March 3rd - Curvature

One of the walks we did while we were away included a sculpture display in the bushland - a fabulous idea and one you may see more of if the themes allow ;) These wings, suspended between the trees gave an impression of flight and a nice image for the 'curvature' theme for today. I couldn't decide - the limited palette of nature's greens and browns - or a B&W? I have been trying to take photos that will translate well to B&W and am working on the technique to get a good result. At present I am using layers to control the intensity of each colour and wishing I had a great printer nearby so that I could test the results rather than just on the screen of my laptop, which has its limitations! I have a large screen in the study which I need to get back to ASAP.

January 31 - Broken

This enormous bronze sculpture of a face in the Boboli Gardens in Florence is designed to look old and broken, as if it is part of an enormous classical figure, long broken and decaying, however it is a relatively new work (1998) by Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj called 'Tindaro Screpolato' (Tindareus cracked.) It is the only modern work in the gardens which are classical, terraced gardens with interesting water features and even an intricate grotto, hidden away at the end of one of the paths.

January 27 - body

Sculptors love the human body in all its shapes and sizes - two images from Italy here

First the 'Pieta' - Michelangelo was only 24 when he sculpted this masterpiece and it is breathtaking. Unfortunately it must be kept behind thick glass as it has been damaged previously by a hammer-wielding nutter and had to be restored. The only benefit of this for a photographer is that you can actually get a photo without a bunch of tourists getting in the way :) but there is no way a photo through bulletproof glass can do the sculpture justice - and there is a window and some brightly coloured brown and yellow marble behind, so I covered the window, desaturated the image and added transparent soft light and multiplier layers, then the smallest amount of glow filter. It softens the image and highlights the figures instead of that complicated background.

The other photo I like (don't jump!!) - although it looks as if Christo and Jeanne-Claude have done a hit-and-run wrap, it is actually one of many statues along the top of a building in Modena which were wrapped as part of a restoration process.

January 23 - Blessing

New babies are a blessing, but no bird photos today ;) the word brought to mind a beautiful little sculpture I saw in rural France of the holy mother and child, the baby reaching out as if blessing. Taken in available light, not B&W or desaturated, just a snapshot as I was walking past, this is the only photo I have of the figures.