Rome-Capri-Florence

Recently, I had an opportunity to travel to Italy for a week.  There wasn’t a purpose for the trip.  It was just a way to get myself out of the routine, ordinary life.  I felt that my creativity had reached a plateau.  The “job” as a photographer had prevented me to try or even think of some new crazy ideas.  I was worried that trying out new things would prevent me to deliver the product to the clients.  I was also worried that the clients might not like to see their photographers wasting time on trying out the crazy ideas.  Anyway, in this trip, I was able to just shoot whatever I want – good, bad, stupid, nonsense … you name it.  Alright, enough of talking.  Here are some of the photos I took during the trip.
This photo was taken on the first night I was in Rome.  I wasn’t planning to take this picture.  I didn’t even have the tripod with me.  But I didn’t want to waste such a beautiful twilight.  So I sat on the ground, held my breath and just shoot.  Thanks to the technology, I was able to produce a relatively sharp photo of the Coliseum in the twilight.

 
Here are some other photos I took on the day I actually went inside the Coliseum.
Rome has many faces.  On one side, it shows the grandness of all the monuments; on the other side, it shows the lives of the ordinary people minding their own business on the narrow streets.

One of the good things about travelling alone is that you can sit on the ground and wait for the moment without having someone dragging you to the next “stop”. 

Well, this security guard did ask me to leave after I sat on the floor of the Vatican Museum for too long.  I was trying to capture the loneliness of the guard sitting in front of the window.  However, there were just too many people walking by.  And when the room was cleared, the guard walked away from the window.  So I was never be able to capture the photo I had in mind.  Oh well, next time I guess.

Speaking of Vatican Museum, the must have photo is the double helix ramp, spiral staircase, whatever you want to call it. I, of course also took some photos of the staircase.  I am sure most people have seen enough photos of the staircase from above.  So I will just show the same staircase from the ground level.
You can’t leave Vatican without visiting the St. Peter’s Basilica.  You would have to pay 5 Euro and climb 517 steps if you want to get to the top of the dome.  The climb was well worth the money and effort.  But it wasn’t much of a photo opportunity.  The only thing that was worth taking photo was this.
During the 7 days, I took a day trip to Capri.  Capri is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy.  My main purpose to go to Capri was to see the Blue Grotto.  Unfortunately, the Blue Grotto was closed because the sea was too rough.  Nonetheless, Capri is a beautiful island.    
Beside Capri, I also took a day trip to Florence.  The main attraction was of course the Duomo.  It made such a nice background for the garbage truck.
Another shot of the Duomo from Piazzale Michelangelo.

Other shots from Florence.

And I almost missed my train because of this shot.

It was a great experience to go on a solo trip, especially when you didn’t have a set goal in mind.  The experience will set the purpose itself. 
The things that I learned from this trip are:
1. You really are lost when the police tells you that you are in an area outside of the tourist map.
2. You are really experiencing the local when you are out in an area outside of the tourist map.
3. It’s stupid to bring a flash and a pair of FlexTT5 when you are going solo.
4. You know you need a new laptop when you can’t surf and lightroom at the same time.