On to Florence

We took the 30 minute train ride from Florence to Bologna this morning.  Unfortunately the trains are not luggage friendly, so Mike had to stand in the entrance way and hold the luggage in place for the duration of the trip.  Our AirBNB apt is very close to the apartment - but we took a taxi because of our large luggage.  Took a while to settle in as they had not finished cleaning the apt when we arrived.  Finally took off for lunch around 1:30pm.  Then we walked into the tourist area to meet our next photo tour guide, Francisco.  He was excellent.  It helps that he teaches photography at a journalism school in Florence and has only recently started leading these tours on the side.  He told me I have the totally wrong lens for my camera - my old one from my D70 Nikon days.  He likened it to driving a Farrier at 40 miles an hour only..  He loaned me his excellent 50mm Nikon FX 2.8 lens to use - it made a huge difference.  We started out taking people pictures in one of the piazzas.

Next some detail in a dark church.

and of a street artist.

Then we talked about how to make church art decor look more interesting by using different angles and perspectives.  Straight on shots for comparison.

Of course there a lot of statues in Florence - how to make them more interesting?  By shooting different angles and details of them.

A brief lesson on how to shoot corners.

We stopped for drinks and discussion after the photo tour.  It was helpful.  On our way back we walked across the only bridge across the river Arno that was not bombed during WW2 for a couple of shots.

 And this one just because I thought it was cool!