Da qui a li

My final project was transportation through Europe. I titled it, "Da Qui a Li" (From Here to There). I studied the movement and vibrancy of travelling.

Sunrise

My favorite pictures from the Sunrise shoot! So grateful for this photo class!

Ain't nuthin' but a Gita

Earlier in the semester we took a little gita to Lucca! On the way, we stopped off on the top of a mountain to make photographs of a sunrise. This is the first project where I have broken my own rules and done something different. They are grainy, blurry, and imperfect.
Luciano has taught us to go beyond what is to be expected from us and experience the unfamiliar. This project is unlike anything I have done before and that is what I like about it.

My Final Project

      I chose to base my project around Chefs in Siena.  I have a passion for food and I figured this would be a good way to try and catch a free meal (which I did).  I wanted to photograph chefs because they are always inside the kitchen, and are never able to go out into the restaurant.  I wanted to bring the work of the chef outside of the kitchen for all to see.  In doing so I brought my fellow "eaters" inside the kitchen to see how much work is put into the art that is Italian Food.
     Here are just a few of the 25 photos I used for my project, entitled "Cuochi Senesi."

Here we are lucky enough to have Luciano as our professor who loves to do out of class activities! We have worked with flash in and outdoors, continuous light in studio, day trips to different cities, creeping on people in the piazza del campo, worked with a model and a prop, and had numerous lessons on photoshop from Emilio.  We are all weird in our own way which makes photo lessons that much more fun, here is a  just a taste of what a studio lesson looks like with us!

Class Activities with Luciano

     As I continue to work on my final project, I thought I would share some photos from our class activities.  Luciano has taken us to do many different things, for example the below photos from the Fortezza in Siena.
     I am so glad that we do class excursions, because it pushes me to take photos that I am not necessarily comfortable taking.  We went to shoot sunrises one morning in the sprawling hills outside of Siena.  Normally, I do not like shooting landscapes.  I enjoy more shooting people in action.  Also, Luciano brought us 1 beautiful model, and one simple chair and told us "Fai un foto."  The model spoke no English.  So my direction to her was showing her what to do.  I was so nervous, because I had never done this sort of thing before, let alone with a gorgeous model.  In the middle of the shoot I was sweating, dripping wet, because of running around taking photos and being so nervous.  The model asked me "Hai caldo?  Vuoi qualcosa da bere?"  From that moment on, I was fine.  I settled in to my comfort zone and took some decent photos.
     So here are just a couple of the many photos that I took in class.

Model Choosing a Bottle for Us Tonight

Counting the Day's Tips in Piazza del Campo

Little Public Flashing

This week the photo class went up on the fortress, here in Siena, to make a few photographs using speed lights.  Check out the photos below.