Laurentian Medici Library

Contrary to many American cities, I love how many European cities are walkable. Back in Dallas, everyone has a car because they need it. Grocery and department stores, doctors, schools - all of the necessary buildings are too far to walk to. Meanwhile, in Florence, I could have found any store I wanted to within a ten-minute walk. This image comes from the Medici Library, designed in the 11th century by Michelangelo and supposedly housing 11,000 documents of the Medici family. I struggled to take an image in this library for several minutes before settling on this one. I struggled not because there were bad compositions, but because there were so many good ones, and I did not have a lens wide enough to capture everything. I settled on this image as something showcasing the library's design, the open windows, artwork, and natural lighting.

 

Simplicity

Florence was packed with American tourists. Now, I know I was part of the problem, but there was an absurd number of Americans in this Italian city. Anyways, this image is a perfect example of why I decrease the saturation for images with minimal subjects. While editing, I wanted to highlight the cross and the texture of the building and tree. Alongside decreasing the saturation, I also increased the contrast more than normal to bring out the texture.

 

Shutters

I took this image while walking around Florence in the early morning. Ironically, while I have marveled at the intricacy and details on previous buildings, the simplicity of the Italian residential facades also appeals to me. To capture it, I wanted a simple scene with minimal distractions. I debated editing out the power lines, but I feel they add to the image (and I struggled to edit them out, so I left them in). Alongside the power lines, the airplane subtly adds to the image. I wish I had waited a few seconds longer so the plane was more in the center-left, but I am glad it made its way into the image. 

 

Florence

After London, I traveled to Italy during a week-long school break. I started by flying into Bologna and taking a bus into Florence, this time bringing my big Nikon camera. This image is a great example of why the larger sensor produces a better image. In high-contrast scenes, like this sunset image, the small digital camera would struggle with the building details. Additionally, I was struggling to select what to center the composition on, so I took several and made a panorama. The big Nikon camera, while almost ten years old now, still does the job and enables me to take images like this. 

Dover Cliffs

After climbing many stairs, we made it back into Dover before catching a late train back to London. On the walk back, we ventured through a Dover neighborhood, and I took this image. I love the patterns of a row of cars, a row of houses, and a dominating cliff in the background. In a perfect world, the sun would have come from behind the image, but I recall while taking the image looking backward and disliking how the scene appeared. In instances like these, I focus on the objects in the image instead of the sun, capturing the scene as it is, even if it is not lit how I would like.

 

The White Cliffs of Dover

Although the temperature was a little chilly, the weather while in Dover could not have been better. After walking through the castle, we walked down to the cliffs, and the sights were incredible: golden hour was just starting to begin, we walked through knee-high fields of grass and cows, and even down a ladder onto the rocky beaches and into the Strait of Dover. While I certainly should have spent more time in London (I felt I accomplished everything I wanted to during those 14 miles of walking, which is why we went to Dover), the trip to Dover was very relaxing, which was exactly what I wanted.

 

Dover Castle

After walking about 14 miles across London, I took a train on Saturday down to Dover. At the castle, we ate a proper English breakfast before walking around Dover and heading to the castle. The castle was first built in the 11th century, but it also has artifacts from the Romans, played an influence throughout the Medieval Ages, and was even used in the World Wars and the Cold War. We took a tour of the underground medical facilities and walked through many of the rooms, including the kitchen, ballroom, and several bedrooms.

London Bridge

Contrary to popular song, the London Bridge has not fallen down (when I was there). After a lunch break and some more walking around, the clouds started raining, and once it started, it did not stop for hours. While the rain made walking around more difficult (because why would I be prepared and have a rain jacket or umbrella?), I love the reflections and how the clouds add more depth to the background. 

St. James' Park

After the Queen Victoria Memorial, I continued my walk around London by heading through St. James' Park. The park reminds me of Central Park in New York City, but smaller and less secluded from city life. The small digital camera has a smaller image sensor than my big Nikon, but sometimes that can be an advantage. For example, with this image, the cloudy skies made the landscape contrasty and hard to photograph. While I typically would not like this, it works well to hide the foreground and encourage your eye to look at the London Eye. 

Queen Victoria Memorial

After Paris, I traveled to London the following weekend. Similar to Paris, I only took the small digital camera, as I took the cheapest Ryanair flight a few hours west to London. The weather could not have been better for photography. The sky was overcast, with the clouds decreasing throughout the day. A few posts ago, I shared how I like most of my images to be void of humans, but this is one exception where I want people in the image. The people add an element to this image and show just how popular this monument is. While an image of the Queen Victoria Memorial in the foreground of a cloudy sky would be interesting, adding the human element adds more to the image.

 

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre

On the last day before my flight back to Copenhagen, we went to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre to watch the sunrise. However, we were not the only ones with that idea, and the college-aged boys on the basilica steps decided sunrise was a fantastic time to play music. I would not exactly agree with that, but they are beside the point. I took this image just after the sun crested the horizon, facing north. Once again, I was amazed by the architecture, and this photograph represents my attempt to photograph it. I framed the basilica without other buildings to fully display its design, but also included the tree to contrast the man-made building with the branches.

 

Parisian Museums

Alongside a new interest in seeing church architecture and its differences, I also began to appreciate art museums and historical artifacts. I forget exactly which museum this is, but we went to several art museums in Paris, and each was captivating. The level of detail and time that went into these pieces of art is incredible. Seeing the art made me reflect on how the things I produce and create will be viewed (if at all) in future centuries, and it has influenced some of my recent actions. For instance, I want to print more of my images and, while having a digital footprint is great, I want to create more physical things.

 

Château de Versailles

This image is almost 180 degrees from yesterday's photograph, as this palace overlooks the gardens. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I wish more modern buildings followed the intricacies found in buildings like the Château de Versailles. It may be unrealistic to put the amount of gold (or gold paint) in buildings, but the sculptures, designs, and materials could certainly be emulated elsewhere. As for this image, I edited it minimally, as it is difficult to edit the lower-quality images from the small digital camera.

 

Versailles

After walking around Paris on the first day, we took a one-hour train over to Versailles to explore the French royal residence. Even though the weather was cold and it was February, the gardens were very well kept and in surprisingly good condition. However, I would like to return one time during the spring or summer and see the residence in full bloom. 

 

Haussmann Apartments

There is something very appealing about this and many European apartments. Like I mentioned in the post from Nyhavn, the repetition of windows, tall buildings, exterior colors, and design on these apartment buildings is unlike any residential building I have seen in America. Most American homes are quickly built with little design or intricacy like these buildings. While this picture does not do these apartments justice, it shows how most Paris apartments look.

 

Eiffel Tower

I traveled to Paris a few weeks after Innsbruck. I flew with Ryanair and did not want to pay for extra bags, so I only took one backpack, and I could not take all of my photography gear. I returned to the first camera I received and used the small, blue digital Nikon point-and-shoot that I received when I was 12. While it does not take the best images, something is appealing about lower-quality images. Additionally, it is significantly more convenient to have a camera that fits into my pocket while traveling and during long days of walking. While it would have been nice to have the bigger Nikon, I am quite pleased with how the old digital camera is holding up.

 

Solace

After the rain let up for a few minutes, I took this image of the parting clouds and Swiss houses. Maybe it is the exposed wooden plank, or the square simplicity of the houses, but the Swiss houses were very intriguing to me. For this image, I turned down the vibrance to maximize the effect of the clouds. While I typically add contrast to make winter landscapes appear more alive, I wanted the opposite in this image to highlight the lack of humans and living objects.

Mist
 

On our first day in Interlaken, there were low-level clouds, frequent transitions between mist and moderate rain, and we were surrounded by steep mountains. While the weather made walking around less than ideal, it created beautiful photography conditions. I took this image looking up at one of the mountain peaks, except we obviously could not see the peak. When editing, I decreased the saturation and increased the contrast more than normal to make the trees stand out. I think yesterday's images and today's are my favorite two from Switzerland, as their simplicity creates appealing images.

 

Paragliding

Every morning in Interlaken, people would gracefully fall from the sky. Most people did a tandem paraglide down, but there were a few skydivers. After watching and tracking a few in the sky, I wanted to position a paraglider in front of bold, sharp mountains to contrast the graceful descent with the rugged terrain. While there was no control over the situation, I especially liked the orange paraglider because it made the person stand out even more. 

 

Reformierte Schlosskirche

This church was originally built as a monastery in 1133, but was converted into a church in the 18th century. I was, and still am, fascinated by churches while I was abroad. I appreciate the architecture and detail designed into most churches in Europe, and I often found myself seeing how many churches I could visit while exploring a new town. Later, when I posted images from my adventures in the Faroe Islands, I planned the entire trip around seeing most of the islands' churches, simply to see their design and photograph how churches vary depending on where and when they were built. 

Interlaken

While I was abroad in Copenhagen, I spent several weekends traveling across Europe and exploring. This image comes from the first place I visited, Interlaken, Switzerland. I took this photograph mid-morning of one of the several mountains surrounding the town. When I took the image in the mountains in early February, I found it strange that there was no snow in Interlaken. However, there was plenty of snow at higher elevations and on the nearby ski lifts. 

Nyhavn

Nyhavn, or "new harbor," is one of the most photographed places in Copenhagen. Today's image comes from a similar location to yesterday's, but this photograph faces north, at the older houses. The oldest house is the blue one, cut off on the far left side of the image, and it was built in 1681. I used a long exposure to capture the scene because I wanted to smooth out the water as tourist boats traversed the canal. The long exposure also helped remove some tourists beneath the houses. I often take images without people, and while I could not physically remove them, I could digitally smooth the image by using a long exposure to blur their movement.

 

Colored Houses

I am back! I finally have more time to post and share my images, which is great, considering I have 300 images edited and ready to post. Starting the posting train again, we return to Copenhagen in January 2025. This image comes from the south side of Nyhavn, just before sunset (which was around 4:30 pm at the time). I like this image for the repetition of the windows and the colors of the houses. Several of these houses were built in the 1700s, and I loved seeing how they stood the test of time. The editing process was simple; I brought up the contrast and saturation, wanting to highlight the houses and bring out their colors.

 

Helsingør Havn

I spent the first day walking around Copenhagen and the first week becoming acquainted with my new surroundings, restaurants, friends, and classes. While I could not tell you the nearest grocery store (I found a closer one after two months), and I did not know how to translate each item into English, I enjoyed every second. Then I took the train north to Helsingør on the first Friday and this process was incredibly easy. We walked into the train station a little after nine and were on a train eleven minutes later. Helsingør's claim to fame is the Kronborg Castle, which Shakespeare based Hamlet on. While he never visited the castle, there was a princess locked in a third-floor room, and the English naval fleet did rescue her.

Kongen Have

Kongens Have, or the King's Garden, is one of my favorite spots in Copenhagen. I first visited on January 10th while walking around the city, but the garden became magical once the days grew longer, temperatures warmed, and the grass turned greener. There is a large grassy area out of the frame and behind this image where people threw the frisbee, played traditional Danish games, and lay in the sun. I spent time there catching up with friends, reading, and I even had a class picnic in the garden.