It's an Italian holiday, Immaculate Conception Day, so I've had the day off school. Yesterday was my last Italian class, and tomorrow finals commence. I've been listless and indolent, reluctant to study, and my greatest accomplishments of the day include making vegetable soup, hanging up laundry, and listening to Italian language podcasts. I picked out a few pictures for my free photo assignment, and I tried to send them to my professor, but I couldn't think of a single thing to journal about them. I thought putting them onto the blog might inspire me.
Oh, and I was also inspired by my classmate Abby's blog, which has been far more regularly updated than mine and makes me wish I'd gone to Siena this semester!
A bell tower at Subiaco Monasteries, the oldest Western monasteries in the world. I tagged along with a Religion class and enjoyed the trip into the Italian countryside, despite the nippy mountain air and the fact that I hadn't yet purchased a winter coat.
Villa Adriana, Tivoli. Hadrian built this little haven from which he could supervise the enormous building project that was going on all around him, and it's an incredibly tranquil little island (which unfortunately we couldn't enter). I love this picture because the reflection is absolutely crystal clear and there are lots of curving lines.
Statues in Villa Borghese. These are two of the best faces I've come across in Roman statues, and I took several pictures to try to capture the expressions. The creepy guy on the right reminds me of a cartoon character (Rasputin, perhaps?). This is actually the only detail picture included here, even though I've taken so many; it is, after all, a Photographing Art and Monuments class, and I'm trying to include more work that falls under that category.
Ara Pacis, along the Tiber. This building takes my breath away. It's so simple, and so incredible. With the trees that line the Tiber reflecting off its surface, it's as if it's covered by a wall of nature. The museum houses an "altar to peace" built between 13 and 9 BC.
Interior of the Colosseo. I took lots of interesting pictures there, and this is one of my favorites because the forbidding nature of the subject helps to conjure the gigantic scale with which the place was built. Unless you look at the people milling around on the other side, you can gaze into the middle of the Colosseo and forget how big it really is.
No comments:
Post a Comment