F
franze
Guest
Last week my wife and daughter were in CA. My boys had a week off from school and hockey practice. We had planned on doing some skiing but after a great day of skiing on Monday, my older son sprained his ankle jumping a ramp in the driveway on his rollerblades. We made the impromptu decision to make a road trip to Italy. Since there were three of us and the RT doesn't have a side hack, we took the BMW 320i. Most of the driving was done on auto-routes as we were focused on destinations: Pisa, Firenze (Florence), Venezia (Venice), and Como.
First morning in Genova
Pisa
My sons discussing the situation
The obligatory gag shot, eating pizza in Pisa
Why P.O.V. is so important. I regret not moving to a position where I could have taken a shot of Tai Chi being performed by many
This statue of Romulus and Remus was nearby. I really preferred this silhouette as opposed to the other, sunlit side. Also, I didn't crop out the tree tops because I liked the shape repeated in the wolf.
A little after lunch, we headed towards Firenze, I took some great MC roads until the back seat passenger had me pull over so he could complete the last phase of being car sick. Not pretty. Here's what the terrain between Pisa and Firenze looks like.
Firenze
We found a hotel near the old part of Firenze. We walked around for a few hours.
There is a large population of what looked like giant muskrats or some type of chubby freshwater otter along the river. The round brown thing in this photo is not a rock.
One of my favorite shots.
Now THATS gelatto!!! I'm surprised that at this angle, the DOF is pretty good.
Here's the shot that I really, really, wished had turned out a little more in focus. My boys eating their gelatto on the steps of a midevil building. We talked about how many people over the past 500 years leaned against the same building and what they may have been eating.
As darkness fell, it was time for some low-light experiments.
I originally used my flex tri-pod from this hill but the pressure of applying the auto focus mechanism caused the camera to flex when released resulting in about 5 blurry images. Luckily, I had my heavy duty mini aluminum tripod which worked much better. Lesson learned, don't use the flex tripod for long shutter speeds.
First morning in Genova
![255867771_MTQzx-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255867771_MTQzx-L.jpg)
Pisa
My sons discussing the situation
![255867782_jmz3Z-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255867782_jmz3Z-L.jpg)
The obligatory gag shot, eating pizza in Pisa
![255870384_tqhxV-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255870384_tqhxV-L.jpg)
Why P.O.V. is so important. I regret not moving to a position where I could have taken a shot of Tai Chi being performed by many
![255867777_SSeFA-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255867777_SSeFA-L.jpg)
This statue of Romulus and Remus was nearby. I really preferred this silhouette as opposed to the other, sunlit side. Also, I didn't crop out the tree tops because I liked the shape repeated in the wolf.
![255870375_Pu7fz-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255870375_Pu7fz-L.jpg)
A little after lunch, we headed towards Firenze, I took some great MC roads until the back seat passenger had me pull over so he could complete the last phase of being car sick. Not pretty. Here's what the terrain between Pisa and Firenze looks like.
![255884507_FdxDz-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255884507_FdxDz-L.jpg)
![255884513_kw5xM-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255884513_kw5xM-L.jpg)
![255884517_G3WyH-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255884517_G3WyH-L.jpg)
Firenze
We found a hotel near the old part of Firenze. We walked around for a few hours.
There is a large population of what looked like giant muskrats or some type of chubby freshwater otter along the river. The round brown thing in this photo is not a rock.
![255872402_9K4ak-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255872402_9K4ak-L.jpg)
One of my favorite shots.
![255872406_YNsfi-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255872406_YNsfi-L.jpg)
![255874630_5SEv8-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255874630_5SEv8-L.jpg)
Now THATS gelatto!!! I'm surprised that at this angle, the DOF is pretty good.
![255874634_jaaga-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255874634_jaaga-L.jpg)
Here's the shot that I really, really, wished had turned out a little more in focus. My boys eating their gelatto on the steps of a midevil building. We talked about how many people over the past 500 years leaned against the same building and what they may have been eating.
![255874639_m3WPq-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255874639_m3WPq-L.jpg)
As darkness fell, it was time for some low-light experiments.
![255874648_C29Ec-L-1.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255874648_C29Ec-L-1.jpg)
I originally used my flex tri-pod from this hill but the pressure of applying the auto focus mechanism caused the camera to flex when released resulting in about 5 blurry images. Luckily, I had my heavy duty mini aluminum tripod which worked much better. Lesson learned, don't use the flex tripod for long shutter speeds.
![255884502_J2qMU-L.jpg](http://elcid.smugmug.com/photos/255884502_J2qMU-L.jpg)