Sorrento
Earlier this year, my wife and I took a week long break in Sorrento, Italy. While it was early in the season with not too many tourists and poor weather it was still wonderful to have a break. We wandered around the old town of Sorrento and took trips along the Amalfi coast and ate fresh fish and seafood. And pizza, so much pizza!
In one of the many churches we visited, there was an exhibition of a photographer, Raffaele Celentano a local photographer who was showing an exhibition of his ‘Red Passion‘ photographs. Struck by this and the profusion of truly Italian scenes that were available I decided to give his style a go. Note that most of these were actually taken with my old iPhone 8 and edited in Lightroom for that ‘Pleasantville’ effect.
Fiat Armani
My wife was shopping in Sorrento’s answer to Primark while I waited outside smoking and watching the world go by. Shortly this little Fiat 500 pulled up outside the Emporia Armani shop and I saw an opportunity. It took a while to find the best angle and what for a car in front to leave and there to be few enough people in the shot, but patience paid off and I got this, the best of a dozen or so pictures. Edited in Snapseed to get the contrast in black and white just right I was pretty pleased with the results. Two very iconic Italian brands. What I like about this is the fact that had it had been a Ferrari it probably wouldn’t have worked so well (unless it was a 1950’s or 60’s model).
Lemon
Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are famous for their lemons. You can’t move for lemon trees, lemon sellers, lemon branded nick-nacks and so on. Some of them are huge as well. I’m really not joking when I say they have lemons the size of melons! It was during a rather frustrating trip along the Amalfi coast that I saw this potted lemon tree through a wrought iron gate.
Not All Roads Lead to Rome
While waiting for a bus to go to Ravello from Positano I was struck by this signpost and associated placards. The photo was taken on my iPhone and edited in Lightroom and then a frame added in Snapseed.
Waiting for Love
I don’t do street photography mostly because I always expect I’ll get beaten up by my prospective subject (I’m not very good at dealing with confrontation). But I managed to take a snap of this gentlemen waiting with a bunch of flowers and imagined he was waiting for his girlfriend. Perhaps to go for a coffee in one of the cafe’s on the Piazza Duomo Ravello? Of all the places along the Amalfi coast, I liked Ravello the most. It was relatively quiet with a niece town square and good coffee.
Piaggio La Ferrari
At the harbour in Sorrento I saw this and it made me laugh. Someone had stuck a Ferrari badge to their 3-wheel pick up.
Vespa
Finally, another Italian icon and an opportunity for another Raffaele Celetano-esque picture. This was taken at the same place in Positano as the sign post above. Colour saturation faded out in Lightroom.
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