Day 68 - From Rome with Love

Now we've finally reached the end. These are the last of my Rome photos. Wow... I've never done a 68 day challenge before. I once did a 30 day challenge of photos and then started a 30 day challenge of drawing comic strips but this one tops even that. It has been a lot of fun reliving Rome through photo editing and blogging. I've really enjoyed googling all the places I've visited and finding out even more about them. It has almost been like taking the trip again, and I think I'm actually gonna continue doing this, just after a bit of a break - since it's summer I'm taking a few weeks off work, and when I come back I'll hopefully have another batch of photos to edit.

Today's left shot is of a clock that is powered by water. Notice the scale in its bottom part? That's what makes it tick - the small scale shifts from side to side as water flows to one side and fills it up and then the other.

The right shot is the perfect end to my challenge, actually they both are - a clock powered by nature to run forever symbolizing "eternity" and the couple to the right kissing by the pond... Rome is a very old city - a city of forever - and as I traveled there I grew to love it, just as so many others who have traveled there before me have. So, it's time to say goodbye to the city of unending time with warmth and affection. To say goodbye to Rome with love...

I'll be back in August :)

/MrsHjort


Ps. A warm thank you to all of you who have followed me these past months. You rock!

A special thank you to all who have taken the time to comment and write to me. I appreciate all of your kind words and the support you've given me. Without you I wouldn't have made it for so long!

Also a super special thank you to Bob, who have brightened all of my days with his kind and witty comments. You are the best, sarge! Never change :)

Day 67 - Busts, trees and ponds

Rome is beautiful in the spring. There are blooming trees here and there all over, not only in the parks but in the city center too. I've never seen that many purple trees before - my guess is they're too sensitive to survive the harsh winters where I live (Sweden). I have no idea what type they are... Maybe you do? If so, you're more than welcome to tell me :)

As we were packing to travel to Italy, I was hesitant to pack my 55-300 mm telephoto lens - I usually don't end up using it that much unless I wear a lens pouch on my belt, and since that's not very handy in a crowded city I didn't plan to do that. Every day except this one I used my more versatile 18-105 mm lens, but this day I wanted to experiment a bit with bokeh, and maybe do some floral shots, so I brought the telephoto lens to the park. As it turned out I mostly did "wide" angle shots anyway (as wide as they got -  not very), so maybe next time I'll actually leave it at home... at least if we go to a large city. I didn't use my tripod either... Maybe I'll just bring my handy mono-pod and and save myself some weight.

The top shot and the middle shot are pretty self explanatory, but the bottom one is quite cool if you look a bit closer; the trees are growing through the roof of the building. Sadly I don't remember the name of the place but if I remember correctly it was a cafe or a restaurant. A pretty cool looking place.

/MrsHjort

Day 66 - Villa Borghese gardens

As a person who loves to travel to see beautiful nature I couldn't leave Rome without seeing one of its parks. So, the last few pictures that I'm going to show you will be from the Villa Borghese gardens - Rome's third largest public park (80 ha).

Regarding the park's history, it all started in 1605 when pope's nephew, cardinal Scipione Borghese began turning a former vineyard into a garden. It became the most extensive one built in Rome since Antiquity but it took a long time before it was open formally and it wasn't until 1903 that the garden was bought by bought by the commune of Rome and given to the public.

/MrsHjort

Day 65 - Trinità dei Monti

This is the inside of the church that was in yesterday's shots (the one at the top of the Spanish steps, if you don't follow me regularly). It was built in 1585 and it's unknown who designed its facade, but it is believed that a follower of Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, who had designed a similar church was the mind behind this one too.

The inside of this church is a bit different to the other churches in Rome - it's more minimalist. While that is not a phrase I'd usually use to describe it, the contrast brought the word to mind. To put it simple there is less color and not as many lavish details - the ceiling for example is not painted, nor is it filled with geometric patterns, it's simply light gray with some tasteful white lines to underline its architectural shape. I didn't get the ceiling in the shots though. Like I say yesterday I had the wrong lens with me and the 55-300 mm lens couldn't provide the wide angle I needed to make stuff work the way I wanted them to.

The second shot is of the view just outside the church. Beautiful in the morning with the light blowing life into all the shapes of the buildings, and a blue sky to top it all off. I rather like the way those three domes interact in this shot, don't you? :)

/MrsHjort

Day 63 - Largo di Torre Argentina

Look closely, can you see it? I didn't at first. As we were on our way back to our B&B in Rome we came across these ancient ruins, which isn't unusual in the city, but as I was taking them in I noticed a tiny spot of fur at its center. The crazy cat lady that I am I immediately identified my favorite animal and smiled at its nonchalance as it was laying there in the middle of a historic place without a thought of its past. It was then that Mr went "hey there's another one!" And lo and behold, there it was, walking along an old wall, and another one, no three others sunbathing on a slab of stone...

It turned out we had unknowingly arrived at the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary - the place in Rome where stray cats are taken to live in a safe environment. They are all fed and looked after by volunteers until they, hopefully, find new owners. The population is held in check as the cats are spayed and neutered, and the cats are also provided healthcare (if they need it). There is even a space for the elderly or handicapped to be safe and live their lives in peace. There are approximately 150 cats living in the shelter at any given time and about 125 cats find new homes every year.

It warmed my heart to find this place, and of course we made a small donation to the cause. It's nice to know that there is a place for our four-legged friends even in the busy streets of Rome.

/MrsHjort

Day 62 - Forum Romanum

We are nearing the end of my Rome series, sort of, there are still more than two weeks of photos that I want to edit but since I'll spend some time off work soon I want to take a break from this as well and maybe even build up a new batch of shots to edit as I come back later. Therefore I'll speed up my challenge and show you more than one shot a day, every day, until we reach the end.

Today's shots are from the Roman Forum. It's an ancient plaza that once was the very heart of the Roman empire as it was surrounded by several important government buildings, some as old as the 8th century BC. It was a place for speeches, elections, trials and even gladiatorial matches, but now only ruins are left. Sadly much of it was cannibalized and used as building materials as the place started to fall apart from exposure to nature in the 8th century AD. Later, as the interest in archaeology grew the pieces started finding their way back again though different means but there's no way of knowing how much is still missing. I was told there was even a great map that carved into stone once, but that too got broken apart, so who knows where all the pieces ended up... The forum will never be what it was, but as we learn more and more about it, history is reconstructed. Now it's a popular place to visit and a wonderful place to learn about the past.

/MrsHjort

Day 61 - Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana

The Santa Francesca Romana, an 8th century church, lies right next to the Roman Forum, not far from the Colosseum. According to legend both St. Peter and St. Paul prayed at the site where the church was built in order to challenge a man called Simon Magnus, who thought that his "pagan powers" were greater than those of the apostles. It is said that Simon levitated in front of them, but as the apostles prayed for their god to demonstrate his might Simon fell down dying. It is also said that the stones the apostles knelt on as they prayed are embedded in the church's south wall.

/MrsHjort

Day 60 - Artsy Parodies

Back in day 1, I showed you a picture of me staring into the distance in front of the Vatican. As I explained, it was a shot that was poking fun at me, and today I'll show you Mr's version. He was a bit confused when I got down on my knees - "You're doing what? Why? Really? And you think that will work? Okay...". He didn't know if he could trust my vision, but I absolutely adore the shot, even though it's not meant to be a serious one.

The whole origin of the "deep, staring into the distance in front of a famous cultural spot" photo joke actually (sort of) originates from my time at the university. You see, we had this new relatively young lecturer who took himself just a tad (ok a lot) too seriously. He was our lecturer in English literature and he would just go on, and on, and on, and ooon about stuff that would take anybody else half a minute to explain. I once (unknowingly) "hijacked" part of one of his lectures by going through the ins and outs of a book we had read - symbolism and all that jazz - which left him without anything to add to the (rather thorough) 10 minute presentation that I made (he had asked me to do it as a part of the mandatory course elements). He ended up ignoring the book in question entirely for the rest of the 3 hour lecture and explaining the other ones we had read to death instead (even more than he usually did)... Oh my... Needless to say, I used to be super bored during his lectures - "okay, I get it already! You don't have to use all the flowery words in the world to describe one concept", you know the type... The ones that make you hate a subject that would have been so much fun in somebody else's hands. It totally turned me off from reading and it took years to for me to enjoy books again. I still hate the idea of so called "fine literature" with a fiery passion. But I digress...

Anyway, all the professors and lecturers were listed on the uni's internet site, and his "official photo" was hilarious. Basically it was him, staring into the distance in front of a famous place in Paris, in black and white with a non-level horizon. Very different from all the other staff pictures - that were quite traditional. It was just like him, ridiculously pretentions in so many ways... and more of a rather embarrassing Facebook profile pic than a professional head shot. After I graduated, I once showed it to a colleague at the office where Mr and I work as we were talking about old uni stuff. She thought it was hilarious, so ever since then it has been our own little inside joke. Every time any of us travel to a famous place, we do a parody shot to poke fun at the concept (and ourselves).

/MrsHjort

Day 58 and 59 - Colosseum

This is one of the places in Rome that doesn't really need an introduction - its reputation precedes it. The Colosseum, also known as Flavian Amphitheatre is, of course, one of Rome's most famous spots. In 2018 it was even the most popular tourist spot in the world! 7.4 million people visited it that year. That's more people than the population of some countries - an interesting thought, don't you think?

Anyway, now for some history. The Colosseum took much less time to build than I would have thought. Especially with many other Roman places in mind, like St Peter's Basilica, that took a humongous time to complete. If I got my facts right, it "only" took 8 years to complete. It was built between 72-80 AD, with modification being done up until 96 AD, which still makes it a relatively fast in my mind with its size in mind. In its day it could hold 80 000 spectators and it hosted quite a lot of different events; gladiatorial contests (of course), animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. It even hosted mock sea battles at times - they actually filled it up with water and had boats in it! That is something I didn't know before my trip, and I was very surprised to learn it. It really made my jaw drop to hear Mr (the history nut that he is) tell me about it, and I once again found myself very impressed by the skills of the old Romans. What a thing to conceive of, and make into reality.

/MrsHjort

Day 57 - Mix of Art

Despite being dedicated to Constantine I, Arco di Costantino incorporates decorative material from the time of the emperors Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138) and Marcus Aurelius (161–180) making it a collage of sorts. Though the inscription certainly makes its point; "To the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, the greatest, pious, and blessed Augustus: because he, inspired by the divine, and by the greatness of his mind, has delivered the state from the tyrant and all of his followers at the same time, with his army and just force of arms, the Senate and People of Rome have dedicated this arch, decorated with triumphs."

/MrsHjort

Day 56 - Arco di Costantino

This triumphal arch - Arco di Costantino - can also be found near the Palatine Hill, just like Circus Maximus. It's actually right by the Colosseum, but I wanted the arch to be the star of this shot, so I turned my back on the stadium and shot the arch from between the two. Arco di Costantino is the largest of its kind in Rome, 21 meters high. It commemorates Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD.

/MrsHjort

Day 55 - The Tranquility of the Roaring Past

These shots are also of Circus Maximus, but the top one is looking to its other end and the bottom is shot from... well the bottom, right in the middle of it between the racetracks. I don't imagine the old Romans would have thought that people would stroll this leisurely along it in the future. The spot is quite quiet nowadays, there are not even many tourists. It's a nice place to stop and catch your breath.

As you can see I've experimented a bit further with these shots than I usually do. If you've been following me, you know I don't enjoy editing shots from overcast days, but I'm trying my best to find interesting new ways to edit them. So this time I took on a bolder approach than I usually do and tried to use their colors differently, going for green and muting everything else a bit instead. I also added a soft tan treatment to the sky to give the shots a bit of a vintage feel. I bias of course, but I like them more this way, I hope you enjoy them too.

/MrsHjort

Day 53 and 54 - Circus Maximus

Between two of Rome's seven hills - Aventine Hill and Palatine Hill (the latter can be seen in the background in the top picture - the ruins), you'll find our next stop; Circus Maximus, where the Romans raced horses and chariots. The stadium was built in the 6th century BC. It measured 621 m in length and was 118 m wide. Back in its day it could hold over 150 000 spectators, but today it's simply a park, and you can walk along the racetrack yourself.

The stadium is actually in both pictures. The bottom picture is what you see if you cross the road in the top picture (and you can actually see the other end of the stadium in the top picture, just below the trees in front of the ruins). It's another of those places that are larger in person. Standing by the edge of it, looking down at the people strolling along the track is really something.

/MrsHjort

Day 52 - City Shipwreck

Here is the Tiber again, but this shot is from street level. If you have a sharp eye you'll notice something a bit funny in the water on the other side of the bridge. It's a turned over boat, left in the river with its keel above the water surface. I have no clue how long it has been there, but it looked quite weathered as the paint was coming off the wooden planks.

/MrsHjort

Day 51 - View of the Tiber

We have finally reached the end of my shots from Castel Sant'Angelo. There have been quite a few of them and that's not so strange when you take into account how versatile the museum is. There is a lot to shoot, from the architecture of the castle itself (both exterior and interior) to it's statues, furniture, displays of weapons and armor, various cannons and the like, as well as the view from its walls and terraces.

This shot is not from the top roof terrace like that other one that I showed you a few days ago but from a balcony a bit farther down. The Tiber is in the foreground and in the background you can see the Altar of the Fatherland (distant, to the left).

/MrsHjort

Day 49 and 50 - Through a Window

We're still at Castel Sant'Angelo. This is one of the windows in the apartments where the pope stayed. The left shot is another one of those shots that would have been too dark in jpeg, but was saved by the raw format. The glass-work, although beautiful, obscures a wonderful view of St Peter's Basilica. Though it certainly makes for an interesting photography subject, don't you think? :)

/MrsHjort

Day 48 - Arch Angel

This is the statue on the very top of Castel Sant'Angelo that reminds us of the legend that gave the fort its name (I wrote about it a few days ago, find the story here). Interestingly there have been several versions of the statue throughout the ages. This one, made out of bronze, is from the 1700s. The one before it was made out of marble and there were other versions before that one. At one time it was wooden! I can't imagine that version lasting very long though. In fact the statue has been replaces at least six times since the time of the fort's construction. I wonder how much they resembled each other...

/MrsHort

Day 47 - Sunday Mass

Castel Sant'Angelo is one of the tallest buildings in Rome. It has a terrace on its roof with a great view of St Peter's Basilica and Piazza San Pedro, as well as other well known places. If you go to the fort on a Sunday you'll see the people gather for mass in the Vatican - a beautiful and powerful sight.

The masses can be celebrated in the basilica, in the square or sometimes both; it depends on the expected number of people attending them. Most masses require you to have a ticket, but don't sweat it, the tickets are always free.

I was lucky with this picture. As you can see it was quite cloudy that day and we were up on the roof terrace for quite a while before the sun finally broke though and shone in the right spot. I quite like the result, a gloomy sky with bright sunny buildings below it :)

/MrsHjort 

Day 46 - Dangerous Beauty

Castel Sant'Angelo is not only a beauty in itself, it also has beautiful items displayed inside it. From painted walls and ceilings to furniture, as well as weapons and shields. This one caught my eye. All that detail on its surface is beautiful, but the implications of that spike are nasty. Hopefully it was only used by someone important who wanted to look pretty whilst walking along the battlements of the castle :)

/MrsHort

Day 45 - Geometry in Photography

As I started shooting for more than plain old fun, as a newbie wannabe hobby photographer, I found it hard to use composition and perspective to improve my photos, but as the years have gone by, it has become something I can't shut off anymore. Using Geometry in photography is fun! This shot from a courtyard at Castel Sant'Angelo got me thinking about that.

Fist off, geometric shapes (circles, squares, rectangles etc.) are lovely things to incorporate into photography. It's something that draws you into a picture whether you're aware of it or not. As you can see, this shot has several shapes in it, and I think that's part of why I find it so attractive. And besides, as an old math nerd I always love it when photography and math come together.

Apart from the shapes, this shot is mathematical in another way as well - the classic rule of thirds can be applied to it too. I especially enjoy how the diagonal lines of the stone  railing connects two hotspots together and how the rectangle that is outside the bust's arch fits inside the middle lateral third. I hope you like it too :)

/MrsHjort