NIGEL'S RAMBLES: December 2023

This year has certainly flown quickly by. For family reasons I have been backwards and forwards to the UK, and Terminal 5 at Heathrow is almost a second home. My photography has drifted ever more towards Architectural subjects, and my musical tastes have veered towards the more free edges of Jazz. All in all a year of change and positivity on the professional front, as my Engineering studio continues to grow.

My photographic year started off in Brescia, a city I had always associated with grim industrial estates, but which is a fascinating city, with its Romanesque Rotonda church, amongst other treasures.

Rotonda Brescia

San Francesco

I experimented with a Monopod with feet, get around tripod bans in some sites. The Crypt in the Duomo di Reggio Emila made a quite testing ground.

Duomo di Reggio Emilia

The Carbon Fibre monopod hack is nice and light to carry all day and coupled with the in-camera vibration reduction system, that my Z7 is equipped with, can be used at base ISO for up to 30 seconds or more. It is good for HDR composite shots too. It just sometimes needs a camera bag as a counterweight. A pretty good travel solution. But a tripod with a geared head is still by far the best support for Architectural subjects, as it is fast and easy to level.

Further testing out was done in the wonderfully colourful Renaissance period, Duomo di Carpi.

Duomo di Carpi

Spent a Sunday afternoon at the end of January in Modena, where I visited a less well known Compianto di Cristo, by Guido Mazzoni, in San Giovanni Battista. The life sizes statues leave you spellbound. Modena has three sets of these terracotta sculptures.

Compianto di Cristo, by Guido Mazzoni.

Compianto di Cristo, by Guido Mazzoni

San Pietro

I finished off my afternoon at San Pietro, one of Emilia's major Renaissance monuments.

Baroque this time in Guastalla in the newly restored Santuario Beata Vergine Della Porta.

Santuario Beata Vergine Della Porta, Guastalla

The Grim looking, little church of Santa Croce, in Oltre Torrente, Parma, does not look like it might be of any cultural interest. But once inside, this Romanesche church has some wonderful column capitals, with strange warriors and beasts from the medieval Bestiary.

Santa Croce, Parma

A Spring Sunday morning outing to see a fortified tower house in the hills above Reggio

Croveglia, Reggio Emilia

April found me in Bath, for sad family matters. We stayed in a hotel by the Avon, and did get some time to see Bath again. I do not know when I will see my town of childhood memories again.

Bathampton

Bath

Bathampton

Bath

The picture everybody takes of Bath.

The Ghiara, is Reggio Emilia's only really interesting monument. They have redone the lighting, so I went to take a look, at this Baroque extravaganza.

The Ghiara, Reggio Emilia

In early May, I was in Pistoia, for work. I had time to explore this quiet Tuscan city, and eat an excellent mixed grill for lunch in one of the city squares. This city seems to have been spared from the mass tourism, that makes visiting most historic Tuscan cities a less than charming experience.

I wanted to visit the Romanesque San Bartolomeo, amongst other places.

San Bartolomeo, Pistoia

Duomo

Also in May I was on site to see a 40m walkway that I have engineered, lifted into place. It is pretty satisfying to see a structure move from the drawing board via a Finite Element mathematical model, to a useful physical object.

Also in May I had an afternoon in Mantova/Mantua. I wanted to photograph a "Last Supper" fresco in

the Gothic Santa Maria del Gradaro.

Santa Maria del Gradaro, Mantova

I used a strange "Vintage" lens for the exterior shot of the Church. I could not resist this "New old stock" Schneider 35mm shift lens, with a curious shifting mechanism. It turned out to be a pretty good lens. A dial shifts the lens upwards and downwards.

Schneider 35mm shift lens

At the beginning of June I went to see another Compianto in Modena. This one is in Sant'Agostino, and is by Antonio Begarelli. It is in a later more classical style, compared to the other one I saw. The church is a fairly sober Baroque.

Sant'Agostino,Modena

At the end of June, whilst I was out and about for work, I added the Rotonda di San Tomè - Almenno San Bartolomeo, BG, to my Romanesque photo project. This is an unusual round church.

Rotonda di San Tomè - Almenno San Bartolomeo, BG

July and time for our annual holiday. Grazia decided we must go to the UK to see Richard Ashcroft, at an open air concert. Luckily we had tickets for the VIP area which protected us a bit from the British summer

The joy of outdoor concerts

But we got to see Battle in Hastings, and I walked the battlefield.

Battle, Hastings

Battle Hastings

We explored the Romney Marsh area, and enjoyed Rye

Rye

We stayed in London, and I returned to a special place for me. Strand on the Green, a place of many booze ups and were I took my first photographs. The pubs are still good, on this pretty stretch of the Thames.

Strand on the Green, London

In Reims, we discovered an alternative Gothic masterpiece: Basilica di Saint-Remi, that internally, I found more interesting than the more famous Cathedral

Basilica di Saint-Remi, Reims

In August I was up in Lombardia, to see a new cheese making factory, I was involved with, at Passo Croce Domini, which is at 1800m above SL. Afterwards I went with my client for a short hike in the mountains.

Near Passo Croce Domini

I visited a Malga where cheese is made in a very traditional way. I bought some too to take home.

In September on the back of a work appointment in Piacenza, I had a nice day in this interesting city. I wanted to see the Romanesque mosaics that lie behind the uninspiring façade of the Basilica di San Savino. The Chess player and the other mosaics must be one of most interesting places I have seen this year.

Basilica di San Savino, Piacenza

Still in the Province of Piacenza, I discovered the Medieval fortified villages of Castell'Arquato and Vigoleno, as well a the interesting Pieve in Vigolo marchese, which I have written about in a couple of recent Blog posts.

Vigolo Marchese, PC

Vigoleno, PC

Castell'Arquato, PC

I finally got around to visiting the Lapidarium, in the Museo del Duomo, in Modena, with its strange carvings.

Museo del Duomo, Modena

Capture One, my photo post processing software, now has an AI function to deal with backgrounds, in pictures like this. Getting the black background took just a mouse click

Whilst in Modena I proved to myself again that 30 second exposures are great for eliminating the human presence in a crowded site. Sometimes techniques that date from the beginnings of photography, trounce "Photoshopping", as no post processing was needed for this shot apart from colour balance

Duomo Modena

A new shift lens has been added to my camera bag at the end of this year. I had doubts about this lens as reviews were not uniformly good, but the 15mm Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift has exceeded my expectations when I took it out for a test run in Modena. It is my first Z mount shift lens, as the old Nikon F mound will become gradually more obsolete.

Curiously this lens resurrects the shift mechanism of the old Schneider 35mm shift lens that I picked up earlier in the year.

Ossario by Aldo Rossi, Modena

So, 2023 is at an end. Next year I must try and keep this Blog updated more often, next year. We will be going to the UK again next year as well. Grazia wants to see Ashcroft at Kew. I hope it does not rain this time! I would love to get back to see Norfolk.

NIGEL'S RAMBLES

Sunday, December 31, 2023

2024 Comes to an End

Copyright 2023Nigel Voak