Category Archives: Travel

…and we’re back!

The view from Aldo and Virginie's London Flat.
The view from Aldo and Virginie’s London Flat.

At least, temporarily!

That is, we’re back in Rome after a few days in London, a week in Nottingham, and a weekend in Umbria.

I still haven’t gotten through most of the photos, but a couple of iPhone photos are included here. One shows the view from Aldo and Virginie’s London flat, and the other is an obligatory photograph of Robin Hood in Nottingham. (The iPhone camera performs well in the right circumstances.)

Robin Hood in Nottingham.
Robin Hood in Nottingham.

Anyway, this is all in advance of our move to Abu Dhabi, and with any luck there’ll be another update to follow soon!

Been a While…

Mom and Chiara at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue.
Mom and Chiara at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue.

OK, so I’ve seriously dropped the ball on keeping my blog up to date, so here’s a brief summary of life over the past few months: super busy at work, great trip to Belgium over the summer (photos to follow!), and a whirlwind trip to Chicago to visit Mom at Christmas. By far the biggest news from the Christmas break is that Mom now has an iPad (and so, email, Skype, internet access, etc.). Finally!

On the right is a shot of Mom and Chiara at the Water Tower Place after the usual bao lunch.

Florence (Firenze)

We spent a quick day and a half in Florence (Firenze) recently, and it was great for both shopping and photography. I’ve only had time to get through a couple of photos (gallery coming… eventually), but here’s one shot (probably my favourite) from our trip.

Paris…at long last

A view looking down the Seine.

…at long last both because we’ve been in Europe for a while before finally making our way to Paris, and also because we’ve been back in Rome for about a month an a half before I’ve managed to find time to sort through the photographs and update my blog.

To make a long story short, Paris was great. The parisian taste for grand public spaces and monuments made for some fun photography (despite the grey skies that filled our few days in Paris), and our hosts, Aldo and Virginie, were fantastic.

Without further ado, here’s the link to my photographs of Paris.

Sunset over Umbria.

Sunsets in Umbria

Sunset over Umbria.
The sunset as seen from Chiara's parents' house.

Chiara and I recently spent three days with her parents and their house in Umbria. (They’re interested in selling the house, and the website for the house can be found here.)

The afternoon light on an Umbrian hillside.
The afternoon light on an Umbrian hillside.

A relaxed time was had by all, and I got quite a few shots of the sunset and the surrounding countryside, as well as a few shots of the nearby city of Massa Martana. Massa Martana had suffered an earthquake several years ago, and they’re just now finishing their rebuilding of the old section of the city.

All photographs can be found here.

The Big Trip

Chiara and I are back from our Canada-USA trip, and to say that we had a great time would probably be a bit of an understatement. Thanks to everyone who hosted us, and to those we met along the way, you’ve all made our trip truly memorable!

the Chicago skyline
the Chicago skyline

Chiara and I arrived in Chicago where we stayed for a couple of days with my Mom and Grandmother, then we went up to London (via Detroit) to visit Dave and Sona. From there it was off to North Bay to spend a few art-filled days and nights with Deanna and Brent, then to Dad’s before leaving for Coniston/Onaping, where we stayed for two nights with Uncle Victor and Aunt Pauline at their house on Windy Lake. During our stay at Windy Lake we visited Grandma, Uncle Terry, and much of the family in Coniston, and also had dinner with Auntie Mary and David in Sudbury.

the sunset over Lake Nipissing in North Bay
the sunset over Lake Nipissing in North Bay

Then it was back to North Bay for a few days during which we spent most afternoons swimming in Lake Nipissing, before going to London to spend two nights visiting my thesis supervisor John Bell. Finally, we were back in Chicago for the last three days of our trip.

the Chicago skyline at night
the Chicago skyline at night

I took lots of photographs throughout the trip, and you’ve got two options to view them. There’s a gallery of photos from our trip. I’ve also got a separate gallery of photographs of Brent’s artwork.

A photograph of one section of a London Skatepark

Oxford/London

The Radcliffe Camera
The Radcliffe Camera

I’m back now from 9 days in Oxford, where I attended a couple of IB teaching workshops. The obligatory tourist photograph is shown on the left ;).

While in the UK I managed to get away to London for the day, and spent an afternoon at Tate Modern. Saw the usual stuff, but the works that most impressed me on this visit were the the photographs in the Subway series by Bruce Davidson.

Also while in London I stumbled upon a small skatepark, and two of my favourite photographs from the trip were taken there.

A London Skatepark
A photograph of one section of a London Skatepark

Fourth Time is the Charm…

So, on my fourth trip to Pisa I finally made it to the Leaning Tower. The light wasn’t ideal for photography that afternoon (hazy, with brief moments of sunlight), but it left me with something to work on in Lightroom, and I’m fairly happy with the results.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Later that day the weather improved considerably, and I got a photograph of Chiara and Orsetta walking in the evening sunlight that I’m really happy with. I’m not sure which treatment I prefer (when I finally post a gallery of Pisa photos I’ll include another treatment), but here is the colour version.

Edit: I’ve added another version below on the right.

Summer Evening SunlightEvening Sunlight (version 2)

Orsetta was a great host (as always) and we also got to visit Chiara’s friends Pietro and Antonia and their two daughters Juliana and Ludovica. More photos to come soon!