Italy Images from a Month on the Boot is a 3 part series of photos I have found deep in the annals of my iPhone from this past May in Italy. I have recently attended some seminars on iPhone photography and I am getting better at creating images that I believe invoke the feelings I have when I travel.

I took the shot above at the wondrous Masseria Gelso Bianco in Puglia, Italy. This facility owned by my very dear friend Antonello Losito is one of the most stunning properties along the heel of the boot. The 5 bedroom villa with pool, 11 trulli  (the conical-shaped iconic roofs of the area), and a world-class professional kitchen is the perfect getaway for family or friends to one of Italy's culinary and scenic gems. Staying here felt like coming home to a place I will always treasure. I loved being on the roof and shooting this shot as I watched the sun sink after a very rare rain shower.

I used a Venice shot in my last post and I like the juxtaposition here of the more ancient look processing from last time and this high texture process today. I love what I can do with my phone these days as it allows me to create the kind of art I would have long ago if I could draw. I cannot draw and I feel like I am reliving a bit of my youth with the tools I now have available to me.

Juliet and I had dinner just around the corner from here and the memory is so fresh looking at this photo. Venice was much more me than it was on my first visit 20 years ago. This is the kind of image I want to convey. This is the life I want to live.

As with anything that catches a buzz there is cynicism and that is certainly fair when it comes to the aging of images. However, the reason I choose these techniques is the age evokes something lost, a reason to believe that even antiquities were discovered by the creative. I will reveal more of my techniques in a later post and share those of the very talented man who guided me to this.

I just got this shot where I wanted it. This crumbling blue house in Burano is about the doorway. It is about living. There was an emergency crew going in and out of this place and I imagined someone was not doing well inside. Someone who 40 years ago stood outside dappled in fresh blue paint and grinning may have been on a final rest crumbling all around. All lines lead to the door which takes us from one world to the next.

I graduated from the University of Dallas, one of the most intellectually stimulating places in Texas. UD (not UTD) has its own campus just outside of Rome in a hamlet called Marino. The campus, Due Santi (two saints) has a vineyard and cantina for wine production. I had the great privilege to tour the facility this year.

Although I spent time on the campus before I never ventured into the cellar (cantina) as I was not the "wine guy" all those years ago. I was simply blown away that my alma mater possessed this wondrous facility. The university also has a few acres of vineyards and produces a lovely wine from the vines each year. Now I just want to convince them to clean out the old concrete fermentation tanks and make the wine right there in the facility just like the Romans.

This photo really captures the mood and texture of the place and is one of my favorites from the body of work we captured on the trip.

Please let me know what you think of the work and I look forward to sharing more soon.

Word,

M