Three HUGE days, little bitty sleeping time.

I haven't quite been keeping up with this blog because I decided that and hour more to sleep would be more useful than blogging at the time. So let me back track to Day 3 of our Italy and Greece trip.

Day 3- On Monday we took a day trip to Rome! We woke up at about four and took the train at about five-ish. When we got to Rome and grabbed a quick breakfast we went directly to the Colosseum. We were able to jump the line a get straight in through the tour group line! We spent about an hour wandering around! It was amazing!! After the Colosseum we continued onto the Roman Forum which was sooooo cool!! After the Forum walked to the Trevi Fountain and we all threw coins into it! Next we went shopping for a little bit in a small market where I bought a bracelet! Next we went to the Pantheon and took pictures there for a while and lastly we went to the Spanish Steps where I got some very good framing shots. after the Spanish Steps we walked to the train station and returned to Florence.

Day 4- Isn't it funny how we used to think that waking up at 6:40 was early? Well, we were all very excited that we only had to wake up at 6:15 on Tuesday morning. We took a private bus from Florence to a small town on the Italian coast (the west coast, that is) and from there we took a short train ride to another small town. This town is part of what is known as Cinque Terre. Once we got to the town which was really, really, really cute we hiked to one of the other towns in Cinque Terre. In total it was approximately a 2.4 mile hike and took a couple hours to complete. It was really pretty but the beginning part of the hike was strenuous as it was up a very steep hill and with a countless number of steps. After we finished our hike Carolyn and David gave everyone money and sent us off in the second quaint little town that we had hiked to, to get lunch. After lunch we went to the beach and hung out there for about an hour. THen we took the train ride and bus back to Florence. Although not many pictures were taken during this excursion (only 106) the landscape was incredible and beautiful! I will never forget it!

Day 5- Today! Today we got up at 4:00 and loaded our luggage into a coach bus. We then took a three hour bus ride to the airport in Rome. From there we caught a flight on Aegean Airlines and we flew into Athens. We took another Coach-like bus to Delphi which is in one of the prettiest places on earth! We r going to eat now! More later!

Florence-Day 1

Today we spent the whole day in Florence! Right now my feet are KILLING me!! We walked all over!

First, we had breakfast which consisted of bread and butter and croissants. Next, we left the hotel and walked to Il Duomo. We then proceeded to split into groups and do a scavenger hunt. We were to take photos of things such as: a silhouette shot, an interesting person on a bicycle, a moving Vespa, and a human pyramid in front of a famous building.

After we finished the scavenger hunt we walked to a restaurant called Pizzeria Nuti. I had the Spaghetti al Pomodoro which was amazing!! Then we went to see Michelangelo's David. We spent about an hour in the museum that accompanies the statue and the we headed off to our cooking class!

We took a class at the Giglio Cooking School in Florence. We made our own pasta dough and cut it into Ravioli and stuffed it with spinach and cheese. We also made chicken with red wine and tomato sauce. And to finish this amazing meal we made Tiramisu for dessert!

After dinner we made the long trek back to our hotel and downloaded our pictures from the day. Tomorrow we are switching hotels and traveling to an Olive Orchard and a place where they make Olive Oil!

ITALY!!!

WE ARE FINALLY HERE!!!

After a nine hour plane ride across the atlantic, a five hour lay over, a two and a half hour flight from Paris to Rome, and a two and a half hour train ride to florence, we finally made it! Italy is gorgeous out in the country. Rome was slightly disappointing from what I saw from the train. There is a surprising amount of graffiti over everything here. Paris was awful! The airport was so crowded and I didn't understand a word of what anyone was saying. Italian is easier because it is closer to spanish.

After we got to the hotel we went out for Gelato. I got the ice cream equivalent of mint chocolate chip. It was very good! Well after more than 24 hours traveling I am going to call it a night and go to bed! Tomorrow we tour Florence!

Class Day 2

Today was the second day of class before my Italy and Greece Trip. We started the day at City Center and split into five groups. In each group we learned and practiced different techniques that would improve our photography.We revisited what we learned yesterday about light and the different ways to adjust the amount of light allowed into the shot.

Today we also learned about the depth of field, the rule of thirds, taking pictures with moving objects, setting up and using tripods, and differences in taking pictures in the sun and in the shadows. We ate lunch at Ruggles Green and then we headed back to the school to upload our photos and edit them in photoshop. The following photos are the top three pictures that I took today:

That is a VERY brief summary of everything that we learned and did today! We have one more day of classes tomorrow and then Thursday we leave for Italy!!

1st Day of Class For My Photography Trip!

This sumer I am traveling with my school and National Geographic Student Exhibitions to Italy and Greece! This trip is really cool because we get to travel for two weeks with two national geographic photographers and we get to learn how to improve our photography skills. All this while traveling "under the tuscan sun".

We are spending one week in Italy and one in Greece, experiencing and photographing the culture and history of these two countries. Before we leave on this trip, however, we must have some classroom hours because being a photographer is so much more than "pointing and shooting".

Today was our first day of class and we learned some VERY important things about light and how to adjust the camera so more or less light can be let into the shot. There are three ways to do that: the ISO, F-stop, and the shutter speed. After learning about and becoming more familiar with the professional qualities of our cameras, we crossed the street and went to EL GALLO for lunch. It was pretty good and we are certainly going to miss Mexican food on our trip!

Well that's all for now!

Iconic Photo

In photoj this past week, we have been researching an iconic photo. Each student was given a famous or controversial photograph that had an strong impact in the world. We researched our photo and then gave an oral presentation about it and turned in a short essay.

This is the photograph I was assigned:

This is a picture of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. It was taken on July 20, 1969 by famous astronaut Commander Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 moon landing, the first ever. This photo is iconic because it represents the American patriotism felt by many people during this time, the Cold War era. It also represents the "giant leap for mankind" in the space field. The photo expanded American patriotism as well, because America had beat Russia to the moon during the "Space Race".

A to Z Project

In photojournalism this past couple weeks we have been working on a project that included taking pictures of things (people, pets, objects, places, etc.) usingthe picture taking rules that we learned previously. The rule we used included: filling the frame, framing, repetition, leading lines, emotion, vertical photos, close ups, unique angles, lock the focus, and black and white. We needed to name our photosand each name had to begin with a different letter of the alphabet.

Three of my favorite pictures are shown below with a description of each.

Beetle's View: This picture was taken at my dog's tracking class. This photo is a good example of unique angle and emotion. I named it "Beetle's View" because it is as if a beetle is looking up at the dog.

Knowledge: This is a picture taken of my fathers Harvard Classics collection. This is a very good example of repetition, leading lines, filling the frame, and lock the focus. I like this picture because it is very sharp in the font and blurry in back and just an all over cool picture.

Sleeping Psychic: This is a picture of my dog Jesse sleeping next to his ball. This is a good example of emotion, black and white, fill the frame, and close up. I think this picture looks really good in black and white.

I learned a lot while completing this project. I learned more about how to use photoshop to adjust size and add black and white qualities. I also was able to become better acquainted with the techniques necessary to create innovative photographs. The unique angle and repetition shots were definitely my forte, but my black and white photos and filling the frame were not bad and they definitely improved the more pictures I took.