Foto reflections

We had to write an essay on how Florence has changed us and I wanted to transcribe it here for your viewing pleasure:

Living in Florence has forced me to be less passive. I am constantly active in this city. Be it visually: looking at light, shape, and form; auditorally: listening for snippets of languages coming into focus; or just in general trying to catch buses and be on time. My observation skills have improved. A lot of the time I try to mimic the people who seem to know what they are doing (language and life-wise). 

Overall, I'm learning to be more independent and at the same time fostering meaningful relationships with my peers here. It's funny to think I had never seen some of these people before in St Louis. I realize now that Florence has done wonders for my social life.

I'm starting to achieve a rewarding sense of clarity about my life up to this point and possibly how it may go in the future.

I enjoy incorporating photography into the other things I create. It's an interesting way of generating a new generation of ideas. It's really cool to experiment in the darkroom and then build on the images.

I certainly feel like I've come a long way since the first days of photography when I didn't understand filters per niente... Now I feel totally confident with approximating how much contrast would be complimentary to the composition. Burning and dodging still evade me a bit, but I try to take photos with even light.

I'm pleased to be able to take photos of my relatives and hand develop them as a thoughtful thank you. Manual photography reminds me of growing one's own vegetable garden. In the world of digital cameras and facebook, we have become disconnected from where pictures really come from. I enjoy getting "back to [the] nature" of photography. It's a specialized skill that I am pleased to understand (at least the basics). I hope to keep using photography. For utilitarian gifts as well as artistic exploration.

Taking Photo I in Florence was an incredible opportunity. I'm thrilled to have another level of documentation of my time here. It matches my endearance to snail mail. I love the hand-visibility of manual photography and hand written letters. It makes me think of having more contact with people I can't see very often. 

Pasqua!

This weekend was incredible!! I was completely and satisfactorily exhausted from each day's activities. Friday was spent in the country (campagna, not campania) house Vibeke, Carlo, and Federico are fixing up. The weather was a lovely as the view. I attempted to paint eggs after blowing out the insides. It was a nice tedious task that kept me occupied. After our grand lunch we played some Trivial Pursuit, Italian Edition (with the bambini questions). It was an interesting way to learn some new vocab, however obscure.

Saturday I went to Rome with Federico. We saw a Giotto and the Trecento show (it was funny to see things from Firenze that I hadn't seen yet), the Vatican, a Modern Art Museum, and other things in between. We made spotting tourists into a game and we spoke in English for a bit to play the role of tourists more convincingly ourselves. One of the funniest moments was when a guard at the Vatican told Federico (native Italian with blond hair and blue eyes) that he spoke Italian "molto bene." We didn't get back to Olevano until after 8 after leaving Olevano at 8 in the morning. Lonnnng day. Lots of fun. :] Later Luisa, Luisa's friend, Federico and I went out and ate pizza at a hoppin' pizzeria. It was cool to hang out. The waiters were intrigued/appalled by my inky fingernails so I tried to explain about how I'm an artist and that's how we do. 

Sunday started off with a lovely Pasqua breakfast and just kept getting better. The Carlo clan and I headed to the northeast of Rome to meet up with Danish contacts.  We first stopped in Farfa and poked around the town that dates back to the year 600. There was an abbey stuffed to the gills for Easter mass and a bunch of picturesque shops. At the house, there was a triple-ringed venn diagram of languages. Some people spoke only English or Danish. Some spoke English or Italian. Some spoke Danish, Italian, and English. It was a very unique experience. We played "pallone" aka soccer for a while. Let's just say I shocked the pants off of everyone with my soccer skills. I was the only girl playing; the rest were boys and dads. It was especially bizarre looking because I was wearing a flower cardigan, skirt, pantyhose, and boots. (Eventually I borrowed shoes.) I realized how much I miss soccer! I haven't played since last summer at Interlochen. We played in between the delicious courses of the meal and then after for a while. I was very content. It was a nice way to bridge the language barrier.

Monday I prepared American breakfast for my hosts: "Eggs in a Basket" and bacon. They found the egg incorporated into the bread rather puzzling, but it went over ok. Not only did I take an especially long time cooking, but there were also 20 minutes of taking pictures to document the event! By the time we actually ate breakfast it was practically time for lunch. Before Pasquetta lunch we drove up to the Alti Piani (through a field of rather large cows) to a mountain spring for water. The view was gorgeous. It's amazing to me how drastically altitude varies within a smallish distance in Italy. Lunch was really delicious but waaaaay too much food. I wanted to try everything, but it was simply impossible. After lunch I did a watercolor sketch of the view from Federico's terrace. It was pretty chilly up there. I can't wait to see it in full bloom in summer!