Siena Palio July 2, 2018

This year I was lucky enough to get to attend Siena's Il Palio Horse Race on July 2, 2018 with my two kid's Ian and Emma. While it was a long day and we thought that it would never get started. After an entire day of pomp, parades, Contrada's showing off hundreds of years of tradition being followed it was time for a horse race. Well that is what we thought. The race finally started around 9:30 PM but only after several false starts and what seemed like an eternity horses lining up at the start. Once it did however, wow! Two minutes of flying bodies both human and horses, medical attendants scrambling and after a few quick laps it was then all over. Well accept for a minor riot that broke out between members of the winning Contrada and one of the losing Contrada's. 

Later as we were trying leave and just outside Il Campo, in the winding maze of streets that is Siena, we came across what seemed like hundreds of Italian police all bunched up and blocking pedestrians. I sensed that this was not a good place for me and my kids to be so we tried to turn around but we were blocked in. Suddenly a drunk guy leaped through the police line and took a swing at what I think was the winning horse. Quickly the police descended on him an began aggressively pushing the group we were in back. Behind us was another group of police. The immediate crowed quickly dispersed into the adjacent piazza and we made our escape. I have posted just a quick series of photos I took. I haven't even begun to look at and sort the hundreds of photos and movie footage I shot that day. These start with one shot before the race, several during the race and one as we came upon the horse and police afterward. After that however I was no longer taking photos! We just wanted to get to our car and go home. We were hot tired, hungry and not looking forward to the hour and a half drive back to Volpia over the windy roads of Tuscany. When we did reach our villa my wife had put together a spread of left overs and wine from our dinner the night before and we all talked about the wild events of the day.  

 

Some Images of Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright

Neighbor Through Wright Window

Wright Home Office

Ceiling Light

Chimney Detail

Facing the Yard

House Detail

Prairie Style

Contemporary Neighbor

Classic Wright



Unity Temple 1



Unity Temple 2


Images taken on a rainy Saturday in April.

Some Sad Photographic News New 55 and Hedrich Blessing - Closed!

As anyone who visits my site knows my posting has become a lot more infrequent. Time commitments in my life have reduced the amount of available time for my photography interests. Today I came to check my site, look over links and generally make sure things were still working. In checking my inspiration and links section I discovered that during my absence two of my links had stopped working. The first was my link to New 55 Film. They were a start up Kickstarter company that was trying to bring to market a new peal apart instant film for 4x5 polaroid camera's.


I was very excited about the potential new product as there may be no manufacturers of instant film remaining. As a large format camera owner instant film was how I learned the craft of architectural photography. The process was fairly simple. Set up your shot. Take all the necessary preparations and then shoot some test shot with instant film. When Polaroid went out of business in pretty much destroyed the financial viability of the large format camera for many professionals as it requires some degree of certainty that you have the shots you want or are being paid to produce.


New 55 was a valiant effort to return an instant 4x5 film to the market and at the same time provide a viable negative along with a print. They had done it. They had gotten the product design pretty well in place and were delivering product. But the whole operation could never scaled up to move past a craft operation. For them to be financially viable as a going concern they needed to make production equipment that was more efficient, required less hand labor and had higher levels of consistency. Having watched them struggle and fail was sad especially in light of the analog resurgence that seems to be taking place elsewhere in such things ad vinyl records and typewriters.


I was also saddened to learn that the famous Hedrich Blessing photo studio in Chicago closed its doors. Several of it's remaining photographers have started a new studio but the legacy of world famous photographs from the famous Chicago company has sadly come to and end. The archives have been transferred and I have put a link up. See the information and inspiration section of the blog.


The photography market place continues to be one of ruthless change and competition. There is nothing standing still in this world, especially not in the photography industry.