Poppies

I don't feel like I did this field of poppies justice with these pictures. You really can't capture what it's like standing knee high in gorgeous red poppies. It's one of those things, as dumb as this sounds, that I never thought I'd experience. I've always loved the paintings of poppy fields, but to see it with your own eyes is amazing.

On the road...

Here are just a few images I took on our little roadside stops. Our leader would suddenly pull over and we would all pile out of the vans with our cameras and shoot until we heard the one minute warning and then all pile back into the vans and drive on. The best stop was a red poppy field, but that is for another post.

This scene is called "The Clump"

I was a little bummed the grape vines weren't very mature yet, but still cool!

Sunrise

Something I've always wanted to do, but have never had the motivation or willpower to make happen, is to photograph the sunrise. On Day 3 we woke up at 5 in the morning and stumbled into the vans. The sun rose fast, and we shot like we were holding machine guns. I liked the images best that were taken just before the sun came up, with that sweet light. Here is a small sampling of that morning.

leaving the castle

I've never seen a "moonset" before. :)

Florence, Day 1

Well, I'm back. I have seriously mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I missed my family like crazy, and am so very happy to have the arms of people I love wrapped around me again. On the other hand, I'm not in Italy. Enough said. :) I had an amazing time, and now have 35 gigs of pictures to sort through. Overwhelming to say the least. So, I'll take it one day at a time. Here is Day 1.

Florence: I only had one short evening in Florence. I wandered the streets alone, soaking it all in. Street vendors, endless gelato shops, and couples stopping in the middle of the street for a long, sensual kiss. Then I met the rest of the group I'd be spending 10 days with. I was the youngest by about 30 years, and they were all wonderful people. We had dinner together, then chased in a cab to try to catch the sunset on the top of St. Michaels Square (or something like that.) Totally worth the freezing wind to watch the progression of a vibrant sunset. Then we went back to the hotel, where I fell into an instant, exhausted sleep.