Siena

19.12.06 "The World As I See It . . . "

By Scott Shephard

The title of this post is inspired by a song by Jason Mraz by the same title. In the first stanza he sings,

The world as I see it is a remarkable place . . .

From a bird’s eye view I can see it has a well-rounded personality

From a bird’s eye view I can see we are family.”

This photo, taken south of the Italian town of Sienna, shows off the Tuscan countryside at its spring best. During the four days we spent there this past May, we had about 30 minutes of sunshine, bookended by rain and clouds. And I was fortunate enough to have my camera overhead just after sunrise on the day the sun decided to show itself..

Tuscany does indeed have a well-rounded personality. And, like many places I have been both abroad and certainly in South Dakota, there is no doubt that the world is a remarkable place.

DJI Mavic 2 Pro Hasselblad L1D-20c 1/160 sec f5.0 ISO 100

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Duomo Siena

Duomo Siena in Siena, Italy, photographed by Watertown, SD, photographer Scott ShephardHere's another photo of the Siena Cathedral and one that I adjusted with Apple's raw image processing software called Aperture. I think it's an amazing tool but today I decided it is especially useful to people who shoot architectural interiors in poorly lit places - such as the Duomo Siena. I won't bore you with the technical details, but there are several places within this photo that got special and unique attention - something I never did in Photoshop.If you are wondering about all of those faces that are peering outward, those are portraits of every pope going back to St. Peter, Given that the duomo was built in the 1300's, I wonder if the builders had the foresight and imagination to leave room for at least another seven or eight hundred years of Popes?Canon 5DII 1/60s f/1.4 ISO400 50mm

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08-29-09 Tuscan Sunrise

Tuscan villa near Siena, Italy, by Scott Shephard Having been put in charge of finding a place to stay near Siena, Italy, I was very proud to have secured lodging in a well-kept Villa a few miles away from the city center. On the grounds of the villa we stayed in a small cottage that had once been a grainery. Just a few feet away from the cottage was a large swimming pool. There was also a main house that had been converted into 4 more apartments. But for two days we had the place to ourselves. The cost per night was $100!

None of these details have anything to do with this photo other than the fact that it was taken near our villa. (I like the sound of that.) I suspect that this view is a bit of a cliche since scenes like this are commonplace around Siena. I half expected to bump into Francis Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun) but her villa is in Cortona.

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