Featured Forum Thread: "Greetings from Italy" by Ray Sachs

[LisaO]

On our upcoming cruise (starts a month from today) we are doing one of those see Pompeii and Amalfi coast in one day tours using a minivan and driver. Though like I said earlier in this thread I like doing the get to know and explore an area best (I have done so in Venice, Paris and Oxford, UK where I have spent from 2 -5 weeks and Havana, Cuba 1 week) sometimes you need to go on a recognizance tour to see what you really might like, I think I might like the Amalfi Coast and Santorini.

I am planning a photo workshop trip to India for late this year or early next, I really want to go to Varanasi and spend most of my time there. I have found several photo trips to India but they are a few days here and there but I want more time in Varanasi perhaps a week there and then a few days in some other part of India. Also south of France is on my list of spend some time and get to know places, I would like to go in July and be in a town when the Tour de France rides through, see lavender and sunflower fields.

Do you often go out alone photographing or with a family member? I assume your wife is pretty supportive of your photography. How much longer are you there? I don't know if you said but in general how do you carry your up to 3 cameras? Thanks again!

 

[Luckypenguin]

Varanasi is a fascinating place, but I don't think I'd want to spend a whole week there.

 

[Ray Sachs]

On our upcoming cruise (starts a month from today) we are doing one of those see Pompeii and Amalfi coast in one day tours using a minivan and driver. Though like I said earlier in this thread I like doing the get to know and explore an area best (I have done so in Venice, Paris and Oxford, UK where I have spent from 2 -5 weeks and Havana, Cuba 1 week) sometimes you need to go on a recognizance tour to see what you really might like, I think I might like the Amalfi Coast and Santorini.

That's sort of how I looked at our 2010 Cruise - a scouting trip to see where we'd like to spend more time. Now we're here...

I am planning a photo workshop trip to India for late this year or early next, I really want to go to Varanasi and spend most of my time there. I have found several photo trips to India but they are a few days here and there but I want more time in Varanasi perhaps a week there and then a few days in some other part of India. Also south of France is on my list of spend some time and get to know places, I would like to go in July and be in a town when the Tour de France rides through, see lavender and sunflower fields.

In my hard core cycling days I wanted to see the Tour live. But then I saw enough different types of bike races to realize that a Grand Tour isn't worth seeing live except for the party. Or if you get a press spot on one of the motorcycles!

Do you often go out alone photographing or with a family member? I assume your wife is pretty supportive of your photography. How much longer are you there? I don't know if you said but in general how do you carry your up to 3 cameras? Thanks again!

We're here until the end of next week, the 27th. It'll be four full weeks once we're done. When I'm at home, I usually go out alone when I shoot. But on a trip like this I try to have a camera with me all the time. Which is where a great handy little camera like the Coolpix A or GR is just amazing. I've shot some on solo walks here, but probably mostly in the midst of family activities. Tonight my daughter and I took a long walk down to the beach and back (over 800 stairs each way!) and I took the RX1 and did some low light shooting along the way.

When I carry three cameras, as I did yesterday, I take out my little Domke F10, which will take them all and leave them easy to access. When I just take one or two (particularly if one of the one or two is the Nikon), I generally keep one on a strap and the other in a pocket - no bag. Unless rain looks like a real possibility ...

-Ray

 

[LisaO]

Why not Nic?

Varanasi is a fascinating place, but I don't think I'd want to spend a whole week there.

 

[christilou]

Santorini has some beautiful spots but is a very small island and would probably only warrant a couple of days although there are many other Greek Islands you could also explore

 

[LisaO]

Three nights on Santorini would probably be good but on the cruise I'm on I won't get to be there for sunset which I imagine is marvelous! I'm looking forward to Corfu too.

 

[Luckypenguin]

Why not Nic?

Ah, Varanasi...

I should start by saying that I don't tend to like to stay in one spot too long while travelling. So far Istanbul is the only place where I have spent a week and could have stayed longer.

Varanasi is beautiful in parts, and far from beautiful in others. Down on the Ganges River, along the Ghats, the city looks spectacular. Away from the river it is less so. In my head I have lots of unpleasant memories of Varanasi: the quality of the air, the smells, the noise, the resident Macaques. Some of the most wretched looking dogs I have seen around the world were in Varanasi. But on the other hand, the photos I have from there make it seem like a magical place...and it is! But, it is as much a place that I endured as much as I enjoyed. You might love it, or hate it, or both. One suggestion for a visit to Varanasi is to take a drive upstream and float back down the Ganges on one of the traditional sail/row boats. This will give you some tranquility in amongst the madness. I would go back and visit Varanasi again myself and I envy your trip to India but I just don't think that I could give Varanasi a whole week.

 

[Ray Sachs]

Just shot with the RX1 yesterday, mostly during a walk last night with my daughter. But, first, one through our living room door to our deck:

View attachment 72464
Positano RX1 Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And a few from Positano at night - The RX1 is really a remarkable low light camera:

Positano RX1 Night-18-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Positano RX1 Night-28-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

View attachment 72467
Positano RX1 Night-55-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Positano RX1 Night-46-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

View attachment 72469
Positano RX1 Night-62-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Positano RX1 Night-81-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Positano RX1 Night-80-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray

 

[bartjeej]

wow the twilight view over the village and the coastline is fantastic!

 

[christilou]

The first one Ray, not sure you'd be able to prize me away from that view. Bottle of wine, olives and a camera..... or three! Bliss

 

[Steve Noel]

The second is priceless.

 

[LisaO]

...Or four! Second one too!

 

[Ray Sachs]

The first one Ray, not sure you'd be able to prize me away from that view. Bottle of wine, olives and a camera..... or three! Bliss

Don't forget the buffalo mozzarella and the prosciutto! Only matched by the view from our first place, in Praiano. We took the bus up to the town of Nocelle, up in the hills high above Positano today. Then walked a little way down to an absolutely AMAZING restaurant (Trattoria La Fagliata), ate ourselves silly, then walked the rest of the way down the mountain to Positano. Somewhere during that lunch it occurred to me that this has been the holiday of a lifetime, and it's not even a remotely close call - no other holiday or vacation has ever even come close (possible exception of our honeymoon in Hawaii). This is just such an incredibly beautiful place, with the best food and wine on the planet and plenty of incredibly nice people. I'd come back here every year if I could. Just sitting on the deck is hard to top, as you can see, and it just gets better from there...

And getting to photograph it is incredibly enjoyable too. I'm an unbelievably fortunate man to be able to experience this...

Photos to come later from our beautiful walk.

-Ray

 

[Gitana]

Thanks for sharing Ray. I've been enjoying your photos and story along the way.
Am envious of your cameras and the skill you so obviously have with them!
Seeing your photos is making it hard for me to not want yet another camera..was already wanting an RX1 but now that Nikon! :big grin:



Irene,
Have camera will travel & shoot!

 

[Ray Sachs]

Shot with the Sigma DP1M on our walk/lunch today. In general, I'm not loving this camera, but if there was ever a day for it, it was today, with nothing but leisurely shooting, almost all landscapes where its particular strengths come to the fore. A week ago Monday my daughter and I did a hike on the Path of the Gods, which ended high above Positano in a town called Nocelle. My wife and daughter and I took a bus back up to Nocelle this morning and walked back down, stopping at an amazing restaurant between Nocelle and Montepurtuso for lunch.

The start of the walk, in Nocelle:

Hiking down by trail:

and road:

20130717-SDIM0404-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

To Trattoria La Tagliata, not a bad spot for a spot of lunch:

20130717-SDIM0410-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And not a bad spot of lunch, either. Actually, an AMAZING lunch!

20130717-SDIM0412-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Then down through Montepurtuso:

20130717-SDIM0422-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And back to Positano - a day well spent!

-Ray

 

[christilou]

Sighing is all that is left to me....... despite the temperature in the UK touching 30 degrees today, somehow it doesn't equate in any way, shape or form to the sights, sounds and smells of you're experiencing in Italy!

 

[bartjeej]

I really like the results you're getting with the Sigma, Ray! If I'm honest I found some of the other photos a little over-saturated for my taste in some places (maybe due to a strong contrast curve?), but these sigma shots combine that wonderfully hazy blue sea-turning-into-sky transition, that has been in lots of your shots, with punchiness and entirely natural saturation throughout the image, without becoming flat or washed out.

 

[Ray Sachs]

I really like the results you're getting with the Sigma, Ray! If I'm honest I found some of the other photos a little over-saturated for my taste in some places (maybe due to a strong contrast curve?), but these sigma shots combine that wonderfully hazy blue sea-turning-into-sky transition, that has been in lots of your shots, with punchiness and entirely natural saturation throughout the image, without becoming flat or washed out.

Thanks Bart. I fully hear what you're saying. And shooting with the Sigma is kind of a reality check for me in that sense. My problem (except that I obviously don't perceive it that way) is that I like those more contrasty, saturated images. In fact I bumped up both on most of these too! But the Sigma restrains me from my (worst or best) instincts because the images are sooooo overwhelmingly detailed (and THAT'S so much of the point) that I don't want to do anything to mess that up. So I go easy on them, even when my instinct is to do more. I really like Fuji's colors, which are arguably pretty over the top, and like Nikon and Sony colors as more restrained, but they both have a lot of natural (or UN-natural) pop as well. When I open those files, my instincts take over in processing them and I usually like the results. The Sigma encourages / forces restraint, which is probably a very good exercise for me, and other's reactions to them are instructive, even if my reactions are different.

I guess at bottom I'm less a reality-obsessed shooter and tend to be more after an impression. The Sigma naturally pulls me back to some sort of reality, which is probably a good thing for me to do sometimes (particularly for these good-light landscapes). If I had more opportunities for this type of shooting around home, I might consider buying one and developing this side of my shooting more. But I very rarely do, so it's been a nice loaner to be able to bring on this trip, but I don't see buying one anytime soon.

Plus, we just bought a LOAD of Italian pottery that my wife will get at least as much pleasure from as I would from another camera, so I think I'm largely set for at least the rest of this year!

-Ray

 

[xdayv]

Ray, I think you are the most eligible member for Serious Compacts LOL. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in each camera that you use, I'm definite it has helped the readers here. Keep it up and enjoy your stay in Italy.

 

[retow]

Nothing beats a Sigma Merrill short of MF film. Look at these greens and the smooth rendering of details.