pick one thing I want to have a go at, and disappear for an hour or so on my own, if I can't shoehorn it into at "natural" part of the holiday.
I did take a tripod with me and did have one shot that I wanted to have a go at; the sun illuminating a Tuscan sky, reflected in the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio as the main subject.
As you saw in my first Florentine blog, I missed the only decent sunset as we taxied along the runway, thanks to Manchester Airport's pants de-icing resources.
This didn't stop me going out one tea time to try and collect an image.
Now I wasn't helped by the weather, which was just a bit meh, but also by my choice of lenses. This is another issue pertinent to "It's a holiday first". I can't take ALL my camera kit. This time I took two bodies and three lenses; 14mm (in case of wideness being required), 23mm (for everyday stuff), and 56mm (for a bit closer). I chose to leave my 35mm lens at home. This is a small and light lens, so don't ask me why I thought this would make much difference.
When I got to the viewpoint from which my Ponte Vecchio masterpiece was to be shot from I quickly realised that 14 and 23mm were too wide, and 56mm too long. The 35mm would have been ideal......
This juggling of lenses is all my own fault. For some reason when I moved to using Fuji cameras I decided to stick with 'prime' lenses, and not bother with zooms which were bound not to be as good. And were the work of the devil.....
Well, it turns out Fuji zooms are VERY good and my constant juggling of prime lenses brings me nothing but vexation.
Yesterday at the Photo Show I bought a 16-55mm Fuji zoom and hopefully put to bed this stupid approach I've adopted.
Now the final image is OK, but it isn't brilliant. "It'll do" as my Grandad used to say.
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Day three of our Florentine odyssey was meant to start with a visit to the Uffizi gallery but this meant an early start - the gallery opened about 8am - which our lovely comfy hotel bed made very difficult. By the time we got there, the queue stretched around the block, so instead we headed across the river to the Palazzo Pitti and went in there for free instead.
And, frankly, there was some weird shit on display.
The stuff of nightmares.
Nipple tweaking. Pain or pleasure?
We spent a good part of the morning wandering around the gallery, and when we exited we found that the weather had taken a turn for the worse. We took the opportunity to sit, have a coffee, and watch the world go by. As we did the weather got even worse with rain turning to hail, with thunder and lightning, and a bit of snow. It was this snow that set up the conditions for my favourite picture of the weekend.
As the snow started to fall, a little girl ran out into the courtyard of the gallery, and started to catch flakes. I reached for my camera, much to Gel's alarm ("You're not going to take pictures of a child are you?), and as it reached my eye, she had been joined by her dad who seemed to take as much pleasure from catching the snow as she did. This is the part of photography I like. No amount of preparation would have helped me get this image. Just my constant "Shark like" surveying of what's around me helped me out.
We sat out the storm, and then headed back to the hotel for our afternoon snooze. We went via the local supermarket and picked up some rather splendid snacks - cheese and spinach, and bacon pastries.
In the evening we headed back out for some tea and had a local delicacy, Bistecca Firenze, which, if truth be told was a little disappointing.
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The following morning we had a couple of hours to wander round the city again in the warm spring sunshine before setting off for the airport and, via Munich, back home. A really nice relaxing and fun weekend. I think both of us fell in love with a beautiful city and would go back in a heartbeat.
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