Meanwhile in Italy
Meanwhile in Italy
1) Gelati and more.. yumm..
2. The Zimbabwean player with many birdies. #Venice
3. The view from my room #Florence
4. The view from my seat #Roma
5. Napolitan sea
6. Love in Ray-bans. 
7. And even more Ray-Bans
8. A view of Rome #Vatican
9. Happy girl.
10. Grandeur.
11. Inquisitive twins
12. Italian haircut.
.
Images : Marcus Sam
Sky High
Recently Conde Nast Traveler published a post featuring images from places high up. So I thought why not have a similar post even on this blog.
Starting with an image of Paris from the top of Eiffel Tower. With the Sacre Coeur in view.
Next we look onto the city of Prague, from the Prague castle situated strategically on a hilltop making it tough for the ancient man as well as the modern man with high blood cholesterol to climb.
Lets get out of Europe and look at Dubai
Lets look down upon one of the Indian cities, the city of Kolkata.
Back to Europe, to Italy specifically, looking at the red housetops of Venice.
Next we look down upon Florence, the city after which Florence Nightingale was named. The view is secured after climbing over 400 treacherous steps through narrow pathways and dark haunting alleys all built within the Florence Duomo.
Finally we look over the city of Rome, which incidentally was not built in a day, from the top of the St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
Images & Research : Marcus Sam
Contact : info@marcussam.com
Easter Friday
Good Friday: According to the gospels the Crucifixion of Jesus was most likely to have been on a Friday. Now why Good other than the fact that the only thing ‘good’ imaginable in the 21st century is the fact that its a holiday before a weekend.The fact is its pretty much unclear.While some claim that good has been derived from the word ‘God’ and it should be God Friday, others claim that Good might mean pious or holy.Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or Sorrowful Friday or Gottes Freitag meaning God’s Friday. The Catholic Church treats Good Friday as a fast day, which in the Latin Rite of the Church is understood as having only one full meal (but smaller than a regular meal) and two collations (a smaller repast, two of which together do not equal one full meal) and on which the faithful abstain from eating meat. This is why many places have the typical ‘Fish Friday’. Many religion scholars believe Jesus was crucified by nails driven into his wrists, not hands. French physician Pierre Barbet wrote a book called A Doctor at Calvary, in which he said humans are able to bear their own weight with the strength of their bones and ligaments within the wrists, but not with palms alone and if Jesus was nailed only in his hands, he would have fallen to the ground. By the time of Jesus’s death, crucifixion had already been practiced for some 600 years and was a detailed procedure designed to be a very painful process for the victim.
The Tradition of Easter Eggs is however quite interesting.Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth. Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus:an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life.The Easter Bunny however is German in origin. The Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour.The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau’s De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs for the children.
The images in the post are from the Church of Pisa, one of the most beautiful church interiors I have ever visited. Its not very large , but its very cozy, Ideal place for Jesus to stay in..Its construction began in 1064AD. Galileo is believed to have formulated his theory about the movement of a pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp hanging from the ceiling of the nave.The coffer ceiling of the nave was replaced after the fire of 1595. The present gold-decorated ceiling carries the coat of arms of the Medici.
Img 1.
Img 2.
Img 3.
Img 4
Img 5
Img 6
Img 7
Img 8
Img 9
…..
Images & Research : Marcus Sam
For information contact : info@marcussam.com
Let there be light
Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, a quote by which almost every emo newbie photographer swears by, till they graduate to a level when they have to worry about all the three..
Coming to which it cannot be gainsaid that light is almost one of the most powerful factors which determines the quality of any photograph, light natural or artificial.Photographically speaking light is the lifeline of an image, with even the most advanced DSLRs requiring atleast a minimal amount of lighting to take a photo.
Before we proceed lets have a look into what lighting has to offer over camera equipment or money for the matter.
.
The above Image has been taken by me in 2007/08 using a 2megapixels mobile camera (Loc : Pondicherry ,India).
Form the above image u can see light transforms something which might otherwise look very ‘amateur’..
But then we can’t just get light willy nilly, hence we have to use camera functions to compensate for loss in ‘ideal lighting’..Now how does a camera decide what ‘light’ it needs to take a photo, generally it uses the ‘shutter’ function and increases its delay, or in simple sanskrit, it increases the time for which the shutter remains open to let adequate amount of light seep in to freeze the exposure. But then we get all those blurry images (for most photographers don’t carry a tripod 24×7). Hence we need to take the help of the ISO function, which is most under-understood by amateur photography people. Ideally a cheapo camera has the capability to deliver good images at the lowest (starting) ISO – 50/100/200 at a ‘non shake shutter speed (ideally 1/40secs range- a speed at which camera shake doesn’t matter) beyond which the image gets grainy. But even with the best of DSLRs, the highest ISO u can pump an image without killing it is around 12800. So we need to go for aperture size, a bigger aperture lets more light inside naturally, letting images to be taken under serious low lighting at good shutter speeds and somewhat high ISO..
.
The above image displays a fine mix of a High ISO, High Shutter Speed and a Huge Aperture. (Loc: Mumbai,India)
Another image portraying a fine mix of ISO,Shutter Delay & Aperture. (Loc: Rome,Italy)
Now lets observe how a same place looks under different lighting conditions. Below is a series of 3 images taken under 3 different lighting conditions.Images taken in Kolkata, India.
1. Above the Bridge
2) Below the Bridge
3) Under the Water
4) Complementary image to explain ‘using exposure to render beauty’
.
Lets have another pictorial example of the same from another part of the world. Images from Florence, Italy.
1) Early Morning
2) Early Evening
3) Early Dusk
4) Complementary image to explain ‘using exposure to render beauty’
Hence from the above study we can see how a mix of light , equipment and ofcourse money is essential to render a beautiful image, light being the most important followed by money to get the equipment and pay for the ‘free lunches’…
And yes its the Friday of the year, first of December so I leave u guys with some Season’s Greetings.. Have a Great Life People..!! =)
Concept, Research & Image copyright : Marcus Sam
Marcus Sam 