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Florence Views

July 21, 2003

Dear Friends and Families,

We take pictures for fun. We try to take good pictures, sometimes standard "postcard pictures" and sometimes our own visions and interests. Florence, however, was a tough place to capture.

Virtually none of the museums allowed photos. We generally avoid "panoramas" because they are always a disappointment compared to the first-hand impression. This was certainly true in Florence. It's interesting how the eye can ignore haze or power lines or other modern interventions on a classic scene - but the camera catches everything.

On the Florentine streets, buildings were packed so tight that it was hard to capture a reasonable or interesting perspective. Fronts of the many old palaces (palazzos) could have been interesting but when taken from across a 15-foot wide street there's not much to see except a huge door in a stone wall. Rows of such palazzos are imposing in person but plain on film.

I suppose that's why everyone takes pictures of bridges; at least there, a photographer can "stand back".

Oh well, here are a few shots anyway.

John and Marianne

The baptistry tower seems to dominate the Duomo in this shot but, in fact, the dome and the tower are about the same height.

Walking around the back of the Duomo shows the grime of ages. Everywhere we looked, there was renovation going on, in part to remove just such stains.

Taking pictures in hot afternoon sun is usually pretty fruitless. However, this one I like.

The same statue from the front. It stands at the corner of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Pictures of the Ponte Vecchio are always popular. This was a morning shot, from the Ufizzi I believe.

At sunset, the old bridge turns a nice rose. It also collects tourists in the middle as they look into the sunset.

This is the sunset view downstream.

The Medici Chapel dome has been cleaned but the neighboring parts of the church are among the many parts of Florence covered in scaffolding.

This is a view from the Pitti Palace. Here it's clear to see how the cathedral dominates the old city.

This moring shot was an unusual summer picture of the Ufizzi courtyard - no tourists. During the day the place is filled with tourists, mimes, police, etc.

San Croce. On this first visit we got no closer than this view across the square. Later, Marianne would go inside.

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his page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.

	The baptistry tower seems to dominate the Duomo in this shot but, in fact, the dome and the tower are about the same height.		Walking around the back of the Duomo shows the grime of ages. Everywhere we looked, there was renovation going on, in part to remove just such stains.
Taking pictures in hot afternoon sun is usually pretty fruitless. However, this one I like.		The same statue from the front. It stands at the corner of the Palazzo Vecchio.
	Pictures of the Ponte Vecchio are always popular. This was a morning shot, from the Ufizzi I believe.		At sunset, the old bridge turns a nice rose. It also collects tourists in the middle as they look into the sunset.
This is the sunset view downstream.		The Medici Chapel dome has been cleaned but the neighboring parts of the church are among the many parts of Florence covered in scaffolding.
	This is a view from the Pitti Palace. Here it's clear to see how the cathedral dominates the old city.		This moring shot was an unusual summer picture of the Ufizzi courtyard - no tourists. During the day the place is filled with tourists, mimes, police, etc.
		San Croce. On this first visit we got no closer than this view across the square. Later, Marianne would go inside.