Tag Archives: Kodak Ektar 100

Architecture, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

The Arch of Titus at the entrance to the Forum

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Many emperors had triumphal arches erected. Immediately beside the Colosseum is the arch of Constantine. The arch of Septimus Severus stands at the foot of the Capitoline hill, at the one end of the Forum. There are others scattered around the Empire, and of course, they inspired many later constructions, such as Napoleon’s Arc De Triomphe in Paris, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch in New York City, Wellington Arch in London, and the Arch of the General Staff Building in St. Petersburg. Ironically, the latter two were built to commemorate the Russian and English victories over Napoleon. This is the arch of Titus, at the opposite entrance to the Forum.

Arch of Titus, Forum
Arch of Titus, Forum

You can see the inscription which reads:

SENATVS

POPVLVSQVE·ROMANVS
DIVO·TITO·DIVI·VESPASIANI·F(ILIO)

VESPASIANO·AVGVSTO

which translates to:

The Roman Senate and People (dedicate this) to the divine Titus Vespasianus Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian.

The inscription itself and the central arch are the remaining original parts of the arch. It was restored and reconstructed in the 19th century. The reconstruction was done in Travertine marble to demonstrate the difference between the original and reconstructed parts, and the reconstructed columns were left plain in contrast to the fluted columns of the original.

The arch would have originally had a sculptural group on top of perhaps horses and chariots, or perhaps the emperor riding a pegasus. The inscription would have been filled with metal letters in silver, gold or some other metal (bronze is possible but less likely as it would have oxidized and bled green patina over the face of the arch).

In the interior of the arch, you can see the spoils of war being brought back to Rome from the Temple in Jerusalem, particularly the golden Menorah. This was originally painted golden color, with the background blue. During a spectrographic survey of the arch for the Arch of Titus Digital Restoration Project in 2012 discovered the remains of yellow ochre paint in the menorah.

Arch of Titus, Interior
Arch of Titus, Interior
Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Swiss Guard Helmets, Castel Sant’Angelo

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In a guardroom in the Castel Sant’Angelo preserved as an example of what such a space would have looked like in the 17th or 18th century, a row of steel helmets have been laid out:

Helmets, Castel Sant'Angelo
Helmets, Castel Sant’Angelo
About Art, Architecture, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Taking Photographs, Travel

Palazzo Barberini in Color

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Today the Palazzo Barberini houses another great art museum, home to two Caravaggios, a version of Hans Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII of England, and Bernini’s bust of Cardinal Barberini among many other masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque painting. Here is the entrance facade as designed by Bernini, seen from the entrance courtyard with its central fountain.

Facade, Villa Barberini
Facade, Villa Barberini

A detail of one of the water jets in the fountain:

Fountain Detail, Palazzo Barberini
Fountain Detail, Palazzo Barberini

A staircase leading up to the rear gardens from the coachway underneath the palace. To the left out of the frame is the famous stepped ramp to the rear of the garden also designed by Bernini. Sometimes when you’re photographing, you get into this mindset of one type of image or another – for example, I had been shooting black-and-white film, and when composing this, I was still in the black-and-white headspace. I was thinking about the tones of the scene and the gradations from bright to dark. I don’t know if I even realized at the time I was shooting in color. When I was editing through my negatives, I saw this one and thought, “gosh, that’s likely to be a throwaway shot, but I’ll scan it just in case”. I wasn’t sure it would be sharp enough, because my memory of the space was that it was exceedingly dark and I winged it with a handheld exposure, roughly 1/4 of a second.

Well, you can see what happened. Not only was it sharp, but I seem to have mastered serendipity. The colors in the scene are beyond beautiful – the subtle blue from the cold light of the palace shadow seeping down into the stairway from the garden entrance to the rich golden hue of the paving stones and the plaster on the wall.

Inner Courtyard Stair, Palazzzo Barberini
Inner Courtyard Stair, Palazzzo Barberini

Poking around the grounds of the palazzo, I saw two massive carved stone coats of arms lying on the ground in a side service yard. One was the papal coat of arms of Maffeo Barberini, Pope Urban VIII. To be expected – this was his palace. This one, on the other hand, is a bit surprising – the papal coat of arms for Paul V – Camillo Borghese. During the years of their respective papacies, the Borghese and Barberini estates were neighbors, and Scipione Borghese, the Cardinal Nepotente to Paul V, was a friend and fellow art enthusiast with Maffeo Barberini. After Urban VIII’s death, the Barberini palace was seized and not returned to the Barberini family for some years, but neither the Pope doing the seizing nor the pope who returned it to them were Borghese. Both families (Borghese and Barberini) were one-papacy families, unlike the Medici with four, and the Della Rovere with two.

Borghese Papal Coat of Arms
Borghese Papal Coat of Arms
Architecture, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Around the Piazza Bocca Della Verita

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In a previous post I mentioned the Temple of Hercules Victor and the Fountain of the Tritons on the Piazza Bocca Della Verita, and the associated temple and church of the Temple of Portuno and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Here they are.

The Temple of Portuno is more or less contemporary to, although somewhat newer than, the Temple of Hercules Victor. It survived into the Christian era and was re-purposed as a Christian church, to later fall into disuse. It has been stabilized and restoration work is ongoing.

Temple Of Portuno
Temple Of Portuno

The library of the Casa Dei Crescenzi sits immediately across the street from the Temple of Portuno. The structure in this shot is early medieval/Romanesque in design. I saw the girl sitting on the steps, waiting for the library to open, or perhaps waiting for a bus. From the camera’s perspective, the men around the corner appear to be looking at her and commenting, although in all probability it was me and my camera that piqued their interest, since from their position they would not have actually been able to see the girl.

Casa Dei Crescenzi Library
Casa Dei Crescenzi Library

This is the Romanesque bell-tower of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, one of the older Christian churches in Rome, home to the Bocca Della Verita which now resides on the front porch, the easier to access for tourists. Saint Valentine’s relics also are kept here. I thought it was particularly striking with the sunlight just cresting the roof of the church and backlighting the tower. Contrast this with my earlier shot of the Campanile in Florence.

Belltower, Sta. Maria in Cosmedin
Belltower, Sta. Maria in Cosmedin

I’m particularly pleased at how well my camera handled the backlighting without flare or loss of resolution. It did a remarkable job for a 60-year old lens. And maybe it’s also a sign that I’m becoming a better photographer such that I composed it to minimize problems.

Architecture, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

The Archangel Michael, Castel Sant’Angelo

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The statue of the Archangel Michael in the inner courtyard of the Castel Sant’Angelo. This is at the mid-level courtyard after ascending the ramp that passes through the crypt of Hadrian/castle dungeon. around it are numerous Roman marble busts in various nooks, and a well for providing water to the Papal apartments above.

Archangel Michael, Castel Sant'Angelo
Archangel Michael, Castel Sant’Angelo

The statue dominates the courtyard, though, with its bronze wings patina’d green and weathered countenance.

Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Portraits, Travel

Fire Hose Connector – Ordinary Object Portrait

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Another in my series of portraits of ordinary objects. Most of my ordinary objects portraits depict well-used, sort of unloved objects, but this is a brand-new (or at least nearly new) fire hose connector inside the Fortezza Basso complex in Florence.

Fire Hose Connector
Fire Hose Connector
Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Street, Travel

The Boy at the Burger King, Florence

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This began life as an attempt at improving my street photography skills. What happened was I created an accidental narrative when I caught the other boy walking into the frame.

Burger King Boy
Burger King Boy

Who are they? Are they friends, meeting outside the Burger King? Lovers? Total strangers who just happen to be put together by my camera? A mugger and his soon-to-be victim? I think I know the truth of the matter, but that’s A: boring and B: closed off from the many possible stories in the scene. And the best I can do is think I know the truth, and in the end, the truth of the scene doesn’t really matter.

Architecture, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Pyramid of Cestius, Scooter

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When you get off the Pyramide Metro station, the very first thing you see upon exiting is the old city gate in the walls of Rome. Pan left and the very next thing is the Pyramid of Cestius. Caius Cestius was a wealthy Roman citizen who, inspired by the pyramids of Egypt, decided he wanted a white marble pyramid as his funerary monument. He had his tomb built into the city walls. His goal of not being forgotten certainly succeeded as we still know who he was today, some two thousand years after his passing.

Pyramid of Cestius, Scooter
Pyramid of Cestius, Scooter

His monument backs onto the “English” Cemetery, known technically as the Cimiterio Accatolico (non-Catholic cemetery), final resting place of many English expatriates (and Russian, and American, and French…) including the luminaries of 19th century Romantic literature, Shelley and Keats. The Pyramid of Cestius is in fact open for tours, but they only offer them one day a week, twice a month, and you need to make reservations.

Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Street, Travel

Roman Subway Trains, Graffiti

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The Roman subway trains are covered in graffiti in a way reminiscent of the New York City subway trains in the 1970s and 80s. I assume the yards where the trains are parked at night are insecure – that would be the only explanation I can think of for the sheer amount of graffiti.

Subway Train, Graffiti, Rome
Subway Train, Graffiti, Rome

While my memory of New York City subways in the 1970s is a bit vague, my impression is that the graffiti there was not so much artistic as it was mostly tagging by individuals and/or gangs. Here, as in seemingly all things Italian, there is an underlying artfulness to at least some of it.

Train To Rebibbia, Rome
Train To Rebibbia, Rome

And even the text commentary (“Who sleeps not [something] with the fishes”) is relevant to the designs. I don’t know if my misreading of the handwriting is wrong or if the phrase is some Italian/Roman slang phrase that Google Translate can’t figure out. Any readers who understand the expression, please chime in and correct me!

Train with Fish to Rebibbia
Train with Fish to Rebibbia
About Art, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Portraits, Street, Travel

Trashcan, Theater of Marcellus, Rome

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Another of my portraits of ordinary objects – this time a trash can in Rome, outside the Theater of Marcellus, at the foot of the Palatine Hill. The trash can sits at attention, doing its duty exposed to the elements. Neither rain nor snow nor ill-placed cigarette butts deter it from its appointed task.

Trashcan in the rain, Rome
Trashcan in the rain, Rome

I don’t usually photograph in the rain, but I was so excited to be in Rome, running around and photographing without constraints, I didn’t care if people were staring at me as if I were some kind of freak, photographing a trash can in the rain with a 60 year old camera. This particular composition appealed to me because while the trash can is the center of attention and the star of the show, the background of the cafe umbrellas and the woman in the red coat with matching umbrella convey an extra level of that sense of how people turn their backs on public conveniences like trash cans and ignore them until they need them. Everything else is more important and more deserving of protection/attention.